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Originally Posted by Christie.Josh
Our doctor was strongly suggesting that we do not test since he has the vaccination on his record and since the trademark scar is there. She also said that since he was putting on weight so well that he showed no signs of TB. He was underweight when he came home, but packed on the pounds at a record pace with an american diet.
She said that he should never be tested with the skin test, only the x-ray.
Confused??? What do I do? Is there a more specialized skin test that we can do that won't be affected by the BCG or how long after the BCG do you wait??
We were also told by an adoption specialist doctor that the BCG is pretty effective against the more deadly forms of TB.
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all you can do is what your doctor tells you to do. if you don't agree....get a second opinion to make you feel better. sometimes doctors differ on points of view.
i know that when eli tested positive his primary doctor asked why i had him tested in the first place since he a) had the vaccine, b) was so young, and c) showed no signs.....and i told her...i had no reason other than the older kids needed one for school, so i just threw eli in there too....why not? in the end, his reaction was deemed too large to be bc of the shot...and he had been negative when i did the same thing a year earlier. i asked the doctor who followed his tb case in our old state why we needed to do meds if his xray was clear, and she said, based on his skin test reaction, it was obvious he had been exposed in the last 12 months, and therefore actually had latent tb,
despite the vaccination.both doctors that agreed he had indeed been exposed and needed meds were born in other countries and also had the bcg shot. my opinion is, that even though something may provide a good level of preventative protection, doesn't it make it 100% effective. you know? just like the op a few posts back said her children were negative on all their shots. sometimes shots are expired, sometimes it is a bad batch, sometimes people just don't react to the vaccine as they should...sometimes, they are just not effective....i think.
if i had asked my doctor to test eli, she probably would have told me i didn't need to. in the beginning she was obviously disappointed i had done it without talking to her(our insurance was an hmo where when you want your kids to get shots/tb tests, etc, you just go to a nurse visit in another office)...but in the end...she also agreed he had tb! so for us, i think finding out was a total fluke. had i asked and needed to rely on chest xrays i probably would have just made sure to do them regularly...and i'm guessing that's what i'll have to do from now on since i think i heard for many people once they skin test positive, they always will????but maybe i'm wrong on that.
a funny story about chest xrays....when eli got his done, he was SO MAD i remember him being a pill and freaking out. first of all, we tried to remove his shirt...and one thing you have to know about eli is bc of his senspry integration disorder...being naked is a big fat NO! finally the xray tech took the pic with eli's shirt on bc the 2 of us together could not pry the shirt off his body! then it took a team of nurses to hold him down....and he still moved away from them. he's TWO! so the other day i get a copy of his medical file in the mail to take to his new doctor, and i read it. "DIFFICULT PATIENT," and "PATIENT WAS UNCOOPERATIVE AND DIFFICULT, REFUSED TO COMPLY." written in BIG letters on the lab orders for that day....lol. awww....my child has been deemed a difficult patient at the ripe old age of 2.