Injection for cervical cancer when TTC!

Hi girls!

I am about to start trying for a baby. I'm 24 (25 in 1 week!) & a friend of mine said to me the other day "make sure you have those 3 injections for cervical cancer before you get pregnant!".

I know that the government are offering them to women free of charge up until the age of 26... so would be worth me taking advantage of that now.... but my question is, I wonder if it's safe to have those injections done whilst TTC???!!!

I have a Dr's appt this afternoon to get all my pre-natal tests done, so I will ask about it then, but I just wanted to know if anyone else has had them done whilst TTC or asked their dr about it?

I rang my dr and he has advised to wait 5 months before you start trying.

HI, Jodie
Not really sure about them but one of the girls whom i work with is having them done and she said they actually give the vaccinations in 3 rounds. The first 2 are weeks apart and then the next one is 6 months later i think. Not sure what that will do to the ttc. I pesonally am not going to have them right now (nearly too old for the freebies anyway) because of our ttc journey but will definately consider it in the future
Best of luck to you

My gp said they have not been tested in pregnnacy so better not to have if ttc as may not get them all done. She said if i wanted them to wait 6 months after the 3rd one which in total would be ages to not try!!

good luck with ttc

jodie i think its up until you turn 27 isnt it? I just turned 26 and got a letter from my medical centre saying i can get it done for free up until i turn 27 (unless i read it wrong?) so you could fall pregnant, have your baby, then get it done and still within the time frame before you turn 27, that is, if it only takes you a few months to fall pregnant too.

I'm not getting it done because I don't have enough time as we are TTC 1-2mths away... i might consider it in the future when i've had all my babies :) in the meantime, i am getting my papsmears done every 1.5-2yrs...

good luck ;)

Hi again!

Ok, well I had my pre-natal dr appt this afternoon, had pap smear done (yuck - actually, wasn't as bad as I thought it would be or as bad as last time), and asked about the cervical cancer injections. My Dr told me that the vaccine consists of 3 injections at 2 months intervals. She looked up info on her computer which stated that whilst there hasn't been any proven congenital abnormalities from having this injection, she would advise that if I was to have the 1st injection today (which I didn't), NOT to get pregnant for at least 6 months. NOOOOO!!!! We are planning to try at the end of this week when O hits. She also said that if I decide to have these vacinations after I turn 26, the government wont pay for them and they will cost me $500!

I discussed it my DH when I got home & he said NO WAY, we don't want to wait 6 months do we????? Then said, well... we can if you really want to!

But no, I think I'll defer having those injections for the time being. If it costs us $500 so be it. I haven't been taking multi vitamins & folate for 3 months for nothing. :redface:

I also learned something new today - you can have a pap smear while you are pregnant! Whilst it's not the ideal thing to do, they do perform them on preg women. It's not something Dr's routinely do, however it can be done! Dr said, obviously the less intervention in that area whilst pregnant is better... but yeah, can be done.

Thanks for that info. DH & I are pretty bummed about having to put off TTC longer as well. I might talk to him about putting it off too.
Well there you go, I didn't know about the pap smears either!

You know the vaccine is actually against the hpv (genital warts) virus, which causes cervical cancer, not the cancer itself, so assuming you are not going to have any more partners, you might not need it.

i would not risk having the vaccine, and like sally has said, it is not directly against tthe cancer...

I would like to think DH & I will spend the rest of our lives together, but you can't forsee the future. Anything can happen.
Yes, it might not be a vaccine against the cancer itself, but for me, any vaccine is better than no protection.
My sister has cervical cancer, so I am not going to take any risks. I've seen what she's had to go through for the past 10 years & I'd hate for me, or anyone to go through the same thing.

I'm not having it, as the others said it's a vaccination against HPV which I don't have, and DH and I aren't going to be being with anyone else so I really don't see the point, and no way I'm waiting that long to TTC.

I totally agree Sara :) Same here....
yuck they inject you with the virus..... same as the flu vaccine...

Yeah, I've been reading about vaccinations lately and now I'm freaked out. lol. Something about monkey viruses in one of them eww.....

I'm so glad I asked what others thought about the Gardasil injections!! Seems I'm not the only one who thinks being injected with the virus is disgusting! I have reg paps & have been tested for STD's (not that I have or do sleep around - I'm married) but I have had a couple of partners in the past & wanted to be checked not only for my sake, but for DH's as well.

My Dr explained to me that Gardasil is aimed at the 15-16 year old girls (assuming they are not yet sexually active). She explained that the government as making Gardasil a routine injection given in schools (just like the MMR - measils, mumps & rubella). Once you are sexually active, having this injection may be useless.

Everyone feels differently about it I guess... but one things for sure, and that is that I'm definately NOT waiting another year or so before TTC... in fact.... our 1st attempts were over the weekend!!! Fingers crossed hey!!!!

what happens if you have had 1 or 2 of the injections and didnt know you were pregnant?

I believe you can't get the third injection, and that you'd probably need regular monitoring of you and the baby?? I think it's more precaution than anything to wait 6 months before falling pg, as they don't really know what could happen.