I know so many people are conflicted about vaccinations these days, especially the Measles-Mumps-Rubella MMR shot. If you know my story, you know that I chose not to have my son vaccinated. However, he still turned out to have autism.
Although I am still not personally in favor of the MMR shot for my son, my own cousin was a Rubella baby and is now an adult and suffering horribly from the effects of Congenital Rubella. My aunt, when pregnant, contracted Rubella when she was in a car accident and had to go to the hospital. She was forced to share a hospital room with a hooker (who actually had clients coming to her room at the hospital--this was back in the late '70's). The hooker got the German Measles (Rubella) and so did my aunt. And that caused devastating birth defects for my cousin. He has one eye that is very small and in that eye he has glaucoma, which is very painful. He has had 27 operations on his eye. All of his medications caused most of his teeth to fall out. To this day he is teased and bullied by co-workers and, because of his emotional and physical pain, it has been difficult for him to keep a job and even to take care of himself in basic ways, like having the desire to eat. He faints from hunger.
My aunt later learned that there was a huge Rubella epidemic in the 1970's and '80's. The MMR shot can protect the unborn so the most important population that should be vaccinated with MMR are young adult women, in my opinion.
My wife is allergic to eggs,
My wife is allergic to eggs, she can't get vaccinations. It's scary, she got chicken pox at 25 yo and I was worried to death. When she was a child she got the MMR and had a reaction to the eggs in the vaccine and she ended up getting mumps and measles at the same time. She was in the hospitol for months. She still has fears of hospitols and jello(of all things she runs when she see's someone eating jello).
Scyllas... the master runaway kid catcher.
This is one issue that
This is one issue that always makes me feel like I'm sitting on (straddling) a picket fence.
My son had a serious reaction to his DPT (at 4 months) and seizures (for a two-week period) after his MMR booster. Those were the only seizures he has ever had in his life. Despite this, there was a meningitis scare in our area when he was a teenager - and you bet, I got him vaccinated. He now makes his own decisions - and got a flu shot this winter with no apparent ill effects.
I still think that the research is too sparse to let vaccines totally off the hook jsut yet. Some believe (me included) that all autism(s) are not created equal; that is, that different causes can present the same set of symptoms and all autism(s) are diagnosed on the basis of observed symptoms (that is, no blood test, no x-ray, etc. can detect autism). If this multiple cause theory is correct, then clearly under any numerical scientific model, the research to date is insufficient to say that vaccines of all types do not cause any singular type of autism or to say that the current infant vaccine schedule is or is not the "best" way to deliver all of these vaccines. If all the "egos" among the parties in the debate (pharma companies, research scientists peds, people with ASDs, and parents) can be set aside, we should all be able to move logically toward investigating the issues more thoroughly and solving an issue that, without a doubt, handicaps us all in one way or another.
I can agree they maybe they
I can agree they maybe they should push the vaccine back to a later date. I think the only problem would be that people would just forget or not bother after the kid gets older but school shot records would take care of that. I'm sure some Dr. has a better reason though.
Scyllas... the master runaway kid catcher.
I disagree with the holding
I disagree with the holding off on vaccinations. That is just my opinion though. I just feel that MMR is too important to skip. It doesn't cause autism, I have to pound that into my wife's head at least once a month. When my son was born, he didn't cry, they spanked him 3 times before he cried. They thought he was dead. He was fine, looking around the room like he does to this day (5yo) searching for details. He was autistic before he was born. I'm no doctor so I guess I can't say that's fact. But I didn't freak out, I knew what he was doing. I can't say how. He never cried again until he was 1 yo. (fell head first on concrete) He didn't even cry when he got shots.
That is just my personal experience and also my humble opinion.
Scyllas... the master runaway kid catcher.
Hi Scyllas, is that another
Hi Scyllas, is that another spelling of "Silas"? That is neat that your son's personality was so evident even on the day of his birth! My little boy is a scanner, too. When I have taken him to a store like Target or Wal-Mart, he takes off running, visually scanning the aisles for toys and whatnot. Unfortunately, he is such a shopper!
Yes, I've wondered if that is the case with a lot of autistic children, that they are pretty much born that way. I've heard the theory that autism is pre-loaded, so to speak, and that during periods of development where a child's brain naturally grows (like at 12 and 18 months for instance), the autistic child's brain grows too much or too fast and this causes swelling. From studies, researchers have found that autistic children's brains are actually larger than typical childrens' brains. I can't remember where I saw this theory, but I think it might have been an article in Time magazine. If anyone has a link, feel free to post it!
Anyway, I'm glad I could offer some support to you in reassuring your wife that vaccinations did not cause your son's autism. That is not to say that I think all of those people who feel that vaccinations harmed their children are wrong--not at all. But I can 100% absolutely be sure that vaccinations did not cause MY son's autism.
It's pronounced Scy-llas
It's pronounced Scy-llas like sci-las. I need to change screen names lol. I get that alot with this name. Someone thought it was syphilis, the STD, one time LOL.
Scyllas... the master runaway kid catcher.
I too support vaccinations.
I too support vaccinations. I met somebody who had measles as a young child and the high fevers caused brain damage. I know medicine is advancing each day, but I would prefer my son to process things differently rather than have the "normal" life taken away from him because of an illness that could have been prevented. But I wonder if perhaps they need to think about spacing them out and re-evaluate dosages and such. I would also like to see our vaccines going more Green, which I have heard talk about.
I had the Rubella shot the day after I delivered Michael. I guess supposedly mine did no take or something as a kid, so I needed it again. Shock to me, the doctor had never said anything. But I guess if you get pregnant within 3 months of the shot, the child will be born with Rubella and face some horrid defects. So on your train of thought, I say hit the girls when they are 12, like the Guardisil and make sure their shots were effective before any chances of pregnancy.
I've never had Chicken Pox
I've never had Chicken Pox and neither had my father. I got tested for immunity before I was pregnant and the test came back very low, meaning that I had minimal immunity and was at risk for it. But, they say that women should not receive any vaccinations if they are planning to get pregant within three months. So I didn't get the shot. I've known people who have gotten Chicken Pox as adults and they've had to spend time in the hospital when the pox got into their lungs or something like that. It's just really bad when adults get it. I've thought about getting vaccinated but I'm afraid I might be slightly contagious and give the Chicken Pox to Wyatt. I don't think it is the worst thing in the world if Wyatt were to get the Chicken Pox, but it wouldn't be pleasant.
Michael had the chicken pox
Michael had the chicken pox shot, and still got them. His lasted longer than average, but were far less severe. Compared to the neighbor girl who also had them and pretty bad. I know chicken pox as an adult male or even a teenager, along with mumps and sometimes measles, can sterilize a guy. So of course at the time I was thinking, ooo I want grandkids someday and do not want Michael going through life possibly sterile. So stab went the needle. *sighs*
Marcel was born healthy, 8
Marcel was born healthy, 8 pnds 5 oz, 20 inches
long, 9.9 on the abgar scale and Kaiser didnt give
10s. He was fine until he had his MMR shot. We
are involved in the lawsuit. My brother works
for a pharmaceutical company but agreed with me
when we joined up, if there's a chance the MMR
did this to my son I want that money. I didnt even
take an aspirin when I was pregnant yet my son
is severly autistic, severly retarded and has seizures.
If this was done to him I want them by their balls
ugh. I believe in vaccinations, I think they need to
spread the shots out more. My son was given six
shots in his legs one day, we didnt know that
was too many. IM NOT A DOCTOR. We kept our
appts like we were supposed to and what IF
those six shots did this to him? WHAT IF? I dont
know, at this point NOBODY KNOWS. Sorry if I
sound angry, I dont mean to =)
Unfortunately in cases like
Unfortunately in cases like this, there are so many cases added to the lawsuit, if the company is found in the wrong, they could never hope to pay out what is ordered. In the even they can afford to pay out several million, the lawyers get a huge chunk before it is divided amongst the thousands of parties involved. In most cases the company files bankruptcy and nobody gets the settlement or court-ordered monetary damages.