vaccination side effects

[Ariel 1]

No question in my mind, vaccinate. Look at the %, not the horror stories.

[gadgetlady 4]

Never realized that vaccinations were not required. Since every school my kids have ever gone to wouldn't let you enroll them without them being current on their vaccinations.

Don't know about other states, but in CA you can opt out.

[lindata 1]

Kat - you're a wonderful person! Thanks for listening.

For people who think it's mandatory to vaccinate - I'm not sure about ALL the states, but in most states you can get exemption forms. You are legally within your rights to do so.

As for the risks due to not vaccinating, does anyone have any actual percentages or are you just going by what your doc told you? Have you really investigated this? If so, what is your data? I'd like to read it. (I'm not being sarcastic, by the way, I really would like to read it - I am open to both sides, as I am on the fence myself).

The other thing is my kid was breastfed for 8 months, eats a totally organic diet, gets plenty of fresh air and exercise every day, sleeps on an organic natural rubber mattress, never eats or drinks off of plastic, and the list goes on, so he's pretty darn healthy. I'm guessing his immune system is probably a heck of a lot better than most which is going to help him tremendously.

Gadgetlady - he's up to date for 18 months (but he's 4 now). So he's had most of them, but not all the boosters. Would you mind pm'ing me about this? I'm open to partial vac's too. But I am very concerned about the side effects.

I've joined quite a few yahoo groups on this, these are real parents with real kids who have real symptoms - and it's not just autism either. Guess what? It's not just kids either - adults get side effects too, and the side effects vary widely. When it comes to the pharmaceutical industry (big bucks), and the government, versus real parents with real kids, I'll vote for the parents and what they have to say every time, hands down. I believe them.

So when I log on to these groups and hear their horror stories, it's just too much for me. I can't imagine jabbing my kid in the hopes it will prevent some illness from happening, when that illness is pretty remote, and even if he does get certain illnesses it will be lifelong immunity versus limited immunity with the vac's. Oh heck, it's a long, long story. If you've truly investigated the pro's and con's you'll know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, I really don't need your advice. No offence, but I'm interested in the people who have read the studies, read the books, know their stuff, not the ones who just make broad generalizations and think they're right because "their doc told them it's safe, so it's safe." Not.

Okay, big breath. Sorry to vent. I'm not meaning to take it out on anyone. Like I said, I am interested in both sides - if you've done your homework.

[lindata 1]

Okay, that second-last paragraph sounded really snotty. I'm sorry!! I don't know how to edit it without changing the whole darn thing. I really, really appreciate everyone's input on this. I think I'm just venting in general, just at life and the position I'm in, not at any ONE person. Can you tell I'm stressed? :party:

[Devana 0]

We hadn't given the issue much thought when our son was born until a friend of ours, who we respect and who is an MD, told us that his children weren't vaccinated.

We decided to hold off on getting our baby done until we had researched the whole thing. I have to admit that at first I was scared to even consider not vaccinating. There was a whole fear mentality out there and it was really difficult at first, to overcome that and look at things without the big emotional charge.

After much research, we decided that we weren't convinced that vaccines were safe or effective. We also felt that they may interfere with the development of our baby's immune system and indeed may possibly an assault on it.

I have to say that after what we learned, the decision was an easy one. I am in health care and was asked to give vaccine awareness workshops for several years in the early and mid '90's. I'm sure there is new information out there that I'm not aware of as I haven't been actively involved in the issue for some time.

I do know three families who have brain damaged children after they developed central nervous system irritation and massive seizures after vaccination. I know three families who associate the onset of their child's autism with vaccination. I also have one friend whose autistic child was never vaccinated.

When I dug into the statistics for the outbreaks of whooping cough that occasionally broke out in our area, I discovered that of those that had it, 40 to 60% had been vaccinated.

Also, I suspect that the apparent increase in autoimmune disorders may be linked to early childhood vaccinations. I hope I'm wrong about this.

Our son is almost 16 now, and he may decide to get vaccinated some day. I would feel a lot better about him doing it now than as a baby.

What I hope for is that parents make an informed choice, whichever way they choose. We all want to do what we believe is best for our children.

[Michee 2]

Many years ago I worked with severely developmentally delayed children. For some of them there problems were attributed to an "allergy" to a vaccinne. This is before the chickiePops vaccine was available.

If you look at the statistics though, it is much more likely that your child will suffer severe injuries as a result of a car accident than a vaccine..........does this mean that you wont be letting your child ride in a car since it is more dangerous?.

Right now here in Toronto Canada there has been an an "alert" that someone is walking around with measles......which can be very dangerous, and is airborne so people that were so much as in the same mall as the guy are freakin out (only the non-immunized of course).

The school board that I work for insists on some vaccines (chicken pox not mandatory) I am sure the mandatory ones are measles mumps rubella diptheria whooping cough etc etc.

Sounds like a tough decision for parents......I have no kids so I dont need to make that call.

[Kat817 19]

I don't have any kids young enough to make this decision myself, but only spoke on what I was witness to with my granddaughter---who was a preemie.

Her pediatrician doled her shots out based upon her weight, not her age---and they withheld the chicken Px.

So that led me to believe that was where the problems were---I am finding it interesting that the other immunizations/vaccinations can be problematic as well. I wonder why she (pediatrician) chose the way she did.

Kat

[taz 2]

I think having a polio vaccination is important. I have read of cases where an adult gets polio from being around a child who has been vaccinated. That's a tough disease to contract. I have never heard of any adverse reactions to the vaccine.

Kat, sometimes if a series of vaccines are not done in a timely manner the series have to started over. Perhaps the doc was trying to prevent that. I do know how traumatic shots are for parent and child. Sometimes I think I was in worse shape after shots than the kids.

As far as autism goes there are many theories as to cause. One is that the child developes a yeast infection of the brain after many antibiotics. That is why I think Melissa's many ear infections followed by antibiotics may have contributed to the cause. Other causes are meningitis and accidents affecting the head. Funny thing...one of our friends whose son is a year younger than Melissa fell about 10 feet. For a while after, he could talk. Over time he faded to no speech again. That's why the logo for the Autism Society is a childs face over a puzzle with some of the pieces missing. It will be a while before we have more answers.

[MerryHearted 20]

Here in WA, you just have to sign a waiver saying that if there's an outbreak at the school for a disease your child is not immunized for, your child will not be allowed to attend until the outbreak is over.

We have friends whose daughter was immunized in Russia, so she didn't get re-immunized here. The school would not accept that, so they just signed the waiver that if whooping cough ever breaks out, she'll stay home. They decided that would be better than putting her through a blood draw to prove she'd been vaccinated. If it ever becomes an issue, they can go have the blood draw done so she can go back to school.

I just put my 2 yr old son through the blood draw a couple weeks ago. He's from China and you never know if the medical paperwork is accurate. Often the doc finds that the paperwork says the child has been vaccinated but titers show otherwise.

[deehoney 0]

My son had a pretty severe reaction to MMR when he was 12 months old. He broke out in hives all over his body and we had to take him to the ER where he was admitted overnight. Luckily, that's the only reaction we have had with his shots. However, we have not followed the guidelines for vaccines that are out by the CDC and have opted for a delayed schedule. He only has one shot at a time and at least one month in between shots. He will not get his 2nd shot of MMR due to the severe reaction the first time around. I've been told by multiple pediatricians that if they have a severe reaction the first time, the 2nd will be worse.

My son is heading into K in the fall and is currently on schedule with his vaccinations w/ the exception of MMR.

I think a delayed schedule is the way to go and not to get so many done especially in the first year.

[Kat817 19]

My DD's reaction was also to the MMR. It happen almost 2 weeks after the shot! We had gone to a local Drive In movie (yep she is 26---was a looooong time ago!!!), during the movie she got fussy--- so since we were stopped of course watching the movie, I reached back, unbuckled her from her car seat and as I picked her up to bring her up front with us, she screamed....not an unhappy scream, a hurting scream, I got her on my lap, and she settled down, but when I would go to move her to another position, she screamed in pain again!

Well I being a new Mom had heard all the stories of babies who have bones that break so easy and all, and we knew something was wrong with her, so we took her to the ER. As usual with ER's we waited awhile, and she began running fever--but every time you moved her she hurt. Finally we saw a Dr. and in taking her history, one of the questions was if she was up to date in her immunizations, when I said yes, she just had her latest a couple weeks ago, they all visbly relaxed....they knew without me telling them which one it was---partly I am sure based on age, but also the reaction. He explained she was reacting to the mumps part of the vaccine, and her lymph nodes were swollen and tender, and sure enough, her little neck, when she would close her mouth from screaming, was puffy. He said there are lymph glands under her arms, and each time I picked her up, I squeezed on the painful swelling. So he had me scoop her, rather than the under the arm pick up, and she was much happier. He said there was a 50/50 chance she would follow the swelling with a rash of measles, that should not last over 12-24 hours, and the reaction would ease, but they hospitalized her in a quarantine room, for the next 24 hours.

Her DD has had the MMR shot, without issue. With my DD we watched her intently during the tetanus shots, (DPT) because her Dad, my ex-husband is allergic to it. But the only shot she reacted on was the MMR.

The pediatrician has not commented on any other than the chicken Pox to her. Besides doing a delayed schedule basing them more on her weight than her age. She said age 3 is common for catching kids up to size--------so we keep waiting for the growth spurt to hit her!!

Kids--they need some serious instruction books!!!

Kat