Vaccinations - I'm confused, advice needed!

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Hi there,
Before I start I just want to say that I would not change my son for the world, and hope that nothing in my message below offends anyone particularly those who get annoyed about constant debate of vaccines/autism/asgergers. So please bear with me, I am just a worried mum trying to protect/look after her child as best as she can.
I would be interested to know whether any one can offer me advice regarding vaccinations. I am really confused about the whole issue. My son aged 4 has Asperger's, he is a bright fantastic child and he is progressing really well. He is due to have his next round of booster vaccinations (in fact I have been putting this off for ages). I had him blood tested and he does not need second MMR as he has immunity from the first, apart from the mumps which did not take. He could have a single mumps jab if we choose to, later on. My son was diagnosed with Aspergers just before he turned 4 and has some wonderful personality quirks (obsession with machines especially domestic appliances, and likes to spin his toys).
However he is due have the 5-in-1 booster (DTaP/IPV/Hib) next week. I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA if vaccinations had anything to do with his asperger's diagnosis, but I am terrified of giving him a jab just in case he suffers an adverse reaction. After his first jab as a baby (aged two months) he had a fever and his face went 'wonky' like he was paralysed, for a few months but no major reaction to other jabs or the MMR. I don't know if jabs caused/trigger his aspergers or if its just the wonderful way he was made. He has all his early childhood jabs but none of the boosters. I am fearful of him regressing. I started to read up on the internet and there are some horror stories, but then again, loads of other assertions that the vaccinations are safe. My younger son had the jabs without thimerosol and is NT. Is this a coincidence?
What I need to know:
- Is there a body of opinion linking Asperger's with jabs or is it the more severe cases of autism?
- Is it only the MMR that is controversial or is there a possible link b/w the 5-in1 jab too?
- Does anyone know of any cases where an older child with Asperger's has regressed due to the 5-in1 booster?
- Are the jabs though to be harmful just to babies or are older children suscepible too?
- Have any other parents on this board been in this dilemma and what did you do?
Thank you.

Shots have nothing to do with Asperger's.

There is no educated body of opinion linking autism, "severe" or otherwise, with vaccinations.


Neither. They're safe for almost all children, though there are rare cases of adverse immune response. If you are concerned about that, yes you should discuss it with a legitimate doctor- but not one of the vaccine conspiracy nuts.


No.


They are not harmful to babies or to older children. The protective instinct of a mother can often be quite strong, but don't let it be manipulated into paranoia by charlatans like Wakefield.

You also mentioned that your younger NT son got the vaccines without thimerosol later. You should know that the MMR vaccine does not contain, and never has contained, thimerosol in any quantities. The mercury militia often has difficulty understanding that, and is likely to deny it.

Oh, and Welcome to WP!

My advice would be to ask the doctor or go to someone who specializes in allergies and ask them to see about testing your son to see if he is allergic or an adverse reaction will happen because of the booster pack.

As well the link between autism and vaccinations is very weak if best and something that you will only hear about when another condition on top of autism is present.

The one girl who was awarded a lot of money had an existing condition that she reacted badly to when given the shots. However this could be a concern for your son so please make sure that the booster is safe before he gets it.

Another idea would be to spread out the different boosters, if possible, however I doubt the doctor would like this to happen.

I hope this helps you out.

I have read stuff about immunisations too. Interestingly, I went to an autism course the other day and the speaker said that she thought that eventually they'd discover that autism/Aspergers is linked to several things. The two she mentioned at the forefront were hereditary and birth trauma. I am pretty sure that my son's AS was caused by birth trauma. It is not a proven theory, but I have been amazed at the number of magazine articles that I read about autistic kids, and somewhere they mention birth trauma.

I do know of someone that has a special needs child (non-autistic) who went like a sack of potatoes after her shots, and they attribute her learning difficulties to that.

Well, don't think that necessarily gives any answers, but I hope you see the way clear somehow. I wouldn't think that further shots would necessarily make things worse.

The scientific evidence is that there is NO LINK between vaccines and spectrum disorders.

But does that mean a 5 in 1 booster is a grand idea? You know, parental instinct rather tells us not, doesn't it? It seems like a matter of convenience, trying to save money, or have less hassle with kids who don't want shots, rather than what might be best for the child's system.

As convinced as I am that your child was born this wonderful way, I am also convinced that certain environmental factors can make the impairments that can come along with it worse. My father and husband are both ASD, but neither suffered the physical issues that my son does. So ... why?

Who knows. I have theories, none of them involve vaccines, but, still ...

Why not slow a few things down. Inject our kids one maybe two vaccination at a time, see how the system takes it. DO check thoroughly for pre-existing conditions and allergies that may be increase the odds of a bad reaction to the vaccine, including potential GI issues that may not respond well (some unproven theories out there on the GI, but if your son has digestion issues, it could be worth discussing). Have your children receive the safest vaccines on the most sensible schedule possible.

So from what I've heard and listened to, that is what I've walked away with. Vaccines are safe for most children, yes. But maybe we should approach them more like they do in Europe, a little slower, because these are young and sensitive bodies we're talking about.

There are no known, verified links between autism and vaccinations.

My son was diagnosed with AS at age 4, too, and he had a fairly severe reaction to the pertussis vaccine when he was about 8 months old. I do not believe the two are related, and was so certain in my heart about it that my daughter (his younger sister) had all of her shots on time, with no ill effect.

If there ever was a link, it would have been to the mercury used as a preservative in some vaccinations. But even then, mercury is in our food as well, so it would be difficult to pin it on the vaccine. Plus, mercury has since been removed from vaccinations in the US, and to the best of my knowledge, was never present in vaccines in the UK -- and yet, autism IS present in the UK...

Most folks involved in causal research feel very, very strongly that parents SHOULD vaccinate their children.

At one point an Autism "curebie" group seized upon some scientific reports that they could get animals to show signs of autistic behaviour by injecting them with Mercury - and also by damaging their brains via more conventional means.

The group then decided that;

a. Some children may well have been dropped on their heads to become autistic.
b. The rest must have been given "mercury".

They then started looking for ways in which Mercury could be given to children and they found reports suggesting that it was in immunisations. Apparently - in some countries, most notably the US, it was - but that was some time ago.

The Anti-immunisation groups (and certain religious groups) then came in an blurred the issue - and the debate raged for years.

Ultimately, it was jumping to conclusions based on disconnected evidence. It also didn't explain how children in Australia (and several other countries) had aspergers when their countries didn't ever put Mercury into immunisations.

IMMUNISATION DOESN'T CAUSE AUTISM

So... as a parent, you must make a decision about whether or not to immunise your child. The autism question is out, so the decision should be made on the basis of other risks of immunisation versus benefit. It's difficult since there's a .001% chance (or something like that) of other bad things happening. My suggestion would be to immunise against the deadlier things like smallpox and don't worry so much about other things like measles and mumps unless you feel very comfortable with the risks.

We also decided to run vaccine titers on our son. I am not a mercury mom but had noticed in hindsight that he had autistic behaviors since birth. His main problem is the ingredients contained within the vaccines, such as egg and gelatin. He has tons of food allergies and when we were running food trials, gelatin (Jello) was his worst reaction.

The plan for now is to wait another year and if he is totally healthy, introduce each vaccine one at a time. Like the Polling case, our son has a mitochondrial disease.

Welcome, make yourself at home.

I completely agree with others that vaccines are not at the root of autism spectrum disorders, but your child may have an issue with one of the elements of the vaccine. Talk to your pediatrician. Your mom gut is telling you something is funny. Testing and/or an alternate vaccine protocol may be warranted.

This is the bit of your post that concerned me. Fever after vaccination is common, but you mention that he had a sustained muscle reaction for a few months. Did your pediatrician see this?

I happen to be allergic to tetanus toxoid and antitoxin. My early reactions were not life-threatening, but it grew over time to anaphylaxis, just like some people do with bee stings. As it happens, my child inherited this trait from me. First round of the 5 in 1 he got a huge raised welt (an Arthus reaction). Second round we got another, larger, more severe welt (another Arthus reaction). We did allergy testing to see if it was gelatin or any other common component. In the end, the allergist and the pediatrician agreed that it was simplest to utilize an alternate vaccine protocol. He's off the combo and on to individual vaccines, except for the small problem that you can't get just pertussis without tetanus. We decided that we will check titers annually for tetanus, treat any severe cough as if it were pertussis, and skip that particular vaccine. All other vaccines, including the much maligned MMR, are on schedule.

As an aside, having seen mumps recently in New England (and I happen to know there are outbreaks elsewhere), I really recommend that you consider getting your child vaccinated against mumps. Aside from feeling absolutely horrible, it can cause life-altering complications.

I totally missed the significance of this symptom when reading the initial post! Does your son have any other ongoing health or neurologic issues?

Honestly, whether there's a connection or not, the ingredients in vaccinations scare the hell out of me. My son had them all up through age 2, but he won't be getting any more for quite a while. I do believe that the shots contributed to his autism, if only indirectly, but the fact that they contain things like formaldhyde is just insane.

I have read articles and some research and I really don't think there is a connection with AS. My son has PDD-NOS but will probably be dx with AS in a few years. His father has undx AS. I believe in our family it is genetic.

There is someone I know from another forum. After shots, her son started having autism-like symptoms. Her physician ordered a bunch of tests and an MRI. The MRI showed that her son had a horrible reaction to the shots and ended up getting encephalitis (I think that is what he had). His dx was changed from Autism to something else although a lot of his symptomology is similiar to some people with Autism. I wonder if that is true of some other children. More tests are needed.

I gave my son the MMR at age 6 months but have refused anymore shots and will until age three. It's not because I think shots cause Autism but I think little brains can't handle all that is in shots. Isn't it true that a lot of industrialized countries wait until a child is a little older until they starting giving shots? The ingredients are quite frightening to me as well.

I will still give my younger son his shots but will wait until he is older.

Hi there,
My son has mild AS and has had no vaccinations whatsoever.

When he was a baby I was given a reading list on immunisation and vaccination by my physician (who was also homeopathically trained) and was able to make a well-informed decision not to vaccinate him or, later, his younger brother.

I have had to defend this decision many times - usually to people who have done no research on the subject - but have never regretted it. My children have had Measles, Rubella and Whooping Cough as well as other childhood illnesses, all of which we dealt with using homeopathic remedies and old-fashioned nursing ie. time at home with mum, getting well again. They are both now healthy teenagers.

Every parent has to make their own decision as to whether to vaccinate or not, but I do think adverse reactions of any kind are a bit of a warning. Also, personally I find it worrying that combined vaccines are given to very young babies.

So, two things I'm saying here: 1) in my son's case vaccination was definitely not involved. 2) If you decide not to vaccinate at this time, don't worry too much about the childhood illnesses - in most cases children get over these with no lasting consequences and there is a school of thought that suggests such illnesses strengthen the immune system naturally.

I delayed the vaccine yesterday, just wasn't ready to take him in.

In answer to your questions, my son just has AS, no other complications (e.g no allergies, asthma or anything like that). However, last year he had a lot of tonsilities / ear infection and generally seemed low/weak. So I delayed at the time. Now he is a year older and has been really good for a year - no infections at all, no antibiotics and seems a lot stronger and healthier.

I have two trains of thought - a) if it aint broken don't fix it - ie. leave things as they are and don't immunise as he is on a good streak and progressing well. b) while he is strong, just before winter its a good time to go for the jabs it as his immune system should be strong.

One one hand, I'm frightened incase the jabs affect him neurologically.
On the other, I'm worried that he won't have the protection he could.

In the uk, the pre-school booster is given 5-in-1 (tetanus, polio, diptheria, whooping cough, HIB)

Today I am leaning again towards getting it done. My GP and nurse and a paediatrician I
spoke to all recommended he should have it.

I have two children who have neurological issues, neither of whom were vaccinated. I was more concerned about the possibility of severe allergic reactions than autism.