If you think things 'changed' after a vaccine... Please come in.

First off, this is not a debate. A thread on the parenting board got me thinking and I'm curious about the moms on here who think that a vaccine may have had something to do with your child developing ASD or other delays.

So - if you think your child's developmental delay/Autism was triggered by a vaccine, please tell me your story. What happened. Which vaccine was it? What were their symptoms? Did you confront your pediatrician? What was said?

Again, if you disagree with the vaccine/Autism link theories, please don't challenge it on this thread. Supportive posts only please

Re: If you think things 'changed' after a vaccine... Please come in.

I posted my story on the other board.

In retrospect, a lot of "red flags" were being ignored and I was sent to specialists for blood work, etc...

Re: If you think things 'changed' after a vaccine... Please come in.

My story is very similar to smdl's.
Long story short....I have twin boys. Chris has always had reactions to vaccines, and especially the Dtap. The last one he received he had a fever so high we couldnt get it under control. He was developing typical, in fact met milestones and babbled more than his brother, so I thought he was going to be the talker first. We always wondered who was going to talk or walk first.

After the last Dtap, he regressed. He stopped all the babbling, started to lose interest in his brother and eye contact was not there anymore. I didnt know at first, because I didnt think much of it until we looked back at all the videos we took, and saw the regression after he was diagnosed. I dont care what people think, I wish they would look at this vaccine, because we all look at the MMR and Wakefield. Even though his study was fraud, there ARE children out there that have lost everything from the MMR, and poeple dont want to listen.

He has NOT had the MMR and not sure I even want to give it anytime soon, because Im so afraid that he will lose all the skills he had learned, such as, he is now started to talk, be potty trained, play with his brother, and tries to imitate typical kids. i WILL not ever give him the Dtap anymore. Flame m,e all you want this is MY CHILD...MY CHOICE, NOT yours, and dont really care what others think. Walk with me and see what I have been through, then maybe people would cahnge their views, but that doesnt even seem to help.

Re: If you think things 'changed' after a vaccine... Please come in.

Re: If you think things 'changed' after a vaccine... Please come in.

My son has not been diagnosed with anything yet, but I do suspect PDD-NOS or another form of autism. Possibly SPD. I will say he never had bad reactions to his vaccines. The only one he got at 18 months was a D-Tap booster which didn't produce a visible reaction. This is roughly when I think his development stalled in some areas. We didn't get the MMR until months later, when I was already concerned that something was wrong.

So, I can't say for sure that any one vaccine did anything, though I do wonder about the cumulative effect of all of them. We did delay some vaccines and spread them out so he never got more than 2 at a time, but who is to say this protects them either?

I just don't think enough is known about the effect of all these shots on little bodies and minds.

Re: If you think things 'changed' after a vaccine... Please come in.

DS is just not being evaluated for autism, but for those who have been through this, is it affecting your decision to have another child? I even mentioned gender selection to my GYN since this seems to be so much more prevalent in boys, and I am so afraid of having another boy because dealing with these sensory delays, etc., is a F/T job.

Re: If you think things 'changed' after a vaccine... Please come in.

I believe that not everyone (children and adults alike) can filter out toxins as well as others. These toxins can be found everywhere, food, "fillings", vaccinations, the air we breathe etc.

Many children who have "disorders" or are not developing typically, have gastro issues since the body is recognizing all these toxins and trying to protect it. Unfortunately, the body can produce counterproductive methods for development (autoimmune reactions..ex high levels of yeast/candida et). Afterall, our brains are affected so much by our "gut". I think they say 80% of our serontonin is produced there ? No wonder so many kids are "foggy" and have sensory issues.

I am a mom of twins, and one of my girls can filters the the toxins and the other has high levels of them stored. I really found working with a person who specializes in healing the body really beneficial.

Re: If you think things 'changed' after a vaccine... Please come in.

Posted by ready2ttc

DS is just not being evaluated for autism, but for those who have been through this, is it affecting your decision to have another child? I even mentioned gender selection to my GYN since this seems to be so much more prevalent in boys, and I am so afraid of having another boy because dealing with these sensory delays, etc., is a F/T job.

Re: If you think things 'changed' after a vaccine... Please come in.

DS1 does not have an autism diagnosis but he is considered at risk for ADHD and/or auditory processing delay. He also has a speech delay (mostly pragmatic), fine motor delay and some low muscle tone in his upper body and mild sensory issues. He was an early roller, crawler, walker (all his gross motor was advanced). I did an alternative vaccine schedule, one a month and if he was sick I skipped that month. He did NOT get the MMR vaccine until a month ago shortly before his 4th birthday so I know the MMR played NO role in his delays. Fortunately DS had NO reaction to the MMR. I had to get him the chickenpox shot last week before he started school at ACDS and I was ****** but I did it because I had to and again, no reaction.

Do I think it is part genetics? Yes. My husband was diagnosed with ADHD as a child. Do I think vaccines played a role in his delays or maybe "brought them out"? I dont know. The only vaccine he ever had a reaction to was the DTaP vaccine. It scared me more than the MMR. I wish I had paid closer attention to when I noticed his delays/issues vs. when the vaccines were given to him.

As far as DS2, I have spaced his vaccines out even more and people can flame me if they want. I dont care. It's MY decision.

DS2 got a DTaP shot and a couple of weeks later he developed a weird tremor/shaking while falling asleep (if you do a search I posted many times about it) when he was approx 3-4 mo old. He didnt do it all the time but often enough that we needed to see a neurologist. We had to get an EEG to rule out infantile spasms. Fortunately his EEG came back normal but during those few months he got NO vaccines. I kept asking the doctors could it be from the shot and they said no. Do I think it was from the DTaP vaccine? Again, I dont know for sure but I wasn't taking any chances. DS2 is currently 19 mo. and has only had 2 DTaP vaccines and when I feel comfortable I will give him another, maybe after he turns 2 and is stronger. The only other vaccines he has gotten is the Hib, PVC and Polio...the important ones.

Right now I am not concerned about DS2's development at all with the exception of speech but that has nothing to do with vaccines or any related concerns to DS1. DS2 had chronic ear infections as a baby and only passed his first hearing test at 15 mo so it may have affected his speech development. I am giving it until he is 2 to get him evaluated. He has a lot of words but I can tell he doesnt have certain sounds (probably because of his ear issues he couldnt hear the sounds to learn them).

Message edited 4/7/2011 2:23:27 PM.

Re: If you think things 'changed' after a vaccine... Please come in.

My mother feels this way. My brother had a 40 word vocab and was reaching all of his milestones before he received his DPT shot. He had such a bad reaction that my mother would try to move him and he SCREAMED in pain. I don't remember if he had a fever or not but I would assume so. It was the pertusis part of the shot according to the ped. After that she noticed a difference.

This was back in 1991-1992 so autism research was not as prevalent as it is today. She did not confront the ped because she did not feel it was his fault.

Just as an aside, my brother is doing tremendously now. EI was significant in his development. They didn't think he would make it past 2nd grade in a regular ed classroom and he not only received a regents diploma when he graduated but is getting his B.A. in Graphic Design from Briarcliffe.