I posted last week about Jenny McCarthy’s appearance on Oprah and her new book Louder than Words. If you missed it, Jenny shared how vaccines played a part in her son’s autism and how she was determined to help him recover from this condition. This morning I was reminded of this topic again…twice.
First, I watched Jenny again on The View. It was another good interview. She talked about vaccines and the possibility of recovery for the autistic yet again. I did find Barbara Walters a bit irritating when she kept arguing with Jenny’s explanation of how autism can be reversible. Whoopi Goldberg too was a little too quick to butt in and tell parents that Jenny’s experience should not motivate parents to decline vaccines. BUT overall, this was another great message for parents.
Then, I sat down to listen to Carrie’s natural mom podcast in which she interviewed the author of The Boy in the Window, a book about the author’s son and his traumatic injury after a DPT vaccine. It was a great interview and I plan to read this book very soon.
These two interviews this morning got me thinking about my own experiences with this issue. When I posted last week about Jenny’s interview on Oprah I got several comments that implied that mercury is the scapegoat that moms who oppose vaccines are targeting and that in our folly we are overlooking the fact that autism rates have not decreased since mercury (thermisol) has been systematically removed from most vaccines. That means vaccines can’t be contributing to autism right?
I was irritated by the comments. While I do believe that mercury has no place in vaccines let us not overlook the fact that vaccines are full of other chemicals too and these chemicals work together to overwhelm the immune system. Just look at the fact that “some” doctors will refuse to vaccinate children who are ill. Why is this? Because they know that these chemicals can overwhelm their already weakened immune system. But why is that they don’t care to know if their immune system can handle the vaccine even if they are NOT currently displaying symptoms of illness? Why is it that they do not consider that previous vaccines may have in fact compromised their immune systems and that further vaccinations could be harmful? We may never know.
What exactly is in a vaccine? Try some of these on for size…formaldehyde, aluminum hydroxide, aluminum phosphate, ammonium sulfate, formalin, and monosodium glutamate (MSG) to name a few. These are chemicals and heavy metals for cripes sake! If you look up some of these chemicals you will see that they are labeled hazardous and toxic. How in God’s green earth we can possibly think that these ingredients have NO effect when packaged in a vaccination shot? How can we think that cumulative exposure is not dangerous…especially combined with all the other exposures that occur in daily life? I like the comment left by one of my readers on another post: If you think these things are not dangerous…you are living in “Fantasy Land”.
When I share my opinions about the danger of vaccines I do not isolate the MMR shot or mercury as the cause of autism or other typical vaccine related injuries. The MMR is NOT the only shot that is dangerous and mercury is only of one many dangerous ingredients. I have researched this issue for 11 years now and I am 100% confident in my decision to deny all vaccinations for my children at this time.
Usually around this time I tell people that it was my son’s own vaccine injury that led me to where I am now. I did mention a bit about his story a few weeks back and I got several personal emails from a couple moms who basically said that what happened to my son was unfortunate but I could NEVER prove vaccines caused his injury and therefore I shouldn’t publicly declare that they did. One woman even implied that he was an acceptable loss for a product that otherwise does a lot of good in the world. I am horrified that moms can have this attitude about child safety. The picture below is my son after a vaccine injury. He is in ICU.
My journey really began on day two of my son’s life. His birth was pretty easy and when I had finished laboring I had a perfect little boy in my arms. He was calm and curious right from the start. He had many guests that day and all marveled at how serious he looked and how he didn’t cry at all. He slept in a bassinet next to my bed in perfect peace and he breastfed immediately and without trouble.
Then on day two the nurses came to get him and give him a Hepatitis B shot. At the time I had no reason to think I should not give consent. I knew nothing about vaccines except the fact that Doctors tell you need them and schools require them. Had I known he was being vaccinated against a sexually transmitted disease I might have questioned it but I am not sure. :(
The baby they brought back to me was not the same baby they left with. This was not my calm, serene baby. This baby cried furiously, refused to fall asleep in the bassinet, or even be put down. I joked several times that we had a baby mix-up going on here but I tried to dismiss all thoughts that maybe…just maybe the vaccine did this. One day wasn’t really enough time to know if there had been a REAL change in his behavior right?
When I brought him home he had to sleep in the crook of my arm to be able to go to sleep. You could not put him down for even a moment or he would scream. Family members had to help with the constant holding and since I rarely got a break…or any decent sleep…I gave up on breastfeeding after only 4 months…a decision I regretted.
He went in for more shots at 2 months and 4 months old. Each time he would become sick for an extended period of time but his Doctors assured me that I did not need to worry. He was sick so often that I decided to delay his six month vaccinations until he was 10 months old…at which time he got a DTP shot. This is shot changed our lives forever. :(
He became very ill after the shot with a high fever that lasted for days. The doctors kept telling me it was normal. When his fever jumped to 104 degrees I got in the car with him and went to the emergency room. In the triage they confirmed his fever and sent us out to the waiting room. I sat and held my son and began to notice something strange. I can’t explain it other than to say that I felt that he was leaving me. He was gradually loosing eye contact and alertness and his eyes and arms were ever so slightly twitching. When I started snapping my fingers in front of him and he didn’t respond I freaked out. I ran into the triage and told them something was terribly wrong and described what I was seeing. A young nurse scooped him up and took him into a nearby room and began examining him. He also tried to get my son’s attention and when it didn’t work I could see panic on his face. Then my son’s twitches turned into a full blown, violent seizure. The nurse got on the intercom and called for immediate assistance. Two other people came and they wheeled him into another room. I stood just outside trying to see what was going on and I recall that they told me they were going to give him an anti-seizure medication and then one of them ran outside and yelled to all the medical staff, “we need to bag him!” He had gone into respiratory arrest. His room filled with about 10 people and they ushered me away.
Fearing the worst I called my husband at the nurse’s station but I couldn’t even get the words out…I could only cry into the phone. A nurse had to give him the details because I couldn’t. After he got there they explained to both of us that our son was being air-lifted to a hospital that could handle this type of situation. We had to follow in our car and over the next week he stayed in the hospital with the first days being in ICU on a ventilator.
I knew in my heart what had caused this and when I asked the treating neurologist about it…he would only say that I should trust my instincts. He wouldn’t give absolute confirmation but he wanted me to know that I was right. At a later time he would tell me that my son was not a good candidate for any further vaccinations. I also found out that my son most likely had an immune disorder at the time he got that last vaccination and really should have never received it. But medical professionals do not currently check things like that. Vaccines are one size fits all.
Unfortunately for my son this information was too late. He had many more violent seizures and he ended up with mild brain damage and since his seizures would not stop they decided to start medicating him for epilepsy at age 5 after he almost fell down a flight of stairs during a seizure. I was not happy about medicating him but I did take comfort in the fact they said it didn’t have to be permanent and that I could evaluate alternative therapies in the mean time.
In between these two events though I became pregnant again and the issue of vaccines came up on a discussion board. I was horrified to find that I still wasn’t committed to denying all vaccines for my new baby….perhaps rationalizing that my son’s case had been unique. Another mom suggested that I retrain myself and start researching vaccine injuries. I did and I found that my son’s case was not unusual. There are thousands upon thousands of children that have been harmed by vaccines. And alarmingly I found even more confirmation that vaccines had caused my son’s injury when I found hundreds of stories just like his.
By the time my second child was born I was confident in my choice to decline all vaccines. Of course that is only half the battle. Sticking to your guns on the issue can be challenging because I met with many moms and doctors that were down right militant when I expressed my opinion on the issue. They act as though they know what is best for your child and they hope to shake some sense into you so you can be the good, vaccinating parent your child deserves. They dismiss all protests that vaccines can injure children by talking about how the statistics show that the number adversely affected is so small it barely matters…..yeah right…unless you are the parent of one of those insignificant statistics. And of course they talk about all the good that vaccines do, ignoring the fact that many other factors besides vaccinations have contributed to a decline in these diseases. But if you stick you your guns…it gets easier to deal with these people.
Contrary to what others might say I do not write about these things to convince other parents that vaccines are bad and that they need to deny them. I just want other parents to know that there is risk involved. I would “think” that most parents would want to know about that. I believe in informed consent. Tell all parents both sides of the issue….the good, the bad, and the ugly, and allow them to choose for themselves. Right now most parents are only getting one half of the whole story and they are basing their decision to vaccinate on that incomplete data. Tell them that there are risks!!!
If they still decide to vaccinate that is fine…at least they know the whole story and they made a conscious decision. I will not fault them for their decision at all. I just hope that they can see why I and many other parents decided that the risk was too great and respect our decision as we respect theirs. Meanwhile I share my son’s story to help other moms see that there is another side to this issue that many don’t want you to know about. It is your right as a parent to know the whole truth.
So how is my son doing today? Much better! We have made a lot of changes in our lifestyle to eliminate further chemical exposure, we have made many dietary changes, and we have learned to adjust. I am happy to say that I after the changes we made I was confident that he could function without the epilepsy medication. Call it mother’s intuition. :) I was right. He was taken off meds after 6 months and he has had no seizures. His weight loss has reversed itself and he is at a much healthier weight now and he no longer scratches his arms until they are a mass of bleeding wounds. It has been a long road but we are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. I now realize that we were not one of the unlucky ones. We were one of the lucky ones.
Update 11/2011 – This past year my son was diagnosed (finally) with high functioning autism at the age of 11. Was it the vaccine, even if not the infamous MMR? I don’t know. It really doesn’t matter much. All I know is that daily life is a struggle and I still think we were one of the lucky ones.
Hey now, no need to get irritated. I brought up thimerosol simply because it is a specific and highly testable example of something that was thought to be a cause, but later determined not to be a cause of autism.
I also said, “I’m absolutely sure that some of the anecdotal cases described — such as children that get a vaccine, get very sick, then have problems afterward — were honest statements of fact. These are troubling and legitimate concerns.”
It sounds like your son had a very real negative reaction to a vaccine, and that is tragic. In trying to understand the cause(s) of autism, we need to be careful not to confuse a specific case like yours with the more general claim that vaccines are a *statistically significant* cause of autism in the general population.
It would be equally fallacious to cite the case of my own son, diagnosed autistic, who never registered so much as a mild rash or a stuffy nose in response to vaccination. Is it productive to subsequently claim that vaccines *cannot possibly* cause autism because my own son never had a bad reaction? Certainly not. Just as it is a mistake to claim that vaccines *must* cause autism based on a few well-documented cases.
Such claims can only be made with confidence by examining a large body of evidence. Unfortunately, it seems that evidence coming back from other industrialized nations, where the vaccine schedule is less aggressive, do not support the claim that less vaccines mean less autism in the statistical aggregate.
And I think you were absolutely right to refuse vaccination for your other child. Those sensitivities can be inherited.
Anyway, I’ll close with this:
http://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/
You should look into it. It sounds like you have a real case.
RR
A beautiful share for what could have been a tragic story. I started researching vaccine related injuries when I was in high school (26 years ago) after numerous of my fellow classmates reacted to their Rubella vaccination (I developed seizures after my 2 month old vaccines and the paediatrician then said ‘no more’. As a Naturopath & Nutritionist with kids of my own, I don’t recommend vaccination, but have to support those that do…. which can be done very effectively. Zinc, vitamin C, and checking parents MTHFR gene status (it appears that many cases of high reactivity come with MTHFR gene defects) meaning increasing both parents and the childs intake of B6, B12 and folinic acid… I haven’t had any kids experience side effects since.
I am so sorry about your story, but so glad you are on a better road now! Same here, kinda.
I am also outspoken about the MYTHS about vaccine ingredients – namely the thimersol/mercury- if it’s out of vaccines, then they must be safe! (WRONG!) There are still traces of it in some vaccines and I think even a trace is too much. And I am pretty sure that the MMR never even had thimerosol!!! SO, of course it’s many other ingredients that people need to be aware of and informed about. It’s all there in FACT at the CDC’s site -vaccine ingredient listings here: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/additives.htm#Facts
Disgusting. I do not want that in my child’s body.
Anyway… I don’t want to take over your comment section here, just want to give you my kudos and support.
Steph
Thanks Rick and Steph for your thoughtful comments and support. I appreciate it!
Wow, thanks so much for sharing your story. I have a 6 week old and I’ve been debating getting his shots. My first received her vaccinations and there were no adverse affects, but I am trying to make an informed decision this time around.
I haven’t done a lot of research into this, but my logic has always thought that there might be a link between vaccinations and autism (or possibly other things, like ADD). I do have a question about your decision to not vaccinate your children. What do you do about things like school? I just entered graduate school, and they are STILL requiring proof of my vaccinations – and I’m 23! They had a hold on my registration until I gave them official proof. How do you work out things like that?
Thank you for sharing your very personal story. While I have not had any problems with vaccines, I think it’s important to hear all sides of the story. No one wants that to happen to their child. Give him a big HUG for me!
Everyone regarding Lindsey’s question: Take a look at this site, the national vaccine information site. It talks about legal exemptions from taking vaccines. Note, that not all states require all vaccines. This site tells you which states require which vaccines, etc. This is a website that is full of alot of information.
First read http://www.nvic.org/state-site/state-exemptions.htm and then read legal exemptions: http://www.nvic.org/state-site/legal-exemptions.htm
Tiffany-my heart breaks for your son. I do believe that all the chemicals in vaccines can do damage to the fragile immune systems of our children. I also believe that the chemicals in their food, clothing, cleaners, and building products have a profound effect on them as well.
I have children who have learning disabilties and ADD. Did vaccines make them more susceptible? Did the chemicals in our enviromental play a part? Who knows but I can tell you that it did not help. I built my house a couple of years ago using alot of non-toxic green materials for this very reason. If I could lessen the impact on their immune system some part of the day, I was going to do it.
When my son was 13, he had to take tetanus booster shot which was the adult version. It contained mercury even though at the time children vaccines did not contain mercury. What I read on the site listed above, is children over age 7 get a booster which does contain mercury.
Deciding whether or not to give vaccines is very personal and all the information should be weighed to make an informed decision. Tiffany, thanks for sharing your son’s story. anna http://www.green-talk.com
Thank you for sharing your story. I refused all shots at birth and took some grief, but the risks were not worth it to me. I am still not vaccinating at this point and am finding the same experience as you with the militant pushing of vaccinations. Today our children are exposed to a great number of items that have no long term testing. For me, it is important to try limiting this exposure. It is encouraging to hear that your son is doing better!
Thanks for mentioning the show Tiffany and for sharing your story.
Vaccines are frightening for so many reasons, not just potential mercury exposure as you mentioned. They circumvent the natural lines of defenses offered by the immune system, namely the skin, saliva, nose, digestive system, etc… all these protect us and minimize pathogens before they can even infect the body. Vaccines go through all that and straight to the blood.
Babies and toddlers don’t have a fully developed immune system to begin with and are so vulnerable anyway – I think we just don’t know what we’re messing with. Vaccines are still so new to the human race. How many years did it take for people to figure out that tobacco was a killer?
Tiffany, thank you for sharing your story. How wonderful that you were able to help your son recover from such a horrible experience.
I did a bit of research before choosing to vaccinate my daughter, but obviously not enough! We live in the UK and, supposedly, the vaccines are not as harmful here. The EU is usually better than the US at banning harmful substances. We’re in London and are in contact with people from all over the world, many of whom are not vaccinated, so was on the fence. Your story has encouraged me to consider opting out in the future.
If you get a moment, I would be interested hearing about the dietary changes that helped your son recover. Good for you for fighting for what you know is right!
Hannah
Lindsey,
Handling school for my kids is pretty easy. I chose to live in a state that has three exemtpions for vaccines. I chose philisophical which means I can decline for any reason I want. I just have to sign a release and also accept that my kids mat be dismissed from school if an outbreak occurs.
This should also apply to state funded colleges. Private schools however do not usually have to honor vaccine exemptions.
Hannah,
We went nearly 100% organic, we got rid of all preservatives and food coloring (especially red and blue dyes), we strictly limited his gluten intake and only allow for more of that recently. We also did the Feingold diet for quite awhile. We are now re-introducing foods that were forbidden before. But we still eat organic and without preservatives or dyes.
It’s never been about thimersol for me. Our PED hadn’t used vaccines with thimersol when my first born was vaccinated. I get annoyed when people try to say it couldnt possibly be vaccines that caused or added to autism since most of them don’t have thimersol in them.
I’m worried that the vaccine is dangerous argument will lose it’s potency since so many people are still only talking about MMR and thimersol.
The amount of vaccines, the digusting junk in all of them all led to my choice to stop vaccinating my second born and no longer give any to my second born.
I believe that vaccines played a roll in my first born’s speech delay, learning disabilities, and his problems with staring off into space, lack of eye contact, and more problems (he hasnt been diagnosed with autism or anything at this time) like that.
I do believe there are more factors than just vaccines in the autism argument. But, I do believe it plays a roll (large for some kids and maybe not as much for others). In my opinion it shouldnt just be about autism either.
Vaccines scare me for more reasons than just autism. Brain damage, speech delays, learning disabilities, seizures, so many very real problems with vaccines. I wish there would be more wide spread outrage about what we’re putting into our babies bodies and what it’s causing in them.
Even if your child is LUCKY enough not to have a bad reaction to the vaccine they are still loaded with toxins!
As far as Jenny’s appearence on The View yesterday I was proud of her, but annoyed with Barbara WA WA and Whoopie. Why is it that these big named news people never want to allow such talk about vaccines? I don’t get it…do they really feel that way or is it because of big money, advertising dollars…etc?
It seems that anytime a mother says anything about vaccines the host of the show has to say nothing has been proven, or vaccines arent bad, or whatever. It really gets under my skin.
Maybe it’s “our” own guilt for giving our kids vaccines and we don’t want to admit that there would be a real danger with vaccines…that we potentially put our kids at risk.
I’m proud of Jenny and I really hope she doesnt back down from her message. She needs to keep preaching on about vaccines and natural ways to reverse autism. And maybe we’ll get to a day when people are talking about the dangers of vaccines for more than just the possible risk of autism.
Tiffany, I’m sorry to hear about what you went through with your son and what your son went through. It sounds like, in some respects, my son still got lucky….yes, his issues we deal with arent easy or fair, but I never had to watch my son have seizure after seizure.
I can’t imagine what Jenny, you, steph, and other mother’s who have had to watch their kids convulse on the floor went through. My heart goes out to anybody who has had to deal with that.
Vaccines are terribly dangerous. I feel like you’re taking a bigger more real risk giving your child vaccines rather than the smaller risk of them catching the true disease on their own.
We all need to keep speaking out and hopefully one day the drug companies will listen and will pull their vaccines and rethink the way they make any in the future….somehow I doubt this will actually happen. Will we ever have a truly safe vaccine? I’m doubtful….hopefully I’ll be proven wrong.
Thank you for sharing your story. I keep hearing stories like this and not only do I regret my decision to vaccinate my daughter because I was uninformed about the risks, but I was also uneducated about how unnessicary they were for my daughter. I was last vaccinated in my teens and had my daughter when I was 19 years old. I decided to breastfeed her almost exclusively and have been doing so now for all 9 and 1/2 months of her life. The entire time she had been alive she has been getting the anti-bodies she needs to prevent her from getting sick from me, including all the ones she was vaccinated against, because I am still with-in range of not needing another booster shot. Also I’m upset to think the whole time I was pregnant I didn’t eat any fish and rarely ate meat because I was concerned about toxins and mercury hurting my daughter…but then I let her get vaccinated and had all of these horrible chemicals injected right into her. I’m not planning to get her vaccinated again.
It’s about time that the media is catching on and allowing these voices to be heard!!!
This issue, I believe, will be a non issue in time. Vacines canot withstand real scientific scrutiny (there is very little valid science to market them) and the consequences canot beswept under the rug for to much longer. It will be revealed that vaccination was a (another) failed medical experiment based on flawed allpathic ideology. Their fall begins with peopel being allowed to tell their story.
We created a web site that gathers/catalogues evidence agianst the poisoned needle. Visit http://www.novaccine.com and get educated.
Tiffany, I applaud your courage in sharing this very difficult journey with your son. I am so sorry to hear of his injury and pray that he will continue to experience more wholeness and healing every day.
It is because of brave Momma’s like you sharing their stories and information they found while researching , that I decided not to vaccinate my dd from birth (she is now 9 mo.). I am unsure as to whether or not I will vaccinate her as a pre-teen or teenager, but I will cross that road when we get there. As for now, I am opting to keep her world as organic, and natural as possible. She is exclusively breastfed, and has only had one cold- it lasted for two days. =)
I am so thankful for the information you share in your blog. It is a breath of fresh air in our increasinly polluted world! Thanks again!
Wow! I knew some people had arguments against. But I never really looked into this. Having traveled to a country with infectious diseases, I have been heavily vaccinated and never thought twice about vaccinating my kids. I am so ashamed! I make the other “right” decisions for them, how could I have blindly followed my dr’s advice on this. I feel sick. My kids are fine, but I have multiple friends whose kids started to have seizures at 5 and 6 years old with no clue why. I wonder if this is it? Thanks for sharing your story, I know it is sometimes hard to do. But realize that you are reaching people who just simply didn’t think about it! Thanks for making a difference! I am going to that CDC website to print stuff out to confront my doctor about, since she said that there was no harmful things in them.
Yet another story like the one that inspired the novel, White Lies: A Tale of Babies, Vaccines, and Deception. The deception continues in approval of vaccinations like Gardasil, and in the failure to take care of the injured children, the known statistical risk, with all vaccinations. There is more thimerasol in the flu vaccine than is safe for the fish in the Chesapeake Bay and doctors are now talking about giving it to infants. Very few people die of the flu, it’s messy and uncomfortable, but not usually fatal. Your testimony and your desire to spread the word are important. Education is important. Just because vaccines save lives doesn’t mean that there can’t be a known risk to some children, perhaps with a predisposition, and sometimes not as in the case with the DPT shot which they gave five times to every child for thirty years even though they knew in year four there was a safer shot. Read White Lies, a fictional account, easy to read, of true events, which exposes other deceptions behind the Compensation Fund.
wow. i cannot imagine what the experience has been like for you. i also was ingnorant about vaccines and blindly did whatever the doctors said. fortunately we have had no problems, but i cannot help but feel i should have been more careful. your story is very helpful to reinforce the need for parents to always trust their instincts and always question authoritarian advice regarding their children (whether medical or educational or other). wishing you continued health and happiness.
Just wanted to say thanks for sharing your story Tiffany.
It’s all about INFORMED CONSENT. I just wish it was easier to find objective information and that drs were more willing to
(oops cut me off)
discuss it with you without treating you like an idiot.
BTW we went with a delayed/selective schedule with my son and did as much as we could to boost his immune system naturally as well.
I have a Four year old daughter named Logan she was diagnosed with autism two years ago. to say life is a stuggle is a complete understatement. i belive my childs autism was caused at about the age of 8 months when she recieved her yet another round of vaccines and also a flu shot. i still don’t understand why the doctor included the flu shot and at the time thought nothing of it. Logan was a happy baby said mama and dada before those shot . it was about a month later when i realized something was wrong . the eye contact began to deminish until there was none. and all of her speech was gone. when i appoched the doctor i got a very bad attitude from him . is this common? and have you heard other mothers complain about the flu shot?
thanx
I have a vaccine injured child, too, but I praise God his is not as serious medically. We have found great help in Chlorella, which strips the heavy metals out of their bodies naturally.
And mercury is still in some vaccines, it isn’t illegal to use it. I was REFUSED a mercury free vaccine for one of my children. They said they only give those to infants. Except the flu shot, that has mercury even for infants.
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I can totally understand why you wouldn’t want to vaccinate your other child. I am so sorry for everything you went though with your son, but I am glad to hear he is doing better today.
I am making decisions right now about which vaccines I want my 2 month old to get. I just rec’d The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears, which I have yet to read. But it also helps to hear stories like this. The risks ARE real. Thank you for sharing.
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Thanks for sharing your story. I didn’t have a good feeling about vaxing my 1st baby in 2002 until I had the chance to research it a bit. Once I started reading, I couldn’t feel safe about vaccines ever again. Reading stories like yours helps me be strong and remember that my husband and I have made the right decision for our family by declining vax. Sometimes it’s easy to start questioning that decision when faced with criticism.
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What a terrifying story. I am so sorry this happened to your son. I chose to vaccinate my children because I personally believe the risks outweigh the benefits in MOST cases, but I never forget that there are risks involved. There is always a twinge of worry that I will find out I made the wrong decision later. While most kids make it through vaccinations fine, I am so sorry for the families that it affects in a negative way. I think moms need to start supporting one another more and understanding that moms who choose not to vaccinate don’t do it because they are bad moms or because they don’t care about their kids, but because for them, the possibility of something like this happening is too much of a risk to take. I think you did a wonderful job of bringing up the issue without making those of us who do choose to vaccinate feel bad for making our decision either.
I also chose to vaccinate my baby thus far, as I was working on my PhD in chemistry a college campus and bringing her there each day; however, I respect an informed decision either way. All those immunizations are a lot for a young immune system, and personally I find a delayed schedule to be a good fit, and so far I feel like that makes sense. I do not plan to get my daughter an MMR shot; as one professor I know said: “back in my day we all got the measles, it was just how it was.” In all issues in parenting it is our duty to do our research, and to be kind and respectful both to those who agree and those who disagree with us. Thanks all for the replies everyone!
You have to take what Jenny McCartney says w/ a grain of salt. She, after all, admitted she had her son’s penis mutilated (circumcised) knowing full well it wasn’t at all necessary, sexually damaging and a human rights violation only because she wanted a “pretty” penis (yeah, a dried out glans and circ scar on the shaft is “pretty” than the foreskin he was born w/!). Just a little food for thought. While I have always been anti-circumcision, I thought much like most of the “sheeple” about vaccination. It wasn’t until I found the Mothering.com: The Case Against Circumcision forum did I learn about being anti-vax as well as anti-circ. Quite eye-opening indeed.
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Hi Tiffany, I’d like to know where did you find facts that vaccines are dangerous, because I can’t find any data and I’m concerned about this. Thank you!
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Thanks for sharing your story. I am so glad that your son is doing so much better. God bless.
I just wanted to say that I am sorry about ur son. that is such a sad story. I would like to briefly share with you about what happened to my daughter. When she was 3 months she started having seizures after she got the dpt vaccine. It was only when I was feeding her though. My pediatrician referred us to a neurologist and he suspected it was associated with her reflux. Which made no sense to me. But I beleived them and went about my business. They stopped after about a month and has not had any since. However, I started doing research on vaccines about 2 months ago and came across some pretty scary stories and decided to delay and only give her shots that I felt were safe. She got the pcv shot and the hip b shot after I discussed w her pediatrician about my decision. the entire way home, I was a wreck constantly checking to make sure she was breathing and/or not having any seizures. I have since decided not to give her any shots at all. I am not looking forward to the next dr’s visit which is her 13 mo checkup. I am sure he is going to try and talk me into giving her her shots. But I am going to stand firm and refuse.
Thanks for sharing this.
I often hear the bold statement, well who will keep our vaccinated kids safe if your kids arent vaccinated….well hello, aren’t the vaccines suppose to protect them?
I’m sorry your son suffered.
It’s not about vaccinating or not vaccinating. It’s about being informed. It’s about knowing what’s right for your family.
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Thank you for sharing your son’s story and hugs from my family to yours! I it unfathomable to me the ignorance of people who try to defend vax – do all the pro-lifers understand that aborted fetal tissue is also a component in creating many vaccines? That was the final straw so to speak for our family. How wonderful your son has been off the anti-seizure meds for some time now!
I am a mother of 3 and just recently have been informed of the dangers of vaccines. So far my 6, 3, and 7 week old have all been vaccinated according to ‘doctor guidelines’ but the more research I do the less and less I want to continue getting them vaccinated! My one concern still remains….majority of children vaccinated are perfectly fine, however, some have severe reactions and even die. Then again, the majority of children not vaccinated are perfectly fine, however, then they are suseptible to harmful diseases (some of which are making a comeback) and can have severe symptoms and can even die from those as well. I’m so confused!!!!! :/
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Thankyou for posting this!! I have gotten Dr. Russell Blaylock’s M.D. Neurosurgeon’s letters for years about vaccines. My pastor’s son was labeled with something similar to autism…however, with the addition of a whole food fruit and veggie supplement….in about a year, he is mainstreamed in school. Nutrition can make a big difference.
THANK YOU for your story! it must be hard to stand in a world that is so pressed to prevent everything and treat it before needed. I know there are probably some drugs out there that are effective but most should be avoided. I have a 5 yr old and a 1 yr old. When she was born, I had the same reservations about vaccines….not so much with my 5 yr old because I was naive, why would they give him a shot if it could harmful? if he didnt need it, why would it be administered? But with her, I had heard more and more about what is actually in a lot of vaccinations. I didnt want the Hep B shot but they said it was necessary. even after it was done(unfortunately) I had a sick feeling. Thankfully as far as I know she hasnt had any side effects. Im so sorry that your little boy had to be put through so much…Thank you again for your story.
THANK YOU for your story! it must be hard to stand in a world that is so pressed to prevent everything and treat it before needed. I know there are probably some drugs out there that are effective but most should be avoided. I have a 5 yr old and a 1 yr old. When she was born, I had the same reservations about vaccines….not so much with my 5 yr old because I was naive, why would they give him a shot if it could harmful? if he didnt need it, why would it be administered? But with her, I had heard more and more about what is actually in a lot of vaccinations. I didnt want the Hep B shot but they said it was necessary. even after it was done(unfortunately) I had a sick feeling. Thankfully as far as I know she hasnt had any side effects. Im so sorry that your little boy had to be put through so much…Thank you again for your story.
this is old the Dr that started the debate from England has lost his license
and the journal has retracted the article since it was found the research the DR presented was falsified.
I had heard about the high amount of vaccines being given to our little ones but I did not think much of it until I had one and was studying to be a teacher. I recall as a kid there were few students who had to attend special education. My aunt was the special ed teacher so I knew all these great kids. Most were good friends. Now as an adult I enter the classroom and find what appear to be much larger numbers in the classroom. All I could think was what is different?
My son who is 3 now never had any problems taking vaccinations but when he was only a few months old I started limiting his amount. He is currently behind about 5 shots and I will likely allow him to take a few more because he has not had any problems and some of these illnesses can kill, but I do think giving so many shots at such a young age is dangerous. My doctor thinks I am crazy, but that is ok.
I have also noticed that Gardasil that protects against HPV and has only been tested over a 2year study contains 225ug Aluminum hydroxyphosphate sulfate adjuvant. According to what I’ve been able to find adults should not take more than 100ug or they could experience brain swelling and this is being given to teenage girls around age 12!?!
There have been some very nasty documented reactions to Gardasil too. Scary stuff! Thanks for commenting!
With all the nasty ingredients in all vaccines, All recipients ARE having reactions in one way or another on the same sliding scale just different measures , with no vaccines being safe , it’s better to take the risk in the world with no vaccines all together , the healthiest children are the unvaccinated , ask around , every passing moment is another chance to turn it all around , every one of us has been conditioned in one way or another to believe the vaccine paradigm , we the people are the only ones with the power to change this
My son wasent the same after his two month vaccines and i never vaccanated him again. I feel for you. Thankyou for sharing!!!
my son died of vacinnes (bmr)… 18months <3 xandro , when reading my post , please contact me, his case isnt closed yet …x
Your story brought me to tears. I vaccinated my first son at 2 and 4 months and I knew he was different after those shots. I never did take him for anymore and when i had my other son, I have refused all vaccinations for him. Thank you for sharing this because nobody tells you about the risks involved. My friends son went into having seizures after a chicken pox shot and was on meds for 3 years. My other friends son got diagnosed with a rare disorder after his 6 month shot. It put him in a wheelchair unable to walk or talk until he passed away at only age 11. Of course his condition was never linked to any vaccine but mothers intuition knows better. Im happy to hear your son is recovering. He truly is lucky.
I have a cousin who developed autism, and they are pretty sure it ame from vaccines. The family now is very conscious of diet and drugs. But it is sad that he has to suffer thru this. If I had kids, they would NOT be vaccinated. The risk is not worth it. A case of measles or mumps in a healthy child will not kill them or give them autism. But a vaccine can.
So your son had an immune disorder and because of this immune disorder your son had a bad reaction to the vaccination and the medication did not cause autism. Thank you for clearing that up :)
Are you sure you even read the article? It was previous vaccinations that caused the immune disorder so if a subsequent vaccination sent him over the edge it was still the vaccinations that caused the entire ordeal. Regardless I do not claim that autism is caused by vaccination, nor does my story claim otherwise so there is nothing to “clear up”. I think it could be a factor for some but it is not the whole story and I do not think my own son’s autism was caused by vaccination. Vaccination was nearly lethal to my son, but it did not cause the autism. A small favor? I think not. Vaccines can be deadly.