September 02, 2007
MMR gave Phin the Measles
Yup. Some of you know I'm one of the parents who's always been freaked out by vaccinations. Aluminum as a preservative in them, questions about links to autism, rare cases of paralysis, neurological disorders & even death. I don't like it at all. I also understood the only reason it might be safe for me not to vaccinate my kids was b/c for so many years U.S. children have been vaccinated. The almost complete eradication of these diseases from the U.S. it what makes me able to consider not getting them for my kids. Last year when we moved to Boise Andy and I finally decided to get the boys vaccinated. Each time at least one of the boys has run a high fever w/malaise afterwards. Each time I call my oldest sister and get calmed down. "No, it's not an early sign of neurological damage." "No, that's perfectly normal." "No, probably not a first symptom of autism." When I called her yesterday about Phineas she calmed me down again and told me to watch him. Give him Benadryl to see if it's an allergic reaction. Watch him. Trust my guts, she said. If it really seems abnormal take him to the doctor and if nothing else it'll reassure me. So when I got home from church today to find Phineas standing in his crib screaming (Andy was napping. He'd taken the older boys to the first service while I stayed at home with Phin and I went to the third service while Andy stayed at home w/all three boys), and his rash full-bodied and bright red I decided to check the internet for photos of rubella, mumps and measles. Phin's rash looked exactly like all the pictures of the measles and his symptoms were textbook: about 8 days after exposure he got a cough, runny nose & high fever; fever dropped and he began to get a rash on his face and some diarrhea; as the fever rose and fell off and on the rash spread from the face down to the torso and finally to the arms and legs. I was pretty convinced and took Phin to a clinic down the road to get the diagnosis confirmed. Yup, the doctor says, he has measles. "This is just extremely rare," he says. He just wasn't very informative. They sometimes treat it with vitamin A, which is easy to overdose on and which they don't have at the clinic. He told me to wait and call Dr.Eck, our pediatrician. They'll definitely want to document it and keep track of him. 'Kay. And until then I'm making phone calls to my friends who have been with us the last week, one of whom has an unvaccinated, not nursing eight month-old. So, there you have it. There were 44 cases of measles in the U.S. in 2004. Of course one of the very few kids who get it from the vaccine is the child of a mom freaked out by them anyway. Well, God knows what He's doing and I know He's got a sense of humor. I'll try to get a good picture of Phin that shows the rash. Until then, this guy looks pretty much like Phineas does right now.
Wow! Scary stuff!Praying for a quick recovery. We don't vaccinate, but I have been looking into it, in case we go to Liberia. Locksley had the full round, the next two had a few, but Esther has had none. So, if we go to Liberia, we will have a few to catch up on. They freak me out, as well.
Posted by: Christina at September 2, 2007 09:46 PMYou're on track with 'God is in control'. You're such a great mom you can't help but be concerned, but I'm sure our dear Phin will be fine.
I had measles and all my siblings all had measles when we were little. About everybody I knew did. It didn't 'cause any permenant harm to us. What I've always heard is that if a child gets a shot and does have that kind of reaction it means without the shot the child would have had a very severe case of measles instead of a mild one without the shot. We're praying for you. Hope you can get a picture of the speckled one.
What some of my friends did get was polio because we didn't have the vaccines available then that are available now. There are risks in getting the shots (as there are in many things in life) but some of the diseases children routinely got when I was growing up are avoided now and that's a blessing. The important thing in all this is you know who made Phin and that He can be trusted to care for Phin in all aspects of his life ~ even when it feels hard or scary. Give our boy a kiss from his Nana. I love you both.
Posted by: Mom at September 3, 2007 06:43 AMI haven't read up on all this to verify (which I know you and Willa will!) but what I remember about the 'danger' of the measles if I remember correctly, was for childbearing moms. That the kids with the measles were miserable from them but no real harm was done to them. But if women got the measles during the first trimester of pregnancy it could be harmful to their unborn child. Let me know what you find out.
Posted by: mom at September 3, 2007 06:50 AMI think that's German measles (or Rubella) (http://www.marchofdimes.com/pnhec/188_673.asp).
I'm sorry to hear about the adverse reaction. Tim and I just had a little boy (Euan) and are trying to make decisions about vaccines. You're right, the reason it is safe for some to choose to not vaccinate is b/c of the many children that are vaccinated. I feel like we have some responsibility to vaccinate and help protect each other...at the same time I hate how the medical world sees them as being absolutely perfect...without any possibility of adverse reactions (permanent or temporary)
Posted by: ari montgomery at September 3, 2007 08:08 PMLynn,
Hi. Yes, I am a blog stalker. My husband and I are good friends of Dan & Julie and that explains how I have ever ended up reading your blog.
I applaud you for waiting to have your children vaccinated. As someone who is also freaked out by vaccines and generally skeptical of them I know for sure that I will wait until my child is at least 2 years old, if ever, before having any vaccines administered to him. I write a blog about vaccination www.speakthecontroversy.blogspot.com and I would love to include your story if that would be okay (I will leave out all names).
Please be sure to report this reaction to the Vaccine Adverse Effects Reporting System (http://vaers.hhs.gov/) or make sure that your doctor does it. It is really his responsibility but so many reactions to vaccines go unreported. Also, you can visit www.909shot.com for information about vaccination from the National Vaccine Information Center. I am so sorry to hear that your children have suffered from vaccination even if the reactions have been generally mild. Thank you for sharing your story.
I'm sorry to hear your son had a reaction from the mmr...I would also like to add that there is no logic or proof that any disease contracted by someone who has been vaccinated against that disease would be milder, think about it, how would a person know since they already had a shot?
I am a parent of a child who developed autism after his vaccinations, my boy developed typically until 2. Praise God that He led us to natural biomedical treatments that have improved his life greatly. We have since had 2 more children and are expecting our 4th in Nov. We will never be vaccinated again. Our other 2 children have been and are healthier than their same aged counterparts, and have never needed an antibiotic, like their brother, and others. Remember, Doctors mean well, but they are not toxicologists. Also, vitamin a is a treatment for measles, and overdosing on vit. a would be from using SYNTHETIC form of vitamin A..not a natural form such as Cod liver oil, it is, in fact, very hard to overdose on a natural source. I am also aquainted with 2 families whose children suffered neurological damage from the Dtap...please trust your instincts, that's why God gave them, I wish I had listened to mine. God made YOU the protector of your child, not the Doctor. And while, many children may not show any signs of harm now, how will you ever know that a disease that they MIGHT get later in life is NOT from a vaccine? There are no long term studies on what injecting foreign (animal) dna into the human bloodstream has done or will do. I could go on and on, it has been my burden to forewarn every new parent. I'll say a prayer for your little one!!
PS- I am Chloe's sister, Anna's, sister-in-law...sounds funny
Thanks for your input, Chloe and Hope. I have noticed Gid has become sicker in general in the last year (since he started vaccinations) though we've also had the major factor of moving across the country. It's all been so freaky to me. I mean, you can't argue w/the positive effects the polio vaccines had on society but then you can't deny all the negatives and unknowns, too (like the bad batch the government's admitted to in the 70's - hmm, a corresponding rise in autism, anyone?). We'll definitely wait until at least two but probably three yrs old before any more vaccinations w/any more kids.
Posted by: lynnp at September 6, 2007 04:16 PMwell, and then there are all those tracking devices that the gov't hides in vaccines. . .holstein cow venom and stuff.
yeah, i seriously need some down time.
Posted by: willa Ibach at September 6, 2007 05:28 PMI am a little late on the commenting, but I am praying for Phin! I just got Judah vaccinated with the HIB. He started preschool this week. I almost got him fully vaccinated and then I just had the strongest reservations. I decided on one and then I could wait and decide on the others. The two that seem the scariest to me are the MMR and the DTaP. I can't believe this happened to my most reserved vaccination friend! I am so sorry you have to go through this...but as an echo I stand....God is in control and he created Phin and he will carry our His purposes in him! Love you Lynn! Kate
Posted by: kate at September 9, 2007 11:00 AM