My son had a vaccine reaction last week.

[Barack_America]

He had his 4 year old boosters, so he received several at once. He was really sore at the DTap booster site to the point of limping and he developed a fever peaking at 102. We reported his reaction to his pediatrician, who recommended we keep him home from preschool that day.

On the other hand, here are the symptoms he WON'T be getting because of those vaccines:

Polio: Meningitis, Flaccid paralysis, Post-Polio Syndrome, death
Diphtheria: Diphtheric croup, respiratory failure, myocarditis, death
Tetanus: Painful, body-wide muscle spasms, sympathetic dysfunction, death
Pertussis: Choking, respiratory distress, pneumonia, death
Measles: Fever, encephalitis, blindness, deafness, pneumonia, death
Mumps: Painful glandular swelling, sub fertility/sterility, meningitis, encephalitis
Rubella: Painful joints, pneumonia, reduced blood clotting
Varicella: Pneumonia, encephalitis, cellulitis, sepsis, shingles, death

The symptoms my son got from his vaccinations? Mild, self-resolving and treatable with a little Tylenol, rest and love.

The symptoms my son AVOIDED by getting his vaccinations? Chronic. Untreatable. Scarring. Painful. Debilitating. Catastrophic. Fatal.

And that's just his benefits, members of our families and communities were spared these as well.

So, would we do it again? Hell yes, we would...and we will, once his brother turns 4.

[MohRokTah]

1. K&R eom

[X_Digger]

2. K&R n/t

[sharp_stick]

3. Yup

my middle child had the same reaction at four.

Well done.

[elias49]

4. Wouldn't think twice about it. nt

[LiberalArkie]

5. That reminds me of this years flu shot (at least the one for seniors)

hurt like hell and felt like crap for a couple of days.

[Art_from_Ark]

15. I think Walgreen's was offering an oral (or maybe nasal) flu vaccine

[AllyCat]

60. The mist is no longer recommended for adults over 49 years of age for reasons

no one yet has been able to explain to me. I had a horrible reaction to the injected vaccine a few years ago, so I get the mist now with no problem. What do I do when I turn 50?

[sulphurdunn]

88. Have a wild birthday party

and get the 24 hour flu from a bottle.

[AllyCat]

101. Hah!

[dhol82]

46. Yup, had the same reaction

Wondered why. Been getting flu shots for years and this was the first time for such a reaction.
Possibly due to the higher dose for seniors but who knows?

[BlueMTexpat]

66. Same here ...

I wondered about that too.

But I haven't had the flu - not even a cold - so far this season.

May that continue!

[HubertHeaver]

70. Had my first flu shot since 1968.

With the one in '68 I was extremely ill. I blamed that on the shot and refused the flu shot thereafter. The most recent one did not bother me at all.

[MrScorpio]

6. Pieyow! nt

[Ilsa]

7. I'm glad your child is protected

and that his reactions were relatively mild.

Every once in a while, extremely rarely, there are "Adverse Events" that must be reported to the CDC. Those children's lives are ruined, but this is an extremely rare occurrence.

No one should belittle the fact that these things happen.

[pnwmom]

21. Thank you for pointing it out. It is no comfort to a family who has lost a child

due to a vaccine reaction to be told that it is extremely rare. Their child was extremely rare -- and precious to them.

My parents never got over losing my sister at the age of 6 months to the old whole-cell DPT vaccine. Never. But they were happy when the losses of families like ours were finally recognized, and a safer vaccine was finally developed and put on the market in the 80's -- so millions of children could benefit.

[xmas74]

8. My kid had a fever at that age.

Tylenol and fluids. A controllable fever was vastly preferred compared to what I saw working in a state hospital with developmentally disabled adults.

[drm604]

9. K&R

[SunSeeker]

10. K & R

[dissentient]

11. Good to hear, but let's not pretend fatal reactions don't happen

as an earlier post said. Yes they are rare, and yes, on the rare occurrence they can cause death or severe injury as a reaction to a vaccine. That is also a scientific fact. I just think with all the conversation around this, everything needs to be acknowledged.

[Barack_America]

14. I don't understand how recounting my real-life experience...

..."pretends" that other reactions either less severe (more common) or more severe (very rare) don't exist.

I'm fully aware of the risks of vaccines. I actually read the sheets they give you, and also have an MD.

But I can't trust herd immunity anymore, I have to assume that any unvaccinated child will contract at least one of these diseases. 1 in 20 children with measles will get pneumonia. That alone is enough for me.

Besides, most of the "severe" sequelae of vaccine reactions boils down to epilepsy, secondary to a febrile seizure. There is a known small risk of epilepsy for every child who has a febrile seizure. Guess who else has the SAME risk of developing epilepsy? All those kids who had febrile seizures with measles, mumps, varicella, etc.

So yeah, when herd immunity was intact, kids who had vaccines were at tiny increased risk of chronic seizures than unvaccinated children. But now that herd immunity has broken down, and there is real risk of these diseases again, the epilepsy risk is a wash and vaccinated kids are just at a higher risk of survival and leading fully-functional lives.

[dissentient]

16. I may have misunderstood the tone

of the OP. I was posting more in general on the topic anyway, just something I think it is important to note in the debate, that to say or imply there is zero risk in getting vaccinated is wrong.

When I read about the bad reaction, it made me think of the possibility, however rare, that the worst outcome could have occurred.

[pnwmom]

22. Thank you.

I felt the same mocking tone in the OP. Fortunately, most vaccine reactions are not serious. But the few that are should be taken seriously and the FDA always be striving for the safest vaccines possible.

[Barack_America]

24. Mocking? What do you disagree with?

The known complications of childhood diseases? Or the description of pain and fever as "mild", but encephalitis and death as "catastrophic"? That was the only bit of editorializing I added.

[dissentient]

26. Well, thanks, glad to know I wasn't the only one.

It is not something I will get into, but I know for a fact that vaccines are not without risk, from something that happened in my neighborhood with a friend of mine from childhood, that some certain vaccines can cause death from an unforeseen allergic reaction.

[peacebird]

48. I am sorry to hear about your brother (...hugs...)

[YarnAddict]

52. Thank you for sharing your story

How heartbreaking, to truly believe that you are doing the best thing for your child, and then have it turn tragic.

I am not an anti-vaxxer, and I really believe that parents should vaccinate, mainly for the protection of others who may be too young, or too ill to be vaccinated themselves, or unvaccinated pregnant women.

What people don't seem to understand is that in the overwhelming majority of cases, childhood illnesses are relatively mild, and confer lifelong immunity, which no vaccine does.

I have looked up the CDC recommendations for the vaccine schedule, and I was blown away to see some two dozen vaccines recommended by the time a kid is two or so. That has to be a lot of stress on a very young immune system.

I recently heard that the increase in autism may be due to the sheer number of vaccines within a very short period of time, rather than the vaccines themselves.

[trotsky]

78. "That has to be a lot of stress on a very young immune system."

Curious - on what do you base this conclusion?

Do you have any numbers on how many pathogens a toddler is exposed to on a daily basis, so we have an idea of what constitutes "a lot of stress"?

[Barack_America]

91. My son's preschool is a daily assault on his immune system..

...and ours. The vaccines? Not so much. We waited to send the older one to school until the baby got his first round of shots. That kid lasted one day in preschool and was then home for 2 days with a nasty virus.

[trotsky]

106. Precisely.

What I see from the anti-vax charlatans is a lot of "well I feel it must be this way" reasoning - it sounds good, so it must be true.

A horrible way to make a judgment about a miraculous medical treatment that has been an overwhelming success for humans and other animals!

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

55. Yes, I know someone whose older son was injured

Haven't seen them in years, though. That's the problem, though. "We know someone..." One child has a serious problem due to vaccines, and hundreds of moms ending up hearing about it and it scares them.

Anyway, this mom refused to vaccinate her younger children, which was the right call for her family. She slowly had them vaccinated once they were much older...like twelve or thirteen.

That knowledge did not stop me from vaccinating my children, but I delayed the infant vaccine by two months, and just sheltered at home. It's not difficult to do if you don't have older kids in school bringing home germs and diseases. It's also not something everyone "can" feasibly do. My daughter did the same thing with her firstborn, but had her second vaccinated on schedule since the older was already in preschool! That was a no-brainer.

I'm very sorry to hear about your brother. All of your lives were changed in that one day. How very sad.

[lunasun]

76. +1

[whopis01]

20. Let's also not pretend that the risk of death from a fatal reaction

to a vaccine is greater than the risk of death from not being vaccinated.

[sybylla]

64. Exactly.

A stupid comment on several levels. In my state, every parent must read a several page pamphlet on vaccinations, the potential for adverse reactions. Everyone knows there is a chance. Everyone knows it is rare.

[Marrah_G]

85. There are always small risks

But to use that to tell others that vaccines are dangerous is, well, dangerous.

I had a very bad adverse reaction to quinilone antibiotics. They saved my life but caused massive nerve damage. Would I ever tell others not to take Cipro? Not a chance, because it is a very effective drug for most people and my one rare reaction in no way should cause others to be fearful of what to 99.999999 percent of people is a good drug.

[MADem]

86. Who is "pretending" anything of the sort?

It's not nice to "accuse" someone of doing something that they haven't done at all.

It's uncivil, in fact.

[Lefta Dissenter]

12. I was afraid

to click on your thread.

I'm sorry your little kiddo went through one of those sucky life experiences, but grateful that he did so in order to help keep himself and our society healthy.

[Hekate]

13. I used a warm soak at the site of the injection to sooth it, too

Shots cause an owie for little ones. I'm very sympathetic -- but they don't get a vote.

One of my brothers used to react to horse-serum; the same brother needed to be re-vaccinated for smallpox because the first one didn't "take." Oddly enough, he was always the first to catch whatever was going around, and then give it to the rest of us. I'm so glad my kids "only" got chickenpox.

So, from grandma to a younger parent: good for you.

[StevieM]

17. Has he gotten his chicken pox vaccine yet? (eom)

[Barack_America]

27. That's varicella.

So no shingles for him, poor thing.

[StevieM]

28. Thank you for not judging me for my lack of knowledge regarding scientific nomenclature. (eom)

[Barack_America]

30. Never.

People who know them by their traditional names are the people who have really experienced them, and don't just know of them as a vaccination. If anything, we need to use these names more.

[brer cat]

18. Glad that his reaction was mild,

and that you have the good sense to treat it and get over it.

[TheCrankyLiberal]

19. It is pretty curious how posts of reasonable Pharma doubt

get scrubbed and deleted quickly.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

75. when people post anti-vac nonsense they are not being reasonable. nt

[Maedhros]

103. Somehow, I doubt that posts are deleted because they criticize Big Pharma.

You'd have to provide examples so I can assess for myself the reasons for their deletion.

[jwirr]

23. Very good. This should be made into a public education announcement. My grand son stopped by

to talk about this problem (he is in his 20s) and said that the only way we can get people to change their minds is public service announcements. I think that is a good idea. When we took these vaccines over to the third world countries they did not trust us so they did not want them either. Education was the answer there and it can be here also. I think treats of jail and taking their children away may backfire on us. As a social worker I have never gotten very far with threats. President Obama speaking out is also a help.

[William769]

25. Kick & recommended.

[Jamastiene]

29. Thank you for posting this.

People who are against vaccines are putting their kids at risk for far worse than a little soreness for a few days.

[blackcrow]

31. lucky for him he didn't get Guillain-Barre paralysis

[MrMickeysMom]

32. Why would you think a pre-schooler would develop Gullain-Barre syndrome?

[pnwmom]

36. The flu vaccine rarely can lead to the syndrome. But so can the flu itself.

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(13)70104-X/abstract

[Barack_America]

37. I wish I could see your link.

Because studies have failed to find a connection for many years.

[pnwmom]

38. I'll try again. But as I said, the flu itself can lead to the syndrome.

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(13)70104-X/abstract

Okay, it didn't work again.

But if you cut and paste the address in the browser, you can read it.

[MrMickeysMom]

71. There's no real control in these types of studies...

But, this is still useful information for designing a progressive study with a control group, based on this self-controlled study. Lots of self-reporting here.

I would be interested to know the EXTENT of G-B syndrome, IOW, did a significant number develop respiratory failure?

[Javaman]

57. don't pay attention to that poster...

that poster had a post hidden for calling people here, "pro-vaxx".

[Maedhros]

104. There has been an influx of low-post-count posters

trying to legitimize the anti-vaccination hysteria.

[Barack_America]

34. Yes. I am fortunate he was not vaccinated for flu in 1976...

...particularly since I had not been born yet. If he had, it may have caused an unfortunate time wrinkle that would negate all of our existences.

Fortunately for all of us, there is no link between GBS and modern vaccines.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/27/study-finds-no-vaccine-link-to-guillain-barr/?_r=0

[Marrah_G]

67. OFFS please do some research before spouting crap.

[MrMickeysMom]

72. Gee… what happened to the poster's response?

Some here have bothered to do some work on poster's behalf…

Where is the poster now?

[DebJ]

33. I got the flu vaccine in one arm; pneumonia in the other, and could barely move my arms they

swelled so badly for several days. My doctor said with a huge smile: Fantastic! Tons of antibodies!

Having had the flu four times in my life, and the third time wishing I would just die, I will gladly not
be able to move my arms without a great deal of pain every year for several days.

Watching my husband's kidney function tank to 30% and now just glad for every day extra I am granted
with him after he was severely ill for two weeks with the Swine flu, and still very ill two weeks after that,
he will never miss another flu vaccine again. He will also never have his kidneys back.

[GP6971]

35. Kick

[hedgehog]

39. Ice cream is a great distraction1

Congratulations on being a good parent!

[JDPriestly]

41. Beautiful post. Thanks.

[ND-Dem]

42. getting the polio vaccine won't keep you from getting meningitis. I've had both.

meningitis has many causes, and even the supposed meningitis vaccine doesn't cover them all, just a couple.

Same with encephalitis, cellulitis, pneumonia, muscle spasms, myocarditis, death....

in fact, vaccines won't prevent most of the things on your list, because most of them aren't specific to the diseases vaccinated against.

[Ineeda]

68. WHOA!!

Are you for real?

"...when he ended up being shoved into a home filled with mongoloids and the like and was going to be placed in an institution for life which my late parents would not stand for for one second."

So which was it? "...ended up being shoved into a home..." OR "...was going to be placed in an institution..."? Can't be both, unless your late parents actually did stand for it.

I'm so sorry your family suffered, but your story about a terrible reaction to a vaccine has no need of embellishment, if that's what is being done here.

[Barack_America]

50. He'll also die, someday. But not from, Polio, Measles, etc.

I don't fool myself that his vaccinations have made him immortal. I'm fully aware of the other bugs out there, too aware this year, his first winter in preschool.

[Blue_In_AK]

96. Meningitis can be viral or bacterial

or probably even fungal since all it means is a swelling of the meninges, the lining of the brain and spinal cord.

I had viral meningitis of unknown origin back in 1980, and it had nothing to do with vaccinations, but it did make me awfully sick and messed up the nerves in my arms for a couple of years so that I couldn't do much involving small motor coordination in my hands. It was very scary, but I did finally pull out of it.

[ND-Dem]

98. Yes, it can be fungal too. I had baterial.

[Android3.14]

45. And that is the way it works

Makes sense to me.

[ms liberty]

47. An excellent post. K&R. n/t

[Violet_Crumble]

49. My daughter had a mild reaction to her immunisations...

Not as bad as yr sons, and I totally agree with what you said. Apart from the life-threatening things he won't get now, there's also the part where he won't pass any of those life-threatening things onto babies who are too young to be immunised yet

[blackspade]

51. DU rec

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

53. Morning Joe just played a Rand Paul quote about how a number of kids have developed severe

profound issues after childhood vaccines... Which reminded me how poorly people understand statistics.

The vast majority of autism and similar issues appear in childhood. Childhood vaccinations are, by definition, given during childhood.

So yes, simply by the sheer number of people popping up with autism, yes, some of them will develop such symptoms AFTER vaccinations, just like many will develop autism BEFORE vaccinations. It doesn't mean that vaccines CAUSE autism any more than the fact that some people die at night means that the night causes death. It just means that we happened to have two things that in some few cases happened relatively close together by simple time distribution.

[Pacifist Patriot]

62. Unfortunately we humans have a tendency to confuse coincidence and/or correlation with causation.

I also have personal experience with the young completely misunderstanding a situation. My best friend's little brother died when he was 18 months old and she was six. For decades B was convinced it was because of the vaccinations he had received just a few days before his death.

It wasn't until she was in her late 30s and beginning to start her own family that her mother realized she was under that misconception. Entirely due to typical memory flaws. He actually died several months after his last vaccinations, not just days, and he had an illness that had absolutely nothing to do with anything we're vaccinated against. But to a six year old child whose parents never even knew she had made that connection, it made sense and she carried it with her into adulthood. If she'd never had that conversation with her mom because her pediatrician was advocating for vaccinations for her first born, she'd have gone her whole life believing vaccinations killed her little brother.

[AtheistCrusader]

74. Rand Paul... 'morning joe'. One dipshit quoting another.

Difference is, as an M.D., Rand Paul oughta fucking know better.

[3catwoman3]

90. Indeed...

...he fucking should. Jerk!

[Marr]

105. That is truly sickening.

To advance such damaging nonsense purely to make political hay... irresponsible doesn't even cover it.

[tooeyeten]

54. K&R

[mcar]

56. Well said!

You are a loving parent.

[Duval]

58. K&R nt

[1bigdude]

59. I believe Pres Obama AND Hillary were both guilty of the same type of vaccine hysteria...

“We’ve seen just a skyrocketing autism rate. Some people are suspicious that it’s connected to the vaccines. This person included. The science right now is inconclusive, but we have to research it,” then Sen. Obama said in 2008.

Likely 2016 Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton had a similar statement while speaking to an anti-vaccine group on the campaign trail in 2008.

“I am committed to make investments to find the causes of autism, including possible environmental causes like vaccines,” said Clinton in a written response to the group.

[ellie]

61. I just don't understand the anti vaccination rhetoric

Don't these people love their children? I would be terrified if they weren't vaccinated.

[sybylla]

63. My 2-month old had the same reaction

He cried for 8 hours straight from the pain that tylenol seemed to do nothing about. He got through it and received every other vaccination at the time he should and never had another reaction.

I suffered through many of the illnesses my children will never face because of vaccines.

I absolutely agree with you. A low-grade reaction is a small price to pay to avoid all that suffering.

[Bluenorthwest]

65. I had a smallpox vaccine when I was 13 for travel out of the safe zone, it was painful for days

and left a bit of a scar. It protected me from fucking smallpox, 2 million people had died of it in 1967, last case known was in 1977. My jab was during that interval between those years. Very worth it.

[mountain grammy]

69. Glad your little one is up and around.

From the moment our children are born, we fret and worry about them There are so many dangers out there that can take what is most precious. Raising kids involves some calculated risks. Protecting them from diseases through vaccination, might be called a calculated risk, but the risk of a bad outcome is so rare, it cannot be used a a valid excuse for not vaccinating.

Every time we take a ride in the car with our kids, we face a much greater risk of injury.

[3catwoman3]

93. So true. Also true is that any time I write an antibiotic Rx...

...for an ear infection, there is a chance that the patient could have an anaphylactic reaction and die.

[AtheistCrusader]

73. That's not even a bad sign.

One thing our bodies do in an immune response, is alter the environment to make us inhospitable to the invader. That's what a fever is all about. We do that to ourselves. Your immune system signals the hypothalamus to raise your temp (Basically your body's thermostat), and it's all about slowing the reproduction of the invader.

That reaction is your son's immune system recognizing and mounting a defense against the invader (dead cells in the vaccine medium) so that's not bad at all. It's not a necessary indicator to show the vaccines worked, and the immune system is healthy, but it does suggest he's good to go.

[Omaha Steve]

80. Find out if the preservative was Thimerosal

I found out I'm allergic to it by accident. That is a common allergic reaction to it.

I get my flu shots that don't have it!!! Marta got the same shot this year without it and didn't have the swelling at the injection site either, so we assume she is allergic too.


http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/Concerns/thimerosal/

Since 2001, with the exception of some influenza (flu) vaccines, thimerosal is not used as a preservative in routinely recommended childhood vaccines.

Thimerosal is a mercury-containing preservative used in some vaccines and other products since the 1930's. There is no convincing evidence of harm caused by the low doses of thimerosal in vaccines, except for minor reactions like redness and swelling at the injection site. However, in July 1999, the Public Health Service agencies, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and vaccine manufacturers agreed that thimerosal should be reduced or eliminated in vaccines as a precautionary measure.

Vaccines and Thimerosal
CDC Study on "Prenatal and Infant Exposure to Thimerosal from Vaccines and Immunoglobins and Risk of Autism" (2010)
CDC Study on "Infant and Environmental Exposures to Thimerosal and Neuropsychological Outcomes at Ages 7 to 10 Years" (2007)
CDC Studies on Vaccines and Autism Adobe PDF file [PDF - 30 KB]
Frequently Asked Questions about Thimerosal
Timeline: Thimerosal in Vaccines (1999-2010)

[happyslug]

82. I had a reaction to a Flu Vaccination in the 1980s

I was in the National Guard and it was decided to give up all the flu Vaccine while we were in the field. This was SOUTH TEXAS, and I was in a thick sleeping bag with a pad underneath and have chills all night long do to the shoot. I survived, but I remember sleeping in the warm Texas air in a thick sleeping bad have chill after chill run through my body. Never had the flu that year.

[JCMach1]

83. He may also have picked-up a virus at the pediatrician's office... ironically

that happened to my 4-year-old as well.

[Barack_America]

89. He did, actually.

Picked up a bug from a hacking child in the pediatrician's office that showed up the next day. It is still tearing through our house. I'm still certain the initial fever was the vaccines, and I am completely okay with that.

[GoCubsGo]

87. I got the same reaction from that booster.

I was older than that. I don't remember the fever as much, but I remember the headache. It hit me the next day. I was fine a day later. That was it. I'm glad my mom did that to me. Thank you, Mom!

[Plucketeer]

92. Kay & Arrggh! nt

[YOHABLO]

94. I'd be more worried about the Tylenol

[lark]

95. Same thing happened when my son got his first shots

He was just an infant, but got a very high fever and went limp as a dishrag. It was scary, but I kept him home from daycare, gave him tylenol and sponge baths and he recovered. Luckily, our daughter didn't react as badly. I never considered not getting either one of them vaccinated and they got every shot they were due.

[Arcadiasix]

97. Vaccines do have risks but....

But the benefits far out weight them. You have better odds being vaccinated. Ask a man who's Uncle never got to run in his life. He got Polio when he was 13 months old.

[Myrina]

99. Yanno, I'd have 100% faith in vaccs if ...

... if Big Pharma wasn't such a corner-cutting, money grubbing, regulator bribing industry.

If it really was all about health instead of profit and "illness maintenance".

But it's not. So I can see why some folks are against it.

[Barack_America]

100. F* big pharma on most things...

...but not infectious disease. Vaccines and antibiotics work, and have saved untold millions.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

109. big pharma would make more money from your illness than your vaccine

they lose money on vaccines.

[Laffy Kat]

102. For what it's worth:

We just took it for granted that our kids were going feel crappy after the vaccinations, so we always gave them acetaminophen before the shots were administered. It seemed to help a lot.

[malaise]

107. Magnificent post

Rec

[calimary]

108. Like how you broke it down into simple terms that can be easily remembered by us -

and MAYBE a little more easily absorbed by the Dumbfuckistanians.

Definitely a keeper. For talking points and more.