Lorna
New Member
Posts: 24
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« Reply #3 on: January 26, 2010, 08:09:09 PM » |
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hey lisa
my big issue was with the whooping cough element of the 5 in 1 - i didn't want him exposed to the whooping cough vaccination at all, in part because my mum thinks it caused some health problems for me. there's also a pattern within my immediate family of everyone having auto immune disorders - arthritis, lupus, alopecia etc - except for my sister, who coincidentally was the only person who did not receive some of her childhood vaccinations, most notably the whooping cough ones because of the scares surrounding that vaccination in the late 70s.
people in my family tend to have immune systems that over react, none of us really pick up bugs or viruses or colds that are going around, so i strongly suspect a link between over reacting immune systems, vaccinations and auto immune disorders in my family. over time i've noticed that alexander doesn't really pick up viruses either, or he shakes them off in a matter of hours, similar to me, so i'm pleased i didn't expose him to what i thought was a potentially risky vaccination.
so our vaccination schedule was:
8 weeks - pcv
12 weeks - 1st hib & men c
3 weeks later - 1st single polio
2 weeks later - 2nd hib & men c and pcv
3 weeks later - 2nd single polio
3 weeks later - 3rd hib & men c
3 weeks later - 3d single polio
he's to get a tetanus when he's around 7 and he will be getting that
i avoided mmr because i couldn't find a good enough reason to expose him to it
at the time i made the decision about the 5 in 1 it was simply based on whooping cough avoidance
as i read more and more about vaccinations i became more concerned - to be honest i was 50 / 50 about mmr till i spoke to the vaccination nurse and she, counter to what the gps would say, thought that given the family history that i was doing the right thing by avoiding it. she also said the more knowledgeable people are about vaccinations the more they tend to avoid them...
hib & men c - to be honest i deliberately didn't read up much on those vaccinations, in part because i know someone who lost a child to meningitis and the speed of meningitis scares the crap out of me. i do think it's interesting that his skin problems started around the time of his exposure to that vaccination though
the single vaccinations had to be ordered especially for alexander, my vaccination nurse was fantastic and very understanding of my concerns and she spoke to my gp practice on my behalf and arranged for the single ones. the vaccination issue has only come up with one gp who was downright aggressive to me, but since he is not my gp and since he was clearly ignorant of the specific concerns i've had i just dug my heels in and argued right back at him. alexander's eczema, other than the odd wee patch, cleared when he was around 18 months but we haven't been back at our gp i think since he was around 11 months old
not sure if that reply is of interest or helpful, but the more i've found out about vaccinations the more i'm erring on the side that kids with a family history of allergies or auto immune disorders probably shouldn't be vaccinated... the immune system is an incredibly complicated system and some kids seem to be just more at risk of unusual reactions than others
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