<p>When kids are little, the powers that be always stressed not introducing too many things at once to discover allergies. </p>
<p>Wouldn’t vaccines be the same way?</p>
<p>I may or may not be allergic to penicillin. It is a gigantic question mark that always comes up when a do tor asks me, i had a reaction that was significant once when I had taken meds as a child. But they didn’t know if it was the medication or the illness, so the question lingers.</p>
<p>You can be tested by an allergist for the penicillin allergy. I had hives at a point, and was taking penicillin. Coincidental as it turns out, as my test was negative. </p>
<p>Nrds, wow! </p>
<p>I do think the bundling vs not is a fair question. There are balances, in terms of getting all the vaccinations in at a certain appointment. </p>
<p>Niquii, perhaps you have not been around inconsolable kids post vaccinations. The evening with my 4 month old twins post a DPT, was rough for all involved.</p>
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<p>I think that is the most compelling reason I’ll never move back to Texas again!</p>
<p>^^^Sigh. Teriwtt, I know. I actually do love Texas, but I would be happy to move somewhere else just to experience something different. I went to Europe by myself when I graduated from UT for a 3 week trip and ended up staying for 8 months. And WOULD have stayed for years if I could have. I would love to see more of the world, particularly Europe. I would love to move every two years to a different place. DH would never agree. He LOVES Texas, has family here he wants to stay close to; D2 feels the same way. D1 has always been an adventurous spirit and has traveled the world and gone to school far away, etc. But even she says she wants to land in Texas after she gets her Ph.D.</p>
<p>So, I’m not likely to ever leave. But I have to say, we’ve been lucky with our place to never have anything worse than a coon, armadillo, or skunk on our property. But poisonous snakes, that’s a different story!</p>
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I have had experience with inconsolable children. I can see cases where it’d be best to just come back after one shot was given and I’ve seen a case where it was such a hot mess that it was best to just give the kid all of the shots verses extending the fiasco over the upcoming weeks. </p>
<p>Generally, I feel it’s just best to get all the shots over with. Sure, the kid will be miserable for awhile, but 1)It’ll be for a short period of time, 2)If handled correctly the kid won’t be “emotionally scarred” and (hopefully) 3)They won’t remember it.</p>
<p>^^^ Well, we do have our fair share of skunks around here. Can hardly sleep with windows open at night anymore from the months of May-October. </p>
<p>Just for good yucks, I’ll say that cockroaches are the other thing in Texas I don’t miss. But I realize you don’t have to worry about cockroaches potentially killing our little fidos!</p>
<p>Unfortunately when I was growing up, I had a brother who loved to traumatize me with garter snakes. At the time, I didn’t know they weren’t poisonous, so I just came to fear every snake. Add water moccasins to that list, too. Have been tubing down the Guadalupe before when water moccasins basically swam right past me. Too much trauma and snakes.</p>
<p>^^^^OMG, water moccasins! Did you see the water moccasin scene from Lonesome Dove? (Shivers)</p>
<p>As to cockroaches, I’ve never really had to deal with them since I left apartment living in Austin at UT. God, what a constant battle. One time I woke up in the middle of the night with a cockroach wiggling around in my ear. Much shrieking and screaming ensued. My roommate said I made her pee the bed. Oops. With only once exception, I’ve not seen one since. Whew.</p>
<p>Sorry for the hijack down memory lane, guys! :o</p>
<p>Around age 4, I received a chicken pox shot which resulted in me contracting cerebellar ataxia. I was confined to a hospital bed for a week (AKA traumatic experience + hospital bills). Vaccines are not harmless. I also agree that vaccines should not be bundled. The only reason we know the chickenpox shot caused the ataxia is because it was the only shot I had received during that visit.</p>
<p>No one says vaccines are harmless. The potential harm is SIGNIFICANTLY outweighed by the benefits. </p>
<p>AFAIK, there is no definitive link between the flu vaccine (or any vaccine) and cerebellar ataxia.</p>
<p>I read a disturbing story about a 19 y/o who got deathly ill 1 day after receiving a flu vaccine. He went into a coma and ultimately died. Mom is saying that his condition was definitely due to the flu shot. However, she refused to allow an autopsy. </p>
<p>I understand where she is coming from on one hand, but it seems that a great opportunity for some very valuable information was lost. I believe she plans to file a lawsuit, but sans an autopsy, I wonder just how strong her case will be.</p>
<p>I grew up in a suburb of Austin. Our neighbors killed a rattlesnake one day. We had scorpions in our house. When I yelled, “DAD!” he would come kill them for me. I had one in my bed, another in my hair, and many of them on the ceiling of my bedroom. In Maine, about the only thing I have to worry about is hitting a moose. That happened to us once.</p>
<p>^ if you live far enough north in Maine you also have black flies big enough to eat a moose.</p>
<p>This is why people should get vaccinated [Brady?s</a> Story | Shot by Shot](<a href=“http://shotbyshot.org/pertussis/bradys-story/]Brady?s”>Brady’s Story - Shot By Shot | Shot By Shot)</p>
<p>jym, that is just a horrible story.</p>
<p>Yes, consolation. It was tragic. 2 mos old and died of whooping cough because someone came into proximity of him who was not vaccinated/was ill.</p>
<p>jym - Sad story, but wonderful website for educating the anti-vaccine crowd. Thank you!</p>
<p>My nephew had whooping cough last year at age 16. Had all his shots. Just sayin’ it might not have been someone not vaccinated who transmitted the illness to the child who died. </p>
<p>My son was tested for allergy to amoxicillin. We sat at the doc’s office and waited a couple hours after he took a pill. This b/c he threw up on a course of penicillin during a bronchitis. He passed the test. Two years later he had his wisdom teeth out and was prescribed amox. Life threatening rx ensued. /shrug. I sure don’t know what is the right way to go about all this stuff. Something is up tho. The autism rates are stupendous and something in our world is causing it. Same with allergies and asthma. It’s a mystery. </p>
<p>Also Wakefield’s study with the 9 ppl? Was never meant to be definitive. If you read his book you learn he was approached by those parents b/c he was a gastroenterologist and they noticed their kids had autism and stomach trouble. He was asked to participate in a study to look into whether there was a connection. He thought he found evidence of measles in their guts. There have been studies that corroborate this finding from all over the world - he lists them in the appendix of his book. You think anyone else is gonna follow that line of research these days? Also and again, he never called for no vaccination. That was the public’s response to possible evidence. AND to other parents reporting that their kids got sick right after the vaccine. We can blame it all on Wakefield. Yeah that’s the ticket.</p>
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<p>That is heartbreaking! Unfortunately these stories have 0 effect on the hardcore antivax crowd. They will argue into the ground that the person who infected that baby was most likely vaccinated. I have an antivax frenemy, that stated as much, when I talked about some of these diseases coming back.</p>
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<p>I have a son with Aspergers. For the record I don’t believe his vaccines caused it. I do think some other research may have, in my view, more validity. The research on the age of the parent, particularly the father, is of interest to me. The average age of parents is higher now. The main point that Doctors are better at recognizing Autism cannot be ignored (anyone seen the demo of the FedX logo where if you pay attention to the white spaces there is an arrow? From then on, when you see that logo, you will notice the x. It was always there, but now you know what to look for.) The same can be said of diagnosing Autism. Is there a genetic component? There’s a family I saw profiled where all 6 of their children had Autism. Why is it that the Autism rates for boys is far greater than girls, if it’s the vaccines?
When my son was diagnosed we went down this road. Everytime something comes out about what causes autism I hold my breath. Some of my favorites are not breastfeeding (my son never had a drop of formula) epidurals (nope drug free birth) gluten. (I know well meaning parents that have changed the child’s full diet and the child is still autistic. ) I don’t know what caused his autism but this full on effort to blame vaccines has too many holes to hold water.</p>
<p>I am 52 years old and I remember children that I went to school with who, looking back, may have had Autism and, in particular, Asbergers. Back then these kids would only have been identified as “awkward” or odd. I remember one classmate in particular that, years later, I thought about him in the context of many of my students and thought “Ohhhhhh…!”</p>
<p>There have been studies done that show a higher rate of Autism Spectrum disorders in Silicon Valley. The theory is that there is a genetic component and when a couple, who may have Autism, have offspring, they pass it on. Or…maybe the parents are older and postponed child bearing so there is the age factor. Who knows.</p>
<p>My point is that there are a lot of theories but no proof about what is causing the rise in Autism (if there is one). Anecdotal evidence is just that. An illness that follows a vaccine does not prove that the vaccine caused the illness.</p>