I have a friend at work that I have been talking with alot. She has me very curious about childhood vaccines and the amount of mercury they are injecting into our children.She also believes that the mmr vaccine is the cause of her DD autism. Has anyone ever heard of this? What are your thoughts. It scares me to death to have my baby vaccinated when they give them so much all at once. Just curious, and as a mom want to be cautious. Any info or input on this i am interested in hearing.

By Amecmom on Saturday, November 25, 2006 - 08:08 am:

We've had some quite heated debates about this in the past. You can check out the archives on the debating board.


http://www.cdc.gov/od/science/iso/thimerosal.htm

This from the CDC may be helpful to you.

You can confirm that your doc is using Thimerosal free vaccine (Thimerosol contains mercury). Also there are combo vaccines that reduce the number of over-all shots that kids get.

I can tell you I have two beautifully healthy children who had not a bit of trouble from vaccinations and I have many many friends who have had no issues with them.

Ame

By Kate on Saturday, November 25, 2006 - 09:48 am:

The combo vaccines do NOT reduce the number of VACCINES the kids get at once, merely the number of NEEDLE PRICKS. Good for you for being cautious and beginning your research. There's a lot of info out there and it's confusing and scary and frustrating. Both sides will try and frighten you into choosing their beliefs...try finding objective people/articles. Good luck to you.

By Tink on Saturday, November 25, 2006 - 01:20 pm:

If you search Momsview, you'll find some very opposing viewpoints but I have used a delayed vaccination schedule with my two youngest children. My ds was diagnosed with autism when he was three and had a terrible reaction to his shots when he was younger. Since then, we've used only thimerosal-free vaccinations and chosen not to vaccinate against everything. My children do not receive a flu vaccine (since it routinely contains thimerosal unless you can find the free version) or the chicken pox. My youngest didn't start getting her vaccines until she was 5 so that her immune system had a chance to develop further before being exposed to the vaccines.

Based on our family's history with autism and the prevailing theory now that autism is a genetic predisposition with an external trigger (which could be mercury exposure), it was the right decision for our family to reduce the chance of exposure and wait until our dks were older to vaccinate against those diseases that I think are truly important to guard against. My suggestion is to educate yourself, not just using your doctor's typical schedule if you aren't comfortable with it. The other vaccination myth is that your child must have all their vaccinations in order to be enrolled in school. There is a simple waiver that can be signed when you enroll that states that you are not pursuing a full vaccination schedule, due to religious or personal beliefs. HTH

By Mommmie on Saturday, November 25, 2006 - 01:55 pm:

Whether the mercury in vaccinations causes autism or not is a hotly debated topic. You can find out a lot about it just doing a search on the internet.

I thought thimerosal was taken out of childhood vaccines in the 1990s, but is still in flu shots.

I had to change my son's pedi when he was a almost 1 and the second doctor had a delayed schedule for the shots. I didn't think anything of it at the time. This was in 1995. When my son was 5 he caught up on the shot schedule.

By Brooke327 on Saturday, November 25, 2006 - 02:11 pm:

Kate as you say combo vaccines do not reduce what they are getting just the number of pricks for sure.
When they vaccinated my baby this last time it was 3 picks that contained 11 medications. That alone scares me, how would you know what was giving the reaction with all that is pumped into their little bodies all at one time.
I think I will be waiting on future vaccines and doing more research on this topic.
Please keep the input on this coming I am very interested in hearing other stories or opinions. Not looking for a debate though just input.

My friend also told me that she read they did a study on amish children and there is not one known case of amish children having autism, and she believes it is because they are not vaccinated. I'm not sure how true that may be.

By Pamt on Saturday, November 25, 2006 - 03:56 pm:

You will find a lot of anecdotal "evidence" about the link between vaccines and autism and a lot of propaganda about the same on an internet search. However, there have be NO well-controlled experimental studies that can prove a link between the two to my knowledge. However, they are finding some genetic causes for autism.

By Reds9298 on Saturday, November 25, 2006 - 09:39 pm:

I had a class a couple of years ago with a major focus on autism and ditto Pam...they are finding more and more genetic causes for autism, including a family history of mental illness. My professor's son has autism and she firmly believes that it has nothing to do with vaccinations, and there are family members on both sides with mental illness. (According to what she said.) I know that her son never had a bad reaction to shots, and that she knew from a little before 2 that he did not act like normal children of that age.
Soooo much info out there. It's really just that you'll have to make a decision that feels right for you. I never thought once about it personally. Whether that was irresponsible or not, I don't know. Just being honest. I had no idea or information about delayed vaccinations. I also didn't know that thimerosal was in the flu shot...so I've learned something! My dd has never had one.

By Beth on Sunday, November 26, 2006 - 11:59 am:

I tend to lean more towards believing there is a link to the shots and autism. I have a nephew is autisitic. I think they can do all the studies they want and no one is going to admit that the shots caused this. Can you imagine the lawsuits the government would face? Anyway we really didn't know enough about it until my dk's had already had there shots and they are fine. My other nephew has been on a delayed time frame for his shots since finding out that his brother is autistic. I think its a decision that you have to weigh. I think I would at least ask for the mercury free versions where possible.

By Crystal915 on Sunday, November 26, 2006 - 07:23 pm:

While the possibility of a link between autism and vaccines is one concern, I simply don't like the fact that my children were vaccinated without me really knowing what was being pumped into their bodies. I probably would have fought the vaccines if I had known abou tthe mercury in some of them. Being in the military health care system made it worse, because I DID NOT want my children to have the chicken pox vaccine, and I was bullied into letting them get it at 18 months (rather than 12) with the threat of CPS taking them away. Of course, we are talking about the same health care system that forces vaccines on their soldiers, such as the Anthrax vaccine that is essentially ineffective because it only protects the rarest forms of transmission. Oh, and they gave my ex the small pox vaccine when we had infants, even though it's not supposed to be given to anyone living with children under 12 months old. I think there are many reasons to vaccinate, but every parent should educate themselves on each vaccine, and base their decisions on their research. Disregard propaganda and bullying tactics, and follow your gut.

By Kaye on Sunday, November 26, 2006 - 11:01 pm:

I am of the same mind as Tink, we take vaccines very seriously. I am only an antedotal story, but I am an avid scrapbooker and sure have a very convincing case of when my son "changed". The key here is often autism doesn't really get noticed until 2 because that is when you notice lack of social skills, but typically when you go back a lot of parents can see where there child was different. For me that is not the case, I fully believe the mercury caused an adverse reaction in my son and we deal with that daily. I have several doctors who used to doubt me until I brought my scrapbook and very meticulous records to them and I now have doctors who agree with me

However ultimatly autism does have some sort of genetic link, like Tink said there is an external trigger, unfortunantly for me, my child was genetically predisposed and got a bad batch of shots (i actually have the lot number from the exact shot i think caused it). My suggestion is before you get any vaccines, do some googling on recalled lots, you will be suprised at what you find!