Vaccinations

I just received a bunch of emails from the local Autism support group. There are a few moms who are looking for doctors who will administer the MMR vaccine in separate shots. In some of the replies, of course, there are articles attached talking about how safe the vaccines are. I wanted to share my opinion with these Moms but realized that I have really strong opinions on this subject and do not want to offend any of them. So, I decided to blog about it! Here are my thoughts:

I think whether immunizations are safe is up to interpretation. They are safe for many people, but not everything is safe for every person. People are allergic to medications that others can take with no problems at all. My son has an intolerance to wheat, gluten, dairy, and casein. I can tolerate them just fine, but he will become sick.

Many doctors say that the immunizations do not cause Autism, but there is also a lot of evidence that suggests that it might be a trigger that causes the symptoms to come out. From what I understand, those who have Autism are genetically predisposed for it. That means that anything can trigger it. For my son, it was falling 7 feet and hitting his head. For some of my friends, it was the immunizations. I have one such friend who's son started having seizures the day he got his first MMR shot. Coincidence...I think not.

I have been blessed with a fabulous MD who fully supports not vaccinating my children. I have one with Autism and one with ADHD and even he feels that it wouldn't be safe for them. He highly recommended that I do not get them immunized until later in life.

The way my doctor explained it was that the dose in the shot is even more than what a normal adult would need. That's a huge amount for a tiny body. They give these to babies...in a cocktail of 2-4 different ones. No wonder our children end up with fevers and such afterwards. Now, I know some children don't have any problem at all. But that doesn't mean that others won't have problems.

Anyway, I'm just glad to know that we can opt out if we feel that it's right for our family. It's a hard decision, but I can say that out of my five children the healthiest one is the last, the one I didn't immunize at all. Lyssa has not had one immunization. She has only visited the doctor once in her 20 months. She has had a slight cold twice, but was never as sick as the boys always got at this age. It's amazing how sick Max was at a year and 2 years old. He was constantly sick and constantly had ear infections. It was horrible. We went through several different kinds of antibiotics for him in a year's time. They wanted to put tubes in, but I didn't feel it was right. I'm so glad I listened to the Spirit.

I wish I understood back then that I had many more options! Now I know.

Now they are giving the option to give the MMRV. It includes Measles, Mumps, Rubella and now the LIVE Chicken pox virus. I instantly get shivers down my spine. It isn't right for me and my family. I do know many who have prayed and know that their children need the vaccines and I support them whole heartedly. We can never make another person's decisions and we can NEVER know what will be right for another individual. It just isn't our place. I'm glad I only have to make the decisions for my family.

May the Spirit guide us in all our decisions.