Adverse Reactions

[Ky]

Hi

I am just curious as to whether anyone else had children that reacted badly to their needles and what was your plan of attack for future jabs?.

Both of my guys ended up in hospital with breathing difficulties and high fevers when they were little and although I perserved so far as to stop just before Bella's first dose of mmr, I stopped immediately that Daniel reacted.

We were recommended in NZ to stop immunisations and jsut let the schools know about it. As we lived in a small town, we used to get a phone call from the doctor whever one of the diseases was going around and told to keep our kids away from other kids! Obviously, in Australia, this is not practical, so we have embarked on a catch-up program now that they are a lot older.

Bella had her school needles yesterday and is now up to date, Daniel had his mmr and meningicoccal and we need to go back in a month to complete his 15mths (in NZ, don't know Aus equivalent age) needles and he will be up to date until he needs his school ones.

We went through Westmead when we first got here and they told us to wait until Daniel was over a year old before starting and that Bella should be fine as she was already 2yo. We waited another year and started in january this year and have so far had no more reaction than high fevers and unsettled kids! Yesterday's excursion ended in a fever that was low enough that Bella could still go to pre-school today! Daniel has had no ill effects at all this time ... yay ... very happy Mummy! :D


What I am most curious about, is what did the docs tell you to do and when did they advise it was safe to recommence immunising?

Did they recommend you had a 24 hour stay in hospital?

[DoulaFelicity]

Hi Kyra,

Firstly - sorry to hear about what you have been through with your little one's immunisations. God, that must have been so awful. :(

My son is 5 and a half months old now. He did have a reaction to his 2 month immunisations, but it settled down after about 24 - 48 hours, so we went ahead and got his 4 month ones done when they were due.

Hell. Sheer hell. For a start, he already had a low grade bacterial throat infection - the doctor diagnosed him with it, then said he was "fit for vaccinations"...! I didn't know any better (didn't understand the intricacies of vaxing, the babe's immature immune system, and what it does to them - I do now! :mad: ) so we went ahead and had them done. He was alright for about an hour...then it went downhill from there. Constant screaming. Temperature. He was obviously in great pain. We had been prescribed antibiotics for his throat, and once we started administering them, it got even worse. The localised injection site swelled, bruised, and became red. He was just in a really, really bad way. We took him to the Emergency room. We waited there 7 hours. We were told that it could still be a few more hours (with our tiny, sick babe) until anyone saw us. We left. We wouldn't go back to the GP who caused the issue by a) vaxing a sick baby (they're supposed to turn you away if your babe is even the slightest bit unwell, as their immune system is obviously already compromised, and vaxing on top of that just sends it into overdrive that they can't handle) and b) prescribing antibiotics that worsened the situation.

Short story long ;) , our journey took us to a Naturopath (having been burnt by the vaxing and burnt by our GP). She spent two hours examining poor Aiden. She said his immune system was battling furiously against his illness and the vax. She prescribed some gentle, natural remedies. Within days there was improvement. Now, two weeks later, we have our well babe back. I had taken him to the GP several times prior to the vax, knowing that he was unwell, and the GP never paid any attention or helped us (and then, in the end, triggered a crisis by OKing the vax). In one appointment, the Naturopath "fixed" Aiden of the Vax reaction and his pre existing illness. Amazing. The results were so rapid and visible. I am totally converted.

Back to the immunisations - after discussion with our Naturopath, during which she told us her experiences of vaxing her children (who also had adverse reactions at a young age), we've decided that we will not be re-vaxing Aiden, at least until he is older. He is such a small baby, they immunise children so very, very young these days. Their immune systems sometimes just can't withstand the onslaught. We'll re-evaluate when Aiden is 1 year old (our Naturopath suggested that age), and see what we think then. There are also homeopathic immunisations, which we will consider as an option.

I also will not be asking a doctor for recommendations on vaxing. In my situation, the problems were caused by the doctor, and remedied by someone else. I also see issues with the drug company sponsorships/deals etc involved...there is money changing hands on a lot of levels and I am cynical of receiving a truthful, unbiased opinion on vaxing from my doctor now.

Obviously, I still don't want my child to suffer any of the diseases that the vaccines protect against. So we have certainly not ruled out ever doing it again. We just need to do some more research, and weigh up the effect on his immature immune system against the benefits of immunisation...and use all the information to decide if/when/how to vax again. At this stage, we'll be leaving it until he is 12 months old. Pending further research! :)

And good luck to you on your journey...hoping your little ones don't suffer anymore from vaxing in future!

[mygirls]

Felicity & Kyra - I am very sorry to hear that ur babies had reactions to thier vax's. It is defiently better to wait till your kids are older before recommencing. DH & I do not vax until 6mths or older. My GP is very understanding & Felicity i wish yours was too :( . I have had a doctor in the ED tell me that he understands & AGREES that babies should not have vax's done before 2( especially MMR) & that he waited until his DD was 2 before starting. What i dont understand is while taking my 22mth old (@ the time) for her MMR i was told there has been a change in the routine vax's & she was required to have 4! different needles that had 7 different vaccination antibodies in them! :mad: Sorry no way - & after an arguement with the nurse my DD only had 2 (for now with the other 2 coming in the next few days) I do not see how kids wont react to all these needles! However saying this we do believe that immunisation is something that is necessary but just not at 8 weeks old :( Hopefully your kids wont have any further reactions to their vax's & there will be no further cause for concern :)

[WeThree]

Hi Kyra, After Coops 2,4, and 6 mth needles we left his other ones till recently, it wasnt on purpose, i had been in the hospital when they were due, then he had the flu etc etc. Anyway, he had to have 4 needles, 2 in each arm, and he was so big and brave, and do you know woth all those 4 needles at once, not so much as a whimper afterwards, even though after the others he suffered obvious pain, fever etc, he was fine!! i think there is alot to say for waiting till they are a bit older sometimes :)

[Rainbowbrite]

We had MJ's 6month ones done yesterday :( With the 2 & 4 month she was whingy & tired understandably but with this one it was different. She screamed having them which is normal for her, we waited for a bit at the Dr as she can't have bandaids put on the site as she's allergic to them :(

Anyway, she had a bf and fell straight to sleep, after about an hour she was happy again.....until 2am. She woke with a fever of 38, so i gave her panadol which she threw up :eek: Eventually she calmed down & went to sleep but i've been awake since then. Too scared to let her out of my sight. Nowhere near as bad as your little ones reactions but it scared the hell out of me all the same.

This is the first time she's reacted like this, but its a necessary evil.

Goodluck with the future ones

RB

[Imogensmum]

My little one 41/2 mths just had her 2nd lot of jabs 1week ago!

Both times she has been fine on the day- just extra sleepy! Then the next day slight temp!!! The horrible time comes 5-7days later ....(this has happened both times) where we have screaming fits at night- up to 7 times a night, real pain yelling and then straight back off to sleep????

I assume it is all related as it happened last time and this time!! It only seems to last 2 nights and then she is all good???

[Mamaduke]

Hi,
I've got two boys and neither of them had reactions to vaccinations until Jesse went for his 4 y/o injections. I used the Emla cream which I believed helped because he didn't even notice the first injection. The poor little thing got one in each arm. That night he said his arm was sore and I just thought that the cream must be wearing off. Had a look as I was dressing him in his pj's and one of his arms was so swollen, red, hot and tight! Because it was after hours I called the emergency dept of the local hospital and spoke to a nurse - she said it is not uncommon for there to be localised swelling and it was a reaction to the tetanus injection. She also advised to keep an eye on him regarding swallowing, breathing etc. Within 24 hours the swelling had gone down but I was then told that sometimes there is a 'bad batch' of vaccine and that if these sort of reactions occur to a number of children who've had the same batch, the GP will send the rest of them back to the manufacturer! Apparently the vaccine still works but it would have been nice to be told that if your child does get a reaction that you need to let the GP know about it so they can then detect 'bad batches'.
This links below are pictures of Jesse's arm, he wanted a photo of it because Daddy was at work and he needed to see it when he got home later that night!
Carly

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b114/csbridger/100_0855.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b114/csbridger/100_0854.jpg

[Rainbowbrite]

Ouch Carlyb that looks so painful :(

I was just wondering, MJ had her 6 month needles on Wednesday & has been running slight fevers of 37.5-38 ever since :confused: . She's also totally gone off her solids which she loved. Would this still be a reaction or maybe just teething?

Thanks, sorry to hijack the thread :(

RB

[Mamaduke]

Hi RB,
I am in no way any sort of medical expert but I was always told by the doctor that the boys could be a bit off colour for 2 or 3 days after a vaccination. He said that to keep the Panadol up to them for the temp and not to worry if they're off their food, as long as they keep drinking. Hope this helps.
I would take bubs to the doctor on Monday if it hasn't eased though.
Carly

[Rainbowbrite]

Thanks for that.

We ended up taking her to the hospital this morning as she was still hot & grouchy :( They checked everything and did a urine test, even had the Dr & Paed look at her. All clear :D Her throat is a little red and her glands are up but they said thats pretty normal. They said that from 6 months to two years that slight temps are normal :confused: So not to go on the temp so much as how she's acting.

I'm relieved about it, just have to keep her cool. Going to take her back to the Dr this week & let her know whats been going on. Still I suppose a couple of days of her being unwell sure beats getting the diseases we're immunising against.

RB