Yesterday, while Jonathan was climbing his Fisher Price’s Work Bench, my cleaning lady made a comment about an Autistic child she used to babysit. She said that the child would climb and jump down all day long. As we continued the conversation, I learned that he had regressive Autism. He was born a healthy, normal child but regressed into Autism after his 18-month vaccination. He suffered intestinal problems 20 days after the vaccines and then stopped speaking and withdrew eye contact. He’s now 3, and has been officially diagnosed. I felt a deep surge of sympathy for the poor child and his parents, as well as a concern at our impending decision to hire a babysitter for Jonathan and particularly at his pending 12-month vaccinations. He was supposed to have his MMRV shots (and perhaps some other shots as well) this week, but because of his stomach flu over the weekend, we decided that he should wait.
I then vaguely recalled daddy and I talking, a few years back, about how we would be worried when that decision point regarding vaccines and Autism arrives. Well, that day has arrived. I discussed this issue with daddy when we picked him up from work. We’re both quite worried because neurological differences, possibly including Autism, seem to run in daddy’s family. Daddy, mommy, and Dr. Smith had suspected that daddy might have Asperger’s. Grandpa Pupu also thinks that he might have it too. Asperger’s is not that bad, just quirky, as it’s on the high-functioning side of the spectrum. But a vaccine-injured case usually isn’t high-functioning. It’d be totally heartbreaking if that happened, and we don’t want to risk the slightest chance of it happening to our precious child.
Contrary to what most people believe, there are more than one kind of Autism. At the very least, we could say there are classical and regressive types. MMR is hypothesized to cause regressive Autism for several reasons. The basic premise is that some children, for genetical or other reasons, may be more sensitive and reacted negatively to the vaccines, while most other children will be fine. The hypothesized culprits are:
1. The Mercury, which is now out of 99% of the vaccines in the United States.
2. The Measles component. It could cause intestinal measles, diarrhea, and then brain damage.
3. The overload of vaccines. It’s very common that in a well visit, a child receives many vaccinations all at once. The combined shots are just too much for some children.
Given daddy’s intestinal problem and given the fact that Jonathan hasn’t fully recovered from stomach flu yet, we feel it a bit worrisome.
Since Jonathan’s birth until now, we’ve always taken an easy stance on vaccination — “Just let the doctors decide,” which basically means just follow the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Immunization Schedule. Now it seems we’ve reached a crossroads.
What should we do? Dr. Sears suggests that parents split the shots and delay the Measles until 3. I think we will err on the side of caution and follow this alternative immunization schedule.
The Sears family is an authority in pediatrics, and their advices have been useful for us on many occasion. For example, the Hep B vaccine may cause lethargy and poor feeding in newborns.
That sounds pretty much like Jonathan’s symptoms, which caused him to be readmitted to the hospital in his fourth day of life.
Also, when Jonathan got the stomach flu, he threw up on Saturday, then got better, and then started vomiting again 2 days later. The nurse and doctor said it’s unusual, but according to Dr. Sears it’s pretty common that the vomiting comes back a day or two later.
Below is the Vaccines book authored by Dr. Bob Sears.
