Anyone taken their child for MMR vaccine *after* they were diagnosed with ASD?

[bigbluebus]

Just been watching the news and the article on Measles outbreaks in various parts of the country.
DS did not receive the MMR vaccine as a toddler, as the contoversy about it was all kicking off just as he should have been having his. I asked about single vaccines at the time, and just as the GP surgery found somewhere they could get them from, the Government pulled the plug on them! So, rightly or wrongly, DS has remained unvaccinated. He is now 16 - but he was diagnosed with HF ASD at age 6.
Now, whilst I believe that the MMR vaccine is probably fine for the majortity of the population, I am still unsure about its effects on children who already have had autism at the time they were vaccinated - but who may not have been diagnosed due to their young age.
Every time I see a news article about measles, I am guilt ridden, in case DS gets it and it causes permanent damage (although I had measles as a baby and have no damage). Likewise, I would feel dreadful if I now convinced him to have MMR jab (his decision as he is 16 now) and it made his autism more severe or affected his gut.

So I was wondering if any of you who had not previously had your DCs vaccinated, had a child vaccinated against MMR knowing that they have an ASD DX.

[APMom]

I delayed all vaccinations with my children mostly by just 3-4months but with my 3 youngest they didn't get MMR till they were in school so were aged5-6. Youngest ds has ASD and got the MMR just before we went to France as there was an outbreak there. It did worry me even though I know it shouldn't. He had no side effects from it.

[Lolaismyfavouriteandmybest]

My dd was vaccinated after her ASD diagnosis. Think she was about 3 . There was a measles outbreak and I got more scared about measles than vaccine damage. I didn't notice any change in her symptoms.

[bigbluebus]

Thanks for your replies AP and Lola, that is reassuring to know.

My older DD had the 1st MMR but our GP advised us not to give her the 2nd one as he said it was a massive attack on the immune system - and that was before there was any controversy about it! She doesn't have ASD but does have lots of other health problems and disabilities.

[Chocolatemoosemama]

I delayed dd's 12 month plus immunisations as she was due to have them right around the time we were going through hell with ds1 and really coming to terms with the fact that he was going to be dxd with ASD. I wanted to take my time, do lots of reading and also go back over ds's development and ascertain whether or not I felt there was any link in his case - particularly as he has pretty severe digestive issues as well as ASD.

I nearly got her MMR done last summer when there was a lot in the media about large outbreaks in Europe and the potential risk of measles due to tourism/travel, but didn't in the end.

I planned to get it done before she started nursery last September, but wanted her to be 100% fit and healthy when she had it and she has been pretty much poorly with back to back bugs and viruses ever since, but I relented this week and she had her MMR last Tuesday at the age of 4 years and 2 months old.

In actual fact she still has a sniffle and lingering cough - but I felt like we were never going to get a window of opportunity while she is in Nursery and we are too close for comfort geographically to some of the larger UK measles outbreaks and I found myself lying awake at night worrying about it. As Lolaismyfavouriteandmybest said, I think in the end I ended up more scared of her getting measles than I was about the potential for problems resulting from vaccination.

She has been absolutely fine so far, no sign of a reaction or anything, but I understand that the most likely reactions would occur between 10 days and 2-3 weeks after the injection (ie mild mumps, weaker version of measles etc).

Both of my boys had their MMR. In fact ds1 had his all on time, I delayed ds2's by a year. Ds1 has ASD - which was definitely there prior to his immunisations and ds2 is NT, but we feel has a few traits.

[MareeyaDolores]

3 dc all fully vaccinated at recommended ages including boosters etc.

1 ASD diagnosed (after MMR, but looking back there were signs from birth)
1 having assessments, think will end up with diagnosis
1 (probably) just constitutionally demand avoidant and a bit quirky

All generations of both sides of the family are full of traits, and being born before or after MMR doesn't seem to have affected the prevalence at all. So probably 99% genetic for us.

[Rumours]

I gave ds1 single jabs, he was diagnosed asd age 5. With ds2 I waited until he was 2 and gave him the MMR and he was diagnosed asd age 3.

[StarlightMcKenzie]

DS (ASD and 6) had his first jab. It didn't cause his ASD. However, he didn't have his booster. He might have it plus pre-school jabs this summer.

DD (NT and 4) had partial vacs. No MMR. The girl has absolutely no developmental issues at all, but skin, hair and gut issues and loads of pointers to immune issues. I may not ever continue with the schedule for her.

DS (9months) Had nothing. Will probably begin vacs programme this summer. Healthy little monkey. Doubt he has ASD or will get it from a vac as ds' asd didn't come from a vac (though I don't believe that it isn't possible, just that it isn't likely to be triggered that way in our family).

[bigbluebus]

Thanks all for your input. Thankfully, we are not in one of the areas currently suffering from widespread Measles outbreaks - yet!

DS is currently revising for GCSEs so I am hoping to delay any decision about a single/combined vaccination until after his exams whilst keeping fingers crossed that he doesn't come into contact with measles in the meantime.

I will have to explain all the facts to him (have been through it briefly before) and let him decide - but lord knows how he will do that when I have dithered over it for 14 years - and decision making is not one of his fortes!

I put it off for years as DS was needle phobic anyway after having the living daylight scared out of him by the stupid practice nurse and Health visitor when he went for his pre-school jabs - long story.
Thankfully, he bit the bullet and went for his 'school leavers' jabs and then wondered what all the fuss was about!!! (I knew he hadn't forgotten about the episode aged 4 though as he had to accompany me when his sister went for her flu jabs, and he kicked up such a fuss, even though the needle wasn't going anywhere near him!)

Don't suppose I could pursuade GP to do single measles jab? Anyone had any luck with this? Sadly the nearest place to here that does single jabs privately seems to be 50 miles away!

[Chocolatemoosemama]

Ds2 is seriously needle phobic as well bigblue. Caused by an incompetent registrar when he was seriously ill in hospital at the age of 4. We have since discovered that, due to his joint hypermobility syndrome, he doesn't respond to local anaesthetic, so the emla cream they were putting on him was useless as well, making it all so much worse.

He hasn't had his pre-school boosters or second MMR as a result. I have honestly never seen a child as out of control-terrified as he was of needles, it was so distressing for him and everyone around him.

His first MMR was delayed by me, so that delayed his boosters, then he had the pneumonia and was very weak and debilitated for a long time afterwards. In fact he seriously regressed, his personality changed and he lost a lot of skills and learning and had to start again with learning letters and numbers etc in year 1, despite being really good at them prior to the pneumonia.

I have considered booking him in for it a couple of times since, but worry about his needle phobia. I do think I might have to have his booster done soon though, if the current outbreak spreads much further.

I have read a bit about how necessary boosters are for immunity and and am none the wiser, as everything I read seems to contradict something else. If it wasn't for the needle phobia, I would really prefer to do titre testing, rather than keep on blindly injecting boosters, but that might end up meaning 2 injections rather than one if his levels are low.

I can honestly say it's one of the things about parenting I have wrestled the most with and I'm still not sure I've done the right thing by any of them.

To top it all off, I am now having terrible guilts about not getting them done sooner, both from the viewpoint of protecting my own dcs and the herd immunity thing, as parents of immune compromised and other children who can't have immunisations for other reasons in Swansea and the surrounding areas must be really scared for their dcs at the moment.

[bigbluebus]

chocolatemoose Re booster for MMR - our GP told me that 95% of the population gain immunity from the 1st MMR jab. Of the 5% that don't get immunity the 1st time around only something like 2% of those will get it the 2nd time around - so some children will remain unprotected even after 2 jabs - but it is cheaper/easier to jab everyone a 2nd time than it is to test everyone after the 1st jab.

On the basis of those figures, he did not recommend that DD had the 2nd jab as in all likelihood she was already protected or she wasn't and had little chance of becoming protected after a 2nd injection - which he described as a "massive attack on the immune system".
He was a fantastic and thorough GP and I trust his judgement - especially as he is targetted/paid to ensure children get these injections, and he was well aware that a dose of Measles would probably see DD off!

[ouryve]

Yes.

[Chocolatemoosemama]

Thank you bigbluebus, that's really good to know.

[MareeyaDolores]

Needle phobia article
treatment case study, making syringes etc look nicer, ordinary good practice