Quick straw poll.....please read

[alexsmum]

I have to make a decision by tomorrow on whether or not to give my son the mmr jab.
My gut instinct is not to.His father wants him to have it.

SO ...what do you think?

yes or no?

[Socci]

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[Socci]

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[bubbly1973]

alexsmum, glad you were able to make a decision, thanks for letting us know

[Ags]

Sounds like you made a very informed decision. Well done. It is so tough - too much information sometimes and too little other times!!!

[alexsmum]

Thank you all for your replies. As you all know I was not going to base my decision on the poll , I really wanted to know what decisions other people came to, if everyone was as foggy as us or whether most people had confidence in the jab.

ANYWAY, we had him immunised with mmr today.

We have been seeing his immunologist since my ds1 was approx 5 months old.He's now 5 y/o. He has done everything he can to help us, and I really trust him. If ds2 was going to have singles, I wanted him to give them.His aftercare is second to none . He gave ds1 his singles.Unfortunately he can't obtain the singles anymore.
After more discussion with him today, we decided to go for it. It's not an ideal situation but I think I have made the best decision I could make at the time , given the circumstances.
I have his doctors mobile number, and a follow-up appointment booked. I'm just going to have to keep a close eye on him.
We have lots of allergies in our family and both the boys have eczema( which has been severe in the past), dh has asthma and eczema.

[bubbly1973]

how did it go today, did you decide what to do?

hope what ever you decided you are okay with your decision xxx

[albert]

No, if you are unable to make a decision that should be an answer in itself. You can always have the MMR later if you want to but if you decide yes now, you can never take that decision back. I didn't take MMR for DS although he had the measels vaccine later. I was under huge pressure to take it, especially since DH works for the World Health Organisation which fully suuports it, but IMO there is no smoke without fire.

[Twiglett]

It has to be your decision

Don't think it makes any difference but DS had singles and now he's 4 I'm actually considering having MMR as a booster

DD had the mercury free primaries and I am also considering MMR for her

I don't have family history of autism .. but have family link to Chrons (in that DH has an auto-immune disease which is lumped in with Chrons as a family of illnesses even though his affects joints and not bowels) which is why I was nervous of MMR, but the more I see the more I wonder whether it was the thimerosal in primaries that was the villain with the MMR tipping over some children

Its tough isn't it

[Gobbledigook]

It's got to be your own decision but both have mine have had MMR and ds3 will have it too.

Would be more wary if autoimmunity in the family but we don't have anything like that so it never really worried me.

[CountessDracula]

Ah so she only needed the mumps jab!

[CountessDracula]

lockets, of course that was only the opinion of 2 people, they may not be right!

I just felt happier all round with singles.

In fact, it is measles jab in general not just mmr that is implicated in Crohn's. However with the take-up rate being so low for mmr I was concerned about dd getting measles so decided to immunise her anyway, fingers crossed.

[NomDePlume]

I did. DD is fine (now 2.7y). DH & 1st wife did, both their boys are fine (now 12 & 11)

[NomDePlume]

I did. DD is fine (now 2.7y). DH & 1st wife did, both their boys are fine (now 12 & 11)

[Jimjams]

Well AS is a spectrum in itself of course. I was just responsing to karen's message about AS being a condition that can be managed (sometimes can sometimes can't). DS1's condition isn't manageable- not in terms of giving him an independent life anyway.

INteresting CD. Glad to hear the immunologists said that as it's what I've thought but never heard officially.

[CountessDracula]

yoyo our family history of autoimmune stuff - I have Crohn's Disease, mild asthma and eczema. My brother has asthma and eczema.

I spoke to an immunologist friend, plus another one on the phone (no names) both of whom said if it was their child with my family history they wouldn't give mmr.

When we went to see a consultant immunologist on the NHS to discuss officially, all we got was the party line, ie there is no danger, it is up to you, we can't advise you. Bloody useless, no proper info or discussion, just stonewalling. That made my mind up for me finally - if they can't have an objective discussion and let me have all the facts then they must be unsure.

[anchovies]

Having said that we definitely fall into the type 1 weird uncle category so may be nothing to worry about!!

(interesting theory by the way!)

[flamesparrow]

Yes

[anchovies]

Jimjams, my brother has aspergers and has no chance of ever living independantly let alone holding down a job or getting married etc.

He has always had bowel problems, allergies etc so we are finding the mmr decision very difficult ourselves.

[handlemecarefully]

YES

[Jimjams]

hi ghosty DS1 loved your washing machines

Yoyo in our case autoimmunity runs through dh's side. Type 1 diabetes, MS, gout, all in close relatives. Add in severe eczema and asthma and it's quite a pattern.

Davros and I have noticed (completely unscientifically but independently) there seems to be 2 types of families with autism. One type (type 1 I think) seems to have a family history of a lot of weird uncles who collected picture of telegraph poles and were clearly undxed aspies, whilst type 2 appear to have no autism in the family but be choc a block with autoimmune conditions. these children tend to be more likely to react to vaccinations, are more likely to show regressive autism (certainly true of ds1) and are often severely affected. They also often respond well to Biological intervention- gluten and casein free diets for example, whereas these seem to have no effect on type1's.

Could be nothing in it but as a general rule it seems to work. Always exceptions of course.

[Jimjams]

IME the children who regress following MMR tend to regress quite severely (non verbal poo smearing type). It comes down to Davros's type 1 and type 2 autism types I think.