Help- DS3 HAs to have MMR booster, really nervous!

[PeachyHas4BoysAndLovesIt]

There's a child at school with cancer and they've asked us to have the booster. We will do it, I'm not risking a childs life for anything.

But I'm really nervous as he did regress after the last one. Words of comfort please? I know it's not going to change anything- he's asd, he's lovely whatever. But still...

is there any way you can twist paed's or gp's arm to do a blood test on him to see if he already has sufficient immunity without the booster?

I know it's hard when you are worried about something - but we had no problems whatsoever with the MMR booster for DS1 (ASD) in fact he has improved in all areas since he had it 3 months ago. I know your experience is different so probably that's not much help.

i don't think the mmr caused the ASD, that's genetic... just me worrying

No idea I'm afraid.
I am dreading this happening as i would have to remove my children. they are simply not having it. But mys ons ASD was linked to his vaccines so we are a different case.
Hope all goes well.

I didnt even know you can do that!

do i just ask GP then?

Ds2 is immunocompromised, not due to cancer thankfully, and I'm shocked this is being suggested. Any illness could be devastating to someone immunocompromised but to put parents in this position is not on in my opinion.

Its called blood titres I believe. THe clinics that do single vaccines will also do blood tests for immunity. I think its about 90% of children get immunity from the first MMR but they give the booster to ALL of them to catch the 10% (or whatever) that don't.

thanks for that then

they did say chickenpox as well but ds3 had it at 3 months and apparently its debatable if he can get immunity at that age or not.

Sorry but I wouldn't do it either. You have to go with what feels right for you, but YOUR child is your priority, and if you are not happy to let him have the booster then no one is entitled to make you feel you should.

we lost all speech, toilet training-,loads

is DS3 going to be at that school after this term?

Peachy, I agree with Tclanger. You have exceptional reasons for not having the booster and if all the NT children around ds3 have the booster, then where is he going to catch measles etc from anyway?

If you have a fear that is genuine for you then you are entitled to be worried but I agree with TClanger's DH - What is meant by regression on the AS sprectrum is a contraversial and much debated topic, and at the very least, it is very hard to know why it happens or what the factors might be.

type 'double whammy' into google along with MMR and autism and you may get the relevant study.

Actually sod searching, buy Richard Halvorsen's book and he iirc reports the double whammy study there . (Basically iirc children who regressed following MMR were compared - some had one dose, some two- the ones who had two doses were worse off than the ones who had one - and regressed further following the second). That should be enough to get your GP to do an antibody titre at least. You don't want to have to pay for it.

I would get the antibody titre- for chickenpox too. I had chickenpox immunity without ever having had it.

Difficult one. If I was asked this then I would probably organise a single measles jab for ds2, but I really couldn't do ds1 (although he might have immunity from his baby jabs) or ds3.

Peachy - ASD can be 'genetic' and still have an environmental influence. We believe that ASD is 'genetic' in our house too BUT big difference is that ds1 has had the triggers that mean it has been expressed unchecked whilst ds3 to date has not and so is clinging a little precariously to the normal developmental pathway. I think ds2 has less of the 'genetics' in him and is a little more robust.

I wouldn't want Mumsnet to end like the US boards where everyone is arguing all the time and no one is convincing anyone but there was one very interesting exchange on the US board AutismSpeaks - between someone does not believe regression happens and someone who believe that it does. The first one challenged the other to define the terms - 'What is regression?' and 'How does it happen?' Whatever you believe, it did shed some much needed light on a murky subject. But I don't know if I could find the thread again because for some odd reason, using regression as a search term would throw a confetti of threads. But I found all their arguing too much in the end so I never look at the site now.

Oh its depressing when that happens. I wish that people would recognise that autism is not one disorder, but many and that there are many routes to autism. In some the actual disorder itself might be present in the family history, in others it might be immune dysfunctions that are present, other might be traumatic birth or some other such big one off event.

Likewise I think there are different regressions. Some children have huge events that happen to totally push them from a normal developmental path off track. Others have an early disordered development that is chuntling along OK until something happens to tip the balance and send them offline. Others have major challenges right from the off.

There's a big research conference this week and one of the keynote speakers is giving a talk entitled 'Time to give up on a single explanation for autism?'

Long overdue imo.

kerrymum dh is immunosupressed, he tries to lead a normal life as possible. life goes on. its only comman sense that a school as other aprents to take extra care regarding illnesses. you cant wrap children in cotton wool. school for a child has many other benefits than just learning, there is social interaction as well which can be extremely beneficial to a child who has spent long times in isolation in hospital.