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Just wondering if anyone out there has gotten the dtap booster - its a combo for tetanus and pertussis - did your child react to it?

 

I'm pretty sure I won't have my son get it, but checking in with all of you to see what history of this is. The booster would be given when they are 10 - 12 . Thanks for letting me know your experience with it!

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Just wondering if anyone out there has gotten the dtap booster - its a combo for tetanus and pertussis - did your child react to it?

 

I'm pretty sure I won't have my son get it, but checking in with all of you to see what history of this is. The booster would be given when they are 10 - 12 . Thanks for letting me know your experience with it!

 

Our daughter had her 10 year old physical back in September and we declined the DTAP and filled out forms through the state which allow her to attend school without continuing her vaccinations. She had a minor exacerbation 2 years ago with a flu shot so I do not want to continue vaccinating at this time as it seems to cause issues with her immune system.

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We were advised by our PANDAS doc not to do the booster or any other vaccines for our dd8 (whose tetanus antibodies were on the low side indicating she was probably due for a booster). He did not want to stimulate her immune system in any way.

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DS's last Diptheria, Tetanus, Pertussis vaccine was when he was 6. I believe it triggered his asthma, which started coming on with all colds/illnesses about 5 weeks after the shot. We'll never know for sure, of course, but that's what my mommy's intuition tells me.

 

You can get a simple blood test to check titers for these diseases. If the titers are within a certain range, the child still has immunity. When we did this, we found our son had zero immunity to pertussis, although he was fully vaxed at that point. I think this may be the reason why there are flares in whooping cough occasionally, not because of the evil anti-vaxers, but because the vaccine itself is not always effective.

 

I would check titers and then skip it if I were you. If tetanus is low, you could get this booster by itself, instead of the triple whammy. There were only 3 reported cases in the U.S., and no deaths, from diptheria between 2000 and 2007. I think its been pretty much irradicated int he U.S. Pertussis is bacterial, so if your child is on Azith, they are protected from it.

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I think it's going to get harder to get a regular tetanus booster since they're recommending DTaP boosters for adults now. ::sigh:: Tetanus shot supposedly contains one of the highest amounts of aluminum as an FYI. (I've traced my high Al level to my tetanus booster I got last summer and allergy shots I did last year too.)

 

Anyway, I'd skip the shots if you can. And definitely skip the Gardisil shot too...they're pushing those for boys now too.

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Is this if you can find tetanus by itself or is the combo okay as well in his opinion?

 

Just yesterday, Dr K said tetanus vax was fine but nothing else. That said, FluMist set my DS's PANDAS off and I will not be gettig him vaccinated ever again.

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Several years ago (6 or 7) I had 2 children (separate incidences) who had injuries requiring stitches. Both needed a tetanus shot, but I could only get the Td (tetanus/diptheria) in the emergency room. And those nurses were very, very snotty when I asked if they had just the tetanus w/o diptheria. So its one thing to say, "Just get tetanus and nothing else." and quite another to find that available.

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  • 2 months later...

Has anyone seen any research on a connection between PANDAS and the DTaP booster and/or flu mist?

 

Here is our story...my 11 year old son has always been a normal, healthy, active kid. He received the DTaP booster and flu mist in early October 2010. Beginning in late October 2010, I found I was taking him into the pediatrician's office at least once a month with suspected strep but the test results were always negative.

 

Five months later, on March 4, 2011 he didn't feel well, again, we took him to the pediatrician...again, nothing. Then, the next day he began to cough and he did not stop coughing for almost two months. He had a racking cough that occurred every 10-20 seconds from the moment he woke up until the very moment he fell asleep. Nothing relieved his cough and it was so violent that, to make matters worse, he developed awful reflux. As a result, he was out of school for almost 2 1/2 months. He saw every kind of doctor (allergist, ent, gi, speech pathologist, psychologist)and he had a multitude of tests including an endoscopy/bronchoscopy, upper gi, chest x-ray, blood work for elevated titers, and asthma testing. He was on a ton of medications ranging from antibiotics to steroids, allergy meds, asthma meds, cough suppressants, muscle relaxers, you name it, and finally, our pediatrician thought it might be a tic and prescribed clonidine. Anyway, by the end of May he was back in school and was able to finish out the school year. I believe it was the clonidine and antibiotic shots that finally did the trick but I can't be sure. None of the doctors were willing to say it was PANDAS but I am convinced he had/has it. Now, I am beginning to suspect a connection between the DTaP booster and/or the flu mist. I was wondering if anyone has seen any research that looks into this?

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I've not seen any research but my DS's first major PANDAS episode was set off by the FluMist in Oct 2009. I took a prefectly fine boy to the ped and two days later, our worst nightmare began. In hindsight, this was not his first PANDAS episode, it was just so awful it couldn't be overlooked. We and Dr K believe he had a mild presentation of PANDAS 10 months earlier when he had an ear infection that was treated w/ abx. His mild symptoms lasted a couple of months.

 

Our DS's reaction was so bad, at the urging of a friend who's a NICU nurse, I reported it to the vax adverse event board maintained by the CDC. I think its called VAERS. Never heard a word back from them.

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My dd had her first discernable PANDAS exacerbation at age 7.5. She returned to normal function in 6-8 weeks without any intervention. She did not have another exacerbation for 4 years but at age 11.5 she received a DT vaccination (no acellular pertussis due to her sister having a reaction at 6 months of age). She has been battling PANDAS ever since. Two HD IVIgs, abx for 15 months solid and her antiDNAse B is still elevated. In our case, if I had refused the DT booster....would my dd be functional? Who knows....but I would avoid any vaccinations if at all possible.

Mary

from Michigan

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You can get a simple blood test to check titers for these diseases. If the titers are within a certain range, the child still has immunity. When we did this, we found our son had zero immunity to pertussis, although he was fully vaxed at that point. I think this may be the reason why there are flares in whooping cough occasionally, not because of the evil anti-vaxers, but because the vaccine itself is not always effective.

 

I would check titers and then skip it if I were you. If tetanus is low, you could get this booster by itself, instead of the triple whammy. There were only 3 reported cases in the U.S., and no deaths, from diptheria between 2000 and 2007. I think its been pretty much irradicated int he U.S. Pertussis is bacterial, so if your child is on Azith, they are protected from it.

 

 

Well said....mama2alex! Get a blood test for your kids to see if they have immunity to whatever vaxes the docs want to give your children. They may still have immunity and the vaccines would be totally unnecessary.......and you could turn in the results showing the schools your kids have immunity. And about Pertussis.....totally agree. It is not because of the evil anti-vaxers, but a failure of the vaccine. This is what several docs told us. And as a side note, both my sons were also fully vaxed against Pertussis and they both got Pertussis 2 summers ago! (as did several children at our church and some adults (even my father)) They now have immunity, of course, but, I bet they also had zero immunity after the vaccines just like you mentioned. They do have, still, protective levels to diptheria and tetanus...so atleast that one "took."

 

So, my advice to the original poster....get a blood test to check for immunity before giving the vaccine and risking a flair.

Edited by P.Mom
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You can get a simple blood test to check titers for these diseases. If the titers are within a certain range, the child still has immunity. When we did this, we found our son had zero immunity to pertussis, although he was fully vaxed at that point. I think this may be the reason why there are flares in whooping cough occasionally, not because of the evil anti-vaxers, but because the vaccine itself is not always effective.

 

I would check titers and then skip it if I were you. If tetanus is low, you could get this booster by itself, instead of the triple whammy. There were only 3 reported cases in the U.S., and no deaths, from diptheria between 2000 and 2007. I think its been pretty much irradicated int he U.S. Pertussis is bacterial, so if your child is on Azith, they are protected from it.

 

 

Well said....mama2alex! Get a blood test for your kids to see if they have immunity to whatever vaxes the docs want to give your children. They may still have immunity and the vaccines would be totally unnecessary.......and you could turn in the results showing the schools your kids have immunity. And about Pertussis.....totally agree. It is not because of the evil anti-vaxers, but a failure of the vaccine. This is what several docs told us. And as a side note, both my sons were also fully vaxed against Pertussis and they both got Pertussis 2 summers ago! (as did several children at our church and some adults (even my father)) They now have immunity, of course, but, I bet they also had zero immunity after the vaccines just like you mentioned. They do have, still, protective levels to diptheria and tetanus...so atleast that one "took."

 

So, my advice to the original poster....get a blood test to check for immunity before giving the vaccine and risking a flair.

Testing for immunity is always an option if one wants to avoid boosters. Provided titers are high enough- that is enough proof not to revaccinate. I believe you when you say doctors told you there was a "failure of vaccines", however, there is a certain percentage of the population that fails to seroconvert and develop immunity to specific vaccines- period. Then there is the whole issue of waning immunity (entire reason for vaccine boosters). The vaccine industry has never hidden the fact that some folks will just not develop immunity to certain vaccines regardless of how many times it is given. This is well researched and well published. I never took to small pox as a child- they gave it to me in my arms several times and my legs several times- never took and they just gave up.Small pox is not even given,anymore- thankfuly! However, I have immunity to Hep B, MMR etc. I had Measels and mumps, as a child, so one would expect immunity to those sans any vaccine- but I never had rubella and my titers are OK on that.

 

When we did the big vaccine campaign on heathcare workers for Hep B in the 1990's- we followed up with titers to assure immunity. Some failed to EVER convert.Regardless- even if given additonal boosters or entire repeat series. Some folks just don't seroconvert- it was reported back then that as high as 10-15% of folks that receive Hep B may fail to ever develop immunity. I would hesitate to state this is a failure of the vaccine- just the person's individual response to vaccination. Has nothing to do with antivaxers, either. I'm sure there is a reason for it but it would require lots of blood work to determine if these folks have some type of underlying, undiagnosed immunodeficiency that causes them NOT to gain immunity. These folks are the ones dependent on herd immunity for protection.

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Thanks everyone! I need to hear this :)

 

We are denying the DTAP booster for my dd right now. NJ requires this- there is NO medical exemption that would apply (you basically need to be on death's door) even with several doctors notes, and there is NO philosophical exemption. I had to write a religious exemption letter- which is lovely since I am agnostic :) They used to NOT be able to even ask you anything- just take the letter- but the tide in NJ is so pro vaccine- things are changing.

 

(I am a vegetarian, and only give the kids organic animal products- so I did find out most vaccines contain animal products- so there is my line of defense- I guess I need to become a Buddhist!)

 

I am mailing the letter this week.

 

Both of my kids developed pandas at the same time, post strep- within three months of their first and last (insert profanity here) flu mist.

 

(they had both had strep 2 x in their life prior, with no incident).

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