Middle School Vaccines

[mk8898]

Our PANDAS son will be entering middle school in the fall. 3 vaccines were added for boys and girls ages 11-19. 2nd Varicella (Chicken Pox), Tdap booster (Pertussis - whooping cough) and MCV4 (Meningococcal conjagate). Any older PANDAS children receive these vaccines yet and if so how did he/she react? He has been exposed to chicken pox and also had the vaccine when he was 1 year of ago. As far as PANADS goes, he is doing very good and hate to risk that.

Thanks, Michelle

[SarahJane]

My son is 7 so I've not got the direct experience. He's fully vaxxed for now, but I'm pretty much done with them & can't imagine giving him another shot. (Someone please help me stop reading & researching! LOL). ANYWAY, you could try getting a test to see if he's still protected with the antibodies for varicella & pertussis (not sure about the meningitis). Another option would be getting a waiver, which depends a lot in your state. I'd be the same as you if I were in your shoes. Would not want to rock the boat. Good luck! I look forward to seeing what others say.

[MomWithOCDSon]

My DS, now 14, received all of his standard immunization boosters before entering sixth grade. Let me say, though, that this was before a PANDAS diagnosis, and before the massive exacerbation that brought us to the PANDAS diagnosis. Also, his shots were administered a good 14 months before he "lost his mind," so I cannot connect the immunizations temporily with his PANDAS.

 

That being said, if immune health is about "the total load" our kids are capable of withstanding, then everything we've given him from birth on may have contributed to his current condition, so I'm not ready to take anything off the table.

 

If I had it to do over again, I think I would be much more judicious about it. If your DS has already had a chicken pox vaccine and been exposed, does he really need another vaccine now? I know chicken pox can have some major ramifications for adults, but if you could hold off until his immune system is more mature before "boostering" that, it would seem safer. As for the others, I'm told pertussis is "making a comeback," and I know meningitis is a concern among preteens and teens. I keep recalling what I heard Dr. Kenneth Bock say at the AO Conference last year: "I'm not anti-immunization. I'm for proper, appropriate and timely immunizations." In other words, maybe immunizations would be more beneficial and less toxic to our kids (mercury and thimerasol notwithstanding) if they were administered across a reasonable time frame, instead of having these massive doses lumped together because that's more "convenient" for the pharmaceutical industry and the administering doctors.

 

At a minimum, in your shoes, I would make sure my DS was in good health before agreeing to any immunizations, and then I would probably advocate for taking it slow: one shot at a time, with plenty of time in between to make sure his immune system is not being sent into overdrive by them.

[dcmom]

I feel the same as Nancy.

 

DD is going into 6th grade. I adamantly did not want her to get any vaccines right now, and her neurologist agreed. We have deferred for a year. I think this summer we will check titers- if she has immunity- we don't have to worry about it. If she has no immunity, we will individually consider each shot (meningitis is probably the one most worth considering for us). I would hope to have her at a really healthy point prior to any vaccination- pandas free for a time period. I also would like to have our doc standing by with medical intervention in the case of an exacerbation caused by the vaccine.

 

Really cannot imagine doing a vaccine- but hope in the future to be at a point where we could consider. I guess my goal would be to have the meningitis vaccine (although I do need to study up on its effectiveness) prior to college.

[Kiera]

Definitely No more shots for my PANDAS ds 8, who's currently in exacerbation! PANDAS is all about immune system over-reactivity so why risk it? I'm even mulling whether or not to continue vacinating my non-PANDAS daughter, since there's a strong sibling component! My ds's PANDAS Dr believes Dr Wakefield (British Dr who caused vaccine scare way back)will someday be vindicated as he's sniffing down the right track and subsequent research will show that!!! Better wait till more research is out there.

[laure]

Not to mention the mercury component...see books by Kenneth Boch with lots of info on that issue.

[nicklemama]

I'm not there yet, but as a mom of child who's PANDAS was set off my FluMist, at this point I cannot imagine giving my DS7 another vax ever. Dr T said no more ever. Dr K said tetanus only. I plan to have his ped fill out a medical exemption when the time comes.

[wornoutmom]

my PANDAS kid passed out in the office after receiving these vaccines. A week later, massive stomach cramps, fever, diarreha, and the beginning of a downward mental spiral that has not returned to previous baseline 3 years later. I believe it was the overload on the system. If i could take it back, I would have never done it. I have felt guilty, angry etc.. My Youngest, nonPANDAS, was due for these vaccines this year. We discussed each indivdually, and found no reason to administer them. The risks of the vaccine seemed to outweigh the chances of him actually contracting these diseases at this time. We will revisit meningitis when he goes to college, as that seems to be the highest risk environment for this disease.

[airial95]

My son is still very young - in Pre-K, so I can't comment on the middle school vax, but we face the same questions at his well visit every year.

 

The only vax he has had a reaction too thus far was the swine flu - which we gave him pre-dx before a trip to Mexico a couple of years ago when there was the scare.

 

Based on that, we no longer to any flu shots for either child (PANDAS son and non-PANDAS daughter).

 

As for the other shots, we do it on a case by case basis, like others have mentioned. To date, we are still up to date with is vaccines, and did opt to do the 3 that were do for his 3rd year checkup (can't remember which ones off hand).

 

However, we opted to do them individually, and several weeks apart. Doing it this way allowed us to look for reactions, and minimize issues. Im' happy to say we got through all 3 with no backslide whatsoever.

 

Ultimately, though, it's a personal decision. There are very strong opinions on both sides of the vaccination argument, and only you can decide what is best for your child.

[formedbrds]

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Edited July 16, 2011 by formedbrds

[colleenrn]

My daughter is in 9th grade this year. Before she started middle school I signed a religious exemption (no philisophical in our state) to exempt her from the vaccines. No one ever questioned me about it at all and it was not even required I repeat the exemption from 6th grade when she entered high schol this year- they just used the previous exemption. I am doing the same with my younger children also.

I would not get the boosters if it were my child, but it is a personal decision.

My oldest had all vaccines through age 5. My next 3 kids have had only polio. My child with all the vaccines has far worse PANDAS thasn my other children and IMO one main reason is the vaccines she got. The other reason, IMO, is we have been more aggressive with antibiotics and getting T&A .

Colleen

[mk8898]

Thank you for the responses. My plan is for our Ped (she gave us the original diagnosis) to prepare a medical exemption form/letter. The school district is aware of his condition, so hopefully we won't have any issues.

[Doug]

my PANDAS kid passed out in the office after receiving these vaccines. A week later, massive stomach cramps, fever, diarreha, and the beginning of a downward mental spiral that has not returned to previous baseline 3 years later. I believe it was the overload on the system. If i could take it back, I would have never done it. I have felt guilty, angry etc.. My Youngest, nonPANDAS, was due for these vaccines this year. We discussed each indivdually, and found no reason to administer them. The risks of the vaccine seemed to outweigh the chances of him actually contracting these diseases at this time. We will revisit meningitis when he goes to college, as that seems to be the highest risk environment for this disease.

I did the same thing with her shots.. she hates them so bad so her doc said well we can combind them and just get it all done with.. I wish I could take that back also.. but I was thinking about my dd.. But I think she was already starting PANDAS but I can't remember because we did not know at the time about PANDAS..

 

Tracie