The Vaccination-Autism Connection

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Thanks for sharing Azurecrayon! That is terrible about the needle breaking off! Ughhhh!

Hi, new here and I've been reading around the forums for a while and felt the need to post here as this has always been a topic that comes to mind when discussing my son's AS.

I had my son when I was very young and as a young mum didn't know a while lot about pregnancy and what was normal. I was seeing a new doctor for only the second time, had gone in that visit for a pregnancy test. While waiting for the test results the dr. informed me that my MMR was out of date and she gave me the shot. Turns out I was just shy of 3 months pregnant, told my mom and she freaked out that the dr. had given me the shot. She dragged me back to my previous family doctor who confirmed that my MMR had been updated less than 6 months prior and I should not have been given the shot to begin with, much less while I was pregnant.

My son was a very easy going baby, aside from severe chalasia for the first 12 months and allergies to penicillan and beta carotine. Despite the chalasia, he was a good sized baby/toddler but didn't walk until almost 16 months, had very few words early on but developed a good vocabulary by 3 when other signs began to show up. (social issues with other children, lack of appropriate facial expressions, hyperfocus on items/topics of interest)

My son is almost 15 now and it has been a constant struggle to get him through school, especially now being in high school where socializing plays such a large role. Physically he is 'on par' with where he should be. To look at him you would never know he has AS, try to engage him in a conversation and it's quite different. For the most part he has the social maturity of about a 10 - 11 year old, some aspects of his personality seem 'stuck' at the same level they were many years ago about 7 - 8 years of age.

I have often felt guilty for having had the MMR during my pregnancy and being too young to know any better, I put myself in the hands of the doctor thinking she knew best and I have often felt betrayed by her at the same time. Since my son was born and his issues have compounded, I have struggles with the guilt and 'what if's had I not had the vaccine while I was pregnant ( I should have known better, I should have asked more questions, does he have AS because of the shot or because of the double dose plus his regular vaccines, would he have had AS anyways?? ) so many unanswered questions and a lot of underlying guilt over if I did this to him.

I try to get past it and focus on the positive things and encourage my son's development, I read and research as much as I can but applying everything is so much harder than just learning it. Inevitably, whenever I think about it, the thought always returns....what if we hadn't had the MMR's?

Hi Blink-
Welcome to Wrong Planet! I have always been concerned about vaccines, but I did go ahead and start vaccinating my son at birth. However, at 1 yr of age, my son did start to exhibit signs of autism. I held off on the MMR, but my son still continued to develop signs of autism, so I cannot blame it on MMR.

I know there has been so much controversy surrounding the issue, and we all want to find a reason for our children's diagnosis. For awhile, I thought it was because of my age since I had him when I was 40. But there is no proof that age is the cause either.

So at this point, my advice to you would to be to stop feeling so guilty about getting the shot. You did trust your doctor, and there is nothing that can change what happened. It sounds like you have done a good job so far of raising your son.

The more and more I read here, I believe there is a strong genetic link to autism. There may be some environmental factors at play too, but we just don't have the answers yet.

Thank you angelbear.

I also do believe that genetics and environment can play a role too. I am fairly certain my older brother has fairly severe asperger's although he was never diagnosed. Watching my son grow up and being an active part of his upbringing my mother now believes that my brother has asperger's and should have been diagnosed as a child as well.

I am of the opinion that there is no one specific 'cause' for autism, be it vaccine, environment or other. I do strongly believe that some people are pre-disposed to autism and some things can escalate it or bring it to the surface - ie: vaccines.

I have read and read and read about the topic of autism and vaccines and causes and I have accepted that what will be will be. I may never have an answer as to WHY but in the long run, it doesn't matter why because my son is autistic and knowing why won't change it.

I am thankful to have found this forum and gave the link to my son to check out as well as I've noticed there are other teens on here and it may be helpful for him to have someone to relate to.

My autism pre-dates when mercury was added to vaccines. So at best it can only be an incomplete partial theory.

Not getting your child vaccinated is asking for trouble.