I'm put off having injections

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When I was 9, they had an injection for Meningitis to give to us at school, but the day before the injection day, the special needs teacher quickly rang my mum and told her that I shouldn't have it done because it will make me really Autistic. So I didn't have it done. So if I caught Meningitis and died, it would practically be because of having AS. That's not fair. My brain is wired like this - why would it scramble itself to an Autistic state just because of an injection? Why couldn't it scramble itself to NT from an injection? Or why couldn't it scramble any NT brains to AS? So complicated and annoying!

But ever since that day, I've been frightened of having injections. When I was 13 and was due for the BCG injection (I don't know what disease that stands for), I started having a panic attack before I went to school, and so my mum had to ring the school nurse to ask if it will give me Autism, and the nurse promised it wouldn't, so I had it done - and it didn't cause any brain damage.

I'm scared to have the Swine Flu injection too.

But I don't get it - if I did have an injection what made my mild AS into Autism, how quickly would I become Autistic? Would I suddenly become all in my own world as soon as they jab me with the needle? Would I suddenly loose all ability to talk? Would it draw a line quickly? I don't get it.

You are autistic.

Vaccines do not cause autism. In any way, shape or form. They do not make autism symptoms worse nor do they cause the syndrome. It is a myth that is perpetuated by several different groups (Age of Autism for one) and latched onto by people desperate for answers as to why their child is the way he/she is.

Your special needs teacher spreading that kind of misinformation makes me rather ticked off, especially since some of the diseases they want to vaccinate you for (like meningitis) are quite deadly. Maybe not the Flu--if you are not around people at high risk for complications (people over 65 or under 6, people with asthma or other breathing difficulties, etc). But certainly the Pertussis booster (whooping cough) and BCG (which is a vaccine against tuberculosis--not given here in the States, but routine other places) would be along those same lines--maybe not deadly, but certainly an issue for people with pre-existing breathing issues due to COPD, asthma, etc.

The vaccine "controversy" is one of my special little obsessions and I have spent untold amounts of time looking into it, researching, looking at studies, etc. It's bogus--there is no evidence to suggest the kind of thing your teacher suggested. It scares me that she might be convincing other parents not to get their kids vaccinated also. Over time, with enough people refusing vaccines for no good reason, the herd immunity that keeps these diseases from becoming epidemics is damaged and children are at real risk of dying. It's happening in California with Whooping Cough right now. Measles and Mumps are making comebacks in our communities. At real risk are infants too young for vaccines and other people who can't get them because of immune-deficiencies and allergies to vaccine components. (A child allergic to eggs or undergoing chemotherapy for example.)

Ugh.

I meant the type of Autism where you're socially worse off than an Aspie.

You may have some misconceptions about Asperger's. Some with Asperger's are very impaired socially. Some with classic autism are very well socialized (albeit often after a great deal of hard work).

Joe90-

Your logic is quite correct-there's nothing in an injection that can give you autism or make it worse. Shots hurt a bit, but not too much. Tell your doctor, nurse, whomever, that you're very very frightened of the needle. Ask them to let you watch it for a few minutes just lying on the table. And when they give you the shot, try your best to relax your muscle.

Like Spyral said, even if the disease it's for is something you can handle, it might be something other people can't. So if there's someone you care about, like a grandmother or maybe a baby neighbor, think of it as protecting them.

Joe,

as the poster above said, some groups of people do believe vaccines cause autism. Supposing vaccines did cause autism [or had the potential to make autism worse] then you would have to balance the risks and benefits of the vaccine against developing autism. Despite the problems autism may cause someone to experience, the conditions that people vaccinate against are much more serious, potentially deadly.

You could have any vaccinations you missed now, the thing to ask about is if the vaccine contains a mercury containing substance called thiomersal. Mercury is associated with neurotoxicity and hence any vaccines you recieve should be free from this.

These thimerosal-free vaccines do exist and you should go to your doctor asking him/her for them. I don't think they are any more expensive than the few vaccinations which exist which do contain thimerosal.

The vaccinations I know about that contain thimerosal include some vaccinations against hepatitis B [such as Engerix B] that healthcare workers recieve - I had Engerix B and had a serious allergic reaction to it [which was confirmed on positive rechallenge ]. To complete the course I got a thimerosal free vaccine called HBVaxPro,

Last years swine flu vaccine produced by GSK also contained thimerosal [Pandemrix], though Baxter produced one that was free from thiomersal called Celvapan. This is what individuals in the UK recieved if they had an egg allergy.

The meningitis vaccination you never recieved was probably the Meningitis C vaccine that people recieve at School, I think I got it when I was about 16 and never had an allergic reaction at the time. There are many types of meningitis so even if you had the vaccine you could still get one of the other types. You should definetely get this vaccine as it may prevent you contracting meningitis which can occur more frequently in more populated areas.

BCG stands for Bacille Calmette-Guérin, it is a live [attenuated/weakened] vaccine against Tuberculosis. Given tuberculosis still occurs, Ive seen it being treated and its a long course of medicines which means people need to be in isolation for a while when they are diagnosed and for a few months afterwards. Tuberculosis also can be fatal.

Herd immunity is important, and so most people should be vaccinated against the infections mentioned. That is when 95% of people are immunised against a disease, there is so little about that the other 5% remain at a very low risk of catching the infection. Because people with conditions causing a weakened immune system such as HIV and leukaemia generally shouldn't recieve some vaccinations that herd immunity protects them.

If you had any concern you could ask your GP(family doctor) what they felt would be the best course of action. You could ask for the vaccines to be spaced out by a month or so if you wished - I don't know if this would be beneficial or not.

Again like the last poster I don't think it was responsible for your special needs teacher to be telling you or your parent(s) that the vaccine may affect your autism unless they had specific evidence to support that. Any group claiming to be autism advocates must be very careful how they tread and the special needs teacher should be no different.

I hope that presents part of the bigger picture so you can read and understand, I wouldn't go as far as to say that vaccines don't cause autism as there are a few anecdotal reports suggesting otherwise but I would support the advice that most people need vaccinated and that the risks from most vaccinations are minimal and the benefits conferred are significant.

All of that might be completely correct, yet I do know some folks well whose juvenile daughter immediately became physically ill and then began turning inward following a vaccination ... and the problem with vaccinations is not the serum, but the other stuff used to get serum into the body. Personally, I stay completely away from all vaccinations that are not truly medically necessary (such as for tetanus).

As others have said, vaccines can't make you more autistic, or autistic to begin with if you aren't already. Your teacher clearly didn't know what she was talking about.

Hire me to give you your shots. When I worked as a school nurse, the kids asked for me specifically because my injections didn't hurt. It's all in the wrist, you see.

The tetanus shots also contain a Pertussis booster (whooping cough) which is quickly reaching epidemic status in many places in the U.S. In the thousands of cases, including several deaths. It's not something to be taken lightly. You may want to reconsider that one. (Not that tetanus doesn't kill people, too but it isn't spread as easily as pertussis.)

It's not the needle I'm scared of - it's all the threat I hear about the Autism thing caused by vaccinations. And I only have mild AS and I can hide it and get on with normal life - but if the threats and myths were true and did make the AS worse, well, my life would completely change.

I'm just asking though - if some vaccinations did make an AS person worse, when would the severe Autism start? And you know what I mean about AS and severe Autism - I'm talking about going from an Aspie (who can make themselves come across as normal) to someone with severe Autism (a point where they become mentally ret*d and.... look up ''young adults with Autism'' on Youtube and compare what you watch with yourself, and you'll know what I'm trying to ask).

I thank you for that information. I have only ever updated for tetanus after a related injury, and I doubt that will ever happen again. However, I did not know something else tags along there!

While hospitalized last week, I was asked about vaccinations and simply declined them ... and then the risk of infection there at the hospital was one of the stated reasons a doctor used for wanting to discharge me just as soon as possible.

"They" seem to prefer everyone else simply/mindlessly comply.

That's very hard to answer. Because since they don't, it's kind of hard to imagine how they would "make an AS person into a severely autistic person", and without knowing how, it's not easy to tell how fast. (It's also quite hard to transform between an idea-that-doesn't-match-reality and another idea-that-doesn't-match-reality, so that complicates things.)



I have a hard time knowing what people mean when they make distinctions that are more in their heads that in the real world. I have a hard time making those sorts of images in my head (I mean the images of "AS" and of "severe autism" that most people tend to carry around with them and I don't). I did actually go to Youtube, and I didn't see much different than myself honestly. Of course I've had medical professionals describe me as having "the cognitive capacity of an infant" before, get called "severely autistic" even above my objections, and know a lot of "mentally ret*d" people who look more "normal" than I do (and do a lot of things better than I do, for that matter). So... maybe I just don't fit into the ideas in people's heads very well. Oh well. There's a lot of concrete reality outside those ideas and I'm more comfortable out here.

The "THEORY" is that it causes a breakdown of a person's abilities so they are "autistic", that is to say they APPEAR autistic. Frankly, I believe, and HOW could ANYONE imagine otherwise? That that is CDD, CDD happens around the time the brain changes at its greatest pace. It is apparently the first time it gets pruned. SOME sites claim that window can last until 5. It starts around 2.

There IS a secondary pruning, but it is FAR smaller. And it happens around 8. But frankly I have never heard of it making a person appear autistic, etc.....

Still, you have been through TWO of those! I haven't heard of a case where that second one goes crazy in a healthy person, like the first one can.

So it should NOT have affected you, and I bet it won't! ALSO, AS IS a type of autism.

Autism, AND AS, are states that don't have a set set of symptoms. It is diagnosed through a grouping of possible symptoms. If they are TOO obvious, they will likely diagnose you with SOMETHING, even if you don't match autism. The idea of all the changes becoming normal through chance is unlikely.



Apparently, it is Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) Vaccine, which is for TB.



DON'T WORRY, you will NOT be affected! Kids are supposed to get a lot of injections around 6mo of age! A baby's milestones are given generally up to about 2yo. Parents watch their kids. They may seem normal. MANY autistic symptoms won't become apparent until the time they can talk(as late as 2yo), or start socializing(perhaps 6yo). SO, parents are watching. They see their kids talk, maybe before 2, 2 comes around, and they realize the kids demeanor has changed, they may not talk anymore, etc... The pruning happens to EVERYONE, but they are usually unused neurons and NO change is noticed. If it happens to neurons that ARE used, it could do ANYTHING. But what neurons does a BABY use? Talking might be one of the last things they learn before that happens!

It is almost like pruning a tree, near your home. If you prune areas that are in the dark, NO change will happen! If you prune areas that are in the light, the plant has less energy and, if cut back enough, it could die. But if you don't prune it, it can grow too far, and maybe destroy your home.



Hopefully, that was explained above. I think they are GRASPING. But mercury IS bad.

BTW People with AS can be VERY stupid with social issues. The DSM SPECIFICALLY says so.

Well what's that Autism where children are delayed in everything, even potty-training, and they hit themselves all day when they're grown-up, and just sit in a dark, quiet room? I'm nowhere near like that - I was potty-trained before 3, and I don't sit there hitting myself all day - I go out to work on the bus and mix with people all day.