General Chat

Debby where do you live? Have you contacted your local Parent Partnership or Health Visitor about support groups? Ask the SENCO at the school if there are any other special needs kids and see if you can get a group going there - we had one at our school for a while and it was great to let off steam and share experiences that the other mothers just would not understand or even believe. Have you applied for DLA for yours? - particularly your youngest - you really should as you would definitely be entitled to some. Feel free to e-mail me direct if you wanna chat about any of this. Maz. XX

When we were kids there was a measles epidemic and we all caught it. My brother and I were not too bad,but we did have ear nose and throat infections which were pretty horrible. I think the awful nose drops were the worst,they were called Sulphex. The little girl next door had it very badly and she had much worse ear infections than us and I can still hear her screaming and screaming in pain. She was profoundly deaf after the measles had run its course. So I had my own twins immunised when it was my time to protect mychildren One twin was fine and sailed through with no trouble.He had all of the jabs. His brother went into a coma,one in so many tens of thousands who had a bad reaction. He has mental problems all his life and hs tried to committ suicide three times and spent time in institutions.He was diagnosed at 40 with Aspergers Syndrome. Even so I would recommend that we protect our children. Young mothers have not seen the ravages of a major epidemic, they have nothing they can base their logic on. I am anxious about what will happen to the unprotected children who will be unprotected all their lives, these childhood diseases are much more serious when adults have them. Rose

hi maz took them 3 years to diagnose my son with aspergers,he's 16 now,i said all through jr school there was something wrong,got put down to me being an over anxious mother,matthew was a normal lad untill the mmr,2 years at senior school and me nagging and bullying dr's i finally got him reffered and he was given his diagnosis last year,my 7 year old was much quicker,by now i knew the right channels to go through and i pushed till she got reffered,she was diagnosed within 14 monthes,shes a bit further along the autistic spectrum,she doesent talk,has selective speech,iv had all the comments that if i suspected the mmr couldve been responsible for matthews autism why 9 years later did i allow emily to have the mmr.i agree with what so many of you are saying that you have to take that risk in order to protect your kids,if they hadent of had it things couldve been worse.so i think i made the right choice. i dont know other parents of children with autism and aspergers,hospital say theyll give me details of local support group but nothing so far.ive had to educate the teachers because they just dont have a clue about it.i think it should be compulsery for teachers to go on a course to learn about things like this or at least given some paper work,might stop them treating them as if theyre naughty children.igronance makes me so mad. Debs.x

I firmly believe that all children should be immunised, especially now we have more illnesses in this country like TB which has made a come back. What I don't agree with is a little body having FIVE shots in one session. How can a small body cope with this much in one go. Both my grandchildren had their MMR's seperatly. Jo.

touch wood my daughter didn't suffer any effects.i am all for finding out as a parent if this could harm children if given,but i think the research has been done a little too late.lolxxxxxxxx(:

It is every parents choice to have or not to have the jabs, but in my case i never once regretted allowing my 2 children to have them. Megan will possibly have promlems all her life as she has damage to the cerebella part of her brain, co-ordination and tiredness are the main areas in which she struggles and for an 8 year old it is sometimes heart breaking to see her get so frustrated but given what could have been i think we got off lightly as she may not have survived if no vaccinations were given. There is a jab for chicken pox but it is not offered in the country as the side effects to the jab are far greater than the side effects to the illness itself. Just to finish off we were in Greece on holiday when all this happened and i am so greatfull for our NHS system, we were so happy to be in a british hospital after a month in a greek flea pit.

This is probably not what you want to hear, but I would like to add my opinion. When I was a registered childminder, I looked after a boy from the age of 9 months until he went to school. His development was normal until he had the MMR injection. Since then he has had many problems and was finally diagnosed with a form of Aspergers. He is now 15. My younger son (now aged 20) had his measles injection at 13 months (no MMR then) and the doctor wanted to give him the MMR at 6 years old. When I refused and explained my reasons, my GP agreed with me. I asked why it was necessary for him to be injected when he had had his measles jab 5 years previously and also had had rubella (diagnosed with a blood test), and I was told that having the disease gives you life long immunity, but the immunisation only lasts about 10 years. I fully accept that measles can be a killer, but the scaremongering put out by this government is way over the top. When figures are quoted about deaths and complications from measles, it is not made clear that these are worldwide and not just in the UK. Over 70% of deaths from measles complications occur in 3rd world countries. Over the week-end I read that one agency was saying there would be a measles epidemic this winter because the take up rate for MMR was only 60% in some areas, and another saying there would not be an epidemic. Which one is right? There will be measles this winter, and there will be complications - but I believe, no more than in any other Winter, or Spring, or Summer, or Autumn. The girl referred to on GMTV this morning was, I think, 16 years old when she died, and HAD had her MMR immunisation. She had contracted measles as a toddler, prior to her MMR jab and it was a VERY RARE complication that caused her death. I am not against immunisation - far from it - but I do think that putting 3 or 5 different types of virus in a tiny baby is just too much at one time. Single vaccines should be available to anyone who asks for them, without having to pay exhorbitant amounts of money, and if this Government wants the immunisation take-up rate to increase then they will have to rethink their current policy on triple or fivefold vaccines. Sue

My oldest now 22 caught whooping cough when he was little thanx to having the jab hiswas only mild but the little girl he caught it from was very poorly with it..yes you've guessed it she hadn't had the jab, I know I was right to have my children protected. :) Bev

kris had group b strep meningitis at birth wasnt expected to live....................

Lou, Have nursed children with that as well. Awful illness. I know they now immunise students at 17 years old as it is so common in college and university places. My daughter will be at the Doctor's the day after her 17th birthday! (But please don't tell her!!) I'm waiting for the next thing your children have had now!! Jacky :-)

jacky u didnt offend me at all.................. :-)) the whooping cough was very frightening but not as much as the meningitis.....................

Thanks Debbie, have popped that on my faves to browse at my leisure (not that I get much!!!). I must admit I have read a lot about it and also do know other parents with AS and ADHD kids. Have felt for about 3/4 years though that Jamie does have AS - albeit not seriously - just need an 'expert' to agree now! Maz. XX

Lou, Sorry if I offended you with my comments. Of course there are always going to be those that for various reasons cannot have the jabs. Sorry to hear that both of yours had Whooping cough as I know it can be very frightening for the child and the parents. I hope they both fully recovered and have been left with no effects from it. Jacky :-)

We are due to have our son immunised with the MMR jab soon and although we are agreeing to him having it,I am just slightly concerned that it will affect him in some way.Although not proven,it does give you food for thought that your child may develop Autism through the combined jab.I would personally prefer the single injections,I used to dispense them in N.Ireland but they arent available where we live.Maybe its better to try and prevent Measles,Mumps and Rubella and hope that things will go well.Just that niggling doubt there though....

just thought id add one point not all children can have all the immunisations my son couldnt have the whooping cough one because of having seizures at birth due to having meningitis he did get whooping cough when one year old.................got some fairly nasty comments aimed me being stupid......... daughter did have the immunisation for whooping cough.................but she also got the illness............... and not at the same time as her brother (she wasnt born wen he had it)

hi maz,have you looked at www[.]asperger-syndrome[.]com it has a lot of information that may help. i have lots of websites addys and addresses you can write to for more info.unfourtunately it does take a while to get a firm diagnosis of aspergers/asd,but once you do youll get the help you need at school,problem is half the teacher havent a clue about aspergers so you'll better off photo copying some information and giving it to them. if you'd like any more info let me know. Debs

I agree with you all. My son is going through the diagnosis process at the moment for possible Asperger's or similar Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Cannot believe there is a link. There has been ONE study linking MMR and Autism and it was done on about 50 kids or something equally unrepresentative. The thing with autism is that it sometimes only becomes noticeable as time goes on - after about a year - so can give the impression that a child has 'changed'. Would not put my child's life at risk by not giving them all the vaccinations available. Maz. XX

there is no proven link between autism and the mmr vaccine yet. im a mother of 2 children with autistic spectrum disorders,my 16 year old son as aspergers syndrome and my 7 year old has autism.i trully beleive i did the right thing in letting them have the mmr, mainly because theres a risk in all decisions we make in life,if id chose not have it the deasease wouldve been worse.i have 3 other children that had mmr and theyre fine.my sisters son also has autism and he didnt have the mmr! i think the goverment should stop scare mongering untill they have actual proof either way,because they could be worrying new moms.at the end of the day it is every ones personsal right to decide with out outside influences.

i agree jacky they are doing more harm than good by not immunisingxxxxxx(:

Hear Hear Jacky.