Making Vaccinations less painful

I don't know a parent who doesn't dread the pain the their child endures during immunization shots. The child looks at you with these trusting eyes, then gets stabbed in the leg and you let it happen. You know the poor baby is thinking, "I can't believe you let this happen. I trusted you!"According to this new research, putting the shots in a different order could cause your baby less pain. What do you think about changing the order of the shots?

From ABC: Infant vaccinations an important way to protect young immune systems from serious diseases, but the painful experience can stress out babies and parents alike. However, new research finds there may be a way to minimize infants' pain during vaccinations simply by changing the order of the shots.

Starting at birth, babies receive vaccines to protect them from dangerous infectious diseases such as hepatitis, pneumonia, and whooping cough. To ensure children get all their recommended vaccines, pediatricians typically administer multiple shots in one visit - increasing the chances of pain for the baby. But new research suggests doctors can minimize infants' discomfort by changing the order of the vaccines.

Doctors at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto studied 120 babies. Half received a combination vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, and a kind of meningitis before they received the pneumonia vaccine. The other half received the pneumonia shot first.

Researchers videotaped the babies' reactions - looking for signs of painsuch as crying, squirming, or grimacing - and parents rated their children'spain as well. Results showed the pneumonia vaccine was the most painful for babies, and those who received it lsat had lower overall discomfort. Researchers theorize that giving a painful vaccine first makes the baby more sensitive. They recommend doctors start with the least painful shots and then progress to the more difficult ones.

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

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Parents Respond to Refusing Vaccinations

In light of our discussion last week on vaccine safety, you might find these responses from parents on MSNBC: interesting. I will post a few so you can get the idea. It is amazing to hear so many reasons why parents decide to do one thing or another. There is a good reason why you never hear parenting is easy!

"As a mother of an autistic child, I've certainly had my concerns about inoculations," writes Evelyn Gonzalez, who's from Boston. "However, I'm even more concerned about parents sending children to public places and schools knowing how easily disease is spread, when they haven't been given their vaccines."

"I did not chose to vaccinate my children. They are grown and have had very little illness their entire lives. I feel this is due to their not receiving injections of chemicals into their bodies. The few times they were sick we used natural remedies with excellent results.I reached the decision not to vaccinate through careful research. I am very happy I did this."
— Dolores Lewis, Scottsdale, Ariz.

"I chose not to vaccinate my children after one child developed a severe reaction to the vaccination. Also, I believe we are inviting a destruction to our immune system by disallowing it to fight the natural childhood diseases that come along."
— Mark, Humansville, Mo.

"I am a mother of 4 children ages 11, 7 and 5 year old twins. My 7 year old was a normally developing child who talked and interacted with other children. However, after receiving his 15 month vaccinations he stopped talking and became very withdrawn. That was 6 years ago and he has yet to regain his speech although we have spent thousands of dollars on speech, occupational, and ABA therapy. I have chosen not to complete the vaccinations for my twins because I don't want to risk having to go through what I have been through with my son all over again. Many of us who choose not to vaccinate are not totally opposed to vaccinations and the benefits they can provide, but rather we are just asking for a safer vaccination schedule and safer vaccines. I hope that one day it will be possible to protect our children from disease without the fear of a life long disability like Autism. I choose not to vaccinate my twins because if they got chicken pox, measles, or even pertussis it would not be nearly as devastating as Autism has been for our son or our family."
— Lori Elliott, Amboy, Ind.

"I am a pediatrician and vaccinated my daughter at the earliest permissible moment. If there were verifiable more serious side effects I would never have taken a chance on my precious angel. Unfortunately bad things happen. Children develop autism, seizures, retardation and even cancer. These occur with and without vaccination at a predictable rate. There is ZERO verifiable scientific data linking vaccines and more serious permanent side effects. Parents naturally want answers when their own child is afflicted in any way,and since vaccines are given mostly to children they are blamed irrationally. Avoiding vaccines for nonsensical, conspiracy theorist reasons are putting all children at unnecessary risk and lead to VERIFIABLE life-threatening illnesses."
— Glen Ogden, M.D., Dallas

"I'm the mother of six children ranging in age from 32 years to 16 years of age. Parenting is a hard job for many reasons, but mostly because every decision that we make for them will impact their lives some how.Everyone of my children (4 boys and & 2 girls) have received all the required vaccinations and those that are recommended for college students.Protecting my children is very important to me and I feel that this is one way to keep them safe from the fate of so many children in the years before immunizations were developed. Just like any part of parenting you have to weigh the good against the bad. Do I let them get a drivers licence? Should they go out after the prom? What college is best? Every day is a decision with an impact to it so when ever you make a decision to keep your children healthy , it's a good day."
— Joanne Anderson, Honesdale, Pa.

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

Methodist Medical Center's new online healthcare program, MyMethodist eHealth, is a proud sponsor of this blog post. MyMethodist eHealth is the secure link to your doctor's office that lets you request appointments, order prescription refills, update your personal health record, and more. Sign up for MyMethodist eHealth here.

Federal Study on Chelation?

I was surprised to read this today from AP:

Government researchers are pushing to test an unproven treatment on autistic children, a move some see as unethical. The treatment is chelation. It removes metals from the body and is based on the fringe theory that the mercury preservative once used in childhood vaccines triggers autism. That theory has been rejected by mainstream science.

Dr. Thomas Insel is the head of the National Institute of Mental Health. He supports testing chelation on children provided the tests are safe. He's heard from many parents who
believe it works. For now, the study is on hold because of safety concerns.

Christina Blakey, a mother from Oak Park, uses chelation and a special diet with her 8-year-old son. She applauds the government study. She says chelation has helped her son's autism symptoms. (Christina is one of the people who invited me to the Autism One Conference this summer!)

Here's a doctor who thinks chelation is a bad idea.

Here is a doctor who believes in chelation for some kids.

What do you think about this? What does it mean for kids with autism?

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

Methodist Medical Center's new online healthcare program, MyMethodist eHealth, is a proud sponsor of this blog post. MyMethodist eHealth is the secure link to your doctor's office that lets you request appointments, order prescription refills, update your personal health record, and more. Sign up for MyMethodist eHealth here.

Ineffective Flu Shot?

Did you give your kids the flu shot? It may have been all for nothing. I often wonder if the strain of flu in the shot is the right one. There are a lot of strains. Several doctors I have interviewed have said when referring to immunization shots you have to look at the risks versus the benefits. Most doctors believe the risks outweigh the benefits when it comes to childhood immunization shots, but some of them are not as adament about the flu shot. I found the following article on MSNBC saying this year the flu shot may not be as effective as you think.

The influenza vaccine given to Americans may not protect as well as expected, U.S. health officials said as the number of flu cases increase nationwide.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said slightly more than half of the influenza virus strains reported to its surveillance system are not good matches against the strains included in this flu season’s vaccine.

The number of states reporting widespread flu activity jumped to 31 last week compared with 11 the week before, the CDC said. But Dr. Joe Bresee of the CDC’s influenza division said there are no indications this flu season is worse than usual.

“Seasonal flu activity was slow to start this year but has increased sharply in recent weeks,” Bresee told reporters.

One measure officials use to gauge the severity of the season is the number of flu-related child deaths. Bresee said the CDC has heard of six U.S. children who have died from the flu, a relatively low number compared with recent years.

Flu viruses mutate and change all the time, so every year a different vaccine is created as officials predict which particular strains will circulate.

The vaccine is designed to protect against three influenza strains — two from Type A, an H1N1 and an H3N2 version, and one for Type B.

Bresee said about 30 percent of the overall strains of influenza in the United States may be a Type A strain that emerged in Australia called H3N2 A/Brisbane. It emerged too late to be included in the flu vaccine offered in the United States beginning in September and October.

The Type B strain chosen for this year’s vaccine also was not a good match for most of the B virus strains seen in the United States this flu season, Bresee said.

“While a less-than-ideal virus match between the viruses in the vaccine and those circulating viruses can reduce vaccine effectiveness, we know from past influenza studies that the vaccine can still protect enough to make illness milder or prevent flu-related complications,” Bresee said.

Bresee noted that decisions on the composition of the annual vaccine are made about nine months before it is made available to the public in the fall, and it is sometimes hard to know that far in advance which strains will circulate.

Flu vaccines take months to make.Bresee also said some resistance is being reported to the antiviral drug Tamiflu, made by Switzerland’s Roche Holding AG and Gilead Sciences Inc of the United States. Of the viruses tested in CDC flu labs, 4.5 percent are resistant to the drug, Bresee said.

Influenza kills an estimated 36,000 Americans in an average year, and puts 200,000 into the hospital, the CDC said.

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NewsAnchorMom Jen