What led you to question vaccines?

[littlec]

And what findings compelled you to not vaccinate? If you have links, please share them.

I began questioning vaccines when I was pg. with DD1. "The Vaccine Book" was all the rage on the mommy message boards I frequented. After reading that, I thought I'd be a delayed/selective vaxer, but I still couldn't shake that "this is wrong" feeling. Over the course of 7 months, DD received a few vaccines. I hated every second of it, but didn't really know why. I started to research a little more, then I just put off vaccinating. The more I learned (especially about the ingredients), the less I trusted the safety of vaccines...and then I started to believe they are actually dangerous and could be responsible for all sorts of problems. Autism concerns were never on my radar, (yet today, I get TWO emails from my pro-vax friends linking me to the yahoo article. )

What about you? what's your story?

I'm also planning to write some sort of "why I don't vaccinate" statement (for myself), does anyone have anything like that? I have tons of info in my head, studies printed, links all over my computer, but nothing in one place. So, if you have any links that you think may be useful, please share them. I'll send you my "statement" or whatever it is when I'm finished if you want.

[MountainMamaGC]

My daughters reaction at 2 months. It felt like the wrong thing to do and I ignored the feeling.

[Arduinna]

As a kid my cousin was left permanently physically and developmentally disabled as a result fo vax reaction.

[just_lily]

When I was pregnant with DD I was on partial bedrest and off work from 23 weeks on. I had a lot of time on my hands. I began researching car seats, breastfeedig, baby food, cosleeping, attachment parenting, etc. etc.

But I never ventured into the Vaccinations area of MDC. I thought that anyone who didn't vaccinate their kid was a serious whackadoodle.

And then one day (still pregnant) I came to the realization that if I was spending so much time researching everything else about babies, I should at least do some reading on vaccines in order to assure myself that vaccinating was the right choice.

Boy was I surprised!!

I started by reading through the MDC archives, and then read most of the sites referenced, both pro and con. I went onto my library's website and ordered every vaccine related book available through inter-library loan. As I learned and read I shared with DH so he took the journey with me.

When DD was born we still didn't know what we were going to do, other than the fact that we wouldn't be vaccinating right away. We were uncommital delayers. At our 2mo WBV my doctor freaked out on me and basically said I was going to kill my baby. I was feeling very vulnerable as we had been having serious problems nursing and I broke down and cried in the office. (Thank goodness we live in an area where vaccines are given at public health clinics, and not by doctors.) DD is now over 2yo and hasn't been back for a WBV.

It wasn't until DD was about six months old that we evolved from being noncommital delayers to firm non-vaxers.

Last month we thought DD had chicken pox (it turned out to be hand foot and mouth) and I got a lot of "Bet you wish you vaccinated her now, huh??" comments. No way!! We are very secure in our choice, but always continue to keep up on current studies and developments.

[Marnica]

My journey was a slow one. I am a reformed mainstream medicine, provax, doctors and drugs are wonderful kind of gal.

About 10 years ago I started dating a guy and his best friend's sister was kind of crunchy. She had a baby boy and was very AP and did not vaccinate him. I thought she was a whackadoodle (as just-lilly says). Mean while I had been having all sorts of arthritic problems in my knees (mind you I was in my late 20's and really should not have been having arthritis problems) What I didn't make the connection with then, was the problems started shortly after I got the Hep B series for my then job at a hospital. Anyway I ended up having sudery on my knee that was not effective and nothing in mianstream medicine helped me. To make a long story short, I began to explore the world of alternative medicine and my problems improved (and not just my knees, but a host of other things Id been dealing with that were annoyances). I started seeing an ND, I got into homeopathy, acupuncture, chiropractic and mind/body medicine. I started to question the overuse of pharmaceuticals, but what I still had at this point was the belief that vaccines were necessary.
Fast forward to about 5-6 years ago. An aquanitances baby died 14 hrs after her Dtap shot. The death was ruled SIDS. The parents felt it was the vaccine. I thought that's just crazy....but I did what was now the norm for me since my "transformation" I began to research like crazy. That was about 6 years ago and what I have discovered not just about vaccine, but about the corruption of government agencies that are supposed to have the people's best interest at heart has been quite depressing.I remeber when I was researching the Heb B shot. A lightbulb went on and I have no doubt that that series damaged my health. When I got pregnant I stepped up my research and by the time DS was born 2.5 years ago I was already sure we would not be vaccinating. I always keep an open mind and look at the risk benefit analysis for things. I won't say I will NEVER give any vaccine ever to my child or future children, but as of today. There is not one where I feel the benefit outweighs the risk for our situation.

I have 8 pages of articles/studies/links etc that I would be happy to share with you. If interested just PM me

[caned & able]

Common sense.

[peainthepod]

It was the never-ending stream of high dollar scaremongering campaigns, aimed at turning vaccine-free families into pariahs, that first made me wonder what was going on.

To say I'm skeptical of groupthink would be an understatement. When the mainstream groupthink points in a certain direction, I follow the money trail to find out why. With the abundance of evidence that the vaccine industry is riddled with corruption and conflicts of interest, it didn't take long for me to come to the conclusion that vaccines are not right for my family. That the "science" behind vaccine safety and efficacy trials seems like pure quackery to me is almost secondary at this point.

Put blankly, I don't trust the pharmaceutical companies that make vaccines, I don't trust the corrupt government agencies that supposedly regulate them, I don't trust medical schools that use textbooks written by vaccine manufacturers, and I don't trust doctors who arrogantly (and usually ignorantly) dismiss the decision to delay or skip vaccines and who, in many cases, haven't even bothered to read the package inserts or may know less about vaccine-available diseases than I do.

Read Confessions of a Medical Heretic by Robert Mendelsohn, M.D. if you want a more detailed explanation of why more and more people are turning away from allopathic bullying and scaremongering.

[cymbeline]

Both my husband and I are allergic to a number of common medications, including a host of antibiotics that are often in vaccines (in low doses mainly to prevent infection at the site of injection). These allergies run in our family.

My mother often talked about the scary febrile seizure I had as a baby. It wasn't until years later that we realized it occurred shortly after I received a shot. We aren't interested in treating our kids like guinea pigs to find out whether they are allergic as well. We try to introduce these medications when they are older, in low and monitored doses, when they are verbal and can better communicate symptoms of distress, and only if truly deemed necessary.

It always shocks me when we see a doc and they ask about why the kids aren't current on their shots (they always get very huffy before they've even finished asking), and when I start explaining about the family history of allergic reactions, they calm down. "Oh, of course," they say, but they have NEVER, EVER checked to see if we have a family history of allergic reactions to common medications (or any of the other junk in vaccines -- chicken, eggs, gelatin, formaldehyde, etc) BEFORE pushing the shots on us.

Doctors are not taught to routinely check for family history of allergic reactions to medications -- Penicillin allergy is the most common drug allergy, mycins are present in MMR, polio, etc. I have never been asked on the kids' forms if any of these allergies run in our family -- only if the child is allergic to anything -- and how would we know? Docs always seem to feel that the risk to an allergic reaction is low, but this is in part because vax reactions are almost never reported as allergic reactions, if reported at all.

It is assumed we don't vax because of the fear of autism, and that we must be delusional and/or paranoid. I hate that. I have been mis-medicated and landed in the hospital in allergic shock too many times to ever feel like I could put blind faith in western medicine ever again. It frustrates me to no end that our culture encourages blind faith in doctors and pharmaceuticals and socially punishes people that make alternative informed decisions.

All of that said, we selectively vaccinate on a delayed schedule. I am not against vaccines, but I am against the willful ignorance that our culture espouses. This ignorance suggests that the solutions we have devised are adequate and final, and it keeps us from examining our flaws so that we can continuously improve.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

I never liked the idea of vax. Especially since so many where given at once. I would not be able to sleep the night before and would be on the verge of tears and shaking on the way to the ped. then spend the next week checking to make sure my dd was still alive at night.

Back when I had dd I didnt know that not vaxing was an option. If I had I would have stopped them right away once I saw what they where doing to my dd.

She broke out with a rash after her first round of shots at 2 months it got better and was nearly 100% gone by her 4 month shots. 2 days after her 4 month shots I rushed her back to the ped because her rash was so bad her skin was busting and running the ped. said it was eczema and didnt mention a word about how the shots might have been to blame and because I didnt know I could stop them I continued to torture my poor dd with vax and watch after each round as her body totally went haywire.

Both of us sitting up crying at night her from the physical pain and me because I was helpless to make it better.

When I had ds I still didnt know I had a choice I took him in for his 2m shots scared and shaking. He did develop a light rash that went away within 2 weeks. At 4 months the rash came back and it was so much worse. So of course I freak thinking I was going to have to deal with another child with severe eczema. Around that time I ventured into the vax forum a place I had avoided thinking it was the same as everything everyone had ever told me. I was stunned and so happy to see that I did have a choice and I could save my ds from what dd went through.

I never took ds back for another vax and he never had any more issues with eczema. I know there is a genetic component to eczema but I fully feel that vax made it so much worse than it would have been. My dd has multiple food allergies including eggs which most of the vax have in the ingredients (how they are processed) I have no idea if the allergy is because of the vax or the allergy was present before the vax. She also has asthma which most of the time goes along with severe eczema.

I will forever carry the guilt of what happened to my dd. I will always be upset that no one ever told me I had a choice about vaxing my kids. I will forever be thankful to MDC for having that information so I could save my ds from the pain dd went through.

[northcountrymamma]

I always thought I would delay vax dd...my plan was to start around 6mo-1yr. But the more I read, the more I understood. It was the norm for people around me at the time to not vax so I felt supported and reassured by my decision to not vax and never really had to validate myself.

That was until we moved back home, I have had to explain my reasons a million times over...and help dp understand why I didn't vaccinate her so he could support me as well. Him and I have read so much together on the topic that we both feel very strong in this decision and try to share our knowledge with anyone who asks...however, people ask but still vaccinate. It's a different culture with vaccines back here.

the main thing for me...the risks outweigh the benefit. Hands-down.
Dd is THE healthiest little person I have ever known. We fill her body with goodness on a daily basis...to vaccinate would go against everything I believe in.

[akind1]

I think DH was the first one on the NO VAX train, he brought me home info from the chiro (who is strongly against vax) and a couple things convinced me.

I would rather treat a rare, and rarely deadly, disease (which most things you vax for in the States are, due to good hygiene, etc) than needlessly inflict (possible) harm on defenseless baby.

You can't un-ring a bell. Once that vax is in the baby, you can't remove it, or any of the dozens of questionable ingredients. It is there for good, as well as any of the consequences (side effects, reactions, etc).

Vaccines aren't 100% protective or preventative. Natural immunity by actual exposure to a disease is far better.

Now, if, when he (and any future children) are older, and choose themselves to be vaccinated, then that will be their decision. We feel the same way about circumcision. It can't be undone. And if it is something he chooses as an adult, then at least he then, can make an informed decision about what to do with his body.

[dakotablue]

I worked with with children with Autism. Now I don't believe Vax causes all autism, but I now believe some autism maybe misdiagnoses Vax injuries or just bring out autism in a more sever way sometimes.

Two families made me question, one blamed vaxes the other didn't

One had a very very premiee baby, who was developing typically crawling doing great and when he was a year I think, he was the size of maybe a 4 month old. a nurse accidentally gave him an adult sized flu vaccine. within a few days he regressed, no longer responded to music he used to crawl across the house for. Don't know anymore details about what happened then. Wonderful beautiful brilliant entirely non verbal little boy. Parents do not blame flu vax.

One typically developing everything on track healthy little boy. MMR, nurse gave the baby TWO doses said the first dose didn't go deep enough into the muscle. Parents blame his regression and lack of progress on this.

It defiantly made me question the whole a little bit of poison won't kill you but a lot will mentality.

[Xerxella]

I questioned it when they wanted to give my 1 DAY OLD INFANT a vaccine against a SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE (Hep B).

When I started questioning it. The nurse lost patience and said, why don't you just get it at your peds office at your 1 week well baby visit. Well I started researching it and the kids have never been vaxed.

It makes absolutley no sense to inject my one day old infant with all of those toxins to prevent a sexually transmitted disease. (Well, it could also be spread by IV drug use. Thanks nurse but, I don't think he'll be doing that either.)

So I looked at each vaccine in a risk/benefit analysis. To me the benefits of vaccinating do not even outweigh all the known admitted risks. (Let alone any as yet undiscovered risks.)

[SilverMoon010]

Originally Posted by Xerxella

I questioned it when they wanted to give my 1 DAY OLD INFANT a vaccine against a SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE (Hep B).

When I started questioning it. The nurse lost patience and said, why don't you just get it at your peds office at your 1 week well baby visit. Well I started researching it and the kids have never been vaxed.

It makes absolutley no sense to inject my one day old infant with all of those toxins to prevent a sexually transmitted disease. (Well, it could also be spread by IV drug use. Thanks nurse but, I don't think he'll be doing that either.)

So I looked at each vaccine in a risk/benefit analysis. To me the benefits of vaccinating do not even outweigh all the known admitted risks. (Let alone any as yet undiscovered risks.)

Yup. This along with other vaccines out there for diseases that can be treated such as chicken pox and how the schedule ballooned to 35+ vaccines in the first year! Common sense told me that that can't be right (or healthy) and to look further. I was never into natural medicines or homeopathy until 2 years ago when my son was born and I started researching vaccines.

Researching the ingredients alone scared me. I also think vaccines damage immune systems, which is why kids are constantly sick anymore. I felt my son would have a better chance to fight off a disease if he had an immune system that was not hampered with. Reading about how vaccines supposedly "work" did not seem right to me, and how the purpose of a vaccine is to bypass your natural immune system and "surprise" your body with a virus??? Too scary if you ask me. It's a major shock to your system. Plus, after hearing kids getting the very same disease they were vaccinated for really confirmed my decision even more.

My decision became even more clear after seeing how much money is tied in with pharmaceutical sales and seeing how there are so many ads and commercials on vaccines now more than ever before. It's a big business like anything else we see ads for. I don't think it's any longer about the well-being of the people but rather about the greed of those in charge.

My final "Ah-Ha" moment was when a poster on here posted some time ago, "I'd rather treat a sick child than damage a healthy one." This hit home for me. I've read of too many children being damaged from vaccines or even having horrible reactions afterwards, only to have the doctor say "It's normal." When my brother was a baby, after his DPT booster, he could have died. He went limp and had a 104 degree fever. My mom had to rush him to the hospital and they told her he had a bad reaction to the shot. Shortly thereafter, he wound up developing dyslexia. Things start to come together like a puzzle once you are able to look back and see things clearly. True, it's like going down a rabbit hole once you start researching, but it makes you feel knowledgable and empowered once you are able to put everything together and make good choices for your family.

[alegna]

I'm allergic/reactive to the tetanus vaccine, as was my grandmother and for that reason I was not comfortable giving my kids that vaccine. So I started researching. If you eliminate tetanus, you eliminate pertussis and diphtheria too as those are not available without tetanus. From there I thought I'd look into the others on the schedule as well and create a selective schedule. That turned into a selective delayed schedule... which turned into none.

-Angela

[kittywitty]

The first time my daughter had to get shots I didn't want her to. I wanted to stop and refuse them but they told me they would call CPS. So against every instinct I had, my first two kids were vaxed. Later I found MDC after I had my 3rd child, read the Vax forum and all the research I could get my hands on. I had a science background and it took me some time (dd was 5 months old) to tell dh I wanted to stop. He was iffy, but then a friend's almost 6 month old got her shots and died the next day. We haven't given our kids a single vax since.

[mmhinton]

DH and I took a Bradley Birth Class when pg with DS1...that class changed my life! Up to that point, I was pretty much "mainstream". I knew there were alternatives, but didn't know anything at all about them or the dangers of general mainstream US medicine.
During our Bradley class, the instructor talked about the dangers of vaccines so I began to question them. I was working full time though at the time (in a large area hospital) and knew I would be returning to work after maternity leave. I still thought I *HAD* to vax and our dr. (a family practice dr...who I began to trust less and less) was very, very adamant that we needed to vax. I was not yet sure enough of my own beliefs to disagree with "the norm"!
So, DS1 was born and had most of his shots. Then, we decided I would quit my job to stay home. I began to research more and more (and found a new doctor - a pediatrician). We decided to stop vaxing and, perhaps in the future, rethink it.
We found out a month after I quit work that we were pg with DS2 and began to find out (via chiro/kinesio and homeopathic care) that DS1 was allergic (or at the very least very sensitive too) to wheat, corn, soy and pasteurized dairy. The chiro mentioned that DS1s gut was pretty much a mess (at that time)....well, when you put it together, the immune system is based in the gut (or at least a large part of it). So, my personal feelings are that the vaxes ds1 did have caused or at least triggered his food allergies. Also, given ds1's personality traits, I could easily see that he could have developed autism (or other problems) if we had continued to vax (not necessarily DUE to the vax, but due the the effect of those on his gut and immune system which in turn could have led to problems).
So, we researched more and more, quit vaxing ds1 and ds2 has never had a single shot. I will likely, at some point in their lives, have them get the polio vax as it is one of the few (if not the only) diseases for which there is no "cure" or recovery - no it may not kill you, but it will leave you permanently with problems! For now, however, while we live in the middle of the US and are not traveling out of country, they will remain non-vaxed!

It has been a long journey for me and I very, very much regret that we proceded with vaxing ds1; but, I am thankful that he is a happy, healthy child as is his little brother

[november]

What initially led me to researching vaccines was when I went to pre-register at the hospital, they mentioned beforehand that I'll need to sign a consent form for Heb B. I looked into it a little and thought "WTF? Why would I give her a vaccination for THAT?" Once I started questioning one vaccine, it kind of snow balled. And now I'm totally anti-vax.

[juniper_mama]

I'm also planning to write some sort of "why I don't vaccinate" statement (for myself), does anyone have anything like that? I have tons of info in my head, studies printed, links all over my computer, but nothing in one place. So, if you have any links that you think may be useful, please share them. I'll send you my "statement" or whatever it is when I'm finished if you want.

I've been meaning to write something similar myself. Not to share with others really but to have a dot pointed list in my head for those times dealing with doctors when you need to defend your decisions. Plus, like you, I've got so much info in my head that organizing it in some way would be good. If only I had a little time on my hands!

[harli]

My foundation to not liking vax's was laid about 10 years ago. That's when 3 of my Grandparents started dyeing from cancer. That whole experience led me to see just how idiotic mainstream medicine can be.

The biggest push I got though was from the disease my mom had. My Mom had developed a very rare neurological disorder in 1994, after my littlest sister was born at the age of 38. It is similar to Parkinson's Disease but the meds don't work quite right, and it will USUALLY kill you within 4 years time. We always attributed her disease to the fact that she was drinking oil laced water at the public school she worked at. There had been an oil leak under her classroom, she complained about the water tasting funny and the principal told her not to worry about it. This went on for years and since oil can cause neurological disorders that was our assumption. Mom finally died at the age of 51 from the disease a few years ago. SHe was lucky to have lived so long with it.

I was researching her disease a while back and found a forum where an RN had mentioned that the flu shot can trigger the disease my Mom had. I found this really interesting and started researching it. I couldn't find any research on this so it was probably just anecdotal evidence but after some looking into things I found that one of the things Mom's disease can be caused by is heavy metal exposure. My Mom's disease also isn't genetic but there is a genetic predisposition. So I can see how something like a vax that contains heavy metals can trigger the disease in some people, or just add to a problem already in their body.

I then started my Student teaching in a HS Science classroom. I could easily work with any of the chemicals but when I was working with the metallic salts I got a tiny amount on my skin and immediately broke out into hives. No one else in the classroom did. I also had a problem with a scratched cornea that didn't want to heal for the better part of a year. When the doc finally switched me from theirmosal containing drops to ones that don't contain it my eye healed within days. So clearly I have a predisposition to problems with heavy metals. It caused me to look into the heavy metals in vax's. and after all sorts of research I've come to the conclusion that they haven't been proven to not cause problems (at least not to my satisfaction) and that knowing how they work and how the body gets rid of them it makes sense (to me) that it's possible they are causing all sorts of problems in people.

Since my kids and I may have a predisposition to these problems I don't feel comfortable vaxing. I used to be more of a selective vaxer but the more I look into things the more I don't want to vax at all.