What would you do? Dr. wants to vaccinate to diagnosis immune defiency.

[mjdmom]

Through a routine blood test, my ds 4 was found to have low IgG.  He has been partially vaccinated in that he has not completed all the shots in the series for each vaccine.

We went to immunologist  who ran more blood tests and tested antibody response to the vaccines he has had. Some of the responses were low.  Dr. wants to vaccinate with Dtap, Prevnar, and Heb to further tests his immune response and straighten immune system.

My ds has been very healthy.  Only one ear infection his whole life and usually has one or two colds a year.  Not a kid who presents as immune deficient.

The low IgG could increase as he ages but it may not.  Dr said ds is at risk for serious infections without vaccines.  I am not quite convinced.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Linda

[Bokonon]

Vaccines don't strengthen the immune system; they weaken it.  He may get some protection against those specific illnesses, but it won't give him a stronger immune system.

If he has been very healthy, then why mess with that?  

[Arduinna]

no I wouldn't do it.

[Marnica]

Did that doctor actually tell you that vaccinating him would "straigten out" his immune system?

Id run away!

[ammiga]

Does the doctor think he is no longer at risk for serious diseases if you vaccinate? I guess you need to decide what you feel is a serious disease, weigh that with ds's risk of exposure and how you have already seen his immune system respond to illness exposure. Surely ds has been exposed to illness many times, yet only shown symptoms a few times in healthy ways.

I would not vaccinate.

[Bokonon]

Oh, and if he wants to vaccinate simply to test the immune response, I'd definitely stop seeing that doctor.

I've never heard of a routine blood test given to small children to test immune response.  I suppose my kids could be walking around with low IgG as well, and I wouldn't know it, because I've never had reason to believe they have anything less than normal immune systems.  Certainly, assaulting the immune system with vaccines that you aren't convinced of is not the way to go IMO.

Honestly it sounds fishy.  

[SilverMoon010]

It sounds all so strange to me.  I surely wouldn't do it if I was in that situation.  Your ds sounds very healthy as is. The way I see it is that giving him those vaccines will only hamper his immune system even further.  I would leave it be.

Is it normal protocol for doctors to check those with low immune response by vaccinating? If it is, that's scary.

[Mosaic]

I hadn't heard of this either, so I googled and found that testing with a vaccine (or an infection) is the only way to diagnose this condition, so the doctor isn't making this up: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/136897-overview#a0104

I know basically NOTHING about this, but I wouldn't dismiss it just because it sounds crazy, because the immune system is very complex and crazy, indeed. I would ask your doctor (and likely a second opinion) about what they see that is concerning, what else they're looking for, what it might mean, etc. My impression from that website is that there are several different kinds of IgG deficiencies, and it's important to know what kind is present because it impacts the person's response to different infectious agents, such that he may be more susceptible to infection from some organisms or that a slightly different course of treatment might be required. If it were MY child, I would want to know as much about his immune system as possible, especially if is lower functioning than normal.

Whether this is the best test to do that, or whether any test is truly warranted, are questions that require more than my Google MD.

[Mirzam]

There is another mama on here with a son with an immune deficiency due to a chromosomal issue. I know this was recommended to her also. I don't know what she has currently decided, but I know she was refusing. Maybe she will see this post and offer some advice. There is still so much we don't know about the immune system and an antibody test is just a snap shot in time, it does not take into consideration memory cells.

[Calliope84]

Our (Western Medicine's) understanding of the immune system is pretty much in the dark ages at this point. I would do a lot of research before deciding anything. If my kid had a bunch of allergies and stuff, I actually think I'd be avoiding vaccines.

[Devaskyla]

I wouldn't do it. Even the manufacturers admit vaccines can damage the immune system. If his is already having issues, vaccinating certainly isn't going to help things & might make any possible issues worse.