X-posted: Lump/redness in leg after DTaP (Daptacel)

[nia82]

DS had it on Tuesday, he had another one at 2.5 years with no obvious reaction. He is now 4.5 and complains that it hurts, but otherwise shows no symptoms and is playing well. I did call the office but as expected it was said to be normal and no contraindication for the future (blablabla); they also said to give him Tylenol (ahem nope won't happen). I really would prefer to not vaccinate and merely did it for Tetanus. We will run his titers in August.

I did put some French green clay powder on a bandaid on his lump. The lump itself is mosquito bite size with redness extending into a large circle engulfing his whole thigh. The circle itself feels a bit harder than the rest of his muscles as well.

He takes vitamin D, a multivitamin and Nordic Naturals fish oil. I have arnica flowers and calendula oil at home and plan to spike his evening bath with it. Is there any other remedy you can think of?

Also, are kids with this reaction more prone to reactions in general? I do not plan on another Dtap. For tetanus in the future we can use DT or the T only available in Europe. Is there anything else I should pay attention to reaction wise which might be to come? I expect little help from allopathy with this issue since it is being swept under the rug as just fine. We never had such lumps in our legs as kids.

[Marnica]

I'm sorry Nia that your DS has a lump.

I think I remember reading somewhere years ago that the hard painful swelling/lumps leftover from some vaccines was a reaction to the aluminum in them. I know the Dtap has aluminum in it so maybe that is the reason? 

In any case I think Thuja and clay are very good ideas at this point. Sounds like you are doing everything you can.  I hope it goes away soon!

[serenbat]

I would add, I know the first thought it ice (for swelling) but I personally find heat- as in a nice epson salt bath to be soothing, warm liquid  and honey (nice big tablespoon) to help him sleep better tonight, adding some lavender too.

I see him not getting much rest as a result, so I would start first with helping him get as comfortable as you can sleep is very helpful and needed for the body no matter what the cause.

As the other poster said - Health section would also be good more the better-IMO

please post updates

[nia82]

Thank you guys. I realize the pic in the other thread doesn't look as bad, but it feels like someone implanted a CD below his skin. Since the clay he hasn't been complaining. It's bath time soon and I'll add lavender too, good idea. So arnica, witch hazel, calendula and lavender, not only will it smell nice, it'll soothe him too. He's not much of a fan of being "messed with" so compresses hot/cold are kind of out of the window. I'm glad to see though that he played nicely today which was distracting. after music class we just played in the sandbox and our play structure with the neighbor kids and rode our bikes for a bit.

What does still nag at me though is: supposedly such a reaction is more likely after 4-5 doses. Doesn't it show that DS is very sensitive to the aluminum with strong immune reactions? Are there any longterm side effects tied to this?

[kathymuggle]

Originally Posted by nia82 

What does still nag at me though is: supposedly such a reaction is more likely after 4-5 doses.

I read this as well.

The only thing I can think of (and I may be totally out to lunch here) is that babies do not often launch a great immune response.   That is why we do not vax for MMR until after 1 year.

DTaP is typically given at 2, 4 , 6  12 and 18 months.  Maybe they don't mount great immune responses until they are older (ergo the 4th or 5th shot)?

Whereas your guy is 4.5, so he would mount a good immune response….

Sorry he has such a large lump - let us know when it deflates/how long it takes to go down.

[kathymuggle]

Would arnica cream help?

I used some once on a wound, and that stuff rocked!

[nia82]

What a great idea. Duh! I have Arnica in my cabinet. And collidial silver cream too. The clay seems to be working well. It loosened the lump to a softer state. DS though hated taking it off (it got all hard despite a bandaid - I had to put one to keep the stuff in place while playing). I think we are on the road of recovery. He is strong - when he had the flu 8 weeks ago I didn't even suspect it since he had a fever once and then just rested. He didn't seem that sick at all, just a bit under the weather. Amazing immune system!

It is true that he is older, but from what I understand the stronger reactions stem from accumulation more or less. I'm definitely curious to see his tetanus titers in August. I also came across a tsudy (sorry I can't find the link) in which it said that since HiB is bound to tetanus toxoid and kids who got it have a cross immunity reaction to tetanus as well. DS had a ActHib and DTaP at 2.5 years and now another DTaP at 4.5 years. Hopefully we're good now for a while. I wish I was as confident as you guys - but tetanus and measles worry me a lot. I'm a questioner and worrier by nature and after each scrape I get a minor heart attack. I know it is not logical, but fear does get the better part of me often.

Neither my SIL's kid had this reaction nor my sister's kids (all on a select-delay schedule starting at 6 months and or on German schedule (2kids)). So it's very alarming. I'm glad I decided against vaccines when they were infants. Who knows how bad it would have been!!!

[serenbat]

glad to hear he is feeling better

Quote:

Neither my SIL's kid had this reaction nor my sister's kids (all on a select-delay schedule starting at 6 months and or on German schedule (2kids)). So it's very alarming. I'm glad I decided against vaccines when they were infants. Who knows how bad it would have been!!!

 as an infant he would not have been able to communicate as well with you either

and let's remember - a lump does not mean the vaccine worked, it means you are having a reaction (a side effect) ~ one does not need or want to have lump! 

[sassyfirechick]

DD had a HUGE lump after her 2nd DTaP (pentacel) at 5mos and bc of other strong reactions we stopped completely.  So in her case, she was neither older, nor had any major accumulation - just incredibly sensitive.