H1N1 Flu
I am up tonight keeping a close eye on my baby boy Aidan, he is the sweetest and most lovable little guy you will ever meet, but Aidan is autistic and isn’t very good on letting us know how he feels. When he does get sick it is hard for us to gauge how sick he is because he doesn’t complain at all, he just moves a little slower. Fevers are a touchy subject with me as I had a terrifying experience when my daughter Kaydence had a febrile seizure a few years ago, I had no idea what was happening to her and was convinced that she was dying in my arms and there was nothing I could do… Thankfully she recovered, But the event is permanently etched in my mind and I do not want to repeat it. Tonight Aidan’s fever spiked to 103.5 so I had to put him in a bath… For some reason Aidan’s body functions do not always work like they are supposed to. Normally when you have a fever your blood vessels in your arms and legs will dilate and will help cool you off. When Aidan has a fever his arms and legs will sometimes be cool or normal temperature, but his chest and head will be burning up with fever. Because of that it is really important to cool him down and keep him cool. It is really heart breaking though because he is freezing to death and shivering from the fever and I am steadily pouring lukewarm water over his body. I try to hold him and comfort him but he completely does not understand why I have put him in a bath in the middle of the night! and all he can say is … “cold” through chattering teeth..
So after everything has calmed down and his fever is under control I have started thinking about immunizations… I know a lot of parents are avoiding the H1N1 Flu vaccine, What it boils down to is that whether it’s true or not, we don’t know if we can trust the medical profession anymore to tell us the truth about medicine, I have personally stood face to face with a doctor and cornered him about what a medication actually does and he actually could not tell me. Sure he could give me a BS answer that would satisfy the average person. But my mom carries around a Physicians Desk Reference in her purse! as a kid we never took anything without mom checking all the drug interactions and researching it fully!
There is more than a little stir about the possibility that vaccinations are causing autism, something that Aidan has brought right to the forefront. And we can absolutely confirm that Aidan’s development halted soon after his first set of vaccinations; many other parents can confirm similar experiences and I am pretty convinced this is more than anecdotal. So is the medical community ignoring this for financial reasons? I have always been a strong proponent of “if it doesn’t kill you it makes you stronger” mentality. I believe that if we allow our immune system to work for us and avoid antibiotics, or vaccinations unless absolutely necessary then ultimately we will be healthier and more resistant to illness. I have to say that from our perspective it seems to be working, our kids are pretty tough and get over colds and even the Flu in 2-3 days tops.
when I first heard about the H1N1 “swine flu” for some reason I was immediately suspicious, call me a conspiracy theorist but these days ethics are unpopular, biological experimentation is done in basements, and there is a lot of money floating around for biotech these days… It just seems like we are primed for a good conspiracy! 
it just seemed contrived that the hype around H1N1 was a little over the top… no ALOT over the top, considering that it is not even as bad as the seasonal Flu. Then to cap it off some biotech lab in australia created the vaccine in record time? seems a little fishy.
So how do you feel about vaccinations.. are they really helping us? are you getting the H1N1 vaccine? are you giving this to your kids? I am on the fence with this one… I would really like to avoid any more fevers but I also don’t want to go running for the drug store any time the wind blows.
(*Edit* I realized after I wrote this that at 3:00 in the morning that it is not a great time to write a blog post it is very similar to “drunk blogging” in most respects. Anyways, I freely mixed conversation about “booster immunizations” for babies and “Flu Vaccines” and really did not distinguish between the two. In general I was mostly speaking about the Flu Vaccines rather than the baby booster shots. hope that clarifies things a bit! )
Jason, first let me say that I feel for you and will say a prayer for Aidan.Autism is just coming into medical science. There are a lot of unknowns. But as for immunizations causing it, it has been studied and no connection other than timing matches up. Once it was blamed on the mercury based preservative in many vaccines but since that was discontinued in 2000, that is no longer a factor. But I know as a pediatrician, there is NO conspiracy that I have been briefed on. Us docs are just ordinary people who are trained on how the human body works (with current knowledge), how illnesses affect the body, and how best to manage these illnesses with chemicals.If your child had a pneumonia, you'd understand that an antibiotic would help them get over it and you'd do that. If you child had diabetes, you'd probably give insulin if that would help them, right? So the vaccines prevent past horrific illnesses. These are diseases that our generation has never seen or experienced. Diseases like polio, that KILLED or maimed tens of thousands of our dear children annually, leaving some to live on the horrid iron-lung; like Diphtheria, that would form a membrane on the back of a child's throat and then as it peeled away, if would fall over the windpipe and parents would watch their children suffocate; like Tetanus, which would cause the children excruciating pain as each and every muscle in their body spasmed, including the jaw & diaphragm, causing them to be unable to take a breath; like Haemophilus influenza, that would take up residence in the child's spinal cord and brain, causing meningitis and death, like Measles that would cause such pain that for a week all the child would do is scream, scratch and scream more while we helplessly watched them refuse to eat and eventually die from the illness or starve to death. There are many others. That is why we vaccinate our children. We say well we don't see these diseases anymore. Vaccination is why.How do vaccines work? Some believe in letting the body get exposed and fight off infections but as noted above, their are casualties. Vaccines are either weakened infections or dead that are put into our bodies that actually allow our bodies to make their own defenses by making antibodies to the infectious agents. The immunizations acquired are real and not just passive injections of chemicals to ward off infections. Just by that alone, docs are using the human body to do what it does best and not 'pickle' people with vaccinations.Yes there are a few that over react badly to vaccinations with allergic reactions and other side effects but these rare and in the past, may have died. … Read More Yet time and time again, since we do not see past illnesses anymore, we let a few parents tell us that there is a connection between vaccines and autism. I am sure that they have read all that is on the internet but it took me 7 years to learn of the functions of the human body, it's illnesses, how it breaks down and how to prevent some illnesses. There were many times that the symptoms of illnesses we studied, we 'knew' that we had. It took us a while to get over this psychologic game that minds was dealing us. So just because you read about the symptoms of a illness or condition, does not mean that they can be 'fed' into a specific disease. Sometimes a cold is just a cold. Don't get me wrong, I love an educated parent/patient but with an open mind.The PDR is a great resource if you know how to interpret the results. Have you ever noticed how every medication has pages of possible side-effects? That is … Read More because it is a legal book. In medicine, we prefer probable side-effects. The PDR is made up of the little inserts that you will find in any medication box or that the pharmacy now prints for patients. I personally look at the top side-effects as compared to placebo section and not the listing that includes all side-effects.
On to the novel H1N1 virus… Not sure of why it appeared but it did. We also had an outbreak back in the 1970s. So it does happen and by history, we were due a pandemic or global infection. I feel that the press was out of control. The CDC and WHO did not have a strong voice to squelch the press so folks who did not know were scared. I read up on the influenza of 1917-18 that killed so many. It was a MUTATED strain of influenza. Yes death rates were higher than normal. I feel that the CDC and WHO were worried on this specific thing happening rather on the big picture of panic. Currently, this novel H1N1 strain has been around the world and HAS NOT mutated. Therefore it has similar effects as the seasonal flu. Yes more are going to catch it but the death rate (those who catch the flu that die from it) will be the SAME as seasonal flu….0.058%! The vaccine is available but rapidly tested. I have advised my patients that our clinic will not be offering that vaccine. It may very well be safe … but until there is there is more information, I will not be endorsing it with the same death rate as seasonal flu. If it were MUTATED that would be different. As for conspiracy, I don't think you could fool highly trained independent doctors, nurses, and medical personnel or get them all to cooperate in such a manner for any vaccination. Most doctors are true capitalists and want to make money but we are in this field to help people. I know many who could make more money in other fields but you would not have the ability to directly help others in the world. Hope that helps you Jason.
Hey Mike! thanks for the great response. It is good to hear from an MD on this subject. Just to clarify my position I am not against using antibiotics at all, I just prefer to use them when they are actually necessary because the body cannot fight the illness on its own. Regarding the Immunization boosters we have chosen to wait until our children are past the critical development stages to give them the immunizations so they still get all the immunizations, just later than normal, as you have rightly stated they provide a very needed protection from some horrible diseases. I also am opposed to making my choices out of fear, there is a lot of that going around. Ultimately I have to trust that God can handle us giving the kids their boosters and that they will all be fine. I also understand I have to live with the consequences if I am so foolish to avoid a proven protection from known viruses. I don't think I am ready to live with those consequences, I would rather the immunizations. Thanks for the info and the reassurance.
Regarding my conspiracy theories…
It's probably due to watching too many movies. But I don't suspect Doctors at all.. I suspect bio-tech and pharmaceutical companies of being motivated by money and leaving out important details.. I know there are good people in bio-tech, but there are also people that have agendas and poor ethics. All it takes is looking into some of the latest issues with the Monsanto corporation to see that corporate corruption is not just a theory but a reality.
Just to set the record straight- I’m the PDR-packin momma~
No offense to the medical profession, but there are clinicians ,that I cant afford to waste my money on while they “learn diagnostics”.
Certainly those are few but I have experienced them and know they exist.
My goal was to understand why a medication was prescribed and what to expect it to do- (as far as a layman can) I learned early in my child raising days to “cut the fat” off the dr visit by giving him the info he needed rather than a bunch of junk.
I could make the best use of his time and mine if I knew what questions to ask and paid attention to his answers- and only respectfully questioned his direction.
As a matter of fact, all the dr’s we have used( for the past 20 yrs) consider us good patients and we have a great relationship.
I think we best help the dr’s by staying informed and keeping good records so we can communicate those things to them, making their work infintely more direct and effective.
I’ve seen the outcome of a dr visit when little or no current info is available- (I take my father in law to the dr periodically) and sadly it is fruitless and frustrating for all concerned.
I can only imagine the dr being irritated at the least.
So, I guess I will keep my PDR( no-I dont REALLY HAVE ONE) handy and keep asking questions and reading about all things medical that affect my kids.
And the good dr’s will keep on learning and doing good things as well!
Hey LUKE was a physician- and he was a good friend of my Saviour- so any friend of HIS is a friend of mine!!!
The truth is that not all doctors are good doctors, not that they don't mean well, but some folks just can't understand diagnostics, and deductive reasoning skills. I call it "practicing medicine" just like in any profession there are the individuals that are truly called and there are the individuals that should be doing something else. I keep myself educated so that I can avoid the mistakes of those who should be doing something else.
Give my little lamb a kiss from his Granny!!!
I just got over a deadly virus- (ya know I never get sick!!! )- and it was nothing to sneeze at!!!!!
Hope the other dont get it!!!!!