Age: 6.0
Sex: M
Vaccine: MMR
Symptoms: Back pain, Chest X-ray normal, Conjunctivitis, Cough, Crying
Clinical narrative: Patient had just gotten over a cold and had been symptom free for a few days before the vaccine. The day I took him in for the shot, he had begun sniffling again. I asked the nurse if it was safe to give the vaccine. She conferred with another nurse and they said since there's no fever, it would be fine. From that day, he had a mild cold that lasted a few days. Then, about 11 days after the vaccine he became very sick. Coughing, fever, runny nose, congestion, head, neck, and back pain, waking every 20 min or so during the night, moaning and crying. More sick than he's ever been. We rushed him to immediate care when he started grabbing his head and neck crying that it hurt so bad. We included the date of the vaccine during triage but the Dr. said it was probably unrelated since it was received so long ago. He did a nose swab for flu, throat swab for strep, chest x-ray for pneumonia, and a blood draw. White blood cells were slightly elevated, everything else was normal. The neck pain was on his left side and Dr. said since he could touch his chin down to chest, he didn't think it was meningitis. He sent us home to observe him further. My husband started reading more about possible reactions to MMR on the CDC website and called the Dr. to see what he thought because it sounded very similar to what patient was going through. Dr. did some research of his own and said it appeared to be either side effects of MMR or the vaccine gave him a mild version of measles. Even though there was no rash. But he said watch out for him not being able to touch his chin to chest without pain. So, we still felt unsure what we were dealing with. Another sleepless night and at about 4 the next morning, he could not put his chin down without crying in pain. We called an on-call nurse who advised getting him to ER. I do not remember the name of the ER Dr. By the time he got seen, the neck pain had lessened and he could put his chin to chest without crying out. So the Dr. ruled out meningitis and did not feel a spinal tap was necessary. We told him about the vaccine, what we read on the CDC website, and what the other Dr. said. This Dr., too, said he didn't know much about measles or the possible side effects of MMR! But after doing some reading, he came back in and said it was probably either side effects or the vaccine gave him a mild version of measles. He said that patient was not contagious and would be fine in a few days. (He wasn't). He said to give him children's ibuprofen for pain and fever and DELSYM for the cough. Before we left, I asked the Dr. to check patient's ears a second time because he was having so much pain on the left side of his head. He did check a second time and said his ears were just waxy and advised going home and cleaning them out with ear drops. I didn't feel comfortable with this diagnosis and didn't put anything in his ears. On about the 27th or 28th, patient also got conjunctivitis. I believe it was the left eye that was worse, becoming swollen. But both were pink and crusty. I treated them by putting colloidal silver moistened cotton rounds on his eyes. They cleared up in a couple days. Over that weekend, some of patient's symptoms were improving but we realized that he had lost hearing. I made an appt. with Dr., a pediatrician from the Clinic that had seen patient once before. In the meantime, I contacted Dr. over the phone for more advice on how to help him.  Dr. was patient's Dr when we lived closer to another city. She recommended a warming t-shirt technique that cleared up patient's congestion and cough in a few days when the DELSYM cough medicine we had tried, failed to work. She also sent a bottle of viral post MMR support and a topical oil to put on his neck to help his body detox. On March 8th, patient was able to see Dr. He was almost all better but still could not hear. Dr. looked in his ears and said the left one had puss behind the eardrum and prescribed Amoxicillin. He just finished the recommended 10 days of antibiotics and has a follow up appt with Dr. on Friday 3/29. When I spoke with Dr., she was the only of 3 Doctors who explained the stress that the vaccine put on his body compounded by the fact that he was already fighting a virus. Why was I not informed this would happen when I took him in to receive his vaccine?! The nurses said that it would be fine because he didn't have a fever! The 2 Doctors I took him to after, had no idea what was going on. As far as I can tell, there is no warning that giving a vaccine to a sick child will result in serious illness. And in fact, Dr. said that the CDC even recommends administering the flu vaccine during flu season on a child even while they have an ear infection! As a parent, we should be given ALL the information and the effects of these vaccines on our children's bodies so that we can make educated decisions about their healthcare. As it was, my son missed about 2 weeks of school. My husband and I missed 2 weeks of work for fear that at any moment we'd have to rush him to the ER again. It took 4 Doctors to get to the bottom of what was happening and get him the help he needed. At this point I'm finding it difficult to trust anything that the CDC says about vaccinations when they are obviously not providing complete and accurate information regarding dangers and risks. And I will not willingly give my son any more of them.