Up Your Nose
By Cathy Jameson
Good grief, my kids can lay it on thick. I’ve got doom and gloom peering out from their bloodshot eyeballs. Why you ask? Well, we were recently exposed to some kids who had received the Flumist vaccine. Hours and hours and hours of contact, play time, meal time and chit chat occurred before I found out those children opted to have the live flu virus jammed up their nostrils earlier in the day. You might have heard the primal scream I let out when I returned to the quiet of my home after discovering this bit of news. I’m usually the eternal optimist. Not so much that day. I was cursing like a sailor instead.
I have five kids, one vaccine injured son and another boy with some immune system issues. I have three healthy daughters who most of the time have nary a sniffle. After the Flumist discovery, I declared a fortnight of no contact with those children I promise I won’t call potential mini virus spreaders. I hoped the two week time buffer would give me a chance to keep my kids free from exposure from the shedding a live-virus vaccine does once it enters the body. But, it was too late. Like a firing squad, one child at a time came down with fevers, coughs, the chills, achy joints and rotten attitudes. Antsy yet inconsolable greeted me for too many days in a row. Of course I blamed my kids’ sickness on the recent source we’d been exposed to—their playmates.
Before my kids got really sick, they retaliated to a two-week-free-from-the-Flumist-friends decree I made. “Why can’t we play with them? We promise not to get too close.” They begged. They bribed. “We’ll be extra nice and help you more if we can go play, okay?” I repeated the decree with a brief explanation as to why it was important to give us time and space away from them—we don’t want Ronan to get sick. If he catches the flu (or the “flu-like” symptoms lots of people encounter after receiving the flu shot) from these friends, it can really make him very sick. They understood that part, but there were still terribly ticked that I took two friends away so quickly. Oh, the looks I got. Ouch, that one from my oldest seared through my heart! She’d just befriended one of the girls. They’d planned more hours and hours of fun. “Please, oh, please, oh, please, achhhhoo, can I go over to see her again? I’ll be quick. Please?” I said no. I put my foot down and said no again with her pathetic plea, “Awww, Mom. Please? Just for a few minutes?” My other foot went down, NO. You don’t understand, and I’m sorry you think I’m the bad guy, but no. Wait a few weeks and then you can play. “WEEKS?!?!” Yes, I said, at least two weeks for their flu virus to do what it’s “supposed” to do and then you can play again.
Two weeks. A fortnight of frowny faces. The kids scowled in between napping off their aches, fevers and coughing all over the place. Oh, well. Mean Old Mom strikes again. It’s a title I’ve earned and one I plan on keeping close by.
Of course, it could have been anywhere that my kids picked up these menacing germs. But, I took the opportunity to tell my children a little bit more about vaccines. Yes, they are supposedly around to keep people healthy. Yes, vaccines have been around for a long time. Yes, some vaccines quite possibly did in fact save lives at one time. But, when people get live virus vaccinations but then don’t quarantine themselves while the live virus sheds, other people are at risk. My boys are perfect examples of being at risk. When they get sick, their problems can lead to an emergency room run to get medical attention. I further explained about the live virus and its role in vaccines--how it sheds and how other people can be exposed to that shedding and later fall ill from that exposure. The children’s new-found friends were my scapegoat as I described the process and how long it typically takes for the shedding process to occur. Slowly, in between the glares, my kids understood. I wouldn’t say they appreciated my input, but they at least took me out of the picture as the one to blame for destroying their fun.
Three days later my five-year old came down with her flu-like symptoms. She was the third to get pummeled getting hit hard with the aches, chills and a very high fever. Coming home from school very distraught that day, she told me that a classmate of hers missed the morning portion of school to get his flu shot. In the throes of her high fever she burst into tears, “Mommy, why’d they go and do that?” My typical son listened to this sad story and announced through his horrible wheezing and coughing, “I wish the flu shot had never been invented.”
The glares of grief I had been getting from these precious children of mine turned into dull eyes full despair for their peers. My kids have been on the receiving end of vaccines that did other things to their body than keep them healthy. Because of that, I try to shelter my children’s health when I can. But, do I pull them from school every time we hear of a classmate getting a shot? If I don’t, they’ll be exposed to whatever the regular population of typically vaccinating people share. Before shots are doled out to the classmates by their doctors, and because my kids are in school this year instead of homeschooled, I wonder if I should talk to some of my kids’ playmate’s parents I run into prior to those “well-child” visits. But, would it sound like I’m crucifying the parent? Maybe they’re just misinformed and think that because the shot record has all those empty boxes they need to fill every single one of them up. Do parents of school-aged kids know it’s not solely up to the doctor to inject any and every vaccine on the market into their child? They as the parents should know they have the ability to say thank you, but no thank you to vaccines, right? Do I take this opportunity to educate someone who might think I’m chastising them instead of educating them? I need to defend my children as all parents try to do without potentially martyring myself by being vocal with new people who have no idea how devastating their vaccine choices affect my family.
No easy answer exists with a situation like this. I could hole myself up in my house with my family and try living in a bubble of just us and our own germs. Or, I could better prepare my children by boosting their immune systems pre-flu season. They’ll surely now be exposed to many more people, illnesses and even circumstances where they too may have to make a stand. My oldest told me that she and two of her classmates “talked from before lunch through the end of recess!” about vaccines because of what happened to her brother Ronan. One classmate said her Mom won’t let her get any shots while the other classmate hadn’t heard anything about them. It took longer to explain why Ronan can’t talk and has to go to a special school to learn things. But, my daughter said she didn’t stop talking about vaccines and vaccine safety until that friend understood.
I’ve got mini advocates in training. My typical kids are determined to defend their brother and how his “autism” really isn’t Autism. These siblings understand full well that they had a typical brother in Ronan at one time. My younger two don’t remember Ronan any other way than how he acts and behaves today. But, they love to hear the stories of “Remember when Ronan could do ____!” We’d all love to see those things and to hear his voice again. Those stories remind my typical children that everything we do to help Ronan includes extra work and time to secure his many hours of therapy they don’t want to go to. It includes Mommy’s vigilant efforts to ward off unwelcomed live viruses voluntarily injected into other children. It also includes being faith filled believers knowing that every effort we offer can be rewarded by some gain or word finally spoken by their brother again. It takes all of us Jamesons to work together to bring good health and more successes his way.
Grouchy glares from my little people finally turned into tender-hearted hugs. Ronan actually stayed healthy the entire time that one by one, his siblings fell ill. Those siblings are now finally on the mend (thank goodness). It’s been two weeks exactly since I yanked that playmate playtime away. Several days in a row, the Flumist kids showed up to ask if my kids could play. I was exhausted from nursing my children back to health, but I politely said no thanks, not today. I told them that everyone was sick and to come back in a week. Or two. I really wanted to yell, “Up your nose with a rubber hose…that flu shot really, really blows!” But, I didn’t yell that. I’ll save that line for another time when I am not so tired of what the flu season does to me or my kids.
Cathy Jameson is a Contributing Editor for Age of Autism.
My children also inform their little friends and especially the parents about the dangers of "shots". Oh and I can't forget about them informing the pediatrician about toxins. I have the biggest smile then-Love it!!! A little education goes a long way.
Posted by: Sherry | October 17, 2011 at 05:56 PM
I think it's good to talk to parents about the dangers of the flu vaccine, that it's caused many deaths and many cases of paralysis. Beyond that, if it works as billed, then it prevents the children's immune systems from becoming stronger by grappling with and overcoming the natural disease. Then they have immunity to that strain, and partial immunity to future different mutations of the flu viruses.
I don't think it's appropriate or fair to say that vaccinated children pose a risk to unvaccinated children. If we don't want to vaccinate our children (and I certainly don't), then it's true that they might get the vaccine-preventable diseases and transmit them to others. The live vaccines can indeed start the virus circulating among unvaccinated children, but those children would probably have been exposed to the flu just in the natural course of things. It makes me angry when they say that measles etc. must be prevented by universal vaccination from hurting children with weak immune systems. That hurts everyone's immune system to perhaps protect the few. But those of us who are against vaccination must be willing to accept that measles may very likely become common again, and that's all right. Flu is going to be around regardless of what anyone does. My daughter had H1N1 flu in January nearly two years ago, and gave it to me. We felt miserable for a few days, and then got well. I don't know if she caught it from a vaccinated classmate, who got the free Flumist at school, but it really doesn't matter. I understand that it's difficult to have an unvaccinated, immune-compromised child who must be protected from germs, but I think the practice of universal Flumist at schools should be challenged only because of the danger it presents to those children who get it.
Posted by: cia parker | October 17, 2011 at 10:53 AM
Marcella,
I'm glad you found us, but I'm also sad you found us. I hope you are able to get some helpful and hopeful treatment for your son. AofA has a google search if you want to go through the archives here to find specific info on vax injury and what others have witnessed. Our sponsors are great resources as well. I've been walking this recovery journey with Ronan for a few years now--it's been trying and tiring. But, with the friends and supporters who believe in my efforts it's been bearable. I wish you the same.
Cat
Posted by: Cat Jameson | October 17, 2011 at 10:35 AM
The annual flu shot push just leaves me flabbergasted. I wish I could paste the following on every "Flu Shot Available Here" sign:
"Authors of this review assessed all trials that compared vaccinated people with unvaccinated people. The combined results of these trials showed that under ideal conditions (vaccine completely matching circulating viral configuration) 33 healthy adults need to be vaccinated to avoid one set of influenza symptoms. In average conditions (partially matching vaccine) 100 people need to be vaccinated to avoid one set of influenza symptoms. Vaccine use did not affect the number of people hospitalised or working days lost but caused one case of Guillian-Barré syndrome (a major neurological condition leading to paralysis) for every one million vaccinations. Fifteen of the 36 trials were funded by vaccine companies and four had no funding declaration. Our results may be an optimistic estimate because company-sponsored influenza vaccines trials tend to produce results favorable to their products and some of the evidence comes from trials carried out in ideal viral circulation and matching conditions and because the harms evidence base is limited.."
http://www2.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab001269.html
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | October 16, 2011 at 11:01 PM
Glad to read all of these educated comments on this weekend, the 6th anniversary of the flu shot that almost killed me.
Posted by: Lisa Smit | October 16, 2011 at 10:27 PM
I've only been reading & learning from this site a weeks now, and its all opening my eyes. My son is on the spectrum, but I never thought it could have been due to his vaccines..they were given in a timely manner according to his ped. He was also given the 1st of what was suppose to be 2 shots of the flu shot.
Then we started to see changes in him. Now the therapys have started, the special schools, the IEPs and everything in between.
I had heard that the flu shot was a dead virus & if you got sick after getting it, it was because you were already getting sick; the shot was pushing the illness out faster.
This whole thing is so scary & to think so many paremts trust what the doctors say; I feel betrayed.
Posted by: Marcella Lemos | October 16, 2011 at 08:35 PM
Gatogorra wrote: " ... She had been vaccinated for MMR about two years before but never developed antibodies-- it's actually very common in our heritage for measles vaccines to be ineffective...."
**********************
Really? How common is this ineffectiveness, and how did you happen to become aware of it?
Moreover, I wonder how is it that anyone can say with any degree of certainty, that measles vaccines have EVER been effective at all?
Posted by: Barry | October 16, 2011 at 08:23 PM
shell, while I'm totally with you that mercury-containing flu shots may cause Alzheimer's, we do need to remember that the FluMist nasal vaccine does not contain thimerosal.
While we're on the subject of nasal mist vaccines, though, I recently had to take my dog for a bordetella ("kennel cough") vaccine, which is required by the kennel that boards him when we're out of town.
It's a nasal mist vaccine--which he immediately sneezed up MY nose while I was holding him still for the veterinarian.
If you look up canine bordetella, it is caused by a bacteria called boredetella bronchiseptica, which is closely related to bordetella pertussis--the same pertussis that has been seen recently in humans, blamed on the unvaccinated, and is in the less-than-effective DTaP that supposedly protects against it.
Wonder when someone is going to look at the possibility of children getting pertussis from their pet dogs' shedding live virus cells for 3 weeks, and then licking the children's hands and faces....
Posted by: Taximom | October 16, 2011 at 08:09 PM
WOW, Cat!! You and your knowledge, your ability to write, you never cease to amaze me! I am so grateful for friends like you! Glad to know everyone is on the mend! Hoping and praying the are able to dodge any further illnesses as the dreaded season pursues us.
Posted by: Lin | October 16, 2011 at 07:45 PM
Cat- thanks. This is no joke. After her oldest son's MMR at 18 months (remember when it was given at 18 months?), my sister came down with measles menningitis and landed in critical care for 8 days. She had been vaccinated for MMR about two years before but never developed antibodies-- it's actually very common in our heritage for measles vaccines to be ineffective. The CDC called her while she was in the hospital just to tell her she did NOT contract measles from her son's MMR and instructed her to stop reporting that she had. Later when she finished nursing school and saw what happened to my twins, she viewed the insert for the vax and manufacturer's admission that the vaccine could shed and revert to wild-type virus.
At our kids' special school, there's so many children with chronic health conditions that the school doesn't do a nasal flu vaccine drive like other schools-- due to the risk of shedding.
Posted by: Gatogorra | October 16, 2011 at 06:46 PM
Flu shots have a singular purpose, which ISN"T to prevent the flu.
In 2002, the top 10 US drug companies companies made more in profits than the remaining 490 (Fortune 500) companies put together.
While drug companies make billions off the sale of vaccines, that is nothing compared to the trillions they rake in selling expensive treatments for the autoimmune disorders, and the wide array of cancers that vaccines create.
Not only are these guys poisoning us, they're profiting enormously from it!
Posted by: Barry | October 16, 2011 at 04:49 PM
People are not typically aware of how the loss of the ability to smell is followed by a diagnosis of Alzheimer's. The Flu shots contain a lot of mercury. By putting flu vaccines up the nose, think about the consequences. Think about the connection. "Be NOSY" Science without ConScience
Posted by: shell | October 16, 2011 at 02:55 PM
Yep, it is pretty ironic (as well as infuriating) that we who choose not to vaccinate are considered a threat to those too young or too immunocompromised to receive vaccines, and yet it's perfectly acceptable for the medical establishment to hand out like candy live virus vaccines which circulate viruses via viral shedding - to any and all in their path, immunocompromised or not.
Here's Dr. Sherri Tenpenny's take on Flumist vaccines. A person would have to have rocks in their head to accept one of these vaccines after reading this:
http://drtenpenny.com/flumist.aspx
"One of the most troubling concerns over the injection of this "chemical soup" is the potential for the viruses to enter directly into the brain. At the top of the nasal passages is a paper-thin bone called the cribriform plate. The olfactory nerves pass through this bone and line the nasal passages, carrying messenger molecules to the brain that are identified as "smells" we are familiar with. The olfactory tract has long been recognized as a direct pathway to the brain. Intranasal injection of certain viruses has resulted in a serious brain infection called encephalitis, presumably by direct infection of the olfactory neurons that carried the viruses to the brain.[19] Time will tell whether the live viruses in FluMist will become linked to cases of encephalitis."
Posted by: Donna L. | October 16, 2011 at 02:10 PM
ie You have to have the product to protect yourself from it!
Posted by: John Stone | October 16, 2011 at 12:10 PM
Wonderful, isn't it? A vaccine which patently increases the exposure of the population to the disease. It couldn't be more dumb, but everything is justified by the fact that its a vaccine.
Posted by: John Stone | October 16, 2011 at 12:03 PM
How ironic! The peds and science blog people always blather on about how "at risk" you put people when you don't vaccinate. Unfortunately it won't ever appear in one of those parenting or family health type magazines but a letter to the editor may be a way to go...boy I'm sure picking up on a lot of media dislike from these "occupy Wall Street" protests.
Posted by: Jen | October 16, 2011 at 10:58 AM
A couple of years ago my younger child was in a homeschool co-op at a local private school, two days a week. They gave the flu-mist and flu shots at school to the kids whose parents consented (ugh!) and within days my son was extremely ill (he didn't receive either vaccine but was exposed to the shedding). We pulled out of the program the next year.
A year or two ago one of my sisters got offered the flu mist at a routine gyn appointment (every encounter with a doctor is now a vaccine opportunity). She consented, and got very ill a couple of days later. She said all she could think was "I can't believe I let them do that after everything my sister has told me."
So I absolutely believe shedding occurs, and it makes other people sick who might not otherwise have gotten sick. Yet the unvaxed are the dangerous members of society?
Hope your kids are all better Cathy. Thanks for your great articles.
Posted by: Parent | October 16, 2011 at 10:38 AM
The picture:
I don't want anyone to forget, even though the father who is a big actor, does not push the issus; but the second guy on the left lost his son to a seizure disorder brought on by Kawasakis and in some kind of trial later on he admitted his son had autism.
I understand that he has had enough, painful beyond endurance, he does not want to be involved in all of this, maybe he is not 100 percent sure of the cause --- but still
it would be great if he spoke out on the behalf of other children.
Posted by: Benedetta | October 16, 2011 at 10:36 AM
I wish this would be published in the magazines laying about in pediatric waiting rooms all around the country. This is a story even my mother and her neighbors would understand and learn from. It amazes me when people wonder why granny in the nursing home came down with pneumonia and died. Could it be because little Johnny stopped by to give his great-grammy a big kiss just after he got a snoot full of flumist and is shed all over his vulnerable old family matriarch?
Posted by: Bensmyson | October 16, 2011 at 10:08 AM
This is my life!! My little asthmatic is in the second grade. Two years in a row, after the children were flu misted in school, he became VERY ill ,the middle of the night docs didn't know what to do, the picture was confusing, do they give him his albuteral or would that make this croupier cough worse? At one point he could NOT breathe and ran to my arms in a panic. Last week I got the "note", the students will be flu misted next week. I thought , okay, I will keep him out of school for vaccine day, since they will be sneezing and wiping flu mist out of their noses in mass that day. Always the optimist I was hoping for last years formula and perhaps some immunity to it but who can answer that, not the docs, not the health department, noooo, no one knows, yet they scramble to offer "up" ridiculous vaccine facts..such as " No one is going to get sick from this vaccine if they don't receive it"..that's the biggest lie on the flu vaccinated planet!!
Posted by: barbaraj | October 16, 2011 at 09:47 AM