October is Vaccine Injury Awareness Month. I have been making daily posts on social media sharing stories of vaccine injured patients I have had the pleasure of working with personally. Today I am going to talk about Myles. His mother contacted me offering to allow me to share his story along with some pictures she was willing to provide. This is Miles now.
At the routine 2 month well check for Myles, Mom reports a conversation with the pediatrician that goes like this:
Mom: "I know reactions are rare but what do I look out for if one is to happen?"
Pedi: Nothing will happen. Parents are so worried. It's just the needle that scares you. If we gave him the same thing using honey no one would worry."
(Let's talk about that for a second. Does anyone really believe that if I mixed up a cocktail of aluminum, thimerisol, formaldehyde, aborted fetal cells, modified Mueller-Miller casamino acid medium without beef heart infusion, dimethyl-beta-cyclodextrin, CMRL 1969 medium supplemented with calf serum, polysorbate 80, neomycin, polymyxin B sulfate, a continuous line of monkey kidney cells, etc etc etc with honey and fed that to anyone much less a 2 month old infant that nobody would worry?!?! I mean really??)
Following the 2 month vaccines for 8 diseases at once, this perfectly healthy baby who was growing and developing normally develops severe "cradle cap" as the pedi called it with very dry skin over all and became fussy after feeds.
Around 3 months of age Myles gets sick with a fever, lethargy and 6 swollen lymph nodes. Blood tests are done and the pediatrician states he most likely has mono. (Ok can everyone just visualize my inserted eye roll here??) Weight gain has plateaued.
Three weeks after this illness, Myles has his 4 month well check. The conversation between Mom and Pediatrician goes like this:
Mom: "He is still under the weather and has lots of swollen lymph nodes. Is it safe to vaccinate?"
Pedi: "Of course!"
Mom: "He threw up the cow's milk formula I tried."
Pedi: " Here's some nutramigen (a "hypoallergenic" formula full of corn), just top him off after every feed."
At this point we can assume that Myles is having food intolerances and malabsorption based off of his symptoms. 48 hours after receiving vaccines for 7 diseases at once, Myles has deep red weeping eczema exploding all over his body. Mom reports her arm being sticky with ooze from holding him, as well as audible wheezing without significant respiratory distress. At the pediatrician appointment the next day Myles is no longer wheezing and the pediatrician instructs mom that she should take dairy out of her diet and see an allergist. This is Myles following his 4 month appointment:
A month goes by before an appointment is possible with the allergist. Elemental formula full of corn and MSG was suggested, however mom refused. She continued to pump after feeds and top Myles off with breastmilk trying to get his weight to increase. The allergist ran blood work and provided steroid cream twice a day and instructed mom to take dairy, eggs, nuts, seeds, most soy out of her diet. However at the same appointment, the allergist tells mom to supplement with soy based formula and blows off mom's concerned regarding the safety of soy formula and it's estrogen producing qualities, which are actually very valid concerns. At the follow up appointment Myles is still having burning red skin with weeping eczema requiring strict swaddling at night to keep him from scratching his skin raw. The allergist tells mom to just continue using the steroid cream.
At this point it is safe to say that Myles has leaky gut syndrome and failure to thrive. Eczema is 3 things: food intolerance, gut dysbiosis, and immune system dysregulation. While it is a skin symptom, it is NOT actually a skin problem. Slathering cream on the situation is fixing nothing. Continued use of steroids can also affect the ability for the baby to gain weight and grow appropriately.
At the 6 month well check and yet another round of shots for 7 diseases at once despite mom's severe discomfort, Myles has a severe flare of his skin. The next day mom thinks Myles is falling asleep but realizes as she goes to lift him to her shoulder that his head lulls back, his eyes are rolling back in his head, and he goes completely limp. Mom tries to tell herself the doctor assured her that nothing would happen and that he is at least still breathing. Over the next few days Myles regresses in development, refuses to put weight on his legs, and loses muscle tone. At this time he is only 11 pounds at 6 months (Born at 8.5 pounds he should be between 15 and 16 pounds give or take.). Myles is not growing because mom has a supply issue, Myles is not growing because his gut lining is likely totally decimated. It's appropriate when looking a child with severe eczema to assume that their gut lining mirrors their skin. Here is a picture of Myles after his 6 month vaccines:
As the 9 month well check grew closer, mom grew more and more anxious about going to the appointment. Mom had spent quite a bit of time reading and realized that Myles was not tolerating the vaccinations and that he was now in serious trouble. Her chiropractor referred her to a different office for help.
At this office, Mom was encouraged to just breastfeed. At this point the parents had been attempting to feed the patient finger foods, dense purees with broth, and cow's milk along with breastfeeding only to have more severe flaring. A zyto scan was done and even more was taken out of mom's diet. She basically went on a strict paleo, almost autoimmune paleo, diet. This is extremely hard on moms but this mother was willing to do anything. Probiotics were introduced very slowly otherwise there would be intense flaring. Typically at this point in this type of progression you have gut bugs, either yeast or a bacteria like klebsiella coming out on the skin. Myles had 8 NAET treatments with a local chiropractor. Myles progressed significantly with these treatments. He immediately jumped back onto the growth chart and started sitting after one specific treatment. Myles also had regular chiropractic care, L glutamine supplementation for gut healing, Barlean's omega swirl for added fats to hydrate the skin and seal the gut, homemade bone broth daily, digestive enzymes, and later a multivitamin to replace lost nutrients. Extensive allergy testing was done at age 2 to ascertain more information.
Myles will continue to need special care likely for the next year and may have to be extremely careful with diet and lifestyle for his whole life. Right now Myles has greatly increased his speech with some more nutrition replacement with supplementation and will continue to be monitored closely.