vaccinations/blood tests/ EMLA

Wow, that sounds like heaven! My son is obsessed with watching the needle go in but then freaks out when it does go in, go figure!!

I will definitily be saving this message!!

K.

We’ve had the same problem. My son is terrified of shots and the minute that he knows he’s going to get one, he panics. I’ve had this 100+ pound boy actually try to leap into my arms in terror when the nurse walked into the room with the needle.

At his last appointment about two weeks ago, he needed two shots. We didn’t even tell him he had an appointment until about 30 minutes beforehand. Right before the shot, we tried to use distraction strategies to make him feel less nervous (he shouldn’t look at the nurse carrying the needle, he should squeeze my hand as hard as he could when I counted to three, that sort of thing) but, of course, these only work so far.

He has a new pediatrician, a very compassionate female, who firmly believes that the doctor ought to be the one giving the shots. She talked very gently to him, rubbed his arm with the cotton swab for a very long time, and gave him the shot before he knew it was coming. He was on the verge of panic when she said “It’s all done, sweetheart.” The look of surprise on his face was priceless. She told us she uses a very fine needle to administer shots and that she swabs with some sort of “caine” medication to numb up the shot spot a little bit (benzocaine, novacaine—?).

It left my son feeling so brave that he barely flinched for the next shot, and he said “You know, it did hurt, but not as much as I thought!” Oh, the wonderful baby steps that go towards making our lives a little more like everybody else’s!

Well, I guess this is one of those times when sibling competition is a good thing, my guys had to get shots at the same time, neither would admit being scared or whatever in front of the other, they just screwed up their faces some during the injection.
Sure wish they had that patch for me when I was little though, I was/am such a sissy. Thanks for sharing.

My boy (for those who do not know) is autistic/non-verbal. He had an overload of toxic metals, the two primary offenders being lead and mercury. When he was 5 I finally bullied his sorryassed (former) pediatrician into testing him for metals, because everytime I got on the autism message boards people were discussing how their children had elevated levels of toxic metals (and if you have not checked your autistic or MR child for lead, mercury, arsenic, antimony or copper yet you may not be giving them the type of help they need to improve).

Cooperation from him has always been difficult in certain areas, and with his communication impediment bribery or other forms of coercion have always been out. Drawing blood for the testing process as we have gone thru chelation has become an ever increasing challenge. Were it not so important to clean him out of these poisons, I would refuse to put him thru the trauma of it. The irony of this all is that metals, lead in particular tend to suppres the sensory system as well as the cognitive ability. So it turns out that the more of the lead and mercury we get out of him, the more painful the subsequent blood-lettings become. Couple this with his increasing refusal to sit still for it and you get nurses who do not really understand what they are witnessing missing the vein and having to move the needlsideways once it is under the skin to hit the mainline.

Here is how the most recent ordeal (last Friday) went down:

My wife went to the hospital and preregistered while I was at work, and my boy was with our respite provider. (We could never get him to sit “quietly” for the endless wait while they process the intake forms). As soon as I got done with work, I flew home, and then we went back over with his sister and he in tow. The paperwork were at the lab, so I took the kids and walked by it back to x-ray (to verify that he has not eaten an more of the nasty stuff). Had we done the bloodwork first, there would have been no x-ray possible that day.

As it was, he refused to lay still in xray, and they had to call me out of the waiting room to assist in holding him still for the picture. (And why is it if there is really no danger to us from the machine we had to wear those 45# lead lined vests while the technician hid behind the little impenatrable screen in the corner?)

X-ray actually went well enough, and soon we were headed back to the lab. Once in that waiting room (we were thankfully alone) he made several attempts to flee, as well as crawling under the chairs to hide. We got ushered back to the room, and immediately told the nurse that she would need to call someone else. She looked skeptical, but did it, and then prepared to do “the deed”.

Here is how it goes:

I sit in the chair and then pull him onto my lap. I then cross my leg over the tops of his thighs so he cannot stand up. I reach over his left arm with my left arm and hold him around his middle, preventing him from using his left arm.. My right arm goes under his right armand I firmly grasp his left forearm above his wrist, not tightly enough to risk him breaking a bone (he can twist his arm freely in my grasp, but cannot get loose). My wife holds his legs so he won’t kick anyone. The assistant secures his right arm so the nurse can draw the blood. He HAS to watch, and any attempts to divert his gaze or cover his eyes results in near panic and frantic thrsashing that we cannot contain.

Usually, it is a quick little bit of hell, the blood gets drawn amidst his vocalizations and the tears. This time however, nothing doing, and he was very, very loud, yelling “NO! NO! PLEASE! OH GOD! HELP! HELP! NO! NO!…” as well as twisting just enough that the nurse couldn’t get a clean poke at him. I can’t help but wonder how many people had second thoughts as they were waiting out there for their turn.

After several false starts the nurse gave up trying and we took him back to the bed. Once we got to that room a third nurse appeared, and the four of us were able to hold him still in the prone position while the nurse drew the blood. Praise Jesus they only need a little bit for the pre-chelation screening; I do not think we could get much more than one little tube out of him.

After we are done, he will of course refuse to leave the bandage on (he cannot stand the “pull” of the adhesive tape on his skin). The tears subside rather wquikly, cause it doesn’t hurt that bad (unless there was lateral damage from the needle being jerked back and forth while under his skin). But he is beating feet to get the heck outta Dodge, and if we both did not slow him down by holding his hands we would be running to get back to the car.

Before any chastize me for putting him thru this let me say without the bloodwork we could not run the chelation (drs. are funny like that) and without the chelation we would not have seen some of the progress we have had. before the first round was started he had zero language skills, none whatsoever. Round 1 brought him the first of his receptive language skills, round 2 brought echolalia and the near elimination of the stereotypical behavior of linig up objects, round 3 the first example of receptive language, round 4 appropriate use of his toys, round 5 brought imaginative play, and round 6 brought a burst of verbalization (although he is still not likely to talk unless he is really bent out of shape). R\The round we are just getting ready to undertake now, round 7 may very well be the last regardless of what it brings, because his pre-chelation blood level for lead was 10.6, and the medical establishment says 10 is the threshhold for “safe exposure”. Since Succimer is Rx only, without a dr’s script we will not be able to get it to treat him once his level drops below 10 (each round but 5 pulled about 4 point of lead out of him).

For a more detailed accounting of this chelation process, see the link below.

http://www.autismchannel.net/dana/cheltest.htm

EMLA patch is good, I have heard it used very successfully for many kids. But if your child has bad reactions to vaccinations or is autistic or has other neurological issues, then I would recommend you have his metal levels tested. Until recently, most childhood vaccinations contained thimerosal, which is 50% mercury, a known neurotoxin. Flu shots are still not available without it. Tetanus shots also still contain thimerosal.

My son was very low functioning autistic, but I am chelating the metals out of his body [similar to Dad’s story] and now he is no longer autistic. Still working on catching up to age-appropriate, but getting there.

Here is how to have your child’s metal levels tested, and the chelation process, if you are interested

http://www.autismchannel.net/dana/chelate.htm

If you believe the risks of thimerosal are not as bad as the risks of not vaccinating, you can check the package insert to be sure the actual vax your child receives, does not contain thimerosal. Also don’t allow more than one vaccine in any one month [for example, DTaP and MMR count as three vaccines]. This is so if your child is metal toxic, his body won’t have to work on more than one virus at a time. I have more information here

http://www.autismchannel.net/dana/myvaxopn.htm

There are many people working on making vaccination safer for everyone, but until then, learn about the current pros and cons, and protect your child how you believe best.

What a great story. I always love to hear stories about people who are TRULY GIFTED in working WITH children. It is very inspirational. Even though people love children, it does not mean that they have been given the gift to be effective with them.

I wish some educators I know would realize this too. Thank goodness for those who do have this “gift.”