Stuttering and Flu Shot

They don't have anything to do with each other. Stuttering is pretty common. What you do is get an evaluation done by a speech therapist who works a lot with stuttering.

I wouldn't be so quick to "assume" they have nothing to do with each other. Have you talked to the doctor?

Purely coincidence.

There is no physiological way these two things could be connected.

I'm sorry to hear about the stuttering, but this isn't completely uncommon in toddlers. Most of the time, it goes away. If you are concerned, you might want to ask your doctor for a recommendation for a speech therapist.

Many flu shots still have thimerosal (part mercury) . . . I wouldn't be quick to dismiss a connection either. On the other hand I wouldn't expect my ped to acknowledge it.

I might read this: http://www.nvic.org/Vaccines-and-Diseases/Influenza.aspx .

And they may not be connected.

Hope you get some answers - good luck.

NUMEROUS peer-reviewed medical studies have proven that one has nothing to do with the other.

http://www.autismspeaks.org/science/science-news/new-engl...

If your child is stuttering, it is most likely due to a genetic or congenital disorder that has nothing to do with the immunization.

No one knows what effects that type of thing can have on anyone especally a child so young. They can not test that type of stuff on babies. I have been told by some I can't have the reaction that I have but do everytime I get it that's why I will not get them ever again and my children will not get them.

Good luck and God bless!!!

After a flu shot at 6 months my son started doing a weird head shake. It lasted about two weeks and then went away. His ped acknowledged that children can have neurological reactions to vaccines, and she won't give him any more flu shots.

I would talk to your doctor but I wouldn't worry too much. If it is a reaction, it will go away over time.

First I would check the National Vaccine Information Center. They have a list of possible reactions to vaccines. If you feel your child has had a reaction you have the ability to report it on that website (it is under the section called "reactions").
I can tell you being the parent of an autistic child that vaccine injuries are real and can cause permanent and long lasting damage if not attended to early on. Since you just had this vaccination done, I am sure you can find plenty of homeopathic doctors in LA that can treat for vaccine injuries. Whatever you do DO NOT talk about how you plan to manage this with your pediatrician. I can guarantee that he or she will scoff at you for being concerned, but you should be concerned....VERY concerned!!

Yes, I echo the post about contacting NVIC.
And please know, the moms who are swearing up and down that there could not possibly be a connection are not doing you any favors.
YES, there COULD be a connection, and YES, you need to pay attention to this.
And I'm so sorry you and your child are going through this.
There are all kinds of neurological and physiological reactions that can result from an immunization. I have 3 kids, and the my second kid had some pretty bad reactions 3 times in a row to immunizations, which has completely changed the way I approach immunizations now. His whole arm swelled up from elbow to shoulder and turned purple 3 times for days on end, among other complications.
Immunizations can cause severe inflammation ANYWHERE in the body, the injection site, the gut, the brain, etc.
The body has an amazing ability to heal, but not all vaccine injuries are reversible. This is definitely something to consider before you vaccinate again.
We have stopped getting flu shots in our family by the way, have not had them for the past three years. And we have been much healthier during flu season because of it I believe. The years we got the flu shot, we were plagued by virus after virus that would turn into bronchitis, pneumonia, ear infections, etc.

My landlord has severe stuttering. The stuttering began after getting a DTaP shot. His doctor refused a connection. That was 18 yrs ago and the stuttering never went away. I hope all the best for you.

It's unlikely, but possible. Lots of kids that age go through a stuttering phase for no reason. Flu season is over...why did you give him the shot? You give it in the fall/early winter or just not at all. I personally would not give it at all if you can. Find out if it had thimerisol. Many flu shots still do unless you know to ask.

It is very common for children of this age to go through a dysfluent stage as they are skyrocketing in their language acquisition. The greatest likelihood is that the stuttering is simply coincidental to the shot.

That being said, and although I'm an ardent supporter of vaccination in general, there is always room for uncommon adverse reactions to anything (both natural and man-made). Certainly, no direct linkage has been made to flu vaccination and speech dysfluencies, but there's always a possibility of an autoimmune response or allergic immune response arising from components in the vaccine in a very, very rare individual that could be misdirected toward brain tissue (an example of this type of unusual cause and effect is PANDAS, in which the natural immune response directed toward a strep infection goes haywire). But, if this is the case, you would start to see other neurological degradation as well; things like headaches, behavioral changes, degredation in fine and/or gross motor skills, vision or hearing.

If you DO start to see progressive negative neurological changes in your child, definitely go to see the doctor ASAP. Whether or not it can be linked to the vaccine would be immaterial -- investigation and treatment would be important. But, if the only thing you're noting is the stuttering, let it go and do nothing for at least 6 mos to a year; calling attention to the stutter can make it worse. You can, however, encourage your child to try to slow down when speaking, sing the words instead of say them, or make a game of making individual syllables longer than usual (for example, instead of saying "I see a snake", say "I sssssssseeeeee a ssssssssssnaaaaaaaaake." If the dysfluency continues to get worse or doesn't start to correct itself as your child gains fluency and vocabulary, you may want to consider an evaluation by a speech therapist. My DD was treated for dysfluency for several years as a preteen and teen. Two of the primary methods used are the ones I've given as examples above. She no longer stutters at all.

BTW Mamas, there's a good reason why your peds aren't "acknowledging" reactions that many are oh-so-positive are caused by vaccination. Doctors use the bonafide medical literature to gather qualified medical information, not agenda-biased opinions and anecdotal observations that are so easily propagated on the internet. Unlike these sources, medical studies take years to accomplish and protocols are typically designed to eliminate bias. Large groups of people are studied to ensure statistical accuracy, and all studies conducted in the U.S. must be registered with the FDA before the study begins. Ethical considerations must be reviewed and approved by the study institution's (hospital, company, university) medical ethics review board. The results must be reported back to the FDA clinical trials site, so that results of ALL studies are reported, even if they are not written up for the medical journals. Those studies that are written and submitted to a medical or research journal are done in a painstaking manner and must follow very specific guidelines and methodologies: CONSORT for clinical trials, and STARD for evaluation of diagnostic tests are examples of two. Two different editorial bodies provide oversight and guidelines for medical journals (the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and the World Association of Medical Journal Editors); these groups are made up of highly educated scientists and doctors who have expertise in medical editing and writing, as well as expertise in medical statistics, clinical trial design and their various fields of study. Each journal has its own board of editors who make sure a manuscript is appropriate for their journal and that it meets strict scientific criteria for merit. In addition, every article is reviewed and critiqued by at least two additional volunteer editors who are experts in their fields. Publications do not make it to print until this process is completed. I can tell you, from personal experience, that just the editorial process can take several months to complete, and that it is not uncommon for there to be a 2 or 3 year lag between when a study is completed and when the final report is finally published. This is not just a factor of the writing and editorial process: it also takes a lot of time to analyze and interpret the data.

Unfortunately, despite all of the checks built into the system, falsified and unethical research still creeps into the literature. Saddly, such is the case with Dr. Andrew Wakefield's study "linking" MMR vaccination to autism. No one has EVER been able to replicate this study, and there have been many attempts. Eventually, it was learned that Dr. Wakefield's study methodology was seriously flawed and driven by personal motives. It turns out that he and associates were paid a huge sum of money to discredit the current vaccine as ammunition for a pending law suit. The article itself was published in 1998. All of the authors (except for Wakefield) retracted their support for the paper in 2004. The paper was fully retracted by The Lancet (the journal in which it was originally published) in 2010.

Dr. Wakefield was eventually tried and found guilty on four counts of dishonesty and 12 counts of abusive acts on autistic children. He was described by the judge as "dishonest", "unethical" and "callous", and ultimately barred from practicing medicine in the UK on the grounds of serious medical misconduct. It saddens me greatly that this man has single handedly caused so much damage to a practice that has otherwise done so much good. I do not discount that immunization can cause unforseen severe adverse reactions in rare cases. But understand that "rare" in medicine is a statistical term. Yes, you as an individual may know someone with autism (I do), and in all likely, they've received at least some immunizations. But on a whole population level, you need to balance the thousands of adverse reactions, as sad or severe as they may be, against the literally billions of people spared from the infectious diseases they are meant to prevent, and the severe repercussions of those diseases that occur with a much higher frequency and likelihood than vaccine-induced reactions. Certainly, if your child has a severe adverse reaction to a first vaccine, you probably don't want to continue with the series, but there's no way you or the doctor could predict that would happen at the initial vaccination. As we gain greater and greater knowledge on a genetic level of who is likely to respond adversely, perhaps someday such predictions will be possible.

N., my apologies for the long post and using your simple question as a soapbox.

My daughter was about 30 months when she started stuttering. It went on for a little while, but eventually she outgrew it. My friend who is a speech pathologist said it's pretty normal in language development but if it continued too long to see a specialist.
I have no idea if there's a connection or not with the shot. My daughter hadn't had a shot and started stuttering . The stuttering did come back again for a brief period, but there are no signs of it now and she's 4.
Good luck.