Any Adverse Reactions to Either the Menengitis or Tetnus Shots?

Updated on November 30, 2015
T.M. asks from Trumbull, CT
3 answers

Hello,

I posted a similar question a couple of weeks ago, but now I have a little more information.

My 11yr old daughter has been experiencing pretty bad daily headaches (about 8 weeks now). I've been keeping a log and noticed they started a few days after her physical, where she received her meningitis and tetanus shots. We have seen the pediatrician about two weeks after her physical, who referred us to a neurologist. The neurologist said that she doesn't have the typical migraine symptoms, and since there's no family history of migraines . . . he said he wanted to run a few tests before they start treating her for possible migraines. She's already had an MRI and blood work that has come back normal. Her EEG was abnormal, but the neurologist doesn't think that it is related to her headaches and has scheduled a 24hr EEG test in a couple of weeks to compare to the one he did in the office. She had an EEG done four years ago in the same office for dizziness she was experiencing and at that time the EEG was normal. In the meantime, I also have her scheduled for an eye exam just to rule out any vision issues. I also took her off the Nexium she was taking for her acid reflux and Claritin she was taking for allergies to see if it was the medication that might be causing the headaches ... so currently, she's not on anything other than ibuprofen to help with her headaches.

About three weeks ago, she developed a facial tic where she twitches her nose and raises her eyebrows . . . she's never had any facial tics before. She's also complaining of constantly being cold and tells me she just doesn't feel well.

Even though her Lyme blood work came back negative . . . and the doctors don't think we need to test her any further . . . but I'm going to look into further testing just to make sure.

In the meantime, I was wondering if anyone could tell me if their children experienced any symptoms several days or weeks after a vaccination and if so, what where their symptoms and did they eventually go away? I don't know what else to do.

Thank you.

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So What Happened?

To answer some of your questions. The reason I keep mentioning the vaccines is because even though it's rare . . . some people have adverse reactions. We actually have a law firm here in the area that handles such cases. I have also talked to a couple of people here in town who had migraines, but as soon as they received their vaccines, in their case "tetanus" ... their migraines became 10 times worse and she ended up in the ER because they were so bad. She said they lasted about 10-12 weeks. Another woman here in town told me that her dad had got very sick and ended up in the hospital after a flu shot. My daughter has had all of her vaccines up to now . . . and has never had a reaction before. But these headaches started out of the blue four days after her vaccines and then I started noticing the facial/motor tics about a month or so later. Obviously they could be coincidental, but I've been doing some online research and reading about all kinds of different cases of adverse reactions. I also checked the CDC's website too. I did mention it to her pediatrician, but she didn't think it would be affecting her all these weeks later. I mentioned it to the neurologist we're seeing and he said that it's a possibility, but if that's the case, the effects should start wearing off by this time. The doctors are not going to openly admit that the vaccines are causing the issue. Just like they blow off people asking about Lyme. I'm further testing my daughter for Lyme . . . still waiting for the results. Her doctor didn't think it was necessary to retest . . . but I have a friend who's daughter was suffering from joint pain and other issues for over a year. Her pediatrician told her parents it was all in her head and that she was doing it to not go to school. Her parents finally went to a Lyme specialist and they diagnosed Lyme, by that time her daughter was having cognitive issues, memory loss, couldn't concentrate, etc. - So it obviously wasn't in her head. She lost so much school that she couldn't graduate high school in June with her friends . . . she's graduating this month. My daughter also has acid reflux. The only symptoms she had for four years were stomach aches and difficulty breathing. We went to several specialists, cardiologist, pulmonologists, allergists, etc. - All of them were baffled. Gave us all kinds of medications and treatment options but none of them worked. Told me it was in her head. She had anxiety issues (saw a therapist, who told me there was nothing wrong with her). She even had an endoscopy and the GI doctor told me that she didn't see any reflux. It wasn't until the fourth year of her suffering where she finally had the reflux symptom. She would tell me she felt it coming up several times a day, so her pediatrician put her on Previcid . . . it took several weeks but her symptoms finally went away. She was also put on Singulair for allergy issues . . . and she was one of the 1% to get hallucinations. Her doctor didn't believe that she would be having that symptom because none of his other patients had it. But when my daughter started telling me that she was seeing "flat people hiding behind logs" and "lizards climbing up the walls" . . . I stopped it immediately. And she never had an issue again. Maybe she's just more sensitive to certain medications, etc. than other people. Again, I'm not trying to blame the vaccines . . . it's just that her headaches started right after she got them.

Yes, she did get a concussion in May. I asked the neurologist if it's possible the headaches could be related and he said not likely because she was fine for several months.

I did take her for an eye exam. She now has reading glasses. Apparently she has week eye muscles, so she has to do a lot of straining with school work, etc. She's only had them for a couple of weeks . . . so we'll see how that goes.

The neurologist ruled out migraines because she's not having any other symptoms along with them. Just the headache in the forehead area. They've actually gotten a little better, but they're still there every day.

At this point, I'm going to wait for the Lyme results and then depending on what those are, will take the next step. I'm also thinking of going the chiropractic route, because I've heard some people have had success with that. So we'll see what happens.

Thank you to all of you who responded. I'm hoping we figure things out soon. Take care. :)

More Answers

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M.R.

answers from Washington DC on

I'm sorry your daughter is still having these issues--she must be worried and scared.

I remember the earlier post. In that, didn't you say that she had had a concussion in the spring of the year? I recall that you did, but left it late in the original post to mention that. You doln't bring it up here at all. Several of us noted in reply to the first post that concussions can have effects for a very, very long time after they happen. Did any of the doctors you've seen mention the concussion as a possible reason here? What did they say when you brought up the vaccinations? You have a lot of details here but do not mention what if anything the doctors have said about possible vaccine side effects -- yet you seem to continue to want to tie her symptoms to the vaccines, as you did in the initial post. What do the doctors say to your suspicion of vaccine reaction? If you brought it up with them, they likely would have checked the national registry (there is one) of vaccine adverse reactions--did they? Have you been as strongly mentioning vaccines with them as you have with us, here?

I would definitely get the Lyme test rechecked since those reputedly can have false negatives or can take time to show up as Lyme. Bear in mind that Lyme acts like many other conditions, and other conditions have symptoms similar to Lyme. Meanwhile, you have other tests scheduled which is wise, especially the eye exam if she hasn't had one or just hasn't had one recently. That's all good. But I hope you can keep your anxiety from your daughter because kids do pick up on it when we parents are anxious, and you seem very anxious to find a reason, hence the return once again to the vaccine question. Have the doctors ruled vaccine reaction in or out, or have you not mentioned it to them? If not, why not? If so, and they ruled it out -- why the focus on it?

4 moms found this helpful

B.C.

answers from Norfolk on

We have never had any reactions to any vaccinations.

2 moms found this helpful
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M.D.

answers from Pittsburgh on

The only reaction I've ever had to vaccine is that tetanus leaves my arm sore for a few days. Nothing like what you are describing.

Two things from your post jump out at me:

Does she still have vertigo at all, or did that resolve? It's well known that vertigo and migraine can be connected (google migraine associated vertigo).

Allergies are also a huge trigger for migraines, so going off the claritin might be doing more harm than good. The facial tic could also be related, because your sinuses run behind your eyebrows. If she still has allergy symptoms while on the claritin, she might need a more effective allergy control strategy to control the migraines.

1 mom found this helpful
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