Did you have the flu during your pregnancy?
Mothers:
How many of you, after reading about the research of Dr. Paul Patterson of Cal Tech according to which women who have the flu during pregnancy are seven times more likely to have a child with “mental illnesses such as autism and schizophrenia,” have been trying to recall if you were sick during the nine months of expecting your autistic child? “A rogue protein, interleukin 6 - produced when a pregnant woman is fighting a viral infection - may help trigger” autism and schizophrenia in a developing fetus, according to Patterson’s research.
I have indeed taken out the journal I kept while expecting Charlie. Anxiousness ebbs as I review those pages, the handwriting neat and in straight lines, the different sections (”buying for baby,” “fetal movement diary”) all carefully, and completely, filled out, and every word full of hope—-same as I felt this afternoon, watching Charlie running back in and out of the waves which were churning in the wind.
27 opinions for Did you have the flu during your pregnancy?
Kathy
Jul 16, 2007 at 2:01 am
Nope… No flu when I was pregnant with Mark.
Blew up like a beach ball though. Put on an extra 22 kilograms .
Which, thankfully, I have since jettisoned.
Bink
Jul 16, 2007 at 6:56 am
I remember that I did not take one day off of work the entire time I was pregnant, saving all my 30+ sick days plus all my accumulated vacation to add to my maternity leave. I worked until a few hours before my water broke. No flu for me.
PA Mom
Jul 16, 2007 at 7:18 am
I didn’t have a respiratory infection, but I did have a very nasty GI virus when I was expecting my daughter. I’ve always wondered if that was a contributing factor. Then she had a case of Roseola at 15 months…
Joeymom
Jul 16, 2007 at 8:00 am
No flu, and no flu shots with either of them. I was surprisingly healthy (I otherwise have had bronchitis at least once a year). I also lost 40 pounds with both of them. We won’t talk abotu the fact that I had forty pounds to lose both times…
Lolasmom
Jul 16, 2007 at 8:27 am
Nope, no flu with Lola’s pregnancy. I did get the flu shot, though (gasp!), as did our entire family, in prepartion for her birth at the tail end flu season. Boy, late 2003-early 2004 was scary as far as the flu went - that was when the flu hit early and hard and killed several kids on the east coast of the US.
Lolasmom
Jul 16, 2007 at 8:27 am
Oops - my bad. I meant to say “west coast.”
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jul 16, 2007 at 8:42 am
So I took out the journal I kept while expecting Charlie and on the first page I opened it to—-in February 1997—-I read that I had the flu and took a day off from work, dragged myself back in to meet with a student, went home….. I didn’t remember any of that until looking it up.
Kathy
Jul 16, 2007 at 9:02 am
Que sera sera… eh?
Cue John Lennon’s
Beautiful Boy.
Close your eyes,
have no fear,
The monster’s gone,
He’s on the run and your daddy’s here.
Beautiful,
Beautiful ,beautiful,
Beautiful boy……….
Judi
Jul 16, 2007 at 9:11 am
No, no flu during my pregnancy with Andrew. No flu shot either, even though I wanted one (my doctor erred on the side of caution and said no). I had him in February 2004 and then got the flu shortly after…it was a horrible flu that year and I cursed my doctor for not letting me get the shot.
Marina
Jul 16, 2007 at 9:51 am
Yes, I did have a terrible flue when I was just 24 1/2 weeks pregnant. I coughed continuosly and ran a fewer and had Jordan at 25 1/2 weeks.
I always thought it may have been the trigger for being premi…never thought it may had an influence in his pdd-nos diagnosis which I had upgraded to full autism at the age of 4 to receive the assistance Jordan requires.He is now 7 and goes to ed-support school, after he had 2year full on aba-training….I pray every day for him to be happy and speak with me…which he does in his limited way…I am truley blessed…
ange
Jul 16, 2007 at 10:07 am
I didn’t have the flu (or flu shots) with either boy, though I do remember having a nasty cough with Bubba. I had weird cytomeglovirus titers with Bubba, but had no symptoms when pregnant, so it wasn’t certain if it was a lingering infection, new or re- infection.
When at I spoke once (to a class of upcoming teachers) a couple years ago, someone asked me that since I have 2 kids with disabilities, did I want to figure out what caused everything. I still feel the same way as I do now: I could spend all of my energy trying to figure out what happened or I could put it all into loving my boys and trying to make sure they have the life they deserve. I chose the latter.
Retired Waif
Jul 16, 2007 at 10:13 am
Had the flu TWICE. Sick as a dog with everything in the book while I was pregnant. Charlotte is completely neurotypical, go figure.
I’ve been sick this time too, come to think of it, but we won’t know what that portends for a little while, I suppose.
Daisy
Jul 16, 2007 at 10:16 am
I was quite sick, but not with flu. Doctor actually had me on Zantac so I could gain weight toward month nine. (That’s not a problem now!) That was our first thought when Amigo’s blindness was discovered; we were actually relieved to find out it was genetic.
Retired Waif
Jul 16, 2007 at 10:33 am
Kristina, this reminds me, there’s been an ongoing online discussion in a pregnancy/parenting group I frequent about prenatal “causes” of autism. There are 3 or 4 autistic moms who post to the group, and a really interesting clash of paradigms has emerged between mothers who are autistic, mothers who already have an autistic child, and mothers who “know someone” or have “heard something” about autism but are not personally involved (these are the ones most terrified of inadvertently “damaging” their child). The discussion has gotten extremely interesting, (and has even touched on the elephant-in-the-room of whether the autistic mothers might actually prefer to have autistic children) but it’s not really something I can post a link to. Please do let me know via email if you’d like to read it.
HCN
Jul 16, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Actually I had a terrible cold while pregnant with each boy.
The first one had seizures as a newborn, a severe communication disorder, migraines, and was hospitalized every time he got croup, PLUS he was diagnosed with a severe genetic heart condition just as he was entering high school. The high school nurse got to know him very very well.
The second one was kind of a late talker, but was caught up by kindergarten with speech therapy from the school district and student clinicians at the local university’s speech and hearing clinic. He is now a high school honor student, tall and healthy and works as a lifeguard.
And I think I was sicker with the younger boy.
Go figure!
Leila
Jul 16, 2007 at 6:02 pm
No flu and no shots, no dental work, no exposure to toxins (that I know of), very healthy pregnancy.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jul 16, 2007 at 6:33 pm
I’m wondering how this latest finding might be use: Put all expecting mothers with a “predisposition” to maybe having an autistic child in a quarantine state? Have them not work?
ange
Jul 16, 2007 at 6:59 pm
“I’m wondering how this latest finding might be use: … Have them not work?”
Nah, it’ll probabally be used to scare all mothers into getting flu shots (or the government will make them mandatory) and then the flu shots will be blamed when the children still have autism.
[BTW, I apologize, my sense of humor never translates online!]
Julia
Jul 16, 2007 at 8:41 pm
Sam: bladder infection (it took me almost 2 weeks to recover from the antibiotics), bad cold, maybe a second bad cold. Morning sickness to about 12 weeks. Gained 30 lbs. Lost it all within 18 months. Sam autistic, nonverbal.
C & T: possible strep (got an antibiotic prescription within 2 hours of Sam coming up positive), maybe a cold. Morning sickness to around 15 weeks. Gained 50 lbs. Lost all but 5 in 2 years. C & T both diagnosed with “mild to moderate autism”, whatever was meant by that.
No flu. No flu shot.
In our case, I’m sure it’s mostly genetic. The more I learn about autism, the more I see traits in members of the extended family.
Jane
Jul 16, 2007 at 11:48 pm
It is interesting that you brought up the flu in pregnancy. I had a terrible case of the flu that lastest a couple of week when I was pregnant with my son. Jack, age 11, has Autism, epilepsy and a Chairi malformation. I was told his Chairi was linked to a nuero-tube defect (my maternal blood test was negative). We did have a relative with schizophrenia (depression, anxiety disorders and substance abuse also is noted in our family which can be other familiar links). I do believe his MMR was a catalyst since his development degressed after the immunization. I believe with the theory of a genetic component being activated by a physical and or emotional stressor for my son’s condition. I cannot explain the epilepsy since no other relative has a seizure disorder, but the physicians at children’s in Boston told me 25% of children with autism spectrum become epileptic by adulthood. I am glad I found your website. thank you for having a responsible parent site.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jul 17, 2007 at 10:56 am
Depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse—–those are present in Charlie’s family line too—-if I may ask, when was Jack’s epilepsy identified? Thank you for sharing about him and your family.
I was teaching in a middle school and an upper school at the time; some student or other was often ill. I had completely forgotten about having the flu until I read the article I referenced in my post and looked in my pregnancy journal. I have to go back and read the rest in light of everyone’s comments!
Rochelle
Jul 17, 2007 at 11:42 am
We’ve never had flu shots and never get the flu. I’ve had it once in my life, in 2002, and my oldest (NT) son had it for the first time last spring at nine years old.
Now, a family history of mental illness…that’s a different story. And, my mother’s epileptic.
Flu theory just doesn’t apply here…
Irene R. Campbell
Jul 17, 2007 at 4:12 pm
Yep, I had the flu with John. Had to go in to the ER for fluids due to dehydtration and I remember getting the shot that helps stop vomitting….what is it?…..pherngan (sp?)
katrina Jackson
Aug 6, 2007 at 12:33 am
I believe my sons intellectual and hearing impairment are a result of a severe flu / fever I had when I was six weeks pregnant (he is autistic as well), I lost 3 kg in a week and have never been sicker, he has a inner ear defect which can be bought about by environmental teratogens, I have had a genetic opinion and she thinks it seems like the most likely explanation (more so the fever than the flu itselt), this makes for very interesting reading
Kristina Chew, PhD
Aug 6, 2007 at 1:55 am
Thanks for sharing about your son, Katrina. So much has happened in the past 10 years of life with my son that I had completely forgotten that I had a bad cold while expecting him and only discovered this when I looked in my pregnancy journal, as I noted. If I may ask, how old is your son? Hope things are well—-
katrina Jackson
Aug 6, 2007 at 2:29 am
Hi Kristina, he is five and has just started at a special needs school, things are going well, he is a happy boy and everyone loves him, (teaching staff included), I have battled with the ‘why did this happen’ his whole five years, I have exhausted every internet site pertaining to flu/fever in pregnancy, I have sought the opinion of public and private paediatricians and they all agree it is a possibility, Stacey has facial dysmorphology, hypotonia, severe intellectual impairment, severe autism, he is also severely deaf (mondini malformation - deformed cochlear) this is forming at the same time I had the flu and I have information to suggest these problems are brought about if a fever occurs during the 4 - 7 week gestational period, I had the proper flu, I couldn’t move, sit up in bed, or even go to the loo by myself, hot, cold, body sore to touch, etc, sorry Kristina I have gone into great detail, but I would like another baby and am a little scared, I love my son and have learn’t that you don’t stop grieving you just learn to live with it :)
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