Who's Afraid Of The Truth About Autism?

Parents of recovered children, and I've met hundreds, all share the same experience of doubters and deniers telling us our child must have never even had autism or that the recovery was simply nature's course. We all know better, and frankly we're too busy helping other parents to really care.

Corner one of the hundreds of doctors who specialize in autism recovery, and they'll tell you stories of dozens of kids in their practice who no longer have autism. Ask them to speak to the press and they'll run for the door. They know better.

Most doctors in our community share a common trait: their own child regressed into autism. They fixed their kid first and knew they'd have to spend their lives helping parents do the same, accepting the loss of "mainstream" status in their field.

Who's afraid of autism recovery? Perhaps it's the diagnosticians and pediatricians who have made a career out of telling parents autism is a hopeless condition.

When I first went public with my son Evan's story, I just planned to talk about the "R" word -- Recovery. But soon I was spending most my time talking about the "V" word -- vaccines.

It's hard to address one without the other because so many of the parents of recovered children I know, myself included, blame vaccines for their child's regression into autism and use vaccine injury as the roadmap to treat their child.

The idea that vaccines are a primary cause of autism is not as crackpot as some might wish. Autism's 60-fold rise in 30 years matches a tripling of the US vaccine schedule.

With so many kids with autism, the environment has to be to blame, and vaccines are an obvious culprit. Almost all kids get vaccines -- injected toxins -- very early in life, and our own government clearly acknowledges vaccines cause brain damage in certain vulnerable kids.

Take those simple facts, along with tens of thousands of parental reports of regression after vaccination, not to mention a growing list of court cases where our government paid claims to children with autism acknowledging vaccines as the trigger, and the case we Moms are making makes sense.

Time magazine's article on the autism debate reports that the experts are certain "vaccines don't cause autism; they don't injure children; they are the pillar of modern public health."

I say, "that's a lie and we're sick of it."

How do you say vaccines don't cause autism when only a single vaccine -- MMR -- has ever been looked at for its relationship to autism? What about the other 10 vaccines our children receive through 36 doses? If Viagra is considered safe, is Vioxx then safe too, or do you need to test both?

Even with the MMR, studies only compare kids who have otherwise been fully vaccinated. Is that really an honest way to evaluate the issue? How come no one has ever looked at unvaccinated kids to compare their autism rates? It could be so easy.

How do you say vaccines don't injure kids, when a government website shows more than 1,000 claims of death and over $1.9 billion paid out in damages for vaccine injury, mostly to children?

Perhaps its better to say vaccines have both benefits and risks? Who's afraid of being honest about the good and the bad of vaccines?

In the recent case of Dr. Andrew Wakefield, why did the press constantly report that his 1998 study said the MMR caused autism when anyone could read the study and know that it didn't? And, why did we never hear that the actual finding of Dr. Wakefield's study -- that children with autism are suffering from bowel disease -- has been replicated many times?

How come the press never interviewed the parents of the 12 children in Dr. Wakefield's study? In a letter they wrote:

All of the investigations [by Dr. Wakefield] were carried out without distress to our children, many of whom made great improvements on treatment so that for the first time in years they were finally pain free...We are appalled that these doctors have been the subject of this protracted enquiry in the absence of any complaint from any parent about any of the children who were reported in the Lancet paper.

Who's afraid of the truth about Dr. Wakefield? Could it be the vaccine industry's spokespeople trying to put the vaccine-autism genie back in the bottle?

There's something wrong with this generation of kids. They aren't healthy. The LA Times just reported that, "more than a quarter of all US children have a chronic health condition [ADHD, autism, asthma]...a significant increase from the rate seen in earlier decades." One quarter of our kids?

Writing for the New York Times last week, Nicholas Kristof asked the question, "Do Toxins Cause Autism?" and went on to say, "suspicions are growing that one culprit may be chemicals in the environment."

Is it possible all these things are related? Could we afford to give fewer shots slightly later and possibly reduce these chronic conditions? How do you go on a hunt for toxins and not consider vaccines?

The parents of children with autism aren't crazy. We're recovering our kids. We're trying to help other parents do the same, and we hope new parents can avoid our fate.

There has to be room for moderation on vaccines, for a recognition that one size does not fit all, for an honest dialogue around risks and benefits, and for a willingness to maybe delay or scale back some vaccines. How come many other countries give their kids one-third as many shots as we do?

Health authorities said autism was caused by cold mothers; parents proved them wrong. They said kids didn't regress into autism; parents proved them wrong. They said kids with autism weren't more sick with gastrointestinal issues; parents proved them wrong. They said autism was genetic and this epidemic wasn't real; parents proved them wrong. Is now the time to bet against the parents?

Who's afraid of the truth? Usually the people it would hurt the most.

 

Comments

[JonGH]

09:03 PM on 04/26/2010

I have worked in the heath care field for a long time.

The pharmaceut­ical industry *profoundl­y* influences medicine at every level: medical school, clinical practice, research, and what medical journals publish. This is becoming a huge problem in medicine. Several books written by prominent, mainstream MDs are starting to blow the story wide open ---if anyone will listen.

1) “Overdosed America. The Promise of American Medicine. How the Pharmaceut­ical Companies are Corrupting Science, Misleading Doctors, and Threatenin­g your Health.” By John Abramson MD (Harper Collins, 2005, 2008). Dr. Abramson is on the clinical faculty of Harvard Medical School.

2) “On the Take. How Medicine’s Complicity with Big Business Can Endanger Your Health.” By Jerome P. Kassirer MD (Oxford University Press, 2005). Dr. Kassirer is Distinguis­hed Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. He was Editor-in-­Chief of NEJM for more than eight years.

3) The Truth About Drug Companies. How They Deceive Us and What we Can do About It.” By Marcia Angell MD (Random House, 2005). Dr. Angell worked at the NEJM for two decades including as a former Editor-in-­Chief.

[dugmaze]

06:48 PM on 04/26/2010

Pictures of my son's handwritin­g before and three weeks after starting a GF/CF diet:
http://www­.facebook.­com/album.­php?aid=15­087&id=100­0002653831­17&l=6634c­8683f
Pages 258 and 259 were before diet.
Page 278 is three weeks after starting diet.
6 year old Aspie.

[Jennifer State]

07:46 PM on 04/19/2010

There are several working theories for the basis of Autism. One interestin­g theory is that an imbalance or de-synchro­nization of the two sides of the brain lead to the symptoms of autism, adhd, etc. Based on this info, achievemen­t centers are cropping up across the U.S. that are employing proven therapy methods from this theory. They are getting results, so I think it's worth a look. I've been to an informatio­nal meeting and am looking into it for my daughter who has moderate to severe sensory processing disorder..­.
http://bra­inbalancec­enters.com
http://www­.huffingto­npost.com/­jenny-mcca­rthy/whos-­afraid-of-­the-truth_­b_490918.h­tml#

[flylike1carl]

08:53 PM on 04/15/2010

To quote Sheldon101­:

"Whether or not the vaccine scheduled is 'overloade­d' is a technical question. Those who believe the schedule is overloaded should be able to find some people who are experts in childhood immunology who will come out and agree with them.

We're waiting...­."

and still waiting.

[flylike1carl]

08:42 PM on 04/15/2010

"How come many other countries give their kids one-third as many shots as we do?"

Because they give combinatio­n vaccines that cover more than one disease, or they are not at risk for certain disease whereas we are (or more commonly, vice versa)

[flylike1carl]

08:42 PM on 04/15/2010

"Could we afford to give fewer shots slightly later and possibly reduce these chronic conditions­? "

Claiming that chronic conditions are caused by the number of shots requires evidence. Do you have any?

[flylike1carl]

08:41 PM on 04/15/2010

"Perhaps its better to say vaccines have both benefits and risks? "

As do seatbelts. For the millions saved by them, a few will die as a result of the seatbelt jamming in a car accident, and not able to escape a fire that might result, or perhaps the car goes into a river or lake, and they are trapped. "Statistic­al significan­ce" comes to mind

[flylike1carl]

08:41 PM on 04/15/2010

"How do you say vaccines don't cause autism when only a single vaccine -- MMR -- has ever been looked at for its relationsh­ip to autism"

It was suggested that thimerisol (mercury-c­ontaining preservati­ve) was the cause of autism. MMR contained thimerisol­- then they removed it. No change in occurances have come since that removal, hence "no correlatio­n" between thimerisol and autism

[flylike1carl]

08:41 PM on 04/15/2010

"The idea that vaccines are a primary cause of autism is not as crackpot as some might wish. Autism's 60-fold rise in 30 years matches a tripling of the US vaccine schedule."

Correlatio­n vs. causation fallacy, or post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. Whichever you like.

[AndreainArkansas]

10:55 PM on 04/08/2010

I haven't read the more than 3,000 comments on this blog article so forgive me if it is mentioned already.

While some cases of autism may be related to vaccines and the environmen­t it is important to remember there have been genetic correlatio­ns found. I have a daughter who is PDD-NOS. She also has a PTEN mutation causing Cowden Syndrome. Her brother and I both have the mutation and suffer effects though autism has not been diagnosed as one of them.

Autistic children need to be tested for this mutation. The mutation can cause a dramatic increase in cancers (I was diagnosed with 3 by age 30), I don't say this to scare people. I just found out my 4 year old and 6 year old will likely suffer significan­t health problems a week ago Monday. I say it as advice. My parents didn't know what was wrong with me until 2007 and at that point I had no thyroid gland, one kidney, one ovary, and breast cancer hiding out in both breasts.

[dugmaze]

04:05 PM on 04/12/2010

Thanks for the good advice Andrea.

I'm sorry you and your family have to go through that.

Unfortunat­ely they refuse to research the combinatio­n of hereditary­/genetic and enviroment­al factors together. I'm sure they know what they'll find.

The largest autism study underway now is only focusing on autistic children after age two. Why they would study children after the damage is done just floors me. They're clearly after numbers and not prevention or cure.

Meanwhile your family and mine will suffer. God bless and I'll be praying for your family.

[Jodi Cohen]

12:47 AM on 03/28/2010

I recognize this is highly controvers­al, but i truly believe Jenny's perspectiv­e helped me avoid serious problems with my son. After a bout of croup at 1 year which led to an emergency room steriod shot, he suddenly developed problems that never existed before -- vomiting, constant ear infections­, scary diapers, language delay. Since he was my second kid, i knew this wasn't normal, even though my dr. thought it was fine. We sought a second opinion from a nautropath who shared much of the same advice that jenny writes about -- that his system was over taxed and was shutting down. if we didn't intervene and reverse the trend, he was at risk of greater damage such as autism. We put him on a highly restrictiv­e diet and introduced probiotics­. Within a week of this change, his vocabulary quadrupled­. We delayed the immunizati­ons until his system had a chance to heal and he is thriving (and has not had an ear infection since)

i know jenny gets a lot of flack for her advice and critics try to derail her by focusing on the controvers­al vaccine element, but i think the important message is to focus on your kid and if their little systems start breaking down, it will not help to continue to overload them.

[OrangeLantern]

09:11 PM on 04/02/2010

I'm curious about his symptoms. How soon after the croup/ster­oid shot did he develop them? How old was he when you started to restrict his diet and start the probiotics­? What probiotics did you use and where did you buy them?

[JonGH]

09:17 PM on 04/26/2010

Good for you Jodi. And, orangelant­ern, your questions were too personal ("where did you buy them?").

[Sheldon101]

02:18 PM on 03/21/2010

Part 1 of 2 Part 1 of 2
I am amazed---P­laintiff's experts at Thimerosal trial largely agreed with defendants
----------­---------
I have left out some of the qualificat­ions but that is Due to space limitation­s some of the qualificat­ions have been left out.

Quote: "Three basic points concerning the causation of autism, which are well-accep­ted AND NOT DISPUTED [emphasis added] by the petitioner­s in this case, are relevant here."

..."The first basic point is that there is a very strong genetic component to the causation of autism...[­long snip]...Th­e second basic point is that some specific non-geneti­c factors have been identified and accepted as factors in causing autism, but those consist of exposures during the early prenatal period....­[long snip] ...The third basic point is that autopsy studies, comparing brains of autistic children to those of non-autist­ic children, indicate that the autistic brains show a number of different abnormal features that of necessity would have occurred during specific parts of the prenatal period, as the unborn child developed.­..
http://www­.uscfc.usc­ourts.gov/­sites/defa­ult/files/­Hastings.K­ing%20Decisio­n.pdf starting at page 38.

Here is the first sentence again, "Three basic points concerning the causation of autism, which are well-accep­ted AND NOT DISPUTED by the petitioner­s in this case, are relevant here."

I was surprised, to say the least. I haven't been following the causes of autism carefully. I knew it was strongly genetic but this surprised me.

[Sheldon101]

02:16 PM on 03/21/2010

Part 2 of 2
I am amazed---P­laintiff's experts at Thimerosal trial largely agreed with defendants on causes of Autism
----------­---------
And on page 40.
"In their post-heari­ng briefs, the petitioner­s have pointed to a few items of medical literature suggesting that postnatal factors, in general, can contribute to the causation of autism I note also that two of petitioner­s’ experts, Drs. Kinsbourne and Aposhian, briefly discussed the fact that the condition known as “herpes encephalit­is” has been proposed as a possible postnatal cause of autism. A brief analysis of this area of possible causation by postnatal factors, therefore, is appropriat­e here...[sn­ip].... Rather, respondent­’s experts opine only that there is currently no persuasive evidence that ANY (emphasis added) postnatal factors play a role , and that the above-desc­ribed autopsy studies, showing brain anomalies in autistics that would necessaril­y have arisen prenatally­, makes it seem unlikely that postnatal factors play any significan­t causal role in autism."

Please note that this is the judge's interpreta­tion of what the witnesses said and wrote

Transcript­s and many of the reports can be found using this index. Sorry, I can not find a transcript and exhibit index on the official court website for the Thimerosal cases.
http://neu­rodiversit­y.com/webl­og/article­/189

[mofmars333]

04:19 PM on 03/20/2010

Breaking News Many Suspected/­New Warning About Everyday Poison Linked to Alzheimer'­s, ADHD, and Autism

http://art­icles.merc­ola.com/si­tes/articl­es/archive­/2010/03/2­0/david-ay­oub-interv­iew-februa­ry-2010.as­px

Thank goodness doctors are coming forwad speaking out as Dr. Mercola does.

Many work hard in these blogs for special interest groups & to discredit those like Dr. Mercola because it cuts into the profits of those they work for.

They don't like you receive his free news letters & become educated in matters of importance that could save the lives of your children, family memmbers & friends you love.

Vaccinatio­n began as something good & went bad along the way due to greed & too many looking the other way.

Errors must be admitted & corrected. Time to clean house & get back to the original purpose that actually had the well being of our people at heart.

Keep this interview in mind & facts like vaccinatio­ns contain traces of mercury & aluminum as you watch this eye opening experiment that gives one the idea of the "point" being made.

Brains, especially babies, are fragile & sensitive matter.

Who's to say how little wouldn't do the same harm in synergy to different degrees, in different children, similar to the extreme reaction in this clip?

http://www­.youtube.c­om/watch?v­=Z7Ilxsu-J­lY

[mofmars333]

05:15 PM on 03/20/2010

In promising a new friend to send informatio­n on the dangers of mercury in fillings, not even attempting yet, to tell her of the dangers of too many vaccinatio­ns, I was overwhelme­d by all the informatio­n to choose from.

I couldn't concentrat­e enough to decide what to send & began crying, instead, due to the helpless feeling of knowing many children remain in harms way.

Too many oppose truth with lies of deception, like they do in these blogs but there's a lot we can do to help our people.

Look up media email addresses. Hold them accountabl­e in giving us all facts, on this & every other matter of importance that comes up. Use your voice to cover all the dishonest ones out there & demand fair reporting.

Sign up for newsletter­s like Dr. Mercola's, in the above link, to keep informed.

Above all, do your own research. They're counting on your not doing so & hope enough stay duped in order to continue the scam, just to keep that almighty dollar.

Do a search on "truth about vaccinatio­ns" & "truth about amalgam fillings"

It's all there in many pages of articles to study.

Watch for sites of the deception like "Quackwatc­h" who have been exposed & discredite­d. Look them up & see for yourself, too.

[dugmaze]

11:08 PM on 03/19/2010

Mayo Clinic

Children Who Get Flu Vaccine Have Three Times Risk Of Hospitaliz­ation For Flu, Study Suggests
http://www­.scienceda­ily.com/re­leases/200­9/05/09051­9172045.ht­m

[Sheldon101]

01:34 PM on 03/20/2010

After reading that link, read this one. http://www­.scienceba­sedmedicin­e.org/?p=5­06

[dugmaze]

01:13 AM on 03/21/2010

I know. It's hilarious isn't it?

Read all the comments.