Did you know that there's a MASSIVE AUTISM EPIDEMIC going on?

[WritingIsMyReligion]

Caused by vaccines, even though it's...most likely not?

Never mind the fact that autism is 1) a fluid spectrum of syndrome easily over- or underdiagnosed, and 2) diagnosed with much more accuracy that previously done so, so OF COURSE it looks like there are more cases when in reality there are just more accurate diagnoses.

:crazy:

[MichiganVote]

1. And very little skill with differential diagnosis in the medical and mental health fields

[MistressOverdone]

2. I don't buy the vaccine things

but SOMETHING is going on. Huge increase in this spectrum of exceptionality since 1972 when I got into the classroom. And this is personal experience and not stats and better diagnosis; just what I see and deal with.

[Deja Q]

5. For one, Asperger's Syndome wasn't even recognized in the US until 1994...

Though I wouldn't deny other factors...

Also, the ratio of neurotypicals vs autistic individuals; has that spiked and if so, what criteria have been altered?

[MistressOverdone]

8. I absolutely see a huge increase in asperger's.

I had kids with it long before it was recognized. I have taught over 20K kids as an art teacher. I see a lot of behaviors.

When I first started teaching, the exceptional kids were usually developmentally delayed. I have no data, but there are many, many more kids who are intellectually average or above, but display signs of autism. And I don't even SEE the ones who have been put into self-contained classes or schools.

I see a good amount of toe-walking, hand shaking, fascination with rotation, difficulty connecting emotionally. The good news is that I also see a lot of progress with these kids as they get intervention and mature. Many of them have gone on to college and are doing well. I am even teaching the child of one of the first Asperger's kids I ever had. (he was dx'd in adulthood)

[KamaAina]

11. Guess who worked on the field trial at Yale that got Asperger's added to DSM-IV?

If you said "that wascally wabbit KamaAina", you're right!

We relied somewhat heavily on the pre-existing definition of Asperger's in the International Classification of Diseases, which, like the metric system, is used pretty much everywhere except the good ol' U.S. of A.

[MistressOverdone]

23. Very, very, cool

this is a segement of the population that needs thorough understanding.

[Fleshdancer]

24. wow, that's pretty cool!

I had never heard of Asperger's until I read a thread about Autism on DU about a year ago. I find the subject to be fascinating.

[KamaAina]

3. OMFG! What are we gonna do when all those people with autism start posting to DU??!!

oh, wait, that ship sailed long ago. I can think of at least a half-dozen of us right offhand.

Seriously, better diagnosis might be one factor, but it alone can't possibly explain some of the recent numbers like 1 in 166 children and 1 in 94 boys. At this rate, we'll be in the majority someday, and I'll be President -- which, come to think of it, might not be such a bad thing, except for corporate fascist warmongering moneygrubbing repukes, of course.

[Deja Q]

4. There's a lot of talk about it on abcnews.com right now

Here's one article:

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=3006889&page=1

[madrchsod]

6. our friends child is autistic

he was`t diagnosed till he was two.after going to several doctors they found one who checked and found high levels of heavy metals in his system. for some unknown reason their doctor gave this child over 40 flu shots in two years and his mother and grandmother have reactions to heavy metals-nickel,mercury ,and several others. the doctor has slowly detoxed the child in the past year and the results are very encouraging. he`s been able to function at a much higher level than what he was initially diagnosed. in this case it was a combo of excessive flu shots and unknown as of yet,the level of reaction of heavy metals. he was born with autism and what happened in the first few years made it insignificantly worse.

[hedgehog]

9. 40 flu shots?

I have to believe that the story has gotten garbled somewhere along the line. The suggestion that the mother and grandmother also show heavy metal exposure suggests that other factors besides vaccinations are in play. I'm under the impression that almost everyone carries some trace amounts of heavy metals, so anybody can test positive. The problem is that these trace amounts are well below known hazardous levels but can be used to convince people to go through a chelation process to eliminate them.

[madrchsod]

10. honest--i have no idea why they let the doctor do this..

(one year it was close to twenty and the first two years it was ten)and of course it`s not polite to ask.. i was trying to point out that this is an extreme case..it seems that all the variables this kid could get he did...but the good news is that he`s getting so much better in the last year. although he still has autism but it is not as bad as they feared when first diagnosed.
what`s really frighting is their insurance will not cover the expenses.they found a lot of doctors willing to charge 10`s of thousands of dollars-one doctor wanted 100,000 dollars over a year and a half of treatment. the doctor she has now charges a fraction of that kind of cost. besides the doctor bills, in the near future they will being "engaging" in a test of wills with the public school system over education of their child.

[hedgehog]

12. I have to say - that's part of what doesn't make sense.

No insurance company in the world will cover 40 flu shots in a year!

I have to admit, this is one situation in which the insurance companies may be right. There are a lot of people out there, doctors and otherwise, who claim to have the "cure" for autism. I can understand the desperation to find a treatment, but I can't believe that these people have a cure.

[Orrex]

25. Delete--stupidly posted in the wrong place!

Sorry!

[bleedingheart]

34. Was this a real doctor or a quack who gave the kids the shots?

my brother in law's mother and his father both went to this really goofy chiropractor that used to give then all sorts of pills and shots and was always selling them on some sort of "fountain of youth" bullshit. His mother got heavy metal poisoning and his father had problems as well...but they would never leave Dr. Goofy...

No reputable pediatrican would give 40 flu shots....

The first time my kids got them...they cut the dose in half and administered it on two separate days about two weeks apart...

[bridgit]

7. yes...

[Ekirh]

13. I was inaccurately diagnosed with Autism as a child

due to acting like the doctor and everything around him didn't exist.

The Doctor's face went red when my mom told him it was mainly because I probably hated him . . .

Note: My Mom was right.


On the serious side... my Aunt Debbie is autistic. . . but it took to long for them to catch it . . . .

I'm no autism expert though so I can't really say much about it, I just know what my grandparents have told me about her (I see her on holidays cause the grandparents bring her for the big family dinners which she really likes). The only times she really responds is with colors and certain musical sounds (She always gets those stuff animal's that play music . . she really likes those).

So when they originally thought I was autistic. . my Grandma almost broke down . . she thought she had passed something down . . . (In case your wondering.. only thing I ever really ended up with was . . . . ADHD and a few minor things)

[WritingIsMyReligion]

17. Hell, amniocentesis told my mom I had a chance of being born with Down.

I was not, though my mom swears that I "act autistic" sometimes. Whatever the hell THAT means. :eyes:

Autism is a serious condition indeed. I do not buy the line that it is vaccine related, however, especially after reading that numerous studies on that have been debunked as utter crap. Mildly, perhaps. But not at the rate that some claim. I mean, Down is trisomy 21--that is genetic, and unless I'm very much mistaken, it's hard to influence your chromosomes after birth. The chromosomes in a few cells, sure, but not in your entire body, unless you were nuclear-blasted or some such thing.

[Ekirh]

27. Like I said I'm no expert. .

So sorry I can't engage you in a insightful conversation in this :(.

I never got hte "act autistic" statements. . . but I don't blame my Mom trying to figure out what she was dealing with. I don't want to get into details about what I was like a child . . . but from reasearching stuff that was ummm never shown to me . . I can see I was a handful for my Mom who was single at the time (She and my Dad divorced when I was one)

But yah I always loved the fact, I was diagnosed autistic cause I wouldn't give the doctor the time of day when in reality I just really didn't want to have anything to do with him.

[Random_Australian]

31. Just wanted to add, you are quite right. Even with nuclear blasting you

can't give someone down syndrome, though I suspect you were joking on that matter.

It's true, you really can't do change things like that on a very wide scale, unless you are getting up to the size of palytoxin. (Palytoxin has a series of binary choices so long there are 4722366482869645213696 ways of arranging just the binary sequence)

[liontamer]

36. i understand that this thread is speaking out against paranoia

but environmental factors do interact with genetic factors to create conditions. So it's not as though when faced with an autistic child, clinicians can just say "oh it must be genetic" and leave it at that.

Schizophrenia is a prime example. There's a strong genetic component, but it's also mediated by many different factors. So something like marijuana can trigger schizophrenic episodes. It doesn't mean that marijuana causes schizophrenia per se; someone with no predisposition to schizophrenia can smoke all day and be more or less fine. On the other hand, just because you have a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia, it doesn't mean you'll necessarily get it. Avoiding triggers will prevent the disease from manifesting. The problem is we don't know what every trigger to every disorder is.

So, while it's true that we don't know what causes Autism, the fact that we don't know what causes it doesn't mean we can assume that there are no environmental factors that contribute, whether it's excessive mercury, too much television, or something we haven't thought of yet.

[astral]

14. It's hard to believe in the 40 flu shots but ---

It is probably true that the poor two year old DID get forty SHOTS in his short life.

And I for one see a problem with that.

The other thing that is just a (vicious internet rumor) is that babies diagnosed with 'shaken baby syndrome' show signs of it within a few days to a week of having gotten shots. I am **not** saying shaken baby syndrome does not exist, only that it is falsely-diagnosed sometimes with a parent or caregiver being tragically falsely accused of a crime.

[Generic Brad]

15. The clerk at TJ Maxx asked me for a dollar tonight to cure it

Because a cure is supposedly just around the corner.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

16. Yeah, that I don't get either.

:shrug:

[Random_Australian]

18. Well, with high rates, at least mental illness will lose it's stigma. That would be a very

high price to pay, though. And it is only a chance.

Hmmmm. A little good in a lot of suck. Eh, at least it is something.

[distantearlywarning]

19. I wouldn't count on that either.

After all, over 2/3 of Americans are overweight and yet "fat" is still one of the biggest stigmas around. I think as autism rates rise, there will just be yet more victims for the type of people who like to bully the helpless and different. But then again, I'm pretty cynical...

[Random_Australian]

28. Ah, but you miss one thing. I'm going to start shouting form rooftops to the parents and friends and

so on that bullying and stigmatism are just making things worse, and then we can hope to see some bastards getting a big STFU.

Down with bieng unpleasant just because you freaking can! :nuke:

[PVnRT]

20. Stop being logical!

Stop doing things like asserting facts and whatnot. Clearly, you are a paid agent of OMG BIG PHARMA spreading your PROPAGANDA. WE ARE ON TO YOU!!!!!!

[NC_Nurse]

21. I am well aware of Autism.

My brother is Autistic, my son has Asperger's syndrome.

The link between autism and vaccines has never been clearly shown. There are also many who believe that a gluten-free and dairy-free diet
help symptoms. Hard to say. My son was clear that he was not helped by it and did not want to give up his pizza. His Asperger's is pretty mild, though so who knows if it helped imperceptively.


There is definitely a genetic link, since some families (like mine) have several members on the spectrum.

I spoke to the EPA meeting about my concerns about mercury getting into the rivers and streams when they held public meetings here about the * Admin. loosening regulations on power plant emissions. The symptoms of mercury poisoning are almost exactly those of autism. 1 in 12 pregnant women may have high serum mercury levels these days according to the reading I did at the time.

As the incidence of autistic spectrum disorders spreads maybe someone will actually start to give a sh*t about funding more research on it. The Autism Society is a great resource for those who need it. Cure Autism Now funds research. Autism Speaks is also a good resource for those who want to learn more.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

22. Unfortunately there are quacks spreading this untruthful message

usually in the same breath as pedalling their own "alternative medicines."

Then there are the paranoid conspiracy theorists who spread this nonsense, alleging all sorts of 'mind control' and 'BIG PHARMA!!!111' conspiracism.

[xchrom]

30. i could sure use you over in that OTHER

forum.

it's like gd -- only more science fiction.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

32. I know, it is a mess

I have ventured into that particular forum occasionally and wouldn't know where to start with all the woowoo pseudoscience flying around.

I can accept that some people make a choice to do without vaccines, however it is problematic when they deny their children immunity from many dangerous diseases based on some quackery and conspiracism, and because "they're my kids."

[Orrex]

26. Gosh!

I recently passed a guy at the mall who was apparently autistic; I hope that I didn't catch it from him!

[xchrom]

29. lol -- i am in LOVE with you!!!

:loveya:

i have such horrifying clashes with the ''medical science benders'' over this.

and you were so funny! -- i love it!

[greatauntoftriplets]

33. OMFG!!! Should I get vaccinated against it?

;)

[WindRavenX]

35. shit dude, I should consult my crystals

Or maybe check my horoscope.