There are so many things floating around about vaccinations being the possible cause of Autism... Now parents of ASD children are being blamed because they vaccinated their children...
From my personal stand point... I think Autism is on the rise because there are more and more cases being evaluated differently than they were 5 or 10 years ago. In the past some of these children were just labeled as uncontrollable behavior or just stupid... I know I may sound like a hypocrite for saying I believe that is part of why the statistics are rising... Michael is about in the middle of the spectrum right now I guess. He has significant delays. But there are more and more kids being placed on the high functioning levels. Maybe Autism was always nearly this bad... And we just never really knew it. Just one thought.
Onto a ponder about the vaccines. I can honestly say I do not regret getting my child his shots. If all these diseases were not a reason for caution why would the schools make the vaccines mandatory? A young kid has almost no defenses or chances against things like measles. Also, if I had not had Michael's shots done, he would not be permitted into school. Social Services also count lack of vaccines against even an honest and dedicated parent.
I do not know what caused Michael to be the way he is. And yes I wish that he could speak and I long to hear him say he loves me. I wish he could join in games and sports. But the facts is that he cannot. Instead of trying to find the blame, I am desperately trying to help teach him to live life despite his handicaps. Maybe I am still just too young and niave to think otherwise, but I suppose we are all entitled to our own feelings. I am sure mine will change over the years. Maybe I am just scared the facts will reveal maybe I am the blame...
I honestly hope that they can find a reason and prevention so that another young mother will not have to endure the confusion, desperation, self doubt, and long nights of tears as I have. But there is no cure for my son, nothing can erase the ASD from his little mind.
I apoplogize if I offend anybody with my little rant. I may even regret it later, but for now I feel as if a little load has been lifted from my shoulders.
I didn't vaccinate Wyatt and
I didn't vaccinate Wyatt and he still has autism, probably at a similar place on the spectrum as Michael. I downloaded a vaccination waiver from the ca.gov website and had no problems enrolling Wyatt in school. But I know that other states are more difficult.
I am still ambivalent about vaccinations. Who knows, maybe Wyatt would be worse off if I had vaccinated him. Like a lot of ASD moms, I am not against vaccinating in general, but against the schedule (some vaccinations beginning at the moment of birth) and the fact that the MMR vaccine is no longer available as three separate components. I might still decide to give Wyatt some vaccinations. I understand that Wyatt is protected from some unpleasant and uncomfortable outcomes because of "herd immunity."
Also, I think that doctors and big pharma companies often scare parents about diseases. I mean, I think I would rather take a chance that my kid get the measles than have autism. I think if parents weren't pressured to vaccinate, they could look at each vaccination and decide when and if their child needed it.
But the truth is that there is an economic incentive for state governments to mandate more and more vaccines. They get paid. There have been vaccines, such as one for Rotorua virus (I think I spelled that wrong) that were approved and then when children died from it it was discovered that some of the people/doctors on the approval committee actually owned stock in the pharmaceutical company that produced the vaccine. So I do believe there is corruption and greed involved in the vaccination industry. I also feel that vaccinations are relatively recent in human history and that perhaps we don't know if there are any long-term generational effects--perhaps we are weakening and mutating our entire species. Maybe Wyatt has autism because my husband and I were vaccinated and it affected our genetic information. Who knows?
I've often wondered if birth control pills and non-oxynol 9 might have an effect on DNA. I had a boyfriend who was a pharmacuetical rep and he was TERRIFIED of non-ox-9 and non-stick Teflon cookware. He would literally get all pale and shaky just talking about it.
I think that your theory about the way autism is diagnosed (and that is why there are so many cases now) is correct. But I also believe it can't explain ALL the new cases that are popping up. I read an article that it is now 1 in 80 kids rather than 1 in 150.
I truly believe something is terribly wrong in the environment. If I had to take a wild guess and I had the power to stop just one chemical component from being unleashed on our entire population, I think I would target the pesticide industry. Maybe others would target mercury-producing power plants or producers of plastics, MSG, or parabens.
That is just my 2 cents. :) Maybe tomorrow I will feel differently, but for now, that is my opinion.
My mother wonders if it is
My mother wonders if it is the rise in chemicals used in our foods, and every other new product we try...
I read somewhere that the 150 is really inaccurate because it was based on kids diagnosed and monitored from several years ago. But the author could not prove that fact completely.
I also wonder if drugs have something to do with it. Look at all the people who have smoked pot and such over the years. Which I read can damage sperm... My son's father turned out to be using when I got pregnant...
I guess in a way I am just sick of people trying to point at one reason and asking me what I did wrong to make Michael this way. People have actually asked that... I just want to concentrate on making him able to live a full life, as close to "normal" as possible. It hurts knowing my son has to be excluded from various things and there is so little I can do about it.
A friend and neighbor of
A friend and neighbor of mine recently found out that she is pregnant. She takes a prescription drug for a condition that has similarities to epilepsy. The doctor has told her that on her medication there is a 2 to 4% chance of birth defects. But included in that statistic are loads of relatively minor birth defects like cleft palate.
So my friend, who feels bad that she has to be on her medication even though she is pregnant says to me (all the time), "Look at all the people who have smoked pot and other things and drank back in the '60's and '70's and we all turned out fine." (Did we?) So it made me chuckle when you said almost the same exact thing for the reverse point of view.
Regarding damaged sperm, I have thought about that in the case of Wyatt's conception. My husband really enjoys microbrewery beer and we also like various wines. (We took a camping trip to the wine country a couple of years before Wyatt was born and had a lot of fun tasting and learning about wine). So I wondered if, 70 days before Wyatt was conceived, if Marc ate or drank anything that would have affected his half of Wyatt's DNA. I saw a documentary that said sperm takes 70 days to mature. Or perhaps pesticides in our food adversely interrupt sperm production.
Also, there was that CNN thing about that one sperm donor whose sperm produced four Austistic children out of 12 total offspring.
I am so sorry that some ignorant, rude, annoying person(s) actually asked you what you did to cause Michael's autism. Well, gosh, if any one of us mom's of ASD kids could answer that question we would be rich and there would be a prevention, if not a cure, for autism.
I hear you about feeling and being excluded from things due to the autism. That's a whole nother topic, and I'll probably get all emotional about it, so since I don't want my eyelids and lashes to puff up and stick together tonight from tears, I'll say goodnight.
Of course if I could blame
Of course if I could blame David I would... How horrid of me...
I am relieved to hear that I am no the only one who gets emotional with subjects like this. I too find myself crying more and more...
Of course it is just a bad week for my tears. I cried watching Bridge to Therebithia and Stepmom. If I had known there was a death in them I never would have watched them.