Autism
Jennybake12
member
I was watching GMA this morning and saw new statistics that show that 1 in 52 boys between 2006-2008 have some form of autism and 1 in 252 girls. After seeing this, I just can't stop thinking about it. Autism has always been a concern of mine, even years before I became pregnant. I try not to think about it too much because I just don't think worrying about it is helpful. I have been trying to schedule some meetings with potential pediatrians. I am hopeful they can easy my mind.
Would any of you ladies like to share your thoughts on this topic or your insights? I have tried to educate myself. It seems like a major factor in autism is genetics. I can't remember the name of the drug I was reading about the other day (can't find the article I was reading) but it was saying how it is a mercury based preservative that they put in vaccines that seem to have a stong correlation to autism. There are mercury free vaccines avaiable and apparently the FDA pushes doctors to mercury based/perservative vaccines. Have any of you heard of this?
It just scares me to know that of all of us on the boards having boys, some of us are going to have autistic babies. I just want to be as educated as possible and share our knowledge
Re: Autism
Marriage: 12.18.04
DD1: 5.19.10
DD2: 4.11.12
I will preface this post by saying that as a FTM expecting a boy (only because Autism effects, statistically, more boys than girls) I would by lying if I said I am not a little worried about the possibility. I also have been an active participant in the field of Autism treatment (behavior therapy) for the last 10 years and had the opportunity to witness convincing arguments from both sides of the debate.However, this is what I have found to be true:
The debate about vaccinations and the link to Autism has been going on for quite some time. There is a lot of mixed evidence, neither side being able to conclusively prove there is any "statistically significant" link between the two or a lack thereof.
https://www.autismsciencefoundation.org/autismandvaccines.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMR_vaccine_controversy
At best, what they can conclude is that the main determining factor is genetics, but they can't rule out evidence for environmental influence in those that are predisposed. There are numerous environmental toxins that could be harmful to babies, kids and even adults--not just those found in vaccinations. Most of the early childhood vaccinations no longer contain Thimerisol (the preservative made of mercury that you are referring to), but some flu and other less common vaccines do.
If you are concerned about what the vaccination has in it, you can (1) ask for the version without preservatives and (2) ask for a modified vaccination schedule to space out shots so your child doesn't get so much so quickly. Neither of these things will hurt, but there is evidence to suggest that disease does and is dangerous to your baby.
FWIW: I will be doing the modified schedule, simply because I feel it won't hurt to space things out a bit to give our baby's immune system a better chance to metabolize everything. I would never advocate not immunizing a child, but that is my personal opinion. Also, there is no way to shield our babies from all of the environmental toxins they will come into contact with each day so we will just do our best to keep him healthy and hope for the best.
My mom would be a better person to talk to about this than I am but I will say a couple things. My brother is autistic (pretty severely so) and I've worked with autistic children before.
One of the things mentioned with the new numbers is that there is more awareness and more kids who would have been diagnosed before are being diagnosed now. Also, I haven't read all the details but I am going to assume that this includes very very mild cases. The autism spectrum is really pretty wide. After having dealt with it for so long, my mom and I often say we think people we know are on the spectrum.
Not liking change, having to have things a certain way, being sensitive to certain sounds or textures, being a little socially awkward, etc. These are all things that someone on the mild end of the spectrum can have. I worry less about one of my kids having autism than having severe autism.
Also, I'm sure there are a lot people who poo-poo the whole vaccine thing. There are also a lot of people who are right there worrying about it. My brother was given his MMR vaccine while he had an ear infection and a fever and was on antibiotics, something that should not have happened. My mom often wonders if that made things worse. Our other brother has some anxiety and social awkwardness but otherwise is fine and in college now. No one knows exactly what causes it. We think maybe there's a genetic component that can be triggered.
Right now I space my vaccines so my son only gets one shot at a time. My ped is great about this and all it means is that sometimes he gets a shot at an appointment that other kids wouldn't. We haven't ever been far off the the schedule. Also, I watch for early warning signs. At 3, it's less likely to pop up now but I admit to worrying a little about his total aversion to his hands being messy. My ped says that's pretty common, though, and most kids outgrow it.
Educate yourself but try not to worry too much.
My belief is that they put to many children on the Autism Spectrum, many of which are high functioning and are placed there because they may not be social and may become more focused on certain things and be good in sciences and maths. My husband could be considered high functioning aspergers syndrome.
Honestly, if we suspect our children have some form of high functioning autism, we aren't going to tell anyone because we believe it's perfectly normal.
It'll be a different story if they are truly autistic though.
JMO, don't panic... just because a person is labeled autistic doesn't mean they can't have a full and functioning life, it just may be a little less social than what you expected.
All the news outlets have been throwing around the "OMG 1 in 52 Boys Now Have Autism!!" scare headline to get people to keep reading or watching. Because sound bytes like that are what get people to pay attention.
But if you read the original full article, the researchers who worked on it say they have not seen an increase in the very severe, non-communicative cases of true Autism. The increases have been in Autism-spectrum disorders, including Asperger Syndrome and Pervasive Developmental Disorder- not otherwise specified. Since Asperger and PDD-NOS are not severely disabling and their sufferers are generally able to function in normal society (albeit with difficulty- I don't mean to minimize them) they were much less likely to be diagnosed in the past. In one article I read, the quote from the researcher was that they cannot rule out the possibility that the increase is entirely due to the expansion of the diagnostic criteria and better awareness of both practitioners and patients who are now more likely to recognize the symptoms and seek a diagnosis.
See my post above. It has been taken out of early childhood vaccines but not those commonly given to adults or for certain conditions. However, you can request a preservative free vaccines at any time.
weird, I couldn't see the last 3 posts that gave a lot of information when I did my last post. I wonder how many adults have "autism" that have never been diagnoised. My husband has been diagnoised with OCD and I have some characteristics that are probably OCD. My husband is really shy with people he doesn't know, but super outgoing with his friends/family. I am on the shy side too. I wish I could schedule some meetings with pedatrians, I think if I found a good one then I would feel more comfortable.
This. As a high school teacher, I have several students who are labeled as autistic and they are very high functioning (and possibly even smarter than I am in some areas), but lack some minor social skills.
Also, some schools push for more diagnoses so that they receive more funding, and the parents are unaware of this aspect of it. Disgusting.
I definitely wouldn't stress about it. So many kids put on the spectrum are very, very high functioning. I have an autistic nephew who is the smartest kid in his class by far but has some moderate social and coping issues. I look at him and a lot of the "markers" he has and frankly, I see a lot of me in him and would likely have been on the spectrum had it been around when I was a kid. He's come a long way but deals with some major OCD and anxiety issues, but my goodness, it is not the end of the world. He's an amazing, truly amazing little boy.
Just wanted to add that I agree with the posters who have said that they are labeling kids left and right now. I'm a behavioral therapist for kids on the autism spectrum and the majority of my clients are VERY high functioning and probably most people with an untrained eye would never realize these kids are autistic.
Also, at our agency the kids must have a diagnosis of some kind (doesn't have to be on the spectrum) to receive services and I've seen plenty of children who are diagnosed on the spectrum, when really I think they are out of control behaviorally because they have parents who don't know how to set limits and discipline them.
Bottom line- don't stress about it too much. The number of low-functioning nonverbal autistic children is no where near as high as the numbers being reported right now.
This was my thinking on vaccines until I started researching some. We vaccinate for a LOT more things than we did when any of us were babies -- If you follow the recommended CDC vaccination schedule, your baby will get 25 injections by the time he/she is 18 months, sometimes 5-6 shots in one visit. I'm not saying this causes autism (or ADHD, asthma, or allergies, which some people also believe), but IMO it seems excessive.
DH are researching each disease and each vaccine and weighing the risks. I just think it's best to be educated and know the risks of whatever decision you make.
There have been no links to Autism and vaccinations. There was a report out a few months ago linking it to maternal and fraternal age which makes way more sense to me.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2009/01/15/this-question-has-been-asked-and-answered.html
This is why you do an alternative vaccination schedule. That's what DH and I are doing and our DS will receive no more than 2 shots per visit and it's spread over years not months. We're also asking for the preservative free vaccines.
I think you need to do a bit more research on how vaccines are produced and the difference between then and now. For instance, vaccines from when we were kids contained many more antigens than the ones today. So, even though our children are receiving more vaccines they are also receiving way less antigens. Basically, they're getting more disease prevention in less antigens.
eta: Also, multiple shots in one visit mean less visits (although I question the 5 - 6 separate injections - my kids have never had that many shots at one visit).....more visit doesn't equal easier on the child.
We also vaccinate for twice the number of diseases.
I've worked in the field for 12 years, and I have Asperger's syndrome. A diagnosis on the spectrum is not the end of the world. Yes, there are some challenges that go along with it, but every child has challenges. You learn to work with them.
The study I read yesterday was putting the number at 1 in 88, not 1 in 52. There was also a lot of missing data, because states don't all collect data the same way. That is going to affect the results.
There are preservative free vaccines available that you can ask for. If you had the flu shot this year while pregnant, they probably gave you the preservative free flu vaccine. You can ask for the same for any of the vaccines, though Thimerosol (the mercury component you mentioned) was removed from MOST childhood vaccines several years ago after the autism/vaccine scare.
One of my pet peeves that I see mentioned repeatedly on this thread is that "the vaccine/autism argument was proven false." Actually, it wasn't. The study which linked the MMR vaccine to autism WAS indeed discredited. However, there have not been any additional studies on the vaccines that we give children now, nor was there any attempt tp replicate the MMR study in order to actually disprove it. It was disproved solely because the data was not accurate. There are NO current studies on vaccines and autism- just a bunch of people running around saying that they are "sure" there is no link. Until there is actual verified research to back it up, I don't believe it. My honest opinion is that you can't rule out ANYTHING until you have actually done the research.
That being said, I also believe that you have to be predisposed in order to have a vaccine trigger autism- there are medical conditions in which one is predisposed to autism if certain factors are introduced. This is why the vaccine injury program is in place, and why there has been at least 1 case where a girl was awarded compensation when she developed autism following her vaccines. She was predisposed to a condition, the vaccines aggravated it, and that resulted in her autism. Those cases are very rare though.
The only "cause" they have found so far is a potential genetic link. But even that they haven't narrowed down.
Will I vaccinate my child? Absolutely. Vaccines are very important. But they most certainly will be spaced out to a more acceptable schedule- many of the pediatricians around here do 5-6 shots in a visit, some of those with the combination vaccines. If the child has a reaction of any sort- whether it is mild and short term or longer lasting, how would one figure out what happened in order to prevent it in the future?
Yep and with less antigens.
Autism spectrum disorders are usually genetic. Do you have any family members who could have aspergers or autism?
I can understand your fear, but most people who have an autism spectrum disorder are perfectly nice people. Look at Bill Gates if you want a role model!
The called thimerosol. It's a preservative. There was panic about it a few years back, and the FDA removed it from all children's vaccines in around 1999. Doing so had no effect on autism rates.There have been studies on tens of thousands of children around the world, including every single child in Denmark. All of the studies have confirmed there is no correlation between vaccination and autism spectrum disorders. The rise in autism spectrum disorders is due to higher awareness and better treatment. If there's something you can do, there's more incentive to give a diagnosis.
https://www.latimes.com/health/la-me-autism-day-four-html,0,2311211.htmlstory
As for the "there are NO studies" out there to disprove the autism link, that's just flat out wrong. There have been numerous studies, of a large scale, that debunk the link. The Denmark study referenced is one of them.
Yes, Andrew Wakefield's study was so atrocious that the co-authors disavowed it, and it was later retracted from the journal. There's also good evidence it was fraudulent, not just bad, data. But that's not the only thing out there.
Thimerisol was yanked from vaccines as a panic response. There was not and is not any evidence that it actually was harmful. Regardless, we now have over a decade without thimerisol, and autism rates are still increasing, so that effectively puts that debate to rest.
OP, here's a book if you want a good science based view of this. I haven't read it, but many people have recommended it. I've listened to some interviews with the author, though.
https://www.amazon.com/The-Panic-Virus-ebook/dp/B0043RSJTK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1333221074&sr=8-3
Zeus and Bubba
There was one study done that "proved" the link between the MMR vaccine and autism. It was from that one study that the craze began. There has never been another study to "prove" a link.
The problem? The study was completely fabricated,
https://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/01/05/autism.vaccines/index.html
Dr. Wakefield had his medical license revoked in the UK and now is on the pay-per-lecture circuit in the States.
I fully believe that autism is just the new "it" diagnosis, just as ADHD was the "it diagnosis" of children of the late 80's/early 90's.
Some kids are shy. Just because your kid isn't social or not as smart as their peers doesn't mean they have an "autism spectrum disorder"- it just means they're an individual.