Minnesota Autism Mom

I just finished reading “Autism’s False Prophets” and I would highly recommend reading it, even if you didn’t have a child w/ ASD. I believe everyone is bias and he clearly is a dr that sees his pt of view and is arguing it strongly and clearly.

Prior to having my son, I was told to consider spacing out vaccinations by co-workers (who happen to be teachers). Everyone said that they think vaccs are important, but also scary and shouldn’t be done all at once. The ASD scare was clear to me. I did the same. I did no research on the topic and was then was scared too by the amount of inoculations they wanted to put in my baby boy. I spaced them out. Did them when I wanted to and my son has autism today. I have no way to prove this, but I do not believe shots caused ASD in my child. I think he had a rough start and continues to be delayed today. Shots or no shots, I think my son would be the same.

So the first time I walked into the Autism Shop in Hopkins (the day after he was diagnosed), I was surprised and taken back by the woman in the store.  Her first question…”do you believe he has asd from shots?” Ummm…no, he didn’t have a traditional imm. schedule and blah, blah…Anyway, she dropped it. She moved on the GCFC diet.  She explained it wasn’t that hard to do and her daughter now goes to college..is cured or whatever. I was a little annoyed with her. I told her we just got the dx and were there to shop. She really wanted to discuss this and I felt overwhelmed by her need to educate me on the spot. She did this again the 2nd time Iwent in a few months later. I could not order certain products online, so I went to her store again. Same old crap and I couldn’t believe she was dying to bring this up again. I am not sure I will ever make a pt to go there again.

It seems like everyone is fearful of the all might shot these days. I see in newsletters put out by TACA, recommending to not give the flu shot or any other shot if your child has a dx of ASD. This makes being a parent very confusing. Is there weight to the argument that vaccinations cause ASD? Is it the mercury/thermisoal? I was tired of wondering and have started to read more deeply this week. Read online, read various books and after some serious thought, the most believable conclusion is of Dr Offit’s book. There is no proof mercury causes ASD. None. And Dr Wakefield’s conclusion that MMR/bowel issues are related to ASD has been all over the news lately…again and again disproving his theories. He was too quick to have found a cure and I see the media pointing this out today, but clearly the damage is done. How many people are not vaccinating today because of him? It’s going to take a long time to counter what has happened since the 90’s.

Anyway, I am going to try to conclude now (as I would rather be napping!!). I am not a huge fan of biomedical approaches. I am concerned about the desire to do anything and everything for a child. I worry about the emotional issues of proving you are a good parent by doing everything. I really liked Dr Offit’s comparison to polio. As he reflects on the desperate measures (and sometimes fatal) to cure a child of polio…we can easily see how history is repeating itself. It happens in all medical disorders that are not currently curable. Do you remember the cure for MS using bees?

I am skeptical of the GCFC diet, I think chelation is a horrible idea, and I most definitely do not think people should be scared of big “pharm”, but always cautious of well-intended, but uninformed individuals. In fact, that is a good way to wrap this up. There are A LOT of well-intended, but uneducated people. I am going to be extremely skeptical of the ASD cure until there is some serious evidence over a period of time. I am not going to let my baby be someone’s guinea pig. My new research topic…allergies/ASD/ and the GCFC diet. Where did all of this come from? Any recommendations on where to start?

Science Friday’s

My very first post w/ my very own domain name!!!

Right now, I am going to be anonymous, unless I otherwise feel it suits this blog to be more open about names.

I have been blogging since 2000 or earlier. I have had very public journals, to anonymous ones and even a locked journal on LiveJournal so I can say exactly what I really want. But… this blog…this is something new for me. I am not 100% where I am going with it. I just know I am excited to start a new blog specifically about my experiences here in MN with therapies, programs, relationships, milestones, media, milestones, etc. I am tired of having trouble finding information in regards to this subject matter. I want real opinions and I want to share mine too so I can help others like myself. Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of info on ASD. Actually, maybe? too much. I hope I can help others by making this a place where I have already gathered a lot of the research together and that others will add to the discussion to make it comprehensive and interesting.

My son is 2.5 today. He is non-verbal, beautiful, curious, and attends only one therapy right now, which is a half day ABA program. I have worked with 3 school districts already and surprisingly a handful of private therapists in town. We have been involved with the school districts since our concerns around his first b-day.

Very, very recently I have given myself a reality check. It’s time to stop feeling sorry for us and this situation. We have many blessings. This may be very hard at times, but there have and will be just as many exciting, positive experiences too despite having a child with ASD.

I plan on going back into my LJ acct and pulling out older entries to give this blog some body and energy. Excuse me as I get this thing going.

Please comment below to say hello if you have gotten this far. I hope I can make this blog into something sooner than later!