07 January 2011

Vaccines and Autism

So Wakefield's study on MMR vaccines and autism has been declared an elaborate hoax. Interesting, but I'm still not vaccinating the kids.

Here's the thing. My kids have totally fucked immune systems. Vaccines damaged two of them (not the MMR, the DPT) and I'm not risking it with Pop. I don't believe that autism is caused by vaccines. Obviously, the statistics show that rather conclusively. However, I do believe that a kid with autism can be severely hurt by vaccines, in that it can screw with their already fragile immune system and make their symptoms worse.

See, that's why some parents think that the vaccine gave their kid autism. They didn't recognise the autism until the vaccine made it worse. This is borne out by studies (not just Wakefield - and his study, though the conclusions were b.s. did find measles virus in the children's intestines) showing problems with auto-immunity in autism, heavy metal toxicity due to liver dysfunction, and other problems.

There's certainly a physical aspect to Autism. I am completely convinced that people with autism need to see a doctor about treating the physical aspects of the disease so that the ABA therapy can treat the behavioural aspects. A kid doesn't learn nearly as well if s/he's sick. No matter what s/he's sick with. Crackle's progress skyrocketed when we started yeast treatments. Pop's language comprehension and production is taking off since we started supplementing with carnitine. Snap is prone to clostridia infections in her gut.

So no, I'm not going to be introducing more toxins into their body if I can help it. But please, if you don't have a history of Autism in your family, think hard about not vaccinating. The benefits almost always outweigh the risks.