30 March 2012

Autism Epidemic

The CDC's newest report on the prevalence of autism is out. And it's alarming. 1/88 kids. 1/54 boys. 1/254 girls. I'm not going to do a big post on this, because Caffeinated Autism Mom wrote something rather awesome, and I would just duplicate that. Except it would be clumsy and full of profanity.

Go read it. I'll wait.

Good. See what I mean? Awesome. Here's the comment I wrote - in case you don't read the comments. And why wouldn't you?

Perfect. This is exactly right, and you are awesome. I'm not even going to bother writing a post, I'm just redirecting people here. :)
It's 100% at my house too. 3 for 3. And it probably is genetic in our case - it's prevalent on my side, and scattered and undiagnosed on my husband's side.
That being said, in the complex I live in, accross the street from a goddamn golf course and its pesticides from hell, 100% of the families with kids have some sort of issue. There are 12 kids. And to the best of my knowledge, 3 of them are healthy. Of the other 9, there's autism, tourette syndrome, tumours, and more autism. Three quarters. It's also interesting to note that two of the three healthy ones moved in AFTER they were born. i.e. Mom didn't breathe in all the toxins while pregnant.
It's truly sad. And I don't care what the "neurodiversity" people say.

Yeah, I'll probably get some flak on that last comment, but I mean it when I say I don't care. If autism were just a different way of looking at things, a different way of processing, I might be on board. But there is so much more to it. There's a host of physical problems that go along with it. Gut dysbiosis is exceedingly common, faulty detoxification pathways, faulty metabolic processing, mitochondrial disorders, seizures, incredibly painful and annoying sensory processing issues, etc. It goes on and on.

What we know is that genetics predispose people toward autism. And increased toxic loads tip them over the edge. That is pretty much undisputed. (There are wingnuts in every group, and the autism community isn't immune, so that's why the qualifier "pretty much"). Vaccines with mercury, vaccines with aluminum, pesticides, herbicides, air pollution from industry and cars, they all contribute.

Note that I didn't say vaccines cause autism. I think they tip people over into autistic from genetically predisposed. They set it off, so to speak. If your body doesn't detox mercury very well, and you get a shot full of it, at the same time as a vaccine that is designed to stimulate your immune system, some serious damage can occur. IF you have a detox problem. Or an immune system problem. So it appears from a parent's perspective that their healthy little kid got a shot, and then got sick. Cause and effect. Because they'd never see the underlying problems until they got the shots.

But I'll tell you another reason that autism parents (some of us) don't believe the studies showing that vaccines don't cause autism. Because no one listens to us when we tell them our stories. My kids aren't included in the vaccine damage stats. Because, although my doctor believes me, the public health authority does not. Crackle's regression was "coincidental" according to them. Crackle appeared healthy. He was meeting milestones. He was happy. Yes, he had some issues, and I have no doubt he'd have had problems, without the vaccines. However, he never recovered from being sick after the 4 month shot. Never. The day of the vaccine, he was happy and smiley. I took him in, had the shots jammed into his legs, and that was it. He got a fever, he got listless, he got tired and weak. He got sound sensitive that day. Before that day, the dog's barking never bothered him. After that day, he'd cry if I blew my nose. You cannot convince me that's coincidence. You cannot convince me that the vaccine didn't contribute to his autism. But that is what they say. And that is why those of us with vaccine-damaged kids look at those studies and wonder what the real numbers are. We're not too stupid to understand statistics; we're smart enough to know that conclusions based on faulty premises are invalid. Not necessarily false, but invalid.

We are inundating our bodies, children and adults, with toxins. Pesticides, plasticizers, toxic chemicals in body products. Is it any wonder that our bodies can't keep up? Is it any wonder that the rate of autism continues to skyrocket? We're not treating it like other epidemics. We continue to allow Monsanto to sell Roundup and to tell people it's safe. We continue to eat food sprayed with toxins. We continue to put beauty products full of endocrine disruptors onto our bodies. And then we ignore parents when they tell us their kids are being damaged by the increasing load of vaccines we put in their bodies.

This is an epidemic. What is going to happen to these kids when they grow up? Who is going to look after them? Think about it. 2% of men with autism. Many of them unable to live unassisted. All of them needing some sort of accommodation (most of these are so easy to do, and most people won't do them. That's going to have to change).

Autism parents are screaming. Because we see what's happening. And no one is listening.