Thanks for posting. I wonder as well. I've been through everything - photos from since my son was born, I've thought about it and thought about it. I just dont' know... I do know that he was never sick a day until he had his MMR shot. The next day he had a high fever and little seizures which I attributed to febrile seizures. I remember his head jerking and then he would cry like it hurt. I've wondered if that kind of set in motion his neurological issues. I just don't know because at 12 months I can't tell if he had issues before the MMR and they were too subtle to know at the time.
personally i am very science based. so since this is such a "hot" issue i
have been reading controversial therapies for developmental disabilities:
fad, fashion, and science in professional practice, i want to quote
something i found interesting
"...however, the pronunciations about the MMR vaccine as a cause of
autism- which has extended into Congressional subcommittee hearings
in the Unite States- are a dangerous example of what can happen when a
fad erupts sans scientific substantiation. In fact, the preponderance
of evidence to date, epidemiological and scientific, suggests that there is
no relationship whatsoever between the MMR vaccine and autism" page
248.
just thought i put that out there
L
My point was not that anyone has ever made a real link between ASD and thermosal. I agree that the poor studies that have been done tend to show there is no link. IMO w/o using children like lab rats a real test would have to be huge and take many years.
I wanted to point out that the drop in ASD diagnosis rates can't be proven or disproven b/c good data has not been collected. What data has been collected is all screwed up due to the changes in classifications, hype, local areas of awareness etc.. So I was surprised to see such a point blank statement that rates have not dropped
My humble opinion is maybe shots cause it some of the time. Or maybe they make kids more likely to regress. All those shots just sound dangerous to me given all together like that. My baby had his up to 9 months (when big bro was dx) and then we stopped. Although we will continue to get shots, just on a slower schedule. I wish there were more big studies done on the logic of getting all those shots and what they do to immune system. Isn't the consensus on asd that it is a nuerological thing that has possible environmental triggers? I would thing immune system would come into play here. I have seen so many kids get really sick right after shots so it worries me. Of course it could just be the visit to the germ infested dr office that does it or coincidence but it still scares me.
I myself don't know what to think,but maybe the shots triggered it to come out sooner then it would have.
I DEF. do not think vaccines are the end all cause of autism. Could they activate some mechanism which causes or intensifies symptoms? I think it is possible. The thing that really upsets me and has me worried about Ali getting her vaccines next month is the possible side effects/risks that NO doctor has ever informed me of (ones I read about on the CDC website) and the fact that they give 5 different vaccines at once!!!! There have been government recognized deaths and injuries due to vaccines....that is scary! And while there may be only a slight risk of seizures, anaphylaxis, death, paralysis, etc. those are SERIOUS possibilities that NO doctor has ever had the nerve to educate me about! P.S. I do not mean to offend anyone. This is just how I feel and the doctors I have had experiences with in the last few years have made me lose some faith in the medical profession....NO OFFENSE meant. I know there are great doctors and great scientists who truly do thier best to help people and I know vaccines are intended for helping children..... [QUOTE=tzoya]
In 2004, the prestigious Institute of Medicine concluded that neither the preservative, known as thimerosal, nor the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine was associated with autism and that various hypotheses about how they could trigger autism lacked supporting evidence. Even after thimerosal was phased out of pediatric vaccines, autism rates did not fall.
[/QUOTE]
Interesting that they say here that Autism rates did not fall. I spoke to a hard core autism expert (very pro medical field and very against Geier) about Geier + Geier's study on correlating the reduction of theremosal in vaccines and the decline in the rates of diagnosis( they claim the rate of complaints dropped and that rate followed the decrease in the amount of thermosal i received by kids). Her response was that the only data available (and what Geiers used) was the number of complaints brought to the CDC. This was not a solid indicator of the rate of Autism and therefore the study was not valid. I agree with her, but I have to wonder what data the institute of medicine based this statement on??? I was told the hard data for number of diagnosis was not tracked and required the Combatting autism act to get funding to start that data collection. Since the act just passed it will be years before this data adds up to something that could be analyzed. I guess since it is not proven to be it is not so??
BTW I believe some kids with some undetected signs of autism either are affected by shots or regress during the same time. My son regressed most markedly at about 20 months, his decline started at around 18 months, but like the kid in the big case, reviewing old tapes showed some signs. He went from talking pretty well at 18 months (3-4 word sentences and a huge vocabulary) and great eye contact, to a very withdrawn kid who didn't even know his dogs names. He did not have any immediate reaction to the MMR shots. Interesting enough my "NT" DD got full blown measels from her MMR
And ... I DID mean willing parents.
We had a similar suit in my extended family and the parents were put through hell.
I still do not know where I stand on the "Did the vaccine cause Autism".
BUT what I am up in arms about is -- intelligent people stating that excellent studies have been done. I bet a dress size -- 95% of the people have not even read the studies -- if they did they would see many many flaws. MANY conflicts of interest, small sample sizes and poor/inappropiate samples.
All I can say is, if in truth the vaccine itself, or associated thimerosal "induces" autism symptoms in the vulnerable, it is all the sadder that this test case is so weak.
Was this the strongest case anyone could come up with (I mean parents willing to undergo the trial)?
Rockys,
There's only one way to find out if your child will be affected -but do you want to roll the dice and find out the hard way? Obviously you have some kind of feeling about these vaccinations or your baby would have already had his. My son had a high fever, a seizure, and a rash all over his body about 1 week after his MMR. He lost all babbling and speech, quit making eye contact and was sick the rest of that winter. I do not blame the shot alone for his autism but do think it played a role. We have a lot of autoimmune diseases in my family. I questioned the safety of giving so many shots at once to him but was told it was perfectly safe. Now I could kick myself. Anyway, at least consider splitting up the shots. Better safe than sorry.
Laurie
THANK YOU tzoya for posting the article !!
One thing I must say, after reading so many accounts of parents here (including Laurie) who testify to immediate adverse changes to their child after the MMR jabs, I have learnt to tone down my stand, which remains the same as rockys(as others too), that MMR jabs or thimerosal DO NOT CAUSE autism. YET, there could be a LINKsomehow yet undiscovered....
boobear39257.6263657407I have a few friends who are completely convinced that their children were
severly affected by the vaccination. Their children were speaking three to
four words and bamm nothing after. (I think a Mom would notice this)
I think that many parents are far too busy treating their children on a daily
bases. You need to have a lot of time and energy for litigation.
A lot of parents are busy fighting their school districs for services.
A lot of parents are watching this, I know I am. It will be interesting how this
plays out.I wonder about that, too. Perhaps other parents with a stronger case simply chose not to get involved. *shrug*[QUOTE=rockys]
[Great coverage of the trial at Autism Diva.]
[/QUOTE]
Thanks. I didn't know she was covering the trial. I'll check in with her blog.
I have been following this case closely because I am someone who just flat out dosen't believe anything 100% about the cause of Autism (other than an obvious genetic disposition but what is triggering it?). Saying that, I have been very surprised at how weak the case has been (so far) by those who are arguing in favor of vaccines causing the autism. (The child in question clearly had many autistic signs way before her MMR.) I have also been impressed by the science presented on the opposite side (vaccines given to children with AIDS, clearly immuno depressed, who did not get Autism). I have not vaccinated the baby yet (he is five months) but after what I have been reading, I am re-thinking that decision.
[Great coverage of the trial at Autism Diva.]
June 24, 2007
Editorial
Autism in the Vaccine Court
A federal vaccine court in Washington is confronting the contentious and highly emotional issue of whether early childhood vaccinations might have caused autism in thousands of children. Virtually every major scientific study and organization that has weighed in on the issue has seen no link. But many parents of afflicted children remain unconvinced. Their lawyers will try to prove that some 4,800 children were harmed by the mass vaccination campaigns that protect the nation’s youngsters from potentially devastating childhood illnesses.
There seems little doubt that the child at the center of the first of the cases — Michelle Cedillo of Yuma, Ariz. — has classic symptoms of autism: impaired social interaction, limited ability to communicate, and unusual repetitive behavior. Her mother says she developed a high fever a week after she received the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella at the age of 15 months and soon after could not speak and was unresponsive.
Her lawyers theorize that two vaccine factors were likely responsible. This shot and others that she had received contained a mercury preservative that they argue suppressed her immune system, thus allowing the measles virus used in the vaccine to cause neurological damage. Other plaintiffs are contending that the preservative alone, the measles vaccine alone or something else in the vaccines caused their children’s autism.
What confuses the issue is that infants are routinely vaccinated at the age when autism first emerges, and understandably distraught parents, searching for a cause, often latch onto vaccination as the likely culprit. But in Michelle’s case, experts testifying for the Department of Health and Human Services said that home videos and professional records showed early symptoms of autism starting well before she received the measles vaccine.
In 2004, the prestigious Institute of Medicine concluded that neither the preservative, known as thimerosal, nor the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine was associated with autism and that various hypotheses about how they could trigger autism lacked supporting evidence. Even after thimerosal was phased out of pediatric vaccines, autism rates did not fall.
The vaccine court will be addressing the narrow issue of whether these families deserve compensation from a national vaccine injury fund. But the proceedings will inevitably affect all parents’ attitudes toward the measles vaccine and toward pediatric vaccinations in general.
We can only hope that, however the verdicts go, parents will remain eager to get their children vaccinated. Even the plaintiffs’ lead attorney acknowledged that mass immunization programs are “a great public benefit” that have prevented tens of thousands of deaths and serious injuries. Those who shun a vaccine are at far greater risk than those who take it.
Thanks for posting this.
Regarding the danger of vaccinations and potential for triggering autoimmune diseases, I was watching the biography of Montel Williams and saw something that frightened me. He was a perfectly healthy man until going into the service and receiving his vaccinations. He went completely BLIND immediately afterward and there were pictures to prove it. Shortly thereafter, he developed other symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis. True, that was just ONE person and everyone is different, but if this can happen to an adult, how do you think it effects a baby to receive an overload of vaccines, mercury or no, into a body with an underdeveloped immune system? After the MMR, I had a fever of 104 degrees and was very ill. All vaccines contain aluminum as an immune stimulant along with other additives like MSG, which the people in charge have no intention of removing. I suggest educating yourselves on the ingredients and side effects of vaccines before giving them to your children, as they can trigger more than just autism according to my research.