Opinion about autism

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Apr 20, 2007

I have a family member who has autism (high-functioning but also with type 1 diabetes...makes life challenging) and several friends who have children with autism of varying degrees. I am grateful that my son is so far healthy & normal and cannot imagine the hurt, heartache, and the challenges that these folks feel on an everyday basis.

I am certainly no expert on this, but it seems to me that the debate over what causes autism (if there is indeed any one thing) is much like the debate over SIDS...a lot of things may be linked to it, but so far no one has pinpointed with certainty one thing across the boards that "causes" it. Would be nice if we could....

yogarita · Aug 11, 2008

I have had thoughts on autism -- having worked in neonatal nursing for more than 27 years. We keep hearing about how the diagnosis of autism has improved and more children are being diagnosed perhaps because of looking at a wider spectrum of symptoms so more children are now "meeting the qualifications" to be diagnosed as autistic.

A few questions I have:

first of all, shouldn't there still be a breakdown of these children, to really show where they fall in the spectrum? Shouldn't there be research to really differentiate the degrees of autism -- and whether the number of children with certain types autism is/or is not increasing? I don't think it should just be said "oh, the diagnosis is getting better" -- which is something I have heard school psychologists state.

another question I have -- when infants receive immunizations, what exactly is happening in their physiology? I believe the gastrointestinal tract is lined with nervous system cells -- you sometimes hear the phrase, "what does your gut tell you".

I have also heard a phrase like, "the gut is the body's second brain."

there have been articles written on autism and its relation to the gastrointestinal system. One which I cannot cite immediately, and will have to search my emails for, was in the periodical Nature a few years back and it discussed this connection between the GI tract, and the brain and immune reactions being set-up in the body.

I realize I am not coming across very scientific with my questioning, but I am hoping to get some feedback from some who might know more about this.

The immune system has a response when infants are given these injections (at very young ages), and this response is registered throughout the body. Sometimes infants have a mild cytogenic response with the first set of immunizations. Perhaps it is the second or third set of immunizations which really sets "into motion" the physiology that leads to autism. Just like infants who have had bad reactions to their immunization when they receive the second or third series of shots. Perhaps certain infant's have genes that make them more susceptible to the immunization and more likely to have a cytogenic response and have their neuro system affected.

The brain and the body are all connected. Messages get sent throughout the body, brain. I think it is quite possible that immunizations could be playing a role in the increase of autism.

There has been an increase in the numbers of immunizations that infants receive in the past two decades. How many years has it been routine to give children the Hepatitis B vaccine now? I know I have seen it given in my hospital for several years.

why do infants need this immunization at such a young age? It is unlikely they are going to get exposed to hepatitis B at a young age. Why not wait until they are a older? Are we just making money for the drug companies, by giving this immunization so early? I think there could very well be a connection between autism and immunizations, or the number of immunizations infants receive at a young age.

Is the same practice of immunizations done in European countries and other industrialized countries around the world? What are their rates of autism?

I would appreciate hearing other's thoughts on all of this.

I think the comment above regarding the "key-in-lock" with some infants who have a genetic predisposition to autism -- and the immunizations providing what's needed to turn the key and start the changes in motion might be the answer.

It is a shame there are not more questions being asked about this. Families really suffer and struggle alot when faced with this.

yogarita · Aug 11, 2008

Again, could it be the Hepatitis B vaccine? How many years have we been giving this routinely in the early months of life?

Or a combination of more vaccines that have been given in the past 10-20 years?

I am beginning to feel in may be causing harm to give newborn infants vaccines at such early ages. why can't we hold off on some of them?

Especially the Hepatitis B. which illnesses are infants at least risk of contacting in their early years?

Any responses appreciated.

yogarita · Aug 11, 2008

I think we have had preservatives in our diet for well over 10 years, even 20 to 30 years. Perhaps there are more in the past 20 years.

yogarita · Aug 11, 2008

thanks for all of your information -- we need an open and honest look at all of this.

rph3664 · Aug 11, 2008

I am always shocked at the claim that vaccinations can be linked with autism...primarily because of the sheer number of children that have received the vaccinations....and the age that they receive them and when the condition seems to manifest itself...it seems to be a "stretch" as far as a claim.
It wasn't that long ago, when autism was actually found to be a completely separate illness...it was originally thought to be a combination of mental retardation and schizophrenia.

When I was in grade school in the early 1970s, a boy who was a grade ahead of me who had very severe behavior problems was sent away to a state facility, and we were told he had "childhood schizophrenia." That was the first time I heard that phrase, and I now believe he is/was autistic. I say "was" because I do not know if he is still living. There was a residential care facility in my neighborhood for the "emotionally disturbed", which was a wastebasket diagnosis for what we now call reactive attachment disorder (most of those kids had been in foster care most, if not all, of their lives) but I now believe some of them were on the autistic spectrum as well. Many of those kids went to school with me.

Higher functioning people were often written off as "strange" or even retarded when it was apparent that they weren't. Read any of the numerous books and articles by people who are being diagnosed on the spectrum in middle age and you will see this over and over again.

rph3664 · Aug 11, 2008

Sorry, but not all children with autism are different early on. If a child has the type of autism where they develop typically and then start losing previously acquired skills, there is nothing to be ''honest'' about. And I don't think it is ever a good idea to suggest that parents of children with special needs are somehow in denial... we've got plenty of professionals to do that for us, haven't we?

I may have told you about them, but I know a family whose son has the "classic" autism where the child appears to be developing completely normally until age 2 1/2 and then completely and irreversibly withdraws.

We can't blame any modern environmental toxins, etc. for this because he's over 60 years old. He has a younger half brother (same dad, different moms) who has a Ph.D. but will probably never have a job because he just doesn't have the social skills to maintain employment.