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Poll: Reason for the rise in autism spectrum (1 Viewer)

Drew Bethel

Screenwriter
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Jay, that is indeed interesting. Are the Carlson and Nordic brands (Cod Liver Oil/Omega 3) all they are hyped up to be?
 

Chris

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I think you also have to keep in mind why some hospitals do leap to C-Sections; a local hospital, and a client of mine, was sued a year or so ago by a woman who claimed she was forced to endure too much "pain and suffering" and they didn't recommend a C-Section.. after 4 hours of labor.. there are also cases where doctors have been brought to court claiming prolonged labor resulted in cerebral palsy, which is now by and large debunked.

There are many complications which result not as a means of medical procedures, but by nature; wrapped umbilicus and breech births happened long, long before modern medicine. And good midwives will tell you that as well.

When we consulted a midwife, it was a true, old fashioned midwife, available in many of the rural areas, who was proud to do everything at home, etc. Which is great by us.. however, birth was so fast it didn't matter (in fact, wife was home, alone, with me taking kid #1 to a sitter, when she delivered #2)

Other complications that can develop deal with birth defects, genetic abnormalities, children born sickly or low birth weight.. my wife & I knew our children would be born with a low-birth-weight. I was born @ 5lbs (barely over) she was born at 5lbs (barely over) and both of our families had a history of small children.. which is not unusual in her culture (chinese). Still, we wanted to make sure that an OB/GYN knew what was going on. While we only saw that person 1 time, it was good to know that there was a hospital close by we could hop to in case of emergency. That's just good planning. (we're totally off topic now)
 

Drew Bethel

Screenwriter
Joined
Nov 22, 1999
Messages
1,209
"Bob Wright: ‘I want my grandson back’
The vice chairman of GE and chairman and CEO of NBC Universal talks about his family's personal crusade to cure autism."

I was wondering why NBC dedicated so much programming to autism lately - which is good. How does the saying go again - Change happens when there is a critical mass of people affected or when someone of the elite status is impacted (think Michael J Fox, Reeves, etc).
 

Drew Bethel

Screenwriter
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Nov 22, 1999
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It will be interesting to see the results of this ongoing study:

"A Lynchburg pediatrician is within about a year of completing research on potential links between autism and a common childhood vaccine. The research is set up to reproduce or refute the clinical work of Dr. Andrew Wakefield, the lead author in published findings in a 1998 British medical journal that stirred worldwide debate. Early results from the local research confirm a high percentage of gut disease in Lynchburg-area children with autism."

http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/S...81113173&path=
 

Jay Taylor

Supporting Actor
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Oklahoma City

Drew,
Both are excellent. They both use high quality fish & they both test for impurities.

What many people don’t know about Omega 3 is that it is not just one fatty acid but refers to an entire group of fatty acids.

The 3 in Omega 3 means that in the molecule’s carbon chain the 3rd carbon atom has a double bond to the fourth carbon atom. The 6 in Omega 6 means the double bond is between the 6th & 7th carbon atom. After the double bond there can be many different configurations and therefore many different types of Omega 3 & 6.

The type of Omega 3 in Flax Seed Oil is the ALA form which is different than the Omega 3 in fish oil. Flax Seed Oil contains none of the desperately needed EPA or DHA form of Omega 3.

The two forms of Omega 3 in fish oil are the EPA form which helps to keep your arteries open, and more importantly for autism it contains the DHA form which is used in large quantities by our brain.

It is possible for our body to convert some of the ALA form of Omega 3 in Flax Seed Oil to the EPA & DHA form but we only convert a small portion for reasons too lengthy to describe in this already too long post.
 

Drew Bethel

Screenwriter
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Nov 22, 1999
Messages
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Wow Jay, ya learn something everyday! Thanks for taking the time to explain. We will be doing child-led weaning so I'll keep this info in mind as she moves to a higher % of solids. :emoji_thumbsup:
 

mark alan

Supporting Actor
Joined
Nov 19, 2002
Messages
620
Drew,

If you don't get your kids vaccinated, I hope that you a planning on home schooling. You will not be able to enroll in preschool, kindergarden, or school without proof of vaccination (A damn fine rule in my mind).
 

Thomas Reagan

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Feb 28, 1998
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Thomas
Thought I'd weigh in here. My three year old was diagnosed with Autisim Spectrum Disorder last year; specifically Asperger's Syndrome which is categorized as high functioning autism.

My ex-wife, who is a social worker, latches on to this diagnosis, though I am more skeptical. Granted, I am more of a layman on the subject, but I have certainly done a lot of reading on the subject over the last year.

My son's primary "symptom" is being behind in his language development (about 14 months behind where he should be). And despite my assuring my ex that my two brothers and I all talked late, she and the pediatrician are convinced that the diagnosis is accurate.

My point is, as one child development specialist remarked to me, Austism Spectrum Disorder and Asperger's is the "popular affliction" right now whose label gets stuck on any child who is developing outside of the average. As a previous poster remarked, it used to be any slow child was retarded, then any difficult child had ADD or ADHD, and now we have Autism is the forefront. While me ex gives herself an ulcer over our child's development, my mother rolls her eyes and says, "You and your brothers were the same way. He'll talk when he's good and ready."

Is it mercury, is it glutten, or is it my fault for not practicing words with him enough? Or maybe him being a child of divorce during formative years? Honestly, I don't know. Maybe I'm a father in denial, but I'm hoping not....

Thos.
 

andrew markworthy

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Oh boy, I wish I'd found this thread a lot earlier, but somehow it slipped under the radar.

Just to establish my credentials - I'm a psychology prof, I've worked on autistic spectrum disorder, I've even written a book on it, and I'm on a national committee trying to establish an autistic spectrum disorder research centre. Plus, Asperger's Syndrome runs through my family (my dad and I have it in very mild form, my son slightly more so, but not, thank God, to any incapacitating extent).

Yes, there has indeed been a rise in diagnosis. this is for several reasons:

(a) in recent years the definition of autism has been expanded to include 'autism spectrum disorder'(ASD) which takes in various other related conditions, notably Asperger syndrome. A lot of the increase in 'autism' reported in the media ain't autism but ASD, but the two terms are getting conflated into one disease in the eyes of the public.

(b) ASD as a label is fairly new but ASD as an illness has always been there - previously people with it had either been labelled as having problems of unknown etiology or had never been identified, and instead had been labelled as 'eccentric' or similar. As often happens when a new mental illness label is discovered, there is now a rush to identify famous people who 'must' have had it in the past (e.g. Newton and Einstein have been suggested as likely candidates). However, the 'growth' is nothing to do with a real growth, but simply a relabelling of existing conditions.

(c) the rise in proportion of ASD as an illness, particularly amongst children, is partly to do with reason (b). However, it's also because genetic counselling and similar is reducing the number of children being born with severe mental handicap (e.g. cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, etc). Therefore, because ASD is not something currently screened for, the proportion is bound to rise.

(d) I guess that inevitably at the moment we may be experiencing spates of over-diagnosis by some well-meaning but misguided individuals.

(4) the innoculations argument has been pretty much blown out of the water in the UK. Even given my familial background, I had my kids innoculated - I was in the last UK birth cohort not to have the measles jab and damn nearly died of measles. Behavioural oddities in my son were visible before he had jabs and the injections didn't appear to make him any worse. However, I know this is an agonising decision for many parents to make, and if you are worried about innoculations, then see a physician, don't listen to this thread!

(5) I have yet to see convincing proof that diet has an effect. When I last looked on academic search engines (admittedly last year) I could find no long term blind studies of diet that demonstrated a causal effect. I am fully prepared to believe that gluten may be harder to digest for people with ASD, but I can see no causal link with the illness. I'm very happy to be corrected on this point, and if anyone has evidence to the contrary, I would really sincerely like to know.

I would thus say that the causes of ASD are as yet not fully understood. There is almost certainly a genetic component in at least some cases, but beyond that I would not like to hazard a guess. I certainly don't think that parents of kids with ASD should start whipping themselves for something they've done 'wrong'.

Therefore, there probably isn't an 'explosion' of autism as much as an awakening of awareness as to the true extent of the problem. But this still matters and raising awareness is vital. People with relatively mild ASD can benefit enormously from just a little extra help or understanding. E.g. I wasn't diagnosed correctly as a child and my life at school at times was hell. On the other hand, my son, because his condition has been correctly identified, fits in just fine at a 'normal' school because the other kids and teachers have been primed (heck, he was even voted class captain, so he must be doing something right).

More dramatically, but thankfully less commonly, cases of misdiagnosis can occur and can be pretty horrible. E.g. the man with fairly mild Asperger syndrome who as misdiagnosed as being schizophrenic and spend twenty years being incarcerated in a mental hospital and dosed with sedatives and anti-psychotic medication (try thinking about that one for a moment and then try getting the image out of your head).

Also note that ASD is for life, not just childhood. There's been a lot of talk on this thread about the illness as if it's just something that affects kids. Luckily some of the more pronounced symptoms (particularly in Asperger's) do seem to get milder as people get older, but not all the symptoms disappear. It is an illness that stays with you. I am eternally grateful that my symptoms extend little further than being hopeless in large social gatherings and having difficulty making eye contact in conversation. My friends know about this and make allowances, and I can't claim I suffer because of it (e.g. I can happily lecture to large groups of people, do radio and TV talks, etc, because it's a structured environment). But for those with more severe forms, I can only imagine and shudder at what life is often like for them when they reach adulthood and no longer have grown ups to protect them.
 

Peter Burtch

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Feb 3, 2002
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116
It certainly reads a lot like another 'conspiracy theory' article to me. I really think some of Andrew's comments hit the nail on the head, common sense-wise.

-Pedro
 

andrew markworthy

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Sep 30, 1999
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Brian, many thanks for this link. I'm not teaching or researching ASD at the moment and have been overwhelmed by other work commitments so I haven't paid too much attention to recent ASD news so this was v. useful.


Amen to that.
 

Dome Vongvises

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May 13, 2001
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Do you mind giving us a background on your academic credentials, andrew? Your knowledge and expertise have been great. I can't tell if you're a teaching or research type. :)
 

andrew markworthy

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I'm Professor of Psychology [the US equivalent grade I guess would be a full professor with tenure] at a university in the UK. Don't start Googling 'Andrew Markworthy' however - I use a pseudonym because when I first joined this forum a rather, well, I think 'disturbed' is the best phrase, ex-student of mine was copying out anything I and a couple of colleagues wrote on the net and then repeating it in other forums, often with little rants attached. I didn't want to give him any more ammunition ;).
 

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