I'm always ticked when actors are given credence and a voice. I mean, they READ other people's lines for a job, for goodness' sakes!! But tonight, in my tub, reading Amanda Peet's ignorant show of support for vaccines in People Magazine, I about blew a gasket.
First off, Amanda's daughter (that's right, one) is 22 months. She's not even old enough to know if her daughter HAS autism (and I pray that she doesn't!!!) But no one is advocating we get rid of vaccines. Who is spreading these rumors? The medical community that wants to stab your kids 3 to 6 times a visit to save time, money and personnel, that's who. They want to make mothers like Jenny McCarthy look ridiculous and ludicrous, so they distort what she's saying. They don't want to fix it, they want us mothers to shut up. The difference is, Jenny speaks from experience. Amanda speaks from what they're telling her.
Parents of kids on the autistic spectrum are asking for the medical community to make certain that vaccines are safe. (No Mercury, avoid too many shots at one time for developing neurological and immune systems) But the medical community won't police themselves, and who do you think is paying for all these studies saying it's safe for kids to get six shots at a time? The people selling what goes into the shots. DUH!
Some kids are more susceptible. Some kids have compromised immune systems. How can a medical community responsibly say they know what's best and every kid is alike? I fought for my son's health with early, expensive therapy and diet. I lied to pediatricians to avoid shots until I thought my kids were ready for them, or I got them separate by saying they had a little sniffle, only one today please. I honestly think the vaccines have something to do with my MS. Do I have any proof? Heck no, and I'll never get any because who is going to fund that study?
When is any mother going to listen to a doctor over her gut instinct about her child? That would be Darwinian.
Sorry for my not-fun rant. : )
OOOh wasn't Biggest Loser good though? Oh my gosh, I LOVE this group!!
Labels: Amanda Peet, Aspergers, Autism, Jenny McCarthy, vaccines
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17 Comments:
Yes, I feel vaccine are important. And yes, they need to be safe. I had my children receive them because of respect for others. If it is preventable, why not.
I have a daughter with Asperbergers, I do not blame anything but genetics and some quirk of nature.
Great post, K! I talked all this over with my son and daughter in law when our precious Alexa came and they insisted the doctor split up the shots. Smart kids. We swallow too much from the CDC without checking it out. It's not just autism that could be linked to the vaccines but childhood type I diabetes and cancer.
When I was a child, those things were practically unheard of. Now they're rampant. And they want to give infants an Hepatitis vaccine! INFANTS in the hospital! They're not even sure it lasts past ten years, yet the type of risky behavior that can cause hepatitis doesn't begin until the teens usually.
Great post! I agree that they need to make sure that what they are doing is safe!
I remember the doctor coming to me when my son was 6 months old and saying "Oh, by the way, the vaccine we gave your son in the hospital may have had higher levels of Mercury in them. There's nothing to worry about, we just had to inform you."
Okay, says the mom who knows nothing about anything and blindly believes the doctors she respects. Then when a year or two later her son is acting quit different and is told her son has "asperger tendecies" I have to wonder...
I'm much smarter now and less likely to believe everything a doctor tells me, but it's really scary that so many are taking chances assuming the doctors know it all. They're human, people. Mistakes can be made.
And yes, Biggest loser was good, but I'm mad they sent home those 9. These twists get on my nerves. And man, they're a lot bigger. I worry about them. :0/
Oh Sabrina, how awful! you might be able to get that chelated out with a natural doctor's help.
I was upset about the twist last night until I realized that at a bunch of extra people got a week at the ranch to learn how to eat and exercise. They took way more to the ranch than usual. so that's good at least!
Oh yes, check out the chelation. I had 3x the amount of mercury that's normal in my system before I did that.
The other issue is that when we were kids, we had 8 shots before we went to school. Now I think it's up to 32. That's a lot for a newer immune system.
I am not anti-vaccine, and all my kids have had their shots. I just was more careful about how they got them. Kristin
Wow, what an amazing post and a subject very close to my heart. I gave birth to two precious, healthy boys 16 months apart. Unfortunately by the time we figured out that number 1 had autism, it was too late for number 2.
Boy number 2 reacted to the Dtap at 8 months, but our doctor convinced me that I had to give it/it wasn't really a reaction before - (basically we were stupid overreacting parents who don't know anything). He received that and 4 other shots the day after his first birthday. Within two weeks all language, smiles, communication was gone. Two weeks after that he had what we believe was a seizure and went limp in my arms. We thought we would lose him. At the hospital they told us they thought his brain might be swollen. From that point on he was completely unreachable.
He was severely autistic and we were assured he would never come out of it. It was as if he did not even know we were alive. My older son was only moderately affected, but was still almost unreachable too.
God blessed me with an amazing woman who steamrolled her way into my home. She told me I would promptly start them both on the GFCF diet and supplements. Through the diet and tons of therapy, my older son is now typical and my younger son is more of Aspergers/HFA. I am not done trying to help them.
The sad thing is that now they are believed to have a mitochondrial disorder as well. So we are left with MANY lingering health problems. I will always wonder if these additional problems would have remained in the background had we spaced the shots out. There is a whole yahoo group devoted to these kids that have autism and mitochondrial disorders.
I have never done any boosters. Not really sure if I will. Our very pro-vaccine neurogeneticist told me that neither should ever have the Dtap again.
We were blessed to be able to attend the Green Our Vaccines rally this summer in DC. We even got to meet Jenny and Jim. :-) It was billed as anti-vaccine by the press, but the message put out was anything but anti-vaccine. Cut down on the toxins and spread the shots out. Period.
One of the speakers said something to the effect of I am a 60 year old, 180 lb man and I receive the same shot as the 14 lb, 2 month old. The same amount of the vaccine, the same toxins, the same everything. I must admit that it really blew me away. We have had autism in our lives for 10 years now, but I never thought of vaccinations in those terms.
We need vaccinations, but we need a huge overhaul in the system.
Loved the BL last night. I was bummed that they sent home so many people the first night, but I really like the cast. Hopefully no Vickis this season! :-)
See, that's what the doctors are doing because they can't discuss the facts, they'll lose, so they try to make the mothers look like idiots who want Polio to come back. Honestly.
I'm so sorry about your kids, but you sound like you are wearing it well! Did you have a gut reaction though? When the doctor told you it was okay? We just don't listen to ourselves as women. I know I didn't either.
I love "green our vaccines" because that says they're not anti vaccine.
My gut reaction was to say no to the shots. My husband was deployed in a third world country at the time. We were able to have a short phone conversation about it beforehand. He encouraged me to trust whatever the doctor told me to do.
I have always been a rule follower. One of the rules I believed was that we should do what the doctor tells us to do. Needless to say, I am much less of a rule follower now.
Healthwise, my boys are doing better than expected. We just have to go to lots of appointments with lots of doctors to keep up with things. I prays that they will be able to maintain their health and have 'normal' lives as adults. God has been so good to us by providing all the right people at the right times. I am very hopeful for the future!
I was so green when I had kids, too. That didn't help.
I can't imagine doing this while DH was deployed. You must work hard!!! I'm glad the boys are doing so well. I just think there are certain kids who should put it off as long as possible.
But from the other side, a lot of people from foreign countries didn't do the immunizations and my kid was at preschool with them. I pulled them out.
How timely - I've had the vaccine conversation twice now in the past two days. I spaced them out for my kids, and held off on the MMR (was this the controversial one?) until they were older than the recommneded age. I held off on the chix pox vax until the kids were too old for catching it naturally, and then gave in. I'm not anti-vax, but I'm all for researching and not blindly trusting anyone. My biggest tip-off came when my oldest was just born and I was in the ped's waiting room flipping thru a magazine. I came across an add for the new chix pox vax and the ad was geared toward working parents and said 'you don't want to have to take two weeks off of work when your child contracts chix pox' and it hit me then that there was something wrong here. They since dropped that campaign and made it sound like chix pox was certain death. They are such big money-makers for the pharm industry that I'm leery of anything now. And my FIL is a physician, lol. He knows I do my research though. Writing things down with those nifty little Merck pens and pads he gets. :) I get a little worked up over vaccines. I don't even know if this post has made any sense, lol, that's how worked up I get.
cheryl
I have to agree Kristin. My oldest got ALL his shots when he was supposed to. Not only does he have a mild case of autism he has severe allergies. So when my youngest was born. No shots. I've had nurses go off on me about this. One told me it was illegal. I told her no, shots were still a parents choice and I chose not to. My youngest is a healthier child.
I sure wish we could them.
This is a subject that is also close to my heart. I have an auto immune disease and my parents and I feel that vaccines contributed to it as well. I had a severe reaction (I turned green!) as a baby to one shot (a DPT I think?) and my health always struggled from that point on. I was diagonosed at 9. I made steady improvements until I had the chicken pox vaccine and then my disease flared again. Eventually I was given a waver from the doctors because vaccines proved to risky for me (my disease would always flare shortly after taking them and since my disease can be fatal if not controlled it is more risky for me to have them than to not have them.)
I'm not completely anti-vax, I just believe kids should only be vaccinated against the neccessary things and monitered for any reaction. What bothers me if how much they push vaccines...for children and adults a lot. I hate the guardisil commercial because they make it out to be a shot every woman needs--I did a little research on this one and found out that the virus it fights against is an STD. Since I'm waiting for marriage, I know it isn't a neccessity for me. I know that this is a requirement in some schools now though! I guess I just feel like so many vaccines are forced and I don't think that is right. I think they need to do the least amount of vaccines possible, and spread them out more. So many things are much more rampant these days, like autism and autoimmune diseases, and it seems like they become more and more since vaccines are used more. I guess it isn't the vaccines though that is the problem, I feel like drug companies are just not being responsible in how they give them out or research them.
Ok, so I have no medical background or anything, or any of the experiences you guys have. I'm amazed at the amount of horrible stories I've heard or read recently about vaccines and how possibly damaging they can be toward our kids.
Did anyone watch Private Practice on ABC last Thursday? it dealt directly with this situation. There was a mom who'd lived in Switzerland with her husband and 3 sons. Oldest son had severe autism, she thought, due to the vaccines given in the US. Middle son was fine since he didn't have the vaccine, and youngest son was also fine, no vaccines. Middle son contracted measles. Well, the story goes on and on and there's this huge debate among the drs on who's choice is it to immunize our kids, is it illegal for a parent to withhold immunizations, is it ethical for a dr not to immunize, etc. Alot of different perspectives were brought up, both pro and anti-vaccines. very fascinating story to watch. I dont want to spoil it for you, but i will (sorry). Anyway, middle son with measles dies from the disease and the peds dr goes ahead and gives the youngest boy the immunization without mom's consent, but because he thought it was his ethical responsibility to protect this child from a life threatening disease.
I have no idea where I'm going with this, but i know this: my mom is a special ed teacher at 3 different elementary schools. She does significant work with children on the autistic spectrum. I've seen how horrible these diseases are, but I've also seen how there isn't just one cause to them. I think that vaccines might be a part of the cause, but it's not the whole cause. Look at the holistic picture. our kids are overweight from trans-fats, over stimulated by limitless video games and internet and tv exposure. I think that the whole thing in our society and how we work and relate today has contributed to the rise in autism spectrum disorders. A friend recently told me that there are some symptoms of severe allergic reactions that could mimic some of the signs of autism as well. We're way over medicated overall in the US and I applaud all of you moms and dads for being cautious and for researching the facts and not blindly trusting anyone, but actually doing the research to find the best way to keep your kids safe from life threatening diseases, but also protect them from the socially destructive diseases like autism. I hope and pray that some time in my lifetime I will be able to see a clear and undebatable cause and a clear and trusting cure to these horrible diseases, all across the board.
You go moms and dads! I hope that when i have kids, i will be as cautious and protective of my kids and give them the best possible care to protect them in every way i can. Thanks!
I did read there's a measles outbreak in England because of people not immunizing, exactly why they should do the studies and make certain they're safe!! There's no reason, for example, they can't give you a measles shot, a mumps shot, and a rubella shot separately, except for cost. They act like it's all the parents' problem for not getting the immunization instead of looking into why they're not buying the product. They're blaming the consumer, that's what makes me mad.
i completely agree. there is no reason why they can't do the shots separately. I'm totally on your side in that. It's incredible the increase in autism here in CA, as opposed to other states. it's phenominal. just...wow. makes you speechless sometimes, ya know?
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