by
Mama Elephant What causes Autism? Oh, let's see...recent reports would have us believe it is everything under the sun...except genetics. Parents everywhere are looking for someone or something to blame and for every parent wanting to point a finger, there are at least two quacks who will sell you a cause, a test for that cause, and a handy dandy cure.
1. Vaccines.
Vaccines have been blamed on everything from AIDS to Cancer to Autism. Many parents of newly diagnosed children are looking at the MMR or Thimerosal. Oddly, it was the DTP (not given anymore due to the development of the DTaP) first blamed for Autism. Then it was the MMR. Then it was the Thimerosal. Now it is the aluminum. Personally, I am not convinced either way. I know several parents who did delayed and selective vaccinations and their kids still have ASD. I also know parents who did not vaccinate their children at all, yet the kids have ASD.
2. Ultrasounds - Oh yeah...never mind that Autism and Asperger's were around decades before the ultrasound. Never mind that ASD rates began climbing years if not a decade before free standing ultrasound shops in strip malls existed.
3. EMFs - I can say without a doubt, that my son was born before cell phones, beepers, satellite radio, and high speed internet were wide spread.
4. Advanced Parent Age - Yes boys and girls...older parents pop out kids with ASD! What is the definition of Advanced Parental Age anyway? Every family I know of, except my mother in law, was in their early to mid 20s when they gave birth to their child with ASD. Are we to understand that our prime baby making years are in our early teens? Has a study been done to investigate how many older parents know to seek a diagnosis? Hell, I didn't even consider the idea that my son could have autism until my MIL pointed it out.
5. Pitocin/Induced Delivery/Forceps and Vacuum Extraction - yes, the use of these things may have increased greatly. A recent study showed that for women with preeclampsia/PIH, induction at 37 weeks greatly reduces complications, harm, and death to the mother and baby. Another recent study showed that children born via induction actually experience lower rates of learning difficulties.
6. Food allergies/Yeast infections in intestinal tract/"leaky gut" - First, those things have also been blamed for everything from hair loss to cancer. Recent studies have also reported that the GFCF diet is largely ineffective to children with ASD. (let the hate comments fly. I am cold and unfeeling, what the hell do I care) Other recent studies have also shown that children with ASD are no more likely to have digestive problems than non ASD kids. In fact, what digestive problems do show up with kids on the spectrum are almost always attributed to their selective and nutrient poor diets.
Now I am all for exploring causation but where does it stop? Most kids are diagnosed after their second birthday. Should we investigate birthday cake or parties as a cause? Rates of Autism have increased along with rates of parents who breastfeed. Should we look at breast milk as a possible cause? Hey! My son started showing symptoms of Autism shortly after getting the Chicken Pox...not the vaccine, the actual virus. Maybe we should study a possible link for that? I took prenatal vitamins while I was pregnant, maybe they gave my son Autism! I went swimming often and took a lot of walks while I was pregnant. Could that be the cause? We moved just weeks before Alex showed symptoms. Could relocating cause Autism? My husband started going out to sea about three or four months prior to Alex being diagnosed. Maybe military dads cause Autism! See how how easy it is to just pick something out of a hat and link it to autism?
Why is it that studies showing no link are so quickly dismissed by parents and studies by people with questionable backgrounds and motives showing a link are clung to with a fanaticism only seen in Sarah Palin supporters and "birthers"?
To the guy (you know who you are) that wants to pin the blame solely on big medicine....they do not get a red cent from behavioral therapies. They are poorly reimbursed by insurance companies. DAN doctors make far more money per patient than a board certified pediatrician does. Companies making GFCF foods are rolling in it...yeah, no financial gain to be had by touting that cure. Mega vitamin makers convincing everyone from chiropractors to optometrists to promote their goods as an Autism cure are doing well. I see no benefit in big medicine when it comes to Autism. Yet, alternative medicine is making a killing off parents who are desperate. How many DAN doctors accept insurance? How many charge on a sliding scale? How many accept Medicaid? Who is really in it for the money?
Comments (4)
Some girl was talking to me one time like autism just appears one day. Then I read up on it and from what I understood, the signs are always there. It's just that people don't really start to notice til around 2.
I hope one day a cause is found, though. It'd be nice to know.
While I have no answers, you did make me chuckle a few times. I have to agree with the above comment; most likely Autism is something a child is born with and only begins to manifest itself when the child becomes more vocal. My friend had no clue until a doctor pointed it out just shortly after her daughter's second birthday. She has often said that looking back she saw the signs, but didn't really know what she seeing.
I'm sure there is a cause for autism, we just don't know what it is....whether is genetic or environmental, people are going to try and figure it out. Or maybe it's always been just as prevalent now as it was in the past, but was undereported and less understood so people thought autism wasn't around as much back in the old days. Who knows.
And with cancer, there are known causes like smoking, etc.. so it's good to inform the public so they can be educated in making choices about their health. If autism is related to something in the environment, i would like to know to avoid it for me and/or my child. And if it does end up just being something genetic, then i'd like to see that proved.
I'm sure that there could be many causes for Autism, although the majority of the "causes" linked to Autism that I have heard about kind of baffle me as to why someone would think that that would cause it.
I think the reason a lot of parents cling to possible causes and cures for Autism in their children, despite the glaring likelihood that they are being duped, are doing it because, like you said, a lot of them are desperate. Nobody wants to blame blind chance, or themselves, for something like that happening to their child. And nobody wants to be told, "I'm sorry, we can't do anything about it" either. And, I realize how one of my sentences sounded, but I am definitely not saying that parents cause their children Autism! I'm just saying that some people might perceive it that way if it were genetically passed down. And I'm not saying that they should perceive it that way. Don't get me wrong. :p
I certainly can't fault desperate parents for being willing to try anything to help their child. Who could?
But, I can also share your irritation with the fact that so many causes and cures that have such glaring likelihoods of being false or that you can just kind of look at and raise an eyebrow over as well, are being dangled in front of desperate parents' faces. Actually, it doesn't just irritate me, it makes me very angry if I stop and think about it for too long. It's exploitation and it's wrong. In cases like this, I think it's even sickening that people (especially doctors!) would do something like that.
I also think that Autism has a very high likelihood of being genetic in some way. Or at least caused as a side-effect by something that genetically goes "wrong" or is otherwise genetically different. Just because we haven't found it, yet, doesn't mean it is there. We make new and interesting (and useful!) breakthroughs in genetic science all the time, and what might have zero evidence today might have all the evidence in the world in a couple of years. Who knows?
It just seems to me, that Autism is something that has to have some kind of genetic link or factor somewhere. A lot of families with Autistic children seem to have more than one. If not siblings, then somewhere else in the family. If it's passed on for any reason in a familial way, how can that not be genetic in some way? I just can't conceive of it. Even if there isn't scientific evidence of a genetic link of some kind, I think that there eventually will be.