Tylenol and Autism, is there a connection?

Sorry blog followers, it has been a busy month so far and I have not had much time for blogging. But, I got to see my rockstar, kick butt friend (and former therapist) Dawn Winkelmann last night when she spoke at the ABC meeting. She touched on a topic about guilt. She says when she speaks she usually sees at least one parent crying at the discovery of an issue that may be a biggie for their child, and could be impeding their ability to speak and/or eat. She says that you can't have guilt over what you didn't know. Guilt, guilt, guilt.....it is what I struggle with as well. I daresay most Autism moms and dads face this too. From the dawn of this disorder it seems we are intent on placing blame, many times on us moms. First it was the refridgerator mom theory, we are cold, unloving people and therefore our children do not know how to relate to others. Then it was old eggs, yeah that's it. Or living in toxic environments, old homes, new homes, etc. It becomes hard to keep up. So I just read a new article discussing the possible link between Tylenol use and Autism. My son was fussy, and I mean colicky fussy, we never knew what was pain and what wasn't and no parent wants to see their child in pain, even though I also did not like giving pain medications, we were told Tylenol was safe. We were also told by our doctor to give Tylenol before immunizations, so we did. I look back now and see how many little bottles of infant Tylenol we went through because I thought it was "safe". I didn't know then what I do now. I didn't know how Tylenol is certainly not good for ANYONE with sulfation issues (all you arthritis sufferes out there, drop that Tylenol bottle!). So I gave my son Tylenol, and lots of it (now we only give ibuprofen and very sparingly!). So although I want to share this article, because I do think it is important to raise awareness and maybe share with our fellow mommies so they can skip the Tylenol, especially if they choose to immunize their children, I want everyone to leave the guilt at the door. It is a good reminder anyways, we do the best we can with the information we have today. If we learn something new, we apply it asap, but no guilt about the past, it is done, all we can do is keep moving forward. And if you see me out and about, remind me of this too, I am just as "guilty" as most.....

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From Foodconsumer.org

Some observational evidence has suggested that use of Tylenol in pregnant women and young children may increase risk of pediatric autism.

One study of 83 children with autism and 80 children without the condition released in Jan 2009 in Autism showed that use of acetaminophen or Tylenol after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination was associated with much greater risk of autism.

Stephen Schultz and colleagues from the University of California San Diego found among children aged younger than 5 years, those who used Tylenol after MMR vaccination were 6 times as likely to develop autism as those who did not.

Among children with regression in development, those who used Tylenol were 4 times as likely to suffer autism as those without.

Among children who had post-vaccination sequelae, those who received Tylenol were 8 times as likely to have autism as those who did not.

On the other hand, the researchers found Ibuprofen use after MMR was not associated with autism.

They concluded that the preliminary study suggested that Tylenol after MMR was associated with autism.

Torres A. R from Utah State University in Logan Utah published an article in Sept 2003 in BMC Prediatrics saying that the etiology of autism involves infections of the pregnant mother or of a young child.

Infections often lead to fever for which Tylenol is often used.

Torres explained that use of Tylenol inhibits processes that evolved over millions of years to protect against microbial attack and interferes with normal immunological development in the brain leading to neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism.

David Liu