One parent's view on Dr. Wakefield, vaccines and Autism

There has been a lot of controversy in the last few days regarding Dr. Andrew Wakefield and his study that linked a new type of bowel disease and Autism. His study was published and then later retracted by the Lancet. His study found and reported that the children in this study suffered from inflammatory bowel disease as well as Autism and the parents in the study reported that the conditions began at the time of their MMR vaccine. He suggested that more research be done on this potential connection and that parents be allowed to choose the single vaccines rather than the combo shot. Since then it has been a hailstorm of conjecture, disagreement, strife even within our very own Autism community. Of course there are parents of children with Autism who feel vaccines had nothing to do with their child's disorder (or who even had unvaccinated children with Autism). I firmly feel that toxicity is the root cause (vaccines being one component in that toxicity). And we can look back at the toxicity of mothers who are bearing these children as well.

I was a good girl, I had my titers run for measles, mumps and rubella and when it was found I did not have immunity, I received the vaccine 3 months before trying to conceive. And I ate the SAD (standard american diet) which I thought was healthy but in reality was filled with hydrogenated oils, artificial sweeteners, the gamut of over 200 forms of MSG, etc. My house was "clean" because I used bleach and antibacterial wipes all the time, both very toxic. But on the flip side most of my son's things were hand-me downs including his crib and clothes which at least were a little better than the new stuff that usually contains toxins in paint, particle board, sizing in clothes, etc. We also bought a new car in time for his arrival, that wonderful new car smell which is the chemical off gassing that we breathed the few months before he arrived and of course he breathed when he was born.

There are theories arising about the issues with mitochondrial function. I used to joke about having chronic fatigue (which is linked to mitochondrial issues), not so funny anymore. Our mitochondria come from mom. I think that we have managed to toxify our environment and our bodies to the point of seeing this huge rise in Autism and other auto-immune disorders (which may have roots in this impact on our mitochondria??). Now this is MY theory, you don't have to agree. But, I see that as the foundation. So my son, I believe, did have this predisposition. My son rec'd Hep B vaccine at birth, which looking back I would have refused all together. I do not have Hep B and there is NO way he could contract that being that it comes from IV drug use and/or sex. There are also other vaccines I would have declined or delayed. But I didn't know any of this, I didn't know of the toxic adjuvants that are in our vaccines, or the fact that multiple vaccines have not had safety studies. We do not really know the impact to our developing babies' immunes systems when we give them more than one vaccine at a time. My son rec'd 6 vaccines in one day, his 4 month birthday. From that moment forward he screamed most of the day and would not sleep for more than 20 minutes at a time. By the time those effects were just starting to fade, it would be time for more vaccines and we'd start all over. But, the MMR was not in the 6 vaccines where we saw the biggest change in my son.

So what? Why not just move on? Well, I have and I am happy to say through biomed and detoxifying his body, he has gone from non verbal child with no social interaction who engaged in many repetitive behaviors (like spinning tupperware lids constantly)to a pretty near typical 7 year old with some lingering sensory issues and small deficits in social skills and language. We still have work to do and there are days when I still hate Autism and what it will do to him probably forever. But he is a far cry from where he was when he was 3 and scoring in the severely Autistic range on the CARS eval. His last CARS eval scored him in the not Autistic range. Do I think vaccines are the only culprit? No. Our food supply is pretty toxic for the most part and I had no clue why eating organic was important when he was a baby or about the insidious ingredients that are even in our baby foods and snacks, not to mention pretty much anything that comes out of a box. This whole journey has opened our eyes.

But, I liken this experience to someone who has had a family member impacted by lung cancer as a result of smoking. Remember when the doctors were doing ad campaigns about how safe smoking was?? You would pretty much call bullshit on that, wouldn't you? Or just with anything, if you used a product, ate a food and had a reaction that you knew in your heart was related to that item, how would you feel about the manufacturer saying "That is not true, our products are perfectly safe and you did NOT have a reaction from our products". That is pretty galling and more than anything, I want to share our story to help other new parents make INFORMED decisions about their vaccine choices. I went in blindly and believed they were safe because that is what I was told. I had no idea what aluminum does to the brain, what squalene is, I had never even heard of thimerisol. I wish I had and I wish I had done THAT research before making that choice. And if parents do that level of research and feel comfortable with their vaccine choices, well then that is all I ask for! It took me years before I finally decided most vaccines are not in my childrens' best interest, many are ineffective and we see naturopathic physicians whom I have confidence in should my child contract an illness. Did you know high dose vitamin A can be used for measles? L-Lysine and another herb larrea tridentata are effective against chicken pox and shingles? There are other options.

So, I decided to do this blog to share some of the videos that I feel are worth watching in one place. Some of them are long but worth it. This blog also feeds right to Facebook so some of this will be redundant. And some of you without Autism in your lives are probably saying "shut up about Autism already" and that is ok. We all probably say that about people's hobbies or status updates that we see on Facebook. It is representative of our lives and our interests. The sad thing about Autism is that unless we all start waking up, each and every one of you will have someone in your life who has Autism. And that is why I talk about it so much, plus I firmly believe we are not too far gone and that Autism is treatable. So, for my Autism peeps, here are some videos in case you have not already seen them, and for anyone else interested in the "other side of the coin". Everyone has probably already seen the negative spin campaign and smear stories so I will not post those here.

Dr. Wakefield being interviewed on CNN HERE

JB Handley interviewed on CNN version 1 HERE

JB Handley on CNN version 2 HERE

And if you want to see a very compelling video about the whole GMC mess with Dr. Wakefield and the "journalist" Brian Deer who brought his story to the GMC, see this video HERE. Warning, it is an hour long. But I think you see Brian Deer in action, hear how he speaks to parents of children with Autism, hear THEIR stories of what he did, including listing these childrens' names on a website.