Comments on: Britney Spears makes public appearance at Jenny McCarthy’s autism fundraiser

By: Sophie

Sophie — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 13:28:23 +0000

My son is on the spectrum and hearing people say flat out that it’s not this or it’s not that is infuriating. No one knows why kids get it or not and I agree that some doctors might be overdiagnosing it, however I think to deny that kids who were vaccinated before 2002 when they stopped a certain kind was withdrawn from the market might have suffered because of it. My son was given an immunization and within a few months he was suddenly exhibiting bizarre behavior for a baby. I’m not saying 100% that it was that one shot that did it, but I know that before then he was different than he was afterwards. I got him assessed and sure enough the best pediatricians in Chicago said he was definitely on the spectrum. I died a little that day but then I got off my ass, hit the internet, and tried every single thing that I could find. I developed a new diet for him, gave the poor kid fish oil with just about everything, worked with him with speech and physical therapy until I was blue in the face. I didn’t have help, I was a single mother of an 18month old son with Autism and a 6 month old daughter. It’s not impossible to do, you just have to prioritize and decide that your child’s development is the fundamental task at hand and that everything else needs to take a back seat.

Now, at age 7, he is virtually symptom free, is taking classes 1-2 years ahead of his grade level, and has a great social network. Having a kid with Autism is a challenge, but you have to be willing to do whatver it takes to help them through it. They’re your responsibility and when you look at your child you know you will do anything for them.

Report this comment as spam or abuse

By: Nan

Nan — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:10:21 +0000

Really, everyone I’ve known who has autistic children had a history of it in their family. Even when a relative was not diagnosed with autism there was something ‘off’ about them. I bet if Jenny goes hunting into her and the father’s background, they will find a link. I know some people with 2 autistic kids and they can be described (the parents)as living in their own little world. I’m sure it is genetic.

Report this comment as spam or abuse

By: chamalla

chamalla — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:18:46 +0000

@Larissa – hey, no problem! It’s a really common misconception, and it’s easy to think it’s true. I hope I didn’t sound snarky, I get really overzealous about autism. It’s such a mysterious disorder, there’s a lot of incorrect or partially incorrect information circling about it. Knowledge is power, right?

Report this comment as spam or abuse

By: daisyfly

daisyfly — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:33:09 +0000

CC, the only vaccine that still contains mercury is one particular flu vaccine. The rest have been mercury free since 2004.

And yes. She IS anti-vaccine. She’s just less Tom Cruisey about it.

Report this comment as spam or abuse

By: cc

cc — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:06:57 +0000

I just wanted to point out that Jemmy McCarthy isn’t anti-vaccine….She wants to green our vaccines. That means taking out the mercury, aluminum and just all the crap they put in there and try a different way to preserve them.

Report this comment as spam or abuse

By: Larissa

Larissa — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:01:18 +0000

@chamalla

my apologies for using the wrong term

Report this comment as spam or abuse

By: vdantev

vdantev — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:16:14 +0000

Jim’s sporting that 70′s porn star look.

Report this comment as spam or abuse

By: chamalla

chamalla — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:33:32 +0000

Vaccines do not cause autism. Let me repeat. Vaccines do not cause autism. I almost typed that in all caps, but I didn’t want to shout. ; )

I’ve worked with kids with autism for 14 years, covering the whole spectrum from kids with pervasive, classic autism to kids with high functioning autism spectrum disorders like Asperger’s Syndrome. Four of the kids I’ve known have NEVER had a vaccine, and I can promise you they were still profoundly affected by autism.

Chrissy is correct – intense early intervention for very young children with autism is the most effective way to minimize the long term effects of the disorder. We need to be pouring our resources into making sure these therapies are available to EVERY child who needs them, not trying to find someone to blame.

@Larissa – autism is not a psychological disorder, it’s a neurological disorder, there’s an important difference. The brain of a person with autism works differently than the brain of a neurotypical person because there are fewer/different connections between neurons within the brain. Autism shares many characteristics with some hard hitting psych disorders, but the root causes for those characteristics are much different.

Heh, I could go on about this all day, but I’ll spare y’all. : )

Brit looks great! She still needs to find a hairdresser who can make a weave look normal, but she looks really healthy.

Report this comment as spam or abuse

By: fancyamazon

fancyamazon — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:18:29 +0000

The large increase in autism diagnoses comes largely from the fact that now it is called the “autism spectrum of disorders” and covers many more symptoms than it previously did (ie, in 1983). This taken into account makes the claim about vaccines shaky at best, so promoters of fundraising for “cures” and so on ignore it so that they can continue to say that it is the vaccines that are the problem.

Report this comment as spam or abuse

By: Alexis

Alexis — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:55:34 +0000

@Chrissy I am interested in your comment because it sounds like my son for the 1st 3 months of his life, minus the hating the car seat. My husband and I labelled him as collichy. I’m just wondering when you started to realize that your baby was so uncomfortable and if there was ever a interuption in his distress for a signifigant period of time. I am an interested mother and am not trying to be critical or judgemental in any way, just trying to gather information.

Report this comment as spam or abuse