PHARMA BITES THE HAND IT FEEDS
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HOW APRIL BROUGHT US AUTISM AWARENESS

April_showers By Monica Bice

April 7, 2005 started out like any other day. We woke up, got the kids fed, dressed, and off to school and ourselves to work. I hurried through my workload, knowing I had to be out by 2 for Jade's well baby visit. The previous evening I had spoken to my mother about the appointment. She commented that babies get too many shots now, and wished Jade didn't have to get any. I scoffed at her, exclaiming that not vaccinating was akin to child abuse!

After the doctor examined Jade, noted she was growing well, and meeting all milestones, the nurse brought me a binder with copies of the VIS to review. I glanced over them, not really absorbing the info. I held her down, cooing "it will be okay" while they poked her chubby legs. Jade being the trooper that she is, only cried for a minute, and was pleased with the Elmo sticker on our way out. I went home, cooked dinner, and went about our lives.

3 weeks passed, and the memory of the vaccination was buried. On my way to bed, I stopped to check on Jade, and leaned to kiss her forehead. She was burning up! I gave her Motrin, and took her temperature, 103! I knew ERs are nasty places on Saturday nights, so I figured we will see how she is in the morning.

What I awoke to see horrified me. Jade was lifeless, had a glazed look in her eyes, and was covered in a strange target rash. When I touched her, she arched her back, began screaming. We called her doctor, unsure if we should make the trek to the children's hospital an hour away, or a local ER. He recommended we go to a pediatric urgent care clinic near our home. There, the doctor first thought it is an ear infection, and had the nurse flush her ears so he could get a better look. He said her ears look normal. He tested for strep and flu, both of those tests were negative. I asked about the vaccines, and was assured that a reaction would only happen within 5 days. He then disappeared for 1 ½ hours. He finally returned to the room, with a diagnosis of "coxsackie virus", or  "Hand Foot and Mouth".

Jade's fever was at 104.7, and I saw coxsackievirus numerous times as a preschool teacher,  this was not it.  I phoned my friend who was a nurse. She said it sounds like meningitis, or encephalitis. We drove straight to the nearest ER. On the way there, Jade began seizing. The intake nurse at the ER was angry that Jade would not calm down enough to get her blood pressure, and sent us to the waiting room. We rocked, cuddled, and walked her, for 4 long hours. Finally, the fever broke, and Jade seemed at peace. Figuring she had enough trauma for one day, we left before seeing a doctor.

The next week we noticed she grew distant. We found her new pastime, spinning around in circles, amusing. We also noticed her teeth grinding, all day, she sounded like a porpoise!. Inside I was terrified because Jade now looked right through me, and had stopped smiling.

Weeks began flying by, and Jade grew more and more distant. Her preschool was calling me 3x a week to pick her up, as she had horrible bms and tantrums.  I was more worried that she now didn't seem excited when I showed up to get her, and seemed to not notice me at all.  Soon they dismissed her, and I lost my job as I was missing too much work.

Jade was referred for a hearing exam, yet was not interested in the light up bunny, or the sound it was making. I knew she could hear, as she would come running when that smiling caterpillar would crawl across the screen. My family all gathered the day of her ABR hearing test. They were elated when the nurse said "Jade's hearing is fine". My heart sank. I knew that having a hearing problem could be the best news.

In the back of my mind, I kept thinking autism. But I thought autism was too rare. I looked it up on my desktop encyclopedia, and the description was not Jade. I asked the doctor, who suggested I get Jade evaluated by Early Steps. Then they gave her 2 more vaccines.

2 days later Jade awoke screaming. This time there was no rash, no fever,  her face started jerking to the right, and she kept patting herself on the chest. I finally had to Google autism. I don't think I slept for weeks, or cried more in my life.

After the diagnosis, we were referred to genetics. The first question the geneticist asked was "when did you notice that Jade stopped growing?" I was concerned about autism, I hadn't even noticed her height! She had fallen from the 25th percentile to under the 3rd in a year!

The rest of our story is one I am sure you are all familiar with, doctors doubting what we witness, the tiresome lectures about terrible vaccine preventable diseases, etc.

Thanks to many specialists, who listened and looked in the right direction, we found some answers. We learned that Jade created no antibodies to varicella, and only had a mild response to other vaccines. She also had pituitary damage that caused the growth delay.

Last month, Jade's pediatrician had given her a permanent medical exemption for vaccination. We faxed this form to an attorney, who filed a claim with NVICP.

Last week, at an appointment to ask about testing for mito, we informed him of the claim. He instantly stated that he doubts any of Jade's problems were caused by vaccines, "many children have facial tics", "many  children stop growing while they are toddlers", and proceeded with the "vaccines are safe and prevent horrible illness" lecture.

I walked out, feeling puzzled, until I read the last item he wrote in her chart that day. "Parents have filed lawsuit".

Monica Bice is a corporate researcher, and mother of a child with autism. She and her husband MIchael founded www.aware4autism.org, and have worked diligently to create awareness, and promote legislation and programs which benefit autistic children and adults in Florida.

Comments

Terri Lewis

Monica,

I can't decide, even now, what makes me the angriest and the saddest about all of this. There's so much!

But the contempt that so many pediatric doctors and nurses show toward parents, and the utter lack of concern (or even interest) in what actually happened to the children who were handed over to receive their professional care--I think that betrayal is horrible beyond words.

I recently took my boy (nearly recovered from autism) to be looked at for an infected lip that was getting worse by the hour. This happened in the evening, so we didn't go to our regular pediatrician. The nurse who first examined him, and then the doctor (a few minutes later) asked me, "Is he up-to-date on his immunizations? Any recent exposures to measles or chicken pox?"

What!?

What does that have to do with anything? When did this become a standard question, along with "What symptoms are you having?"

The lines are drawn. Many of them have no trouble throwing you out of their practice if you don't toe the line on vaccinations, but I actually felt a moment of fear. . .we were urgently in need of help that night. . .I wondered for a minute if we would be turned away if my answers on immunization weren't "good enough" for them.

The doctor actually turned out to be rather kind, and I believe he treated my son appropriately.

But how do you think it would have gone if I'd told him the whole truth that I now know; if I'd said, "Yes, he was up-to-date on his mercury-tainted vaccinations through 18 months, but of course that poisoning is why he became autistic in the first place. . .we've lived through a nightmare that lasted about 4 or 5 years, doctor, since you ask, and now I know enough to never vaccinate this child again. And the same shots also brought on my younger daughter's asthma. And by the way? If you think this tired, sick little boy is acting "autistic" tonight, I can tell you, doc, that you don't have a clue what autism can look like. Not a clue."

Bet things would have turned mighty chilly, mighty fast. Even at that, and as desperate as I was to get some help and then get my little boy home and in bed, I feel cowardly for not speaking up!

Thank you, Monica, for sharing your story here, and for providing us with a link to all of the work you are doing in Florida. The truth is out there, but only because of parents like you who are willing to work like crazy. . .thank you so much; hope to see you here again!

Terri

Linda

Monica - Your story sounds all too similar to my daughter's own decline into the devastation that is autism. The list of vaccines that she did not respond to is numerous. One heinous immunologist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital even recommended that I re-vaccinate her to see what happens. Good thing this stupidity is well documented in her medical charts! I, of course, have never been back to that hospital since.

Sandy Gottstein

Monica,

I am so sorry about what happened to your beautiful daughter.

The "experts" are most fond of saying that lots of children die, become multipli-handicapped, get brain damage, etc. and that it is just a coincidence that it is near vaccination. Of course, they cannot know that it is a coincidence because all they know is incidence among the vaccinated. I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but we must do what we can to get Rep. Carolyn Maloney's bill passed, which would required comparisons with the never-vaccinated. I promise I will do whatever I can.

ICCC Foundation

After 35 yrs. of research we concluded that when the injections are given seperately with a 4 to 6 weeks in between, the Immune system of the child has regained sufficient strength to handle the next injection, it is the combination of multyple injections the system cannot handle and Braindamage occurs.
Prof.dr.J.Mulder, Chairman ICCC Foundation the Orca's, Amsterdam, Netherlands. www.iccc.nl

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