Olmsted on Autism: The Unnatural History of Seizures
By Dan Olmsted
The death of Jett Travolta has focused new attention on an old truth -- the benign-sounding "developmental delay," the catchall term for children who are slow to meet their milestones, can be deadly. My hunch is that this is especially true when the "delay" is environmentally induced, as is the case, I believe, with autism. That's why it doesn't matter exactly what diagnosis was assigned to Jett's disorder; its onset followed a febrile illness that seems to have caused brain damage; his parents believe it was connected to toxic exposure. And parents know their children.
My basic approach to trying to understand autism, as many of you know, has been to go back to the beginning and trace what's called the natural history of the disorder -- where it began, how it increased, where it's prevalent and where it's rare (see my article Mercury Rising on our home page). The beginning of the Age of Autism, though most mainstream autism "experts" would rather ignore it, was in the 1930s in the United States, when a number of children were born with a disorder that the dean of child psychiatry, Leo Kanner, said was "markedly and uniquely different from anything described so far."
He said that in the very first paragraph of his 1943 report on 11 of those children. Thus, for those with eyes to see, the truth has been evident from the first: Autism was NEW. And it was new because it was environmentally triggered -- I believe by the commercialization of ethyl mercury used for the first time in fungicides and vaccines.
This may sound way too simple, but as my colleague at Age of Autism Mark Blaxill has pointed out, once you understand them, epidemics are simple. All this mucking around in genes that soaks up billions of dollars -- now that is complex. And the more complex we make autism, the more money there is to be made in hunting endlessly for the cause, and the more delay, so to speak, there is in facing the truth and helping sick kids. Meanwhile, they're not just suffering, they're dying.
All this is by way of saying that the simple truth is visible in that first report by Leo Kanner in 1943. And one of those truths is this: Autism can kill you. Two of the first 11 children -- 18 percent -- had seizures, and one of them died prematurely as a result.
Let's look closely at Case 10, whom Kanner called John F. In his description, Kanner wrote: "In December, 1942, and January, 1943, he had two series of predominantly right-sided convulsions, with conjugate deviation of eyes to the right and transient paresis of the right arm. Neurological observation showed no abnormalities. His eyegrounds were normal. An electroencephalogram indicated 'focal disturbance in the left occipital region,' but 'a good part of the record could not be read because of the continuous marked artifacts due to the child's lack of cooperation.'"
In 1971, Kanner wrote a follow-up on his historic account of the first 11 cases, and the tale of John F. turned tragic. "John died suddenly in 1966 at 29 years of age."
Mark Blaxill and I have been identifying those first cases, and we met with John's brother last year. The seizures, it turned out, were much worse than Kanner conveyed. John had seizures just about every day of his life, including "drop seizures." His brother described the sound of John dropping and hitting the floor in the next room and the havoc that wrought on the emotional life of his family and especially his mother. He is absolutely convinced his brother, who died in his sleep, was killed by one last seizure.
Mark and I are writing a book in which we will detail this case and several others, but believe me, mercury exposure is written all over them.
For now, I just want to make a simple point: Environmentally induced developmental disorders kill kids. We've known it from day one. And just exactly what are we doing to stop it?
--
Dan Olmsted is Editor of Age of Autism.
I am really really perplexed by all of the comments here. my 4 year old son has been diagnosed with autism....he never had an adverse reaction to shots, and the symptoms have been around (I was dumb and waited longer between bouts of vaccines)since he was very young. He always seemed distant. You could call him by name and he still has a hard time responding to it. I was very careful about meds I took during pregnancy, and what he was exposed to both in the womb, in the home and the places we went (as much as I could anyway) He started to babble at 11 months and even said a few words for a couple weeks and then it was screeching and melt downs as we rushed to figure out what he wanted. He was the child that never really wanted to cuddle and always wanted to play with things that spun. I am not ruling out environmental stuff, but I believe that in some instances (not all instances) ASD is in fact hereditary. The whole echalalia type speech patterns. The obsessive clinging to one person or object...I love my son and wouldn't trade him for the world...I just hope we focus on the bilateral instead of just hereditariness or environmental triggers...too many children are being robbed of their early childhood :) And way way way too many parents are being judged by others who have never had to parent a child who "freaks out" at loud noises, too much visual stimulation and way too much comotion. If I hear "You aught to spank that child" one more time I think I'll flip out and spank the adult for being ignorant and judgemental. I applaud every single parent who puts in the time everyday to love and guide these beautiful angels...because that is who they are :) We need to find a way to prevent further occurrances and to envelope the current diagnosed children with love and support.
Posted by: Elizabeth W. | December 19, 2010 at 01:16 AM
Kathy,
This issue of where autism first appeared is covered excellently in Harris L. Coulter's 'Vaccination, Social Violence and Criminality: The Medical Assault on the American Brain'. He details how the first cases were overwhelmingly in families with a lot of education, and particularly in the medical professions; but as it started cropping up more frequently, that earliest clue was lost to researchers on the matter. His point: The first people to take up the new medical modality of vaccines were those who could afford it, & wanted to do all they could for their children. As mass vaccination programs developed, this early identifiable cohort disappeared from glaring view.
This is an important book on this subject. Every family with a child on the spectrum should have a copy. He relates it all - all the Minimal Brain Damage/Disorder conditions - to the subclinical encephalitis being triggered by vaccines, and the phenomenon not being given enough attention by the med profession & health authorities, so smitten by their wondrous new modality that nothing was to stand in the way of their creating herd immunity; not even the truth about their side effects. And now we are reaping what those authorities sowed lo these many years ago now. Good for parents like the Mercury Moms/Dads for making this a major issue, to be looked at by a public no longer so ready to take the word of those self-assured professionals in their respected white coats for gospel. They have had their day. It's the day of the parents now, with the internet helping them find the answers they have been denied all these years. And well done folks, for not giving in to the 'experts'. The true experts in this matter are the parents, who know their kids better than anyone; and are mad as hell, and aren't going to take it anymore.
Posted by: Stan | January 09, 2009 at 08:21 PM
Kathy, Lorna Wing has published books on autism in the U.K. since 1971. Amazon.co.uk should have one or more of them listed. Sorry, no time now to look it up for you.
Posted by: ElizaCassandra | January 08, 2009 at 08:01 PM
To Gatogorra- Is Depakote a name for Valproic Acid.? That has been a recognized cause of autism for many years. I first saw it in a publication by UMDNJ about 6 years ago. I also learned that neonatologists use it for premature babies. They dont seem to know that it can cause autism, but they do know that it should be a last resort. I think we need to do something to educate doctors on this point. Looks like this medication needs to be trashed forever.
Posted by: Cherry Sperlin Misra | January 08, 2009 at 02:49 PM
When my son was diagnosed in 1984, I had to buy a book about autism. I didn't even know what autism was. One of the things in the book that struck me as unusual was that children from educated, upper class families had autism. It was more prevelent in these social classes!?! I have always felt that before vaccines were required for everyone, only the people who could afford vaccines were seeing autism in their children! Now that vaccines are required for school, all classes of children are autistic. Has anyone ever thought about that? The book was written by an English woman and I think her name was Lorna something. Can't remember and don't have the book anymore.
Posted by: Kathy Crawford | January 08, 2009 at 12:08 PM
Dan-
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WDT-4HYV07H-1&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=7039c1af86af9dc1b3e5ca42bac740d5
This 10 year study is quite an eye opener. 60% eeg abnormalities in a very large ASD population! Sixty!? It seems to get a wave of the hand from some other neuros because the epileptiform abnormalities are frequently "sub-clinical" epilepsy. I understand that the author believes that by cleaning up the eeg with medication, brain functionality is improved.
Posted by: Dadvocate | January 08, 2009 at 11:50 AM
I can't even bring myself to comment on this as it would seem our beautiful little boy had his first seizure on Christmas morn. The first we are aware of anyway.
I can hardly bare the thought right now. I love him more than life! He is my world!! He will be but seven in eleven days. I am as angry as I am sad...
Posted by: Lin | January 08, 2009 at 11:07 AM
Kim:
As I stated in the past, I don't know where you find some of the jpg's you use, but you never stop blowing me away with how funny they can be, yet at the same time so powerful. The 'Rerun' jpg from the CNN fiasco, I am still laughing about... even weeks later. In a case of powerful jpg, the 'tonic/clonic' jpg ...looks strikingly like Elias ...
http://www.iparenting.com/dad/6309.php
I was just awestruck as to how powerful a visual it was. By all means, you and Dan keep up the tremendous work you do...for as I said in an earlier post, it is the parents in 'our community', united ... that are driving the necessary changes needed for 'our kids'.
It is also 'our community' that rallied around us following the unfortunate passing of our son. We will never forget you folks!
God Bless you All ...
Harry & Gina Tembenis
PS
Thank you Andrea, for your heart felt post...
Posted by: htbenz | January 08, 2009 at 12:10 AM
This is such an important issue. Inspired by this article and with Elias Tembenis, Jett Travolta and way, way too many others in mind, we've started a Yahoo list today for biomed/seizures (at long last). It's called "Autism, Seizures, Drugs, Environment" or "ASD-Enviro" and the point is to discuss causes, prevention, triggers, AEDs, drug side effects and medical politics as they relate to environmentally-induced seizure disorders and environmental illness.
Group home page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ASD-Enviro
Group email address:
[email protected]
In the "files" section of the new group we'll post the paper which includes the case study of late-onset, Depakote-induced autism in a seven year old with permission of the author.
Posted by: Gatogorra | January 07, 2009 at 09:26 PM
wow, these comments are an education for me. gatagora, i do agree mercury is at the heart of autism. and cherry, let's do stay together and keep at it until the next generation -- meaning the future of the world -- is protected from the "experts" who always seem to know best. that's why we call it the AGE if autism -- autism is its emblematic and defining disorder, but by no means the sole catastrophe we're facing. -- dan
Posted by: dan olmsted | January 07, 2009 at 07:24 PM
We need another Abe Lincoln.
Posted by: claudine Liss | January 07, 2009 at 06:52 PM
great post and investigative work, congrats on reaching 1,000,000 plus site hits!!!!!!!
Posted by: AutismDad | January 07, 2009 at 06:04 PM
Thank you for putting this so eloquently. It kind of highlights that, even if Offit were to withdraw his deadly vaccine patent and never work on another, he and the ND and other vaccine apologists have blood on their hands-- are literally killing children-- just through disinformation and propaganda. SIDS, cancer, seizures, cardiac abnormalities, asthma, diabetes--even the higher rates of drowning, of being victimized by school staff, targeted for sexual abuse or excessive drugging by mainstream doctors-- are on the list of life-shortening events which effected children face (and would not have to if not for vaccine injuries).
We've long suspected that this-thing-currently-called-autism-but-which-should-be-named-for-cause has a simpler etiology than many are led to believe. Because of seeing our son initially sink after a flu shot alone, my husband and I tend to think it's mercury and that all the other things in various combinations are facilitators to mitochondrial weakness which act as a "set up" for mercury to do its worst. Some facilitators might throw in typically seen complications that add to the chain reaction. But the disorder is so specific even within the variations seen among effected children that the cause really has to be narrowed down to a short list.
Another reason I think this is the news that Depakote also causes autism (according to new studies, older studies and the admissions of government attorneys in the Omnibus transcripts). Curiously, Depakote's effects on the brain almost precisely mimic either some of the known effects of thimerosal or lab results often seen in vaccine-induced autism. Depakote, for instance, induces demyelinization, disrupts the formation of tubulin in the brain, raises serum ammonia which in turn increases glutamine and disrupts the uptake of glutamate. It induces problems with cytokines and can cause leukoencephalopathy like that seen in Alzheimers type II astrocytosis among other interesting overlaps with the effects of mercury or perhaps mercury in combination with aluminum. Depakote, like all psychoactives and like mercury itself, can also provide its own "set up" for susceptibility by inducing mitochondrial dysfunction (one punch) before inducing the galluping brain damage (two punch) manifesting as autistic behavior. I wouldn't be surprised if Depakote also destroys glutathione.
In short, though Depakote could not be the main or even a frequent cause of autism in the epidemic because exposure to it is not universal, the fact that it's linked to autism and mimics mercury supports other evidence that mercury may be key.
Government attorneys in the Omnibus thought they were being clever by mentioning Depakote as a cause because, according to their argument, Depakote was an example of an environmental substance which could only induce the disorder through prenatal exposure or exposure very shortly after birth. They were so wrong. What they didn't mention were case studies of children who regressed at later ages (as late as age seven in one case history) from Depakote, thereby showing that environmental exposures can cause autism not only after birth but long after it. Just like mercury.
I'm sure that MSG, formaldehyde (which causes cross sensitivities to hg), Tylenol, the MMR and other toxic exposures increase the odds that a child will regress enormously and may be very important contributors to the epidemic, but that's not the same as being the central cause.
Posted by: Gatogorra | January 07, 2009 at 06:03 PM
Afer the CASE OF THE AUTISTIC CHILD is solved at last, lets vow to stay together in AOA and move on to the next cause. There are probably so many in waiting that it will be hard to choose. But my choice will be for cancer. Why are cancers in children increasing and why dont doctors care about that ? Just imagine- The AAP wont even be able to say " Childhood cancer? It was always common but we just didnt notice it"
Posted by: Cherry Sperlin Misra | January 07, 2009 at 06:02 PM
Correction:
From 'links of interest'
http://www.marthaherbert.com/biography1.html
see
http://www.healthandenvironment.org/
see 'working groups' drop down menu, list of working groups. developmental disabilities
http://www.healthandenvironment.org/working_groups/learning
New LDDI Policy Consensus Statement on Environmental Agents Associated with Neurodevelopmental Disorders - 7/29/08
http://www.healthandenvironment.org/working_groups/learning
Posted by: anonymous | January 07, 2009 at 06:02 PM
"Despite some uncertainty, there is sufficient knowledge to mandate preventive action to reduce fetal and childhood exposures to environmental contaminants. Given the serious consequences of LDDs, a precautionary approach is warranted to protect the most vulnerable members of our society.
We have a duty to be thoughtful public-health advocates and champion progressive public-health policy that protects our children."
The searing pain described by multiple parents in this thread (which, if I'd seen, would've caused me to post elsewhere) just withers the circumspect and formal bureaucratic-speak recommendations of the public health report quoted - my apologies -
although, on general principles, all appear to agree.
Posted by: anonymous | January 07, 2009 at 01:44 PM
My kid has lipid peroxide in the 94 percentile.
Free radical damage to the cell membrane.
At least we know.
Lipid Peroxide, like Oxidative Stress and rabid inflammation is implicated in so many degenerative diseases.
To tag my kid with a psych disorder is dead wrong. It's like saying Mitochondria problems are "unusual".
Instead of rushing our kids to emergency care they are sent to rot in the psyche ward.
What the future may hold is untreated even "sicker" kids.
Posted by: karenatlanta | January 07, 2009 at 01:22 PM
Sad Mommy said "Not one bit of lab testing would be necessary to spot a vaccine related problem, it is all there in the baby records."
My heart stopped for a second when I read this - when my son's first doctor left the practice, we made arrangements to take his medical records home - went thru these to create a summary time-line of our son's "interesting" medical events in his first 2 years of his life - thinking that this 1-pager would be a great intro to give to the next (DAN or otherwise) physician treating him. What we saw in this picture was that with every shot, he got "sick" - a visit to emergency (persistent high fever, diarrhea, infections, etc.).
In the early stages of his care (first few months) the doctor's notes include things like "healthy", "normal development", "no concerns". At his 18 month visit (3 months after the MMR), the single note reads "is this child autistic?". Wham.
It haunts me that we didn't connect the dots as these events unfurled. I look at pictures of this little boy screeching with delight as he chased me around the house, smiling ear to ear from his playpen while his aunt played peek-a-boo with him, the most adorable crooked little "squinty-smile" messy hair picture - as he posed for us right out of the bath - all the songs he used to sing from the radio jingles - all gone - and I see the light going out in his dark-circled eyes in the subsequent pics. It's like he was slowly hit by a bus, if that makes sense.
The pictures and the medical records side by side - add the test results (heavy metals, autoimmune markers, you all know the drill) - it's a telling tale. The Offit's of the world will continue to scoff at my "scientific illiteracy", and yes there are a lot of things that might have contributed to his downfall (industrial pollution is one of the top suspects where I live) but in the end as the excuses unravel (thank you Dr Poling and Dr Healy and others for keeping your colleagues "honest", at least to the best of your ability), the "big picture" is worth a thousand words, and the big picture definitely includes medical "interventions" gone wrong.
Posted by: Randy | January 07, 2009 at 01:10 PM
Thank you Harry for your comment. I have been thinking a lot about your sweet angel Elias since Jett's death.
Thank you and Gina for being the wonderful self-less people you two are, and caring enough through your own pain to help our children. Gina's chapter in Jenny's book is heart-wrenching.
Words can not express my sympathy for your loss. I hope that you and Gina are fairing well, as best as can be expected in losing your beautiful son. How painful it must be for you to hear of another child's death due to severe seizures.
Bless you both. And bless your little angel Elias.
Posted by: Andrea | January 07, 2009 at 01:01 PM
Dan and all
What is more elusive is the non tell, that DAN doctors are not telling mothers. That at puberty, a very invasive process is going on, and brain changes, hormonal, makes a slight situation worse. Up goes the testosterone, more mercury, up goes other factors, on and on... Gray matter is not developed by that time, so the immature cells are now open to more attack by mercury, and or viruses and or inflammation causing LASTING DEVASTATION to the prepubertal/puberty brain. *search AUTISM HELP FOR YOU, + PUBERTY DEVASTATION..read the entire page....YIKES!!! This is why Jett probably worsened with his seizures, and when parents of autistic children, also notice this terrible change. If not seizures, agression, panic attacks, schizohphrenia, catatonia, worse immune systems etc.
I talked to the infamous Bill Walsh about this very subject, and his words to me were not reassuring. Kids who don't get biomed treatment, including antivirals, antibiotics, antifuncgals, antioxidants, anti inflammation, immune modulation, proper diet, WORSEN at puberty, AND BEYOND. The true autistic, in their twenties and thirties have major psychiatric problems, major incidences of death by seizures, or heart attacks, and or gut cancers, actual Alzheimers symptoms etc etc. They end up in major institutions, this is where all the adult autistics are, wallowing in sickness. This means, that the entire allopathic community has denied that AUTISM IS NEURODEGENERATIVE. THEY ARE WRONG, to say, that it is NOT. And more than that disgusting display, is their denials that it is NOT biomedically based, hitting a developing brain, which never is able to catch up with the insults.
Most of thes kids also have comorbid conditions, causing a garden variety of oxidative stress diseases, displaying as PANDAS, MELAS/LEIGHS DISEASE, Thyroid disorders, autonomic dysfunction, seizures, Stiff Man Syndrome, KAWASAKIS, Immune dysfunction to the level of an AIDS patient, PArkinsons, Alzheimers, CAncers, Heart Attacks, IBD/Celiac, Pancreatic problems, CHIARI malformations, ARTHRITIS, Lyme Disease, Chronic Fatigue, Depression...it goes on and on...
If you look at what causes death in such individuals, it is like they are speeding through life, and getting degenerative diseases faster.
So, it would behoove the cutie three year old autistic, and their mothers to pay attention, to Bill Walsh, where he saw DEVASTATIONS at that age. He said and I quote, "pour down antioxidants"...
This only means, Dan, that we have a generation of highly toxic children, who cannot handle free radicals like mercury, like pesticides, and then can't deal with infections in total. In affect, they are crying out from the mercury mine, and saying, where is our oxygen?
I cannot tell you how angry I get, when I go to a DAN conferences, and these people get up there and suggest, autism does not degenerate the brain.
Tell that to my sons MRI, who's cerebellum is atrophying. Tell that to my entire family that has Hypoperfusion, white matter damage (because of an infection in our family, namely lyme), which results in AUTISM, SEIZURES, MS, HASHIMOTOS, etc etc. Our occipital lobes are damaged, our temporal lobes...and let me ask this one..mom????? What is the result of a spect scan on you? DO ONE TODAY. My guess is that you will be shocked how damaged your brain is? And why does this matter? Because infections/toxins/metabolic problems are handed down to your children, in the form of lyme, in the form of Herpes 6, or EBV or CMV or Strep Gamma and highly toxic loads. These all affect babies in utero, and CAN HAVE A DELAY SWITCH, triggered by a vaccine. When you look at what measles does in one year after its in your body, is truly devastating. Measles lowers your immune mediation for one year...which allows OTHER INFCTIONS TO GAIN HOLD. This is why, no one thing causes autism, it is a progressive set of events, timed early, and in a short succesion of one another, that enhances the others affects.
Cancer and PTEN genes are indeed high. In fact, I made a correlation with my mothes cancer, myeloma, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. A high percentage of this cancer is in autism families. I checked fources with MM societies. Then, I found a correlation. They are very very very not able to handle mercury/pesticides or oxidative stress, and, they have UNDIAGNOSED CELIAC DISEASE.
Again, these chidlren are dying faster, their brains are in devastation modes...excuse me to think, that my child deserves just as much attention, as the AIDS epidemic, a CANCER crisis, etc? And, to that end, where is our bone marrow transplants or telethons? Where is our immune therapies? They are being hidden from our public view. I even contacted VASOGEN to see if they can do a heat shock therapy on my kids, because they found it kills viruses for heart patients. There answer to me was "that would be an interesting premise"...and indeed, there are numerous ways to get after these infections, and toxins, that are being denied our children, because the WORLD proclaims, it is all genetic, all developmental and static, and that "good luck with that vaccine hypothesis" in a vaccinating world.
To me, this world has not offered a BIT to my kids, and that is putting it mildly. There is no concern, and there is no truth in the media, and parents are everyday, forced to confront their very prepared physicians for the litany of questions parents have, only to be lied to, or to deal with wolves in sheeps cloathing.
Autism will continue as long as the lies do.
Posted by: Kathy Blanco | January 07, 2009 at 01:01 PM
"...For now, I just want to make a simple point: Environmentally induced developmental disorders kill kids. We've known it from day one. And just exactly what are we doing to stop it?"
- Dan Olmsted is Editor of Age of Autism.
------------
I completely agree.
This type of finding makes me see red -
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_16348.cfm
Monsanto's Roundup Residues in GM Food Cause Cell Damage
GM Watch (EU), January 5, 2009
Glyphosate Formulations Induce Apoptosis and Necrosis in Human Umbilical, Embryonic, and Placental Cells
Obviously, there is an urgent need for a volunteer based grassroots campaign to circumvent the MSM and get out the word about the general subject of children and environmental sources of potential developmental harm.
Public health leaders are already asking for funding for this (see 'Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units' below); volunteers can organize and make some noise NOW (or according to personal timetables).
I hope everyone has read this website, http://www.marthaherbert.com/
in particular, the links provided here,
http://www.healthandenvironment.org/
http://www.healthandenvironment.org/working_grups/learning
EXCERPT
2.4 EDUCATION - Knowledgeable parents and caregivers are essential to protecting a child’s health and safety from preconception through childhood. Prevention of toxic exposures and their subsequent health effects is far more cost-effective than treatment. Prospective parents need to be aware of the health effects of alcohol, nicotine, lead, mercury, pesticides, arsenic, food additives, emerging threats, and other environmental agents, as well as of ways to
prevent exposure. This is particularly important for economically disadvantaged groups because of a higher average exposure to lead, tobacco smoke and other contaminants in this population. Direct education of parents, as well as better information and parent-education training for health-care providers, should be a priority. The Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units need to be fully funded in order to address these educational
needs (www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HEC/natorg/pehsu.html).
3 SUMMARY - Children have a right to an environment in which they can reach and maintain their full potential – an environment free from preventable chemical exposures beginning with preconception and continuing throughout development. We have an obligation to provide an optimal environment for all children. The scientific evidence on the neurodevelopmental effects of many chemicals is well established, and action to reduce exposure is essential to prevent adverse health effects. The consequences of LDDs are most significant for the affected individual but also have profound implications for the family, school system, local community and greater society. Despite some uncertainty, there is sufficient knowledge to mandate preventive action to reduce fetal and childhood exposures to environmental contaminants. Given the serious consequences of LDDs, a precautionary approach is warranted to protect the most vulnerable members of our society.
We have a duty to be thoughtful public-health advocates and champion progressive public-health policy that protects our children.
END EXCERPT
http://www.commonweal.org/pubs/lerner/article_extinction.html
Posted by: anonymous | January 07, 2009 at 01:01 PM
Recently my husband and I were asked to compile all our medical data for VICP.
So for 2 days we poured through pediatric records.
As our child recovers, my head is a bit more clear I see things with an eagle eye.
Not one bit of lab testing would be necessary to spot a vaccine related problem, it is all there in the baby records.
9 month vaccinated sick. Physician notes "Mom want to hold off on vaccines." They vaccinated anyway.
Within days the next note said my breastfed baby with no illness now has sleep issues, fussing and fevers of unknown origin.
15 month 5 combined vaccines toppling 15 plus shots, wellness records records indicate every developmental milestone is met.
18 month visit(a bit more than two months later) Speech milestones are left unchecked.
4 more combined series are given.
Now inside of 2 months my child is given over 24 vaccines and developed Autism like symptoms.
The pediatrician never batted an eye, because there is more concern for herd immunity than using discretion with vaccines.
The next "wellness" visit is a request for acute consult. Where the doctor reviewed the early intervention report insisting we screen for Autism. It is a page of severe symptoms that developed over 2 short months and more than 24 vaccines at once. Many of them brimming with Thimerosal.
My husband and I calculated that our son got more shots in those 2 months than we got combined in our whole life.
I'm sure there will be many more Travolta's out there who sustain vaccine injury and never new it.
I consider our pediatrician to be wackier than any couch jumping Scientologist, for ignoring the obvious.
Posted by: Sad Mommy | January 07, 2009 at 12:13 PM
Ben's Dad - I made the same call. "Mark, we're at Akron Children's Hospital. Mia had a seizure. She's having another one now. I don't know!! I have the baby with me. She has to eat! I ran Gianna to Ruba's house. No, don't come home. I don't know! I do know your Dad is dying of cancer - you need to be with your family at the nursing home. They're going to run a CT. No she didn't fall! Nothing happened. She just went down and started convulsing!!! I don't know! I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I have to go. Bella is crying and I'm getting dirty looks. I don't know. I'll call you later. Tell your Dad I love him. I love you. She'll be Ok. She'll be OK."
Posted by: Stagmom | January 07, 2009 at 12:13 PM
Worse call of my life – 'Ben is ok now, but he had a seizure and we're in an ambulance'.
I agree – best news of the day is that Dan and Mark are writing a book. Please let Kim add a few pictures though.
I also like the idea of donating the word autism to the ND crowd Wendy. Its “selfish” psych roots do not apply to my child any more than it applies to a child at a cancer center who won't come out and play. Also, good thoughts on life expectancy. We really don't know how these kids born during the autism surge will do in the long run, although my hope remains that they do better because they are getting better care. - except that one neurologist, who, at the end of the appointment, I had to ask if he was even going to look at my child. Wish I had my camera, but I do still see that moment in color.
Posted by: Ben's Dad | January 07, 2009 at 12:06 PM
The Autism community, once again has taken the lead on taing care of it's children. Just like the DAN protocol came out of pro-active parents, the autism/seizure issue will start to be addressed this coming May at an Autism One think tank:
http://autismone.org/default.cfm?goto=chicago&page=tembenisThinktank
My wife Gina and I would like to thank Teri and Ed and all at Autism One, National Autism Association, Generation Rescue, ARI, etc for helping carry on our son's legacy by naming this think tank in honor of him, who was taken from us in November 2007 by a monster seizure...
http://autismone.org/default.cfm?goto=chicago&page=tembenisThinktank
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-175660
http://www.iparenting.com/dad/6309.php
http://www.telegram.com/article/20080929/NEWS/809290386/1012
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Books/story?id=5878229&page=1
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/AutismNews/story?id=6179240&page=1
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Autism/fullpage?id=5534368
http://www.autismone.org/radio/default.cfm?archive=6060&bg=&FromA1
http://www.autismone.org/radio/default.cfm?archive=6035&bg=&FromA1
http://autismone.org/radio/?archive=6417&bg=&FromA1
God Bless you All ...
Posted by: htbenz | January 07, 2009 at 12:06 PM
Thank you for writing this. Thank you for "getting it" so well! Our children are so sick and their lives are at risk. This is not a case of them being slow in school or having difficulty socializing. Neither ABA nor RDI prevents seizures. How many are dying of seizures? We need COMPREHENSIVE research now on the following: the best way to heal the gut in kids that have such compromised guts, how to raise antioxidant status sufficiently, how to lower inflammation safely in gut and brain, how to get metals and other toxins out of the body without making the gut worse, how to accurately evaluate which pathogens are hurting a particular child (lyme, measles, viruses) and how to treat this safely and effectively, ... and in which order should all this be done. This can be done, it can be achieved and lives can be saved, improved and cured. The reason it hasn't happened is because all the research money is being spent on face gazing, complicated gene combinations, television watching in the rain and a variety of futile stuff that has nothing to do with helping our kids. That this type of reasearch is being funded is unethical when children are dying!
Posted by: Thank you | January 07, 2009 at 10:55 AM
Even more terrifying is how few docs even care to examine our kids' issues. We're locked in the behavioral ghetto that denies our kids treatment - And I hear the DSM V, which is being written by that Fred dude at Yale is no better - our kids are still psych cases and nothing more. Drug em and hug em. Then you have morons telling the world it's not desireable to treat autism. W.T.F.???
Posted by: Stagmom | January 07, 2009 at 10:42 AM
To tell the truth, it's absolutely terrifying, not knowing exactly what is going on in our children's bodies. Knowing that something went wrong and is raising havoc in their little bodies and their brains! Having doctors look at you like you have two heads when you try and discuss it with them, all very unsettling! I fear for my own son’s future in oh so many ways; but knowing it could all vanish in an instance, he could suddenly leave us, while we fretfully, anxiously, urgently try and get them, anyone in a position to help, to listen, and to see….that, my friends, is the true tragedy!!
My heart aches for the Travolta family and for the loss of their dear child. Our thoughts and prayers are with them. My heart goes out to them...
Posted by: Lin | January 07, 2009 at 10:40 AM
Your last two statements say it all. Our kids are sick. They are simply more vulnerable to EVERYTHING, and yes they are more likely to die than non-affected children.
One other thing I noticed about this tragedy is how quick the public has been to try to place blame with the parents. Sound familiar? They weren't vigilant enough, they didn't get him the right treatment, etc.... People want to rationalize this and blame someone so that they can believe it will never happen to them.
Posted by: Kristen | January 07, 2009 at 10:25 AM
I agree Wendy. Let's leave the word autism to the ND crowd.
Robin- it's kind of convenient for the media that the Travolta's don't believe in autism and other psychiatric disorders. Anyone who has ever been around a child with autism can watch 2 minutes of video of Jett and see that he had "autism" or whatever we should be calling this environmentally induced developmental disability.
The media is "respecting" the parents in this regard, but trying to nail them and their Scientology beliefs- as parents who refused to medicate their son for his seizures and not drugged for his autism. Which by all accounts is untrue on the seizure meds. They would not use psychotropic drugs- which is all mainstream medicine has to offer our "autistic" children. So, since the media is funded by big pharma we'll continue to hear about this angle then we won't be hearing that Jett did have autism (whether or not he was diagnosed as such), and if Jett had autism, and kids with autism have seizures, and Jett died from a seizure disorder...well it's all pretty scary and they would rather just have people think medicines (like anti-seizure drugs and psychotropics save lives).
Kim and Maggie- I feel for my own child all the early doctoring he received- vaccines, anti-biotics, cough and cold remedies, fever reducers etc... which all led up to regression and then autism and other health maladies- which then brought more pharmacueticals (acid reflux meds, constipation meds, allergy meds etc..). They will have some kind of unknown negative affect on him nd I don't anticipate it'll be good. We lived at the doctors office because he was always sick. I can't even tell you how many abdominal x-rays he had for the several years he couldn't poop. Wonder how all this combinded comprehensive "doctoring" is going to affect his long term health and life expectancy? He has been a guinea pig since day one of life. So, even though I agree our kids are usually not treated with the best care or knowledge and medical curiosity by MD's("kids with autism have those problems") I also believe that when our kids were "normal" and seeing the doctor on a regular basis or in some cases an overly regular basis that is where the problems truly began. So if cancer comes it might not be due to lack of care, but too much early on experimental care and now they can't seem to help our kids for the reasons you listed.
Posted by: Andrea | January 07, 2009 at 10:25 AM
I am a mother of 2 children who have been diagnosed with classic autism. My 3rd, Ben, is almost 18 mos and I have taken a different approach to raising him by reducing his exposure to toxins, ensuring his body gets all the nutrients and taking on a different vaccine schedule...so I thought.
My first 2 never had febrile convultions, but I (and other therapists) felt they did have febrile seizures that probably would have never been detected if given a test. My 3rd who I have given 3 doses of Hib started getting febrile seizures/ convulstions when he gets a fever that rapidly rises or decreases. His fevers are never high..(101...100). These convulsions can go on for HOURS.
As a parent, it is terrifying to watch feeling hopeless and praying for it to end. But as a parent who is recovering a child (or children) from health issues that caused autism, it is a slap in the face when the medical community tells you that this is actually a COMMON EVENT THAT OCCURS IN CHILDREN FROM BIRTH TO 6 YEARS OLD. They 'think' it might be undeveloped neurowiring in their brains, but they don't know the cause. I would have accepted that answer in my pre-autism days where I wasn't doing biomed to recover my kids.
This is a problem...even if many children no longer get febriles when they are older. That is interesting in Wendy's post about older children developing seizures. I wonder what the percentage of children who have some form of seizure regardless of their severity. I wonder how many unvaccinated children have seizures?
Posted by: Jenni Byrd | January 07, 2009 at 10:13 AM
Dan, thank you for summarizing and making this so simple to understand. I wonder if public health officials can read.
Posted by: Kathy | January 07, 2009 at 09:52 AM
A Dan Olmstead and Mark Blaxill book?!
Here's me, being excited!
Posted by: Amber | January 07, 2009 at 09:45 AM
As a parent, this terrifies me. As an advocate, I'm hearing from more and more parents whose kids with no history of seizures are beginning to have them at age 8, 9 and 10. It's always been said that autism doesn't affect life expectancy. But in case some folks still don't get it, what our kids have is not "autism". We should leave that word to the ND crowd and let them live happily ever after while we continue to try to figure out what is really happening to our children. Our kids are terribly sick, what other horrible health problems does the future hold for them? With such a huge majority of people with "autism" under the age of 18, we are left with that very scary question hanging like a dark cloud over our heads.
Posted by: Wendy Fournier | January 07, 2009 at 08:54 AM
I just sat through an hour of Showbiz Tonight, on the cable channel CNN Headline News. Ack. Not something that I would normally do. But I was very curious about the main stream media coverage of the Travolta story.
Has anybody else out there, listening to the coverage on the television news programs, on any channel, heard the word ‘autism’ used, ever? Because I haven’t. Ok, I haven’t watched every last program, but I’ve listened a lot. And this morning I sat through last night’s complete recorded Showbiz Tonight program, and while the program had to’ve been probably at least half about Jett’s death, they didn’t say the word ‘autism’ one time, unless I missed it.
They’ve dropped the references to Kawasaki disease, pretty much. They speak about the cause of death as ‘seizure’. And that this was learned from the autopsy. And while they say that they want to respect the family’s privacy, the autopsy results were leaked and at least this much of the results are being reported. That the death was from ‘seizure’. I hear the word seizure over and over, but never the word ‘autism’, when I turn on my TV.
What really strikes me as odd is that when I go to the internet, there is a huge interest in Jett’s alleged autism. I don’t care what anyone wants to call the medical issues that Jett suffered from. I’ve heard it referred to in any number of different ways on my television (except as autism), and I do understand the importance of respecting privacy, and that it might be considered rude to refer to his condition in ways that the parents themselves wouldn’t. Although the media doesn’t seem hesitant to spend a great deal of time on this story, even to the point of reporting leaked autopsy results.
But this is one big HUGE eight hundred pound gorilla that is sitting in the middle of the room that everyone is so politely managing to ignore, and it is stinking to high heaven.
Here’s a simple little thing anyone can do, if you doubt that the media is censoring this story. In between pharmaceutical commercials.
Open up your Internet Explorer browser. Then go to Google, and do a web search on ‘Jett T’. That’s all, just type in that much.
If your browser is like mine, when you begin to type your search into Google, you will see a drop down window right below where you’re typing, and you will see a list of items. It’s my understanding that these are the most popular recent searches that have been done. It’s a sort of autocomplete—it anticipates what you might be typing so that you can just choose from the drop down menus without typing out the whole thing.
So, what’s the second item listed when you type ‘Jett T’ into a Google web search? If you’re like me, for the last few days I’ve seen, second item down, ‘Jett Travolta autism’.
Not ‘Jett Travolta Kawasaki’. Not ‘Jett Travolta seizures’. Heck those searches aren’t even listed in the ten items I see in my drop down menu. Nope, the most popular search on this topic seems to be ‘Jett Travolta autism’, with 106,000 results showing. There are 135 results for ‘Jett Travolta alone’.
I’m starting to wonder if John and Kelly are really that much in denial, or if they’ve just never been able to say the word ‘autism’ in front of a camera and have it reported. Or if they’re afraid to.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. As far as I’m concerned it’s not just the Doctors and the pharmaceutical company executives and the public health officials who are guilty of this genocide. It is the people who’ve made the decisions about what news is worthy of reporting on my television news channels.
Posted by: Robin Nemeth | January 07, 2009 at 08:54 AM
Maggie, you might be right. Think about it, when do our children and probably even worse for adults, get proper medical care? Pediatricians have not given my girls hearing or vision tests that other children get in the office - they tell me to take them to expensive specialists because my girls can not answer, "E, Duck, Sideways W, I hear the beep in my left ear." They didn't get urine tests - because they weren't toilet trained. How could I expect a GYN to examine my girls when they are older unless I sedate them? I'd venture higher cancer rates are a function of the shitty medical care our loved ones get because of their disability.
Posted by: Stagmom | January 07, 2009 at 06:36 AM
I've also been told by a nurse and a dcotor that cancer rates among those with autism is very high. This has been their experience and I'm not sure if it's true but mito dysfunction is associated with cancer. It just get better and better.
Posted by: maggie | January 07, 2009 at 06:32 AM