Do you think there's a link between autism and vaccinations? Medical and drug establishments say there's no link. However, something is happening cause autism rates are increasing 10-17% per year. Are vaccinations to blame or something else?

I don't know a lot about it, but I've read that it could be caused by a virus in the first few months of the baby's life.

MT

The question of a relationship between vaccines and autism continues to be debated. In a 2001 investigation by the Institute of Medicine, a committee concluded that the "evidence favors rejection of a casusal relationship.... between MMR vaccines and autistic spectrum disorders (ASD)." The committee acknowledged, however, that "they could not rule out" the possibility that the MMR vaccine could contribute to ASD in a small number of children. While other researchers agree the data does not support a link between the MMR and autism, more research is clearly needed.

Madtown:
This is a subject of great interest to me. I would appreciate any references you would be willing to share.
HM

http://www.autism.com/ari/mercurylong.html

An interesting article showing the similarities between mercury poisoning (thimerosal) and autism.

Parker and Waichman has filed a Class Action Lawsuit against manufacturers of vaccines containing Thimerosal. Visit www.vaccineclassaction.com for more information.

It is estimated that 17 percent of US children under the age of 18 are suffering from learning and/or behavioral disabilities. California's Department of Developmental Services reported a 20 percent increase over the previous year for diagnoses of level-one autism. Level-one autism is the number one disability in the state of California, accounting for 35 percent of all new cases. Of the 16,802 persons with level-one autism in the California system, two-thirds of them are between the ages of birth and 13.

Many medical professionals and scientists are blaming thimerosal containing vaccines for this increased rise in Autism and learning disabilities. According to leading medical researchers no amount of thimerosal is a safe. Thimerosal is more toxic than mercury and that giving a ten-pound infant a single vaccine in a day is the equivalent of giving a 100 pound adult 40 vaccines in a day. The FDA and EPA called for the removal of mercury in infant vaccines beginning in 1999. At that time, vaccine manufacturers agreed to have thimerosal-free vaccines available at the beginning of 2001 and later offered voluntary exchange for all remaining thimerosal vaccines still on the shelf.

If your child has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD), Asperger's Syndrome or any other developmental disorder or learning disability, click below for a free lawsuit case review.

harrymasters-
I don't know a great deal about Autism. I know a couple that has a son diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, which, I understand, is high functioning autism. The drs feel that a virus infection he had as an infant might be a contributing factor.

Any information I have posted is from the internet. I typed autism and a lot of links came up. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Madtown

This past Sunday, a couple in our church announced that their child has been diagnosed with autism. So I did a little research on it and compiled a list of links in my blog - Autism and Vaccinations.

Thanks MT, I've added your class action link to my list.

otseng. Early Onset Bipolar also increasing:

"It used to be called Manic Depression. Now this volatile form of mental illness is increasingly showing up in children and

teenagers.http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020819/index.html


MT

I find this an interesting subject. But I have a question and hope one of you can answer it. The debate is does vaccinations cause Autism. But when I read some of your posts your are talking about MMR. Isn't that an immunization? Is there a difference between Vaccinations and Immunizations. I thought there was. Please Correct me if I am wrong.

I THINK they both mean to make immune, but once in a while I'm wrong!

MT

MMR is measles, mumps, and rubella Vaccinations.The following is a quickly found link not meant to endorse etc. etc. Just wanted to check up on my knowlege as I was fairly certain they were the same,but then, I too, am wrong once in a while, or more than that.
http://wellness.ucdavis.edu/child_health/g...ations/mmr.html

vaccination
Inoculation with a vaccine in order to protect against a particular disease.

immunization
To produce immunity in, as by inoculation.

inoculation
The act or an instance of inoculating, especially the introduction of an antigenic substance or vaccine into the body to produce immunity to a specific disease.

On a CDC page, it says the three are essentially the same thing.

There was a short segment on the local news last night about Autism. Autistic children attending Madison (Wi.) schools have increased from 2 to 200 and some. People, with autistic children are actually moving here because of the school system. There will be more on the subject tonight.

MT

The advice given by Doctors on Cnn tonight concerning vaccinations was to be sure there is no mercury in the material ( whatever you call it) used to vaccinate and to delay the vaccination as long as possible. They recommended the child be at least 1 to 2 years old.

MT

sometimes, allergic reactions to vaccinations can be severe enough to cause ssome sort of damage mentally

Wish I had seen this topic earlier. I don't have any links per se on this issue, but I have a heck of alot of personal experience with it and I'd be happy to discuss specifics with anyone here via PMs if they have some issues and help them anyway I can in that fashion.

I have an 11 year old daughter who at the age of 18 months started having seizures shortly after she received the MMR shot. They got worse and worse to the point where she was having any one of 7 different seizure types. Mostly they were the petite mal types, but they were happening hundreds of times per day. We ended up taking her to UCLA who put her on all kinds of medication, ran all kinds of tests on her and ended up putting her on the ketogenic diet. Their diagnosis? She had intractable epilepsy and was moderately autistic, I forget what stage they said it was, but one thing we were told was that she would be totally non-verbal her entire life.

UCLA is a wonderful place and they have a world-class pediatric neurology department, but in my daughter's case, they were wrong. She is now in public school, mainstreamed in language arts and the best speller in her elementary school. She spelled 400 out of 400 words this past school year correctly, and trust me, she's hardly non-verbal at all. I have to tell her to be quiet quite a few times.

Her doctor's take on the MMR stuff was that it didn't cause the epilepsy or autism, but rather stimulated it. He told me that kids who are suseptible to neurological problems like that can have the problem triggered by these vacines or immunizations, but they would eventually exhibit those problems anyway.

Autism is a very strange and difficult thing, and the rapid increase in diagnosis of it may be due to an increased awareness of the affliction and a broadening of the symptoms. It's a very difficult "disease" to really define.


It's even more difficult to treat, but there are some good programs out there that have proven track records.

This is one that is pretty good

By the way, my daughter is now completely off medications and has been seizure-free for over two years now. Miracles do happen.