Autism

[Szdfan]

This sort of dismissal is exactly the problem medical have trying to communicate with these parents.

What appears as a genuine change may be caused by encephalitis. To an untrained individual it looks very much like autism and when I’ve read the accounts, it certainly comes across as though that’s exactly what happened.

We can hand wave away it as them being wrong or dismiss their genuine feelings or accept that maybe from their perspective it is autism.

Wife: Obviously, our son was not a vaccine related statistic. I’ve had one or two friends who have told me about a reaction their child had that might have been encephalitis or something like that, and I don’t feel like it’s my job to decide that they are wrong. I don’t think it’s nearly as common as some people make it sound though. Most people I know with autistic children don’t have something they can point to that “caused” their child’s autism. There was one lady I knew back in Oregon who had several children, and at least two or three of them were on the spectrum ranging from mild to severe.

One marker my son had that they kept bringing up at well baby checkups was his large head, although that could’ve just been genetics. my youngest son has a monster head and is off the charts in his height as well, but he’s talking a little already and very good with using his fork and playing normally. I remember the autistic one always lagging behind his cousin on those things when I talked to my grandma.

I’m just bringing this up as a point of curiosity without any further commentary. Is there disagreement in the Soloist household about this?

[JohnH]

It's amazing how some people can turn a discussion about autism into a thread proclaiming how vaccines are absolutely 100% safe and could never, ever cause any problems. (Despite that, in America, vaccine makers are shielded from lawsuits. Why would they need that if vaccines are so safe?)

[Soloist]

This sort of dismissal is exactly the problem medical have trying to communicate with these parents.

What appears as a genuine change may be caused by encephalitis. To an untrained individual it looks very much like autism and when I’ve read the accounts, it certainly comes across as though that’s exactly what happened.

We can hand wave away it as them being wrong or dismiss their genuine feelings or accept that maybe from their perspective it is autism.

Wife: Obviously, our son was not a vaccine related statistic. I’ve had one or two friends who have told me about a reaction their child had that might have been encephalitis or something like that, and I don’t feel like it’s my job to decide that they are wrong. I don’t think it’s nearly as common as some people make it sound though. Most people I know with autistic children don’t have something they can point to that “caused” their child’s autism. There was one lady I knew back in Oregon who had several children, and at least two or three of them were on the spectrum ranging from mild to severe.

One marker my son had that they kept bringing up at well baby checkups was his large head, although that could’ve just been genetics. my youngest son has a monster head and is off the charts in his height as well, but he’s talking a little already and very good with using his fork and playing normally. I remember the autistic one always lagging behind his cousin on those things when I talked to my grandma.

I’m just bringing this up as a point of curiosity without any further commentary. Is there disagreement in the Soloist household about this?

Joint response: we’re basically in agreement about it, and both of us mentioned in encephalitis being a possibility, we just think it’s not incredibly common. Most of the time, I think it’s just a timing thing as to when autism actually starts to show up, but there are rare cases of encephalitis which would cause brain damage.

[Judas Maccabeus]

It's amazing how some people can turn a discussion about autism into a thread proclaiming how vaccines are absolutely 100% safe and could never, ever cause any problems. (Despite that, in America, vaccine makers are shielded from lawsuits. Why would they need that if vaccines are so safe?)

Nobody said they were 100% safe here, stop putting words in people’s mouths. What we DID say is that there is no evidence that vaccines cause autism.

The reason for the vaccines liability law is the cost of defending yourself from frivolous lawsuits. If we had a “loser pays” system like the UK, where the loser pays the cost of lawyers for both sides, this would be unnecessary.

When faced with the facts, please don’t deflect.

[donnyto989]

If you’re starting from zero, the simplest thing is to look for material that explains autistic traits in adults, not just kids. Most “awareness” sites talk in circles. What helped me make sense of my niece’s late diagnosis was going through Autism 360 on because they break down sensory stuff, masking, routines, all the real-life bits nobody warns you about. Everyone’s different, but getting a grip on those basics makes conversations with autistic adults a lot easier.

[Judas Maccabeus]

In my nieces case if I remember right it was her boss or coworker that suggested she may be.

An autism diagnosis should be made by a medical professional... not somebody's boss.

And even medical professionals sometimes don’t get it right.

[JohnH]

In my nieces case if I remember right it was her boss or coworker that suggested she may be.

An autism diagnosis should be made by a medical professional... not somebody's boss.

And even medical professionals sometimes don’t get it right.

Particularly when parents “shop around” to dozens of doctors until they finally find one who will give them the diagnosis they want.

[Judas Maccabeus]

An autism diagnosis should be made by a medical professional... not somebody's boss.

And even medical professionals sometimes don’t get it right.

Particularly when parents “shop around” to dozens of doctors until they finally find one who will give them the diagnosis they want.

In that case, they are likely receiving advice from an outlier.

[Judas Maccabeus]

Particularly when parents “shop around” to dozens of doctors until they finally find one who will give them the diagnosis they want.

In that case, they are likely receiving advice from an outlier.

“Doctor shopping” and “expert shopping” have a lot of different reasons behind them. Sometimes when there’s a dr who isn’t listening or helping much then seeking a second opinion is logical. There’s one Dr here who’s a little too prescription happy. We switched to a doctor of osteopathic medicine who prefers to find the cause of a problem instead of just treating the symptoms with pills. He really helped my wife who as it turned out had allergies causing her GI pains.

I am not taking about a second opinion, or even a third. I am taking about a fifth or more.

[Robert]

Well now it took us 4 tries to find a dr that wasn’t prescription happy.

Finding a good doctor is like finding a good mechanic. It can be tricky to find the one that knows exactly what that noise in the front end is from.

I seem to be on the spectrum and was having a lot of struggles this past year. When they came out and said Tylenol could be causing it. I stopped taking it and found most of my challenges went away. Not sure if it is psychosomatic or what. Just know I am doing much better. I was taking Tylenol about 3 times a week and feeling the need to up that some. I stopped taking it and after about 2 weeks, I didn't feel the need to even take Aleve but maybe once every 2 weeks. My head cleared. I am much calmer and I can sit in a room for meetings without feeling like I am coming out of my skin. I can handle eye contact of people again. Tylenol may work for others, but found it is not good for me.