re: #1160 katemaclaren

Karagush, I agree—managed risk is best. I think vaccines at the moment are a shotgun (a cheap shotgun) approach, and as more children survive birth with, at least right now, undetectable immune system problems for whatever reason, we will have to take a closer look at individual bio profiles. I’m sure that this is an area of research which already exists as a niche—and as the need to solve this seems to becoming more urgent—will be absolutely essential as the problems multiply in our population. I haven’t researched this, myself, but wonder if the autism problem is growing in other countries, and if so, where. This is probably a simple search, but it just occurred to me.

we also have many children surviving may things they would never have been saved from before in earlier times. Myself, i survived meningitis and encephalitis when i was 15. It left me so badly damaged that my folks didnt want me, and i was raised by a foster parent for the latter half of my teen years. He used to remind them i was injured and not “retarded!”
the memory still hurts.
I look and act ok now, but it took 17 years before i felt i was “all right.” Now i just suffer many small lingering effect that the highly functional, minimally autistic do.
soooo.
Someone else here described kids with autism as usually having other issues too…. i think of these deals as chains of issues all interconnected and creating symptoms that entwine.

High fever will get you brain damage. water on the brain will get you Brain damage (I know) But is the effect autism or autism like? Neurodiagnostics is still in its infancy. The brain just isnt very well understood and how it is sensitive in some people but not others is a mystery.
I simply cannot take certain medicines. They will make me sick or even kill me.
At this point science cant say why me and not someone else. They can guess it had something to do with my illness which i should not have lived thru. But thats it.
My kid, who is adopted, also has no such issues. she is head injured too but from a physical trauma, and tolerates many things i could never dream of taking. SO i believe theres a genetic component in there somewhere to do with this sensitivity. I suspect its like an allergy.
but you know what?
Im not a Dr so i just dont know.
And my drs at UCLA tell me they dont know either, and they are the best.