pautrey2
2008-11-15 17:31:24 UTC
Jenny McCarthy: My son's recovery from autism
Story Highlights
McCarthy believes diet and vitamins helped her son recover from autism
Vaccines played a role in son's autism, she says
McCarthy and Jim Carrey think children being given too many vaccines,
too soon
By Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey
Special to CNN
April 4, 2008
Editor's note: Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey are actors and parents
actively involved in autism-related causes. McCarthy is the author of
the book "Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism."
(CNN) -- In light of the recent Hannah Poling decision, in which the
federal court conceded that vaccines could have contributed to her
autism, we think the tide is finally turning in the direction of
parents like us who have been shouting concerns from our rooftops for
years.
Autism is a debilitating disorder, which according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, is suffered by 1 in 150 kids, making
it more common than childhood cancer, diabetes and AIDS combined.
Recently, England and Ireland reported that autism is affecting one in
58 individuals.
Is it any wonder that autism has become many new parents' No. 1 fear?
We've met some of the most amazing moms and dads who are forging their
own path to prevention and recovery. When our son, Evan, was diagnosed
with autism we were lucky enough to benefit from their knowledge and
experience. Evan has been healed to a great extent by many
breakthroughs that, while perhaps not scientifically proven, have
definitely helped Evan and many other children who are recovering from
autism. Parents vs. scientists: Watch the latest test case »
There are some who wonder what we mean when we say "recovering" from
autism. They confuse the word recover with cure. While you may not be
able to cure an injury caused in a terrible car accident, you can
recover; you can regain many skills that you once lost. In the case of
autism, we think there are treatments that often bring about such
healing, so that the observable symptoms of the condition no longer
exist. Even though we may no longer see any symptoms of autism, we
can't say a child is "cured" because we do not know what they would
have been like had they never been injured.
We believe what helped Evan recover was starting a gluten-free, casein-
free diet, vitamin supplementation, detox of metals, and anti-fungals
for yeast overgrowth that plagued his intestines. Once Evan's
neurological function was recovered through these medical treatments,
speech therapy and applied behavior analysis helped him quickly learn
the skills he could not learn while he was frozen in autism. After we
implemented these therapies for one year, the state re-evaluated Evan
for further services. They spent five minutes with Evan and said,
"What happened? We've never seen a recovery like this." Watch Jenny
McCarthy talk about her son's autism »
Evan is now 5 years old and what might surprise a lot of you is that
we've never been contacted by a single member of the CDC, the American
Academy of Pediatrics, or any other health authority to evaluate and
understand how Evan recovered from autism. When Evan meets doctors and
neurologists, to this day they tell us he was misdiagnosed -- that he
never had autism to begin with. It's as if they are wired to believe
that children can't recover from autism. Watch CDC chief on vaccines,
autism »
So where's the cavalry? Where are all the doctors beating down our
door to take a closer look at Evan? We think we know why they haven't
arrived. Most of the parents we've met who have recovered their child
from autism as we did (and we have met many) blame vaccines for their
child's autism.
We think our health authorities don't want to open this can of worms,
so they don't even look or listen. While there is strong debate on
this topic, many parents of recovered children will tell you they
didn't treat their child for autism; they treated them for vaccine
injury. Read about latest fight over vaccines and autism
Many people aren't aware that in the 1980s our children received only
10 vaccines by age 5, whereas today they are given 36 immunizations,
most of them by age 2. With billions of pharmaceutical dollars, could
it be possible that the vaccine program is becoming more of a profit
engine then a means of prevention?
We believe autism is an environmental illness. Vaccines are not the
only environmental trigger, but we do think they play a major role. If
we are going to solve this problem and finally start to reverse the
rate of autism, we need to consider changing the vaccine schedule,
reducing the number of shots given and removing certain ingredients
that could be toxic to some children.
We take into account that some children have reactions to medicines
like penicillin, for example, yet when it comes to vaccines we are
operating as if our kids have a universal tolerance for them. We are
acting like ONE SIZE FITS ALL. That is, at the very least, a huge
improbability.
Even if the CDC is not convinced of a link between vaccines and
autism, changing the vaccine schedule should be seriously considered
as a precautionary measure. (If you would like to see some ideas for
alternative schedules, check out http://generationrescue.org.)
We wish to state, very clearly, that we are not against all vaccines,
but we do believe there is strong evidence to suggest that some of the
ingredients may be hazardous and that our children are being given too
many, too soon!
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the
writers.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/02/mccarthy.autsimtreatment/
Story Highlights
McCarthy believes diet and vitamins helped her son recover from autism
Vaccines played a role in son's autism, she says
McCarthy and Jim Carrey think children being given too many vaccines,
too soon
By Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey
Special to CNN
April 4, 2008
Editor's note: Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey are actors and parents
actively involved in autism-related causes. McCarthy is the author of
the book "Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism."
(CNN) -- In light of the recent Hannah Poling decision, in which the
federal court conceded that vaccines could have contributed to her
autism, we think the tide is finally turning in the direction of
parents like us who have been shouting concerns from our rooftops for
years.
Autism is a debilitating disorder, which according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, is suffered by 1 in 150 kids, making
it more common than childhood cancer, diabetes and AIDS combined.
Recently, England and Ireland reported that autism is affecting one in
58 individuals.
Is it any wonder that autism has become many new parents' No. 1 fear?
We've met some of the most amazing moms and dads who are forging their
own path to prevention and recovery. When our son, Evan, was diagnosed
with autism we were lucky enough to benefit from their knowledge and
experience. Evan has been healed to a great extent by many
breakthroughs that, while perhaps not scientifically proven, have
definitely helped Evan and many other children who are recovering from
autism. Parents vs. scientists: Watch the latest test case »
There are some who wonder what we mean when we say "recovering" from
autism. They confuse the word recover with cure. While you may not be
able to cure an injury caused in a terrible car accident, you can
recover; you can regain many skills that you once lost. In the case of
autism, we think there are treatments that often bring about such
healing, so that the observable symptoms of the condition no longer
exist. Even though we may no longer see any symptoms of autism, we
can't say a child is "cured" because we do not know what they would
have been like had they never been injured.
We believe what helped Evan recover was starting a gluten-free, casein-
free diet, vitamin supplementation, detox of metals, and anti-fungals
for yeast overgrowth that plagued his intestines. Once Evan's
neurological function was recovered through these medical treatments,
speech therapy and applied behavior analysis helped him quickly learn
the skills he could not learn while he was frozen in autism. After we
implemented these therapies for one year, the state re-evaluated Evan
for further services. They spent five minutes with Evan and said,
"What happened? We've never seen a recovery like this." Watch Jenny
McCarthy talk about her son's autism »
Evan is now 5 years old and what might surprise a lot of you is that
we've never been contacted by a single member of the CDC, the American
Academy of Pediatrics, or any other health authority to evaluate and
understand how Evan recovered from autism. When Evan meets doctors and
neurologists, to this day they tell us he was misdiagnosed -- that he
never had autism to begin with. It's as if they are wired to believe
that children can't recover from autism. Watch CDC chief on vaccines,
autism »
So where's the cavalry? Where are all the doctors beating down our
door to take a closer look at Evan? We think we know why they haven't
arrived. Most of the parents we've met who have recovered their child
from autism as we did (and we have met many) blame vaccines for their
child's autism.
We think our health authorities don't want to open this can of worms,
so they don't even look or listen. While there is strong debate on
this topic, many parents of recovered children will tell you they
didn't treat their child for autism; they treated them for vaccine
injury. Read about latest fight over vaccines and autism
Many people aren't aware that in the 1980s our children received only
10 vaccines by age 5, whereas today they are given 36 immunizations,
most of them by age 2. With billions of pharmaceutical dollars, could
it be possible that the vaccine program is becoming more of a profit
engine then a means of prevention?
We believe autism is an environmental illness. Vaccines are not the
only environmental trigger, but we do think they play a major role. If
we are going to solve this problem and finally start to reverse the
rate of autism, we need to consider changing the vaccine schedule,
reducing the number of shots given and removing certain ingredients
that could be toxic to some children.
We take into account that some children have reactions to medicines
like penicillin, for example, yet when it comes to vaccines we are
operating as if our kids have a universal tolerance for them. We are
acting like ONE SIZE FITS ALL. That is, at the very least, a huge
improbability.
Even if the CDC is not convinced of a link between vaccines and
autism, changing the vaccine schedule should be seriously considered
as a precautionary measure. (If you would like to see some ideas for
alternative schedules, check out http://generationrescue.org.)
We wish to state, very clearly, that we are not against all vaccines,
but we do believe there is strong evidence to suggest that some of the
ingredients may be hazardous and that our children are being given too
many, too soon!
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the
writers.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/02/mccarthy.autsimtreatment/