The Vaccine / Autism question has not been answered...

This link will take you to abcnews.com - to hear a 5 minute video clip.   The woman speaking is Dr. Bernadine Healy, former head of the NIH (Nat'l Institute of Health), and most recently head of the Red Cross. 

Click here to watch.

Dr. Healy is a very well respected mainstream doctor and leader in the medical community who has had the COURAGE to speak out against our government's health agencies' refusal to thoroughly study any links between vaccines and autism.

Her point in this clip is that there is most likely a group of children who are more susceptible to vaccine injury than the general population.   She believes (or rather, says that she knows) that government health officials won't study this subset of affected children, because they fear the vaccine program as a whole will suffer, when they can identify the susceptible group.

It's worth watching.

Alternative Vaccine Schedules

Hello all!   I've had so many people asking for alternative vaccination schedules, so I'm posting a couple of them.   These are both pretty "middle of the road" - not mainstream, but not drastically different, either.   

I would personally lean toward Dr. Cave's version (since that's what Tom's doc in Florida recommended), over Dr. Sears', but either one is more sensible than the AAP one.

Click here for Dr. Stephanie Cave's recommended schedule, and

Click here for Dr. Robert Sears' recommended schedule.

I know, I know... it's that crazy mom again - but there is plenty of real science questioning the safety of our vaccine schedule (despite what Amanda Peet says!) and really, except for the inconvenience, there's no harm.   They still get vaccinated by school age.

If your child is on an alternative vaccine schedule, or if you're not vaccinating until the child is older, you may need the exemption/waiver form for preschools, day cares or elementary schools.  Public schools are required to accept the waivers, and I've submitted these to three different private schools and no one's ever even mentioned it to me.

Here's the link: Vaccine Exemption Form .    See how easy that is?

AACK! Flu Shot Fever!

Okay, so here goes the crazy mom again.   Give me a second to hop up on my soap box.

Now...

My (not) favorite person, Julie Geberding, CDC Director, was quoted as saying she "has a smile on her face this year because we are looking at a wonderful supply of flu vaccine this year."

I just read that the CDC is recommending not just one (mercury and aluminum-laden) flu shot for babies, but TWO flu shots, only one month apart, for the youngest children.

The CDC states that 86 children died from the flu last year.  That is a tragedy.

There are approximately 1.5 million children in the U.S. with autism.  That is a national crisis.

If you feel you MUST get a flu shot this year, for you or your child, please request the Thimerosal free version.   This is the one without the mercury, though it still contains aluminum, another known neurotoxin.

And if you are pregnant, please please please - choose the Thimerosal free version.  Wish I had.  I'm not saying the flu shot in my first trimester caused Big T's autism, but it certainly can't help.   Plus, when there's an option, why take the risk?

Okay, off my soapbox now.  By the way, if you have a chance to read Jenny McCarthy's new book Warrior Mothers, you'll be glad you did.  It's filled with autism recovery stories!

Detox: the series begins

I am the proud mama of two sweet little boys.   My older son, we'll call him "Big T", has autism.

So many people ask me what I think causes autism, so I'll give you my opinions here on "A Mama Told Me" from time to time.     Keep in mind these are my opinions, based on my research and consultations with doctors and experts (and a bunch of other people WAY smarter than I am) - but if this was all cut and dry simple, we'd have figured it out by now.  So here goes:   

Genetic predisposition + environmental insult = Autism.

I believe some children are less able to detoxify all the gunk we put in our bodies.  So when the are exposed to outside toxins, their bodies can't filter and excrete the gunk out as fast as it's coming in, and they get pushed past their "toxic tipping point", and descend into autism.

Kind of like someone born with a deadly peanut allergy.    Genetics, plus the toxic insult (in this case, peanuts) causes a terrible reaction.

And I agree with a lot of the newer research that says that the autism spectrum is really a long line - with ADHD/allergies/asthma at one end, and full-syndrome, non-verbal autism at the other.     So maybe a child who would have just been "ADHD" would be pushed down into autism after a toxic exposure, and perhaps a completely healthy child is pushed into ADHD or allergies and asthma.

I know, I know, I sound like a nut.   This, coming from the chick who's always preferred the indoors, welcomed all chemicals, and loves air conditioning.   I never even used to wash my produce.   (Except when I had company, of course.)

But I believe this is very real, and our children are the canaries in the coal mine.

But don't freak out - all we need to do is to try to be better than we were before.   In the coming weeks, I'll post about ideas for reducing our toxic loads that even lazy moms like me can do. 

For now, if you're totally antsy to learn more, visit www.tacanow.com for lots of info.