U.S. Autism Rates Jump 30% From 2012

TXRabbit
what about the giant horse-pill "vitamins" the pregnant mothers are given? Any thoughts?

My wife didn't take em and both of my girls are 101% normal.

just sayin

I am going to have to comment on this. I took prenatals religiously with my 1st kid. About half the time with my 2nd and I never took it with my 3rd.

I was always a little sensitive to vitamins. They made me hyper and I could not sleep well. As an adult, this is still the case. My peds wanted to put the kids on vitamins and I did. They were awful! They were hyper, could not focus, irritable, etc!!! This is the main reason I decided to skip it all together while pregnant with my 3rd child.

Cereal (any kind - even gluten free) does the same thing to my kids. And that stuff is fortified with vitamins.

I just thought that was interesting you brought that up.

rickymouse
reply to post by watchitburn

 

If it was from exposure to lead, there would have been a lot more autism years ago. People ate more wild game shot with lead shot years ago. Also there was more lead based paint being used years ago. There was lead poisoning but a lot less autism. The pesticides years ago did not cause autism, or the rates of these diseases would be lowering, not increasing. Now they have changed the pesticides and incorporated nano technology in the pesticides and miticides they spray on fresh veggies. We can't change the diet as fast as we have, most people will have some effect from that.

Now the only thing that follows this increase seems to be the increase in the number of vaccinations. Which ones could be causing the problem....who knows....it could even be a combination. It could even be the endocrine disruptors that mothers consume causing the child's mind not to form properly. These disruptors are in some foods naturally, mothers should not eat foods too much that are goitinogens or foods wrapped in plastics containing these things. When the mind is forming, a tiny bit of this may cause problems.

But there is no undeniable proof. Some of these changes take two generations to manifest, a small change being made the first generation that leads to another change the following generation. Notice how they sort of blame us for the problem instead of the businesses and FDA pushing this stuff as safe. Of course it is our fault, we let the FDA and USDA do this. We allow people who profit from selling stuff that has not been properly evaluated by diverse testing to market their products. Oh well, it gives us something to do taking care of these people with autism, it creates jobs for the medical industry.

reply to post by Grimpachi

It also suggests that treatment should start early in childhood, when the brain is capable of rewiring to work around damaged areas.

That part seems to be the most important thing to come from this finding so far. Encouraging also that something can actually be done to help improve the situation of those affected.

Acronym Diseases and their Causes: (a very partial list)

ADHD: (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)

Cause: Parents who can't control their children. these parents also think "Sesame Street" is a good role model with their 20 second blurbs, thus programming kids into short attention spans. Also, the kids are bored with nothing to do and a lack of exercise plus sugary food. No wonder they are "hyper" active.

Asperger's Syndrome:

Cause: Most noted in kids who are capable of concentrating well enough to shut out the outside world. Kids into video games is a good example. Who else is diagnosed? Bill Gates. Why? he's too smart. It's a catch-all disease with kids at the extreme end actually suffering a lack of control.

OCD: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Cause: Kids who are neater than the slobs around them, including parents. It's a label for kids who are told to clean up their rooms and actually do. Parents sending their kids to Montessori school, originally designed for slow learners who had to be taught to put blocks in a row. Also for kids who actually wash their hands or brush their teeth without being prodded.

AD: Attachment Disorder

Cause: Label for kids who really don't like other people very much, such as those who have figured out their parents are idiots at an early age. Adults who view marriage and having kids and buying a house with a white picket fence with horror are often accused of AD.

PTSD: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Cause: Originally reserved for soldiers who reacted negatively to extreme combat situations (previously called "Shell Shock") the term is now liberally applied to anyone who has gone through the "horrors" of boot camp, been forced to march more than a mile with a backpack, or has been in a car wreck, an abusive relationship, or observed the same on television.

SAD: Separation Anxiety Disorder

Cause: People who can't handle being away from "home." Has been used most recently to justify people taking pigs on airplanes because of the psychological trauma of being separated from said pigs.

many of these diseases have roots in real diseases with people who actually do suffer from them, but "increased awareness" by people and associations with a vested interest in promoting said diseases have caused excessive labeling of people with behavior that is slightly different from the norm. In extreme cases this has resulted in institutionalization of people who would otherwise be considered quite normal. Labeling has also been used to explain aberrant behavior that could be explained by bad parenting and social rejection by "normal" people who reject any responsibility for causing such behaviors themselves.

Quote- ..."If it was from exposure to lead, there would have been a lot more autism years ago..."

My Reply- I grew up in the 50's (age 3 to 13) with a mildly autistic brother that no one diagnosed ever, so many back then were missed. My brother is 4 years older and is also a savant, with very high IQ, highly educated, claimed to have a photographic memory, but no social skills or interest in others. I have no memory of ever playing with my older brother, little memory of him even talking to me (granted I was an annoying little brother). He has children who have little relationship with him, nor did he have attachments to our parents. The hallmark of the disease is lack of social bonding or attachment.

So my point, its was not well known in the past and maybe often missed. Also my father was a plumber, and my mother used lead pencils for eyebrow mascara every day. My dad worked with toxic white lead putty which I used to play with, and of course, living in an old east coast city there was lead car exhaust, lead water pipes, and I read that back then something like 1/3 of all city residents had elevated lead levels. Being left handed and using lead pencils in school, my hand was smeared with lead all day every day. I have a very high IQ like my brother, but was in special ed. type classes and developmentally delayed until high school.

So I think my family was impacted by lead poisoning, maybe causing mild autism in my brother and developmental issues with me. After leaving home as a young adult, abilities gradually grew as well as achievements, making me feel that something held us back as both my brother as we both became very successful professionals, however, still with some social deficits. I have strong emotions and caring relationships, my brother is mostly a loner still. In short, its hard to compare then and now and people forget how widespread exposure to many toxins were then, are even today.

reply to post by retsdeeps1


Interesting story. You may be right. But since the time we grew up lead has been steadily eliminated from our environment. There is no more lead in paint babies can chew on. Lead mascara is no longer a product. Lead has been systematically removed from plumbing pipes to glue. A given home environment is much less lead-intensive than it was in the fifties.

Yet the incidence of said diseases is increasing. One would have expected the opposite.

reply to post by retsdeeps1


Now your brothers autism didn't effect his ability to learn at all. The exposure to lead you had did not limit your ability to succeed. The effects of lead can be dampened by eating eggs, the albumin in eggs attaches to the lead and keeps it from being absorbed. Onions and garlic remove lead from the body. There are other foods that people ate those days and still that removed toxins from the body. When people were told eggs were bad for us, that is when lead and mercury became a problem...from listening to people looking narrowmindedly at one bad property of foods. This narrowmindedness is dangerous. Even the mercury in fish is usually bound and it will not get absorbed most times. If you overcook the fish, it can become a problem.

Half of what they are saying is crap. People had autism and they did all right in life, but now that they have classified it as a disease, these kids will not achieve in life because they are treated as damaged goods. The same goes with ADHD and other diseases, these kids just need to start consuming foods that are right for them. You can't feed a kid with a slow metabolism foods such as broccoli and you can't be feeding a kid with a fast metabolism sugar or cinnamon. Parents have to observe their kids and get them used to a diet that helps them fit into society. One size does not fit all. The idea to feed kids some of the foods in school that they decided to feed them because they are good for some kids will cause problems in other kids. The people running this are crazy, they know nothing about metabolism...they cannot see out of the box that they were put in from the knowledge they hold. No person is the same as another person...some kids need sugar just to operate like others and others need goitinogens to settle down. Our society is amuck, not every kid needs to excel in sports and needs gym class. Just because a kid can't run in gym doesn't mean he can't be a rocket scientist. Kids have problems, they need to work them out and the adults need to learn that one kid will not be the same as other kids. The idea is to get everyone working together so that means a diet needs to be designed for this to happen.

greencmp

redhorse
reply to post by watchitburn

 

Autism has a direct genetic cause. There is added material to specific genes and even a doubling in some cases. There is a very real chance that autism is simply a part of our genetic heritage that has become more successful in contemporary society than it was in the past, so there is a breeding reinforcement of this trait. This could be very simple and everyone is so busy looking for that one particular tree that they can't see the forest for the distraction.

Hmm, that is an interesting postulate.

You are saying that because our anti-darwinian cooperative society has not eliminated the tendency of some lineages to mutate toward the autism spectrum and that genetic predisposition is reinforcing that trend through subsequent breeding.

However, this seems to be happening too quickly for the cause to be that alone but, a valid hypothesis that should be explored.

edit on 30-3-2014 by greencmp because: (no reason given)

Close, but not quite what I am saying. First of all I have to disagree that we live in an anti-Darwinian society. The one thing that has evolved the most quickly and determined human success is our brain. Part of the nearly exponential evolution of that unique brain is in part because we are so socially complex and a cooperative species. 2 million years ago we needed to figure out how to work together in sophisticated ways or die. Our societies and cooperation contribute to the evolution of our best survival trait, not negate it.

While we are not as equipped to run down prey and kill it as we were even 500 years ago, we are still evolving and there is nothing on the planet or in the fossil record that we can find that has evolved as radically and as quickly as the human brain. This evolution directly correlates to those social factors. The technological schema that led to the computer that you are typing on was created by a higher than statistically average number of at least higher functioning people on the autistic spectrum. As our society becomes more and more dependent upon this technology to continue to function many that may have been shoved to a lower social strata because of their deficits in social skills are rising to positions of greater prominence and therefor greater mate choice.

Another factor is that with success comes influence. As these programmers and engineers become more in demand and make up more and more of the middle and upper middle class (or greater) autism suddenly becomes an issue that matters to society. It's going to get more attention than it did when most people on the spectrum were just social misfits and loners that were on the marginalized fringe.

Also, mate selection is affected in society as a whole. These traits that in a more practical and less abstract society would be counter-survival are now traits that indicate a greater propensity for success. Whether we realize it or not, that capacity with abstract systems is becoming reproductively as competitive as physical capacity. Even "neurotypical" people are selecting more and more for some manifestation of these traits. This results in exponential reinforcement of those autistic traits through just a few generations. Two people who may be higher functioning on the spectrum can reinforce those traits in their offspring; in short they have a greater chance of having a child who manifests more pronounced behavior associated with that genetic propensity.

I am diagnosed on the autistic spectrum (Asperger's), my husband I suspect is somewhere on that spectrum. Our daughter has more social trouble than either one of us by far. However, she figured out how to use an animation program which required understanding code, some programming and half of the instructions were Japanese when she was 9. Completely anecdotal for what it is worth, and I feel compelled to confess that I have a proverbial dog in this hunt.

reply to post by ManFromEurope


One Vaccination can cause autism. Children don't normally go from being healthy, active, communicative, to withdrawn with impaired social interaction without some kind of primer. One vaccination though doesn't usually have such a pronounced adverse affect on a healthy functioning immune system. But en.wikipedia.org... requires nearly 40 vaccinations by age 18. The earliest vaccination within 72 hours of birth.

That has been proven by all scientific standards

The science is tainted by bias. Do some more reading. If you are not an immunologist, then you are making blanket claim in ignorance.

redhorse

greencmp

redhorse
reply to post by watchitburn

 

Autism has a direct genetic cause. There is added material to specific genes and even a doubling in some cases. There is a very real chance that autism is simply a part of our genetic heritage that has become more successful in contemporary society than it was in the past, so there is a breeding reinforcement of this trait. This could be very simple and everyone is so busy looking for that one particular tree that they can't see the forest for the distraction.

Hmm, that is an interesting postulate.

You are saying that because our anti-darwinian cooperative society has not eliminated the tendency of some lineages to mutate toward the autism spectrum and that genetic predisposition is reinforcing that trend through subsequent breeding.

However, this seems to be happening too quickly for the cause to be that alone but, a valid hypothesis that should be explored.

edit on 30-3-2014 by greencmp because: (no reason given)

Close, but not quite what I am saying. First of all I have to disagree that we live in an anti-Darwinian society. The one thing that has evolved the most quickly and determined human success is our brain. Part of the nearly exponential evolution of that unique brain is in part because we are so socially complex and a cooperative species. 2 million years ago we needed to figure out how to work together in sophisticated ways or die. Our societies and cooperation contribute to the evolution of our best survival trait, not negate it.

While we are not as equipped to run down prey and kill it as we were even 500 years ago, we are still evolving and there is nothing on the planet or in the fossil record that we can find that has evolved as radically and as quickly as the human brain. This evolution directly correlates to those social factors. The technological schema that led to the computer that you are typing on was created by a higher than statistically average number of at least higher functioning people on the autistic spectrum. As our society becomes more and more dependent upon this technology to continue to function many that may have been shoved to a lower social strata because of their deficits in social skills are rising to positions of greater prominence and therefor greater mate choice.

Another factor is that with success comes influence. As these programmers and engineers become more in demand and make up more and more of the middle and upper middle class (or greater) autism suddenly becomes an issue that matters to society. It's going to get more attention than it did when most people on the spectrum were just social misfits and loners that were on the marginalized fringe.

Also, mate selection is affected in society as a whole. These traits that in a more practical and less abstract society would be counter-survival are now traits that indicate a greater propensity for success. Whether we realize it or not, that capacity with abstract systems is becoming reproductively as competitive as physical capacity. Even "neurotypical" people are selecting more and more for some manifestation of these traits. This results in exponential reinforcement of those autistic traits through just a few generations. Two people who may be higher functioning on the spectrum can reinforce those traits in their offspring; in short they have a greater chance of having a child who manifests more pronounced behavior associated with that genetic propensity.

I am diagnosed on the autistic spectrum (Asperger's), my husband I suspect is somewhere on that spectrum. Our daughter has more social trouble than either one of us by far. However, she figured out how to use an animation program which required understanding code, some programming and half of the instructions were Japanese when she was 9. Completely anecdotal for what it is worth, and I feel compelled to confess that I have a proverbial dog in this hunt.

Great explanation, thanks for the clarification. BTW, by anti-darwinian, I just meant that we don't euthanize less than perfect children.

I have a lot of experience with autistic kids who are much further along the spectrum than aspergers so I was imagining it from that perspective. For high functioning autistics who become financially successful and thus economically viable mates, I can see what you are getting at.

Still not sure if the statistics would reflect that assessment but, it is an angle I hadn't considered. It's the accelerated timeframe and the ubiquity with which this phenomenon appears to be manifesting which gives me pause.

th3dudeabides
If you are not an immunologist, then you are making blanket claim in ignorance.

How many immunologists are claiming vaccines cause autism?

I will throw in on this.

The following is my opinion, and my opinion only, based on my personal experience.

Ayla was born in 2009. The ENTIRE first year, she did not sleep, cholic. Once the first year was over, the cholic slowly went away.
She was social with us, but anyone else she would scream. As she got older, we were missing milestones.
She crawled late.
She walked late.
Speech - she did not speak until March of 2013 (3yrs old).
Social - we could not keep her around other kids. She would lash out, biting, scratching, etc. I would ALWAYS find her, by herself at Daycare.
Toys and imaginative play - Ayla did not play with toys. She played with books (if you can picture that). She did not line things up or stack, but did not really play house, tea party, etc. She has just now started imagitive play (more on that later).

Vaccinations - I do not believe these are the cause. Why? In my personal experience and opinion, Ayla did not seem right from the get go, way before any vaccinations.

Cause - No clue. I believe it could be anything in the environment, anything from pesticides, processed food, hell it could be cell phones for all I know. Every article I have read about the cause of Autism is theory, and thats it. Nothing you say will convince me otherwise of a one stop shop for a cause.

Diagnosis - She is high functioning. You have to have a little knowledge on the subject and understand the "Spectrum" they use now to diagnose kids. Do I feel they are overdiagnosing kids now? Yes. It is because of the spectrum they have come up with. Could over diagnosing be the cause of the increase in cases? Sure. Do I feel that more children are being born with it though? Again, yes.

Treatment - someone earlier mentioned early intervention. yes, this is key and the most important thing you can do from the get go. Early intervention has helped Ayla go from not speaking last March, to one year later saying sentences. ABA therapy is huge for behavior. Speaking of behavior, you have to understand that autistc kids do not have tantrums, they have meltdowns. They are DIFFERENT.

Because of early treatment, my daughter is doing WAY better. We struggle with behavior, social, and speech/comprehension, but are getting there.

If you guys want to bounce anything off me, let me know.

Some random guesses...

1. Plastics. Used heavily in all kinds of food packaging. Keeps the food from getting contaminated, but may leach out other chemicals. Not all these things are friendly when ingested, some act like or disrupt horomones. Then when doing stuff like cooking in the microwave where the plastic heats up and gets soft, it's more likely those chemicals leach out. (If I have a choice when microwaving, I use glassware.)

2. Excessive exposure to sugars. Likely used in food a lot more than it used to be in years past. Everything oversweetened hypes up the dopamine response. May even act to burn it out or dampen it if constant enough. The body also responds to other sugars by cutting down gluclose which is a sugar used to fuel the brain. Who knows what a high sugar diet does if overdone in early development? As if some forms of diabetes wasn't bad enough from a diet with too much sugar.

3. Diet everything. Comparable to too much sugar, but perhaps worse? Basically these are foods sweetened with what are modified sugar molecules.These sugar-like substances might even be attempted to be metabolized by the neural system if not attempted to be converted to fat or burned elsewhere. Unlike natural sugars, these throw in some chlorines or other compounds in the metabolic process, and it likely upsets things. (Radical formation, chemical breakdowns, etc.) Basically it's a form of mild poison. (Some fake sugars are even used as ant poison because the ants can't process it. But here we are as humans eating the same stuff on purpose?) As an adult, I find some fake sugars used in diet drinks give me a massive migraine if I end up consuming them, so I avoid the stuff. Makes me wonder what that might do if some pregnant lady drinks or eats "diet" stuff all the time.

Of course I have no proof to say those guesses are valid causes of autism in early development, but likely some things worthy of further study if you're working in the field of medicine or biology.

reply to post by watchitburn


I have a child who is 3 and already diagnosed with Autism. He suffers from the classic, mostly textbook symptoms of Autism.

From experience and as an ECE and Resource teacher, I have concluded a few things about Autism, at least in the case of my son.

He inherited Autism from his father. My husband is a high functioning Autistic. Not every child inherits the genetic component (whatever it is). My husband has 6 children, only 1 has Autism. Although my son was born Autistic, I have noticed and pinpointed at least one environmental factor which contributes to his symptoms and worsens his more negative behaviors.

Milk. My son was a zombie before I removed milk and other diary products from his diet. In 48 hours upon the removal of all diary products, all ADD type symptoms dissipated and were never to be seen again. In the first week off diary, his speech improved. In the second week, he took off his shoes, in the third week he unzipped his coat and removed it. These things may not seem like complicated tasks, but to a child who suffers from Autism, it's nothing short of a miracle when they can help themselves. I just got my son back from the zombie state he lived in and we are working really hard to play catch up (and he is doing great). He is also kissing, hugging and sitting on my lap for the first time in his life. I don't know why milk was damaging his brain, but it was. I have read the milk protein Casein causes damage to the myelin sheath, the covering around the axon of neurons. This may or may not be true but I know two things for sure: My son inherited his Autism, and there are environmental factors that directly affect his behavior and ability to function in all developmental areas.

I do not believe Immunization CAUSES autism. I DO believe they can harm a pre-existing Autism condition and make it worse.

And because of that I am scared to give him his last immunization shot, because I know his body/brain and digestive tract is particular. I have seen what milk does to my son with my own eyes. He is not the same child he was 4 months ago. Thankfully.

reply to post by Nyiah


Although there has yet to be an epigenetic link to autism I wouldn't be surprised if one is found. Given the increased stress parents including mothers are under in this current climate it would make sense to look at what environmental issues (such as stress, diet etc) have on brain development in all trimesters. It is difficult to get good numbers on global autism rates but some data suggests developing countries may experience lower levels. Also the US, UK, and Australia do tend to over diagnose. When I was a child I would have diagnosed with ADD but once I got out of school and into Uni I did much better and left with 3 degrees and a tested IQ of 162. I think children who just don't fit the normal distribution are being labelled, where others truly have issues.

reply to post by lardo5150


This is not my thread but I would like to thank you for your balanced opinions and for sharing your thoughts. For what its worth I agree with much you have stated. I hope you see continued improvements, and remember these kids are quite special in many ways. xxxx

There is no debate regarding the relationship to vaccines and autism because there is no relationship.

My theory, population increase has spread the gene responsible for it coupled with improved detection methods (or greater focus on detecting it).

The heart-wrenching testimonials of parents in this thread underscores how OUTRAGEOUS it is that this is not the number one health concern in the U.S. if not worldwide.

Talking heads drone on and on about obesity among children...really!? I'm quite certain that parents dealing with ASD would rather have a pudgey, happy, well adjusted child than one disconnected from the world.

reply to post by watchitburn


Probably too late to post this, but I always wondered why high fructose corn syrup has never (AFAIK) been considered as a possible culprit.

HFCS was rapidly introduced to many processed foods and soft drinks in the U.S. from about 1975 to 1985.

Source

According to the chart here, Incidents of autism started to increase rapidly shortly after.