Jenny McCarthy calls Bulls***!

**sparkly** · April 3rd, 2008, 07:58 PM

I have to admit I'm naive on this subject, but I think it's wonderful that Jenny McCarthy is getting the word out about Autism. Whether or not she's 100% correct remains to be seen, but the important fact is that she's discussing it openly.

**Laurent** · April 3rd, 2008, 08:24 PM

Originally Posted by NoNoRehab

I for one always trust the medical opinions of a former Playboy media cum MTV personality over doctors and scientists.

**baked_tater** · April 3rd, 2008, 08:30 PM

I saw that clip earlier, and thought she was passionate and genuine, and she had those fools on the panel not knowing how to respond to her!! I wanted to smack the cretin who said, Now Jenny lets bring it down a notch...how patronizing, and deflective of him.

You rock Jenny!

I LOVE her haircut. I think thats how I am gonna do mine.

**Trixie** · April 3rd, 2008, 09:16 PM

Originally Posted by moomies

I'm happy for her that her son's autism has improved (they stressed that he has RECOVERED, but not cured), and that she's very active in the cause.

I saw Jenny on Ellen's show yesterday, and yeah, she used the word recovered...which I thought was odd, since I didn't know it was possible to recover from autism.

**NicoleWasHere** · April 3rd, 2008, 09:18 PM

^ That's because you don't recover from autism. You can do speech therapy to make the autistic person talk a little better (that is, if said person can actually speak...some autism can be severe enough to render the patient non-verbal), but that's just about it. Jenny's just as naive on it as anyone else.

**Trixie** · April 3rd, 2008, 09:22 PM

^^That was my thought too...and I don't really understand the difference between "recovered" and "cured."

**Corsair** · April 3rd, 2008, 09:30 PM

Ok, my 14 year old son has autism. I don't blame the vaccinations. I had my youngest child vaccinated, I have 3 kids and only one with autism. I also don't believe it can be cured, however early intervention can do wonders and has with my son. This is a huge soapbox topic for me. Getting the diagnosis is devastating and as a parent you want to blame something. My personal opinion based on my family and the kids I've been around, is that it's more genetic but environmental factors may play a part. At this point, for me, I just want to make sure my son gets the best he can and am not going to spout off about what I don't know to be fact, there are studies that both support and refute the vaccination being the cause.

ETA: Something that interests me is studying the drug cocktail that is our drinking water and considering the medications that get recycled, that weren't there a couple of generations ago.

**msdeb** · April 3rd, 2008, 09:58 PM

i just get tired of celebs spouting off on all sorts of subjects they think they have knowledge of. i think maybe Jenny has a good case, but overall, celebs act as though they are the end all.

**venue_26** · April 3rd, 2008, 10:00 PM

OK, my understanding of this subject is that some of the vaccinations are a combination of several vaccines (MMR is a big one), Prevnar, and there are some others, as well. Some people believe that the "padding" (not necessarily thimserol) used in the combo drugs can upset genetic issues that are already in children, thus resulting in autism. So, these people are not anti-vaccine, they just wish children can recieve seperate vaccinations (one for the mumps, one for the measles, and one for the ruebella instead of a lump injection of MMR).
There was just a huge case settled last week where the judge ruled that a vaccination caused a little girl's autism because it upset her mitochondrial disorder she was born with. The judge ruled that had she not received the lump-dose vaccine, she would not have gotten autism.

That being said, I will 100% vaccinate my children, but because of a personal decision, will be paying extra to receive seperate doses of every vaccine, every month, instead of one huge shot every 3 months.

**baked_tater** · April 3rd, 2008, 10:14 PM

My oldest is 17 and even way back in them days, I simply asked my doctor to please space out his vaccinations. I did not have internet back then, but I managed to sign up for baby mags, got free info from the health dept, etc and actually ran across this info somewhere then. I dont know if there is a link or not, but why chance it if simply spacing out your kids vaccs would be fine?

**Morticia** · April 3rd, 2008, 10:34 PM

My DH and I had a discussion about getting our son his MMR shots. For some reason there was the idea floating around that the mercury that binds the MMR was the potential cause of autism. But after further investigations we couldn't really see a problem, particularly these days as they don't use mercury anymore. It's always a worry though when you get any of the immunisation shots. There's always a small potential for problems, but the risk if you don't have them is much higher.

I can't wait for the day they find the cause and cure. I do worry that my son could suddenly become autistic. From what I understand, it's usually around the two year mark you notice a change? Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
I should learn more about it but I'm a bit scared to look. I'll probably overanalyse him and worry over nothing.

**bellini** · April 3rd, 2008, 10:54 PM

I belong to another board where this was hotly debated. One mother who has an autistic child is convinced vaccines are the cause of his autism. I'm not informed enough to make a decision but truly feel for the parents. It must be so difficult to decide whether to vaccinate or not.

**Corsair** · April 3rd, 2008, 11:30 PM

Originally Posted by bellini

I belong to another board where this was hotly debated. One mother who has an autistic child is convinced vaccines are the cause of his autism. I'm not informed enough to make a decision but truly feel for the parents. It must be so difficult to decide whether to vaccinate or not.

bellini it is scary. After my son's diagnosis, I had one more child. I chose to get her vaccinated but have to admit I was watching her like a hawk developmentally for a while after that. I felt the alternative was worse. It's not an easy call and I don't fault parents either way. Damn it's hard enough to make my own decisions in that realm, not like I have time or energy to tell other people how to do it!

**moomies** · April 3rd, 2008, 11:43 PM

Another thing Jenny said on Larry King was that like 10 years ago, a child would only get something like 12 vaccines, and today 30. I don't know how true this is and I'm just paraphrasing from my crappy memory so the numbers may not be exact (cuz I haven't done any research and I'm also not about to do any) and Jenny was convinced there was a correlation between the rise in autism diagnoses and the number of vaccines a child needs to recieve today.

**mistify** · April 3rd, 2008, 11:56 PM

Originally Posted by moomies

Interestingly enough, it wasn't a MD they had on the show, it was some kinda politician or a scientist (sorry I wasn't paying enough attention at this point cuz I didn't find this as interesting as the previous programming on Anderson Cooper) that wrote a book on pharmaceutical companies and some regulations that were passed then got retracted mumbo jumbo, lawsuit that won based on the contamination and this and that. But what they (or Jenny in particular) strongly believed in was that in a lot of autism cases, the child developed a high fever first and was diagnosed right after being given vaccines.

and Holly Robinson Peete also mentioned the individualized doses of the shot might help, one of her twins is autistic, (the smaller of the two) and her instinct on it was that like with everything people react differently to the vaccines, like with anything. (foods, drugs, etc.)

After that show my Dr changed the time line of vaccines.. for some reason the age of 2 is important.