Autism x 6 Dad Working to Win a Smart Car

A few months back I became a distributor for MonaVie.

My website

Company Awards received: Inc 500 #1 Inc 500 #14 Inc 500 #31
MonaVie takes top honors for Utah growth

I discovered that they had a contest running each month until the end of December. The Grand Prize? A Smart car with a pretty cool paint job.

After six weeks of working on this YouTube entry (click here to watch) my video is: E and the MonaVie Girls. The person who gets the most views each month has the chance to go for the car in January. When I get the most views then, the car is mine!

But I need everyone and their friends, on FaceBook, MySpace, blogs, groups, etc. to tell ALL their friends and their friends, etc. to pull this off. I'd appreciate your help. Thanks!!

Dad

Swine Flu Shots?

Every year the "experts" predict what flu shot is needed for the upcoming season. From many reports and books I've read on the subject (what parent of an Autistic child hasn't studied this subject?) the favored choice is effective less than 25% of the time.

It's a crap shoot.

Then there is the 'extras' that are included in each dose. The thimerosal content of a lot of shots has been greatly reduced, but not necessarily the aluminum or formaldehyde, or the use of fetal and animal tissues in the manufacturing of them.

I've read that this shot DOES include thimerosal. Thanks for your concern CDC, but no thanks!

Autism Rate Now 1 in 100, Still Autism x 6 for Us

1 in 100? It's scary, it's terrible, it's the end of the world!! Naaaah, if you have children with Autism you just learn to deal with it.

However, friends don't come over any more, family avoid you, you're in foreclosure or going bankrupt. If you are so bold as to step out into the outside world you get the "look" or stares usually followed by unsolicited parenting advise.

You may not be able to hold down a regular job. You need a lot of time off. You had the hope that there was a government program, an agency or charitable organization that could help with SOMETHING.

Then 'how life really is' sets in.

After awhile you come to realize its all up to you. You stop feeling sorry for yourself. You stop caring about the mean people, uncaring family members or government indifference to your plight.

You come to accept your life with an Autistic child(ren). Then you learn to embrace it. To appreciate their innocence.

Sure the meltdowns, the poop, the constant messy home STILL aren't that much fun -- but you deal with it. You realize your blessings and find peace in your life.

1 in 100? It's still 6 in 6 for us.

Dad

Autism x 6: Update to Our Main Website

I've made changes, updates and have refocused the meaning of our website: AutismBites

Autism with six children is still not the best part of the day, however we want to focus more on the positive. We've found that certain things work for us and make life A LOT better. Maybe it can help your family too.

Updates are on the main page, about us and links. Who can tell me first, the major change made to our blog?

Dad

Easter Seals Doing a Better Job Then Autism Speaks?

There certainly is strong feelings about Autism Speaks (AS) as an organization, both good and bad. I'm glad for all the awareness they create. We're doing as much as that as we can ourselves. But what is AS doing for Mom and Dad Autism?

Many people get pretty heated when it is brought up that AS is putting their money towards research and nice salaries for company executives. Sure research is all well and good, BUT again, what about Mom and Dad? Learning about the causes of Autism are a bit of a moot point for parents financially strapped trying to help their children with Autism. Wouldn't it be nice if some organization was there for parents... NOW?

Easter Seals to the Rescue

Easter Seals has come out with a new study: Living with Autism Study. Here is some information about it:

Autism affects more than 1.5 million Americans and their families. Critical services and supports are needed to raise a child with autism, but they are few and far between.

In cooperation with the Autism Society of America, Easter Seals surveyed over 2,500 parents of children with autism and typically-developing children -- about daily life, relationships, independence, education, housing, employment, finances and health care.

The results gathered from our groundbreaking autism study paint a startling picture of the life-long fears and anxieties people with autism and their families face ... and the disparities among parents of children with autism as compared to parents of typically developing children:

• Nearly 80% are extremely or very concerned about their child’s independence as an adult.
• Only 14% feel that their child will be able to make life decisions.
• Only 17% think their child will make friends.
• They report that they’re “financially drowning,” with concerns for their child’s financial future.

Thanks to the generous support of MassMutual Financial Group, the findings are now available to you. As an Easter Seals national corporate partner and the study sponsor, MassMutual is committed to serving children and adults with autism through its exclusive SpecialCare program, a solution that gives families living with autism and other disabilities access to information, specialists, and financial strategies that can help improve their quality of life.

Millions of families are desperate for solutions and resources. Easter Seals and others in the autism community are doing their best, but current systems, structures and resources to help people with autism and their families do not adequately meet the growing need, especially for adults with autism.

Easter Seals will use these findings to raise awareness of and advocate for the life-long services families living with autism desperately need.

Story and how to get the study link

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Wow, isn't it about time? I think many were hoping that this is what AS should have been doing years ago. But, finally someone is, Easter Seals. Looking at their website I find that they are like AS and do ask for donations. I'm not sure about the rest of you, but I'm ready to go to an Easter Seals version of Walk for Autism. What do you think?

Dad

(Here is a cute Ammon and Mary pictures with Santa, for those who've asked for cute pictures)

Study Shows Families' Financial Strain From Autism

More than half a million U.S. children have autism with costly health care needs that often put an unprecedented financial strain on their families, national data show.

Compared with parents whose youngsters have chronic health care needs but not autism, those with autistic children are three times more likely to have to quit their jobs or reduce work hours to care for their kids. They pay more for their kids' health needs, spend more time providing or arranging for that care, and are more likely to have money difficulties, the study found.

"This is the first national survey that looked at the impact on families of having kids with special health care needs," said lead author Michael Kogan, a researcher with the government's Maternal and Child Health Bureau.

The results are from a nationally representative 2005-06 survey of nearly 40,000 children with special health care needs. These children have a broad range of chronic conditions, including physical and mental illness, requiring more extensive than usual medical care.

A total of 2,088 children with special health needs had autism, which translates to about 535,000 kids aged 3 to 17 nationwide, the study authors said.

The study appears in December's Pediatrics, being released Monday.

Autism typically involves poor verbal communication, repetitive behaviors such as head-banging, and avoidance of physical or eye contact. Affected children often need many more types of treatment than kids with other chronic conditions, including speech and behavior therapy and sometimes medication. Kogan said that may explain the disproportionate strain on their families.
Jacquie Mace, whose 12-year-old son, Austin, has autism, said the study presents a "very realistic" picture of the challenges affected families face.

Mace said she spends "easily $15,000 to $20,000 out of pocket" yearly on supplies for behavior treatment she provides for her son.

She's still working to pay off a $7,000 bill for dental work Austin had last year. He has to be sedated and hospitalized for dental care because he can't sit still in a chair, Mace explained. Austin's health insurance doesn't cover any of it, she said.

Some states require insurers to cover certain autism treatment while similar proposed measures are pending in others, including Illinois.

Mace hasn't had to quit her job helping local families find autism resources, but knows of many parents who've had to leave work to care for their autistic kids.

She is divorced — another common casualty, she said, of the challenges of caring for autistic kids.

Story link: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/12/01/america/MED-Autisms-Costs.php

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For we that are parents of children with Austism, this story falls into the catagory of: 'about time others figured this out'. Since we have not had anyone come forward to help with the creation and financing of the AutismBites Foundation (see AutismBites website link for more info:
http://www.autismbites.com/foundation.html) we have come to the conclusion that we will have to do it by ourselves. The process and grants to families in need will unfortunately be much slower, my goal is to start helping families this Spring.

Dad

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

First Ammon got it, then Sarah was the next day and then last night Robin had it. So far the rest of us are OK, but we'll see what the weekend will bring. **UPDATE** Saturday: Mary had it last night and Bobby has it today, and on his birthday too. Poor boy...

Dad

Beware of Carmel Financial

Thought I'd give everyone a heads up on this company so you don't have to waste nearly 4 weeks of your time and have your hopes dashed like we just experienced.

They (http://www.carmelfinancial.com/) supposedly have financing for an air cleaning machine that filters the air almost as well as a hospital. If you're like us you worry about your Autistic children and doing anymore environmental damage to their systems with dust, germs, etc. that may be in the air.

Everything was going slow (like I said about 4 weeks) but steady to get financing for the machine. We did not anticipate any problems as we had recently financed a $12,000 car loan. All t's were crossed and i's dotted and we were told to expect delivery this week. Then we found out yesterday, in an email, that since we rent our home our contact was cancelled.

That's swell...

We've lived here 5 years, have a good relationship with the landlord, but we don't qualify. I'd think that with so many mortgages going into default now days that we'd be a better credit risk. May want to avoid this company like the plague.

Bummed Dad

Autism Parents 'Infection Risk'

I've been wondered why we seem to get sick way too often. The color comments are mine.

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Caring for children with developmental problems such as autism or Down's syndrome can weaken parents' immune systems, research suggests.

Researchers at Birmingham University found they had a poorer immune response to a vaccine against pneumonia.

It appears that stress causes the immune system to function less efficiently, the team wrote in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.

Charities called for better support for parents struggling to cope. (Hello, I'm over here ~ hand waving frantically)

Previous work has shown negative effects in elderly people caring for a spouse - but this is the first time that a similar result has been seen in a younger, healthier group providing round-the-clock care, the researchers pointed out.

A total of 60 parents received the pneumococcal vaccine as part of the study - half of whom had children with developmental disabilities.

Blood tests showed that those caring for a child with developmental disability had lower levels of antibodies to the vaccine than those whose children did not have such difficulties.

After one month, 20% of parents providing long-term care had an ineffective immune response, compared to 4% of the control group. At six months this had risen to 48% while the levels in the control group remained the same.

Stress

Study leader Stephen Gallagher said low levels of antibodies suggested parents' ability to fight infection was weaker: "This is a good indication that their immune systems are not functioning efficiently." (Knock me down with a feather!)

Stress was likely to be responsible for the immune deficiency, he added. (Stress? Do any of you get stressed?)

"These parents are sometimes extremely stressed and what they need is appropriate help and training." (Helloooo... me over here again)

Co-author Dr Anna Phillips said parents caring for these children are "incredibly dedicated" and not in a position to take time off. (What's time off? Was it sunny of rainy today? I just didn't get a chance to even look outside today.)

"However, knowing the effects that providing round-the-clock care can have on their health may help raise awareness that these parents need help (helloooooo?) to manage their burden of care."

She said the parents should be added to the list of vulnerable groups eligible for vaccinations such as the flu jab. (no thanks!)

"We are continuing this work by looking at how sleep patterns affect the rates of infection in these parents," she added. (Sleep? Do people really NEED sleep? That's funny, I thought that needing sleep was a myth.)

Amanda Batten, head of policy and campaigns at the National Autistic Society, said: "Carers often display great strength and resilience whilst coping with this complex disability, but many receive very little help and support, and are under considerable stress as a result. (Glad someone out there realises this)

"It is imperative that carers are given access to services such as short break schemes to help them before they reach a crisis point." (Are there such services? We haven't found any.)

Carol Boys, chief executive of the Down's Syndrome Association, added: "I am not surprised at the results of this study. It just confirms what we already suspected might be one of the consequences of the constant stress that families have to endure." (Amen brother... I mean sister!)

Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/7513661.stm Published: 2008/07/19 23:29:32 GMT© BBC MMVIII
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Can we all shout out a big Hallelujah !?! Looks like the British are getting this figured out. Hope we can have more of the same over here soon.

Dad

Government's Defense Of Mercury In Vaccines Shaken By Withdrawal Of Expert Reports

Found this VERY interesting bit of news (highlights are my own):


PRESS RELEASE CONTACTS: For Immediate CoMeD President [Rev. Lisa K. Release Sykes (Richmond, VA) 804-364-8426] July 13, 2008 CoMeD Sci. Advisor [Dr. King (Lake Hiawatha, NJ) 973-263-4843]

WASHINGTON, DC - In the United States Court of Federal Claims, National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, the contention by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), that mercury in vaccines does not cause autism, has suffered an unexpected setback. In a June 27, 2008 Autism Omnibus Proceeding (OAP) conference, attorneys for the DHHS announced that they were withdrawing two key written reports and any statements which relied on those reports. Those key reports, written by two world-renowned toxicologists (Dr. Laszlo Magos, formerly from the Medical Research Council Laboratories, England, and Dr. Thomas Clarkson, from the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY USA), were the toxicological pillars underpinning the government's claim that Thimerosal does not cause autism.

On July 3, 2008, the three OAP Special Masters recorded that they had granted the DHHS' request to withdraw the expert reports of Drs. Magos and Clarkson. In addition, their court order[1] stated: ". respondent would be permitted to withdraw any reliance on those two expert reports, and that we would not consider those reports at all in resolving those test cases."

Ironically, though Drs. Magos and Clarkson were expected to testify to the safety of Thimerosal in vaccines, their previous publications clearly document its significant toxicity. For example, Dr. Clarkson, working under a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), essentially declared that organic mercurial antiseptics, including Thimerosal, should be heavily restricted or withdrawn, "as the fact that mercury readily penetrates intact membranes and is highly toxic seems to have been forgotten" in a peer-reviewed study published in 1977.[2]

With the recent publication of studies proving a link between Thimerosal exposure and autism, the current exodus of experts who are willing to testify for the DHHS that Thimerosal does not cause autism appears to be escalating.

Tellingly, Dr. Bernadine Healy, the former director of the National Institutes of Health, also recently said: "I think the government or certain public health officials in the government have been too quick to dismiss the concerns of these families without studying the population that got sick."
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Our opinion? Autism is a spectrum disorder caused by a spectrum of reasons such as genetics, environmental and/or vaccines.

Dad

Autism Myths

I've had a good reason this time for being gone the last week or so. Somehow I got either a bad case of food poisioning or the worse stomach flu I've ever had in my life.

It started last Thursday and I was just starting to feel like myself again yesterday when my head got clogged and the nose started running. Waaaaaaa!!! Today? I'm probably at 90-95% of normal.

I found this info and thought I'd pass it along:

http://renaeden.autiblogger.com/2008/06/29/autism-myths/

Autism Myths

A diagnosis of autism is not the end of love and hope. But media stories thrive on the most overwhelming and horrifying circumstances. Here are just a few of the myths perpetuated by TV, magazines and movies:

1. Autistic People Are All Alike

Myth: If I’ve met an autistic person (or seen the movie Rain Man), I have a good idea of what all autistic people are like.

Fact: Autistic people are as different from one another as they could be. The only elements that ALL autistic people seem to have in common are unusual difficulty with social communication.

2. Autistic People Don’t Have Feelings

Myth: Autistic people cannot feel or express love or empathy.

Fact: Many — in fact, most — autistic people are extremely capable of feeling and expressing love, though sometimes in idiosyncratic ways! What’s more, many autistic people are far more empathetic than the average person, though they may express their empathy in unusual ways.

3. Autistic People Don’t Build Relationships

Myth: Autistic people cannot build solid relationships with others.

Fact: While it’s unlikely that an autistic child will be a cheerleader, it is very likely that they will have solid relationships with, at the very least, their closest family members. And many autistic people do build strong friendships through shared passionate interests. There are also plenty of autistic people who marry and have satisfying romantic relationships.

4. Autistic People Are a Danger to Society

Myth: Autistic people are dangerous.

Fact: Recent news reports of an individual with Asperger Syndrome committing violent acts have led to fears about violence and autism. While there are many autistic individuals who exhibit violent behaviors, those behaviors are almost always caused by frustration, physical and/or sensory overload, and similar issues. It’s very rare for an autistic person to act violently out of malice.

5. All Autistic People Are Savants

Myth: Autistic people have amazing “savant” abilities, such as extraordinary math skills or musical skills.

Fact: It is true that a relatively few autistic people are “savants.” These individuals have what are called “splinter skills” which relate only to one or two areas of extraordinary ability. By far the majority of autistic people, though, have ordinary or even less-than-ordinary skill sets.

6. Autistic People Have No Language Skills

Myth: Most autistic people are non-verbal or close to non-verbal.

Fact: Individuals with a classic autism diagnosis are sometimes non-verbal or nearly non-verbal. But the autism spectrum also includes extremely verbal individuals with very high reading skills. Diagnoses at the higher end of the spectrum are increasing much faster than diagnoses at the lower end of the spectrum.

7. Autistic People Can’t Do Much of Anything

Myth: I shouldn’t expect much of an autistic person.

Fact: This is one myth that, in my opinion, truly injures our children. Autistic individuals can achieve great things — but only if they’re supported by people who believe in their potential. Autistic people are often the creative innovators in our midst. They see the world through a different lens — and when their perspective is respected, they can change the world.
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Autism Myths by author Lisa Jo Rudy. She also wrote Top Terrific Traits of Autistic People.

Dad

Vaccine-Autism Question Divides Parents, Scientists

We get a lot of Autism email, newsletters, etc. as I'm sure many of you do. I received this newsletter today, subtitled: A critical look at the public deception perpetuated by hidden personal agendas. The article:

13-year old Michelle Cedillo is at the center of a court case pitting thousands of families of children with autism against the medical establishment. While a number of prestigious medical institutions say there is no link between vaccines and autism, the families believe vaccines caused their children's autism, and have taken their case to court.

Theresa and Mike Cedillo, Michelle's parents, believe the MMR vaccine, which at the time contained a mercury-based preservative, drastically altered the course of their daughter's development. Within days of receiving the injection, Michelle suffered from a high fever, persistent vomiting and problems with her digestion -- and also stopped speaking and no longer responded to her name.

Dr. Paul Offit, chief of infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, claims the apparent connection between vaccines and autism is “nothing more than a sad coincidence.”

But families who believe vaccines can trigger autism point to the case of 9-year-old Hannah Poling; the U.S. government conceded that vaccines "significantly aggravated" her underlying illness, predisposing her to symptoms of autism.

The court heard testimony in the Cedillo claim in June of 2007. Testimony in other test cases is scheduled for 2008.

Sources:
CNN.com April 2, 2008

(The newsletter commenters response)

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

The debate over whether or not vaccines contribute to the onset of autism is heating up.
I commented on another vaccine-autism article just a few days ago. If you missed it, please review it now to find out more about common sense prevention strategies, and how you can treat autism if your child has it.

But today, I’d like to talk about misinformation, deception, and personal agendas.

Who is Dr. Paul Offit?

Some of you may recognize the name of Dr. Paul Offit, as he is a fairly frequent commentator for the pro-vaccination camp. But what do you know about Dr. Offit?

Dr. Offit, a.k.a. Paul “For Profit” Offit, by some vaccination opponents, is not just a doctor who believes that vaccinations save lives.

Dr. Offit is also one of the patent holders of the rotavirus vaccine (Patent Application number 353547), and the recipient of a $350,000 grant from Merck for its development. Additionally, he is a consultant to Merck Pharmaceuticals.

Talk about conflict of interest. Jeesh! But that's not all.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is a 15 member panel of immunization experts, selected by the Secretary of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. They provide advice and guidelines to the Secretary for Health the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on vaccine-preventable diseases.

As a member of the ACIP, starting in 1998, Dr. Offit voted “yes” three times out of four on issues pertaining to the ACIP’s rotavirus statement, including, voting for his own vaccine to be included in the immunization schedule.

He is also the doctor whose incomprehensible statement, “an infant can safely receive up to 10,000 vaccines at once,” will live on in infamy.

So the question is: if YOU held a patent for a product of enormous income potential, would you even consider the possibility that your cash-cow might be doing more harm than good? Would you admit that a similar product might be the cause of needless suffering?

And if you WERE able to consider it, would you admit there might indeed be a problem?

Here’s the deal, folks. It’s not enough to look at the obvious credentials of your spokesmen, whether they’re pro- or anti- an issue. Today, you also have to consider the hidden motivations behind their recommendations. Where is their loyalty? How do they feed themselves? And by that I don’t mean, “what’s their nutritional type?” I mean, who pays for their lifestyle? Where is the money coming from?

Do you believe Dr. Offit is an independent, neutral expert on the vaccination issue? Do you believe he’s looked at both sides and made an educated and honest judgment call?

I guess that depends on just how independent and honest you believe a man can be when there’s pharmaceutical patent money at stake.

Hilleman’s Confidential Memo

To give you another glimpse of the reality behind the Big Pharma curtain, Maurice R. Hilleman, Ph.D. is another leading expert on immunization, in the sense that he developed more than 40 vaccines and published close to 500 articles on virology, infectious diseases, epidemiology and immunology.

In 2005, a confidential memo was discovered that was written in 1991 by then senior Merck Vice-President, Maurice Hilleman, to Dr. Gordon Douglas, then head of Merck's vaccine division. (Douglas is now a consultant for the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institutes of Health.)

In the memo, Dr. Hilleman wrote:

“The regulatory control agencies in some countries, particularly Scandinavia (especially Sweden) but also UK, Japan, and Switzerland have expressed concern for thimerosal, a mercury preservative, in vaccines. Some countries require absence of thimerosal from single-dose package. This trend will probably spread… Sweden is requiring thimerosal free single-dose packaging of all products as soon as can be reasonably achieved. The deadline for DT is January, 1992… “

The focal point for present concern is in Scandinavia… The immediate Merck concern is to be able to qualify for sale of single-dose products in Sweden and in Norway and Denmark…

The public awareness has been raised by the sequential wave of experiences in Sweden including mercury exposure from additives, fish, contaminated air, bird death from eating mercury-treated seed grains, dental amalgam leakage, mercury allergy, etc… In some instances, public immunization programs may be endangered by public refusal to accept vaccines with thimerosal.”

Dr. Hilleman went on:

“For babies: The 25 µg of mercury in a single 0.5 ml dose and extrapolated to a 6 lb baby would be 25X the adjusted Swedish daily allowance of 1.0 µg for a baby of that size…

If 8 doses of thimerosal-containing vaccine were given in the first 6 months of life (3 DPT, 2 HIB and 3 Hepatitis B) the 200 µg of mercury given, say an average size of 12 lbs would be about 87X the Swedish daily allowance of 2.3 µg of mercury for a baby of that size.”

And finished off the memo with the statement:

"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration ... does not have this concern for thimerosal."

So, in 1991, the premier U.S. vaccine expert told the chief of the largest U.S. vaccine manufacturer that they had to immediately produce mercury-free vaccines for Scandinavian children because the Scandinavians refused to expose their children to these unacceptable levels of mercury, which would eliminate Merck’s Scandinavian market share.

(It should also be noted that the Swedish maximum daily allowance of mercury from fish is roughly the same guideline used by the U.S. FDA.)

Meanwhile, the U.S. continued to produce and administer mercury-containing vaccines to American children throughout the 90’s. It wasn’t until 1999 that U.S. federal health officials admitted that infants were in fact being exposed to mercury through their vaccinations.

Are ALL Vaccines Now Mercury-Free?

NO! They’re NOT!

That’s another cry you hear over and over again: that “we’ve now removed mercury from all vaccines.”

But a more accurate statement would be that mercury has been removed from MOST vaccines – not all – and several still contain traces of mercury, at a level so low the actual amount doesn’t have to be stated.

Here is the most current schedule (updated January 28, 2008) disclosing the amount of thimerosal and mercury contained in U.S. vaccines. It’s also available as a printable PDF.

The following vaccines still contain 25 mcg of mercury per 0.5 ml:
DTwP
DT (diphtheria and tetanus) multi-dose vial
Tetanus
Several brands of the 2006/2007 influenza formulas
Meningococcal multi-dose vial

Interestingly, as they’ve removed mercury from most childhood vaccinations, the flu shots still have plenty of it – courtesy of a 2007 Presidential veto against its removal. And guess what? Now the standard recommendation is to vaccinate your child against the flu EVERY YEAR. Come on!

Why the persistent insistence on injecting mercury into our children?

How Much Does Conventional Medicine Know?

That’s actually a great question, and it was originally posed, not by me, but by the journal BMJ Clinical Evidence.

They found that of about 2,500 treatments offered in conventional medicine:

13 percent are beneficial to the patient
23 percent are likely to be beneficial
8 percent is a trade-off between benefits and harm
6 percent are unlikely to be beneficial
4 percent are likely to be ineffective or harmful
46 percent have unknown effectiveness

States BMJ: “…the figures above suggest that the research community has a large task ahead and that most decisions about treatments still rest on the individual judgments of clinicians and patients.”

So, in conclusion: if you believe conventional medicine is based on scientific, cold hard facts, think again. It’s a crap shoot -- a 64 percent chance that the treatment will be either harmful, ineffective, or “gee, we have no idea what might happen.”

There’s no more scientific proof of the safety and effectiveness of drugs and vaccinations than there is for natural treatment methods against the same ailments. The only real question is: how high is your risk tolerance? --End of article

A VERY enlightening article. Makes me wish we lived in Sweden in the 90's! Here is the link to the original. Until next time...

Dad

Pampers Diapers: They Really Work Best For Us

A very nice lady, Andrea, sent us coupons for us to try some various Pampers products. We go through a LOT of diapers. Ask anyone who visits the house what's the first thing they see when the come to the door. The diaper trash container next to the steps. Which only takes two days to be completely overflowing. Anyway here are Mom's comments and experiences with the Pampers:

"We wanted to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the free products we've been given. First, we were sent a box of night time diapers, or Pull Ups. We have bought them in the past, but since none of our autistic diaper wearing children, Sarah, 6, Ammon, 4, and Mary, 3, are potty training yet, they weren't something that worked out the best for us at this time. However, our 3 year old is higher functioning, and is getting closer to being potty trained. She lets us know when she messed up her pants right away. And, Mary loved the characters on them, Dora and Diego, so of course, we put them on her until they were gone because she happily insisted.

You recently sent us coupons for 3 free packages of any jumbo sized Pampers diapers and a free tub of wipes. I haven't opened up the tub to use it yet, but I will soon. I got the lavender scented ones. I also got 3 packages of size 6 Pampers Cruisers, and again, we've bought them in the past. So, we were especially excited to get more of the brand we love! Pampers Cruisers are our favorite. We really like how the side straps are so stretchy. And, the whole top is very roomy. It also smells really good, has a very sanitary smell to it, and it totally minimizes the odor when they urinate in it. The filling is also very absorbent, it's truly amazing how much it can hold! Sometimes they pee a lot at once, and other times, we get distracted and kind of forget to check for a few hours--we usually check about every two hours. But, for those times that we don't check their pants as often as usual, their clothes are usually still dry, as in, they usually haven't peed out of the diaper and onto their clothes.

We used to buy Huggies, but realized how much better Pampers is. I used to like Luvs, but the top hardly fit around their waists and their sticky taps didn't stretch either, argh! The cheap brands I've tried droop really bad when they pee, aren't absorbent, leak a lot, I have to put duct tape over the tabs to try and keep them in place, and the smell of their padding when mixed with the pee doesn't minimize the odor at all, yuck!

Yeah, Pampers is by far the best diapers out there! So thank you once again for extending such kindness to us. I like how you are the only company that has size 7 diapers too! Only certain stores carry them though, and I'm surprised Walmart doesn't. I go there the most often because of the prices, I would really like to see size 7 Pampers Cruisers at Walmart."

Dad

Hand Sanitizer Can Poison Your Children

I recently came across these stories that tell of the dangers that could happen when using alcohol-based gel hand cleaners. Story 1 Story 2

Our Autistic pumpkins pick up lots of disgusting stuff, especially the 3 littlest. We were always worried that something could happen just like what is told in these situations. But, we constantly clean their hands and the alcohol in the gel cleaners would dry out their little hands and make them red and raw.

Robin was telling me that one the the aides at our preschoolers class was practically crying, when she used a gel cleaner just yesterday. She was always needing to clean up between the children and lessons. Her hands were cracked and the alcohol made her hands sting something terrible.

We found this hand sanitizer that has NO ALCOHOL, actually softens your hands, cleans hands as well or better as the gel, has about 4 times the pumps as the other stuff and the best part? It puts a germ protecting barrier on the hands that lasts about 3 to 4 hours. And it smells good.

We use it all the time now and I liked it so much that I have my own web page that sells it.

PureWorks Antibacterial Foam/Lotion/Soap (the phone # is not current) Also click on the "View The Product Tour!" link, it will be a short video.

Yes, BEWARE when you buy a bottle from my page I'll make about a dollar. But, what do the huge company's make on these alcohol gel products that could be dangerous. That dry out your hands, sting when you use them and only kill germs until the alcohol dries?

Dad