Reply #14: My post from the other discussion on this topic [View All]

[doni_georgia]

I posted the following in response to this person who accused those of us who support the efforts of RFK JR of drinking the "antivaccine KoolAide." Hope it is okay for me to post it again here, because this is something so close to my soul that I want others to read it.

I am the mom of an autistic son. My son was developing normally until he received his MMR vaccine at 18 months. After that vaccine my son's speech development STOPPED. Not only did he not start saying any new words, he QUIT talking at all - NOTHING. He no longer said "mama" or "dada" NOTHING. He started flapping his hands and spending long lengths of time lying in the floor staring at the ceiling fan. In other words, he drifted into another world. This child had hit every developmental milestone EARLY prior to this damn vaccine.

Took us two years to get a diagnosis and some help.
Our pediatrician warned us that some would try to convince us that this was connected to vaccines and for us not to believe it (this was in 1998). She also said that some would try to convince us to eliminate wheat and dairy from his diet, and for us not to do that either. Thankfully we didn't listen to our pediatrician. Her mention of these two things was the first I had heard about the vaccine/autism link and the GFCF diet. I then searched for more information on these topics and put my son on a GFCF diet. Within two weeks of taking him off all dairy, he was talking again (not as well as before - but words none the less) and he was potty trained. As the months continued and we gradually eliminated gluten as well as dairy his condition continued to improve. Within a year, his diagnosis had gone from severe autism to high functioning autism. Within two years he had been moved from a self-contained special ed classroom for moderately/severely mentally impaired children to a regular kindergarten class. His diagnosis is now Asperger's Syndrome. He has baffled the doctors who say that one does not outgrow autism and one cannot be cured. His original prospects were that he would be unable to communicate and take care of himself. Today he is a straight A student with many friends although he is odd and different and will always be that way. We have tried many of the off-the-wall treatments that Quack Watch warns against, but the result was WE HAVE OUR SON BACK! Still he will never fully recover to the boy he should have been.

Do I believe mercury in vaccines are responsible for my son's condition? You bet your ass. Why? Because I know what he was like before vaccines and what he was like after. Do I believe eliminating gluten and casein from his diet controlls his condition? Absolutely, because I see what happens to him if he gets so much as a crumb of bread (eyes dilate, he becomes agressive and uncommunicative). All of the experts can argue all they want, but I live with this every day as do some many others. You want an expert? Ask the parents who live with this day in and day out. We're the experts.