Here at the Mothership, we are accepting of autism as a part of our lives. It's not all doom and gloom and "Oh! Woe is me!" simply because we live with an autistic child.
Sure, there are challenges at times, some of them pretty big. To deny that there are challenges would be dishonest and one thing I am not is dishonest. I've been pretty open with some of the unique problems we've encountered and have no reason to hide facts.
Fact is, there is no cure for autism. To me, it seems ludicrous to pursue a cure at this time. I have a child to raise. While others are busy trying to pinpoint a cause and subsequent cure, I am watching my child grow up. Different strokes I suppose.
But what happens when a parent becomes fixated on, for lack of a better term, fixing their autistic child? For starters, they go to the support forums. Once there, several people will stand out to the new parent as someone who obviously knows all about what is called "the biomedical approach" to curing autism. Ugh. These several people have some theories about autism causation and cures. And they are incorrect. Just plain wrong. Most popular on the list is the now-thoroughly-debunked claim that vaccinations are responsible for causing autism.
Stories abound of a perfectly normal developing child who was lost through the shots. They were just fine until this vaccination or that one, then they were finally diagnosed as autistic and the bottom dropped out of the parent's world. Let me issue a disclaimer that I do understand that adverse vaccine reactions are well documented since the very beginning. Not everyone handles vaccines well. Fact. However, numerous studies have exonerated vaccines as a cause of autism.
Why do some parents fixate on vaccines as the cause of their child's autism? Money. Mean green. Lawsuits have been filed against the US government for mandating vaccinations for entry into public schools. Here is a link for what happened in those lawsuits. In short, there was not enough evidence produced by the plaintiffs in the trial cases.
Those who believe that vaccinations are the cause of autism will try all sorts of unproven and untested therapies on their autistic children. Chelation, massive doses of supplements, clay foot baths (really!), powerful antiviral drugs, Hyperbaric oxygen treatments, even traveling out of the country for stem cell treatments, none of which are approved treatments for autism--these are what I call snake oil.
A partial definition of snake oil, taken from Wikipedia reads: Snake oil is a traditional Chinese medicine made from the Chinese Water Snake (Enhydris chinensis), which is used to treat joint pain. However, the most common usage of the phrase is as a derogatory term for quack medicine. The expression is also applied metaphorically to any product with exaggerated marketing but questionable and/or unverifiable quality or benefit.
It's all about marketing. Parents of newly diagnosed autistic children are easy targets. Autism is mysterious and there are few known causes. My own theory is that sometimes it just happens when the genes of the parents combine in a certain way. My explanation for the rise in autism diagnoses over the past several years is pretty rational. The criteria for diagnosing autism in children changed. More kids are diagnosed at an earlier age, because there is more awareness, and also because Asperger's was placed under the autism spectrum disorder category. Furthermore, diagnoses of mental retardation and disorders like childhood schizophrenia have plummeted as the diagnoses of autism rose. It's simple, really.
So. What got me to thinking about snake oil this morning? This. Oh holy cow. Now it's Lyme induced autism. Wow.
Here's the blurb on it.
New Energetic Device For Healing!
Experience the new Amega AMWand, utilizing Zero Point Energy to provide an incredible benefit to those with autism, Lyme disease and associated disorders. This new wand will be utilized as an "at home" program in assisting the central nervous system, opening up chakras and more! Dr. George Gonzalez, creator of Quantum Neurology, is utilizing this device as his new "patient device". There is not a lot of data on this at this time, but physicians are using it in their offices and seeing results immediately.
Mkay. A wand. To cure autism. Now I've seen everything.
Parents of newly diagnosed children with autism, all I can say is this....
CAVEAT EMPTOR!
If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
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Amazing. I don't know why I keep getting surprised.
ReplyDeleteHere is another view. I think when parents get a diagnosis, they want to blame something, anything on not having that perfect child they tried so hard to have. Anything but themselves. If it was a vaccine that we could blame it on...even better, because those were "doctors"...and we were only doing what we were told to do.
I don't think MOST parents are in it for the money. I understand that there are some that want to place blame, and if that someone is a doctor, there are lawyers that are in business to make them feel better by getting them to the nearest courtroom, quickly. (as you said)
The Quack, that is where I think the MONEY hungry, jerk, creep..comes in. I think there are horribly mean people out there that prey on parents who are so sad, and in their beds at night secretly blaming themselves, and a quack like this will come along with his "cure of the wand" and could charge them their mortgage payment, and they would pay it, just for the sake of trying the very last thing on the market. (we would hope it was) So, I think the money hungry people are actually the wand producing jerks. Just my opinion.... :) Love your blog!!!
Exactly, Carla. It's a shame that many parents are misled by those people. I count myself fortunate in that I was not misled by quacks, but there are hundreds, even thousands of parents who were, and still are. Very sad. I tend to try and focus on the positive and accommodate when it's necessary.
ReplyDeleteThe lawyers reeling in parents in the hope of a big pay-off from the government is old news now, thankfully.
Forward, not backward---that's just how I roll. :)