November 19, 2007

"Expert" links autism to mothers drinking

"Mothers" say that expert must be drunk.

I didn't drink during my pregnancies. I probably average eight or ten drinks a year. (Alcohol is not tasty to me).

This theory is just counter intuitive. In the 1950's women routinely drank during pregnancy as they didn't understand the risks it posed. Autism was unheard of then. Today if a pregnant woman orders a glass of wine at a restaurant, the waitress calls child protective services. Autism everywhere.

23 comments:

Shash said...

I really hate stories like that one. I didn't drink AT ALL during my pregnancy; I couldn't, seeing as I was in and out of the hospital for dehydration!

Personally, I think it is the experts who were drinking and decided to yet again blame mothers of Autistic children instead of looking for the real cause. Way to make us feel better, experts!

Glad to see my money I donate to Autism research is being well spent. AARUGH!

Shash

MiSScNeLLY said...

Notice it says EXPERT... that means just one fool...

I don't believe this story at all. I think it is a slap in the face to all mothers.

Fitaloon said...

If you read the story it is not the expert who links mothers drinking to Autism but the hack journalist and her editor who allowed such a misleading sensationalist headline to be printed in the Newspaper.
Read my blog on it here

Pickel said...

It is proven that many autism cases are actually misdiagnosed as autism when they should be Fetal Alcohol. The symptoms overlap.
http://www.come-over.to/FAS/FASD-ASD.htm

My son's birth mother was said to have been a drinker but there is no real information, as we do not have her history. Because of this it is possible he has FAS (but he has no facial features). He has many symptoms of both FAS and autism so the diagnosis can not be clear.

What we do is treat him as if he has PDD and it works. As he grows older we will have to watch for more cognitive signs.

Hope this makes sense from a different perspective.

concerned heart said...

Dr. Harry Fisch, has this conclusion for a cause non-familial autism, not the only cause:

It is very possible that Paternal Age is the Major Predictor for autism---Harry Fisch, MD
http://psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20070830-000004.xml

Harry Fisch is the author of The Male Biological Clock, The Patient's Guide to Vasectomy Reversal, The Patient's Guide to Varicocele Repair and Managing The Vasectomy Patient. He is one of the nation's leaders in the diagnosis and treatment of male infertility and microsurgical vasectomy reversal. Dr. Fisch is director of the Male Reproductive Center and directs urologic microsurgery in the Department of Urology at Columbia University Medical Center of New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. He is also professor of clinical urology at Columbia University, where he was recently named Teacher of the Year in his department.
For over fifteen years, Dr. Fisch has focused his research, practice, and surgery on male infertility and reproduction.

It is known that a woman having had an older father herself is more at risk for having children with x-linked genetic disorders such as fragile x and hemophilia.

Caroline Rodgers said...

While Scottish authorities are grilling mothers of autistic children about their drinking habits, I hope they also ask about their ultrasound history. Three years ago, a Yale study revealed that pregnant mice exposed to prenatal ultrasound had offspring with disuptions in neuronal development similar to those found in the brains of autopsied autistics.

It will probably surprise most readers to know that studies have proven that prenatal ultrasound does not result in improved outcome for mother or child, and in the case of Doppler ultrasound, which is used to monitor the baby's heartbeat, may actually do some harm.

Anonymous said...

WhatEVER!! I can't believe they even were dumb enough to publish that.

Robin Nemeth said...

I think the reason that my aspergers was never acknowledged was because of the refrigerator mom theory that was so prevalent when I was a child, in the sixties. My mother was no refrigerator, and I didn't drink when I was pregnant.

Mercury in vaccines, however, is a hot topic with me. I certainly was exposed to that, as were my children. And there is STILL mercury in flu vaccines, which are now routinely advised for pregnant woman and infants. I've been keeping a blog of my experiences in trying to gather information about the flu shot clinics being conducted at various retail stores in my neighborhood. It is very frightening to read. It's very long but I would suggest at least looking at the summary that I wrote up and posted today (November 20).

www.wideopenwest.com/
~r_nemeth/clinic_timeline.htm


Robin Nemeth

Caroline Rodgers said...

Numerous large-scale studies throughout the world prove that vaccines do not cause autism, yet many parents have seen their children regress into autism after they were vaccinated. What if both sides are correct: vaccines do not cause autism, but the high fever (not the vaccine itself or the mercury-based preservative that has been eliminated in most vaccines) that sometimes results from vaccinations causes irreversible damage. It is time to look at the old facts with a fresh eye.

MiSScNeLLY said...

I think everyone is reaching for straws when it comes to AUTISM research. I get sick of all the "this just in type of bulletins" with new findings but no actual cure or prevention. We need answers and solutions.

Laura said...

The ultrasound theory is interesting, in that I had more ultrasounds in pregnancy than drinks (I had champagne on New Year's before I knew I was pregnant, but then had three u/s in the first trimester).

I think there are multiple causes for autism, but pharma will do anything to cover up their part in it, so people will still fall for the "vaccines do more good than harm" line they're selling.

Rachel said...

"Experts" like this one keep parents of autistic children stigmatized. I can't tell you how many seemingly well intentioned people asked what I did to make my son autistic.

HollyHobbie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
HollyHobbie said...

Thats almost as bad as saying that "I caused my childrens autism because I gave them a booster shot (to keep them from getting diseases) that is supposedly linked to causing autism."

I refused to be blamed for my kids and (I have 2 kids) with autism I did what any mother would do to protect their child from deadly diseases .

HollyHobbie said...

Thats almost as bad as saying that "I caused my childrens autism because I gave them a booster shot (to keep them from getting diseases) that is supposedly linked to causing autism."

I refused to be blamed for my kids and (I have 2 kids) with autism I did what any mother would do to protect their child from deadly diseases
Holly Hobbie(laura)

Anonymous said...

Ginger,

I have a suggestion. Please update this blog entry so you can retain a semblance of credibility. I just came across this blog and after reading this entry and fully reading the linked article I must confess your blog just got a big checkmark in the "nutcase rhetoric" category on my list. Not a good first impression. :(

Further the idea that autism wasn't under reported linked with "Autism was unheard of then" is quite a turn-off for me too. Besides it being straightforward that you can get an under-diagnosis of something that most people have no clue about, with the movie Rainman being their benchmark, the suggestion that the actual occurance was much rarer than (pick your 1:150 number) in the general public doesn't jive with my personal experience. Of course personal experience is just that but even a more objective look doesn't really fly. Yes I've looked over a number of links here and gone to other sites. I'm underwhelmed to say the least.

Anonymous said...

How ridiculous! You'd think we would be past crazy 'expert' opinion like this by now!!!

Anonymous said...

>> How ridiculous! You'd think we would be past crazy 'expert' opinion like this by now!!!

How ridiculous indeed. You'd think we'd be past crazy 'not reading and instead blame the expert for some headline hound' opinion like yours by now!!!

Yet Ginger posts on with no correction. So I guess this blog is just another babbling waste of bandwidth and attention which ultimately undermines helping kids with autism. :/ *deletes bookmark*

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ginger Taylor said...

Dwight,

I am not sure what you want me to correct.

The article floats the idea that what is being diagnosed as Autism is actually fetal alcohol syndrome. If that were the case, then we would see some correlation between pregnant women's alcohol consumption and autism rates. Looking at that over the decades, we can see that the inverse it true.

Autism does not look like anything else. FASD is seen from birth and is not regressive like most autism cases today.

This woman has suggested that FASD is being misdiagnosed as autism, yet does not even give one example or one statistic such as, "when re screened to look at mother's alcohol consumption we found that X number of children initially diagnosed with Autism actually were recategorized as having FASD". She just said that they "could" be.

I "could" be the lost heir to the throne of England.

This is an irresponsible article from the title to the details. It offers no evidence that autism and alcohol consumption have any relationship to each other what so ever.

We are trying to find real causes here. What this article seems to be doing is to get pr for the idea that low level alcohol consumption can cause damage in children by hitching it to the autism epidemic that is getting attention from parents.

Now don't get me wrong. I am all for mom's steering clear of the drink while pregnant, but linking drinking to a separate disorder which is now an epidemic does a huge disservice to both FASD and Autism, and is an inappropriate scare tactic.

Autism is not FASD.

They floated the idea that it might be.

I am swatting that theory down, as no supporting evidence has been offered.

My blog post will not be amended.

Some Random Girl said...

I didn't drink either. I think this is just another way to yet again shift the blame from vaccines to the mother!

Dadof6Autistickids said...

My wife doesn't drink, NEVER has. I don't drink, tried it like 20 years before the children were born. So... I guess that shows these "experts" are all wet AND full of dog do-do.

Casdok said...

I didnt drink either!