Jenny McCarthy: Still Not a Doctor

Autism is a genetic condition, is it not?

According to the Autism Society of America website, there's no one cause of conditions on the autism spectrum. But, yeah, one's family/genetic history can have an impact. There's a great book on the subject by Paul Collins called Not Even Wrong. He wrote it after his young son was diagnosed. I'd highly recommend it, even if it sounds odd to call it a fun read.

Based on that first sentence the diet/vitamin method was to help ease symptoms, not necessarily cure the disease itself. The diet that McCarthy stumbled upon was something similar to Ciliac disease, basically eliminating gluten-based foods.

As far as the vaccine thing goes, my wife use to work in a lab that was studying autism-like traits in mice. Anyhow, I remember her saying something that many moons ago one of the preservatives in the measles/mumps/rhubella shot was some form of mercury. Scientist's noticed a spike in autism cases right around when that vaccine was administered, and in the 90s that preservative was removed. Unfortunately, the cases of autism didn't dramatically drop so there might not be a direct link.

Did McCarthy get her Medical degree from the same University that Tom Cruise did?

Someone told me one time that the vaccinations that people are claiming cause autism are generally administered at about one year old, which is also about the age when symptoms of autism begin manifesting themselves. Could just be a chronilogical coincidence that makes people think the vaccinations are causing the autism.

Yep.

John Travolta told me autism doesn't exist. It just means you have weak thetans. Then I asked him why his son was locked up in a cage, and he just kept asking me what my crimes were.

She's advocating a diet that helps ease the symptoms of autism. I don't see what's wrong with that.

The problems Matt has, which I don't think McCarthy mentions in that little blurb, is that there is an upswell of support for denying children certain vaccines for fear that these vaccines cause or contribute to Autism. There's a pretty big controversy going on there for new parents actually. As far as a gluten free diet, I see nothing wrong with it. Probably best to make sure your child has been diagnosed with something that can benefit from that diet before you start subscribing to it willy-nilly, but it's nothing too drastic.

Why don't they just invent a vaccine to inoculate children against Autism? Boom! Problem solved. Next issue on the docket?

Moltisanti for the win.

Hey, everybody, let's read the fuck up with...science!http://www.cdc.gov/od/science/iso/co..._factsheet.htm

But if this eases the symptoms, then by all means go for it.

Jenny McCarthy's wiki is on her fourth page of google results. What in the world.

This nonsense does not remove "motor-boating between Jenny McCarthy's up tops" from my bucket list.

That's ok, we'll PLAY doctor instead.

The sad part is that 'autistic spectrum disorder' is becoming the new term for mental retardation (over 80% of people with IQs below 20 are said to have ASD or autism). Asperger's, autism and austic spectrum disorders appear to have very different etiologies, symptoms, and treatments, and should be seen as different things. When newspapers write "Autism up 1000% over last two decades", they miss the point and confuse the issue.

Her son is cured!

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/hea...v.mccarthy.cnn

Didn't work for Anna Nicole Smith.

I'm making an appointment with Dr. McCarthy STAT! For a *cough cough* hernia exam.

Stumbled upon more WTF-ness (from a couple months back).

I believe she's better suited to play a nurse. A naughty nurse.

She should write a book. Oprah would support it.

Apparently her kid may not have been autistic, but just had mercury poisoning. That's what physicians say, anyway. The symptoms of the two conditions are strikingly similar. Unlike autism, however, mercury poisoning can be cured with a very specific dietary regimen.

I just hope that if I ever have children they're not afflicted with any mental disease or defect. Scares me to death.

Not meaning to be a dick, but autism is a lot more common than you'd think and it's never really classed as a mental disease or defect. Of course that's just liberal pandering, but sometimes people who are autistic can live perfectly happy lives. Of course I'm in a unique position, being autistic myself, but in terms of what a child can be born with Autism isn't all that.

I was digressing. I meant no disrespect.

It's not a case of disrespect, I was just saying, in a roundabout way, that autism is a lot more common than you'd think and a lot of the time people can live perfectly happy lives without being diagnosed until old age.

What's the big deal Spike? I don't want any of my kids to be retards.

:: facepalm ::

I use any chance I can to bring up my retardation.

So do I.

Wait, are we talking about full retard or not?

Downey Jr. weeps at how full retard I went.

The need for people to believe flat-out crazy shit just so they can feel like they're doing something important with their lives never ceases to amaze me.

Thanks for this Zooey.

And yes, genetic history can play a factor in autism. We were told that we stood a 15-20% chance of having another child with autism, which is why we decided not to have any more.

Actually, I think you misheard; what the physician said was, "The kid may not have been autistic, but just saw Mercury Rising."

Autism is not a genetic disorder. It is a syndrome, which means it is a specific group of symptoms without a specific cause (unlike the poorly named Downs Syndrome, a disease, which is caused by trisomy 21). It is highly correlated to the genetic disorder Fragile X, but having one does not mean you have the other. Everyone with Fragile X that I've known has not been autistic, and I've not yet worked with anyone with autism caused by Fragile X.

There is not much evidence at all about diet affecting the symptoms of autism, except some research that links improvements to B6 and magnesium, but nothing approaching conclusive. There is NO evidence that vaccines are in any way related to Autism. The cause of such a fear iis easy to see. Autism onsets at 2-3 years old. About 6 months -1 yr after such a significant regiment of vaccines are introduced.

Sometimes it is later claimed that "cured" children never had autism. But it has been shown repeatedly and consistenly that applied behavior analysis can significantly reduce the symptoms of autism. For some this means they become indistinguishable from their peers, for others it means they can tie their shoes and wipe their ass when before they could not, wither way the gains are significant and measurable.

From what I know of Jenny's case, her child is autistic (though obviously, I don't really know anything, but her case has been pretty public). He also had access to more than 40 hrs a week of discrete trial training from a trained ABA therapist, and such behavioral strategies were also implemented by the family for virtually continual exposure to a therapeutic contingencies. He is symptom free. He received the best care money can buy. She would do more good for more people by advocating for the use of ABA in schools and home to supplied by schools/ insurance/ wherever.

Oprah Winfrey's non-existent bullshit detector does it again: McCarthy gets her own talk show.

Well you look like a child molestor for one.

Hahahahahaha

Oh, and the story ended with Travolta killing his son.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/04...ala/index.html

Coincidentally....

You should have played the ponies that day.