Was your son's diagnosis criteria for ASD behavioural, or did they look for neurological/genetic signs as well? Research has shown people with ASD usually have differences in neurological structure from birth, and there are often signs of a genetic basis as well (siblings/family with ASD or other developmental disorders (the father having a low IQ is also another commonality between many people with ASD, which I find interesting, and in my line of work have definitely seen a correlation)). While people with ASD often have brain inflammation, it's thought to be correlative, not causative. Do you think there could be a possible of your son having an aquired brain injury which causes ASD-like symptoms, rather than classic ASD, that seems to have a basis from genetics/birth?
Thank you for asking such an intelligent and pointed question.
My son does not have the genetic markers for ASD, though this research is still unfolding so maybe there's some other genetic factor that we haven't discovered yet. Nobody in my partner's or my extended family is on the spectrum. My son has extensive MTHR gene mutations though, coming from my partner's side, so this may be a contributing factor. My partner did not have vaccines at all growing up so we can't draw comparisons. My son's onset was obvious. There were no new factors in life, not even changes in diet, no falls or head injuries. Just the vaccine series. We strongly suspect that it was the MMR but he received 6 different vaccines on that day, including a flu shot.
I've spoken to many parents over the years who experienced similar events. Some already had the genetic potential and they believe that the vaccines triggered it. For others, there is no clear physiological explanation, but the vaccine event was the obvious starting point. There is just not enough evidence to blame one thing or the other. We have ideas but without openness to research we will never know for sure. It may not even be a genetic thing. It may just be the way some immune systems spontaneously react and there will always be some degree of randomness in who gets injured by vaccination.
What troubles me intensely is that in the community of parents who are strongly suspicious of vaccine injury and autism, we are not really calling for an end of vaccines. Yet we are treated like we are enemies of the state. We are asking for a more accountable ADR system that can point to research questions. We are also asking for more consideration into the sensitivities of some children who may be at higher risk of ADRs than the standard at-risk percentage of standard vaccine protocols. It may be necessary for these children to avoid vaccines until a certain age of brain development, or never have them, just like their auto-immune counterparts. The number of vaccines that children under 5 receive is much larger now than ever before.
Drug intolerances used to be called "allergies" across the board. Now we know that the CYP450 group of enzymes has many polymorphisms. Some people can't metabolize certain drugs at all and should never take them on this genetic basis. Before this genetic knowledge showed up, doctors would tell patients that it's all in their heads, or that they are having an allergic reaction. But neither is true. Their bodies just don't process the drugs due to lack of adequate enzyme. I feel that some children on the spectrum are this way with the vaccines, through an as of yet unstudied phenomenon. I believe the MTHR series of genes are a worthy starting point.
But like I said, we can't really have this discussion in the mainstream because people attack us. The brainwashing runs very deep. Ironically we can talk about this everywhere in the world except North America and Western Europe where vaccine therapy is so firmly entrenched. There are countries not adhering to the UN standards, which are really the western standards. They believe 3 years old is too young to receive 10+ vaccines.
The problem isn't that we are wrong or not observing properly, it's that modern medicine won't hear anecdotal anything until some expert discovers something, gets accredited, gets more funding to replicate the study, and then gets approval from the profession's leading experts. It doesn't matter that thousands of parents are shouting this in their faces. They won't listen. Their school of rationality is their greatest strength and their greatest weakness. They are deaf to us, and because the pharmaceutical industry has made sure nobody will stick their neck out to really look at it, we are caught in a horrible catch-22. We need research evidence to make our case, but nobody is willing to do it anymore. Not after the autism papers in the UK. That doctor got crucified.
