Mother Warriors - Jenny McCarthy

I'm going to open a can of worms.

Jenny McCarthy writes in Mother Warriors about how she healed her son Evan's autism by detoxing him, changing his diet to gluten-free, casein free, and adding vitamins and supplements to his diet everyday (in addition to other therapies). She believes that Evan's autism was linked to vaccines he received as an infant. I have long believed there is a link between vaccines and autism.

I am not against vaccines. I am against giving a child vaccines with high amounts of toxins and mercury. I am against vaccinating a child who is sick or whose immune system is compromised in any way. I do not have kids and I'm not saying I won't vaccinate them when I do have kids. I'm saying vaccines need to be greener. Safer. Administered by doctors who are caring, willing to triple-check a child's medical history, willing to proceed with vaccines only when a child is 100% healthy. For many of the warrior mothers in this book, their children's autism hit after their MMR and/or chicken pox vaccine. One of the mothers, Lisa Ackerman actually tallied her child's vaccines and realized her child was given 125 micrograms of mercury through thimerosal, the perservative in vaccines. That is astonishing. And it should not be happening.

You may say that my opinion holds no merit because I don't have kids, but I actually do have experience with autism. I was a nanny to a child with a disorder on the autism spectrum (although autism was not the child's final diagnosis). I took that child to physical and occupational therapy where other kids were also receiving therapy. Other kids who had autism.

Back to the book: I give Jenny much credit for sharing her and Evan's story, and for pushing the cause. It can't be easy, but as I read in the book, it seems to be becoming more and more common. (Autism Speaks states that 1 in 150 children born in the U.S. will be diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder.) One thing that really struck me was when she mentioned the older generations being susceptible to diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimers and Parkinsons, and how genetics is a large factor in these diseases, just as it is with autism. Genetics obviously plays a large part in everything, but there are always environmental factors.

Jenny's whole take on healing autism was to get behind the original physical ailment, such as leaky gut, yeast in the body, etc. It was upon that realization that she placed her son on the gluten free, casein free diet and noticed he was changing for the better. Getting to the root of the problem. Healing the physical ailment. Holistic healthcare is definitely become more popular, as well it should. Medication does not work the same way for everyone, and side effects can obviously be more prevalent in some than in others. This is why I think most issues - physical ailments, etc. - should be examined in depth before people just start medicating themselves.

Jenny has received hundreds of letters from parents of children with autism, and she did a great job telling their stories. Autism has made the news several times recently, and I wanted to share one article I found the other day regarding applied behavior analysis as a treatment for autism.

There are so many views on this subject, I am simply presenting mine, and as always, leaving room for your comments. I apologize for skipping around; I have too many thoughts on this topic swirling in my head that they don't all make sense to me.

24-Karat Kids - Dr. Judy Goldstein & Sebastian Stuart

The book hooked me immediately with the humor - a different kind of humor, but good nonetheless. Dr. Shelley Green just graduated from med school and is offered a position in pediatrics at a prestigious New York City practice - home of the rich kids. I felt like she truly enjoyed her work as a doctor, but there were some off-the-wall tales of snobby kids and parents that I found myself rolling my eyes at times. I knew there was a much deeper story though, in Shelley and her fiance, Arthur. It was obvious where their love story was going, and though it was a roller coaster it was predictable. It seemed like, after all they experienced in the course of a summer, that the end would be much less 'happily ever after' but that's exactly what I got from it.

Overall, the book was good - and the humor was certainly enjoyable!