The Skillful Mom

Jenny McCarthy: Anti-Vaccine Scare Monger? Not in Louder Than Words, But She's Become One Later

Jenny McCarthy's book, Louder than Words, describes the story of her poor son Evan's first three years of life, beginning with terrifying seizures and end with a diagnosis of autism.  She's become very outspoken against vaccines, even in light of new information that the study that "proved" the link had falsified data.  However, she doesn't step so far over the line in her first book.  In Louder than Words she does a great job of describing the terror of not knowing what is wrong with your pre-verbal toddler.  I understand her pain and the fear of trying to reach beyond your child's level to figure out his illness, and she also describes the truly useful autistic therapies that help autistic children develop communication strategies.  In particular she briefly describes Applied Behavior Analysis.  If parents can find a program and afford it, it is the best known method for developing cognative work-arounds that allow autistic children to continue to grow.  She also mentions her belief that her son may have been genetically predisposed to reacting poorly to immunizations and therefore developed autism from his vaccinations due to a poor ability to develop antibodies properly.  She's partially right: her son may have been genetically predisposed to autism due to Fragile X syndrome. 

Fragile X syndrome is a chromosomal abnormality where the X chromosome is overloaded with repeats of the nucleotides, where a normal chromosome can have up to 24, a Fragile X can have more than 200.  While Fragile X is only considered accountable for 5% of all autistic cases, it does suggest that scientists may continue to find genetic predeterminates that manifest in autism. 

Unfortunately she wrote the book before the link between Fragile X and autism was clarified.  Now we know: there is a genetic component to autism.  There are two research and aid foundations that you should contact if your child is autistic: the FRAXA Research Foundation and The National Fragile X Foundation.

Here's a video with the stories of autism and Fragile X from the FRAXA Research Foundation.

More info for you:  http://www.stopjenny.com/WhyJennyIsWrong.html

Here is more on the science of Fragile X.

How to Treat Baby Acne

The advice of doctors is to ignore baby acne, bathe your baby normally, don't pop the tiny zits and it will go away eventually.  It doesn't hurt the baby, and it's entirely normal.  This is 100% true - IF your baby has baby acne.  But your baby's little white pustules may not be baby acne.  You can treat this type of baby "acne" easily, without hurting your baby in any way. 

What is it that your baby has instead of baby acne?  Thrush.  Thrush is a yeast infection of the skin.  Often you can tell because your baby has a white coating in its mouth that is not easily removed.  However, you can also tell that your baby's acne is actually thrush if you see small white pustules on the skin, often on the face and neck, and around the anus.   Thrush grows in warm, wet environments, so one clue that it's thrush is if you find collections of white pimples behind the ears, under the neck and in folds of skin.  That doesn't mean that collection of zits on his cheeks are baby acne instead of thrush however.  It may still be, especially if your baby's a spitter (those cheeks get wetter more often than you think). 

How to treat this version of "baby acne?"  With probiotic capsules, available at most health food stores and often now in grocery stories as well.  Take a probiotic capsule, break it open and mix a little water with the powder in a small cup.  Then put the paste on the "baby acne" and let it sit.  Do this a few times over a few days and the "baby acne" should go away.  Often babies do have true baby acne caused by the hormones passed to the baby in your breast milk, so don't expect 100% of your baby's pimples to vanish, but those caused by the yeast on his skin will go in 24-48 hours. 

Probiotics are entirely safe for newborn babies and have been shown in studies when ingested daily to improve ezcema with long-term use.  Don't be afraid to put probiotics on your baby's skin.

U.S. vaccine court denies family's autism case and some research you can read to understand why

The Vaccine Court Omnibus proceeding has ruled against three families that claimed a connection between their children's unfortunate development of autism, thimerosal and the MMR vaccine (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella).    Two Institute of Medicine Reports dated 2001 and 2004 found no link between the three. What does more recent research on autism and vaccines say?

The most recent research on the link conducted at Columbia University by Dr. Mady Hornig published in October 2008 looked at bowel tissue in 25 autistic children and 13 control children to see if measles, mumps and rubella viral cells were present.  All of the children had GI tract problems and all had been vaccinated.  A 2002 study found traces of the measles virus in the bowel tissue of autistic children.  The 2002 study hypothesized that the live virus from MMR would grow in the intestinal tract and cause damage there, and possibly inflame and damage the central nervous system as well, causing autism.  If this was true, then all the autistic children should have measles in their bowels in the 2008 study as well, and the non-autistic kids should not. 

The researchers found no signficiant differences in the biopsies from autistic children and non-autistic children.  Only one autistic child had measles remnants in the bowel, as did one non-autistic child.

The conclusion: having the measles virus in your body doesn't have any correlation to developing autism, even if you have GI problems. 

REFERENCE:  Splete, Heidi.  Biopsy data refute MMR vaccine and autism link.(Infectious Diseases).

Author(s):Heidi Splete. Pediatric News. 42.10 (October 2008):p18(1).

Editorial Rant: Not Vaccinating Your Kid Is Privilege Not a Right

I have a friend who has a deadly stomach illness that is kept alive by medication not approved by the FDA which relatives ship her from overseas.  Taking medication not approved by the FDA isn't an issue for me: we clearly don't have a omniscient medical society.  However the FDA is there to protect us and we should at least review medications that haven't been approved to see why before we use them.  Desperate situations may take desperate measures.

But I am very perturbed by people falsifying data and also by the recreation of an environment full of preventable but possibly deadly and disabling diseases.  My father lost a lot of his eyesight due to "routine" childhood mumps before there was a vaccine, and I'm not able to say "oh it's just a risk I'll take with my children."  The part that really kills me is babies are the ones who can't get MMR until they're a year, and especially those old enough to not survive solely on breast milk.  They're the ones who are going to be most adversely affected by other people not vaccinating because of autism fear and yet infants have the greatest mortality rate from measles because their little bodies can't handle all the symptoms. And the only treatment is to wait it out and hope.  It's also one thing for wealthy people to "opt out" when the impact of the illnesses on their lives are ameliorated by their good health benefits and access to health care, but they can easily impact the poor who may not have any health care or limited capacity to take time off from work to nurse ailing children or elderly.

This is an issue of an equitable society.  When you don't vaccinate your children, you're making it clear that you and your children are more worthy than other people. 

Extra extra: Data falsified in vaccine scare

From the London Times.  "In most of the 12 cases, the children’s ailments as described in The Lancet were different from their hospital and GP records. Although the research paper claimed that problems came on within days of the jab, in only one case did medical records suggest this was true, and in many of the cases medical concerns had been raised before the children were vaccinated."

There are two major problems with his data: 1) only one case was discovered after the vaccines, the rest were already known prior to having he vaccines, therefore there cannot be a link between the vaccine and autism in those children. 2) 12 cases is not statistically significant.  The likelihood of random chance in only 12 cases is extremely high, even if there hadn't been data fraud. 

Get your kids vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella.  There is now a measles outbreak in my own city. 

Infants up to 6 months are protected from the measles without MMR vaccine

According to the CDC's extensive research, "Infants aged less than 6 months are usually protected against measles, rubella, and mumps by maternally derived antibodies and ordinarily do not require additional protection unless the infant's mother is diagnosed with measles."

Well, this makes me feel a bit better - now the window for exposure is 6 months to a year.  How will you protect your infant from exposure before you can get them the MMR vaccine?

Vaccinate or Not? MMR

Before you decide, listen to this:

This American Life's Episode on the Measles Outbreak in San Diego in early 2008

And then read this:

CDC Conference Presentation on San Diego Measles Outbreak 2008

I understand very much about not wanting your child to get some sort of side-effect from vaccinations, but you need to consider the after-effects of infection.  If you happen to live in an insulated community where no one travels, or is even within 20 foot proximity of someone who travels, you may be safe to not vaccinate your children. 

How contagious is the measles virus?

If you are not vaccinated and you are exposed, you will get it.  For example, if there is one person who has contracted measles within a 20 foot radius of your unvaccinated child, or if your child walks into a 20 foot radius of that person up to two hours after the infected person has left, they will be exposed and with almost certainty contract measles.  

What are the symptoms of measles?

Fever, runny nose, sore throat and cough.  A few days later a bright red rash breaks out on the face and eventually spreads to the entire body.  

What is the treatment for measles?

This is the HEARTBREAKER.  There is none.  It's a virus.  Either your child's body will be able to fight it off...or not. 

What are the complications?

20 % of all cases develop complications.  They are diarrhea, ear infection, conjunctivitis, bronchopneumonia and encephalits in 1:1000 cases. Diarrhea causes 500 deaths a year in children in the US.  Ear infections can cause hearing loss.  Conjunctivitis can cause eye damage.  Bronchopneumonia can cause asthma.  Encephalitis can cause permanent brain damage and mental retardation. Or as we heard in the This American Life story, illness for two months.  Two months out of an infants existence in pain and suffering.

How many don't survive?

1-2 of every 1,000.

Who doesn't survive?

Infants, young children and adults. "The risk for death from measles or its complications is greater for infants, young children, and adults than for older children and adolescents."  If your child suffers from Vitamin A deficiency, their likelihood of suffering complications and death is higher still.  AND, diarrhea can cause Vitamin A deficiency.   Infants are at the highest risk for complications with the disease.  However they aren't routinely vaccinated before the age of 1. Up to 6 months they're protected by their mother's immunity.  They can be vaccinated under the age of 1 with a limited vaccine if exposure in their community is a problem.  

What are the long term side effects of the MMR vaccine?

1:100,000 have allergic reactions which can be treated and have full recovery.

Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), a bleeding disorder,is found in 1:22,300.  However, the rate of ITP after catching measles, mumps or rubella is 1:3000-6000.  

I live in a big city with many international travelers, I take my children on planes, and I shop in heavily crowded stores.  Not vaccinating my children would be introducing them to risks that might result in death.  Given the choice between unproven auto-immune disease and proven death or disablement, I'd chose to take the vaccination. 

However I'm concerned because infants can't be fully vaccinated at birth.  Your six month old baby crawling and grabbing at everything can be exposed to someone who has measles, mumps or rubella, even without any symptoms, and has no protection against it.  Even at a distance of 20 feet. And up to two hours after they've left the room.  (Think about your six month old grabbing for things in the grocery store, or crawling on the floor of the doctor's office.  Is this even a tenable situation to try and prevent them from touching everything? I don't think so.)

Ask your parents and grandparents if they've known someone who was permanently disabled or killed by measles, mumps or German measles.  I'm sure they have if they're older than 50.  Those horrific stories are the ones that This American Life brings to my mind.  We are so lucky that the risk of these diseases affecting us is so slim, but if people stop vaccinating their children the risk increases not only to them, but to those who are unable to be vaccinated (like all children ages 6 months to a year).

Sources:

NIH Office of Dietary Supplements

Measles, Mumps, and Rubella -- Vaccine Use and Strategies for Elimination of Measles, Rubella, and Congenital Rubella Syndrome and Control of Mumps: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), May 22, 1998, CDC.

Voluntary Ceasarian Section? One Reason Not To

"Compared with unassisted vaginal births, women who had cesarean sections reported more exhaustion, lack of sleep, and bowel problems; reported less perineal pain and urinary incontinence in the first 8 weeks; and were more likely to be readmitted to hospital within 8 weeks of the birth."

Prevalence and Persistence of Health Problems After Childbirth: Associations with Parity and Method of Birth

Jane F. Thompson, MSc, PhD, Christine L. Roberts, MBBS, MPH, Marian Currie, BAppSci, RN, RM, and David A. Ellwood, DPhil, FRACGOG Birth,Volume 29 Issue 2, Pages 83 - 94, Published Online: 16 May 2002

Rest After Having a Baby, PLEASE

I was shocked when my friend who had 24 hours of labor with twins went for a walk with the twins two days after they were born up and down the steep hill she lives upon.  Her doctor told her it was fine to get up and walk around.  That just isn't true.  The data shows that women who don't rest after delivery suffer greater complications and heal more slowly than those that do rest.

I'll add the data references when I have a little bit more time.

Pregnancy Back Pain: Cure it Now

Shabbir forwarded this link to me, where the very apt description of pregnancy back pain is described. 

If she doesn't mind, I'll quote:
"Traveling by furniture dolly is sounding more and more like a solution for staying ambulatory lately, because over the last few days I've developed a worsening pain in the ass. No, really: it's a pain! In my ass! Technically, it's directly under my right butt cheek, and it zaps the living fuck out of me throughout the day when I stand up after sitting for a while, or sit down after standing for a while, or turn over in bed, or walk, or breathe, etfuckingcetera.

My doctor suspects that my ballooning uterus is pressing on the sciatic nerve in my lower back. Apparently, for some people this happy condition can last UNTIL YOU GIVE BIRTH. Someone, I won't say who (hint: a certain husband who should know better than to freak my shit out, even if I do post embarrassing videos of him on the internet), told me about his coworker's wife who had to sleep in a recliner chair for the last 2 months of her pregnancy because it was the only position that offered any pain relief. "

This is just a horrific and accurate description of the pain as well as the supposed cure, "Get over it - you're pregnant, you're supposed to suffer!!"

Well it's just not true. 

I suffered identically to this poor woman, except it was my left butt cheek, and all of my movements were heavily impaired.  Here I was, barely 15 lbs pregnant and I couldn't walk!  How could this be a "ballooning uterus" or "the extra weight on my back" (as my chiropractor described, God bless him).  Well his wife gained 70 lbs during pregnancy, so maybe she did have weight related back pain, but come on most people I know who are 15 lbs overweight don't suffer so badly or at all for that matter.  Can you think of a better motivator to lose weight than excruciating sharp pain in your buttocks?  There's an S&M weight loss clinic out there waiting to be franchised.

Thankfully I have a friend who is an excellent physical therapist and also an excellent listener.  She told me after my very similar description of the pain that most physical therapists can fix it in three or four visits, and that most doctors don't know it can be fixed.  She works at Harvard and says that the physical therapists have to go around and educate the doctors there on the cutting edge about the small amount of physical therapy needed to ameliorate and prevent this kind of pain.  So don't expect your obstetrician who's been out of school for 20 years to know anything about it.

So here's the method for fixing it, but I recommend going to see that physical therapist.  I can only describe things, not treat them. 

The physical therapist should be one who knows what "Core Control" is.  Per my PT's website, "Core Control (Trunk Control, Torso Control):  strength, endurance, and control over abdominal, pelvic floor, and intrascapular muscles to ensure a solid foundation against which your arms and legs can move with more accuracy and less work."

Essentially the problem is that your abdominal muscles and pelvic floor are weak, while your hips are spread, spread, spreading with all of that lovely relaxin flowing through them.  Your buttock and back muscles clench and work overtime to keep what they perceive as an overly unstable pelvis from collapsing and cause you exceptional bursts of pain.  Probably your hips have gotten out of alignment as well, and the one that's off is the side that hurts.  The exercises to restore alignment take about 10 minutes to do.

The exercise involves lying on the floor with your legs against a wall and your knees bent (like sitting in a chair, but with the back of the chair on the floor).  Press your hands against the top of the knee of the hurt hip side and push that knee hard into your hand.  Simultaneously, push the foot of your other leg away from you against the wall - so one leg goes towards your torso and the other away, and you want resistance for both legs.  You'll be shocked at how easily this adjusts the problem. 

The other way to do this is to have another person assist you.  I'll post a video on youtube on how to do this tomorrow.  It really takes about 10 minutes a day for just a few days to get your hips back in alignment.  Any time the pain starts again, just do the alignment exercises some more.

Then, get a back brace. Here's a good one - it looks awful, but it will restore your ability to walk down the street in no time.  I can't recommend it enough.

Apparently it's just people in my social circle who are uniformed about this, including medical personnel, while there's a support group and website devoted to it in Britian.  This reference explains it better than I do - those Brits are just so advanced. And here's a non-profit devoted to it:  the Pelvic Partnership.