E-Mail 'Caring for Children on the Autism Spectrum During TEOTWAWKI- Part 2, by Grey Woman' To A Friend

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1. Grey Woman,

   Thank you for writing the article about Autism. God Bless You!

   C. Taylor

2. About GMOs: GMO tech is used to increase plant toxins. It makes them much more survivable against predators. Unfortunately it also increases the number of people who react negatively to them. The countless tons of synthetic poisons used in conventional agriculture have similar effects. In both cases we’re driving the evolution of hardier pests and pathogens. Letting herbivores process plants blunts the damage to the human eater. Eat meat, drink water.

   Women have stronger immune systems than men, thus why boys are disproportionately represented with autism. The downside for women is higher rates of autoimmune disease. Again, take care of your immune system, watch what you eat! Most of the immune system is in your gut.

   An off-grid lifestyle centered around pastured livestock should, in theory, be very healthy.

   1. GMO does not increase plant toxins. It simply provides a hybrid plant that has certain desirable characteristics. There is no known hybrid/GMO food plant that has increased toxins or causes health problems. The “fear” is that a GMO plant “could” someday be created that will do just that, NOT that it has happened but that it “could” happen.

      Women during normal healthy pregnancy do “seem” to have a stronger immune system. But as is well known pregnancy itself brings risks and many pregnant women suffer from health problems that they would not have had they not gotten pregnant. I would say that it is likely that both the positive and negative health issues around pregnancy kinda cancel each other out.

      You do not get autism from a strong or weak immune system. It seems to be something genetic like blue eyes or big nose, etc that is decided shortly after conception. Men are subject to a wider variation of brain development than women. That is if you looked at a graph of the IQ for women it would be a narrow bell curve with the center about IQ=100. Far fewer outliers than men. If you look at a graph of IQ for men it is a wide bell curve (again with the center or average about IQ=100) AND with MANY outliers. Men geniuses outnumber female geniuses by a factor of 2-6 and men “idiots” outnumber female idiots by the same amount. As for the outliers both on the negative and positive side of the graph that is where your super geniuses (and your incredible idiots) are. The autism spectrum is associated with these outliers and most probably would have been geniuses except something went wrong in the first few days/weeks of pregnancy and the mind didn’t fully form as genetically intended. It wasn’t/isn’t because of the immune system or even necessarily gender. A girl babies chance of being autistic is about the same ratio to their chance of being a genius as a male baby’s chance.

      1. Search “plant chemical defenses”. Plants have always evolved defenses against insect predators. The tech used by humans to help that along, be it selective breeding or GMO, is irrelevant. Between “natural” defenses and synthetic poisons used by conventional agriculture we’ve increased the percentage of humans who cannot tolerate certain plant foods.

         Search “women have stronger immune systems than men”.

         A weaker immune system makes you more susceptible to autism. Genetics loads the gun, environment pulls the trigger. Exercise what control you can on your environment. Modern wheat is among the worst. The popularity of the Paleo diet is directly related to avoiding plant chemical defenses. So is Zero Carb. The gut dysfunction that is common with autism is well known.

         Remove phytotoxic stress and the body can more easily deal with chronic infections and whatever else is contributing to the symptom presentation we call autism. It may not be enough but it is prerequisite.

         And, as someone with high-functioning Asperger’s, it’s helped me.

3. Try purchasing food and bread at any “Roman Russian Market” if there’s one in your city, frequently they have non GMO food and bread made from imported Russian non GMO wheat.

4. I’m not a fan of GMOs but rates of GMO growth and consumption has remained steady https://www.statista.com/statistics/263294/acreage-of-genetically-modified-crops-by-country-since-2003/
   while rates of autism have increased dramatically across the world, which makes this less likely a factor.

   In addition, although women do seem to have stronger immune systems than men, women are actually more susceptible to environmental toxins than men. Women may be more vulnerable to toxic exposures because they have a lower body weight and higher body fat proportions. Finally, hormonal differences may also affect the way a person’s body responds to chemicals. In short…it’s complicated and there is probably not a simple explanation for autism, or we would have found it already.

   Research on the reasons behind the rise of autism suggest that it is most likely due to multiple factors which include better diagnosis, genetic loading (older parents and also possibly increased marriages between parents who are themselves on the autism spectrum), as well as probable environmental factors possibly related to hormone disrupting chemicals- among others.

   Those of us who are old enough to remember autism being a rare diagnosis can recall clearly children who were considered “odd”, “mentally retarded” or “badly behaved”. Some of those children now have more clearly recognizable and explainable reasons to explain their struggles. Those who assume that autism is simply being over diagnosed for some unexplained financial gain, or is a diagnosis simply of misbehaving or poorly parented children are misinformed. It is not a diagnosis made casually nor easily. Diagnosis of autism requires a comprehensive look at the child by multiple specialties who assess a variety of developmental issues. The teams usually include a pediatrician, child development specialist, psychologist, speech and language pathologist, and often a neurologist. Rather than simply slapping a label on a child, it is an extensive process involving many hours- and a diagnosis that is not easily nor quickly made. These children are nearly always identified first by their own parents who note that something is not quite “right” with their development and interactions.

   Brain scans (MRI) of 6 month old babies can predict with high accuracy which of those babies would have a diagnosis by age 2. in older teens and young adults, a functional MRI brain scan can identify those with autism at an accuracy rate of 97%. This is not a mythical creation, but a challenging neurodevelopment disorder.

   It is important to determine the child’s challenges early and provide services for them because one fact that is known is that early intervention can lead to substantial success and improvement for many children. Delay in diagnosis and treatment leads to poorer outcome socially, academically, and occupationally. Children and adults with high functioning autism can be highly successful in some careers e.g. technoiogy, but still be lonely, socially isolated, anxious, and difficult for their families, friends and co-workers.

   Everyone who posts on this site is likely to know or be related to someone who is challenged by autism, even if it isn’t formally diagnosed, or admitted to. I am grateful that Grey Woman has raised the issue of how we can help those persons affected by autism, especially as we plan for some of the “worst case” scenarios. I hope we can be understanding of the challenges for those with autism, and also that we can benefit from some of the gifts those with autism can bring to the situation.

   1. Irish Eyes, thank you so much for your comments on these articles. You expressed these points far more eloquently than I could have done.

5. I have been in the medical field for a long time. Like it or not – some diagnosis are “Cash Cows” to everyone involved. Autism is one of those. Some children with mild symptoms are being turned into complete cripples with all our good intentions.

   It is frequently difficult to separate beneficial treatments from designed for-profit treatments. Nor can you ignore that some of these children are capable of extreme violence.

   The real questions remains:

   Can you provide for all their special needs in a survival situation?

   Can you trust them in a survival situation.

6. Vitamin D can be helpful in some cases in both preventing and treating autism (see the VitaminDCouncil.com for extensive research on this).

   I had a patient with three autistic children who was pregnant. I was able to persuade her to greatly increase her Vitamin D intake, though not as much as recommended. A few months after the birth, she contacted me, and said “My baby cooes! None of my other babies ever cooed!”

   Another, with spectrum twins, started Vitamin D when they were between 2 and 3 years old. They are now 9 years old, and to the non-specialist, appear to be normally friendly, emotionally related, ordinary children. They do have some behavioral issues, but would do well in a disaster situation. Mom keeps them outdoors as much as possible in good weather.

   It takes a day or so for sunlight to transform skin oils into Vitamin D and have them absorbed through the skin. A hot, soapy shower every night washes all the Vitamin D down the drain. I advise parents to spot clean their children in the summer, with only occasional baths as needed.

   In a grid down situation, sunlight will be almost the only source of Vitamin D.

   I have read that upper middle class, educated, conscientious white mothers have the highest rate of autistic children. The reason seems to be their conscientious use of sunscreen, which prevents both mother and children from receiving any Vitamin D by sunlight. The lighter the skin, the greater the use of sunscreen.

   Genetics may increase susceptibility to autism, but is obviously not the reason, or the rates would not be increasing so rapidly.

   Dark skinned people in northern climates have the greatest probability of Vitamin D deprivation, with all the health risks implied, because melanin is a natural sunscreen.

   This appears to be why Europeans, who were originally black skinned up to 10,000 years ago, gradually became lighter skinned over the millennia. (Argue with the geneticists about this, not me. The ancient English were black with blue eyes. Go figure.)

   Europe is a high-latitude continent, and Vitamin D is also a very powerful anti-viral and anti-bacterial agent. As waves of plagues and epidemics occurred, those who had the best protection were more likely to survive. The lighter the skin, the more Vitamin D is absorbed. Also ultraviolet – ouch.

   So both to help prevent autism, and possibly to reduce its effects, in a grid down situation, women who intend to have children should spend as much time in the sun as possible, without burning.

7. People it seems look for something, anything, that they can isolate that is the main culprit of our demise. Some of the more health conscience folks feel good that they are eating non GMO’s But what does that mean when it’s all watered with the same water?. I have a customer who preaches on about the benefits of organic this and that, while he waters his garden with the same water the neighbors upstream water their crops with. He admittedly wouldn’t drink that water, but by golly he swears his produce is healthier than the stuff the neighbors are growing Keep this in mind this summer while you are enjoying those seedless watermelons or those little halo oranges that are as easy to peel as a banana. Someone tweeked them to make them seedless, and easy to eat, and the water used is the same as all the other crops.

   As for the Vitamin D theory, If vitamin D played a role in autism, Seattle,Tacoma and the entire Puget sound area would win the gold medal for autistic kids. if you visit, you will see just how pale everyone is from lack of sun. My daughter lives in Tacoma and her mother and I live in the Redoubt and Eastern Washington, Our kid always looks pale and sick to us. Sun plays a role in health and happiness. Vitamin D deficiencies are a real problem over there, so is depression. But autisim?..The broad brush that is used to paint autism gets ever so broader.

8. All, I understand that there are countless opinions regarding the causes and prevention of autism, the parameters for diagnosis, the prevalence of miss-diagnosis etc.

   I leave those determinations to folks with far more scientific and nueropsychiatric education and knowledge than I.

   My hope in writing this article was that I would be able to provide general information about some of the manifestations of autism on the more significantly disabled end of the spectrum and to offer concrete tips and specific tools for those not currently familiar with / living with autism for how to care for those individuals in a worst case scenario.

   While I know that active debate is important in all subjects and we all benefit from opening our minds to alternative theories, I truly and sincerely hope that the underlying information and message have not been lost in the scrum.

   Whatever it’s causes and regardless of whatever % of miss or over diagnosis there may be, there are many individuals that are significantly affected by autism who truly need our understanding, compassion and care, now and in whatever future this life may hold for us all.

   Respectfully,

   Grey Woman

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