Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Autism is a medical condition causing brain inflammation. I wonder how many years it will take for this to be accepted ? How many kids will suffer, how many families will suffer?

There are so many groups trying to normalize autism, saying it's not a bad thing. That will hinder the search for a cause and a cure or prevention.

+100

I also think they'll eventually find that a least a large subset of ASD is inflammatory. PANDAS-caused ASD behavior is clearly inflammatory (and to an outsider, the behavior in that transient period looks identical to ASD). And small scale studies of kids diagnosed with ASD show statistically significant improvement in symptoms on steroid treatment (regression once the steroids inevitably have to be stopped).

I’m not sure what’s worse: this kind of pseudoscience bullshit pushing harmful treatments (steroids are no joke); or the adult “autism”
community interfering with the development and deployment of effective therapies; or the online self-diagnoses “autism community” blathering on about masking.

FWIW my DS supposedly on the spectrum is exactly like his dad, cousin and uncle. It’s not inflammation or a virus.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Autism is a medical condition causing brain inflammation. I wonder how many years it will take for this to be accepted ? How many kids will suffer, how many families will suffer?

There are so many groups trying to normalize autism, saying it's not a bad thing. That will hinder the search for a cause and a cure or prevention.

+100

I also think they'll eventually find that a least a large subset of ASD is inflammatory. PANDAS-caused ASD behavior is clearly inflammatory (and to an outsider, the behavior in that transient period looks identical to ASD). And small scale studies of kids diagnosed with ASD show statistically significant improvement in symptoms on steroid treatment (regression once the steroids inevitably have to be stopped).

Anonymous wrote:The tone of this whole thread is really disappointing, coming from someone who was recently diagnosed as a 38 year old successful adult. Having a diagnosis and knowing why the world has always seemed so different for me means the world. But my “quirks” are precisely why I was very good at school and now have a very good job. There’s some argument that parts of autism were evolutionary advantageous. No, I don’t want a cure. I am happy diagnosis rates are going up so that kids don’t have to wait until nearly 40 to understand themselves. Acceptance and changing norms is absolutely what’s needed. Let kids unmask.

That's so great for you, person who is highly successful and has a great life and now has the benefit of a simple label to describe why you've always felt a little different.

My 11 year old has significant, significant challenges with his high functioning ASD, was thrown out of multiple preschools, has never had a friend, and while he's highly gifted, lacks the intuit to figure out how to play the game of school to get decent marks. I'd like a cure or at least some kind of viable treatment.

PP -- perhaps your anecdote is exactly why the diagnosis has gotten too broad. Your think your need to "understand yourself" should come at the expense of my kid having access to treatment so that maybe he can live independently one day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The tone of this whole thread is really disappointing, coming from someone who was recently diagnosed as a 38 year old successful adult. Having a diagnosis and knowing why the world has always seemed so different for me means the world. But my “quirks” are precisely why I was very good at school and now have a very good job. There’s some argument that parts of autism were evolutionary advantageous. No, I don’t want a cure. I am happy diagnosis rates are going up so that kids don’t have to wait until nearly 40 to understand themselves. Acceptance and changing norms is absolutely what’s needed. Let kids unmask.

Following the rules isn't "masking". Having a public face and a private face isn't masking either. It's getting along in the world.

Yea, no. These “rules” were set by one type of person. Masking is exhausting and leads to depression and anxiety. Forcing conformity for ND people is exactly the issue.

I’m not sure what “forcing conformity” means here. It’s impossible to force the world to not find my kid different.

Anyway, at 1/25 boys diagnosed now (and how many more with ADHD?) it’s pretty clear that we are pathologizing a normal personality variant. The problem is that there is little benefit in this rush to label, because there are no real treatments for autism.

Anonymous wrote:Autism is a medical condition causing brain inflammation. I wonder how many years it will take for this to be accepted ? How many kids will suffer, how many families will suffer?

There are so many groups trying to normalize autism, saying it's not a bad thing. That will hinder the search for a cause and a cure or prevention.

+100

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the increase mostly in mild forms? Because that's where most diagnostic progress has been made. If we see an increase in severe forms, then that's cause to worry about environmental causes.

Even if it is, shouldn’t we still question why so many kids are diagnosed and whether any of it can be prevented?

+1

Autoimmune disorders are on the rise, allergies are on the rise, asthma is on the rise.

I wonder if we are going to get to 1 in 5 kids with autism and people will still say it's all better detection, broadening definition and mild forms. When will it be enough for people to care about environmental triggers?

None of these are comparable and all have medical evidence and often genetic.

🤣🤣🤣

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The tone of this whole thread is really disappointing, coming from someone who was recently diagnosed as a 38 year old successful adult. Having a diagnosis and knowing why the world has always seemed so different for me means the world. But my “quirks” are precisely why I was very good at school and now have a very good job. There’s some argument that parts of autism were evolutionary advantageous. No, I don’t want a cure. I am happy diagnosis rates are going up so that kids don’t have to wait until nearly 40 to understand themselves. Acceptance and changing norms is absolutely what’s needed. Let kids unmask.

Following the rules isn't "masking". Having a public face and a private face isn't masking either. It's getting along in the world.

Yea, no. These “rules” were set by one type of person. Masking is exhausting and leads to depression and anxiety. Forcing conformity for ND people is exactly the issue.

Anonymous wrote:The tone of this whole thread is really disappointing, coming from someone who was recently diagnosed as a 38 year old successful adult. Having a diagnosis and knowing why the world has always seemed so different for me means the world. But my “quirks” are precisely why I was very good at school and now have a very good job. There’s some argument that parts of autism were evolutionary advantageous. No, I don’t want a cure. I am happy diagnosis rates are going up so that kids don’t have to wait until nearly 40 to understand themselves. Acceptance and changing norms is absolutely what’s needed. Let kids unmask.

Following the rules isn't "masking". Having a public face and a private face isn't masking either. It's getting along in the world.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the increase mostly in mild forms? Because that's where most diagnostic progress has been made. If we see an increase in severe forms, then that's cause to worry about environmental causes.

Even if it is, shouldn’t we still question why so many kids are diagnosed and whether any of it can be prevented?

+1

Autoimmune disorders are on the rise, allergies are on the rise, asthma is on the rise.

I wonder if we are going to get to 1 in 5 kids with autism and people will still say it's all better detection, broadening definition and mild forms. When will it be enough for people to care about environmental triggers?

Agree. OCD and also extreme anxiety. I remember very well the “atypical” kids from my youth that would likely have had a diagnosis now. But everything is just so much more prevalent now. I’ve seen some studies indicating that gut biome may be related to some of these conditions — and I think we e largely trashed our gut biome in this country through things like antibiotics in the food and water supply and weird additives in our food. I feel like science is about 20-50 years away from having a much better understanding of brain development—right now, we diagnos and treat pretty much entirely on symptoms and know almost nothing about causes.

+1 although I think we will figure it out sooner!

The tone of this whole thread is really disappointing, coming from someone who was recently diagnosed as a 38 year old successful adult. Having a diagnosis and knowing why the world has always seemed so different for me means the world. But my “quirks” are precisely why I was very good at school and now have a very good job. There’s some argument that parts of autism were evolutionary advantageous. No, I don’t want a cure. I am happy diagnosis rates are going up so that kids don’t have to wait until nearly 40 to understand themselves. Acceptance and changing norms is absolutely what’s needed. Let kids unmask.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the increase mostly in mild forms? Because that's where most diagnostic progress has been made. If we see an increase in severe forms, then that's cause to worry about environmental causes.

Even if it is, shouldn’t we still question why so many kids are diagnosed and whether any of it can be prevented?

+1

Autoimmune disorders are on the rise, allergies are on the rise, asthma is on the rise.

I wonder if we are going to get to 1 in 5 kids with autism and people will still say it's all better detection, broadening definition and mild forms. When will it be enough for people to care about environmental triggers?

None of these are comparable and all have medical evidence and often genetic.

I think they are comparable. There are doctors who believe these are all related to autoimmune disorders. Kids with ADHD and autism are much more likely to get PANS/PANDAS. There’s a high correlation between Celiac and ADHD, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the increase mostly in mild forms? Because that's where most diagnostic progress has been made. If we see an increase in severe forms, then that's cause to worry about environmental causes.

Even if it is, shouldn’t we still question why so many kids are diagnosed and whether any of it can be prevented?

+1

Autoimmune disorders are on the rise, allergies are on the rise, asthma is on the rise.

I wonder if we are going to get to 1 in 5 kids with autism and people will still say it's all better detection, broadening definition and mild forms. When will it be enough for people to care about environmental triggers?

Agree. OCD and also extreme anxiety. I remember very well the “atypical” kids from my youth that would likely have had a diagnosis now. But everything is just so much more prevalent now. I’ve seen some studies indicating that gut biome may be related to some of these conditions — and I think we e largely trashed our gut biome in this country through things like antibiotics in the food and water supply and weird additives in our food. I feel like science is about 20-50 years away from having a much better understanding of brain development—right now, we diagnos and treat pretty much entirely on symptoms and know almost nothing about causes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: It's based on data from 2020 and I am surprised they don't break it down into girls vs. boys because usually they do and it's always more boys than girls. I do believe there can be a genetic component and I know they have broadened the definition and are better with early detection, but as a parent of a child with autism I absolutely do believe there is so much going wrong in our environment contributing to this.

They do say that it’s 3.8 times more prevalent in boys than girls, but they don’t say how that has changed over time. They also mention that girls are diagnosed later and are more likely to also have an intellectual disability.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/ss/pdfs/ss7202a1-H.pdf

So what does that make it for boys out of curiosity...not sure how to do the math....1 in how many boys? I could have sworn we already hit 1 in 15 a year or 2 ago.

Oh, I understand what you’re asking now. They say the prevalence in boys is 43.0 per 1,000, which is 1 in 23. For girls, the prevalence is 11.4 per 1,000, which is 1 in 88.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: A generation ago, my dd (who is dx ASD) would have been labeled that weird kid who is scared of stuff and squaks and flaps and who was 'slow' (she had developmental delays).

She's actually 2E (dx gifted as well). I'm glad that she has had the opportunity to be dx, instead of being written off as above. She's had therapies and such and has come so far!

I think you've miscounted your generations.

I don't think so. I have adult kids also so I have been parenting for 30 years. But regardless, my point remains.

Anonymous wrote: A generation ago, my dd (who is dx ASD) would have been labeled that weird kid who is scared of stuff and squaks and flaps and who was 'slow' (she had developmental delays).

She's actually 2E (dx gifted as well). I'm glad that she has had the opportunity to be dx, instead of being written off as above. She's had therapies and such and has come so far!

I think you've miscounted your generations.