August 26, 2016
As I sat with my morning coffee and scrolled through my Facebook feed, I came across what may very well be the dumbest thing I ever heard a doctor say to a patient – and I’ve heard some really dumb shit. You can watch the clip here.
In a nutshell, the doctor says the kids are sick because they are getting too much organic food too early in life.
Wait, wut?
I posted this on my page:
Let’s play a game inspired by the “doctor” in the last video I shared who said organic food too early is making them sick . . . because my jaw is still hanging open on that one.
Tell me something your pediatrician said to explain away your concerns and child’s issues. Let’s get a glimpse of medicine’s finest in America.
These are some comments that followed:
J was having what I know now was petit mal seizures. Doctor said “Don’t worry, he’s just so excited about his environment he’s taking it all in.”
My 18-month-old runs around on his tiptoes, flapping his hands, saying “EEEEE EEEEEE EEEEE EEEEE”
Me: “He’s not talking.”
DEAF Doctor (literally deaf): “Boys talk later.”
Me: “Doc, I think he has autism.”
Him: “Does he hug you? Love you? Know his name? Look at that kid! He doesn’t have autism. Now here, get him up on the table for his shots.”
Before I “woke up” my pediatrician asked me (genuinely) what I thought was the cause of all this “autism.” I said food. He said “TV, Sesame Street was the beginning of the end.” OMG.
“The scripting (echolalia) is a bridge to real communication – it’s a good thing.”
K with watery diarrhea, head banging, hand flapping, toe walking, disconnected, lost all his speech:
Me: “I think he might have autism. I’ve been reading up a lot, I learned that vaccine may cause autism.”
Doctor: “Don’t believe everything you read. They don’t cause autism. It’s just a phase he’s going through; he will grow out of it.”
I walked out of there outraged and took my business elsewhere. One of the best decisions of my life.
My son regressed — lost speech, couldn’t eat without projectile vomiting, wasn’t having bowel movements on his own, all the fun stuff. I was told he was a strong-willed two-year-old who didn’t need to speak because his sisters and I were babying him. Oh!
And another glorious quote “We allow children 28 days without a bowel movement before we get concerned.”
He stopped pooping after his two-month shots? “Give him Karo syrup in a bottle.”
GI nurse lecturing about eosinophilic esophagitis: “Anyone in here ever try a special diet?” (One raised hand, mine.) Nurse says, “That’s way too hard right? Prilosec, that’s what you need.” [Editor’s note: see Prilosec Side Effects.]
Neurologist: “P, take off your shirt.” Nothing. “P, say your name.” Nothing. Okay, Mom and Dad, here’s your prescription for Abilify for your nonverbal four-year-old. Have a nice day.” [Editor’s note: see Abilify Side Effects.]
“Your son just wants your attention.” – Reply to nightly head banging that began soon after varicella vaccine.
At age 18 months: “Doctor, I’m really concerned he doesn’t express hunger or thirst in any way. If I don’t feed him, he doesn’t gesture towards food or water, nothing.”
Him, “Uh, Mom, I think you’re too over anticipatory. Do not give him anything until he asks.” He would have starved to death.
Me: “Doc, I’m concerned about mercury in shots. Doc: “Oh, there is new research that it makes kids smarter.” [Editor’s note: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote a whole book on the neurotoxic effects of Thimerosal: Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak. It most definitely does NOT “make kids smarter.”]
Neurologist watches O run in circles, sees brother has diagnosis, scribbles the following on prescription pad: “ADHD, PDD NOS, mood disorder.” And hands me another for Risperdal.
Me: “He’s not even three.”
Her: “I prescribe it to kids all the time. It’s completely safe and effective.” [Editor’s note: “Common side effects of Risperdal include extrapyramidal effects (sudden, often jerky, involuntary motions of the head, neck, arms, body, or eyes), dizziness, tiredness, fatigue, fever, weight gain, feeling hot or cold, headache, dry mouth, increased appetite, restlessness, anxiety, sleep problems (insomnia), nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, constipation, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, or skin rash.” Risperidone Side Effects Center For a more complete listing, see Risperidone Side Effects]
When my neurotypical kid developed full-on measles the day after her MMR, I called her pediatrician and said, “I’m certain it was the shot!” His response: “No way the shot could’ve done this. She was probably developing measles the day before she got the vaccine, so it makes it look like it came from the shot.” [Editor’s note: last year during the Disneyland outbreak, a baby in Baltimore tested positive to measles, but it turned out to be a “reaction to the shot” that happens in 5% of children according to the Baltimore Sun.]
“Doctor, my daughter screams almost all day and has diarrhea seven or eight times a day. Doctor: “Oh, she’s a strong-willed child. Get this book about raising a strong-willed child, and it will help.”
My son’s pediatrician told me the reason he lost language was because I was pregnant and his dad was deploying, so he had regressed on purpose because he was mad at us.
When L was pulling her hair out because she was in so much pain, her pediatrician told me to shave her head. For real.
“Your perfectly eating breastfed child is in the 5th percentile. You need to start feeding her fats. Deep fried foods are best.“
I switched offices, and the nurse there told me that they haven’t used Thimerosal in over 20 Years. This was 2008. [Editor’s note: Thimerosal was voluntarily “removed” from childhood vaccines (not including multi-dose influenza vaccines) starting in 2001, but existing supplies were allowed to be used up and remained on doctors’ shelves until well into 2003, and to this day there is no oversight that into how much actually remains in those vaccines.]
Gastro doc says “Oh, you’re one of THOSE people.” “What kind of people is that?” “One of the Wakefield people.”
“Well, do you think maybe you WANT him to be autistic because of your background?” (I’m a BCBA) when I brought in a completed Asperger’s Rating Scale after being told he was so sensory and behavioral because I wasn’t “parenting firmly enough, he’s speaking in paragraphs at two.” (Mind you, they were only about the Titanic or 9/11; no red flags there.)
I called the only pediatric gastroenterologist on my health insurance when J was five. Never got past the receptionist: “The doctor doesn’t see children with autism. Their problems are not gastrointestinal; they are behavioral.” When J was hospitalized last year, this same gastroenterologist was assigned to us and ended up calling CPS, alleging “medical neglect.” [emphasis editor’s]
I also got told by his pediatrician “There is no way your son has autism. He is hugging you guys and he knows his alphabet. I have seen autistic kids in my practice; he looks nothing like them. Didn’t you know people in high school that were quirky Trekkies? He will be fine.” A year later, he got a full-blown ASD diagnosis, and now at age 10 he is clearly ASD. Doesn’t even know what Star Trek is.
The pediatrician said to me, “I think your children’s health issues are a result of your anxiety problem.” I begged him to do the bloodwork anyway: one had mono, and the other had Lyme.
She had a rash around her mouth and I said I suspected food allergies. Doc condescendingly said, “People have been eating food for thousands of years. The chances of her having a food allergy are alarmingly low.” Right, ‘cause it turned out that she had 31 of them.
2012 L’s gastroenterologist, when asked for an allergy panel and special diet request for school, “No, it’s a big commitment, and I really don’t see it making a difference. It would be really irresponsible of you to take him off Miralax.” [Editor’s note: “But the way many families use Miralax and its many generic equivalents has strayed far from its original intent. The Food and Drug Administration approved the drug for use only by adults, and for only seven days at a time.” Drug for Adults is Popular as Children’s Remedy, New York Times]
Chronic diarrhea seven times a day for a whole year was diagnosed as “anxiety due to autism” by a gastroenterologist. And trying a gluten and dairy-free diet to help said diarrhea was harmful to the child because he would lose nutrients. One week after doing the diet, all diarrhea stopped.
“Since your child is immune compromised, he’ll need the flu shot this year.”
“You can’t heal the immune system.”
“He clenches up his entire body at six months old? He’s just learning his strength.”
“He already has autism; it’s not like he can get it again,” nurse said to me after I questioned the hepatitis B vaccine.
Took my youngest son to the ER because our doctor told me to. Triage nurse asks why we’re there. I told her he’d been running a fever of 104.7 all week that wouldn’t come down for any decent length of time even with ibuprofen and that he lost seven pounds. She said “Are you sure he didn’t just get taller? Some parents think their kids lose weight when they grow.”
G had a reaction to his seizure meds.
ER doc: “It’s not hives. See how the rash blanches when I touch it? It’s not hives.”
Next day at the pediatrician: “Yep, it’s hives. See how the rash blanches when I touch it?”
“Try giving him more fiber”—Reply to “He has a bowel movement every five days and screaming painful episodes each time.”
One of my favorites (again before I knew better), my son was put on Straterra, and for the first time ever, started talking about dying. I called the doctor who said, “No . . . it just means he needs more.” He doubled the dose. M continued talking about dying even more. I called the psychiatrist and told him I was concerned because I saw that suicide is a possible side-effect. He assured me they just need to find the right dose and upped him again. With that dose, nobody could have a conversation with my son without him talking about dying. Seriously, somebody could mention a kangaroo or paper clip . . . M would find a way to turn it into a death talk. Every single time. Without the doctor’s “approval,” of course, and with a measure of fear, I stopped Straterra cold turkey on a Friday, and he hasn’t fantasized about dying since. [Editor’s note: “Some young people have thoughts about suicide when first taking Strattera, or whenever the dose is changed. Your doctor should check your progress at regular visits.” Straterra at Drugs.com]
Head circumference went from 25% to 75% between two and four-month well-baby visits. “Oh, we must have measured wrong at his two-month check.”
I went from laughing at the absolute absurdity to crying over the sheer negligence.
This is what we’re dealing with, folks. And people wonder why I don’t trust mainstream doctors.
Got a good one to add to the collection? Comment on the blog.
~ Poppy
For more by Poppy, click here.
Although I agree with and applaud many of fhe scenarios presented in this article, please, for the love of god or who the hell ever, please stop perpetuating the idea that vaccines cause Autism. There has been more than substantial data to discredit this false claim, and Andrew Wakefield, the original proponent of this ridiculous idea, was long ago stripped of his medical license and admitted falsifying information for the sake of winning a lawsuit. It is so important to get our babies vaccinated, please stop treating one of the wonders of modern medicine like a problem. That kind of thinking is dangerous.
Wow. First off, you need to know that Andrew Wakefield (and his twelve co-authors) never claimed that vaccines cause autism. In fact, the retracted paper specifically said that they did NOT prove an association between the MMR (specifically) and autism. Secondly, yes, he was stripped of his medical license, as was his co-author John Walker-Smith (who was later reinstated and cleared of virtually all the same charges), but no, he did NOT “admit falsifying information for the sake of winning a lawsuit.” That was an accusation made up by Brian Deer, a journalist paid by Rupert Murdoch to discredit Dr. Wakefield. There was no falsification whatsoever. Deer had access to private medical records that the Royal Free doctors did NOT have access to, and because they deviated slightly from the parents’ reporting of their children’s health histories, Deer proclaimed that evidence of “falsification.” Anyone with medically complex children knows damned well their children’s official medical records do not reflect the truth.
http://ahrp.org/laffaire-wakefield-shades-of-dreyfus-bmjs-descent-into-tabloid-science/
What is “dangerous” is NOT reading the “substantial data” that exists because you believe you already know the truth. The majority of it actually supports the idea that vaccines (not just the MMR) are causing autism, usually in combination with a number of other toxic environmental insults, especially antibiotics (which destroy the microbiome) and Tylenol (which depletes glutathione, the master antioxidant). Do yourself and your family a favor and read a lot more on the subject, preferably from sources that don’t have a monetary stake in vaccine profits. As the Cochrane Collaboration notes, those sources are much more likely to report favorably on their subject, while being simultaneously much less likely to report anything that reflects unfavorably on their products.
https://www.scribd.com/doc/220807175/151-Research-Papers-Supporting-the-Vaccine-Autism-Link
Cool, so you’re a conspiracy theorist who would rather children risk dying of measles or becoming paralyzed by Polio, all because you don’t believe in science. Congratulations on your toxicity to our society. Keep poisoning society with your factless belief system you dumb twat.
No, dear, I am a realist who believes that scientists are people and, as such, are as corruptible as anyone. I “would rather” children were healthy rather than subject to the will of those who would profit off their suffering. For that reason, I make sure that I understand the facts and the scientific research that applies. Obviously, those things don’t matter to you.
Your comment violates any reasonable community’s standard of behavior, ours included, but every once in a while I approve comments of this nature so that people who are following the conversation can see for themselves exactly who is “poisoning society with their factless belief system.”
Helpful hint for future conversations: You do not sway readers when you abandon reason and facts for ad hominem insults.
Oh, and since you brought up “conspiracy theory,” I thought our readers might be interested in this piece about just exactly how little it takes to get to a point where the general public believes up is down when it comes to specific health issues, using well documented examples. I think it’s pretty good if I do say so myself:
What Do Sugar, Trans Fat, and Vaccines Have in Common? Industry and Government Collusion Undermining Your Health
My newborn was projectile vomiting and crying for hours every day. His ped: “Colic is normal. Try singing to him.” When I finally tried removing dairy from my diet, he stopped within two days. A family member who is a nurse: “Oh that’s not possible.”
The same nurse: “Crying is the only exercise babies get. It’s good for their lungs. It prevents asthma.”
The pediatrician: “You can stop breastfeeding when he gets teeth.” He got his first tooth at 5 months.
“Keep shoes on him to stop his toe-walking.”
A PA politely tried to talk me into vaccinating and told me that if I still chose not to, I needed to pay attention to outbreaks and to come in for a vaccine if there was a local outbreak of something (She used Hep A as an example). Later in the appointment I asked about my son’s frequent colds and other minor illnesses. She said it was good for him to be exposed to things and get sick. Builds his immune system. And that it’s the kids who are never exposed to things who end up getting sick a lot when they start kindergarten. Smh at the inconsistency.
An ENT wanted to put my 2-year-old on allergy meds for a month to “dry him out” because he wasn’t talking yet. We were there to have his hearing checked, and she hadn’t even done that yet but thought she saw pressure in his ears and insisted it was because of allergies. He had no signs of allergies, had just had a cold the week before, and it was the dead of winter. When I declined until we at least got his hearing checked, she said “He’ll end up on them anyway. You might as well start now.” We didn’t go back. His hearing is better than mine.
I was worried about the mercury in my teeth leaching out while I was pregnant and was told that because I had “a lot of belly fat”, the mercury would hide out in the fat, and never reach my baby’s brain, or my brain, for that matter. My fatness was protecting me from the dangerous amalgam fillings (but remember those are perfectly safe, right?)
I was talking about how I got mercury poisoning and how my life had been ruined. A friend commented, “Oh, I remember one doctor informed me that taking a small dose of mercury can help stop my shivering hands.”
It is amazing that you have over one hundred replies in just two days! When my daughter was three she got strep throat. We treated with antibiotics but it came back immediately after she finished her medicine. So, they gave her another round. It immediately came back after she finished. So, the doctor gave her an adult dose of a stronger antibiotic and it ripped the cilia out of her colon. It got rid of the strep but she had diarrhea for six months, had no energy, and lost weight. They sent her to a gastro-enterologist in Chicago and he said nothing could be done… she would just have to wait until the cilia grew back… My sister told me to put her on probiotics and within two weeks she was back to her old self. She had energy, the diarrhea stopped, and she started gaining weight like a typical three year old.
Wanted to Thank you for this Post, and ALL who commented.
It has given me support and encouragement of actions, over many tough situations.
Such support is not easy to find in the “real” world. In the “real” world, I (and likely many) have had to be cautious in what I say, what I ask, what I propose. In the “real” world, I have so often run in to many of these situations that if I had not experienced them, would have truly thought they were “made up”.
Thank you again to all who have shared. It has meant much.
Have any of you read “House of God”? It explains all of these docs ignorance.
Oh boy, where do I begin. I apologize if any of this is tmi and that it’s really long. When I was an infant, I began getting constipated very frequently. This continued through my childhood and doctors would try to treat the symptoms but never really tried to find the cause. The older I got, the more severe the constipation would get. I became impacted many times and I considered myself lucky if I had a bowel movement every few months. One time I became so impacted that I went almost a year without a bm. I was tall but underweight and sickly. My constipation would get so bad that I would appear to lose control of my bowels and would soil my underwear. It turns out that i wasn’t really losing control of them but that I was so constipated that there was nowhere for new waste to go so it’d just leak around. It would also put pressure on my bladder and caused damage to those nerves so I wouldn’t recognize that I needed to pee until I was about to wet myself. Doctors thought I might be lactose intolerant but removing dairy changed nothing. They tried putting me on fiber supplements but they did nothing either. For years they had me on kondromul but that didn’t help much either. They still failed to figure out why I couldn’t use the bathroom. Whenever I’d finally have a bowel movement I’d go right back to being unable the very next day. As I hit my teens these problems continued but new ones started appearing. I would have episodes where I’d get clusters of painful canker sores on my cheeks and tongue. This wasn’t just one or two but so many that talking, smiling, and eating were very painful. I also developed chronic joint pain and muscle pain. My joints wouldn’t swell but they’d hurt badly enough to keep me awake at night and to make moving painful. I was frequently fatigued as well. Every time my mom would take me to a doctor to try to find out what was wrong, they’d give me the same spiel, “Oh it must be growing pains.” Or they’d run the exact same tests every time despite the fact that they kept coming back negative. No, I don’t have arthritis. No, I don’t have Lyme. No, I don’t have lupus. Then they’d give up. Every. Time. At 14 I became impacted again and the GI doc discovered that my long history of not being able to go caused my colon to become deformed. Yet another series of strong laxatives followed by daily doses of miralax for over a year. This finally seemed to help a little but there was still no answer. Eventually, doctors told me to stop complaining. By 16 I’d developed daily episodes of having waves of severe stomach pain followed by very painful diarrhea. Still, nothing. The doctors at this point just didn’t care what was wrong with me. The same couple of tests came back negative so of course I must be exaggerating or it must be in my head, right? I gave up. I dealt with the pain and the humiliation because I couldn’t bear to go through another round of trying to convince the doctors that I was sick only to have them treat me like I was an attention seeker. It wasn’t until I was almost 20 that my mom started developing similar episodes of stomach pain so severe that she couldn’t move followed by diarrhea. She started googling her own symptoms and came across the answer that doctors had been missing for my entire life. I have celiac disease. They never checked me for it. They never mentioned it as even being a possibility. My symptoms started when my parents introduced baby cereal to my diet but it never clicked. My whole life I suffered from alternating constipation and diarrhea, swollen tonsils, joint pain, fatigue, mouth sores, difficulty gaining weight, poor muscle tone, poor immune system, all hallmark signs of celiac and they NEVER tested me for it. Even after bringing it up, they didn’t want to test me. It seems that Google hurts their ego. Less than a week after I stopped eating gluten, I felt better than I had felt in my entire life. My symptoms were gone and I had so much energy. The first time I came running down the stairs of my dorm to greet my mom, she couldn’t have smiled wider because I’d always been to tired and my joints had always hurt too much to run. How could all of these pediatricians, general practitioners, and specialists miss something so simple?
Another case of idiotic healthcare practitioners? I was in college and one week I started feeling more tired than usual and had a mildly runny nose. I didn’t think much of it; it was midterms after all. After a few days though I started developing this weird cough. I went to the school clinic and saw a physician’s assistant. She brushed it off as a viral infection and gave me codeine cough syrup. I thought, no problem. Codeine syrup has always worked before. Well, this time it didn’t. My cough just kept getting worse. I started having sudden attacks where I couldn’t stop coughing and gagging for at least a minute and no amount of medicine was helping. I went back to the clinic. This time I saw a nurse practitioner. She insisted that it MUST be seasonal allergies despite my insistence that I have none. She tried prescribing me allergy medicine. Big surprise, no help. My cough kept getting worse. I would suddenly start coughing and wouldn’t be able to stop for a few minutes at a time. I’d barely manage to get a bit of air before starting up again. When I finally managed to stop I’d throw up and feel exhausted. Laughing or eating especially seemed to bring them on. I honestly worried that I might die one night because I just couldn’t breathe. When I started coughing up blood tinged mucus, the clinic finally let me see the actual doctor. He spent a couple of minutes listening to the history of my story and, lo and behold, he knew exactly what was wrong and it should’ve been extremely obvious during my prior appointments; especially when I reported that codeine didn’t do anything. I had a classic case of adult whooping cough. Why it took over two weeks of misery to consider it I’ll never know; especially when I reported that I volunteered with children ages 2-6. Unfortunately at that point the bacteria had done their (temporary) damage to my lungs and I spent the next few months coughing like this. Had they caught it when I first showed up they would’ve given me antibiotics and I could have been spared most of the damage. By the way, I caught whooping cough 4 months after my university mandated adult Tdap booster. Clearly, it was very effective.
Your “TMI” might save others many years of misery. Thank you for your story.
Wow, how awful. So sorry for you. Don’t know who allowed these nincompoops to graduate from med school. I think the bar is very low because I too have met many, many of these.
After numerous adverse reactions including noticeable speech regression after my daughter’s last round of vaccines, the pediatrician bulked when we refused it the chickenpox shot.
My daughter was a baby model at the time and the doctor told us that if we didn’t get the chickenpox shot, my daughter would catch chicken pox and it would disfigure her. She added that her modeling career would be over.
The doctor still refused to address the adverse reactions and regression. She just pushed us off by giving us referrals to an ENT, neurologist, gastroenterologist, and The Center for Autism. Then she stopped seeing us altogether and refused to even say ‘hi’ when we came into the office to see the nurse practitioner.
My Healthy 8 month old unvaccinated baby had 103 fever, lethargy and cold symptoms. I took him to the dr, he wanted to prescribe antibiotics. I asked that he be tested for RSV. Came back positive for RSV, Doctor still insisted on antibiotocs (for a virus). When I questioned this he said since he is Unimmunized he should take the antibiotics
” just in case.” Dr noticed that I never picked up the prescription he called in so he began calling me twice a day reminding me to pick up the prescription. That is when we stopped seeing a pediatrician!
These stories break my heart and infuriate me. Because of my similar experience, I’ve learned to care for myself and my family as much as humanly possible. I have been seriously harmed by modern medicine and poorly skilled physicians. At 61, my most difficult issues are a result of these “errors.” I left my M.D. 7 years ago for a naturopath and daily reading and searching medical information. I am learning to use multiple modes of traditional medicine and finding answers which I then take to my practitioners for evaluation and discussion. Our health is too valuable to leave in the hands of a physician. I was trained as an R.N., so medical reading isn’t overwhelming for me, but today’s alternative medical community is available to anyone who can read or attend a webinar. When my now adult children were small, I dutifully took them to the pediatrician, unaware of the risks and consequences of vaccinations and medical interventions. Looking back, I can tell you exactly when our children suffered vaccine damage that led to ADHD, gut dysfunction, asthma, eczema etc. Our most severely damaged child showed signs of brain swelling while still in the hospital after birth, screaming inconsolably for days. What a tragedy that many moms are unaware that ear infections, viruses, flu, childhood diseases (which my generation contracted and survived) are so easily handled by a committed mother who has learned what she needs to know to confidently care for her family. Mamas, learn homeopathy…go to joettecalabrese.com or many other online resources and begin your education. A physician is valuable for trauma and accidents, but in the majority of instances, your child will be better off with the administration of medicine that gets to the root of the disease vs. driving it deeper with drugs. Homeopathy is growing in use around the world, the UK still has hundreds of homeopathic hospitals–the British Royal family use only homeopathy. The U.S. is one of the only nations not promoting homeopathy, and we all know why. In fact, our beloved nation is becoming less and less a safe place to be ill. It is our responsibility to take care of ourselves in a safer and more effective manner.
Here is my over educated moron story!
Me: my son isn’t talking, he makes gestures for items, doesn’t react to noise nor stimuli. This argument has been happening with the pediatrician from age 12 months to 36 months!
Doc: boys are slow,his sister has all your attention,he has an attitude already, he is being stubborn and is showing signs of ADHD
Me: I want his ears checked, something isn’t right
Doc: stop being overbearing and overprotective, give him more of your time stop spoiling your daughter. See me in 6 months
Me I want a damn referral to an audiologist to check his ears or I’m filing a state complaint I’m not the parent to piss off.
Doc : your insurance won’t allow it
Me: bullshit, I called them before we got here, this is where you are sending us, sign it or else
Doc: signs paper
US, 5 days later, full tests, find out my son is fluid deaf, resulting in no cochlear function in right ear and 40% loss in left.
Surgical intervention ( not straightforward tubes) done two days afterward.
Peds follow up , I go alone, I walk in, throw the tests, surgical notes everything at the over educated idiot along with the state complaint. He attempts to back peddle….. Again, I’m not the parent to piss off!!
I have a masters degree in medical administration , I play to win!
Awesome.
I would be able to share this article on my FB page if you had not used profanity. I have no idea why profanity is used in everyday language now. I have a kid with multiple auto-immune disorders, “autism”, who has only had an in utero RhoGAM shot and a vitamin K shot, plus a ton of meds during the birthing process. I took him to Dr. Mayer Eisenstein’s practice starting at one year old. You will gain more respect if you can stop yourself swearing. Conventional MDs think that we can be harmed by the toxins in cow manure. It is a very weak argument when compared to the herbicide and GMO argument.
One year should say one week old.
I was nursing my now 10 month old baby and he started breaking out in unexplained hives after eat at around 3 months old. 1st doctor said “oh that’s just dry, scaley skin. Should clear up with moisturizer.” I used said moisture on his skin in the form of coconut oil and still it did not clear, so I switched doctors who saw it and immediately referred us to an allergist and dermatologist. Allergy testing came back positive for 4 life threatening allergies (mind you no solids had been started! Just the protiens passing through my breast milk!) and the dermatologist says to me “I don’t believe allergies and skin problems are related.” Funny how when I ate those things he would get so bad we would have to go to the ER! Unrelated?! I think not!
We thought my toddler may have swallowed a button battery, and I called poison control, who told me to get her in for an x-ray ASAP. They said that we needed to see if the battery was still in the esophagus, or if it had passed through to the stomach. They said if it has passed through to the stomach, it would probably come out just fine. But, they emphasized that if it was still in the esophagus, serious damage could happen within 2 hours if it was not removed. I felt like they took forever at the urgent care, still doing “first come, first serve,” even though I explained what Poison Control had said, and that I needed to know right away where the battery was, and that time was very short to take care of it, if was still in the esophagus. I arrived 7 minutes after she swallowed the battery. By the time the PA came in and read the x-ray, it had been 55 minutes since she swallowed the battery. Luckily, it had passed through to her stomach. I breathed a sigh of relief, but the PA disagreed with Poison Control, and still wanted me to take her down to Primary Childrens to be checked by their gastroenterologist, and to have it surgically removed. My husband called his friend (a gastro surgeon,) and looked up online the the protocol suggested by the National Poison Control Center, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. They all said the same thing, “The biggest concern is if it is stuck in the esophagus. Once its through to the stomach, it’s more risky to try to go after it. Just watch to make sure it comes out with in the next few days.” I relayed this info to the PA, including the sources, and his response was, “We need to wait to hear back from real experts at Primary children’s instead of going off of what you found on the internet and calling a friend.” I reiterated that the online sources were the National Poison Control Center, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, and that his friend specializes in gastroenterology, and regularly performs surgeries in the neighboring county. His response was, “Again, we’ll wait to hear back from the real experts.”
There was no sense of urgency when urgency was called for, and then afterwards, the PA was condescending, and rude. We left and told him to call us when he heard back. He told us right then that his recommendation was to have it removed. We followed the advice of everyone except him, and it came out into her diaper 12 hours later. She’s just fine now.
My 24 month old developed a case of mumps after his first dose of the MMR vaccine. Took 3 followup trips before doctor admitted it was from the vaccine. His loss of appetite never returned. He’s been on Pediasure for over a year because he doesn’t like to eat. (He’s not “picky” he likes a huge variety of food, he just doesn’t like eating. He loved eating prior to the vaccine). We had to get a new Doctor when ours retired. When I told him about my son’s poor response to the MMR, he said “Oh, that’s actually great! We look for that kind of response! It shows the body is fighting off the disease! That’s a healthy response!” …getting a disease and losing appetite for years is a healthy response?
My younger son was/is allergic to something. He gets hives and redness after eating certain things. I ask the doctor for a food allergy test. He says “it’s impossible for babies to have allergies, their systems are to underdeveloped”… impossible for babies to have allergies…?? That’s a new one.
If you are having trouble figuring out what your son is reacting to, you might want to look up the low histamine diet or histamine intolerance (if you haven’t already done so). My son had real allergies and also has histamine intolerance. The allergist we have seen doesn’t believe in histamine intolerance though. He told me that these things which are hard to diagnose and which present with different symptoms for different people don’t exist. This is the same allergist who sent me home with reading material to try convince me to vaccinate my son and who thought I was silly for eating gluten-free and feeding my son that way, despite the fact that my son had multiple allergies, gut issues and is genetically predisposed to celiac disease (the HLA-DQ8 gene variation… and what do you know, various genetic variants of the HLA (human leukocyte antigen) gene family have being associated with vaccine-induced autoimmune activation, but I digress.) Anyways, I thought if you hadn’t yet heard of histamine intolerance that it could possibly be helpful to you. Good luck! Oh, and babies can definitely react to foods and/or be allergic. My son was getting hives while still exclusively breastfed.
Not a Pediatrician, but a story of how a doctor will even do it to another doctor. Mother was ill – hospitalized, getting sicker. O2 SAT was consistently dipping into the 80’s. Highly esteemed doctor (close relative) in room told hospitalist doctor that he thought she needed to be intubated at that point. Hospitalist said no, she had been on pain meds which were likely depressing respiration. She’d consider it in 4 HOURS when pain meds were wearing off. She left room. My mother got extremely worse – immediately – I went looking for the hospitalist. Saw her with back to me, at nurses’ station, telling nurse that “how dare that arrogant SOB relative of the lady in 402 tell her what to do”. Nurse saw me. I exploded. Called patient advocate. Hospitalist taken off – mother intubated immediately. Touch and go all night and she almost died of a hospital MRSA infection that night. So they don’t just do it to parents – they do it to each other.
There are just too many times that dr’s have just been idiots. My 3 year old broke his arm in 3 places and dislocated his radial head. ER dr tried to ‘manipulate ‘ the bone back in but ended up just casting the s of his forearm and sent home. Two days later with much pain I went back to see if they could recheck it. Same dr. Squeezed arm, recanted. I kept calling fracture clinic who finally looked at X-ray. Pulled him in for surgery. When I complained they said that the surgery was not really needed but to keep me happy. Last week my daughter (14 ) was sent down to emergency by our dr to get X-ray and Iv antibiotics due to infected toes. He had sent a letter and talked to dr before we went. They decided instead to slice out her two big toenails and then put them back in. The infection was not in the nail bed. Two days later she was back for Iv antibiotics and her toes look butchered. I asked to see ortho but they didn’t know what to do. I was told they would consult with a poditatrist…. They didn’t so I had to grab her and see one myself. The amount of times one dr will tell you one thing then another tell you another thing. Last year my daughter was admitted due to intense stomach pains. They ruled out appendix. Instead they tried to separate her from me to see if she had an eating disorder. Her blood work had come back positive for glandular fever. My sister is a dr and she suggested that it could be due to this. The LEDs dr insisted that I knew nothing and that she needed to see a psychiatrist for pain management. My dr looked it up and thought that all symptoms were the result of the virus. I have so many more stories of dumb ass dr’s who think they are god. Seriously…
Rachael
your experiences are so common to ones I/we have experienced and seen and heard related…
I have a hard time deciding, what is the cause, as it seems to me any person with a tiny bit of common sense would not make these sort of decisions……………….
-badly educated (in common sense and medicine)?
-uncaring?
-stupid?
-rush to save money by getting patients in and out quick (then they can charge for more patients per hour, etc)?
-total ego?
I just can’t decide. What it does is make me terrified of any future visit to Doctor/ER/Hospital. We try very hard to not need their “services”, hopefully we continue to be successful..But, I have to honestly say, it is a worry.
Some background; We had a pediatrician who would not give a formal diagnosis of anything,( we were pretty certain she had Autism) yet had us try several different medications for ADHD,
When the starter doses didn’t work, she upped them, which caused the child to have violent outbursts. Even though she was aware that the meds did nothing, we were advised to keep the child on them.
Despite misgivings we did, however the last straw came when this Dr. suggested we vaccinate (bring up to date) this child who we suspected was vaccine damaged, that we reconsider our stance, and I quote “it’s not like you have to worry about them, since she’s already damaged.” I don’t know if was a snide comment, or if she really believed that, but that was enough for me! To add insult to injury she also advised we consider starting her on Depo provera as soon as her menses started, “because kids like these can often get distressed by it.” There are many, many more ridiculous things told to us by this Dr. and others but I will just relate these to keep it short.
I took my autistic son to the ER for a suspected UTI (after hours or a weekend, when my kids all choose to get sick). It took forever just to get barely enough urine for a sample from him because he has serious issues peeing anywhere but a toilet, while sitting down. Urine sample was clear. Doctor heard me say the word “autism” and new baby and shut down…told me that his constant trips to the bathroom, his complaints of pain, his being upset over the trips to the bathroom and the pain, all of that was “behavioral”.
Took him to our regular family doctor first thing Monday morning. Literally ten seconds into our description of the problems and his actual examination (ER doctor never even had my son drop his pants to examine anything), our family doctor says it’s urethritis and is ordering a medication from the pharmacy. Within 48 hours, my son was back to almost normal. The kicker? The ER is at a children’s hospital that deals with special needs children a lot (they have a neurobehavioral center attached to the hospital with a full staff of developmental pediatricians and specialists).
Took my daughter to the ped because her constipation was so bad that she had constant stomach pain and head aches that kept her home from school. Told him I would like to test for food allergies and was told “kids just don’t like to go to the bathroom at this age. It’s real common.” Was also told to Do a myralax flush (a full cupful of myralax every hour until she has diahrrea!!!) Then keep her on myralax for 6 months. After research I found dead out that myralax can cause necrosis of the bowel, more often in children than adults.
Great article. Keep informing these young mothers. I lost a child in 1991 following his DPT, five others died within 24 hours from the same lot, my son died in 28 hours. I have no doubt in my mind as to the cause. Stand your ground and don’t let doctors nor the CDC push you around. You are your child’s best advocate.
I’m so sorry Danyelle.
Me: I think my daughter has strep throat. Could you please test her?
Dr.: I don’t think she has strep throat.
Me: Could we test her just in case? She has had such a very sore throat for several days now, she can’t eat.
Dr.: No, because you thought she had strep throat last time and she didn’t. She has a bad cold, she’ll be fine in a few days.
I call back in a week. Her throat still hurts. I’m told to call back if she still has symptoms in a few days.
Insurance changes, we can no longer see that doctor, I take daughter to an urgent care clinic while we wait for insurance issues to get resolved. Almost three weeks have now passed since she first started feeling sick, and while throat is no longer sore (or she no longer complains about it), her skin is peeling, especially on her feet. A lot! At the clinic I tell them how her throat was very sore for a couple of weeks, and how I thought she had strep. And now this is happening, my poor girl has been so sick lately. Dr. tells me she has a fungal infection and prescribes antifungal cream.
Antifungal cream does not work. I take daughter to a new pediatrician. He says she has a classic case of strep and that it has now progressed to scarlet fever because it didn’t get treated (the skin peeling is a sign of that). She finally gets proper treatment and luckily is fine.
Unreal.
At 17 I asked my doctor for me
to be out on birth control to regulate my hormones to reduce or eliminate my pain, I had been offered this at age 13, after I was prescribed a pain medication, previously, for my menstration pain that required me to take this pill everyday of the month so that by the time my period came the medication would be in my system therfore reducing my pain at that time. I read the side effects “My cause sudden death”…I never took it.
My doctor asked me why I refused to take her prescribed treatment plan. I told her that I read that was a possible symptom. Her response was “You have the same chances of dying from being run over by a bus when you leave the hospital as you do taking that medication. We never know when we might suddenly die. But since you wont take it Ill let you try the BC. Which can cause cancer.”
Truth.
My oldest daughter went to the ER on a Friday afternoon with severe pain in her leg. It was swollen and red, and I suspected a blood clot due to her birth control medication. But I was two hours away and not there to stand up for her. The ER doc told her emphatically that it was not a blood clot, just sciatica. We had a big family wedding that weekend, so my daughter drove the two hours to our house with her boys in the car with her, and when she arrived she was bawling from the pain. I took one look at her leg and put her in the car and drove her to the nearest hospital, and stayed with her until they actually determined I was right, she had a DVT, and admitted her. She could have died at any point due to that STUPID ER doc and his superior attitude.
My oldests pediatrician was a real gem. At her 9 month well baby check up, I had already explained to the nurse that we were nursing just fine but only on one side as my daughter had almost bit through my nipple on the left and it was still bleeding a few days later. Dr asked about it as soon as she came into the room.
Dr: You’re still nursing!?! Does she even take a sippy cup?
Me: I give her one with water everyday, but she didn’t really drink from it. Just spits out the water. It’s a toy to her.
Dr: Oh no you should try juice and you need to wean her.
Me: My milk had everything she needs for at least the first year, is the perfect food. Why would I her juice?
Dr: she needs to learn to use a sippy?
Me: WHY???
Dr: If she didn’t learn how to drink from a cup, she’ll never know how to breathe while she eats.
Me:…. I’m leaving now, we’re no longer your patients.
Dr: Why not?
After my son had an encephalitic reaction to the DTaP vaccine, developed severe reflux with aspiration, fell off the weight charts, stopped having bowel movements, and started spitting up bile, our then pediatrician said (I’m not kidding), “He couldn’t possibly have anything wrong with him … he’s too good looking.”
Then, when I said he is screaming nonstop, all night long, he followed up with, “Have you checked his penis? Sometimes they have a hair wrapped around it.”
Bye, bye Doc.
After expressing concerns about our child’s vaccine reactions and what I’d found online about contaminated vaccines. “There’s no such thing as a monkey cancer virus (SV40) – don’t believe anything on the Internet” – our former pediatrician
When I expressed concern that my 4-year-old was not potty trained, and had begun poop smearing, my pediatrician said, “You just want bragging rights that your child is potty trained.” Umm…no…I want to stop having to spend hours every day scrubbing poop from my home.
I was told my child’s constant GI distress was “behavioral diarrhea.”
The fact that your son is lining hundreds of cars in rows according to make model and color is absolutely developmentally normal. (But he doesn’t “play” with them, and heaven forbid you move one!!!)
He’s just a busy boy.(Non-stop movement.)
Can I show you a “therapeutic hold”? (To keep him from beating me during the day during hours of meltdowns.)
You should be ashamed of yourself trying to pin such a terrible diagnosis on your child (as autism.) You are a horrible mother. He has perfect eye contact.(“Masters Level” educators brought in to do his evaluation.
He’s too young. I’m not going to put him through that (testing). (My son has GI issues that remain unaddressed.)
He will hit a growth spurt one of these days. (At age 12 he is 4’6 and 70 lbs.)
Just had my son’s 3-year check up in July and I refuse vaccinations yet again. The doctor tried pushing like he always does but I still refused and said when my son had an awful reaction to his 4 month shots when my son had and awful reaction to his for months shots and scream bloody murder for 6 days straight I called your office at handful of times and was always told that this is normal and to administer Tylenol for pain so I did but I later found out that giving Tylenol during a vaccine reaction can actually make it worse. He snickered and said, who told you that? We didn’t tell you that. Why would that make it worse? I said it has something to do with the blood-brain barrier and making it hard to to detox the metals that are in vaccines. He said there’s no Metals in vaccines. I said oh really there’s not aluminum in vaccines? He said there’s aluminum in pop cans. I said well with all due respect sir I’m not injecting pop cans into my son. So now I have to make an appointment with him to discuss vaccines. Just me and him and my son’s father who is on the doctor side. I am going to present him with information and facts and hope to God that maybe he will open his eyes. But… I don’t think it’s going to be a very enjoyable experience. it’s in the month.
around two to three yrs of age, son would wake up screaming, and not seem able to tell us of what/anything was wrong / causing it. (at least every week, often several times a week)
many trips to Doctor, to “check him over”…tests (cant recall what), and told “he is a big strong kid, he is fine”.
trips to Pediatrician….again, checked him over, tests, and the gem of wisdom from said Pediatrician…”I just picked up a book, written by..(cant recall), and they say in this book, it is common for kids to wake up screaming…So don’t worry. You should read this book”
Also from Pediatrician…again, in absolutely serious/commanding sort of voice…”We will let this go on for six more months, and if it continues, we will decide then I will put either the child or the both parents on Valium/tranquilizers”
us “HUH?”
Pediatrician..well, after Six more months you will all be so sleep deprived, someone will need to sleep, so we will decide then..Parents or child.
okay then. We left, never to return…
went home, and started elimination sort of diet, organic, and so forth.
I have read a number of articles over the yrs, which indicate that giving acetaminophen products after any vaccine causes the vaccine to be less effective (assuming one is giving a kid a vaccine).
Ask your doctor why he didn’t know that Tylenol is not indicated for usage after vaccines anymore because it reduces the immune reaction. Search that one – you can find it easy. Mainstream medicine – on his side of the argument – and he didn’t know it? Print off the most reliable sources of both reasons to not use Tylenol that you can find. And take in the product inserts with metals highlighted. Be sure to highlight gluteraldehyde if it’s in that vaccine. Doctors know what that one is! Show him where – on the insert – he is supposed to tell you all of the ingredients do that you can let him know if your child is allergic and ask him why that wasn’t done for the first shots. And through all this, be apologetic and ask him to explain it to you – less defensive and you’ll get further. But absolutely refuse them if you feel that way!
To Kara:
Do you want to put yourself through the stress of trying to educate this doctor in a triangle where he & son’s father (is on doctor’s side?) make up 2/3 of the triangle? I wouldn’t want to put myself in such a 2 against 1 situation. IF I were to follow through with such an appointment, I would find another woman to support you (support from a mother’s perspective, or women against men)
I’d rather spend the next month looking for a new doctor & enjoying my son.
FYI: I’m probably old enough to be your mother at least, & maybe even your grandmother (72 –73 next month) & am learning to pick my battles.
Keep your wonderful sense of humor: I love your “not injecting pop cans into my son”. That’s the best I’ve heard today. Wishing you all the best. — Elaine
Amen.
Godspeed to you. Have been there. When I wanted to use diet for my daughter with ulcerative colitis, I had no support in the beginning. I had to convince my spouse. Get vaccine package inserts (they are on-line also). You obviously have knowledge, find it in writing to share. Find examples of your concerns. In the long run my spouse has thanked me many times over for searching so hard and being persistent. Our child recovered without meds/surgery, a disease they said she would have the rest of her life. She has been well more than 5 years without meds and can eat whatever she wants. Family was also NOT on our side. Grandma gave my child foods that were not allowed at the time, that made her worse, scared the crap out of my child to the point that she would not go to grandmas alone. Grandma even called me at work to see if such food was okay, I said no, and she had her eat it anyway. My kid knew that she was not eating that right now and grandma made her, because she had made a special trip to the store. My kid knew what was going on at 10 years old. Later when my child had recovered, grandma was disgusted that my child was not on medication or treatments for the ulcerative colitis that she no longer had….One would think EVERYONE would be happy about a healthy child. You can feel so alone. BUT YOU ARE NOT. All of us here know what you are up against. Trust your instincts and don’t back down. Your child is far too important.
sigh..folks giving kids stuff they cannot have..seriously cannot have…
in my case it was a “well educated friend” , and I use the term loosely, and no longer considered “a friend”..
my son from a young baby developed a allergy to Rice. About one, he had some again, and broke out in serious hives. Even the Doctor at the time warned me to be very cautious, as the escalation in allergic reaction from vomiting to large hives seemed serious to me, and warned the next time could be much worse.
this “friend” offered to keep my son for a few hrs while we went out. It was over the supper hour. Of course I (once again) explained carefully and fully re the Rice/Doctor, how serious it was. etc.. After picking son up, I phoned her to thank her for watching him. She went on to tell me all they had for supper, and how much son had liked it/how well he ate. Including Rice, which was disguised in some kind of fancy salad with dressing and other stuff. I was Dumbfounded and furious, but kept my cool, thinking, “well, maybe he outgrew it”. Got off the phone and had a chat with my son, who at two and half was very articulate.
Asked him what he ate for supper. He told me what he ate. It didn’t seem to include the “salad”. I still remember this very young child. I say, how you had salad too, how did you like it. He looked at me like I fell off the Pumpkin wagon. He says, “I am allergic to rice, it had rice in it, I wouldn’t eat that”…I say..but she said you had some. He says..”Yes, she put it on my plate, but I did not eat it or let it touch my food. ”
Go figure, the two and half yr old knew better. But can you imagine, an adult, a well educated “responsible” adult, putting something on a two and half year old’s plate that he is violently allergic to? Seriously, what WAS she trying to do?
Sadly, I’ve seen people do this. Try to slip something into someone’s food that they’ve been told (often repeatedly) that the individual is allergic to. They don’t believe the person is actually allergic, so they decide they know better and try to sneak it in. Dishonest, callous, and ignorant, imo. Not to mention potentially life-threatening, if the allergy is of the anaphylactic variety. grr
A friend’s daughter has a severe allergy to the fat-based goop used to coat plastic water and soda bottles. It’s put her in the emergency room and was diagnosed by an allergy specialist. She’s had people disbelieve her and touch her after handling one of those bottles and land her in the ER. When she moved and had to change doctors, the new allergy specialist told her it was “impossible” for her to be allergic to that fat-based product – because “you can only be allergic to proteins.” Say what? Since when?
Idiots abound out there. Unfortunately, not all of them are doctors. Some of them masquerade as “friends”.
It used to be thought that you could only develop antibodies against proteins, and unfortunately many doctors still believe it.
Yep. Sadly, many doctors don’t bother to keep up with the science in their fields. This is especially true with regards to vaccinations, but it’s true of most, if not all, areas of medicine. I read studies in medical journals that it turns out doctors know nothing about. Why? It’s THEIR journals. Why aren’t they reading them and actually keeping up with new developments in understanding of the human body?
Be strong warrior Mom – You are right!
They are ignorant and dangerous!
Hang in there…
If you do go to this appointment (it is certainly not something I would put myself through – just arguing with my hubby OR a doctor is enough for me!) then here are a couple of things you can research to solidify your case. Glutathione – the reason Tylenol hampers detoxification (or at least this is what I have heard) is that it decreases glutathione which is the body’s master anti-oxidant. It is also a product of the methylation cycle if memory serves me correctly and one of the reasons that methylation is important for detox. See if you can find some studies to this effect to show the boys. Good luck!
My son was saying words but around 18 months stopped talking completely & would have massive tantrums.
1st Ped: (I was concerned & videotaped him having what I felt were tiny seizures in his high chair) “Nah, those aren’t seizures, he’s probably a bit chilly.”
2nd Ped: “Well, he doesn’t have autism. He’s too handsome for that.” (I swear this was true)
3rd Ped (as we did our own research): “You cannot have him on a gluten free/dairy free diet. That is so dangerous and can cause great harm to him.”
(Really? Because once we went against her and did it cold turkey, he spit out 41 words in a week & a 1/2!!!!!)
We left the Ped field and never looked back. My son was 2 when he last saw a pediatrician. He’s an incredibly bright & thriving 7 1/2 year old with a high functioning autism/adhd/anxiety diagnosis….
My daughter developed a horrible chronic cough. She was constantly clearing her throat or coughing especially when hungry or upset. I suspected her adrenals as I have adrenal problems myself. At the worst of it, she would sometimes go suddenly freezing cold and need to lay down. I could hear her heart was too slow. Her pediatrician said it was a “tick”… Next pediatrician cared enough to do blood tests but when nothing was “too extremely out of range” he also decided it was a tick. I told him I thought whatever the problem was, I thought it was affecting her blood sugar, thus the cold dizzy spells. He said he didn’t think so. He said he had previously had luck with a similar case where he told the parents to “feed the boy a cough drop every five minutes” and suggested I do the same. I cut sugar, gluten, gmo’s, etc from her diet and started her on probiotics. Her “tick” is minimal now.
I tried a new physician after moving to a new house. He decided that my adrenal issues were all in my head and suggested I go home and throw out all my prescriptions. I started to cry from the stress of my health problems combined with his very condescending tone. He shoved a piece of pizza from their break room at my four year old daughter to make sure she didnt get upset and quickly ushered me out the back door. I was on steroids for adrenal insufficiency. If I hadn’t known better he could have killed me.
The first doctor I saw for my hypothyroidism left me unmedicated with a golf ball sized cyst in my throat. After six months, I asked him if he would do the blood tests over and he said no, I would need to have my thyroid cut out. I went to another doctor who immediately put me on medication and the cyst was gone in three days.
Another doctor had an MRI of my brain done (when I was having undiagnosed adrenal problems). They found a small cyst which I have since found out is harmless. His nurse called me very nonchalantly to let me know I had a brain tumor and I should make an appointment if i had any questions.
Along with my adrenals, my hormones went out of whack after being pregnant. My heart kept trying to stop and I was having SVT’s all the time. This all started about a week after my obgyn put me on the mini-pill. I asked him if it could be relate. He said absolutely not, no way. Took me two years of research but I now know for a fact that the pill was a big part of the problem.
I have also “woken up” over the last three years. Not only about doctors, but about pharmaceutical companies, chemical companies and our government.
I had to take my 7 yr old to the er because it seemed that her chicken pox was possibly causing an eye infection. The ped on call said she would would give the c.p. to her younger siblings and that they’d have to be hospitalized because they’d get it so badly. He said, “the vaccines are not designed to prevent the diseases they’re for.” Say what?? I almost laughed in his face. We left (she was fine, I was just being protective) and the younger 3 kiddies did get c.p but they were fine!! No big deal. Just chicken pox!
He’s right about vaccines not preventing diseases.
My 2 cents…
Never vaccinated my child because of what I learned from you all and Dr Wakefield, Tenpenny, Humphries etc. My 5 year old is healthy and has volcanic energy !!!!
Thank you all 50 million times !!!!!!
But our 1st pediatrician when asked about Mercury in vaccines and autism said:
‘Oh please don’t worry about the Mercury it’s been shown to be the good kind of Mercury. And, ANY connection between Autism and vaccines is purely coincidental .’
I really lost the power of speech myself at that point and muttered something about not trusting drug companies and my wife, baby and I removed ourselves from his office and his care… At the point of this well baby visit I actually thought I was going to have rational discussion with a health care professional.
NOT.
I would like to add one. When we had our first child my husband and I took her into her first checkup at 2 months. We knew NOTHING about vaccines. They said “okay these are the shots she needs today” and read off like 4. My husband and I agreed to give her 1. I waited 2 months later to return for another shot. When I was walking back with the Doctor I mentioned that I was a little scared to continue with the shots. She says to me and no lie, “If she didn’t have a reaction to the first shot, she will be fine.”
What? I’m thinking she could’ve had a reaction and you didn’t tell me?? Of course, being the young mom that I was I continued the vaccines but was smart enough to space them out. I was also smart enough to say NO to the MMR, hep A and boosters. I’ll tell you what though. Out of all of my children my first was the only one partly vaccinated and sick from year 1-3 of her life even with an all organic diet and me staying home with her. IT WAS THE VACCINES!!!!! I just didn’t see it then because I was so naive.
Scene: 12 month well baby check
Me: We saw an allergist to confirm he’s anaphylactic allergic to cows milk and eggs.
Later in visit…
Ped: Babies need to start milk in a bottle at 1yr old.
Me (trying to mask my confusion at this statement): We can’t do that because he’ll die.
Ped (completely serious): Well what will he drink?
Me nursing my son right then and there in front of her for the past 5 minutes: Ummm, Breastmilk? Water? Juice? Coconut milk?
Left the practice after that!
That’s absolutely horrifying.
When my first born was 2 months old I took her to the Dr for her routine check-up. He told me their was evidence she was retarded (Down’s syndrome) and I should probably put her in an institution. I said she had been responding normally, laughing smiling, cooing and didn’t seem to have a problem. He said sometimes they start out normal and then as time goes on it starts to show and they fall behind. His reason for thinking this, she had slanted eyes, as I do, and a line across her palm. I found out later he was looking at the wrong line. There are also tests you can do for this , but he never suggested that. I left and never came back. My daughter was perfectly normal, knew the alphabet at 18 months and taught herself to read at 3 yrs. Was the class valedictorian and is perfectly fine today. I often wonder if any other kids were sent to an institution back then for wrong diagnosis from idiot doctors. I later became a nurse and learned not to trust most doctors.
Me: I’m concerned about the aluminum in vaccines.
Ped: Aluminum has been removed from all childhood vaccines.
Me: That’s news to me.
(Good thing this conversation was just to humor her and I already knew i wasn’t vaccinating and she was full of it).
When I saw my son regressing I suspected autism, so I asked his pediatrician. She said: “He’s a boy, and boys are slow. He’ll catch up eventually and be just fine.”
Wondering if you all were aware…
Possibly, it is not the same in the States..but in Canada,
I found this out years ago, by accident, and cannot swear it is still the case, but I think it is..
A Medical Doctor (in Canada) does not require special training in a specialty to be listed in the Medical Registry, or on the Office Door, or on stationary, to be listed as an expert in that Specialty…They can just tell/declare to the Medical Registry they “Have an Interest In”, and that will do it..
for example..
Geneticist
Pediatrician
Obstetrician
Pscychiatrist
ex
may have NO qualifications or training in any of the above, just declare they “Have an Interest In “, to the Medical Register, and they can then “be what they want, so to speak”.
As bizarre as this sounds, years back I checked it out carefully and thoroughly, and it seemed to be so…
Just thought folks should be aware, if they go to some specialist, they should check out the certificates/etc, as said specialist may have no actual qualifications/training, etc…
It is heartbreaking what passes as “Medical Advice”…
When mine was a baby, just eating pablum…started throwing up all the time…Pediatrician assured me this was not a problem. I had eliminated everything but the Rice Pablum (because he needed something, right)…My girlfriend told me her brother had been allergic to Rice, similar effect. Substituted Rice Pablum for Mashed potato, all was fine..
–baby had 105.5 temp which wouldn’t come down. Called the Pediatrician on call, after hours. He assured me this was no concern. In fact, he said, “he’d known of kids with much higher temps, and they turned out fine”…(we went to emerg). As an aside, heard later this Pediatrician’s son was brain damaged. Had to wonder…
–young child broke his fngers in an accident…Emergency room Doc set it. (I had heard them discussing that it was set crooked, but would be fine). I called child’s pediatrician to relate, and he “assured” me crooked fingers did not matter..The kid could manage. Emergency room Docs, assured me it “did not matter”..I kept pressing on this, and they finally got cheesed off and refered him to plastic surgeon (this is who is referred to for hand things)…Plastic surgeon reset it, and basically chewed ME out for how crooked it was and how crappy it was set. (Seriously?….he knew who set it, it was on the form…I did not go out to the garden shed and rig something up)..
so much more, but reading through this all is horrifying.
The only good thing about it, and I MUCH appreciate all who have shared their experiences…
It makes me feel we mostly did the right thing, and no, we are not wingnuts.
Thank you
For so long so many parents have been shamed by these unthinking, unknowing comments by the people who were supposed to know better. By sharing them we shed light on them and empower ourselves and each other to make better health care decisions for our families.
ProfessorTMR
well spoke.
Thank you to all.
The first gastroenterologist we took our daughter to years ago wanted to do a gluten challenge, even after we told him that she was (and still is) extremely gluten-intolerant. We had also described the severe meltdowns that occur for months after any infraction of the gf/cf diet. He said, “But I haven’t seen the damage.” We left and did not go back.
Another gastroenterologist more recently wanted to do a gluten challenge, even after being informed that our daughter had been on the diet for years and could not even touch something containing gluten without having a reaction. That gastroenterologist disputed my daughter’s diagnosis of gluten-intolerance (apparently because it was not given by a gastroenterologist, as far as I could see from what was said). Once again, we left and did not go back.
I forgot to add that the second gastroenterologist – in an attempt to persuade us – told us that everything she was recommending was the “standard of care” from “the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia”.
Of course the doctor(s) cannot accept a parents report, only a test can give you answers. When a test is available. Unless it’s a medication, if the parent says a medication is working, then it working. It’s “science”. A gluten challenge is PART OF the algorithm of “standard of care”. Standard of care doesn’t say ask parents for results or outcome of gluten free diet challenge. Why much of what doctors do is now obsolete. If you graduated from 8th grade you can probably follow an algorithm. A computer can give you the algorithm. Medicine is a science, healing is also an art.
My child had ulcerative colitis, where they continually want to do colonoscopies where the “prep” induces diarrhea, (the disease they have is chronic bloody diarrhea,) and can often sabotage any progress these kids have made. They always want to “take a look.” I allowed them to subject my kid to COMPLETELY unnecessary CT scans. They wanted when her symptoms were fairly good, they wanted as a “baseline,” when she had had a colonoscopy 3 months prior to that time. I think ethics committees and reviews are FAR TO FEW. I think ethics should be doing case reviews. Over scanning and x-raying of children is a REAL problem.
With the first gastroenterologist, we had brought test results that showed our daughter was extremely gluten-intolerant. He wanted to do a gluten challenge anyway.
Apparently there is a pediatrician in America who suggests getting rid of wifi and all things which use it in the home and autism improves and some is cured completely in 2 weeks. The problem is the combination of vaccines and electricity not the vaccines on their own so try to rewire all your devices instead of using wifi and you may find all this autism becomes much less. It is easy to find research on the problem with electromagnetic radiation on our children which is the highest amount in history and many doctors know it is a problem and we are using our children as guinea pigs in this new high tech. world.
25 years ago I took my 14 month old in to Dr with severe respiratory illness. Congestion, fever, lethargy. I was 18 years old. My doctor was on vacation so had to see someone else…
day 1. First visit
“Calm down mother, it’s just croup.”
Day 2: second visit (no improvement)
Lectured me on being a worry wart, did nothing for my daughter.
Day 3: third visit, my doctor was back.
My doctor: “take her straight to the hospital, she has pneumonia.”
A week in a crib that looked like a cage, she was so sick she didn’t respond, at all, to the numerous times they had to draw blood.
_____________________
Me giving birth to my third child. After having explained to the on-call OB that i never dilate to 10. Im at 8, its time to push, the baby is right there…she starts walking out of the room.
Dr.: you’ve still got a ways to go.
Me: you better get over here and catch this baby!
Her: rushes back to bed
Emerging son: pees in her face on entry to world 2 minutes later.
__________________________
Oldest son stops talking, starts stimming at 7 years old after full rabies series. He was fully vaxxed.
Took him to drs. Multiple drs.
“We have no idea whats going on.”
“Adhd. Ritalin.”
Me: fuck you guys. Im going home.
Me, recoveted my son with nutrition & supplements. In 1999. I had no clue what i was doing…but nature still worked her magic. Hes 24 now. A brilliant musician & lyracist…and frontman in 2 really talented rock bands. Also has a full time job & lives with girlfriend.
___________________
Oldest daughter fell off monkey vars at school & broke her collarbone in 1st grade. Were at tge drs office. Hes got the xray results but not come back to talk to us yet. I go out in the hall to get a drink of water and iverhear thiz gem…. (hes consulting with an orthopedic surgeon)
Dr. Pediatrician:
“SO YOU’RE SURE YOU DONT WANT TO CONSIDER SURGERY? …THEY HAVE REAL INSURANCE.”
__________________
I have five kids. That’s a lot of stupid drs.
Heres my favorite though.
My 4th started passing out when she hit puberty. Most likely temporary hormonal thing, but I took her in hoping to rule out anything serious.
Dr.: so, it looks like she has a couple abnormal cells in her urine culture.
Me: okay, is that why shes passing out?
Dr.: no, but she may have a uti, we won’t know for sure for a couple days…but im going to prescribe her keflex prophylactically.
Me: shes asymptomatic for uti. No discomfort. No fever. Keflex is overkill. I’ll put some lemon oil in her water.
(Sidenote, both i and my oldest daughter have chronic kidney infections & uti until we started drinking lemon oil in our water. So, this wasn’t speculation on my part.”
Dr.: dont you care that she may have an infection? If you’re not interested in treatment, why come in at all?
Me: so about her syncopy?
Dr.: I can prescribe an albuterol inhaler for the panic attacks that result from the syncopy.
Me: what about tests to figure out whats causing it?
Dr: oh, its probably just hormones.
….. because our well paid doctors are the mouthpiece for the pharmaceutical companies. They are given huge kickbacks. Their textbooks are written by pharma. These companies aren’t in the business of saving lives. They are in the business of inflating the profit margin as much as possible. #TheSystemIsRigged #TheDoctorsAreBought #MedicalSchoolsAreInfluenced Healing Without Hurting (2014)
First Pediatric Gastroenterologist we saw, “Diet does not cause ulcerative colitis, so changing her diet will not help.” Also warned me about searching the internet. Because there are a lot of people out there trying to make a buck, “And I wouldn’t want you to get taken.” This same doctor recommended total colectomy and eventually a J-pouch surgery, “To get it over with.”(Where they take a piece of your healthy small intestine and make a patchwork quilt “rectum” from it, and attach that to the anus to function as a stool collecting pseudo-colon.) When she had been sick for only 4 months diagnosed with moderate pancolitis – means full colon involvement. That way she could avoid all this time being sick and having to take strong medications with bad side effect. (Most things I read stated 10 years of moderate-severe/intractable disease, or other severe bleeding problems, strictures/scar tissue were reasons to do colectomy.) Because one example he gave me, one boy the surgeon had given a J-pouch was so happy to be doing better, and wondered why he had to be sick all that time. She returned to complete health over about 1 year, on no meds, from a change of diet (SCD and low FODMAPs), I FOUND ON THE INTERNET. Has enjoyed robust health for more than 5 years now on no meds and can eat whatever she wants now that she is better. Doctor/medical bills that year were $10,000+, including getting 2nd, 3rd opinions. Cost of changing diet, some supplements, purchased a few books, and an internet connection-that I had anyway, a few hundred dollars. We had been feeding her her whole life anyway….Speculate ibuprofen “burned” her colon, was taking this when her disease started, later had the same enhanced reaction to ASA-5 another prostaglandin affecting medication used for UC. Of course no doctors warned of using ibuprofen with GI bleeding, Mom figured that out too. They were not concerned with WHAT happened when she had been healthy and THEN suddenly pooping blood. Lets just diagnosis life long disease and start masking it’s symptoms. — [“The absolute cumulative risk of developing mild pouchitis was 21, 26, and 39 percent at 6, 12, and 48 months, respectively. The corresponding cumulative risk of developing severe pouchitis was 9, 11, and 14 percent, respectively. Risk for both groups together was 51 percent at 48 months”] – Because, as it appears, the DISEASE is not addressed by removing the sick organ, at least half the time. “To get it over with.” A coin toss to “health”…http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8797652
To add if your colon is inflammed, they take out your colon and you end up with your pouch inflammed, at least 1/2 the time. So your “pouch” has all the SAME problems as your colon did. Because the REAL problem has not been addressed. Just throw pieces away until it fixes itself. Some of these gastros could find benefit from a cardiectomy, if your heart isn’t right, throw it away. “It’s science.”
Oh my! These would be hilarious if they weren’t so so sad! Here’s one for you – when I very first started questioning vaccines (my oldest had regressed, his little brother was starting to have issues so I refused the vaccines that day saying I needed to do more research), I asked the ped if there were any vaccines she considered critical and any she thought were unnecessary. On her critical list: rotavirus and polio. I told her that I wasn’t worried about a vaccine for diarrhea and that I thought polio was eradicated in the US. I swear the following is true. She told me that may be the case but I couldn’t leave the country (no danger of that with a colicky 4 month old and a 20 month old with severe autism) OR… eat at a restaurant with a foreign chef. I swear to God she said that. I was like “Let me get this straight – our foreign chef might have active polo, defecate on our food, and then my baby could get polio?!” I didn’t see those stars aligning any time soon and that was the moment I knew this doctor was not going to be helpful in my vaccine research. But for me that moment of realization that it’s all BS is extremely helpful because I no longer worried that “maybe there are some vaccines they really really need.”
My son would be constipated for days and would finally manage a tiny bowel movement that would make the house smell for hours and the gi specialist told me’ “Don’t believe everything on the internet, not everybody poops everyday.” and walked out the door. WTH?
Just a few of my own:
Me: Doc, she seems to always catch every little bug that goes around, are there any ways I can help boost her immune system?
Doc: Her immune system is working fine, in fact, I’d be more concerned if she never got sick at all.
Me: Doc, after that last shot she received (Hep B @ 6 months), she just hasn’t been the same. She’s no longer verbal, she has diarrhea EVERY SINGLE DAY, several times a day, and she’s stopped meeting her milestones. I think I’d like to delay any further vaccines until we figure out what’s going on with her.
Doc: I think you’re just worrying too much. Babies go through phases like this. Since you’re here, let’s get her caught up on her shots, and let’s give her the flu vaccine today too. (If allowed, that would have been 7 vaccines in one day).
My chronically colicy child lived on gas drops for the first 4 months while I tried in vain to breastfeed, every hour on the hour waking and screaming, having to be swaddled so he didn’t itch, had to be rocked constantly. Screaming and crying and green poop oh my then the eczema started after the switch to forumula, scratching til bleeding, full body, head to toe covered so he didn’t itch….kid needs steroid and steroid creams stat! Oh also you have to rotate all the allergy medicines that is why he is so allergic to everything…do Zyrtec then Allegra then Benadryl, then Claritin and put him on 2 week rotations of everything. Oh he is still COMPLETELY nonverbal at 2, just looks at books all day, chronically spins in circles without getting dizzy, well boys are delayed, here is a referral to a speech therapist, YAY 6 month waiting list, YAY we worked on signing “more” for 9 months YAY!!!! Thank God we moved to an area with services and people who were better informed. I honest to God don’t know where we would be at 6 and still nonverbal. He is smart but nonverbal…people don’t know you can be both.
He never recieved any vaccinations because thankfully I had an angel on my side who told me to wait and I listened. I recieved a flu shot while pregnant though….when you look back you wonder…you will always wonder. I am glad I didn’t vaccinate, I have been lucky I have not had any peditricians even bring it up to me other than to sign the waiver because you seem to have a child who is nonverbal and lets not make his life harder. It seems to be out get out of everything free card because what is done is done….
There is more so much more but we work on everything everyday and won’t give up on him 🙂
My heart goes out to you!!! I have heard of other children injured by vaccines in the womb. My husband and I had an autistic child. We switched to an all organic diet, went gluten free, added lots of probiotics to her life, and did the Brain Balance program. She is now off the spectrum. I have heard if others greatly helped by this protocol as well. Gid bless you as you love and help your precious son!
I took my severely autistic son to a developmental pediatrician who told me, “Get him some play dates, he’ll be fine”. Haven’t seen her since.
My son is 12 and I can’t even remember all the ignorance we’ve encountered from stupid doctors (there’s so much!) but one neurologist put him on Tenex for tics (Tourette’s) and he broke out in a full body rash. She told me to wean him off because it could be a reaction and better safe than sorry. The developmental pediatrician, who we were also seeing at the time, said no..leave him on it. The rash is just a coincidence and she had never seen a reaction to Tenex before. It is perfectly safe! Thank God I listened to neurologist & I weaned him off. I found out later it could definitely have been a life threatening condition! Fired that pediatrician & decided no more drugs.
Thank God you had a neurologist with sense.
At a well baby check(when I use to go) I expressed that my son has had projectile vomit, whey protein intolerant and an inability to nurse so we started going to a chiropractor. The doctor smirked and said “does he have a football injury?” (He was 12 weeks old).
My first son I was doing a very delayed vax schedule and had just switched doctors yet again. I switched to doctor who had a “holistic” approach. First meeting she shoved the door open and said if you think I am going to agree with your alternate vaccine schedule you are wrong. Your child will learn to hate doctors having to come back for additional shots (it’s the same amount of shots just not all at once!) she proceeded to call me a misinformed Jenny McCarthey loving parent. Switched insurances after that and a 3 page grievance letter in her file.
I won’t even tell the long story of my sons MMR adverse reaction when I told the doctor it was the vaccine and she smirked, left and came back and said I believe this may be from the MMR so watch him for seizing overnight! Thank God he was 4 and not injured!
“Sometimes the intestines of babies just bleed. It doesn’t mean she’s allergic to milk.” Pediatrician
“And, if baby is vomiting daily and crying non-stop, the best thing you can do right now is to update her on her vaccinations.” ER Doctor
Here some for the books:
“it’s developmentally normal to lose language while working on other things, like walking” (she suffered a complete plateau of milestones, took months to regain language, and didn’t walk for 6 more months)
“it’s not measles, there’s no way an infant can survive measles without hospitalization, look it up..” – Better than that, I asked my in-laws who raised 7 kids in England before the MMR in the 80s. They laughed at her stupidity. And yes, she had measles.
Well, clearly that woman had no idea that there were 3-4 million cases of measles a year in the U.S., the vast majority of which were not reported because the parents considered it no big deal, when the death rate was about 400 a year.
Sadly, I’ve heard the same sorts of stupid comments from veterinarians in response to pets having issues post-vaccine. (Both my own pets and those of clients when I was still a dog obedience trainer.) Most vets are no more trustworthy re: vaccinations than most doctors. Their training is by the pharma companies, and there’s no accountability in veterinary medicine, any more than there is in human medicine.
I have to say, the all-time winner of stupid comments by a vet though was made to a client who was encouraged by her vet to microchip her adult dog. She asked if there were any drawbacks/risks to chipping. The vet’s response, “The only drawback is that microchipping neutralizes all existing immunity for past vaccinations, so your dog will need to redo his puppy shot series. It’s okay though. That’s perfectly safe.” Yeah, a vet actually said that. I encouraged her to find a better vet because hers was either lying to her (probably out of greed) or was outright ignorant about both chipping AND vaccines.
Vaccines truly are a sacred cow with most practitioners in modern medicine – both human and animal medicine. Their method of battling those parents and pet owners who question it? Attack, bully, and pass them off as idiots. Blaming them for the problems their children/pets develop post-vaccine is part of that. Nobody should put up with being treated that way. Sadly, there are still so many who think they have no choice but to put up with it. :-/
The way I understand it for animal vaccines is that the pharma companies did not want to spend the money on trials to determine how long vaccines are effective for. They just threw out the arbitrary number of 6mo-3yrs on the labels. (Fun Fact…. The 1yr and 3yr rabies are the same vaccine, just labled differently) The vets in turn have to cover their behinds and go with the label says. If by chance they told a client their dog was fine and didn’t need a booster and it ended up sick, the owner could sue. I am not saying I agree with this, this is what I’ve found through research. You can choose not to keep up on the shots, except where required (ie rabies) or when required for vet or boarding stay. If you want to avoid you can have titers (bloodwork) performed to show the vaccine is still effective.
Will boarding places accept titers as proof of immunity in place of shot record?
Re: boarding places (kennels) accepting titers – most won’t. At least, none of them around here. Groomers and trainers tend not to accept them either. (When I was training dogs, I didn’t require shots at all – I was still using vaccines back then but explained to my clients that vaccinations were a medical decision that should be decided between them and their vet, not dictated by a non-medical professional.)
I, personally, refuse to board my dogs or take them to groomers. I won’t subject them to poison just for those conveniences. It’s not worth my dogs’ health to be able to stick them in a kennel or have them professionally groomed.
Some boarding places will accept titers. Some will accept an exemption of sorts – note from the vet. I found one that after a discussion about our vets feeling that old dogs should not be vaccinated. Ours would only need rabies to be boarded. Hubby took dog to the vet (new town, new vet) and that vet assured him he works with this kennel all the time and I was mistaken and since all her records were in storage with our move, she would need all the shots. But, they are safe. Full puppy series and all the kennel required shots later, our sweet dog passed away after just 48 hours – alone in the kennel. When we confronted the vet, he said shots are safe and the only reaction is an allergic reaction which she hadn’t had.bhe said she likely died of a broken heart because we left her at the kennel and she was a high strung dog. 😡
I’m so sorry, Audra. That’s horrible! Sadly, I’ve heard such stories over and over again throughout the years. 🙁
One of the things that gets me about boarding kennels and such demanding vaccinations is that when a client’s pet IS vaccinated, they shouldn’t allow it to be at their facility for at least 2-3 weeks after it’s vaccinated because of shedding and the compromised immunity the vaccines themselves cause. A dog is more likely to get sick in that time period after a vaccine (though the vaccine-induced illness can take months, MOST illness occurs in the first few weeks). Throw in the stress of being left in a kennel, and a recently vaccinated individual gets hit with double stressors. Also, that individual is shedding contagion and more likely to spread disease to other pets who are also in an immunologically weakened condition. Yet, it’s not at all uncommon for dogs to go from vet to kennels in a matter of hours or days. Bad business practice as well as being horribly bad for the pets.
No worries here, Kasey. I no longer subject my animals to vaccines. After being told repeatedly that such-and-such was “unrelated” even though it happened immediately following vaccinations (happened to ME with MY vaccine reactions, too), I bought a clue and started saying NO. Thankfully I have a vet now who is willing to help me work around them. I know many folks don’t have such a vet, and that saddens me.
Constantly ill is the new healthy!
Here is a comment from a Romanian doctor: “It’s perfectly normal for a child to have at least 5-6 episodes of colds per winter etc. as soon as they start going to kindergarden. If they don’t have these, then the doctor should be concerned” — should we laugh or should we cry at so much “concern”???
Oh Poppy, do I have one for ya!!!
Forgive the background, but I’ve helped numerous families across the country whose children have ended up being dx’ed with Tethered SPinal Cord because I’ve spoken up and out about my kids’ stories. There were only a couple that didn’t have it, but had something related.
In early 2005 my oldest son six and a half, and had been dx’ed with PDD-NOS. He was a very tidy kid for his age, but not OCD-ish tidy. It was something he could control as his younger brother was on the severe end of the spectrum, and we all know what goes along with that. He was/is a great kid, and very easy going through it all.
In February of 2005 he began having urinary accidents. Doctors did a battery of tests. They said it was because he was constipated and put him on Miralax. The urinary accidents continued so they started to look at the constipation. In November of 2005 right before he left for school one morning he shit his pants for the first time. I went through the ROOF!!! What the hell was going on with my child??? He underwent may diagnostic procedures including a colonoscopy. Nothing was found. I was doing research into what could cause these issues, and I came across Tethered Spinal Cord. ALL of the symptoms matched almost perfectly with what was going on with my son.
In February of 2006 we got into see a neurosurgeon at OHSU in Portland, OR, and a neurosurgeon at Legacy Emanuel in Portland as well. Right in our back yard. After a few visits with this “specialist” at OHSU he ordered a urodynamic study. We had a follow-up scheduled to review the urodynamic study results a week later. I had called the evening before to speak with the Nurse Practitioner who performed the urodynamic study and she informed me that the final results wouldn’t be entered for a couple more days and to make Dr. Selden aware of such at our appointment and that she would be in the office that day and would also send Dr. Selden an email. The NP agreed that our son had TSC based on what she saw on MRI and the urodynamic study combined.
We showed up for the visit the next morning. He had supposedly reviewed the final report. I informed him that I’d spoken with the NP the evening before and that what he reviewed was in fact NOT the final report. When he couldn’t get ahold of the NP (she was performing a procedure and was not available I later found out) he began rambling on about how he was due to catch a flight taking him all over the country to speak on Tethered Spinal Cord due to his expertise and how he’d been invited by all these prestigious medical colleges. DOES ANYONE HAVE A BARF BAG?
I held him to the fire inquiring as to when the final report would be in as I knew from the horses mouth. He grew flustered and right then and there in front of our son, informed my husband and I that, “OUR SON WAS PISSING AND SHITTING HIMSELF FOR ATTENTION”!!!
I grabbed my son’s hand, looked Dr. Selden square in the eye and told him: “You are wrong. My son has Tethered Spinal Cord Occult. So go FUCK Yourself.” and I walked out with my husband humbly following behind.
August 29, 2007, our oldest daughters birthday, our son had surgery to correct the tethered cord with the neurosurgeon at Legacy Emanuel. He has made a full recovery from both his ASD and TSC.
When Dr. Wehby came to speak with us while our son was in recovery I had a question pop into my head that I’d never thought about before, so I asked Dr. Wehby, “Dr. Wehby, how many kiddo’s do you see come through your practice who have an ASD diagnosis and also TSC, and when they have surgery to correct the TSC go on to make not only a recovery from TSC but also ASD?” Her response astounded me and shook me to my core. “Too many to count”, was her response.
Tethered Spinal Cord (traditional and occult) is a neurological disease and every bit of research I discovered – a couple hundred hours specific to TSC and thousands of hours on vaccine ingredients and their effects – EVERYTHING I read pointed to heavy metal exposure in-utero, particularly mercury. I have amalgams that while I was pregnant would have well over 2 decades old, so of course it would be safe to say they were already leeching into my system. Our youngest son got the brunt, but our oldest daughter didn’t go unscathed either. She too had TSC and had surgery 2 years to the month later. While she made a full recovery from TSC, her system was targeted in a different way and has Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. I believe that her and our oldest son’s TSC was pushed along by vaccines. Son? Hep B at 10 months. Within a couple weeks he was a changed kid and rocked everywhere – standing, sitting, and laying down. Our oldest daughter got a flu shot at age 3 1/2 and I was assured it was thimerasol free, which I doubted at the time. Within 2 weeks her health declined – ear infections and early symptoms of JRA. She had surgery for her TSC 2 weeks before her 6th birthday. She recovered from that, but obviously JRA is an ongoing issue.
Parents listen to your gut. DO your research. If any doctor speaks down to you, disregards your concerns, or treats you as less than a team member for your child’s health – FUCKING RUN AND RUN FAST!!! Had I listened to the idiot surgeon who said my son was “pissing and shitting his pants for attention”, I would have two kids in wheelchairs today.
Oh. My. God. My daughter had 3 ear tubes (first at 5 months), adenoids out, tonsils out. She caught everything a child could catch. She was fully vaccinated, because I didn’t know any better until she was 7-8 years old, which is when I WOKE UP (she was born in 2000). Lots and lots and lots of antibiotics. Formula fed, because I wanted to breast feed but couldn’t produce milk (first cow, then soy when she became allergic to cow). Starting at age 2, she had issues with constipation/encopresis as well as overactive bladder. Miralax (for quite a long time). Laxatives (quite a long time too). When she was 7/8 years old, I became sick and had to change our diet–no gluten/dairy/soy, organic food, take out processed. We were able to recover her from Sensory Processing Disorder. When she was 2-3 years old, we tried to get a test done to figure out her urinary issue, but she refused to “pee” for them, stating that it hurt (very strong-willed). Changing to organic diet, we were able to get her constipation fixed (goes every day now, sometimes misses a day). She still has issues with urinary incontinence and needs to wear a pantyliner all the time. NO ONE can figure out why. Before the age of 5, we went and saw an “expert” on Spina Bifida because my aunt was born with a severe case (so, born in the 1940s; large open wound on her back) and died when she was 7 months old. The specialist basically laughed at us and told us we were trying to find something that didn’t exist. I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF TETHERED SPINAL CORD SYNDROME until reading your comment. Ever. My daughter has a hairy lower back. Has pain in her lower back. Her right foot has hurt since little on (doctors call it Growing Pains). Last year she started having issues with shin splints. Also her ankles. Still has urinary incontinence (not so much overactive bladder anymore). In April 2014 our whole family started doing heavy metal toxicity chelation; she has so many heavy metals stored in her bones, it is scary. She also has CYP2D6 and compound heterozygous MTHFR–both issues with detoxification–AND MTHFR is known for neurological disorders like spina bifida… We left “allopathic healthcare” in 2008 for a big reason. Now it seems perhaps I need to have her evaluated for this. We have the Wisconsin Chiari Center here in my town where there are supposed to be experts on Tethered Spinal Cord Syndrome. I will need to look into our insurance and see if maybe, FINALLY, we can get to the bottom of her issues. THANK YOU, sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, for writing this. I am just so thankful I saw it so I have another avenue to explore. I had run out of ideas. Bless you!
Wow…. Thank you for sharing this, Angela. A lightbulb just clicked… This describes my friend’s daughter exactly. She regressed at 5. She is now 15, can no longer walk and is doubly incontinent. Not autism, not cerebral palsy, not ALS… Doctors had given her up to die. Now I know what it is. Thank you once again. If you are reading this, can you please post some links to heavy metals and TCS?
Hi,
Just wanted to pop in and say that, if you suspect Tethered Spinal Cord Syndrome, please have your child tested for MTHFR and CYP mutations–both which make it extremely difficult for the body to detoxify correctly. 23 and Me has a test that isn’t very expensive (I think it is $199, with discounts the more people in the family who take it), and there are many applications that can “read” the raw data, some free, some for a low fee; I used Genetic Genie. If you have either the MTHFR SNP mutations C677T or A1298C, your body is going to have lots of issues with detoxing heavy metals–it doesn’t make a difference what type of heavy metal.
My 16-year-old daughter (born in 2000) was fully vaxxed until I stopped when she was 5; that was when we found out she has Sensory Processing Disorder (among many, many other health issues we didn’t know at the time were “vaccine injuries.” Thankfully, with diet change, we have recovered her from her SPD). She and I are both compound heterozygous MTHFR–meaning we both have C677T and A1298C. That puts our body’s ability to effectively detox on its own at about 70% less than other people without this mutation.
In April 2015, me, my husband (he has compound heterozygous C677T), and my daughter began heavy metal chelating. For 8 years before this, we had been detoxing using organic, whole foods. But after having done a month-long food detox–which should have gotten rid of any stored metals in the body (IF your body is healthy and has no MTHFR issues)–and we were still all having various health issues, I decided we were going to be checked for MTHFR. We all have issues with CYP2D6 (it metabolizes and detoxifies up to 25% of pharma and OTC drugs–surprise, surprise, many of the very same pharma and OTC drugs we had been using most of our lives) as well as various other methylation SNP issues besides the MTHFR.
I did not know I had this MTHFR or CYP mutation when I became pregnant with my daughter; I wish I had known. It affects so many different areas of the body–including the ability to produce milk. I wanted to breast feed SO BAD but was unable to produce. My daughter ended up on formula–which I now know was NOT a good thing, as there are synthetic vitamins and minerals in there, to include folic acid and cyancobalamin/Vit B12–NOT the correct methylated versions she needed for her MTHFR mutations. Also, Weston A. Price Foundation has done research and discovered that these formulas are FULL of heavy metal toxins–many of which my daughter is showing high levels of.
To give you an idea of the heavy metal load inside my 16-year-old daughter’s body–who has been doing monthly IV chelations since April 2015 (she is allergic to DMSA and uses EDTA), on her 3rd urine test (each Round, she does 8 IV chelation therapies; that means, on this 3rd urine test, she had done 24 IV chelation courses), she was high in Aluminum 96 (Ref. <35), Barium 31 (Ref. <7), Cadmium 1.1 (Ref. <0.4), Gadolium 0.4 (Ref. <0.3), Lead 11 (Ref. <2), Nickel 22 (Ref. <10), and Thallium 1.0 (Ref. <0.5). Uranium 0.2 (Ref. <0.03) also showed up this time. She has never, ever, had any medical tests that ever used any contrasts or dyes, and we do not nor have we ever lived near mining, big industry, or any super toxic waste dump sites. She did, however, like I said, have all her vaccines as well as loads and loads of antibiotics because she was always sick as a baby/toddler/young child.
The heavy metals test by Doctor's Data, Inc., is a urine test that looks at 20 heavy metals. Our Naturopath has us do a 6-hr provocation urine test (that is, we take DMSA meds to find out how high the heavy metal load is in the body; our daughter does her urine test right after an IV session).
My husband and I, our heavy metals load is NO WHERE NEAR what our daughter's is. I just…I cannot fathom that every time she takes a urine test, her heavy metals are HIGHER than the one before. Sigh. She has so many heavy metals stored deep, deep inside her fat, muscles, organs, BONES, and, I pray not, maybe even her brain. ::shudder:: I am so glad we are going through this lengthy (and fairly expensive) detoxification process, so we can get her body cleaned out so she doesn't have to deal with getting hit with chronic and autoimmune dis-eases like I did, starting when I was 40. It is my hope that by helping her, she will have a better and healthier life than her parents have had since hitting our 40s.
Also want to add that Neurotube issues (spina bifida, Tethered Spinal Cord Syndrome) are much more likely if you have a MTHFR SNP mutation. Dr. Ben Lynch has a ton of research articles on his website: http://mthfr.net/ Or Dr. Amy Yasko, who also works with MTHFR treats/reverses Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorders: http://www.dramyyasko.com/
I have an aunt who was born in the 1940s who died at the age of 7 months from a very, very bad case of spina bifida (large gaping open hole in her spinal column for which the doctors back then had no cure or surgical corrective procedure).
Yeah. Again, it would have been nice for “doctors” to put 2 and 2 together and had me tested before I ever got pregnant… Then I would have eaten properly AND taken the CORRECT prenatal vitamin. My daughter would have had more of a fighting chance if I would have known to start helping her already before I got pregnant and after I was pregnant–and I would have continued after she was born with different choices.
This is the reason THE LIVER is my area of expertise. This information is so important, given that about 80% of the USA population has some form of MTHFR mutation/methylation issue.
My friend and I had the same pediatrician. When her baby was 6 months old he told her she needed to drink more juice (she was exclusively breastfed). And he told me (about my 5 month old, exclusively breastfed) to start introducing food in preparation for when we start introducing food at 6 months. I didn’t want to give her food until 7 months because she was a month premature and he told me that was stupid.
One GI told me I was projecting my own issues into my child when I expressed concern about long term use of nexium (which we now know can cause cardiac issues) and said that some people just have to learn to live with nausea which the nexium wasn’t helping at all. Another told me no one really knows what to do to help my child because he was outside the “bell curve”. A top children’s teaching hospital told me there was no such thing as “leaky gut” even though I had studies stating there was from Mayo and Hopkins. Another GI’s nursegave us a script for a black box drug over the phone and when I went into to go over the test results rather than just take the script I pointed out the results could be interpreted differently. The doctor hadn’t read the whole report, just the pathologist’s interpretation. I received one copy of results from the GI and an “amended” copy from our pediatrician with my interpretation. I could go on and on.
After 2 months of daily frequent watery stools, brought on by my son’s 3 year old mercury laden flu shot, I took him to be scoped by a pediatric Gastroenterologist who actually (and apparently reluctantly) co-authored the first published double blinded observation that autistic symptoms abate for some children during Vancomycin treatment of C. Diff. One month into the diarrhea, I had removed all processed foods, gluten and casein from his diet and replaced with mostly organic fruits and veggies and healthy fats and meat and eggs. This GI Dr. took in my son’s history, looked at our list of foods and actually suggested to me that the chronic diarrhea “may be caused by his unusual diet”. Given that he what being fed what my grandparents grew up on, minus wheat and dairy, I could only think of all the horrible amount of manual clothes washing they must have endured with their chronically soiled clothes in the early 20th century. (During the subsequent scope of colon, lymphoid nodules with noted eosinophil inflammation were biopsied).
Every time I tried to tell my then pediatrician about my son’s issues after vaccination it was the standard answer. “Oh, yes. That’s normal” REALLY? My kid is wearing a towel because foul smelling feces are pouring out of him so fast I can’t keep up with the diapers and his skin is peeling off of his bottom because he’s toxic and you want to tell me it’s normal? He’s banging his head until he’s bruised and you want to tell me it’s normal? He gets chicken pox within 6 months of his shot and you say “oh, that happens sometimes” like it’s no big deal? He’s bruised from head to toe for no reason and you say it’s because he’s just being a boy? He’s screaming high pitched shrills for hours at a time with an arched back and you tell me kids have tantrums? I’ve heard it all. Then after I had another child and asked for the vaccine inserts so I could be totally informed, the nurse who reluctantly and flippantly threw them at me said, “if you even think of not continuing to vaccinate, then you can find another practice because you are not welcome here.” I was holding my then 6 month old with tears streaming down my face telling her that I cannot go through another child suffering. She remained standing there with pursed lips telling me vaccines to NOT cause autism and I was crazy to think so. Even typing this makes me want to cry and this was 11 years ago.
I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through. I wish I could say it was unusual, but it’s not. Talk about “it’s normal”. 🙁 I heard the same things you were told regarding my dogs having adverse reactions to vaccinations. It’s “normal”, “coincidence” (i.e. NOT the fault of the vaccine), “unrelated to the vaccine”, and such. “That happens sometimes.” Why? The vaccines? “No, it’s just the age he/she is at.”
It was difficult enough for me to deal with as a pet owner, watching my dogs suffer without getting answers and having my concerns about vaccines poo-pooed and even dismissed outright as insane. My heart breaks for what parents with infants and toddlers must endure emotionally in such a situation. It would be so much harder with a child than it was with my dogs, and that was traumatic enough. Ugh. My heart truly breaks for parents who go through this.
I remembered another one after participating on the original thread. We were waiting to see a Pediatrician for my son’s Medicaid case. We needed his Medicaid Dr. to sign off on the paperwork stating that developmental disability services (ABA) were medically necessary (we already had an ASD dx). After waiting for about an HOUR in the little exam room with a 7 year old who physically cannot sit still, the Ped arrives and is annoyed because my kid is bouncing off of the walls and that I created a rubber glove balloon to keep him entertained. My son’s behavioral therapist was there with me so it’s not like this was an out of control situation although the hour long wait was out of control to me. When my son reached over to touch the Doctor, the Doctor proceeds to tell me that I need to control my son. **blink, blink** After he signed the necessary paperwork I fired him.
I expressed concern about vaccines to the pediatrician at my son’s 12-month appointment. My son was covered in eczema and delayed by then. While the pediatrician was actually holding the tray of vaccines he was about to give my twins, he said, “Look. We don’t know what causes autism. But it’s definitely not vaccines! Probably genetics combined with some toxin people are putting into their bodies.” He was literally holding a tray of toxins!! About to put them into two bodies! The absurdity of that moment. I left without injecting those toxins and never went back.
That argument always kills me! If they don’t know what causes autism they can’t rule anything, including vaccines, out! It would make sense scientifically with anything else.
The pediatrician told my son that his 18-month old daughter was just going through a phrase when she forgot who I (her grandmother) was. She regressed in all areas, we were told by education specialists that her autism must be confirmed by a physician, they would not. Just a phase. We did Mercury chelation. Upon completion she began responding to stimuli and is now functioning fairly normally in regular Ed at age 15. Her brain damage manifests mostly as “quirky”, but she has extreme aversions to most healthy foods, has had severe acne and every infection know to mankind, I think!
Yeah, I heard Thimerosol was taken out of vaccines beginning in 2001. She received her vaccine (after her mom was brow-beaten into submission to allowing it) in 2002. Using up the old stuff I guess. And maybe what was settled at the bottom? That was her last vaccination.
Me: my four months old is having mucousy diarrhea and I think there is blood in his stool too. I started a food journal and I think he may be allergic to eggs.
Doctor: (sighs) have you been talking to a lactation consultant? They have no idea what they are talking about. Allergies are rare, and the only way to know for sure is a blind test, otherwise you may just think there is a change when there isn’t.
…several years later at a GI appointment…
Me: he (now almost 3 years old) is very constipated, has painful poops, and is refusing to eat. I think there is something going on.
GI Specialist: oh, it’s just because he is nursing. He just needs more fiber. Wean him and get him to eat some more beans. And just give him mirilax indefinitely until things improve.
The following quote is from a recently published handbook for health professionals to use to encourage vaccine uptake. We, on the other hand are not afraid of facts.
2.6. Use facts sparingly
Information and education alone do not change beliefs or behavior. Facts can polarize people, solidify their beliefs, and may actually backfire [32] and [33]. We all have a strong cognitive bias that leads us to favor information that confirms our beliefs and reject facts that contradict them (confirmation bias) [34]. It is easier to rationalize than to be rational. As Socrates said, logos (logic, facts) is necessary, but to convince people it must be delivered with pathos and ethos (credibility, authority).
Interesting, isn’t it? We, however, have no problem whatsoever with facts. 😉
Me: “My four year old cries herself to sleep every night because her tummy hurts so much.”
Doc: “it’s all in her head.”
Rebecca, have you figured out why, exactly, her tummy hurts? We’re having similar issues.
Have you had her seen by a Naturopath and tested for IgA and IgG food allergies/intolerances?
Lived it, my daughter went through this. 12 years later ( 3-15) we finally got a diagnosis. ” Asysliclal stomach” …. It’s a migrane in the stomach, intensified by 100! I know it is hard to advocate use of medications, but we did have very good results for her with ” Periactin” ( sp). I pray your angel grows out of this faster than mine did, it is horrible, and won’t stay just at night. All the best to you!
Jessie
Me: “I’m tired all the time, I sleep 13 hours and am still tired, much of my hair has fallen out and my period has almost stopped.”
Doc: “It’s all psychosomatic.”
Me: I’m concerned about the aluminum in vaccines. I can’t find a single study showing that the amount given in vaccines is safe.
Doc: Oh they stopped using that years ago.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just can’t even go there…
Allergy SPECIALIST said it was ok that my kid was having hives all over her body, breaking out every 24 hours, because they were not “life threatening” and to give her Benadryl. Daily. Forever. Also “Feed her whatever you want. It is not a food allergy because her throat isnt closing up.” Her office charged BCBS $350 for that BS. GFCF diet cured the hives in just a few days and they have not returned in 5 years.
Get your records.
And here is another one by Del Bigtree. Mother asking a “doctor” why here new born need HepB and answer is: Because babies get it spontaneously!!!! My question is: Why do you need all those “well visits” if your baby is totally fine? Now days allopathic medicine is the same as religion. You have to believe in order to follow that nonsense.
My ex’s daughter’s pediatrician tried to convince him with “But what if she is in a car accident and needs a transfusion?” I said, “Is she implying that they don’t screen the blood supply for hepatitis B?!” (They do. According to the CDC, transfusion-related infection is virtually non-existant.)
My first ped said “what if she gets leukemia and needs a blood transfusion” when I said I didn’t want Hep B. Hmm, probability of cancer + contaminated blood vs probability of adverse reaction?
How about this:
take my son to the neurologist because of the decline after his shots and AFTER I get kicked out of my mainstream pediatrician’s practice for not continuing to vaccinate. I tell the neurologist he’s much better since I took him off of gluten while waiting for the appointment with her.
DOC: Oh, I don’t believe in those diets. Autism schools won’t even take kids who are on that stupid diet because it does nothing for kids and is harmful. Stop that diet today!!
A year later, my son tests genetically positive for celiac disease by an informed pediatrician.
And these are the people are supposed to have medical degrees??
A mainstream doctor wrote a book about talking to your doctor in such a way that he/she will listen. The first chapter was all about how doctor after doctor missed an obvious celiac case (I figured it out one page in, classic symptoms), because they assumed the first doc who claimed she was a non-compliant anorexic was correct. NO ONE listened to the patient right smack in front of them.
“Use fact sparingly” If that doesn’t sound like a hokey religion, I don’t know what does.
Right?
My first grade daughter had loud dry cough hundred times per day with a post nasal type of drip. It was disrupting the class constantly. We ended up fixing it ourselves with diet(gf, lowering carbs, healing foods, kefir, garlic, etc.) and a chiropractor’s help with supplements, treating gut infections (yeast, parasites) and such.
Pediatrician said she has no allergies. I couldnt believe that to be true because benadryl helps her symptoms. He said “just give her benadryl EVERY day.” Are u kidding me! Imagine growing up in drug induced fog every day, then develpoing dimentia, oh yeah one of the nice side effects.
Referred out to an ent and he told me he “could take her tonsils out because I LIKE TO MAKE MONEY, but it probably wouldn’t help.” Perhaps this was his attempt at crude humor, exactly what the stressed out mother of an ill child needs to hear.
Sadly, I could go on and on and on with 3 kids’ issues and the unbelievable nonsense that I have encountered. This is what forced me to take charge of the situation. Pediatric gi specialists at hershey medical center, the top kids place around me, don’t even deal at all with the microbioome! Honestly, I would like to know what they are doing all day, when I, as a mom, with no medical training, can fine out more than they can. It seems like common sense is eliminated with the more schooling (indoctrination) these people have.
After my daughter had a complete work up at Children’s Hospital in Washington DC because of her endless gastrointestinal attacks of severe pain and ” they” found nothing. Dr: This is all in your child’s head. You need to take her to a Psychiatrist. She was 7 years old!!!
What a stream of utter incompetence by so-called “medical professionals”!
ME: my son was not autistic before his one year shots.
DOC: If regression follows a memorable event, like …a trip to the doctor for vaccinations, this may “Seem” like cause and effect.
Me: ummm. Yeah ok. (I later realized this was quoted straight from the CDC)
————–
ME: he had a bad reaction to his 2 month shots and I know if I would have let him sleep in his crib that night he would have been dead the next morning because his breathing was so shallow I had stimulate him by tickling his foot or bouncing him to get his heart rate back up. Y’all told me “sometimes that happens, he will be fine”. He did seem to pull out of it and continue to hit all milestones early, he was just very sickly after that. I trusted them when they said it was a coincidence. against my better judgement he received his one year vaccinations and stopped taking, walking, pointing, recognizing us, the pets, surroundings, etc… It was right after his shots. I don’t think I’m going to vaccinate.
DOC: looks at me with a disgusted shameful look… “This is not the same series of vaccinations as those, your putting your baby and others at risk. There’s no scientific evidence these vaccinations cause autism if that’s what you are suggesting”
Me: feeling like I am doing something wrong, regretfully poisons my son again.
It took 32 of the biggest mistakes in my life to finally realize I am smarter than they are. They robotically memorize Pharma funded facts but mothers of vaccine injured children learn it and know it.
Do not let any physician bully you into vaccinations. IT IS NOT A COINCIDENCE, YOU ARE NOT OVER REACTING, IF YOU ARE QUESTIONING VACCINES THERES A REASON, LISTEN TO YOUR GUT!
Can I add mine to the list?
Dr: She doesn’t talk because her grandmother is too involved. (because you see Grandparents apparently “spoil” children into not talking)
Unbelievable yet not unbelievable!!!! 🙂 This is no surprise…..it is sickening how blind, deaf and dumb people in the medical field can be. Thank God we know our kids and know that we have to pursue whatever we have to to help them because GOD KNOWS the doctors won’t. Only the ones who have brains and can see the truth!
Amen, Jill! I got so disgusted with medical doctors, thanks to being marginalized, treated like a mental case, and invalidated by them over my vaccine-induced chronic illnesses that I stopped seeing them altogether and buried myself in research to learn how to help myself. That helped, but I recently found a wonderful naturopathic physician who is helping me further. She wasn’t the least bit surprised by my vaccine reactions. She recognized them for what they were and actually listened to me. If more doctors would stop thinking they were just one level below God and know everything (with that “everything” based on what the pharma industry teaches them), it would certainly help patients.