Re: Re: Autism rates leveling off in CA

[Guest guest]

Connie,

>

>So why do you think this is? Do you think that parents

>have " gotten " the nutritional aspects and are eating better while

>pregnant and feeding their kids differently? Surely there is not

>less mercury conatamination generally than just a little while ago.

>Or is the counting different? Are there more Asperger's now and

>less Autism kids?

>

As a native of California, who gave birth to her first child in that

state - later to be diagnosed on the autistic spectrum as PDD, nos - I

can not even imagine blaming poor nutrition on high rates of autism in

certain states like FL, TX and CA. These states are big produce

producers, so maybe pesticides are are better target. Why don't we see

rates more spread out if it is general poor diet (or even thimerasol)

that causes this family of disorders, of which Asperger's syndrome is a

member, btw? I always ate a pretty whole foods omnivorous diet during

my pregnancies, but only once was I pregnant and birthing in CA (maybe I

should be thankful to leave the state as the mother of sons, which

autism hits disproportionately high).

Deanna

[Guest guest]

Connie,

>I'm living in CA now. I had my first kid in Louisiana, 2nd and

>third here in CA. I think my first and second may well be on the

>Aspie end. Third is not. First two had the " classic celiac baby

>belly " and both are now definately geeks - oldest daughter is

>getting PhD's in Anthropology and Linguistics (languages and

>statistics and geekspeak about how people talk to each other about

>SomeOne Who is not physically present); middle son is studying

>single molecule protein folding - PhD Physics; third child, daughter

>is very social, very bright, no celiac baby belly, very even

>tempered (I am sure I got lucky.) I think that we may have escaped

>the autism by degrees. I ate a pretty good omnivore/old school/cook

>from scratch diet for all three, although I had lots and lots of

>wheat with all three.

>

>

I'm from Huntington Beach originally, but later lived in the Napa Valley

area. I know what you mean about the baby belly! And digestion

issues. My kids are still at home, younger. Good to hear your children

have grown so beautifully. I am very social but have geekish tendencies

myself, always have. DH is classic engineer geek, younger ds (without

autism) is like me, social and bent on science all in one. But yes, I

ate the old school from scratch, lots of fresh produce, yada yada in

those years.

>I was just wondering why the numbers have leveled off. What has

>changed? Somehow I just don't think that environmental mercury

>levels have changed all that much. I don't know how they get

>removed. Nor where the contaminated soil would go, or is it all in

>the water and it goes to the ocean? There was an article/editorial

>in one of this week's SF Chronicle issues about mercury poisoning

>from overeating canned tuna - not autism as such, but lots and lots

>of neurological problems. My older 2 ate a lot of tuna, my youngest

>doesn't like it.

>

Right. I think there is something else here, or some combination of

somethings not being considered. I ate a ton of sardines with 1st

child. I read that very article about the tuna, actually, not that long

ago. Perhaps it's industrial wastes or something. When I think of

autism states, I think high tech centers. But then Heidi has said that

these places attract the engineer, geek, aspie types in the first place,

so maybe it's a chicken-egg problem too. I wonder if CA has a map of

autism rates per county or some such thing. That might prove very

helpful in pinpointing cause. Obviously, it is not simple, to say the

least. These ramblings are helpful to look bigger into the situation,

though.

Are you a geek? LOL!

Deanna

[Guest guest]

> Deanna,

>Representing...Seacliff!

>

>Goldenwest and Yorktown!

> B.

>

,

My best friend lived there, northwest in the subdivision. I was

on Yorktown & Beach, then & Lake. Is 's Surf Shop still on

Main, oh and Villa Sweden? It's been decades since I've been back. I

went to HBHS, but moved inland to graduate.

Deanna

who still wears a Dodgers shirt when she runs

[Guest guest]

..

> " It has been our observation in workin with children who have autism or

>Tourett's Syndrome that mothers frequently had issues with fertility,

>leptin resisitance, and/or PCOS.

OK, I can't resist here ... all three of those are typical gluten intolerance

symptoms too. On the GFCFNN list we had a long discussion about PCOS

and gluten, and lack of fertility is a classic celiac symptom. (Lower glycemic

diets help PCOS either way, I think ... bringing the blood sugar under control

is a good thing and women have a harder time with that).

It may be that the placenta is working worse ... it could

also be that they just share the same *genes*. A similar bit of observation

held that the mothers of Autistic kids were " cold " and " indifferent " thus

causing the Autism by not smiling enough at their kids.

Nowadays it's pretty much considered that the mothers

of Autistic kids often are Aspergerish, which makes them seem " cold

and indifferent " (though in fact they are probably just sending a different

set of signals: Aspies often don't make eye contact, for instance).

But it isn't the mother's body language that causes the autism, it's

just that autistic kids are more likely to be born of aspergerish Moms.

Of course, either way, your observation that the " mothers diets are

getting better " would apply. In CA more and more people are going

on lower-carb diets for any number of reasons, which tend to

imply less insulin problems AND less gluten problems.

Heidi Jean