Mutterings Of A Mindless Mommy

What an interesting week it has been with regards to autism news.  The week started off with mass reporting of a new study confirming the fact that there is no statistical link between the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) vaccination and autism.  Yes, another study detailing this lack of a link.  Here are a few different blog entries discussing the study that I found interesting:

New Study Confirms No Link Between MMR and Autism at Autism News Direct

Surprise Surprise:  No link between the MMR and Autism at Autism Vox

MMR Still Doesn’t Cause Autism (and never did) at Left Brain/Right Brain

My daughter has had one dose of the MMR vaccine - she received it after her autism diagnosis.  She also had a nasty local reaction with a huge knot in her leg that didn’t go away for nearly six months.  About a year after she received the innoculation, we found out she was allergic to eggs - ah hah!

Now on to the other study of the week, Vanderbilt University revealed the results of their research study looking at the benefit of melatonin usage to help children with sleep problems who are also on the autism spectrum.  Melatonin is a mainstay in our house and we use it almost nightly.  From the study: 

“Twenty-five percent of parents reported they no longer had sleep concerns after using melatonin, 60 percent of parents reported the sleep problems had improved, 13 percent still had major concerns and only 1 percent (one child) had worse symptoms.”

My son falls into the 60 percent of children who have seen an improvement in sleep.  My daughter falls into the 25 percent of children who no longer have sleep issues.  Sure every now and then she has a sleepless night but between the melatonin and the weighted blanket, I think we’ve found the solution for her sleep problem.  Our pediatrician is one of the more progressive-thinking doctors in the area and suggested melatonin to us over a year ago.  Go Dr. L!

The Genetics in Medicine journal has published a research study in its January 2008 issue detailing a road map towards creating a genetic diagnostic test for autism spectrum disorders.  I can only imagine what those who think autism is *only* vaccine-induced must be thinking.  This quote from the study intrigued me:

Epidemiologic data support the presumption that autism is primarily a genetic disorder. The calculated heritability of autism is around 90%.

That is a pretty bold statement but one which makes sense, in my opinion.

To read the entire article, follow the link to the Autism News Direct’s report: Genetic Diagnosis for Autism Explored.

In my Google alert for ADHD there was a post by a mom detailing her experience trying to find a pediatrician for her daughter who was recently diagnosed with ADHD.  Reading her post leaves me wondering if the black box warning label on most (if not all) ADHD medication has caused pediatricians to steer away from accepting these children as clients. 

Read crazymamasusan’s post on her blog:  Doctors Refuse to Accept ADHD Patients.

 I’d love to hear what others think of this.  I’m going to spend some time this evening and see if I can dig anything up on the topic.