paulry

Did anyone else watch this?

I wonder if our dependence on anti-biotics accounts for the drastic rises in occurances of mental illnesses - including Autism.

...And while we are at it.

old.sparkles

Didn't see it obviously. My son has Asperger's but used to stop breathing as a baby so that could be a cause. He did also have repeated tonsilitis and a lot of antibiotics between the ages of 1 and 2 so maybe a link.

carolinephillips

My daughter had recurrent antibiotics for tonsilitis and otitis media and febrile convulsions, but she is not autistic. It would be hard to prove a link as things stand.
We are getting better at diagnosing and classifying mental illnesses, so that could be a portion of the rise in cases.

IvanM

So far mainstream research indicates genetic causes. Mothers do not cause autism nor do vaccines.

FYI I have two boys on the spectrum. An Aspy and a low functioning boy. I do not expect a cure. There are too many parasites conning desperate parents.

My boys are great and I wish society understood them more.

paulry

It's a difficult to prove beyond doubt any link because just about everyone from young is exposed to antibiotics. But It does make us think about the full side effects of these wonder drugs and their impacts. The ability for antibiotics to kill infections (aka bacteria) is why we take them so it's no surprise really that they also kill the bacteria in our guts. What remains is to confirm the link between the missing gut bacteria and mental disorders - including autism. I've not seen the stats for incidences of autism but the programme claimed iincidences have risen drastically in recent decades, putting into question the belief that its genetically linked, though admittedly it could be down to better or more frequent diagnoses of previously mis/unidentified cases as autism.

carolinephillips

Remember too that in the old days people were dismissed as "thick" or idiots or nasty bits of work. Nowadays they always seem to have some disorder- even the nasty bits of work all have "anti authoritarian disorder"/"oppositional defiance disorder" -I am not making them up:I worked with special needs pre-schoolers and there was a disorder/syndrome to cover every little bit of behaviour. So very definitely more people are recognised as having a disorder, hence the rates shoot up. I think it is mostly coincidental that antibiotics were developed at the same time that diagnosis was improved.
I do, however think that kids need exposure to dirt to get their immune system going- everything is too sanitised these days.

IvanM

It is very sad how children were treated and are still treated.

moneypenny20

WTF? If any parent told me their child had something called Oppositional Defiance Disorder I'd laugh in their face. Apart from the fact some kids are just plain shitty, it's takes away from those with real disorders.

IvanM

When you meet a kid with ODD you would know what the challenges are. It is very real. What really matters to the parent is that the appropriate management is in place. ODD requires a very particular approach. The mother of an ODD kid I know was chastised by her family and other judgementals as a bad mum. There is a big difference between poor behaviour and a disorder.

moneypenny20

It doesn't matter what illness/disorder/disease a child has, there will always be people judging and who will always blame the parent including the parent themselves.

IvanM

It is very sad society is like that.

carolinephillips

The problem lies not with those who have a proper diagnosis, but with people who jump on the bandwagon to excuse their lack of parenting skills- like the parent of a foul mouthed child who said he had Tourettes- no he didn't, he'd learned how to talk from his equally foul mouthed parents.

And people are so very quick to judge, rather than to understand.

paulry

This site has some interesting articles about how to replenish/restore gut bacteria:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/41...RELARTICLES_R1

Also look at the mid right under the heading: "People are reading".

lapin_windstar