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Message
re: A Question For Medical Experts Here; What Do You Think Caused the Spike in Autism?
Posted on 9/23/25 at 4:22 pm to CrimsonChaos
Posted on 9/23/25 at 4:22 pm to CrimsonChaos
quote:
I do genetic testing so I can speak to part of it. Until VERY recently, genetic testing was too expensive for almost anyone to have access to it. Furthermore, the only way to determine if a variant is pathogenic or benign is to have a lot of data. So until about 15 years ago, we had little testing and little data. Now it's extremely affordable & most companies don't bill Medicaid patients. The better genetics labs submit their data to an international database that helps us to determine with greater precision if a variant is pathogenic. Chromosomal microarrays, neurodevelopmental panels, & whole exomes have given a diagnosis that just simple wasn't available not very long ago.
I will also add that the term autism is a very broad generalization that covers a plethora of neurodevelopmental disorders. As a kid of the 90's, I remember having the 'special ed' kids in my school. You didn't really know what was wrong with them , only that they were off. They got clumped together which in retrospect was a major disservice as we now have a better understanding of the disorder. Individual education plans specific to the child's defect can provide a world of positive change that we just didn't understand until recently. And quite honestly, we have a lot left to learn.
Are there environmental components? 100%. But the amount of genetic testing done now is astronomical compared to even just 10-15 years ago.
Thanks.
This post was edited on 9/23/25 at 4:37 pm
1
Posted on 9/23/25 at 4:27 pm to KCT
The older the woman the higher the risk of autism and all disabilities. The women today keep waiting longer and longer every year to have kids
Posted on 9/23/25 at 4:32 pm to Sofaking2
Not just women, but male parental age too. You won't hear a geriatric horny boi like RFK talking about that, though.
Posted on 9/23/25 at 4:36 pm to KCT
I've been absent from.my own thread, so maybe this has been discussed. But looking at this from a slightly different angle, has anybody talked about the huge factor of INFLAMMATION in the body, which causes people to feel the need to take something like Tylenol or Ibuprofen in the first place?
Again, I'm not an expert. But, I've seen a lot of people who do have medical knowledge talk about how many problems are caused by inflammation in the human body. They all recommend good nutrition, certain foods to both eat and avoid, and also certain supplements that can help reduce inflammation (Ibuprofen reduces inflammation, but it obviously has harmful side effects).
If anybody has knowledge of just how harmful inflammation in the body is, along with how to deal with it, maybe you can weigh in on this. Obviously, if people did a better job of reducing bodily inflammation then there would be less need to take substances that have harmful side effects.
PS - That's one reason why I'm glad that Bobby Kennedy is trying to get medical schools to do more teaching about diet, nutrition, and supplements. That's one area where I think most physicians fall short.
Again, I'm not an expert. But, I've seen a lot of people who do have medical knowledge talk about how many problems are caused by inflammation in the human body. They all recommend good nutrition, certain foods to both eat and avoid, and also certain supplements that can help reduce inflammation (Ibuprofen reduces inflammation, but it obviously has harmful side effects).
If anybody has knowledge of just how harmful inflammation in the body is, along with how to deal with it, maybe you can weigh in on this. Obviously, if people did a better job of reducing bodily inflammation then there would be less need to take substances that have harmful side effects.
PS - That's one reason why I'm glad that Bobby Kennedy is trying to get medical schools to do more teaching about diet, nutrition, and supplements. That's one area where I think most physicians fall short.
Posted on 9/23/25 at 4:41 pm to KCT
About the 48 minute mark RFK Jr. speaks to the autism vaccine link. If you haven't seen it, you should.
Posted on 9/23/25 at 5:26 pm to SaintsTiger
quote:
I’ve never met a 70+ year old with autism
Would you like to meet my 78 year old father-in-law?
Posted on 9/23/25 at 5:35 pm to Upperaltiger06
Autism is trendy and hip 
Posted on 9/23/25 at 5:38 pm to KCT
Not an expert...
But there's a hereditary aspect...
and... we're all full of microplastics at this point, something nobody really wants to alert the public about (surprise that a fo$$il fuel byproduct gets ignored in health discussions), and that can't be good for human brains -regarding Autism, Alzheimer's, and almost anything else - or cardiovascular things.
Newsweek: Autism Study Finds Link With Plastic Exposure During Pregnancy
CBS News: HealthWatch- Study finds high levels of microplastics in human brains that appear to be increasing over time
SciTechDaily: Microplastics May Trigger Alzheimer’s-Like Brain Damage
University of Rhose Island: URI study links microplastic exposure to Alzheimer’s disease in mice
Nature.com: Bioaccumulation of microplastics in decedent human brains
But there's a hereditary aspect...
and... we're all full of microplastics at this point, something nobody really wants to alert the public about (surprise that a fo$$il fuel byproduct gets ignored in health discussions), and that can't be good for human brains -regarding Autism, Alzheimer's, and almost anything else - or cardiovascular things.
Newsweek: Autism Study Finds Link With Plastic Exposure During Pregnancy
CBS News: HealthWatch- Study finds high levels of microplastics in human brains that appear to be increasing over time
SciTechDaily: Microplastics May Trigger Alzheimer’s-Like Brain Damage
University of Rhose Island: URI study links microplastic exposure to Alzheimer’s disease in mice
Nature.com: Bioaccumulation of microplastics in decedent human brains
Posted on 9/23/25 at 6:01 pm to MizzouBS
quote:
1. Denial
2. Underreported
3. Undiagnosed
4. Understanding
5. Severity
People with autism don’t all act the same.
-Raymond Babbitt from Rain Man
-Hank Hill from King of the Hill
-Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory
-Dwight Schrute from the Office
-Abed Nadir from Community
-Reed Richards(Mr Fantastic) Marvel Comics
In the past people would call someone retarded or say they are slow, but there is a good chance they were autistic. A character like Forrest Gump is not autistic he just has a very low IQ. Someone can act very similar to him, but actually be autistic.
I'm not sure all of those television/literary characters are supposed to be on the spectrum...
But the original literary Autist was Sherlock Holmes... though fancied up in characterization to be a detective and made socially adept and suave, the character was inspired by a "simpleton" who minded horses in a village Sir Arthur Conan Doyle visited, and while most people ignored him and thought him brainless, Doyle noticed in talking to him he'd say things like "You're just back from the pasture on the west side of town." "How did you know?" "Because the horse's hoofs and your shoes have bits of white clay on them, the white clay starts in that pasture and goes west for 30 miles. SInce you left only 45 minutes ago that means you only had time visit the pasture for a bit and return." So he was fascinated and spent time with him listening to him look at people passing and deducing things about them. So Doyle himself was Dr. Watson, awed by the man's observational and deduction abilities.
Posted on 9/23/25 at 8:28 pm to StringedInstruments
He has autism and was lucid and healthy enough to raise a family? Tell me more.
Posted on 9/23/25 at 9:03 pm to KCT
Food chemicals, colors and additives.
Posted on 9/23/25 at 9:32 pm to KCT
quote:
Because, taking politics out of it,
...
quote:
I also think the surge in vaccines has been a significant factor.
quote:
Was it somewhat underreported before?
Umm...you think?
Posted on 9/23/25 at 9:32 pm to Shreveporter
quote:
Agree, and this plays a part, but it's not only this. I see more moderate to severe autism in my clinic now than I did 20 years ago. I could go months without seeing a patient with moderate to severe autism in my resident clinics at LSU. Now, I can't go a week, and it's usually a few per week. I'm not even talking about the mildly autistic kids who are mostly just socially awkward and concrete. I'm just talking about the kids who will never be able to live on their own. That's anecdotal but it's been my experience after 26 years in pediatrics.
I agree 100%. Mentioned it in another topic here, but my wife worked in pediatric sedation at MUSC. A growing part of her job was dealing with severely autistic kids, like you mention kids that’ll never live independently.
She developed and wrote the policy/procedure manual for dealing with these kids, dealing with how to reduce environmental stimulation, getting them in/out of the hospital through obscure access points, etc.
She did it for 25 years. Like you, she saw the incidence of severe autism rise pretty dramatically.
As to the question of what causes the spike? Could be one, two, or ten things. Could be environmental, genetic, medication, who knows? Could be one factor that’s worsened by exposure to something else, one factor lights a spark and another factor feeds off of that and starts the fire.
Have any of you read ingredient labels on food, with the artificial nonsense they add in? It’d be interesting to see a study showing the growth of these additives versus the growth of severe autism over the past, say, 25 years.
Posted on 9/23/25 at 9:33 pm to Porter Osborne Jr
quote:
Underreporting and they have expanded the umbrella that covers autism so a lot more classify.
This is the correct answer to anyone who doesn't rely on political sources for their scientific info.
Posted on 9/23/25 at 9:36 pm to SaintsTiger
quote:
This is not true. If it were because of testing then there would be way more adults with autism nowadays. But we don’t have that
We definitely have that
Posted on 9/23/25 at 9:37 pm to onmymedicalgrind
quote:
onmymedicalgrind
Congratulations, little man. You never add anything to a discussion.
You do sound like sellout to Big Pharma, though.
Posted on 9/23/25 at 9:45 pm to KCT
My comments in this thread make me a "sell out to big Pharma." Thanks for proving my point. You are just a useful idiot who only knows buzz words he has been told to repeat like a parrot.
Sorry, gotta go. Need to make sure my Big Pharma direct deposit comes through!
This post was edited on 9/23/25 at 9:47 pm
Posted on 9/23/25 at 9:51 pm to onmymedicalgrind
quote:
This is the correct answer to anyone who doesn't rely on political sources for their scientific info.
So yeah…..the Harvard study.
Posted on 9/23/25 at 10:02 pm to riverdiver
Ive been enjoying this thread, a lot of good post in here.
Hope it doesnt hi jacked.
Hope it doesnt hi jacked.
Posted on 9/23/25 at 10:33 pm to onmymedicalgrind
quote:
You are just a useful idiot
Dude, I'm not the one who voted for a senile old crook to be President. And, I'm also not the one who voted for a brain-dead cartoon character last time, either.
Obtw, do you even admit that there's been an obvious increase in Autism over the years? Are you not smart enough to realize that there can be multiple reasons for any given phenomen?
Your inability to acknowledge that at least part of the increase is legitimate tells me that you are both a sellout and a "company man."
Hence, you are pro-Big Pharma. Own it.
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