Saturday, January 22, 2011

Flu shots and seizures

Definitely important information to post. Absolutely glad I did not take Joey in for a flu shot and he has never gotten the H1N1 flu shot either.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110120/hl_nm/us_sanofi_flu

U.S. probing seizures reported after Sanofi flu shot

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. health officials are investigating a rise in reports of a type of seizure following vaccination with a Sanofi-Aventis SA flu vaccine, the Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday.

The febrile seizures, or seizures related to a fever, have primarily been reported in children younger than 2, the FDA said in a statement on its website.

The FDA said 42 cases of febrile seizures had been reported as of December 13 and it and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were investigating if they could have been caused by the vaccine, called Fluzone, or if other factors were involved, the FDA said.

Having a fever can cause a seizure in some children. About 4 percent of young children will have at least one febrile seizure in their lifetimes, the FDA said.

"In the cases reported, all children recovered and no lasting effects have been seen," the FDA said.

An FDA spokeswoman said 36 of the cases reported to its vaccine adverse event reporting system were in babies and toddlers aged 6 months to 2 years, with 10 serious cases. She said 38 of the febrile seizures occurred within a day of getting Fluzone.

Experts stress that just because something happens soon after receiving a vaccine, it does not necessarily mean the vaccine was the cause.

The FDA spokeswoman said the vaccine surveillance system did not detect extra reports of febrile seizures after the 2009-10 seasonal flu vaccine or the 2009 H1N1 swine flu vaccine.

The CDC recommends everyone older than 6 months get a flu vaccine annually. That recommendation has not changed, the FDA said.

The Sanofi-Aventis flu shot is the only one recommended for infants and children ages 6 months to 23 months during the current flu season.

The company said it was working with the FDA to investigate the cases.

"At this point no correlation between influenza vaccine and febrile seizures has been established. Adverse events after vaccination may be causally related to vaccine or may be coincidental," Sanofi-Aventis said in a written statement.

The risk of severe illness from influenza is higher among young children, especially under age 2. About 9 out of 10,000 children ages 6 months to 23 months land in the hospital each season for flu-related problems, the FDA said.

Shares of the French drugmaker were up 2 cents at $34.12 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The FDA posted the notice at http://link.reuters.com/cep47r.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; editing by Andre Grenon, Dave Zimmerman)


Feeling official

This week has been interesting for me. I now have a full caseload at my job; I got to work on a poster for the functional analysis I helped out with in the Fall, that my manager will be presenting on in Washington D.C. next week; I started my first week back at school for my 2 final segments of my degree: my practicum and my applied project; and tonight, I joined ABAI (Association for Behavior Analysis International).

I also received an email stating that it was OK to apply for graduation.

At school, we are being called practitioners and I feel that the tone has changed. We are no longer students; we are apprentices, preparing for the field. It is an exciting time for me. As I make my way through this year, a lot will be determined. If I become a mother again, that will sideline my fieldwork for a while. If not, I will forge full speed ahead and prepare for my BCBA exam.

Either way, I know I will do great things by helping the wonderful clients I see everyday.

I don't mean to complain but...

...this keeps getting better and better.

Joey's dad asked if I needed anything after he got done with a soccer tournament. He acted sad that he wasn't going to see Joey this weekend. I am watching my nephews and asked him if he wanted to pick up Joey's favorite beef skewers and come by to see Joey. He willingly showed up and then when Joey asked him to play a game, he said he had to go. Ends up he needed to go babysit his daughter so his girlfriend could have a night out with her friends. I'm all for couples going out and Moms getting breaks....but when a woman only sees her kid 2 weeks a month (if that) and complains that her boyfriend was gone for 9 months, should she really be going out on the town and leaving them behind. It's none of my business but after my pleas for a break 2 nights ago to Joey's dad go without acknowledgment, I have to laugh. If I don't laugh, I'll cry.

Ok, enough about the ex. I will try not to post about it so much.

Thanks for listening:) If I don't vent, I fear I may explode.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Huh?

"I have to talk myself into doing the right things." This seriously came out of my ex-husband's mouth today. This week has been full of winning one-liners but this takes the cake.

On Tuesday, it was "I can't see Joey because I have to take care of Natalie." Last week, "I can only see Joey until 6; I have to watch Natalie." Yesterday, "she's not my fucking kid; I don't know why I have to watch her." (Wouldn't his girlfriend love to hear that one??)

My ex is having trouble playing family man with his loser girlfriend. Yes, I can call her a loser because she is a typical Arizonian....uneducated and doesn't want much out of life. She refuses to try to understand Joey and wants nothing to do with learning about his Autism and what she can do to maintain consistency between households. Heck, she refuses to let Ben take Joey's stuff out of storage so that Ben can attempt to make Joey feel more at home. I don't think it's fair to intrude on Natalie's space but they can accommodate my son by putting his favorite sheets on the air mattress he is forced to sleep on or bring out his Cars table and chairs....something to make him feel like he belongs there.

I can't blame Ben. He needs to appease her because she lets him live there rent free and she provides a warm place to stick it every once in a while. I've been good about letting things roll off me...like the fact that Ben hasn't seen Joey for more than 4 hours since he's been home from Venezuela. I just don't get it.

And my emotions come out when I'm exhausted. And I am fucking exhausted. Oh...curse words come out when I'm exhausted too.

Yesterday, Ben verified with me the dates to take Joey on his annual OR trip...or should I say "the trip where Ben pretends to be a family man/Daddy and parade his son around for his family to see." I like that Joey goes and want Joey to have great memories with his Dad. It was even my idea to go that time. Well, I knew Ben went and bought the tickets last night and then lied to me when I asked if he had checked flights and bought them. He said "I was looking at the 17th through the 21st." So I was a dick and said "I said the 20th." He panicked. I told him I was kidding and to stop lying to me and thinking that I am the big bad wolf already. This game is so old. He lies so much that he can't stop.

He admitted that he lied and apologized. Wow...that's a first!

Today, he texted me to find out what were Joey's afternoon plans. I called him to tell him that Joey had speech but that I was more than willing to rearrange Joey's plans if he wanted to spend time with his son. Ben only wanted to see Joey for an hour because he had dinner plans with Natalie, Shannon, and Shannon's dad, who "I won't see for another year." And this is important to Ben...why? I told him he could take Joey and he said "he won't like it; we're going for Chinese food." I told him that was Joey's favorite. He then told me he didn't want to ruin my plans. After more texting and another phone call, he agreed to take Joey to the restaurant. I asked him if he was worried it would ruin his good time or just trying to appease others and that is when he said "I want to take him; I just have to talk myself into doing the right things." I know he means convincing himself to do what feels right but it just came out so wrong.

I am so tired tonight. I wish I had my husband here. I wish I had a co-parent in my ex-husband. I wish I had parents who would come here and watch Joey so I could work on the weekends and not have to drag Joey out of the house at 7:30am on his days off. Having someone in the house sure would come in handy. I really hate everyone sometimes...and I hate the situation. Sad thing is...if my ex-in-laws were here, they would come over and watch Joey without hesitation.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Autism vaccine report declared a fraud

Not breaking news but this video is worth looking at.

I am a proponent of spreading out the vaccines that are given to children but I do not agree with vaccines causing Autism. There is no proof; Thimerosal was removed from vaccines in 2000; and if vaccines were the cause, then more children would have Autism.

Kids typically show signs around 18 months - the same time that babies get shots. People need to start looking at their gene pool and not blaming it on vaccines.

http://parkerspitzer.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/05/breaking-news-landmark-autism-study-by-dr-andrew-wakefield-was-an-elaborate-fraud/

Where have I been?

I feel like I've been a slacker. Hopefully, anyone who follows me for Autism news has followed me on Twitter to find the latest and greatest. I have been super busy but finally feel like I am catching my breath again.

The final 8 weeks of my fall semester were very stressful, as 3 classes were added to my class load. In that 8 weeks, we also had Joey's birthday; T-ball practice, games and playoffs; Thanksgiving; and preparing for Christmas. As always, I need to remind everyone that I did this all my own. Not looking for a pat on the back, but it is definitely a good excuse as to why I have been slacking in the friend department, and also slacking on living up to my obligations of staying in touch with family and sending pictures of Joey. I've also really been lazy about taking care of myself. It sucks but it happens. With a new year comes renewal, and I have vowed to take care of myself a lot better in the emotional, physical, and spiritual departments.

By the way, I pulled all A's in my 4 classes, leaving me with a 4.0 GPA for the semester and a 3.82 GPA for the year:)

I am going to hopefully be blogging more this year, as there is a lot going on with Joey, and a lot going on in the world of Autism.