Shots Fired

I’m so fucking tired of having the conversation around medicating my son with doctors, psychologists and therapists who know less about the physiological causes that have people end up on the autism spectrum than I fucking do.

There are just too many people jumping on the wagon, trying to convince me to sedate him instead of trying to treat what’s causing his symptoms.

It’s frustrating having to listen to a group of people who all seem to have memorised the lyrics to the same song. Recommendations and responses sound so scripted. All they need is a dance and it turns into the Macarena. And I’m sitting here wondering why I’m wasting my time listening to yet another mother fucker trying to sell me the colour blue when they’ve never seen red, blue, purple or whatever else.

I don’t consider myself to be better than any of them, but I happen to do a lot of reading on various treatments and treatment is a far cry from sedation.

One fixes the other does not. Not exactly rocket science.

I’m no doctor, I haven’t studied psychology, but when we whittle it down both are guys who’ve read some books. I’ve read some fucking books too, genius and my books are shiny and new. They’re also specific to ASD and not plucked out of the sky.

When I lay out the approach I’m taking with Luke, I’m met with narrowed eyes and blank stares from people who in every instance have had no clue what I’m talking about.

The effect of exogenous ketones like betahydroxybuterate for instance, MCT oil and sulforaphane, mesenchymal stem cells and suddenly I’m Semmelweis trying to convince these sons of bitches to wash their hands before surgery.

In return, I’m hit with the “Start with low dosages” line. Their plan B is to try plan A till it works.

I am Jack’s imminent violent outburst.

 

How about I start you on low doses of ricin? Because slow and steady wins the race according to these idiots.

I’m not sure if you can tell, but this is a sensitive subject for me for two reasons. One is that the majority of people – parents like myself – just blindly follow advice because it comes from an individual with a plaque on their wall. It’s never a degree in the treatment of autism, they’re not part of a research project or the like, but they buy that shit not knowing any better.

Second is that we assume that doctors know it all. The more I learn the more obvious it becomes that while they may mean well, they aren’t necessarily better informed on a given topic than someone else might be. I had to refuse a prescription from my GP meant to help me sleep better, but I’m not ready to be on scheduled medication just yet. I went to see him hoping to preempt symptoms of stress and anxiety.

How often are patients misdiagnosed to their detriment? When you look at how many clients I have who have been diagnosed with depression, you’d also start to wonder whether something is fishy.

I say get off your high horse, be open to the fact that new studies are being done all the time and that when you’re busy slinging cold and flu medication, I’m up to my neck in the literature that deals specifically with autism. It’s kinda been my obsession since my son was diagnosed 4yrs ago and that 4yrs is long enough to obtain a degree in almost anything.

If you’re a parent of an autistic child, you know that a large percentage of your job is protecting them. Don’t allow yourself to be lulled in thinking that that protection is limited to cuts and bruises.

There may come a time when you have to protect them from the people claiming to want to help them too.