[tri-med] Re: The Age of Autism: The Amish anomaly

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fawna"
> >Also, it has always been my understanding that although it is unlikely
>>for Chicken Pox to kill a healthy child, if an immune suppressed child
>>were to contract it, they would surely not survive...
>
> That's a "maybe"...
>

I will second that one Fawna, How many people know that cold sores can be 
deadly or that they can seriously incapacitate a person?

My husbands cousin, an otherwise healthy young boy of about 9 was 
unfortunate enough to never have come into contact with the cold sore virus 
and therefore have developed some form of immunity. When he was 9 he was 
visiting friends of the family when the mum kissed him goodbye. No one 
thought anything of the fact that she had a cold sore - why would you?

A few days later he developed viral encephalitis, for which little can be 
done. For weeks he was on deaths door and no one knew if he would pull 
through. He did but he was never the same (and is now spending life in gaol 
which his mother blames on the encephalitis - hes my ex-husbands cousin so I 
can just blame bad genes :-)))).

Some people are just very susceptible to that particular virus - me I can 
never remember having a cold sore in my life. Logic says that I have but 
that my immune system was such that it fought it off. My step daughter on 
the other hand only had to see someone who had a cold sore and she would 
break out badly.

When she was about 12 she had them break out in her eye. Now a cold sore on 
the lips is annoying, but a cold sore in the eye is another story because it 
leaves permanent scarring on the cornea. After it happened a couple more 
times the specialist warned her that any more and she would be permanently 
blind (the days before corneal transplants). The specialist then told us 
about some natural therapies to try which worked - and I can tell you a sure 
fire permanent cure for cold sores if anyone is so afflicted. Its worked for 
at least a dozen people that I know. They follow the regime and never ever 
get another cold sore - well they havent in the 20 years since.

The same goes for measles - there are loads of kids out there who will get 
over measles quite easily. But in some the virus will reactivate and cause 
SSPE (I think I have the letters right - Sub Acute Sclerosing Pan 
Encephalitis). It hits years after even a mild dose of measles in people so 
susceptible. SSPE is really nasty - typical kids just entering adolescence 
suddenly lose everything and end up in a vegetative state - and the cause is 
the simple case of measles that they had as a child. Thankfully because we 
are seeing less cases of measles we are seeing less cases of SSPE and thats 
not a bad thing.

And it might not be so deadly, but lets hope that over time we start seeing 
less cases of shingles because we see less cases of chicken pox. Again an 
annoyance for most but in some, for example those with pacemakers it can not 
be so simple. (says the mother of a child with a pacemaker who doesnt want 
to have to worry about that one!!!)

The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved.
-- Victor Hugo

Keep Looking For Rainbows!!
   _--_|\
 /Karen \
 \ _.--._ /
          v Karen, Mum to Alex (10 years, T-18 Mosaic)
http://members.optushome.com.au/karens

                  Building ___ooOOoo__ Rainbows
                       www.trisomyonline.org
                  Families Helping Families On-line

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