“We don’t do autism” • Hacker News Board

Re: “We don’t do autism”

#41

Post by DanBC » Sat, Sep 19, 2015, 10:25 PM UTC

thinkcomp wrote: post #39

Nkdo wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention wasting time that could have actually saved a life. MRI machines are highly expensive and there are always long waiting lists before you can get access to one because those things just don't grow on trees and are a limited resource (number of machines versus number of patients.) Most doctors know better than to waste a MRI on someone that will not, in any way, benefit from it. Not when there are people…

Obviously moral judgments in medicine can be incredibly difficult, but who's to say that this person's life might not have been drastically altered for the better ("saved") if a MRI scan 20-25 years earlier had revealed the cyst, so that could have been removed? Then the brain might have developed normally. The point is that the condition is time-dependent because the brain develops most in a child's early years, and…

You use exactly the same arguments as people selling mercury chelation or hyperbaric oxygen chambers or etc.

There's a huge list of horseshit peddled to people with autism (or more usually their parents).

http://www.autismsciencefoundation.org/what-is-autism/autism...

Re: “We don’t do autism”

#42

Post by dnautics » Sat, Sep 19, 2015, 10:31 PM UTC

Is there an effort to use ML to process brain MRIs and predict the bestiary of autism-behaviors that are observed?

Re: “We don’t do autism”

#43

Post by et2o » Sat, Sep 19, 2015, 10:46 PM UTC

riggins wrote: post #36

et2o wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author is not an MD and has not attended medical school.

how were you able to determine that?

"[...] my hypothesis about the true nature of my brother’s condition — the hypothesis of a non-MD, it is important to note [...]"

In the first paragraph of the story.

Re: “We don’t do autism”

#44

Post by QSIITurbo » Sat, Sep 19, 2015, 11:00 PM UTC

bro-stick wrote: post #34

davak wrote: post #11

He spends a lot of time trashing the physicians because they won't do additional workup and chase MRI abnormalities. When he finally gets somebody to do something, he just put his brother in some temporary pain without any long lasting improvement. Yes, the doctors debated on if he has this or that specific condition, because ultimately it didn't matter because he has a condition that isn't fixable. Doctors are best…

MD, PhD such as developmental or occupational psychiatrists or psychologists whom specialize in the particular spectrum of autism behaviors/impairments help most with coping skills, because there is no "magic cure" for autism at this point. I think some supporting caregivers get frustrated and take that out on others or blame the doctors when they're barking up the wrong trees, when they're just looking in the wrong…

I'm under the impression that Marfan does not necessarily imply valvular defects. So are you certain that your doctors missed the Marfan (which is very easy to recognise in severe forms), or just that they did not bother to mention it (since there is no cure / need to treat)? The valvular defect was detected aurally, I presume?

Re: “We don’t do autism”

#45

Post by thinkcomp » Sat, Sep 19, 2015, 11:08 PM UTC

DanBC wrote: post #41

thinkcomp wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obviously moral judgments in medicine can be incredibly difficult, but who's to say that this person's life might not have been drastically altered for the better ("saved") if a MRI scan 20-25 years earlier had revealed the cyst, so that could have been removed? Then the brain might have developed normally. The point is that the condition is time-dependent because the brain develops most in a child's early years, and…

You use exactly the same arguments as people selling mercury chelation or hyperbaric oxygen chambers or etc. There's a huge list of horseshit peddled to people with autism (or more usually their parents). http://www.autismsciencefoundation.org/what-is-autism/autism...

Not exactly the same, because this has absolutely nothing to do with mercury, and has support in journal articles that have not been retracted on account of scandal. Search on PubMed for yourself, or start here:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3677555/

The scams you mention are even discussed in the article. Did you read it? Or are you saying that MRIs are like chelation therapy?

Re: “We don’t do autism”

#46

Post by narrator » Sat, Sep 19, 2015, 11:11 PM UTC

Is autism a purely U.S phenomenon? Has it been increasing in other countries? Is it of equal prevalence in all countries with modern medical infrastructure?

Re: “We don’t do autism”

#47

Post by joesmo » Sat, Sep 19, 2015, 11:15 PM UTC

narrator wrote: post #46

Is autism a purely U.S phenomenon? Has it been increasing in other countries? Is it of equal prevalence in all countries with modern medical infrastructure?

I think you're thinking of ADD/ADHD, which is a US based phenomenon/pseudo-disease. Autism is indeed a real disease: http://www.autism-society.org/what-is/facts-and-statistics/

Re: “We don’t do autism”

#48

Post by QSIITurbo » Sat, Sep 19, 2015, 11:19 PM UTC

thinkcomp wrote: post #45

DanBC wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You use exactly the same arguments as people selling mercury chelation or hyperbaric oxygen chambers or etc. There's a huge list of horseshit peddled to people with autism (or more usually their parents). http://www.autismsciencefoundation.org/what-is-autism/autism...

Not exactly the same, because this has absolutely nothing to do with mercury, and has support in journal articles that have not been retracted on account of scandal. Search on PubMed for yourself, or start here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3677555/ The scams you mention are even discussed in the article. Did you read it? Or are you saying that MRIs are like chelation therapy?

The article does not ctrl-f to cysts, but I would be more interested to hear how you'd go about removing or treating a cyst in a developing brain 20-25 years ago. Any suggestions?

Re: “We don’t do autism”

#49

Post by joesmo » Sat, Sep 19, 2015, 11:19 PM UTC

codingdave wrote: post #15

I've been working with doctors for a while now trying to diagnose some issues, and while I share the author's frustrations (believe me, it can thrash your life to shreds if you let it), he seems to be falling into a danger zone that I have been warned about. Which is that "normal" ranges of almost every metric on the human body are not well defined lines. Rather, they describe a bell curve or measurements, such that…

The brother did not have someone do anything to his brother. It was the surgeon who decided to relive the inter-cranial pressure, as any surgeon probably would given a brain that's under too much pressure. I think the brother's point is that if this was done in the 90's when his brother was a child, he might have led a normal life, and it's a very valid point. Yes, doctors are busy etc., but I wonder if they'd be more open to giving MRIs to patients with brain conditions if they weren't so shackled by the insurance companies ... but anyway, at this point, it's all speculative.

Re: “We don’t do autism”

#50

Post by thinkcomp » Sat, Sep 19, 2015, 11:23 PM UTC

QSIITurbo wrote: post #48

thinkcomp wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not exactly the same, because this has absolutely nothing to do with mercury, and has support in journal articles that have not been retracted on account of scandal. Search on PubMed for yourself, or start here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3677555/ The scams you mention are even discussed in the article. Did you read it? Or are you saying that MRIs are like chelation therapy?

The article does not ctrl-f to cysts, but I would be more interested to hear how you'd go about removing or treating a cyst in a developing brain 20-25 years ago. Any suggestions?

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01418470#page-1