DwayneEMTP

Thanks Brother. My journey as Dylan's dad, as with most parents of special needs children I'd bet, started with me looking for someone to blame. My child had been slayed by a psychic hit and run driver and I was going to hunt that motherf*cker down and beat him until there was not single part still recognizable. Who was the driver? The doc that delivered my son, the drug companies, God?...I had no idea, only that I was going to identify, and then kill him. But that turned out not to be so easy as I had thought. Though the birth was difficult and Dylan was delivered apneic, there were not only no clear paths from that to autism, but not even any significant rabbit trails. The same with drugs, parental love or lack thereof, or lack of proper parenting, vaccines..etc, etc. So I turned my attention to a cure, and of course that led to plenty of information making it clear that there was/is none, nor are were near.... Thus leading me to wonder how I can help that process along, which led to the studies being done and the reasons for them...and then I was truly struck sick. The studies were following the broken hearts of parents instead of evidence. The famous were extolling their scientifically ignorant though popularly brilliant basis for autism, and congress was listening. So if you wanted money for research you fucking well better be studying something that the vocal voters were afraid of...even if it is wrong. It seems now that the largest battle facing our autistic generation is to try and convince people that emotion and superstition, while making you feel better, is not going to help our autistic kids and the hundreds of thousands of autistic grandkids in the making as we speak. Before we can even begin the war on autism, we have to first at least begin to win some battles on ignorance...unfortunately trying to raise funds for a war on ignorance isn't as exciting or emotionally satisfying as raising funds to slay the evil drug manufacturers. (The same evil bastards responsible to extending out lives, what, about 30 years over 150 years ago?) But anyway..sorry for the rant. But I truly am grateful for your comments as I rarely know if I'm off in the ditch following my heart and becoming part of the problem, or am maybe, as I'd hoped, at least trying to stay on the shortest path to a cure. As you mentioned..as a parent there is a true path..it's just almost always snowed in with emotion. Dwayne

Katiebug, I notice that I've the only one here that seems unable to get past your screen name and notice that you're not a chick... No offense intended, I promise you that it's an honest mistake. I'll try to be more careful in my references... Dwayne

But look at the number of people that believe in UFOs, right? A group of untrained, uneducated people with an emotional tie to a subject that all believe the same thing is often worse than no data at all, as they will, as a group, often begin to see whatever it is that's most emotionally satisfying for the group to see. There is a sheer volume of talk, unfortunately very, very little of that talk is producing data. I would be shocked if that weren't the case. We ALL wanted to find a demon in the closet, something to blame, something to attack, but that doesn't mean that there is really a demon in the closet. Parents believing it just doesn't make it so. It makes it satisfying to be part of that accepted group, many feel validated by being enraged at the pseudoscience that is produced, but as above, how many actually care enough to take even a semester of science so as to develop the tools to be able to intelligently pursue facts instead of fancy? Which makes it very easy to see why the myths propogate at the rate and intensity that they do. Autism tends to rear it's ugly head somewhere between 15-24 months, around the time that many kids get their vaccinations. Dylan recieved his childhood vaccination (I can't remember which one) and went from an apparently normally developing child to completely silent in 10 days. Do you truly believe that I didn't want to attack the vaccines? I was fucking rabid about it! But the fact remains that approximation does not equal causation. Crazy? Not most of them. Ignorant? Yea, I believe most to be. One of the issues that I believe that you will have looking at this issue honestly is that there is this picture of the autistic parent, clean, attentive, kind and loving. That is the TV autistic parent, but not the common parent that I've been exposed to. And I'm willing to bet that I've been exposed to hundreds more than you have. The majority of them have been purposefully ignorant of their childs conditions or their treatments, had little to no interest in their development or how to help feed into it, and often complained to their families and friends about how horrible it is to be the parent of an autistic while allowing their children to sit on front of the TV 16hrs a day. To paraphrase you...grin...if you want to argue that this is a group of people motivated or qualified to gather any type of unbiased data on autism...bring it... I don't doubt for a second that there is something happening, but you're trusting them to know what caused it, and I'm not anywhere close to climbing on that train with you without a mountain of data to support it. We're wasting the precious few dollars that are being dished out for autism chasing the whims and fancies of those that don't know anything, but that FEEL something. And I hate that. They will never help my son by doing that. And you speak about the stories of these families as if they are isolated from each other. Each family telling the same story independent of the other. They aren't. This has been huge news for a long time now, on the news, on the internet, in the papers. It's almost impossible to talk to someone that believe that vaccines are responsible for this issue that is able to back up their thoughts with intelligent reasons. It's just shit that they've heard on TV and believe might land them in a big payday lawsuit if they keep propagating the myth. I've never known of a medicine, ever, that made such claims. Can you explain that statement? No one is pretending that brother. The elephant was spotted long ago, it's been mugged, sliced, diced, mutilated and tested until it's really no more than a pink cockroach now, eating at the finite funds available for true scientific research. Unfortunately even educated parents aren't allowed to provide data on their children for the purposes of true scientific research, and for a very, very good reason. I would like to see the documentation tying the first reported cases to the first vaccines if you have access to it. But again, the first reported cases can't be assumed to be the first cases, right?? It sounds like you're way more married to the vaccine argument than you first led us to believe...but I'm glad. I've not visited in in a while and it wouldn't hurt to take another look with someone as passionate as yourself. I forgot to send my email to you earlier, but will try to remember to do it after I finish this post. If you would prefer to keep your reasons for believing that the government benifits from the overwhelming number of autistics private, I get that, but I would ask that you keep any of your pathology related comments here in this thread so that all may learn from them as well. Thanks for you comments.... Dwayne

Man, one of us completely misread her comments. I read them as a compliment to your intelligence with a little tongue in cheek shoulder punching. You seemed to have read them as an attack. What's up with that brother? You seem to be more on the attack than usual of late... Dwayne

As I said...Not a snowballs chance in hell that he's going to answer the question.... Dwayne Edited to remove a response to another post stacked in with this one. I'll post it later when they can be done separately.

Your friends thinking is very archaic. Most of the theories you mention have been put forth by the Jenny McCarthy crowd. And though she does look stellar naked, (McCarthy, though I'm not opposed to giving my opinion on your friend..) she's ignorant and deceitful. She claims to have cured autism but won't allow anyone to verify her cure. She loves her son so much, yet can't be bothered to take a semester of science so that she can at least attempt to judge the latest fad or diet intelligently. Instead she just continues to tour and get our children's autism research money dumped into landfills of ignorance. She makes me batshit crazy... No offense intended to your friend Brother, but there is no science to back up anything that she's said, and a significant amount to show it in error. And even if perhaps she should be proved right, someday, too much of the data being gathered today is gathered by parents, and we all know what a mess that is for data collection. For instance I was sent a questionnaire for a gluten free diet. It asked such things as, "Does you child seem calmer now?", "Does your child seem to sleep better?", etc. It's common knowledge that many, if not most, autistics have bowel issues. The gluten free diet has been shown to be gentler on the GI tract, causing less cramping, gas and loose stools. All of the symptoms in the questionnaire that I received could just as well have been attributed to an increase in comfort as opposed to any decrease in mental pathology, but what do you suppose that odds are that a parent, desperate to help their child in any way, won't misinterpret those changes in symptoms to be 'on the way to a cure?' It is so vital that we try to stick to the science. We've wasted two decades pouring all of the autism research money into chasing vaccines, and even the man that created that scare has been defrocked (lost his license to practice, been publicly humiliated) as it has been shown, without a doubt, that he did so for financial gain and that his 'science' was smoke, mirrors, and outright lies. Man..I can't even remember who's thread we highjacked at this point..but it's been a great conversation so far! And Richard...Ditto to getting the horses to drink...most just aren't very thirsty... Katie, I'd love to hear. I'll put my private email in your City mailbox. And you're right. Special needs children are, as are most topics that need to be discussed, being suffocated by political correctness. My wife, Babs, made a post about that I think on her autism site, www.alongrideontheshortbus.com . We need to talk, about autism, about hate, about fear, about every friggin' thing, and we just can't do that when so many shitheads are simply listening to comments long enough to find something to be offended by. Thanks everyone for your comments. What a bunch of smart, kind folks in this thread. I don't know you well yet Katie, but I love everyone else here and consider them my friends...pretty friggin' cool. Dwayne Edited to correct double send.

Yeah, screw how it would be received. But I know what you mean..if you claim to be afraid of having an autistic child then you seem to be saying that you don't want an autistic child so therefore my child must be beneath wanting..rah rah bullshit, right? Good on you for your honesty. Then it seems that you would seek debate to poke holes in your perfect understanding of the subject, wouldn't you? Though I do love the challenge...but you kill your chance to educate with that kind of a challenge as no one can answer it without at least days to research their ideas...Most of us don't have time for that. I can only go this far, as I've not looked into in 5 years+. Polio went somewhere. And the studies that I found before, though I'm not sure that I can find them again, seemed to show that the incidence in autism was higher in the non vaccinated groups than in those vaccinated. Agreed. What would be the governments motivation for causing/allowing autism? It is becoming a massive drain of money, autistics will likely never vote, and it's going to continue to get more and more expensive each year as more autistics reach adulthood. What is the benefit to the government? Always. Question everything as always. Just don't get lost in the anger and frustration as it takes you down really dumb roads. When Dylan was diagnosed I spent hundreds of hours a month on the internet, looking for someone to blame...I needed someone to attack! But all that did was cause me to follow charlatans....No good can come from that.... I get the feeling that you have a lot to say...and that it's mostly worth hearing..I look forward to it. Dwayne

No. For two reasons. First, there are a million types and severities of trauma. Would you consider a woman that broke her toe kicking at her dog at risk for spontaneous abortion? How about the pregnant chick that cuts off the end of her finger while making dinner? (Yeah, so it's sexist..bite me) Second, there is no evidence to show, at least that I've ever seen or can find now, that trauma short of causing significant, life threatening damage to the mother causes additional risk of Sp. abortion. Medical and chemical elements, but not so much with trauma. Of course I'm not saying that it doesn't happen. Only that I have no reason to consider it a significant additional risk factor as, again, the vast majority of trauma is minor. No, for the reasons stated above. You're my hero! Dwayne Not my question I know, but yeah. I start IVs on any significant traumas. But that wasn't the question, what it asked was ANY trauma, you assumed it would be significant and need treatment.. (Neener Neener) At my last gig I always started locks on anyone I thought might need drugs/blood products/fluids but almost always attached a bag to it. The reason being that our drip sets didn't match the hospitals, but our locks did. It's also way, way easier on very ill pts or arrests when it comes time to move from the house. Detach, run to the truck, reattach. Good thread. I'm afraid I can't help you with the cascade of hormonal effects that may begin with pain and end with abortion my friend...But I'm confident that chbare's ears are burning as we speak, or maybe one of the docs. No disrespect to anyone else...but man..it's been a while since I considered what triggered or retarded pregnancy hormones and can't imagine it's been on the front of most others minds either... Dwayne What makes you think that? Have you spent much time around pregnant women? Mean as snakes I tell you!, and twice as tough! Why...I....once saw a pregger chick get hit by a truck! She flipped it over, ate the drivers sack lunch, and went about her way, all the time mumbling that she was pissed that the truck pushed her belly and made her have to pee...again....Just sayin'... Dwayne And for the record, I really hate that this editor stacks individual replies into one post... Just sayin..

Sorry brother, I've been hoping that you'd get some good responses. I've got no experience with it. I don't think I'd like it much, but then I doubt it would change me much. Of course I know that's not what you're looking for... Man..I can't think if who you could talk to that's been there so won't be talking in abstracts...? Good luck to your buddy on his project.. Dwayne

Great question! From a learning point of view I mean... Dwayne

Thank God you said studies...just saying. Sometimes the forums seem to dictate a different kind of exposure...(Yeah, pun intended) Dwayne

Yeah, I can't, and I'm humbled by your passion. I do believe that the vast, vast majority of cases reported today compared with yesteryear can be attributed to classification/diagnostics as well as awareness. I mean autism was only listed as a disorder not that long ago. There is a story in the book, The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat where he explains about the first time that he diagnosed a Tourettes patient. He had been practicing for generations and had never seen one, yet after that single patient, when he walked out onto the street he saw 6-7 in one day. (Have to forgive any errors in details, I'm typing from memory without verifying the numbers, but the point still holds I believe) They had not suddenly sprang from nowhere but his change in perspective simply caused them to become visible. And I don't argue your belief in environmental factors, though of course I can't verify them either. The human mind is only slightly understood in it's healthy state and autism is arguably the most complex mish/mash of cerebral co/cross/misfirings consistently observed to date. We don't really even know where the autism lives or why it was programmed to live there, so we've likely got a few days before we know where it was born. I'm grateful for the article though if given the chance to view her motivations there is every chance I would punch that chick right in the twat for once again claiming a cure where none exists. Enjoy those beautiful babies...and when they make you batshit crazy and you just want to choke them? Remember that that behavior, the one that makes you crazy, that stubborn, single minded, rebellious, emotional behavior is the exact one that those of us with autistic kids would likely give our lives for. Thanks so much for your thoughts. They are logical, and passionate, and kind. I wish I knew more parents of autistic kids that thought and felt like you do... Dwayne

+1 (I used up my quota of +'s for the day) Awesome question. Is a patient at his chronic symptomatic baseline symptomatic or not? I wish you posted more often man...You have something interesting to say in every friggin' post.... Dwayne

MN, there is not a snowballs chance in hell that he's ever actually going to answer this questions which is why he continues with all of the bullshit verbal ballet each time it's raised. For as many intelligent opinions as he has here he will continue to debate this angry schoolboy logic all week if he must. He sometimes seems to believe that as long as he giggles enough, or appears disappointedly amused at the opinion of others that those here will confuse that with sound logic and intelligent debate. Squint, a continued rant about how you want every guilty person to be punished to the fullest extent of the law does not answer the question. I can get your same opinion from the uneducated, the unemployed, the hefty housewife or a child. No one is asking if guilty people are going free based on the efforts of defense lawyers, people are asking to what degree you are willing to go to prevent that from happening. How many innocent lives are you willing to sacrifice to make sure that the guilty rarely if ever go free. Because, see, that is the system. Unless of course you've developed a fool proof judicial system that you've just not chosen to share with us yet.... And to answer your question. Should Dylan be killed by someone released due to a 'loophole' by some 'scum sucking defense lawyer', yeah, I would be unhappy. But I would still not choose to put your innocent children in jail to help insure that my innocent children mile be slightly safer in the future. Dwayne Ahhh...so then the judicial system can be pure and honest and honorable like your government? Outstanding plan. She is blind, not deaf or stupid....Just sayin'.. Dwayne

I was just reading the latest beatings posted to ShockDoctor and I think that he represents, as batshit crazy as he makes me sometimes, one of the most vital skills you can bring to EMS, and that's an ability to shoulder criticizm. He's been insulted, bruised, battered, disrespected, almost all based on his belief that the perfect medic would be the lovechild of House and Chuck Norris. But he's posted to some medical threads, something we almost never see from whackers, he's had some opinions I've agreed with, and some that I haven't, but no matter what was said, he's continued to post, continued to contribute, continued to move forward...he's not run away like 90% of other folks would have. Learning is sometimes painful, for us and for our patients, but avoiding learning should be considered the cardinal sin of EMS. He's pretty new to the City and as most of us that have been here a few weeks know, it can be intimidating to put you best ideas out front, but he continues to do so, and I think that's cool as hell. It may appear that I've taken pity on him and have decided to defend him, but that is truly not the case. He doesn't need a chucklehead like me to look out for him. I am sometimes frustrated by him, but I have a feeling that there is a lot to him that we haven't seen yet, and I want to see it. So my defense of him is purely selfish. Anyway, a thick skin. It's necessary, and vital, and productive. Without it you will be shut down before you even begin to learn the really important lessons. The best providers I've ever met seem to live life in that delicate, magical place between "fuck you" and "God damn it..thanks for pointing out what an idiot I can be." Dwayne

It depends for me on the degree of involvement of the wheezes. Light and localized, probably not, heavier and generalized, probably so. I am really going to set myself up for a beating here...so here goes. I like to practice medicine. I believe that I can learn from pretty much every patient, and almost certainly from every medication administration if I take the time to try and track the minute along with the gross, so if I can justify the delivery on the pts cost/benefit then often I will treat so that I can watch their responses, and hopefully learn from the cascade of events that follow. This fellow doesn't sound like he would meet the cost/benny, but bump him along the acute path just a bit, or if I can tell that the wheezes are worse 5 minutes down the road, then I'll treat him on the theory that we'd both win. He'd get some increased gas exchange and possibly mitigate a condition that is worsening and I'd get to track the effects of my treatment on his body as well as his mind, and all would be better for it, in my opinion. The further I go in medicine the more I come to appreciate the diagnostic value of a patients facial/body movements and expressions when combined with vitals and other physiological markers. But, in my opinion, learning to recognize some of those external markers takes practice... Let the beatings begin...I can take it... Dwayne

I'll give you 10/1 odds that this is some crone that Jenny McCarthy and her clan dredged up. She's even going back to the vaccination issues. I'll tell you what, any article that claims to have cured autism is almost certainly full of shit. McCarthy claims it too. The problem is that none of the miracle workers will allow anyone to examine their children and find them autism free. The data used to diagnose them as well as the data presented to show them to be pathology free is vital before they even begin to speak, yet not only is it absent at that time it always stays absent ALL the time. And that's unacceptable and unforgivable. Katie, I'm guessing you have someone that's autistic in your life? These sons of bitches pray on the needy and the hopeful. I spent the first 10 years of Dylan's life chasing cures, but at least it provided me with an educational foundation for understanding some of the issues. There's truly nothing new in this lady's article that I can see. Go to McCarthy's page and you'll see it all laid out the same, more or less, except that she tries to make her page as complicated as possible and splatters it with quotes from 'experts' that are not experts at all. Good catch on the article. And good on you for caring! I'd love to hear your story... Dwayne

I will bet you a month's wages that you can hear tachycardia, bradycardia, PVCs, A-fib...and often I won't do anything about any of those rhythms. It's easier to feel those things in the pulse, but they can certainly be heard.. SD, you go back and forth from me looking forward to your posts to me wanting to kick you right in the balls...But hey, you always generate discussion and don't cry like a little girl when you do get bit...so I remain happy that you're here.. :-) Dwayne

Yeah, that's something I always thought was crazy about most scenarios in school. If your patient appears fine, they are going to die no matter what you do, and if they are certainly going to die, your miracle intervention saves them. In my experience nearly all of our really critical patients fall somewhere in the middle and end up being a balancing act. Sounds like a tough call... Dwayne

Northern New Mexico and Denver? Raton then I'm guessing? I live in the Springs, and used to work in Trinidad. If you ever want to hear stories about the worst medic that ever lived, stop in there and mention my name. And if you get bored sometime, stop on your way through the springs and I'll buy you a cup of coffee! The things that I didn't learn in school? That moral and ethical quandries are often much, much more complicated than medical issues. And, though they tell you, I rarely see it practiced...patient advocacy is a moral/ethical obligation, not a decision that you make, and then change, any time you think you might get jammed up a bit. I'm sure that there will be many, many much better responses, but those are the two nearest and dearest to my heart. Thanks for posting man...any chance you could be convinced to do so more than once every 3 years? :-) Dwayne

Edit. Before posting I only read, "Do you not see a problem with that statement." from Bushy's post..after reading the next sentence after posting I realize that my post is not only much less elegant, but now completely redundant. Sorry about that... :-) I'm guessing that you don't work in the fire services at this time. Would that be accurate? Your statement is true, EMS makes a great addition to the fire services. It adds money. The fire services on the other hand do nothing but retard EMS's ability to become an accepted profession as, in general, they have contempt for education. They have been lauded as heros for so long for simply applying C-collars and putting on O2 that they seem to have come to believe that that is all that is really necessary to be a medic. To be a good medic you have to be supremely accountable and the fire services are famous for being unaccountable for their mistakes. Excuses instead of responsibility, ignorance instead of education, denial instead of positive change means that Fire Medic is nearly an oxymoron. The reason that I believe that you haven't worked in the fire services yet is that when you do, you will find that your college education will be considered a weakness instead of a strength, generally speaking. It's common to hear comments in the forums from firemen saying, "You can spot the medic with a college education because he'll be running around terrified while I get all of the important shit done." For more than a decade now there have been states trying to create AAS entry level requirements for medics, and in each case the fire services spend millions on ads saying something to the effect, "Your government wants your heros in a classroom instead of out on the streets saving lives!" With the mandatory picture of some shithead running out of a burning building carrying a baby of course... I have met and been blessed to learn from a few really, really good fire medics. But in general, if you view your comments as a country, which we must, the cost/benefit is sloped so far away from EMS as to be laughable. That is what Bushy meant about your thoughts being wrong. You implied that EMS can become it's own, respected profession by being absorbed by the one industry that despises it the most...Never going to happen brother. The fire services involvement in EMS has already pushed EMS back, maybe 20 years, and further involvement shows no signs of reversing that trend... See what I mean? Dwayne

Hopefully I would have done that...it sounds like perfectly sound care to me. Dwayne

Scenario chats?? Dwayne

Hey Grady, welcome man. Dwayne

Yeah, I should have been more clear about that. I was talking about a radio report such as, (True call), "When questioned as to the reason for EMS activation pt states that she needs her prescription refilled and that her husband refused to drive her to the pharmacy. Pt has no other complaints at this time, no significant issues discovered by medic." Hospital responds, "Copy Dwayne, we'll meet you in triage." When we rolled up on this call an apparently well female ran up to the side of the ambulance, very indignant, and pounded on the side with her fist complaining about our response time. Now, please understand that has this women been symptomatic, in any way, even if I believed that the symptoms came from PO narc withdrawals for her chronic 'bad back', that I would have considered this a valid call and moved forward like any other call. This woman was simply spoiled, fighting with her husband, wanted to get baked on Vicodin and intended to show him that she would have her way with or without him. (No license due to DUIs) I don't want to leave anyone with the impression that this is a common practice..I've seen several thousand patients now yet I believe I've done the 'triage hell' maybe three or four times. Another was for a spoiled, rich, 'overdose' chick. Her parents were going crazy, she had her moms narc prescription that she was pouring out of the pill bottle into her mouth and chewing! I grabbed the bottle and immediately smelled M&Ms, looked in the bottle and found it to be full of M&Ms that she was using to freak her parents out with. She claims that she ate all of the narcs that morning (12hrs past), but had gotten some more!, and had 'just' put the candy in there a second ago! Screaming the whole time that "I'm really going to die! that's drugs, not candy!" I actually love psych calls, I love the mentally infirm. This was neither. She was just a spoiled little bitch. 40 minute transport time, no symptoms at any time during the transport...so I made the triage hell call...grin. EMS is what it is folks until we change it. Punishing patients, treating them poorly, forcefully refusing them...that's just bad form. Leave that kind of behavior to the wankers. Dwayne