Thoughts for Medical Researchers
Feb. 14th, 2009 06:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aelfieLike I know any.
Sometimes I have random thoughts of "Hrm. I wonder about the incidence of...blah." And wonder if anyone actually researching this stuff ever thinks about it as well.
So what the hell, I'll write them down here. Its a good a place as any to download brain flotsam.
Thought Number 1!
I've had this one for awhile. How many people who are diagnosed with Gardeners Syndrome also have Celiac's Disease?
So where did this come from?
My Grandfather, Father, and Uncle (Dad's youngest brother) all have this syndrome. My Grandfather died of complications in 1978.
In 1992 Medical Science had gotten to the point that they could run genetic tests to see if I carried the gene or not. Since our family was/is a textbook case (heriditary disease, 1 parent, 4 children, oldest and youngest have disease) we did this huge blood draw party. A few months later we got the results. And.....they couldn't definitively tell. The genetic counselor used colors to tell me what happened. The gene that gives someone Gardeners Syndrome is green. My Grandfather had green and blue, my Gram green and red. Dad and Uncle B got double green. The other two got a green and another color (red or blue, I don't remember). Dad gave me a green, Mom gave me an orange. The problem is at that time, we couldn't tell who's green I and my two Uncles got. We have since determined that I (and one of my Uncles) got Grams Green. (Good for Ike and Gray, they won't need to get regular colonoscopy's starting at age 12).
Okay, here's the random thought. What if the Celiac Gene was sitting on Grams Green Gene? (Say that 3 times quick) We know I got it from her as her sister has it (and I'm almost positive she does as well) What if the combination of the Celiac Gene and the Gardeners Syndrome Gene produce the developement of Gardnerers syndrome. Both diseases attack the large intestine. It would be really interesting to see if treating the Celiacs would prevent the Gardeners. (Celiac's is annoying. Gardeners is an ugly disease)
Dad has said that the next time he talks to his Doctor he's going to ask for the Celiac Panel. I'm not sure how that well that will work considering the fact that he doesn't have much of a large intestine. But it couldn't hurt!
Thought Number 2!
What is the incidence of environmental and food allergies amongst children who have either had delayed or just not received their childhood immunizations?
I vax my kids. But I don't follow the AAP/CDC schedule. Ike had seizures after his 6 month DPT and he received very few until he was two when I picked up again (After those seizures I did a shitload of research. To sum up. I follow the Japanese plan. The Japanese do not regularily vax kids before age 2. The thought is that a childs immune system is immature until that time and over stressing the system before its ready just isn't a good thing. It can just be too much for a small percentage of kids.) The girls didn't receive their first shots until they cut themselves and needed a Tetanus (which was their first DPT) at some point around 18 months. (I'm slowly catching everyone up...although I am outright refusing the Chicken pox...for now. That rant is for a different space.)
Okay. Everyone pretty much knows that the incidence of allergies (environmental and food) and asthma are on dramatic rise. And nobody is really sure why. Lots of theories are around. One of the current theories is the Clean Theory. The idea that First World countries are just too clean. That kids aren't exposed to enough germs to stimulate a healthy immune system, so their bodies go into hyper-drive and attack "normal" things.
Here's the thought. I have pretty severe environmental allergies, fairly extensive food allergies (although, thank goodness none are at anaphylactic level) and asthma (though I don't need daily medication). Joe has allergies as well. The chances of our kids having allergies or one sort or another should be something like over 80%. NONE of our kids have allergies of any sort. (So far. Okay, Gwen's lactose intolerant, but that's it.) I'm wondering if my delaying thier vaxs has any affect on this.
What if the rise of allergies is due to overstimulation of the immune system (rather than understimulation). We start giving vaxs almost immediately after birth. What if we are taking these immature immune systems and giving them too much exposure to too many harmful viruses at one time, which puts the system into hypersensitivity and it begins to attack normal things. By the time a baby is one, they've received up to 30 shots (numbers may vary, depending when certain shots are given). Most allergies don't become aparent until after food is introduced (although there are those few "lucky" kids who get them as infants). And a lot of environmental ones don't show up until around age 2.
I don't know, I'm not a medical researcher...I'm just an overly curious librarian who wonders about different things.
Sometimes I have random thoughts of "Hrm. I wonder about the incidence of...blah." And wonder if anyone actually researching this stuff ever thinks about it as well.
So what the hell, I'll write them down here. Its a good a place as any to download brain flotsam.
Thought Number 1!
I've had this one for awhile. How many people who are diagnosed with Gardeners Syndrome also have Celiac's Disease?
So where did this come from?
My Grandfather, Father, and Uncle (Dad's youngest brother) all have this syndrome. My Grandfather died of complications in 1978.
In 1992 Medical Science had gotten to the point that they could run genetic tests to see if I carried the gene or not. Since our family was/is a textbook case (heriditary disease, 1 parent, 4 children, oldest and youngest have disease) we did this huge blood draw party. A few months later we got the results. And.....they couldn't definitively tell. The genetic counselor used colors to tell me what happened. The gene that gives someone Gardeners Syndrome is green. My Grandfather had green and blue, my Gram green and red. Dad and Uncle B got double green. The other two got a green and another color (red or blue, I don't remember). Dad gave me a green, Mom gave me an orange. The problem is at that time, we couldn't tell who's green I and my two Uncles got. We have since determined that I (and one of my Uncles) got Grams Green. (Good for Ike and Gray, they won't need to get regular colonoscopy's starting at age 12).
Okay, here's the random thought. What if the Celiac Gene was sitting on Grams Green Gene? (Say that 3 times quick) We know I got it from her as her sister has it (and I'm almost positive she does as well) What if the combination of the Celiac Gene and the Gardeners Syndrome Gene produce the developement of Gardnerers syndrome. Both diseases attack the large intestine. It would be really interesting to see if treating the Celiacs would prevent the Gardeners. (Celiac's is annoying. Gardeners is an ugly disease)
Dad has said that the next time he talks to his Doctor he's going to ask for the Celiac Panel. I'm not sure how that well that will work considering the fact that he doesn't have much of a large intestine. But it couldn't hurt!
Thought Number 2!
What is the incidence of environmental and food allergies amongst children who have either had delayed or just not received their childhood immunizations?
I vax my kids. But I don't follow the AAP/CDC schedule. Ike had seizures after his 6 month DPT and he received very few until he was two when I picked up again (After those seizures I did a shitload of research. To sum up. I follow the Japanese plan. The Japanese do not regularily vax kids before age 2. The thought is that a childs immune system is immature until that time and over stressing the system before its ready just isn't a good thing. It can just be too much for a small percentage of kids.) The girls didn't receive their first shots until they cut themselves and needed a Tetanus (which was their first DPT) at some point around 18 months. (I'm slowly catching everyone up...although I am outright refusing the Chicken pox...for now. That rant is for a different space.)
Okay. Everyone pretty much knows that the incidence of allergies (environmental and food) and asthma are on dramatic rise. And nobody is really sure why. Lots of theories are around. One of the current theories is the Clean Theory. The idea that First World countries are just too clean. That kids aren't exposed to enough germs to stimulate a healthy immune system, so their bodies go into hyper-drive and attack "normal" things.
Here's the thought. I have pretty severe environmental allergies, fairly extensive food allergies (although, thank goodness none are at anaphylactic level) and asthma (though I don't need daily medication). Joe has allergies as well. The chances of our kids having allergies or one sort or another should be something like over 80%. NONE of our kids have allergies of any sort. (So far. Okay, Gwen's lactose intolerant, but that's it.) I'm wondering if my delaying thier vaxs has any affect on this.
What if the rise of allergies is due to overstimulation of the immune system (rather than understimulation). We start giving vaxs almost immediately after birth. What if we are taking these immature immune systems and giving them too much exposure to too many harmful viruses at one time, which puts the system into hypersensitivity and it begins to attack normal things. By the time a baby is one, they've received up to 30 shots (numbers may vary, depending when certain shots are given). Most allergies don't become aparent until after food is introduced (although there are those few "lucky" kids who get them as infants). And a lot of environmental ones don't show up until around age 2.
I don't know, I'm not a medical researcher...I'm just an overly curious librarian who wonders about different things.
