Jenny McCarthy Tells Oprah that Autism Can Be Reversed

By Stephanie Modkins, published Sep 19, 2007
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When you think of Jenny McCarthy, you probably visualize a buxom blonde holding hands with funny man Jim Carrey. She's the former Playboy Playmate of the Year who jumped into the hearts of men with her good looks and later caught the attention of women with her funny personality. However, recently, she appeared on Oprah showing a more serious side; she spoke about her fight against autism.

Autism is a developmental disorder in children often characterized by impaired communication, excessive rigidity and emotional detachment. Through her book "Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism," McCarthy reveals her struggles to reverse the effects of it on her son, Evan John Asher. She gives a hindsight and current view of how she deals with her son's autism.

Like many mothers, McCarthy interpreted all of Evan's behavior in the most positive light. The flapping of his hands. How he played (or didn't play) differently than other kids. His pre-occupation with spinning objects. These were all things she thought were just unique to his personality. However, one day, the light clicked on.

It occurred approximately one month after she read an article about autism and thanked God that Evan didn't have it. She began looking at his behavior and realizing that something was wrong, Worried, she searched online to find clues.

By googling his symptoms, McCarthy figured out her son was suffering from autism. Then, the real fight began. She had to learn how to give Evan the best quality of life despite his disorder.

Again, through Google and a friendly relationship with another mother dealing with a child suffering from the same disorder (actress Holly Robinson Peete), Jenny McCarthy found ways to reduce the effects of autism in her son Evan. Below are some of the things she spoke about on Oprah.

* A Gluten-Free Diet. A couple of weeks after she changed her son's diet, he began to utter words and pay better attention.

* Video-Tape Modeling. Evan didn't know how to play. So, through video taping things like her catching a ball with another person, he was able to learn how to do the same activity.

 
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Jenny McCarthy Tells Oprah that Autism Can Be Reversed
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Jenny McCarthy's New Book

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I don't think anyone is saying it is easy - just that it is doable. And if you can't afford to do everything that is being recommended do what you can. The diet changes needn't cost anything. And who knows what changes that might bring to start with?

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Posted on 05/05/2008 at 9:05:15 PM

 
I am thinking this might be a generational thing. Probably due to something WE, the mothers, were exposed to as children that may be the cause. I am thinking in another few generations, the number of autism cases will diminish.

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Posted on 04/17/2008 at 8:04:00 AM

 
Does Jenny really believe Thimersol caused her son's autism? They took that out of the vaccines in 2001, so would here son have even got it?

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Posted on 03/07/2008 at 8:03:19 PM

 
My neighbor is helping the fight with research. She is absolutely convinced that autism and encephelitis are fungal in nature. Put your kids on gluten free, casien free diets. If they are too old it may not help. If they are still young it may. Kill the fungus before it reaches their brains and causes permanent damage. Research other anti fungal options.... Put your child on a high omega -3 diet (good for the brain).

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Posted on 02/28/2008 at 7:02:11 AM

 
all i can say is the day before my childs mmr shot she was Normal and the day after she never said another word and started behaving strangely make your own idea about what happen

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Posted on 10/23/2007 at 6:10:00 AM

 
Wow! Reading some of these blows my mind. Did you all even watch the show? Her book is about her experience. She said it doesn't work for everyone, it worked for her. Dana Mom, who are you to say her child is not autistic? My nephew has aspergers and with hard work on my sisters part he is 100% better than he was when he was diagnosed. Most people wouldn't even know he has it unless you are around him for a great amount of time. You would just think he has quirks. And to call her a bimbo, well that is just childish on your part. Again, this is what worked for her! She is not saying it will work for everyone.

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Posted on 10/09/2007 at 10:10:00 AM

 
I am a mother of a 14yr daughter with Rett Syndrome also an ASD..I know my daughter was normal until she had her immunizations and now has a seizure condition. I realize that there is a genetic predisposition involved and if you or a family member are alergic to metal...do not ingest mercury. I am grateful that Jenny McCarthy admits that her child is Autistic. That there are options for treatment if you aggresively work at it in the early stages. Her message is a blessing and one of hope that many of us other parents were not aware of in before the computer age. Don't care who sends the message as long as people hear what we parents are dealing with, and those of you with kids in the early stages have alot more hope with the therapies available today. I only wish someone had spoken up in 1993 when my daughter was born. I wish I had used the God given sense I was born with and read the ingredients on vaccinations and researched the possible effects they could have on my child. But I n

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Posted on 10/09/2007 at 4:10:00 AM

 
I am the mother of an eleven year old autistis boy. I resent the fact that people say tht autism can be recovered from like it is so easy. I have dealt with autism for a mere eleven years and I have made no progress with all of the miracle cures and therapies that we are preyed upon with. My child is not ever hospitalized because of his condition, which leads others to believe that it is easy. Just change his diet, you say. Have you ever tried to change an autistic child's diet? And I was very upset to find that Montel Williams is looking for parents of recovered children. Another show to glamorize autism. Autism is not fun and if you don't have money it certainly isn't "recoverable".

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Posted on 10/08/2007 at 1:10:00 PM

 
I have an 8 1/2 year old son, who began having seizures four hours after he received his 5 year vaccines and we have just now got them under control - three years later and a whole lot of different medications. He is not diagnosed as autistic, but has neurological impairments that have resulted in a significant academic regression. He was just placed in a special education classroom setting that teaches him concepts just like they teach the autistic children. I also work in my local school district in the autistic program, and while it is a wonderful experience, it saddens me to see how many children are being affected. When I mention the significance of the on-set of his seizures and the vaccines to medical professionals that we deal with, they just turn their heads and say nothing. I find it hard to believe that there is not a connection between the vaccines and the evergrowing neurological impairments that we are seeing in the children today. I am considering the Ketogenic diet

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Posted on 10/07/2007 at 9:10:00 AM

 
WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! IF VACCINES AREN'T TO BLAME THEN WHY IS THE CDC "SAYING" THEY ARE REMOVING IT??? HELLO!!! I HAVE 2 KIDS AGES 4 &5 BOTH WITH AUTISM, DID THE TITER TESTS FOR VACCINES AND BAM! MMR, HEP,AND DTP ALL SHOWED UP OFF THE CHARTS 1 1/2 YEARS LATER! DOCTOR SAYS THEY MUST HAVE BEEN EXPOSED TO THEM.YAH UM OK.....NOT OK SO EXPLAIN THE MERCURY AND ARSENIC TOXICITY??? BOTH EXCRETE IT. HAVE DIAGNOSIS OF ENCEPHALOPATHY MANIFESTING AS AUTISM...HHMMMM..... JENNY MCCARTHY DID NOT WRITE HER BOOK PEOPLE, SHE HAD SOMEONE ELSE DO IT FOR HER. I STARTED MY OWN AUTISM COMPANY TO HEAL MY CHILDREN AND AM SUCCEEDING, AND I KNOW 1000X MORE THAN WHAT SHE CLAIMS TO THINK SHE KNOWS. DO NOT LISTEN TO THESE "PROFESSIONALS" THAT TELL YOU NEED TO VACCINATE.THEY HAVE WAIVER FORMS!!!

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Posted on 10/04/2007 at 6:10:00 PM

 
Many of the new cases of autism are really encephalitic illness associated with vaccinations and other insults to brain. What a scare world we live in. NOt to forget the millions of illegal aliens we have running around with who knows what and transmitting it to us while they make our food behind a wall of some hole in the wall fast food place using someone's social and driver's license for identification purposes so we never have a clue who they are and they don't care since they send all their money back to Mexico anyway. Strange how all this works, and then later, when our kids get some weird disease like E-Coli or Hep A B C, we wonder and well, close the border man. Oh and then our kids go to special ed. where they get no service because school districts are NOW labeling NON English speaking kids with "articulation disorders" thus pushing our truly autistic kids to back of help line. What a joke. Amend 14th amendment. Stop illegal immigration because it's hurting children with auti

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Posted on 10/02/2007 at 10:10:00 PM

 
I can't believe Oprah is so stupid she thinks this child has autism. And what's with Mccarthy writing a book about her journey when her child is only five years old? Hello, what a narcisstic bimbo. She's about as bright as a burned out light bulb. Total useful idiot. God help her. Is the nuts? Her child isn't autistic. He's probably got some other thing.

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Posted on 10/02/2007 at 10:10:00 PM

 
thimerosal, as recent as 2006, was still included in many inoculations. Furthermore, the CDC and the FDA have published exposure levels for adults to mercury - in converting those values to an infant body mass, those levels, by volume, in early inoculations are greater than 10x their own published acceptable levels. Additionally, to claim that there is no link between exposure to mercury and developmental issues is irresponsible at best. Consider that the CDC, who would have an interest in findings disproving this theory (I'm not going into their questionable influence from the pharmaceutical industry and conflicts of interest) cannot even make that claim. Mercury is a known neurotoxin - what else do we need to say? It is still in many vaccinations and flu shots.

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Posted on 10/01/2007 at 2:10:00 PM

 
in response to 'Get a Clue's reply the implication that this was proposed by a single pediatrician with weak evidence is incredibly innacurate... Dan Burton (Rep, IN) 12/2006: "During my tenure as Chairman of Government Reform Committee (1997-2002), and as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness (2003-2005), a number of very credible national and international scientists testified at a series of hearings that the mercury in vaccines is a contributing factor to developing neurological disorders, including, but not limited to, modest declines in intelligence quotient (IQ), autism, and Alzheimer's Disease. And the body of evidence to support that conclusion gets larger every day. " My son has been diagnosed - he had no injury and no contributing illness and i can assure you, there is most definitely a measurable change in his behavior and intellectual development right around the time of his inoculations (home videos support my claim). Also, some pharmaceuticals st

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Posted on 10/01/2007 at 1:10:00 PM

 
I am a school psychologist and I work with the autistic population on a daily basis. I am also a mother of two boys (both vacinated and healthy). I am very concerned about the dangerous messages that jenny mccarthy is providing to families. If you want to learn the facts about autism, you should consult with organizations that are dedicated to the research and helping children with this life long disorder such as autismspeaks.org or cureautismnow.com. The statements that jenny made about "the autism shot" and "reversing autism" are not based in any fact. There are far more significant health consequences for our children if we stop vaccinating. There are many treatment options that can decrease the severity of some of the characteristics of autism but it cannot be "reversed". If it was reversible then it was probably mis-diagnosed from the start. Listening to one celebrity about their experiences and perceptions is very dangerous. I urge families to obtain accurate factual information

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Posted on 10/01/2007 at 10:10:00 AM

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