Tuesday, 10 April 2012

• Why are Medical Tests So ‘Autism-Unfriendly’?

  
  
  
  

  I would really like to know are why medical tests so autism-unfriendly. For those of us with children on the spectrum, we know the risk of potentially life-threatening, concomitant medical issues is high. Seizures, brain injuries and genetic and metabolic issues are only a few possibilities that we need to test for, and as such our son has had blood tests, urine tests, x-rays and ultra sounds on every organ in his little body. 

  These test are stressful, and in my opinion, unnecessarily so. Let’s take EEGs. In a world where everything is going wireless, why does it take 37 wires to connect a child’s head to a monitor? In a time where easily-removable stick –ems can hold a 40 pound wall sculpture, why do tiny little sensors need to be attached with an adhesive so strong that it takes acetone to remove? And if the sensors must be removed chemically, why use acetone? It’s cold, and it burns. Why is masking tape needed to cover the electrodes? If the devices are going to fall off anyway, does anyone really think that tape stuck in a child’s hair will keep them in place? (By the way, that tech owes me $20 for a hair stylist to cut said tape out of my son’s hair without looking like he had the mange).

  And what about MRIs? Why do they take so long? Why are they so noisy? And, why pray tell, when doctors for years have been prescribing oral tranquilizers like Skittles do they insist upon putting a tranquilizer via an intravenous line BEFORE inserting a sedative?

  It doesn’t make sense to me at all. So, to you innovative geniuses who make medical diagnostic equipment, please listen up. All of our tests so far have thankfully been negative. But so have our experiences, which have been traumatic for our son. Fix it. Now. Please.

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