Tylenol? You’re Kidding me, right?!
Please excuse my bluntness… This week my feathers are more than ruffled, more like I’ve been electrocuted. Heck, I’ve even have eczema breaking out where I have never had it before- my ears, my chin, my face, my scalp! Geez!!!
Enough about me… and on to what has my nerves on edge. Tylenol. Autism. Hepatitis. Hate. Misinformation.
Yes, I am going to address these things because lives depend on these truth. We are literally talking life and death here with these things. I will give you the sites and information to back it up.
First: Tylenol. As someone whose only option of over the counter pain relief is Tylenol/acetaminophen, due to multiple blood disorders, this “announcement” from leaders has made me extremely mad. I didn’t get these diagnosis until high school, and if you know anything about Motrin/ibuprofen, you should not take this type of pain reliever when there is any blood issue going on within your body. I had not yet been able to get migraine medication, so I had been taking ibuprofen ALOT! Migraines hitting at least once to twice a week. And then, until I was able to get a doctor to refer me to a neurologist who would take my migraines seriously, in my early 20s, I had to replace that with acetaminophen. And still I am only able to take acetaminophen when I have a fever or pain unrelated to a migraine. So three things: 1. that this would even be presented as a cause for a condition is honestly blasphemous. 2. that it’s blamed on moms, horrific. 3. for a leader to go so far as to say don’t even give it to your babies, is borderline preposterous.
The fact that non-medical leaders spoke during this press briefing baffles me. What baffles me even more is that the medical professionals didn’t stop the non-medical leaders!!!! What the world?!?!?! There is nothing to back up their claim that tylenol taken during pregnancy causes autism. So was this a rush to name something because the promise was to find cause by September? Or are they just thinking that we really will take it as truth and move on? Because I’m pretty sure the parents I know that have children WITH autism, (not “autistic children” major difference!) could have taken a rain check, because they want truth and not false hope. And I know as a woman, mom, daughter, who has gone through everything but pregnancy and childbirth- which is in and of itself ALOT – you already question yourself about many things – what you eat, what medicine you take, what medicine you give, what food you feed your children, as well as sleep, discipline, structure, play…. So the fact that you are going to put out that tylenol is putting our children at risk , when you have no hard evidence to prove it, yes I take that personal. And I am crushed for every mom that is questioning herself today. Also, how is this helping the mental health of our country? Just asking.
Not only did the medical professionals let this be the “news,” but they let the words keep flowing. “Just don’t take tylenol. When you take your babies for vaccines, they will tell you, give them tylenol, don’t do it.” Are you kidding me?!? Let me just ask you, sir, have you ever taken a child to get their life-saving shots? I’m thinking you haven’t. 1. Because you would do anything to help ease the pain. 2. you definitely would not be saying to spread out the timing of vaccines for babies, and make it more visits and more pokes. Yes, this has steam coming out of my ears!
Autism. One in thirty one children. One in forty-five adults. Although the secretary says only children are being diagnosed with this at the moment. I am not going to sit here and give you facts that I personally haven’t experienced or dealt with. The truth I will say is that the diagnosis of autism is on a wide spectrum and there are many underlying factors that can lead to this diagnosis, most that are not preventable. Some may be preventable, like environment, but unfortunately sometimes this falls back on humans who knew something was wrong and didn’t speak up.
Hepatitis. This vaccine has been given to every infant since it was approved by the FDA in 1986. Why? Because they did their research and found that hepatitis has different ways of spreading. Again, the current leaders are weighing there recommendations on the mother, and the child is not being protected. This must stay on the vaccine schedule for it to be covered by insurance. This doesn’t need to be a discussion topic.
Growing up, in our home we were not allowed to say we hated someone, or let something like hate take root in our hearts. We talked or went outside and screamed (we lived on a couple acres) or hit a punching bag, bottom line we got it out, but never acted on it. We got it out before we could act it out, make sense? This meant calling someone stupid, coward, and down the list you go. It meant calling people names that were degrading and inappropriate. So these things grind my nerves as an adult when other adults, especially top leaders speak this way. It’s uncalled for, nasty, disgusting, and honestly embarrassing for our country. (and I don’t get embarrassed easily)
There were a couple of things that I had hoped that maybe just maybe would soften and semi-unite our country in the last week. And that is that a dad of a one and three year old’s life was taken. I’ll be honest, I did not agree with many things that he said, but he was and is a dad. And if that doesn’t hit you in the heart, those kids won’t remember their dad, then I’m not sure what will get to you. My hopes this past week were this: within his memorial service: (it was long, but for history’s sake I watched) 1. The Gospel to be presented 2. Political one-sidedness be non-existent. Well, the Gospel was presented, although I would have liked to see someone open a Bible and read the Truth, but it was clearly spoken. But my second hope was diminished pretty quickly. And outside of his service I have been completely disappointed with many from all political views. And then some I am really encouraged by their bold statements. So I will hold onto these moments. Because there are two little ones that have no sense of what has happened to their daddy.
For the last thing that is pinching my nerves: Misinformation. I am a researcher, to the extent of sometimes over-researching and being overly helpful. I am hard headed when it comes to finding facts, and the determination to find them could have really come in handy in school but I just didn’t care to much about those facts 😂 So when I am challenged with what smells like misinformation, I go full force to find the truth. Hence the resources I am about to give. Take them all, some, or none.
And to those who have endured my writing today, I hope in some way, this feels like a warm hug, saying, “I see you. I am with you. It stinks. But I am with you.” And to those who have been caught in the confusion of the chaos of vaccines and Tylenol announcements, I hope you find some solid answers in the links below. And to those who are in the medical world, being asked multiple times a day about tylenol, covid vaccines, flu vaccines, and vaccine schedules, you are in my heart and in my prayers over and over and over throughout the day!!! If I could InstaCart or GrubHub all of you some food of your desire I would!
Life Book of the Week: Lying Up a Storm, by Julia Cook
https://www.hhs.gov/immunization/basics/safety/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis-b/hcp/perinatal-provider-overview/vaccine-administration.html
https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism
