Comments on: Well That Didn’t Take Long – Another Dystonia Case Follow Up

By: NeuroLogica Blog » Chelation Fraud

NeuroLogica Blog » Chelation Fraud — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:33:40 +0000

[...] for any and all perceived “vaccine injuries”. The most famous such case is that of Desiree Jennings, who was treated by Dr. Buttar for her “dystonia” which he claimed was an acute mercury [...]

By: 2009 Ashley Awards | MNH Kids Camp.com – Ideas & Advice on Child Autism

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 20:18:47 +0000

[...] apparently belonging to Jennings, shows her symptoms were most likely psychogenic, and not due to dystonia as she [...]

By: Steven Novella

Steven Novella — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:36:50 +0000

Momtofive – sorry to hear about your daughters’ health problems.

I understand your desire to figure out what is going on with your children, but it seems that you have fallen victim to organized pseudoscience. It is ironic that you are skeptical of the medical establishment, but are accepting the answers provided by a very dubious fringe.

The mercury question has been investigated extensively. There is no association with amalgam fillings and MS or any other autoimmune or neurological disease. The same is true of thimerosal or any vaccine.

Also, as I have clarified before, I never accused your daughter of “faking it” – that is a strawman. I wrote that the symptoms she displayed on the public video are not compatible with the diagnosis of dystonia, nor of any known toxicity. It is compatible with a psychogenic disorder (a real disorder, and not considered “fake”). It seems that her neurologist also felt this, as evidenced by the VAERS report.

Unless and until her medical records are made public, we can only infer from the information we have. Since she has chosen to make her case partially public – enough to be used to advance what I and many others consider to be dangerous pseudoscience – we have no choice but to analyze the information we have and point out that the story the anti-vaccine crowd is telling does not hold water.

If Ms Jennings wishes to set the record straight – then let’s see all the relevant medical information. She cannot have it both ways – this is a very important public health issue and it requires transparency. It is difficult to take any expressed concern over public health seriously when critical information is being withheld.

By: DrP

DrP — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:19:37 +0000

@momtofive. Unfortunately, we cannot be sure that you acutually are the mother of Mrs Desiree Jennings, but let’s assume you are. Of course it is horrible what happened to both of your daughters. But the causal relation between the vaccination and the course of the disease of both of your daughters cannot be made on the information your provide, neither can the use of amalgam dental fillings be consistently related to multiple sclerosis in meta-analysis.
Second, the “established medical community” did not judge your daughter as “faking it”, for example in the case of your daughter Desiree (based on the videos I have seen) a very clear diagnosis can be made, as already excellently explained by my collegue Steve Novella (cite:”First, they attacked the notion of psychogenic illness, completely misrepresenting it as equivalent to “faking” or as a knee-jerk dismissal of vaccine injury. In doing so they are denying the very legitimate and debilitating nature of psychological illness – that it is very real and deserving of compassion and treatment. It is just another kind of “brain” disorder – just a functional one”). However this is possibly not the diagnosis you wanted hear.

By: Momtofive

Momtofive — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:44:12 +0000

I am the mother of Desiree Jennings. I have five children, three have not had any reactions to their vaccines. Two of my perfectly healthy daughters have had life threatening illnesses after receiving vaccinations. Unknown to the public, is the undiagnosed “auto-immune” disorder of my youngest child, Morgan. In the fall of 2006. she received seven vaccines – all on one day. Shortly after, she became chronically ill with respiratory infections, not unlike Desiree. She then broke out in a horrid rash from head to toe. She looked like a “burn victim”. Her hands and feet began to swell. Next, came the migrating joint pain. Then she was unable to walk. She was hospitalized with what doctors thought was a “septic hip”. Despite being seen by countless specialists in two separate hospitals including a orthopedic surgeon, an infectious disease expert, a juvenile rheumatoid arthritis expert, two pediatricians, two allergists, she has no diagnosis. No one in our family has any neurological disorders with the exception of my aunt who has MS. Please note that my aunt had a “mouthful” of amalgam dental fillings over quite a long timeframe. I believe that our family cannot tolerate the “acceptable levels ” of mercury contained in the “so called safe” vaccinations and other mercury laden products. I am seeking answers for BOTH of my daughters but do not want to subject my youngest daughter to the media. She doesn’t deserve that. Before you judge someone as “faking it” I think you should be very careful as the “established medical community” has no clue as evidenced by both my girls’ cases as to the effect of injecting dangerous toxins into a person’s bloodstream.

By: Science-Based Medicine » An Influenza Recap: The End of the Second Wave

Science-Based Medicine » An Influenza Recap: The End of the Second Wave — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 08:01:45 +0000

[...] one influenza vaccine in the last three decades has been shown to cause GBS in rare cases, and some poorly handled stories in the media have further elevated public [...]

By: EvanHarper

EvanHarper — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 03:22:00 +0000

Hey Steve, I love your critique, but you missed a juicy “gotcha.” In Dr. Buttar’s amazing account, he claims that Jennings suffered “because of the toxicity from, part of it could be the attenuated virus,” and on Jennings’ website she claims he diagnosed her with, among other things, “Acute, Viral Post Immunization Encephalopathy.” Except that Jennings didn’t get any attenuated virus – she got the jab, which is a dead vaccine, not a live-attenuated vaccine.

By: SWB

SWB — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:29:04 +0000

to Steven Novella

You and are correct, and I find that I must apologize, as I was mistaken, and totally ignorant of the nature of ethyl mercury, and how it is handled by the body. I myself am guilty here of passing on erroneous information to make my point, before having researched it thoroughly. For that I am truly sorry.

By: Updates on anti-vax, woo, and flying cars… « One Astronomer's Noise

Updates on anti-vax, woo, and flying cars… « One Astronomer's Noise — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:28:09 +0000

[...] that Jenny McCarthy associates with, and they “cured” her with some quack medicine. Steven Novella also follows up on this story, and points out that the “miraculous cure” points strongly to the [...]

By: Steven Novella

Steven Novella — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:45:33 +0000

SWB – regarding mercury – I guess I was not clear enough in the point I was making. If Jennings was suffering from an acute mercury toxicity from ethyl mercury in the flu vaccine, that would correlate with blood levels. And the half life of ethyl mercury in the blood is several days. Within 30 days (in this study I discuss here http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/?p=185, at least in children) blood mercury levels returned to baseline.

Also, as you acknowledge, chelation removes mercury from the blood.

Because Buttar is claiming an acute toxicity that was rapidly reversible with chelation, it is only plausible to consider blood levels of mercury, but they should have already been at baseline.

If, on the other hand, he is talking about chronic toxicity of mercury accumulating in the organs, that would take much more time to mobilize and excrete and the damage would be long term – not immediately reversible.

Context is important.

Regarding the flu vaccine – this is a large and complex literature, and your summary is not accurate. I recommend this summary: http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=2040 which concludes that the various lines of evidence for flu vaccine efficacy, when taken together, support the conclusion that the flu vaccine works reasonably well (benefit in excess of risk). It is not perfect, but that does not mean it doesn’t work.