Category: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders
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The Crisis in FASD Diagnoses: A Call to Action
In the US, we absolutely have a dearth of those qualified to diagnose Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. There are something like nine diagnostic centers across the country. Just doing some quick math, if we consider that 5% of the population has an FASD, and that consideration is on the LOW end, that means that there…
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Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: What You Need to Know
I’m fresh out of the 9th International Research Conference on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, and my mind is reeling from the information I learned or relearned. For example, I’m trying not to be disheartened. I really am. But this is a lot… And the FASD world needs more people from all walks of life to…
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Krabbe? Cancer? FASD?
We’re talking about screening for a lifelong condition that can’t be cured that conservatively affects 5% of the population…1 in 20 live births!
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FASDs: Just Because We Don’t See Them Doesn’t Mean They’re Not There
Doctors can’t do it themselves. They need all of our help to educate about the harmful effects of PAE and diagnose FASDs.
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FASDs in Corrections: We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know
Determining whether someone has a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder – which in itself is not diagnosable – has proven to be difficult, at best. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, or FASDs, is the umbrella term describing the range of adverse effects that can occur in an individual due to prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). The diagnoses, per…
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Test It, and You Will Know
How many people have Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASDs)? Mental illness? Substance use disorders (SUDs)? The disease of addiction? …in the US? What about in Canada? The United Kingdom? Czechoslovakia? We think we have statistics, but as everyone knows, statistics lie. As an example, think about surveying a community regarding whether or not a sports…
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Syphilis or FASDs? Why Not Address Both?
Wisconsin is having a spate of congenital syphilis cases, so much so that Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services issued a memo to healthcare providers, including health departments and tribal health clinics, about the need to test pregnant people for the bacteria that causes the infection. The memo indicates that “The number of congenital syphilis cases…
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Luck or Fate? Do I Have an FASD?
This blog has been edited from the original. Last week I had the privilege of traveling to Washington, DC, to be part of FASD United’s Impact Week. I met a fellow Wisconsinite, and we started devising a plan for more advocacy in our state; I met with an aide from my Congressman’s office to discuss…
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Cold Cuts, Sushi, and Alcohol
I googled the three questions below and copied the first answer that popped up: “Can I eat cold cuts while I’m pregnant?” “The safest course of action to protect your baby is to avoid deli meats until after pregnancy. If you plan to eat deli meats anyway, we highly suggest cooking them until they are steaming.…
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Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Fifty Years Later
September is Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Awareness Month, which was identified FIFTY years ago, and FASD United, the “National Voice [in the US] on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders” has asked that we take each week of the month to actively participate in bringing awareness about FASDs to others. (FASDUnited.org) Week one was to be…
Guided by Guida 