Something Causes Autism: September 2010

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

autism and politics

In 'Facing Autism in new Brunswick', Harold L Doherty talks eloquently about voting for a candidate most likely to improve facilities and treatment for people with autism.

If autism affects one in 100-160 (depending on source of figures) children in Australia, then that's a large number of voters who might make a difference.

Years ago I wrote a long letter to a Greens candidate here about autism and possible causes, but unfortunately that was in the days before the Greens had any Federal representation and therefore input on health. Now they do have representation, but the story of autism is so complex and so caught up in pharmaceutical, commercial and government interests that obtaining funding for 'environmental' causes seems unlikely. But perhaps improved treatment and support are obtainable.

Maybe now's the time to start talking as a group. Something causes autism.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

gene spleen

Yet again I'm annoyed at the mainstream news for pussyfooting around dispensing the usual 'autism is linked to genes' spiel.
Yes, yes, linked to genes: but only at the level of a sensitivity to something environmental. Sometimes they grudgingly admit there are environmental factors, but only as 'triggers'. The image given is of autism as a genetically loaded gun just waiting to fire.

I'm currently working in schools, and in some schools, every class of about 25-30 students has at least 2 diagnosed spectrum children and a handful of others I'd be tempted to want to run by a good paediatrician. Something's badly rotten in the state of Denmark.

Actually, after reading the full report of the most famous study that supposedly exonerated Thimerosal, I'm not just speaking figuratively... Denmark was the site of the study. Every criticism I've read of the report seemed borne out when I looked at the source material: they changed the diagnostic parameters to include a wider range of patients, thus inflating the numbers. At the end of the study they were able to say that despite Thimerosal being withdrawn, the autism rate had climbed.

So next time you read that the Danish study was 'badly flawed', rest assured, they're not exaggerating.

I'll try to dig out the links I browsed...

Milli's story

My girl got a mercury-containing version of the Hep B jab when she was only hours old.

We took her home to an environment we now feel to have been laden with heavy metals and pesticides (the latter from prior inhabitants as I never use sprays). The local suburb had a coal smelter. The childcare centres all had treated pine.

She seemed to develop normally, though with a stiff neck but floppy lower body. However she began to use words at an appropriate time and learned to walk (though her gait was stilted). Progress stagnated and then began to go backward from about 14 months on. She was assessed at around two and found to be autistic; from that point after we switched diets to be gluten/casein free her ability to drink and eat began to collapse, she stopped recognising people and spent most of each day and a lot of each night crying and hitting her hands on walls. Words became scrambled and then completely disappeared. One day I looked into her eyes and there was nobody there.

We'd been seeing plenty of doctors, but had lately heard about a 'biomedical' approach, so took her to see a practitioner. A hair test showed aluminium and other heavy metals among the highest the lab had seen. Alas, before we could begin serious treatment she had 4 days refusing food or liquid, and the situation was suddenly dire. The biomedical paediatrician was a 6 hour drive away. We were on our own.

I decided to try one more thing before taking her to hospital, and that was chelation using alpha lipoic acid following protocols in a book called Children With Starving Brains.

I made sure to give a mineral supplement alongside. The local paediatricians refused to take part or oversee, and told me the hair test was 'fringe dweller stuff', so I followed the book.

In two days she could swallow properly for the first time in close to 18 months. We were syringing her vitamin tonic and she went very still and quiet and swallowed each mouthful normally. (It was only at that point that we realised why she hadn't been eating or drinking for so long.) Two weeks later her lopsided gait had normalised. Around that time I was putting her in the car when she took hold of my head, turned it to face her and laughed, looking into my eyes for the first time in ages.

What helped Milli? Aside from chelation with alpha lipoic acid we saw improvements with the following:

- fish oil
- vitamin B-12 injections
- mineral/vitamin tonic Hi Vita in liquid form
- probiotics

When her hair test had first showed the highest percentile for aluminium, I'd had our 2 water sources (bore and tank) and her rice milk tested. Both waters were within safe limits. The rice milk, according to the technician, appeared to have 'hundreds of times higher' levels of aluminium than the safe level for drinking water. It seems likely to me that Milli's 'leaky' gut was unable to seal out aluminium from that source. Naturally after her hair result and the lab test on water and rice milk I removed all tetra packages from the house.

So what causes autism?

I don't know. But it does seem to me inescapable that heavy metals have a part to play, in which case vaccinal mercury from her newborn Hep B jab must remain on the suspect list.

I've since read that mercury depletes B-12 (which makes gut lining). Other demyelating agents may be involved. Unless we stop looking to blame individuals via their genes, we'll never know the causes.