Something Causes Autism: ADHD figures up to one in ten... Is it my imagination or is that high?

Monday, January 24, 2011

ADHD figures up to one in ten... Is it my imagination or is that high?

Yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald (paper edition) carried a front page story titled: 'Males fuel rise of the Ritalin generation' by Amy Corderoy. (See SMH, Fairfax, Monday January 24, 2011, page 1-2.)

The article's Dr Scott, who studied Ritilin use, was quoted as saying: 'About five to 10 percent of the population has ADHD'. He went on to note that girls were often undiagnosed (presumably because they may have the passive sort, often called ADD, which can easily be overlooked as daydreaming, forgetfulness and so forth).

The ten percent diagnostic figure seems to match my limited personal experience teaching in schools. If the department responsible won't give out autism prevalence statistics because of privacy concerns, the education institutions are where its prevalence is arguably most obvious. In most of the handful of classes I taught in, the teachers seemed at a loss to account for the high numbers of children with attention issues. I'm not talking about children who fidget and daydream. These were children who snatched others' books, ran about the room, dived under desks covering their ears against unpleasant noises, failed to form letters properly, ignored instructions, interrupted, disrupted others and seldom completed tasks no matter how rigorously they were brought to attention.

ADHD is usually considered as separate to ASD (or autism spectrum disorders). However Diane Kennedy argues convincingly that ADHD is an ASD (see The ADHD Autism Connectionhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/ADHD-Autism-Connection-Diagnoses-Effective-Treatments/dp/1578564980), and treatments such as the gluten/casein free diet and even chelation have often been described as working for both. The book I used to chelate my girl described the disorders as linked, and also recommended similar treatments for both (see Children with Starving Brains http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/188364710X/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books).

One in ten is a terrifying figure if true. Of course, even more terrifying is the prospect that it might be increasing in prevalence. Unfortunately given the absence of a centralised ASD/ADHD counting system (our government leaves it to the States to do their own individual work), nobody is in an ideal position to either notice or recognise a trend.

If you're not already worried, maybe it's time you went into a schoolroom.

Meanwhile, something causes autism.

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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.