What causes autism? - Page 9

[keegans_mommy]

Thank you Tracy and Jane! I really appreciate it as we feel so alone with no support from anybody we know IRL. We are about to visit our children's life-long ped. to tell her that we will no longer we consenting to vax. I am nervous about what she will say but I know she won't fight with us on it. She will disapprove but I don't think she will fight it. She's a great doc.

I found a book that discuss's different reasons for an altered meal plan for individuals with "abnormalities" and it has a ton of recipies that are tailored to these individuals. I think I may buy it after visiting the DAN doc. Also, my son has severe eczema (going to allergist on Tuesday) and I am certain she will put him on an elimination diet.

SO! DH and I had a looooooong talk about our families diet and how we will ALL go on this special diet together as we can all use a super detox diet. I am so proud of him!

I will check out that book on Amazon right now! Thank you!

[Mirzam]

...because it is such an important thread.

[chasmyn]

I'll second that

[JaneS]

Autism and Clostridium tetani: an hypothesis
Ellen R Bolte

*****

Synaptobrevins are gene-encoded molecules that span the membranes of
synaptic vesicles and participate in neuronal signaling. Toxins from
Clostridium tetani are known to incapacitate synaptobrevin function on
synaptic vesicles. Although generally we think of tetanus as a severe
illness resulting from C. tetani infections, medical literature indicates
that subacute infections can occur, even in persons who have been
immunized against tetanus. Furthermore, already in the literature are
studies documenting retrograde axonal, transsynaptic transport of C.
tetani toxin from peripheral sources, via the spinal cord and sympathetic
nervous system, to various brain regions known to be affected in autism.

Ellen's basic hypothesis is that subacute Clostridium tetani infections,
localized in the intestine or elsewere, would generate sufficient toxin so
as to induce autism and autistic-like traits in persons so infected. The
well-documented facts that subacute C. tetani infections occur and that
C. tetani toxin trans-axonally migrates toward various parts of the
brain and then deleteriously affects synaptobrevin function suggests
that Ellen's hypothesis may well be valid.

*****

Consider Ellen's hypothesis at a most basic level: if a person's synaptic
vesicles have loss of function due to toxin-destroyed synaptobrevins, then
many aspects of perception and of responses to perception would be
disabled, thereby inducing autistic-like traits or even autism.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Citation

[Tracy]

love this thread.

[JaneS]

Commentary on Nutritional Treatment of Mental Disorders - Autism
from Willam Walsh, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Pfeiffer Treatment Center www.hriptc.org
"We believe that autism results from a genetic defect in MT functioning followed by an environmental insult."

The metallothionein (MT) theory seems more likely to be at the center of ASD. Children having a genetic weakness in MT activity would perforce have yeast overgrowth. MT kills candida, and helps regulate bacterial levels in the mucosa.

A genetic MT weakness is consistent with (1) casein/gluten intolerance, (2) presence of dense, undeveloped brain cells evident in autopsy studies, (3) hypersensitivity to mercury & other toxic metals, (4) high autism incidence after thalidomide, (5) hypersensitivity to vaccines, (6) poor immune function, (7) low stomach acid, (8) higher incidence in males, (9) taste/texture sensitivities, (10) tendency for yeast overgrowth, (11) leaky gut, (12) behavior problems. (July 24, 2003) ...

For years, autism was the most difficult population for our clinic to work with, compared to persons diagnosed with behavior disorders, ADHD, depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar, or schizophrenia. However, this has changed following our discovery of the central importance of the metallothionein protein in ASD and development of metallothionein-promotion therapy

At Dr. Rimland's request, we carried out a small outcome study about 6 months ago which measured the impact of MT-Promotion for 46 patients. I presented the results at a D.A.N. "Think Tank" at which Dr. Amy Holmes' outcome results for MT-Promotion were presented by Stephanie Cave. There is no doubt that autism outcomes are far better at the Pfeiffer Center since MT-Promotion. Our group of 46 patients ranged from ages 3 to 18. A few of the families were unable to achieve compliance & a couple others gave up after a couple of days. More than 85% of the 41 families that achieved compliance reported impressive gains in cognition, speech, and socialization. More than 20% reported irritability and sleep problems, usually coincident with improved cognition or speech. Only 10% of the compliant families reported zero progress...

My guess is that once MT normalization is attained, a simplified maintenance therapy can be implemented. Also there is a very good chance that CF/GF diets, yeast therapies, digestive enzymes, etc, will become unnecessary at that time. However, at present we recommend these therapies be continued..... just in case the genetically-weak MT system cannot be fully normalized. We should know a lot more within a year or so. (Feb 22, 2003)

I believe this can all be explained by the fact that estrogen and progesterone enhance metallothionein, whereas testosterone suppresses it. Therefore, given the same genetic tendency for weak metallothionein function, females would be more protected against environmental stresses which can trigger autism as they would have more MT to combat stresses.

Also, if the environmental triggers of autism have increased in recent years, you would expect the disparity in male/female incidence to drop. In essence each autism-prone child has a threshold with respect to environmental insults. In boys the threshold in lower. As the environment worsens, we get higher up on the statistical bell curve in both males and females & the disparity should moderate.

In my opinion, a wide variety of environmental triggers can trigger autism, including oxidative stress (e.g., mercury), immune crises (e.g. multiple vaccines or serious illness), severe emotional or physical stress, etc. It is very possible that the stress of circumcision could cripple metallothionein & impair brain development, at least temporarily. I'm not aware of peer-reviewed evidence of differences in autism incidence between circumcised and non-circumcised children.

Stresses of all kinds deplete metallothionein..... In persons without metal-metabolism disorders, the stress automatically induces production of more metallothionein. In autism, the metallothionein system has gone AWOL. (May 17, 2003)

There is no longer any doubt that autism results from a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental factors. Identical twins reared apart have an autism concordance of 60%...... This shows a powerful genetic influence, but the fact that the concordance isn't 100% clearly shows that environment factors are also involved. I once tested a pair of identical twins (age 38) in which one was a successful professional writer & the other was an institutionalized severely-autistic mute young man who needed to be physically restrained. They were quite different from the day they were born...

After studying 3,200 autism-spectrum children & adults at our clinic, I am convinced that autism is caused by a genetic inability to cope with oxidative stress, involving weak functioning of the neuroprotective metallothionein/glutathione system. This condition results in inability to regulate Cu and Zn, hypersensitivity to metal toxics, extremely poor immune function & hypersensitivity to vaccines, yeast overgrowth, inability to break down casein & gluten, and worst of all..... incomplete maturation of brain cells and synaptic connections.... especially in hippocampus, amygdala, Purkinje cells, inferior olives, and pineal gland.

There are many environmental insults which can trigger autism in a genetically predisposed child. Mercury is just one of the many possibilities. Mercury (Thimerosal) is an unnecessary health risk and should be banned forever. However, I expect that elimination of mercury from infant vaccines will not stop the epidemic in autism cases, because of the other environmental triggers which remain.

I once met a health-conscious mother who had been hypervigilant prior to her pregnancy. She had avoided all amalgams & had her husband's amalgams removed 2 years before conception. Her diet was exemplary before and during the pregnancy, and she & her husband carefully avoided potential environmental insults including vaccines. She was crushed to discover that her baby exhibited severe autism soon after birth. She stated that she was amazed and horrified that this had happened. A little digging revealed that she had a severe infection during the 7th and 8th months of gestation. This apparently was sufficient to cripple the MT/GSH system during a critical phase of brain development. A very sad case.

Our Center's autism outcomes have greatly improved since beginning metallothionein-promotion therapy. It's no longer a surprise when a young autistic child becomes free of all traces of autism. We are a public charity and have made this protocol available to more than 100 doctors, many of whom report treatment successes. MT-Promotion must be done very carefully to avoid zinc depletion which can result in temporary worsening of behavior, stimming, enuresis, etc.

http://www.alternativementalhealth.c...cles/walsh.htm

My next project is to try understand metallothionein.

Interesting reference there to Cu/Zc ratios being responsible for PPD.

[Bestbirths]

Wow...that description is so my son...and very sad about the couple to tried everything and still had a child with autism....wow....

I don't care if I understand the metallothionein, I just want to know what the protocol is to raise the MT whatermagiggie they are talking about....anyone have a copy of this protocol and want to share???

[JaneS]

Some info on Amy Holmes MD site:
http://www.healing-arts.org/children...metabolism.htm

another link:http://www.healing-arts.org/children/mtpromotion.htm

The specific info on protocol seems to be at the Pfieffer center site for $20. I haven't found it elsewhere...yet.

[JaneS]

Bestbirths, have you read McCandless' book?
This seems to say the ARI/DAN protocol is what Homes had worked on but I didn't know DAN worked with MT?

Mercury Detoxification: A physician-mother of an autistic child, Amy Holmes, M.D. of Baton Rouge, LA has been exploring the testing and treatment for mercury poisoning in autistic spectrum children for several years. She is a leading practitioner of oral chelation for children who show evidence of brain mercury and one of a group of physicians who is pioneering a new direction in medical detoxification of children based on careful attention to testing and nutrient/mineral supplementation. She and her group are working with around 800 patients (and a long waiting list) in treatment for heavy metal toxicity; her own autistic son who was non-verbal at four years of age is totally off the spectrum and normal in most ways after two years of chelation. Previous chelation protocols for children have not been adequately defined and effective to our knowledge, especially since what we're seeing in these epidemic proportions is a newly defined syndrome called "regressive" or "late onset" autism. Dr. Holmes participated in a group of 26 toxicity experts who convened for three days in February of 2001 to devise a Consensus Position Paper for Mercury Detoxification of Autistic Children (4). Though specifics of dosages, timing, and nutrients vary, this protocol offers safe and effective guidelines for practitioners who are ready to enter this pioneering new treatment mode. This approach has given new hope to thousands of parents for a disorder that has been considered a psychiatric illness and basically untreatable (except for applied behavioral analysis) rather than what it is: a treatable medical illness.

slower but more "natural" detoxification program in the form of a nutrient protocol designed by Dr. William Walsh at Pfeiffer Clinic in Illinois called the metallothionein promotion protocol.

A Bio-Medical Treatment Approach
to Autism Spectrum Disorder,
Including Heavy Metal Detoxification
By JAQUELYN McCANDLESS, M.D.
Certified by American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology
http://www.alternativementalhealth.c...les/autism.htm

[Bestbirths]

I read the above links, and it was helpfull. Well, I guess we are already zinc loading, since we give ds double the normal dose. We started ds on round 8 of chelation and added ALA to the DMSA today. It looks like they do this MT treatment after chelation. They do lots of testing and monitoring...but once we find out what it is exactly they do, it is just a matter of giving 14 different amino acids and being careful. I give my son milk thistle for his liver function 4 times a day....and we are careful....we couldn't do any treatments if we had to pay for all of the costly tests they are doing to monitor...we are doctor free..Free being the optimum word there....

[Bestbirths]

Yeah, I own McCandless' book and read it....briefly...

[Bestbirths]

Wow-phase I is giving zinc equal to weight plus 20 mg! MT (our MT) was worried about my sons zinc at the dose we are already giving. Following this MT protocol would mean raising ds zinc dose by 70 mg a day...he is taking 100 mg a day (he is 152lbs).

They also give Pyridoxal 5 phosphate, manganese gluconate, vit C, and E and call it their "Metabolic Primer". We already give all of that, except the P5P.

Interesting. I wonder what their weight ratios are of those nutrients...

[Tracy]

JaneS,
very interesting link.

[Bestbirths]

I just read the MT link again. My concerns would be regarding the high doses of cystine from the glutathione, I read that not everyone can tolerate high cystine. Why would they say it is either dmsa/ala or use the MT method, why couldn't a person use both? Does it have something to do with glutathione? Andy Cutler recommends not using glutathione, so this a different route. We personally had good success detoxing my dh with high doses of glutathione in IV's, so I don't know on that one. They use DMSA only until very little lead is excreted in the urine before adding ala.....which is concerning because we chelated with dmsa only two months before adding ala this week. I wonder what their reasoning is behind that....

just thinking out loud...

[JaneS]

Yes, I always thought the cystine levels should be tested before deciding if one needed it?

whoops hit submit intead of preview...

That is one issue I was never clear on myself: when to determine the body has cleared enough to start ALA.

[Bestbirths]

Well, we are sending dh's hair test in, and he did over a year of those high dose glutathione iv's after being injured by chemicals at the printshop where he worked fifteen years ago....we got before hair tests, but never after ones. If I get the hair test back I am going to have a pretty good idea if glutathione is the great detoxifier they say.....or if it was a huge pffft. We continued them because the I.V.'s gave him a temporary feeling of wellbeing at the time. Andy says that the kinds of IV's we used are dangerous, do not detoxify the body, and only give a temporary feeling of wellbeing, and thats it. We'll see....I can't wait to get his hair test back. If my husband's toxic heavy metals are lower than in his original hair tests...I would feel better about giving my son glutathione (orally). There may be too many variables to know for sure it was the glutathione though, with it being so many years.

[Bestbirths]

Yes, I always thought the cystine levels should be tested before deciding if one needed it?

Right now the only testing I do is hair testing and muscle testing. Muscle testing showed that ds could do the chelation protocol and the MT protocol at the same time, and that he could tolerate high levels of cystine...

I can't start anything new though...I was going to do massive amounts of Virastop next on the list. Maybe I'll pick up some P5P. Maybe I'll experiment with upping copper.

[JaneS]

Yeah I think you've got enough on your plate!
Good luck with both of your boys.

[Noah's Tired Mommy]

I know how controversial this subject can be within the autistic community being the mother of a 9 y/o boy with autism. I do not think vaccines caused MY son's autism MY son was autistic at birth. He had sensory issues from the first week that only got worse as he got older. Many many parents feel that mecury is the cause of their child's disability and they are of course entitled to their opinions, as I am entitled to disagree. I guess I am trying to weigh the threat, would I rather chance measles, mumps, rubella, diptheria, tetnus, pertussis that could kill my child or do I deal with the autism that he already had at birth? Autism isn't going to kill him and I would rather have a living child with autism than a dead one because I was too selfish to see that. I use my energy helping him not looking for blame. Because I haven't wasted my energy on blame and I have focused on getting him the help he needs ( early intervention, speech, OT,social groups and LOVE and abundance of love.) My son is now 9 y/o and in reg. ed 75% of his day. I busted my ass to get him here, I WOULD NEVER guinea pig my child for science or due to desperation. Many of these parents who believe their child is "mercury poisoned" are using chelation therapies to exit the mercury THEY believe is causing their childs disability. Chelation has caused so many deaths that I don't understand a parent who would chance their child's life to prove their "theory" or rid their lives of autism. This is no different than the secretin phenomenon from the mid 90's. These parents believed that GUT problems were causing their childrens disabilities, after thousands and thousands of dollars in NON FDA approved therapies those kids are not any better or were less effected after having their constipation cured. A lot had grand mal siezures in their sleep and died. Yes because of the diet choices that most autistic children choose because of thier sensory problems of course constipation will be an issue. Constipation will cause discomfort, discomfort will cause crankiness. If you take away that constipation OF COURSE the crankiness lessens. You can get the same results from a laxative , which IS NOT life threatening like secretin and chelation therapies have been to many many children of desperate parents.

[JaneS]

Noah's Mommy,

I think you would benefit greatly from reading this thread, it doesn't seem like you did. You also come across very angry and I'm not sure who you are directly that to or what you expect from it.

My son does not have autism, but he has a lot of SID behaviors that are all correlated with what his digestion is doing at the moment. The gut-brain connection is extremely well documented by research, both outside and within the ASD community. The gut produces the neurotransmitters for the brain, in addition to being the gatekeeper of the nutrients the brain runs on. Gut function has everything to do with brain function.

And by the way, chelation has occured in thousands of children and what one death last year from an IV EDTA procedure? Which is not the standard method for chelation. Any parent who spent a modicum of time researching chelation in the ASD community would not have chosen that option. Where are *all these deaths* you speak of? There are safer, tested ways of doing it. The DAN protocol for example. Generation Rescue's site has many positive stories. The Pfieffer clinic we have been discussing. However, personally I'm going the superior nutrition route for my son, who's hair test does show him to be mercury toxic despite vax free.

(Thank you to my Hg fillings and mineral deficient diet prior to conception that caused these issues. And therefore, your son's ASD could have had many different triggers besides mercury, such as the vaccines themselves, or your vaccines, or your health and nutrition, and that is the whole point of this thread.)

Although I'm not really sure why I'm answering you b/c you don't seem very open to learning here. And MDC is a place of learning.

Trust me, all of us here are quite beyond your point of view and are in the thick of things healing our children, ASD or not. Perhaps it would be much better if you want to become a member of the Mothering community to go to Special Needs forum and share with other members what did work for your son instead of lambasting our thread?