to complicate it further, like most "mental"
problems", it's not simple to diagnose. In the
younger ages, it's easily confused with mental
retardation, or brain damage.
What are the known causes of autism? Perhaps the
best known today is the usage of mercury (
thimeroserol) in infant and childhood vaccines.
Only in the past few years was this practice
discontinued. So, we've literally poisoned
millions of children with good intent!
Protecting them from dangerous childhood diseases
has caused much worse problems.
Another well known cause of autism is food
sensitivity and allergy. Virtually every known
mental problem may be caused by a normally
harmless allergen - a simple food that has been "
recognized" by that person's immune system as "
dangerous".
This seems to be caused by what is called "leaky
gut syndrome". A major theory in this cause is
that the malnourishment of the mother prior to
birth and during initial feeding after birth
opens the entrances from the gut too much in the
attempt to obtain more needed vitamins and
minerals and enzymes, etc.
This larger "leaky gut opening" allows larger "
particles" thru the gut walls into the portal
vein. Instead of digested single amino acids, or
simple combinations of a few amino acids, longer
chains of amino acids are allowed thru. These
larger than "normal" collections of amino acids
may then be recognized by the immune system as
possible viruses, bacteria, or even parasites.
This particular collection of amino acids is now
a distinct allergen to that person, even though
it is actually harmless.
There are possibly many other minor causes and/or
combinations of causes. We know very little
about the evolution of our immune system, and how
allergy/sensitivity is developed.
What can we do to "normalize" autistic children?
What are the answers that we already know?
The Mercury Toxicity Problem<
/font>
As a former orthomolecular psychologist, mineral
toxicity is well known to me. I've seen several
schizophrenic patients "cured" that suffered from
copper toxicity in particular.
The first step is diagnosis of this problem. Is
mineral toxicity involved? There are several
different ways to diagnose mineral toxicity. In
my opinion the best way is a mineral hair
analysis. Most MD's prefer a 24 hour urine
collection. Actual blood tests and urine and
saliva tests are not reliable.
It seems that all toxic minerals are stopped from
getting into the brain by the filtering and
storage facility of the liver. A large amount of
mercury getting to the brain would be very
dangerous, so the liver stops it and stores it,
and then gradually releases as small an amount
back into the bloodstream so that it can be
excreted. Hair is an excretion route, and an
inch or so of hair tells a "history" of mineral
excretion over a period of weeks. While hair
analysis isn't very accurate insofar as amount in
the body, it's very accurate as to what's been
excreted over time.
A hair analysis would be my first step towards
solving the autism problem.
Supposing that the hair analysis came back
showing large amounts of mercury. What to do
next? The answer is some form of chelation.
Chelation means "to grab onto". There are
several drugs that do this for minerals. In the
blood stream, these drugs (EDTA and others)
literally grab onto minerals, and allow them to
exit the body thru the kidney/urine excretion
system. This usually involves going to a
chelation clinic, sitting for an hour or so with
a needle in the arm. It's not that uncomfortable,
although a small child might find it so. This
procedure is done several times over a period of
several weeks.
. One problem with this is that because the
chelation agent (drug) "claws onto" all minerals
in the blood stream, it takes out essential
minerals as well as the toxic ones. So, it
becomes very necessary to supplement the minerals
our bodies need for everyday use. In effect,
taking all out, good and bad, and putting back
the good.
It's also not cheap, as it involves "doctor time".
I successfully used a cheap and effective
alternate in my practice. Vitamin C. Vitamin C
combines with minerals in the bloodstream
metabolically to form a mineral "Ascorbate"
combination that is also water soluble and passes
out thru the same kidney/urine exit.
There are several advantages to using Vitamin C
instead of drugs. It is a natural antibiotic
that kills both viruses and bacteria in the
bloodstream. So, people who use it will be
healthier than most, AND they'll be getting rid
of toxic minerals at the same time.
The same thing happens as does with drugs. Since
vitamin C combines with ALL minerals, we are
taking out the essential ones along with the
toxic ones. So, all the essential ones must be
supplemented daily.
Few people realize the truth about vitamin C
today, in spite of the work done by Linus Pauling,
a true genius. The "spin" by nutritionists and
MD's and the RDA has us taking very insufficient
amounts of vitamin C for daily use. Did you know
that the veterinarian RDA for a 150 pound ape is
4000 mg (4 grams) per day? We humans and other
primates such as that ape handle vitamin C
exactly the same. The RDA is under 100 mg (0.1
gram).
For schizophrenic adults I worked with in past
years, I used 10 grams per day in split doses.
For these patients, their schizoid symptoms
seemed to disappear within two weeks or so, but
surprisingly, a six month hair analysis showed
even high levels of copper. Carl Pfeiffer, a
mentor, and a good friend, explained that the
body is now allowing more toxic material out of
storage into the bloodstream so that it can be
excreted safely. Most goes out via the kidney/
urine pathway, but also hair. To my surprise,
this increase in hair levels was actually good.
Allergy/Sensitivity Problemfont>
The "leaky gut syndrome" is becoming a huge
health problem, albeit unknown to most people and
even most physicians. It's a function of our
culture moving more and more away from healthful
foods containing good nutrition and moving more
and more to sweet and pre-processed foods without
good balanced nutrition.
Because we have evolved requiring certain amounts
and balances of vitamins, minerals, amino acids,
fatty acids, and enzymes derived from what we eat,
we, as a culture are not getting even close to
sufficient nutrition for good health without
taking vitamin mineral supplements. One theory
of "leaky gut syndrome" is that each generation,
being malnourished, has to find a way to get more
necessary nutrients, and allowing more amino
acids and other needed nutrients thru the walls
of the intestines, this is accomplished.
There are several possible answers to this
particular problem:
1. Giving the person with the problem digestive
enzymes. This helps the digestive system do a
better job, breaking up proteins into amino acids
easier to digest as small peptides and individual
amino acids. This solves part of the problem at
least, especially in those cases where digestive
problems are present. Of course, protease is the
most desired.
2. Avoiding those foods that are most likely the
allergens that the immune system has "decided"
are enemies. This is the basis of the milk free
and gluten free diets that are popular, and have
proved of value for some autistic cases.
3. Allergy search and solution. The only really
effective "test and cure" system is the End-
Point-Titration method. This not only finds both
allergies and sensitivities, but also provides a
neutralizing amount. Unfortunately, the costs
are prohibitive, ranging in the tens of thousands
of dollars. A free allergen test may be found at
Free
Allergy Test<.a>
4. EEG Biofeedback (aka Neurofeedback or
Neurotherapy) has long been used with ADD/ADHD
successfully. Dr von Hilsheimer in Orlando has
successfully worked with several autistic
children using this therapy. He has taken well
over 200 sessions with several patients. The
problem is that it is very expensive and uses a
lot of "doctor time".
5. A new therapy called Neuroliminal Brain Wave
Training was invented by me in 2004. It does
exactly what EEG Biofeedback does, namely change
brain wave strengths (and in the case of autism
patients, increases brain blood flow (similar to
HEG biofeedback).
Besides being as successful as EEG BF, it
actually has several other advantages for autism
cases:
a. Very affordable cost - a fraction of EEG BF,
a viable alternative to the dangerous drugs used
for the ADD-autism continuum. Mid and low income
families simply cannot afford EEG BF, leaving the
only real choice the dangerous drugs.
b. Very simple to use at home. No messing
around with wires and sticky paste or even bulky
helmets. Even the "worst" autistic kids can be
trained without problems.
c. No motivation required to simply go to sleep.
With ADD/ADHD and high functioning autistics,
motivation is a critical factor in success.
In a recent test of 9 autistic children from 3 to
11 years of age, over an eight week period, ALL
nine improved, some dramatically, and some slowly.
This is exactly what would be expected if using
EEG and HEG BF. All parents put up a $100
deposit, and if no improvement was found, they
could get that back. All preferred to keep it
and continue training.
Those are the options I see at present. Autism
is increasing as our nutrition is decreasing, and
more and more toxins are used for good reasons
that have bad effects.
If I had a child who was autistic, or even slow
to develop, what would I do?
1. Start Neuroliminal Brain Wave Training
immediately.
2. I'd do a hair analysis to see if mercury is
at toxic levels, and if so, I'd start my child on
5-10 grams of vitamin C per day.
3. I'd try a Caveman Diet for a week or so to
try to determine if common allergens such as milk
or grains are a major culprit.
4. I'd investigate digestive enzymes for autism
on the web, and start using them.
The belt and suspender theory seems to me to be
the best way - do all that you can as soon as you
know about the problem and possible solutions.
The sooner the autistic child is started on these
programs the closer to "normal" they usually
become.
There is no magic pill. All these programs take
time. Magic pills usually aren't anyway, and all
drugs have serious side effects for some at least.
What I have outlined does not in any way.
Unfortunately, the physician's dictum "do no harm"
is no longer the case.
