A while back I posted an inquiry as to what Aspies here thought of the claim that mercury caused autism. A couple of people responded stating that they didn't believe in any such link and that methods to get rid of mercury wouldn't work, but no one mentioned having had such treatments.
I have recently come across some hardline believers in the autism-mercury-vaccine ideology, on an online group, who've claimed that there've been full cures, in the alternative-health community, of formerly autistic children through mercury-removal methods, and I would like some hard data. My political opponent in question refuses to accept any of the genuine scientific studies/data I've given him, preferring to believe in conspiracy theories, so , if he carries on the argument in the future, I'd like to quote some Aspies here , on their actual experience, at the hands of parents etc., with removal-of-mercury-cures, and how they failed or succeeded with such. While I am siding with the idea that mercury in vaccines is too small to have an effect, especially re causing autism, and am sceptical re any "cure",given the links between autism and genes, I'm happy to change my mind, given detailed accounts. It's just that so far, the vast majority of people who've claimed a cure for autistics(Aspies?), have been parents of autistic children, who are undoubtedly not an objective category to trust in, unlike autistics/Aspies in general.
(If, for any reason, you want to e-mail me privately, instead, please send to:- cromcruachan@hotmail.co.uk)
Apologies if I've caused any offence, by the way - is "autistics" OK as a term?
We aren't objective either (in the sense that it's hard to be objective about oneself). However, I do think we are more likely to know if we've been cured.
Noone ever tried on me, thank God.
Will post some links if I find any.
I bet you would get lots of answers if it was about cure in general but not sure if you will find anyone who has been experimented on with chelation or any of that.
... Some people on here had some pretty ugly experiences being drugged and abused in order to cure them, or stuff like that .... but maybe not biomedical attempts.
PS: "Autistics" is fine:
http://web.syr.edu/~jisincla/person_first.htm
http://autistics.org/
The controversy is over whether vaccines (which used to contain a little mercury) had CAUSED heavy-metal poisoning in children, and therefore led to their becoming autistic.
However, science seems to have pretty well shown this hypothesis to be groundless.
Furthermore, ppl did chelation (i don't understand it a lot but apparently it's really dangerous) to their kids "to get out the mercury", and at least one child has died from this procedure.
There are huge numbers of blogposts about this whole story; the ones I have read are mostly in
http://www.autism-hub.co.uk/
I suggest you read up on heavy metal poisoning.
Once mercury is in the body it is virtually impossible to get rid of. Just as with lead poisoning the only thing you can reasonably do is learn to live with it.
There is no way you can vaccinate against such a basic element as mercury is. The human body has no defense against such metals, so how in heavens name would one activate a defense that simply is not there.......
A few facts:
In emergencies, chelation must be performed fast before the mercury causes lasting damage
Once the damage is done, chelating the mercury out will not reverse it
The symptoms of mercury poisoning and autism are completely different
The substances used by the curebies are often either ineffective or in some cases toxic (and the effective ones can sometimes remove required minerals - chelating the calcium out of your child's bones isn't a good idea)
I am curious as to whether people first have themselves tested for an unacceptable level of mercury - before being subjected to some cleansing process or other. On that note, are there data on "unacceptable" levels or how long it remains in the body? Lest we forget - amalgam fillings.
I've read basically what tenacious posted - that the whole fillings thing turned out to be false.
The test people are using to determine metals poisoning is some sort of air or breath test (I'm not an expert on this, so forgive if I'm off a bit on a few details). Apparently mercury doesn't show in the blood, so it can't be tested for that way. And the only really accurate test, a liver biopsy, is undesirable and impracticle. The test they do use, really, sounds like wacko science to me. The logic behind it is truly bizarre, and I have yet to see someone post that they tested their child this way and were told the child did NOT have excessive metals.
Urine mercury levels can be artificially raised by administering a mercury scavenger (chelating agent) such as DMPS or DMSA, which collect the small amounts of mercury from the body, concentrate them, and then force them to be excreted. In other words, mercury that normally recirculates within the body is now bound and excreted. The urine level under such circumstances is artificially raised above the steady-state level. A study of urine mercury levels in people given DMSA or a placebo has found no association between the mercury levels and the number of dental amalgam surfaces [1]. The use of a chelating agent before testing—"provoked testing"—should be considered a scam. Anyone told that a urine-mercury level produced after taking DMPS represents a toxic state is being misled.
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRela...tests.html
Not all those who support chelation give a chelation agent before testing. Those that do are indeed scammers though. There are likely many parents whose only interest is in helping their child and who are misguided.
How was he tested? And how old was he when he had the injection? How soon after the injection was he diagnosed? Or was he diagnosed before the injection?
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRela...tests.html
Please read this link firefoxy.
The fact that your child was diagnosed at around the age of 3 indicates normal development.
DW_A_Mom - oddly enough, I recently decided to avoid soy after some quick research on it. The reason is this stuff -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytic_acid.
Phytic acid is a strong chelator of important minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc
. The symptoms of zinc deficiency can actually include ADD-like symptoms (difficulty concentrating etc). The chelation agents used by curebies have a very similar effect (on top of the toxicity of some of them, and the calcium chelation which occurs increasing the risk of osteoporosis). The only legitimate use for chelation is in emergencies to remove the toxin before permanent damage is done (this must be done in a matter of hours after contamination).
You ask any other doctor, they will laugh at you. Why? Because pharmecuetical companies will go DOWN Fire if they ever admit it. They make money from sick people.
This is nothing more than excessive paranoia. The fact that these doctors used blood and hair tests is also rather suspicious as the link to quackwatch explains. Urine analysis before any chelation treatment is given or a biopsy is the only legitimate way to diagnose mercury poisoning.
Interesting. So far, virtually every autistic on this and other Aspie/non-Aspie-related boards I've gone to has stated that the claims re a mercury-autism link are not remotely valid.
This whole business is even worse on many of the alternative-health boards I visit. There are a number of alternative-health gurus who, after examining their clients, will automatically state that the client has some form of heavy-metal poisoning(they usually claim it's mercury), and they invariably state that all the client has to do is some harsh detox or chelation method etc., and that they'll then be OK (after a few years of regular, paid consultations with the guru in question, of course). It seems nonsensical (and unscrupulous) for anyone to blame any and all diseases on so-called "heavy-metal-poisoning". Well, at least I've managed to provide some scientific evidence to a number of people in my online groups which debunks the theory re the supposed dangers of mercury in fish.
Interesting. So far, virtually every autistic on this and other Aspie/non-Aspie-related boards I've gone to has stated that the claims re a mercury-autism link are not remotely valid.
We are quick to dismiss this as junk science or quackery because it would destroy the image we have of ourselves as different but not damaged. I see bias on both sides of the issue.
I suggest you read up on heavy metal poisoning.
Once mercury is in the body it is virtually impossible to get rid of. Just as with lead poisoning the only thing you can reasonably do is learn to live with it.
There is no way you can vaccinate against such a basic element as mercury is. The human body has no defense against such metals, so how in heavens name would one activate a defense that simply is not there.......
A few facts:
In emergencies, chelation must be performed fast before the mercury causes lasting damage
Once the damage is done, chelating the mercury out will not reverse it
The symptoms of mercury poisoning and autism are completely different
The substances used by the curebies are often either ineffective or in some cases toxic (and the effective ones can sometimes remove required minerals - chelating the calcium out of your child's bones isn't a good idea)
I hate pseudoscience in general.
I may not believe that mercury causes autism but I definetly do not believe that chelatin therapy can cure it. I try to avoid anything with mercury in just to be safe because of past experiences. The only evidence I really trust is from my own life. I know for a fact that I am allergic to thimerisol. When I was a kid, my mother took me on a trip to another country for which I received a battery of injections. Soon after that I developed an obsession with germs and cleanliness. I remember this vividly. I had to wash my hands after touching anything and took many showers in one day. My mother thought I was going crazy. She wanted to take me to doctor but the obsession went away on it's own after about a year. Now that I think about it, my obsession was not only with germs. I used to think any little thing I did could end up hurting someone and I would spend hours thinking about it. On another forum I read a post from a autistic mother who's son went through the exact thing after getting vaccinated. This may be all coincidence but I'm not taking any chances.
We are quick to dismiss this as junk science or quackery because it would destroy the image we have of ourselves as different but not damaged. I see bias on both sides of the issue.
I agree that people belonging to the autistic rights movement may well have a certain bias, but I got much the same response from aspies outside the autistic rights movement, on other sites. Plus, despite all the reported "cures" re chelation-therapy etc., I don't exactly see any evidence of a genuine mass recovery of autistics anywhere, as a result of such practices.
Some of the chelation agents used are toxic, others are just overused, and some seem completely ineffective.
When overused, chelation agents will remove other essential minerals and not just heavy metals.
The FDA have investigated some practioners and shut them down I believe.