MedWorm Tags: chelation

The Lithium Chronicles: Is There A Link Between Chelation And Bipolar Disorder?

Genetics and Health — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 20:47:51 +0100

The Lithium Chronicles is a Blisstree series focusing on the diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder. Last time in The Lithium Chronicles, we heard Ross McKenzie’s story of how he got fired by his psychiatrist when he decided to go off of lithium, a drug he took daily for 15 years. Bipolar patients going off of lithium is already a pretty controversial topic. But there’s an extra twist in Ross’ story that isn’t exactly in the mainstream. Ross attributes the process of chelation with much of his mental health today. Ross has been off of lithium and symptom free for over a year. But when he was in his early 20s, Ross had all of his metal dental fillings replaced. It wasn’t until a few years ago that he was tested for metals in his blood stream and found his resu...

The Lithium Chronicles: My Psychiatrist Fired Me When I Decided to Go Off My Meds

Genetics and Health — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:32:52 +0100

The Lithium Chronicles is a Blisstree series focusing on the diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder. Ross McKenzie was diagnosed as bipolar at the age of 21. After 15 years of daily lithium doses, he went off his meds last February. He’s been drug free ever since. This is the continuing story of how he made his way back to a life without psychotropic medication, after he ended up walking naked down a highway on one ill-fated night. At the end of my first year on lithium, I almost died. For an entire year I had been taking 1200 milligrams of lithium a day. At the end of the year my psychiatrist called me in a panic telling me to drop my dosage immediately: “Your test results were in the extreme toxic range. Which can cause death.” All psychotropic drugs are highly toxic. ...

Quackwatch being sued by "Doctor's Data", a laboratory that caters to chelation therapists

Health Care Renewal — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 11:52:00 +0100

Quackwatch is being sued by "Doctor's Data", a laboratory that caters to chelation therapists. See the post "Why Doctor's Data Is Trying to Shut Me Up" by Stephen Barrett, MD at this link.(I have no connections to either Quackwatch or "Doctor's Data", and do not know Dr. Barrett. However, this case caught my eye.)From a law firm, Augustine, Kern and Levens, Ltd. of Chicago:Dear Dr. Barrett: It has recently come to the attention of our client, Doctor's Data, Inc., an Illinois corporation, that you have, on a continuing basis, harmed Doctor's Data by transmitting false, fraudulent and defamatory information about this company in a variety of ways, including on the internet and in other publications. Doctor's Data is shocked that you would intentionally try to harm...

Medical misinformation in Malaysiakini: the Live Blood Analysis hocus pocus

Malaysian Medical Resources — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 23:00:00 +0100

CONCLUSION: We conclude that Live blood analysis may have no clinical significance. 2. Complementary and alternative allergy tests : review article. Morris, Adrian 2006 This article reviews the common tests employed by complementary and alternative medical practitioners to diagnose allergies and intolerances. These tests include VEGA, applied kinesiology, hair analysis, auriculocardiac test, stool and live blood analysis, leucocytotoxic tests and IgG ELISA tests. None of these tests has proven to be as accurate as specific IgE measurement in allergy diagnosis and they cannot be recommended. 3. eMJA 2004; 180 (12): 647-648: Good medicine and bad medicine: science to promote the convergence of “alternative” and orthodox medicine - poses a question which those in charge of ethics should p...

Autism United Harrases Travolta Family

AspieWeb.net — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:42:28 +0100

Autism United has begun reaching out too, err more like harassing John Travolta’s family within a week of the death of their son Jett Travolta. According to the press release issued to the LA Times by Autism United “His role as a parent who dealt with a child suffering seizures could help to thousands of [...] This is an excerpt from an article on AspieWeb.net, A blog writen by an Autistic Blogger. (Source: AspieWeb.net)

Recovery Distracts

Autism Vox — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 07:32:15 +0100

There’s a new study by Molly Helt et al. out about recovery from autism in the December Neuropsychology Review. Kev at Left Brain/Right Brain has an overview; here’s the abstract: Although Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are generally assumed to be lifelong, we review evidence that between 3% and 25% of children reportedly lose their ASD diagnosis and enter the normal range of cognitive, adaptive and social skills. Predictors of recovery include relatively high intelligence, receptive language, verbal and motor imitation, and motor development, but not overall symptom severity. Earlier age of diagnosis and treatment, and a diagnosis of Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified are also favorable signs. The presence of seizures, mental retardation and genetic synd...

New Study on Heavy Metal Toxicity and Detoxification By…….

Autism Vox — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 07:10:07 +0100

In conclusion, the study presents some compelling evidence regarding differences in urinary porphyrin metabolites between kids with mild and severe autism symptoms, as well as differences in plasma sulfates between kids with autism when compared to neurotypical kids. This is consistent with the author’s theory that mercury exposure plays a role in autism. However, given the controversy regarding the mercury-autism association, I would like to clarify that these results do not indicate that mercury causes autism. Yes, it is possible that mercury toxicity and reduced detoxification capacity plays a role in autism, both, in the onset and severity. However, it is also possible that Autism itself results in reduced detoxification capacity and mercury toxicity via other mechanisms, but that su...

Alternative Med Study Is Investigated By Feds

Pharmalot — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:17:31 +0100

The largest alternative medicine study the government has ever launched has stopped enrolling people while officials investigate whether participants were fully informed of the risks and are being adequately protected, The Associated Press reports. More than 1,500 heart attack survivors are involved in the research, which tests a controversial treatment called chelation that is mainly used to treat lead poisoning. More than two people have died, although the Miami doc leading the study says the deaths were not a direct result of the treatments, although he doesn’t know exactly how many deaths have occurred. He also acknowledged some docs involved in the study have been disciplined by state boards or have criminal records and have been asked to drop out. “We think we have a safe...

Chelation Study Halted

Malaysian Medical Resources — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 04:00:00 +0100

US Government probes chelation-heart disease study (AP) The largest alternative medicine study the government has ever launched has stopped enrolling people while officials investigate whether participants were fully informed of the risks and are being adequately protected, The Associated Press has learned. More than 1,500 heart attack survivors are involved in the research, which tests a controversial treatment called chelation. It is mainly used to treat lead poisoning. More than two people have died, although the Miami doctor leading the study said the deaths were not a direct result of the treatments. He said he doesn’t know exactly how many deaths have occurred. He also acknowledged that some doctors who had been involved in the study have been disciplined by state boards or hav...

Deconstructing the Vaccine-Autism Scare

Autism Vox — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:27:07 +0100

As reported today by ABC15-Scripps Howard News Service : More than 135,000 kindergarten students nationwide are attending school without being vaccinated for potentially deadly diseases like measles, mumps and rubella. In a review of the recently published book, Autism’s False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure, Rahul Parikh, a physician who writes the sWell blog for Salon, starts by noting that the hate mail and, indeed, death threats, the book’s author, Dr. Paul Offit, has received are reminiscent of “pro-choice physicians on the front lines of the abortion debate.” Dr. Parikh—-who has also written about junk science and autism and mitochondrial disorders—lauds Autism’s False Prophets for its cogent “examinati...

And when we were wrong, we promptly admitted it

Autism Vox — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:00:19 +0100

In recognition of National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month, b5media bloggers on the Health and Wellness Channel are blogging about the 12 step program of Alcoholics Anonymous. (For a list of the 12 posts on the 12 steps, check out Healthbolt.) This is Step 10: Step 10 - Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it I don’t know a lot about the 12 steps; the call to self-scrutiny and to reexamination of oneself stated in Step 10 have been important for me to apply in figuring how to help Charlie. Parents today frequently note how overwhelmed they feel by the sheer range of treatment—educational, biomedical, and otherwise—options that they hear about for autism. Should one try the special diet? Try brushing or a therapy dog or mu...

Chelation Study Called Off

Autism Vox — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:03:16 +0100

Back in July, a study on chelation as a treatment for autistic children was put on hold due to safety concerns. Now the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has called off the study, as reported in today’s Associated Press. The statement says the agency decided the money would be better used testing other potential therapies for autism and related disorders. The study had been on hold because of safety concerns . A study published last year linked a chemical used in the treatment to lasting brain problems in rats. Chelation is based on the unproven notion that mercury in vaccines can be linked to autism. It’s also noted that a study on chelation—–in which heavy metal are removed from the body—-would be tantamount to an “unethical experiment on chil...

Pressure to Study Chelation?

Autism Vox — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:06:51 +0100

In the July 14th Nature is an article about the NIMH chelation study that was put on hold due to safety concerns. NIMH director, Thomas Insel, M.D., says that, due to children being involved, and because the study “carries more than minimal risk and offers no demonstrable benefit to the participants,” it has been referred to the US Department of Health and Human Services panel for ethics approval. Nature also points out that the very premise of the study rests on an unproven hypothesis about autism being caused by mercury poisoning. While more and more scientific evidence disputes a link between mercury and autism, a tour ’round the Internet suggests that many believe in a link, whatever the science says: Others argue that the study doesn’t make scientific sense because...

Chelation Study Put on Hold

Autism Vox — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:33:14 +0100

A study on chelation, a controversial biomedical treatment for autism, has been put on hold, today’s Associated Press reports. Chelation, in which heavy metals are removed from the body, is based on the notion that mercury in vaccines can be linked to autism; an autistic boy, Abubakar Tariq Nadama, died in 2005 after receiving chelation treatment at the office of Dr. Roy Kerry in Pennsylvania. The chelation study was to be funded by the federal government and has been put on hold due to safety concerns, according to Dr. Thomas Insel, the director of the National Institute of Mental Health. The Associated Press quotes Dr. Insel as saying: “So many moms have said, `It’s saved my kids.’” The Associated Press describes one 8-year-old autistic boy, Charlie, who rec...

Last Week’s Top Posts

Autism Vox — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 16:00:59 +0100

Main event of the week: Charlie’s last day in elementary school. And, yes, Tuesday. In the comments, a link to a Press-Enterprise article about an 11-year-old, Nicholas Dooley, who has autism and possibly another psychiatric disorder. So Goeth the Autism Epidemic The June 6th Times (UK) has an article on The autism epidemic commeth, which heralds the publication of a book entitled Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism by anthropologist Roy Richard Grinker. If You Happen to Be Near a TV from 7-9am Tomorrow… See below. Trying to Be Pretty Good Neighbors Are nasty neighbors affecting your home’s value? asks a report today on ABC news. Telling the Grandparents A man writes about his 3-year-old niece to Dear Abby: Apparently the little girl has been diagnosed with aut...

DIY Chelation: Not Recommended

Autism Vox — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 06:02:14 +0100

Says Hilary Godwin, chair of environmental health sciences at UCLA and the mother of an autistic son in a June 16th LA Times article about the dangers of over-the-counter chelating products: “Parental anxiety drives people to try anything.” Anything and everything (including a certain kind of enema), all in the name of detoxifying autistic children’s bodies of supposed excessive heavy metals, toxins, and so forth. Dr. Michael Shannon, chief of emergency medicine at Children’s Hospital in Boston and a specialist in lead poisoning, says this about the dangers of over-the-counter—”do it yourself”—chelators: Chelation is sometimes necessary to treat severe cases of metal poisoning, but it’s “shocking and worrisome” that such pro...

Charges Dropped Against Dr. Roy Kerry

Autism Vox — Tue, 06 May 2008 21:02:07 +0100

Charges have been dropped against Dr. Roy Kerry, the Pittsburgh-area doctor who was accused of causing the death of 5-year-old Abubakar Tariq Nadama, the Associated Press reports. Nadama went into cardiac arrest immediately after receiving chelation therapy in Dr. Kerry’s office in 2005. Dr. Kerry was charged with using the wrong drug and of incorrectly administering it. In the US, chelation is not approved by the government for treating autism; it has FDA approval for treating lead poisoning. Tags: asd, asperger, autism, autism blog, chelation, legal, malpractice, pdd-nos, pittsburghShare This (Source: Autism Vox)

On Autism Detox

Autism Vox — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 05:10:46 +0100

“Detoxifying” a child’s body of “heavy metals” via chelation is an alternative, and not uncontroversial, treatment for autism. It is based on the belief that exposure to environmental toxins is one factor behind the increase in the number of children diagnosed with autism in the past decade-plus. This book talks about the dangers of heavy metal poisoning; this book provides a “protocol” for treating such “poisoning”; these liquid vitamins are said to provide “natural detoxification.” The Body Ecology Diet is offering a three-day workshop to “take the mystery out of autism”; the workshop is “designed to help parents have a basic understanding of our 7 principles, like cleansing, acid/alkaline, principle of u...

The Magic Supplement?

Autism Vox — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:35:44 +0100

The January 13th Shreveport Times describes the 13 supplements that Jennifer Blaton gives to her 7-year-old autistic daughter, Darbee, as a “cocktail.” Once a week a chelating agent is added, and Darbee gets B12 shots twice a week, and goes to a Defeat Autism Now! practitioner in Baton Rouge once a month for intravenous chelation. Darbee, her mother notes, still does not talk and is “‘on the honor roll, she reads, writes, does math, but her speech is just not there…….She knows what she wants to say, her wires just get crossed.’” Barton follows the DAN! protocol, which is a sort of manual for using biomedical interventions for autistic children. Many of the treatments included in the DAN! protocol are experimental and draw on alternative medic...

Doctor Faces Trial in Death of Child After Chelation Treatment

Autism Vox — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 16:01:47 +0100

Childhood Vaccine Safety Keeps Parents Concerned (WCBStv.com, November 15). The safety of using chelation to “treat” autistic children raises many concerns, and especially after the August 2005 death of 5-year-old Abubakar Tariq Nadama. Dr. Roy Kerry faces a trial on the charges of causing Nadama’s death by incorrectly administering the wrong drug. After receiving the treatment, Nadama went into cardiac arrest in Kerry’s office on Aug. 23, 2005. As noted in today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Dr. Kerry continutes to practice medicine continues to practice in Portersville and Greenville, Mercer County; his medical license is being challenged by state officials. Share This (Source: Autism Vox)

Hearing for Dr. Charged with Manslaughter is Postponed

Autism Vox — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 19:11:47 +0100

A hearing for Dr. Roy Kerry, the Pittsburgh area doctor who has < a href="http://www.autismvox.com/doctor-charged-with-involuntary-manslaughter-in-death-of-abubakar-tariq-nadama/:>charged with involuntary manslaughter in the August 23rd 2005 death of then 5-year-old Abubakar Tariq Nadama, was scheduled for today and has been postponed until November 15th. Today’s PhillyBurbs.com notes that Abubakar went into cardiac arrest “immediately after receiving chelation therapy” in Dr. Kerry’s office at the Advanced Integrative Medicine Center in Portersville, Pennsylvania. Dr. Kerry is listed as a DAN! Healthcare Practitioner on the website of the Autism Research Institute. Share This (Source: Autism Vox)

Who’s Afraid of Genetic Testing?

Autism Vox — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 10:00:48 +0100

The September 27th Eye on DNA notes why some, or many, have fears or at least second thoughts, about having a whole genome scan done. It’s one thing to be tested for a specific genetic mutation because you’re at high risk due to family history or other clinical indicators. It’s another thing to get a whole genome scan to highlight areas that may or may not cause you problems in the future depending on your lifestyle, environmental exposures, and level of impact conferred by the gene. A whole genome scan could provide one with more information than one wants or knows what to do with—-might any genetic test provide more information than we know what to do with, and how to understand? There is currently no known genetic test for autism. Some 30 to 100 genes have been identified as...

Jenny, We Hardly Knew Ye

Autism Vox — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:43:19 +0100

For continued proof that many still believe the theory that vaccines (such as the MMR) or something in vaccines (such as the mercury-based preservative thimerasol) causes autism, one need look no farther than the newstand at one’s supermarket. On the cover of People last week; on Oprah; on 20/20, Good Morning America, The View, and Larry King Live; appearing in October at a DAN! (Defeat Autism Now!) conference near you (if you live near Garden Grove, California), and as close as your nearest booksource in the form of her bestselling-on-Amazon.com book, Louder than Words, has been Jenny McCarthy, model, comedien, actress, 1994 Playboy Playmate, author, and (as many now know as of last week), autism mother. In her September 18th Oprah appearance with Holly Robinson Peete, McCarthy said...

The Symptoms of Pseudoscience

Autism Vox — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 17:22:30 +0100

Theories of what causes autism (a milk molecule?) and of how to treat autism (horseback riding and shamans) often seem to mushroom overnight and bloggers like those at Left Brain/Right Brain, at Mike Stanton’s Action for Autism and Kathleen Seidel’s Neurodiversity, at Autism Diva and Respectful Insolence tirelessly analyze and question the claims of junk/pseudo/crank science. A September 11th article on Nobel Intent on Ars Technica casts a critical eye on pseudoscience by carefully reviewing the articles in a special edition of the journal Homeopathy on the “memory of water.” Noting their consistent “concern regarding science education and the public understanding of science,” authors John Timmer, Chris Lee, Jonathan M. Gitlin, and Matt Ford write: ̷...

autism, demons and disordered thinking

Action For Autism — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 01:04:14 +0100

Kev has just blogged about an interesting discussion on ABMD, an email list devoted to biomedical interventions for autism. The bare bones are that a parent asked some obvious questions about how many recovered kids there were and where was the research that followed them up. From the subsequent replies three points struck me. 1. The [...] (Source: Action For Autism)

Kerry charged over Tariq’s death

Action For Autism — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 13:01:21 +0100

Roy Kerry has finally been charged with involuntary manslaughter, endangering the welfare of a child and reckless endangerment two years after Abubakar “Tariq” Nadama died as a result of treatment he received at Kerry’s clinic in Portersville, Pennsylvania. Kerry also faces an enquiry into his competency from the state medical authorities and is being sued by [...] (Source: Action For Autism)

Doctor Charged with Involuntary Manslaughter in Death of Abubakar Tariq Nadama

Autism Vox — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 23:24:11 +0100

Dr. Roy Eugene Kerry has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Abubakar Tariq Nadama. Two years ago, the 5-year-old autistic boy went into cardiac arrest while undergoing chelation therapy in Dr. Kerry’s office at the Advanced Integrative Medicine Center in Portersville, Pennsylvania. Notes today’s WXPI News (Pittsburgh): The receptionist at Kerry’s Greenville office said he was too busy treating patients to come to the phone. One wonders what kind of “treatment” these other patients might be undergoing? Share This (Source: Autism Vox)

Acceptance not denial

Left Brain/Right Brain — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 18:37:06 +0100

Acceptance. It is a word that some use to describe their relationship with the reality of their children, or their own, autism. We accept the fact our daughter is autistic. For people who claim to ‘fight autism’ this acceptance is a weak passivity. An act of giving in. This, of course, is rubbish. Those who have accepted the reality of their own or their children’s autism know that the work starts right there. We do not attempt to carry on deluding ourselves and using quack treatments such as chelation etc as shields against the reality of who our kids really are. Parents like Brad Handley of Generation Rescue claim at one point in time that: “autism is a misdiagnosis for mercury poisoning…..The whole notion of autism is mythical. It didn’t exist...

Porphyrins and autism again

Left Brain/Right Brain — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 13:49:10 +0100

You may recall an fairly recent exchange I had with Dr Paul King (pictured below with the invention he utilises to type his many-fonted PDF’s – The Fabulous Fontographer 2000) wherein he wrote to various media people exhorting them to examine the final proof that mercury causes autism – the existence of certain Porphyrin’s in autistic kids – following on from the science (don’t laugh) of the Geier’s and Richard Lathe et al and my responses to clarify that there had been no such proof and that the authors of one of the two papers his proof rested on were the first to admit that. The autism and scientific world failed to fall adoringly at Dr King’s feet, possibly because either: a) There is a vast conspiracy from the Illuminati lizard-peopl...

Dr. Bock on chelation “safety”

Autism Vox — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 19:15:07 +0100

Chelation therapy—in which medications are given to a patient to remove heavy metals from the blood and so to “detoxify” the body—-has been in autism news this week: The parents of Abubakar Tariq Nadama, who died after receiving chelation treatment in the office of Dr. Roy Kerry on August 23, 2005, are suing the doctor, on the charge of wrongful death (the Nadamas’ complaint is here). Chelation is not a proven treatment for autism; chelation has been used to “treat” autistic children in keeping with the theory that they are autistic due to poisoning from some kind of toxins, heavy metals, mercury, and so forth. I first learned about the use of chelation for autistic children some eight years ago and, while we have tried some biomedical treatments f...

DAN! Doctor Roy Kerry chelation charges

Left Brain/Right Brain — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 18:31:58 +0100

Thhe full set of charges against the people responsible for the death of Tariq Nadama have been posted online. In particular, DAN! (defeat autism now) ‘doctor’ Roy Kerry has to face some very serious charges indeed. At the time, various anti-vax apologists were saying it was a mix up of the chelating agent – that the wrong one was used. These charges kill that piece of silly rationalisation stone dead: 71. Respondent admitted to using Disodium EDTA to chelate Tariq. 72. Respondent stated to Investigator Reiser that Disodiun EDTA is the only formula of EDTA he stocks in his office. Maybe someone could explain to me how it was a mix up when the guy only stocks one type of EDTA? Please, this I have to hear. The list of charges against Kerry strike right at the ...

Parents of Boy Who Died After Chelation Sue Doctor and ApotheCure

Autism Vox — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 16:52:39 +0100

The parents of Abubakar Tariq Nadama, who died after receiving chelation treatment in the office of Dr. Roy Kerry on August 23, 2005, are suing the doctor on the charge of wrongful death. Mawra and Rufai Nadama are accusing Dr. Kerry of causing their son to die of cardiac arrest, as reported in today’s Sentinel. Their attorney, John Gismondi, “believes the suit is the first filed in the U.S. involving an autistic child who died from chelation therapy.” More from The Sentinel: The Department of State, which licenses physicians in Pennsylvania, filed six disciplinary charges in September against Kerry, including unprofessional conduct and breaching the standard of care. Those charges were still pending and could result in fines or his license being suspended or revoked. The...

O Tempora, O Mores: Connecting the California condor, 9-11, chelation, and autistic children

Autism Vox — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 07:51:55 +0100

“What do California condors and autistic children have in common?” is the first sentence of a June 30th article, Autism and 9-11: The Connection by Vin LoPresti. Since the word “chemical detoxification” appears in the next sentence, and Robert Kennedy, Jr., is mentioned in the third sentence, a reader may not be too surprised to see that LoPresti proclaims, with quite colorful imagery, that “In an environment where drugs like Prozac seep into drinking water, and the bodies of all of us bubble with a diversity of toxins, like PCBs and dioxins, who is to say what combination of toxins, thimerosal included, may provoke childhood brain disorders like hyperactivity or autism?” This sentence is a rhetorical question, a favorite in the stylistic arsenal of many...

“Hope is a very addictive drug”

Autism Vox — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 00:45:44 +0100

Says Jim Laidler, MD, the father of two autistic sons, about his experience using such biomedical treatments for autism as the gluten-free casein-free diet and various nutritional supplements. Dr. Laidler is quoted in an ABC News story about the research of Mark Geier and David Geier, “the father and son duo argue in study after study that symptoms of autism are caused by mercury once widely used in vaccines.” The Geiers will be interviewed tonight on Nightline at 11.35pm EDT—–Significant Misrepresentations: Mark Geier, David Geier & the Evolution of the Lupron Protocol by Kathleen Seidel of Neurodiversity.com provides some thorough background and critique about the Geiers. Says Laidler: “What [parents] are getting in exchange for their hope, they’...

New Scientist and the Autism Omnibus

Action For Autism — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 23:36:46 +0100

New Scientist has published an interesting commentary on the Autism Omnibus proceedings that are taking place in the United States Court of Federal Claims. They are quite rightly sympathetic to the Cedillo family whose case is the first of around 4,800 that seek to establish whether or not thimerosal containing vaccines, MMR or a combination of the [...] (Source: Action For Autism)

Lead Found in Thomas the Train Toys: Just a Coincidence?

Autism Vox — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 16:33:25 +0100

Thomas the Tank Engine toys recalled due to lead paint. It is not unknown that more than a few autistic children are very interested in trains and toy trainsets, and, too, in Thomas. As Charlotte Moore wrote on p. 177 of George and Sam of Thomas’ creator: “An admiration for the works of the Reverend W. Awdry is almost a diagnostic requirement of autism.” How many of those toys might belong to autistic children, might have been played with by autistic children on display tables in toy stores, might even have been mouthed (albeit briefly) by a child who therefore might have ingested lead which therefore might have to be chelated out of the child…….. Coincidence? Moore is of course referring to the books written by the Reverend that inspired the creation of who k...

What are the long-term effects of antidepressants on a child’s brain?

Autism Vox — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 10:00:24 +0100

“What are the long-term effects?” is a question that parents often, and rightfully, have about giving a child antidepressant medications such as Prozac, Zoloft, and other selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). When one’s child has (as my son Charlie does) minimal verbal language, there are simply a lot of questions that cannot be answered, including one that is altogether pressing, and simple: How does my child feel as a result of taking this medication? Charlie takes Zoloft for, among other reasons, his anxiety, and careful observation of his behavior and the accounts that autistic adults have shared about their own experiences on medication are invaluable to me—-and all the more so after reading about research about the potential dangers of antidepressan...

Geiers, Jim Adams - oh and some science

Left Brain/Right Brain — Tue, 22 May 2007 17:35:04 +0100

This study looked at: whether mothers of children with autism are more likely to be Rh negative (Rh-) or to have received RhIg preserved with thimerosal, which is 49.6% ethyl mercury So – do kids with autism come from a population who’s mothers had received RhIg? Thats what this study asked. The answer was: Rh- status is no higher in mothers of children with autism than in the general population, exposure to antepartum RhIg, preserved with thimerosal is no higher for children with autism and pregnancies are no more likely to be Rh incompatible. This was also true for autism subgroups defined by behavioral phenotype, gender, IQ, regressive onset, head circumference, dysmorphology, birth status, essential, or complex phenotype Of course, this answer didn’t suit Safe...

DAN! Doctors - The ‘other’ list

Left Brain/Right Brain — Sat, 12 May 2007 06:11:52 +0100

The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed a new main menu entry at the top of this page between ‘wiki’ and ‘contact’ called DAN! Doctors. This page contains a (worryingly long) list of some of the people with the loose honorific of ‘DAN! Doctor’ who are on the official ARI list. However, unlike the ARI list, this list will tell you the ‘other’ side of the happy-clappy hero’s of DAN! It contains notes on prosecutions, license suspensions, criminal acts and current investigations. I can take absolutely no credit for the compilation of this list. It was handed to me by someone who wishes to remain anonymous. This is a static page at the moment. In the near future, this page will move to its own domain and website and be driven by ...

Generation Rescue II - This Time It’s Vague

Left Brain/Right Brain — Thu, 03 May 2007 23:42:46 +0100

As already blogged by Steve and Orac, Generation Rescue have undergone a change in both website and message. Up until this week and for the last two years, Brad Handley – GR Head Honcho (and Stanford Rugby Treasurer) has promoted a message quite unequivocal: “Autism is treatable. It’s reversible. It’s nothing more than mercury poisoning,” said JB Handley, founder of Generation Rescue. In fact, giving a reason for the redesign of the site on Orac’s blog, Brad said: From my perspective, our website and its message have always been broader than “its ONLY mercury”... Huh. Weird. Maybe its just me but I detect a teensy-weensy inconsistency between those two statements. Lets switch to the video!!: And for the non-video-blessed a...

Respectful Insolence on mercury, autism, and tactics

Autism Vox — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 16:36:38 +0100

My April 25th post (entitled Theories and Tactics) on the Nature Neuroscience editorial on the tactics of those who believe in a vaccine/mercury autism link generated some discussion. Orac over at Respectful Insolence goes into more detail today about the “mercury militia” and debates about the causes of autism. Orac is a surgeon/scientist and, while he notes that he has not himself been on the receiving end of much “harassment from mercury militia devotees,” I rather suspect that, because I am not autistic myself or a parent of an autistic child, parents who do have autistic children and have bought into the mercury militia line for the most part dismiss me as irrelevant (although why they do not do the same with David Kirby, who is also neither autistic nor the pa...

What’s breaking news about autism?

Autism Vox — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 05:56:13 +0100

I’m an advocate for education, first and foremost. I always have been, long before my son Charlie was diagnosed with autism, long before he was born. While the subjects of the classes I teach are the languages of Latin and classical Greek, and of the ancient culture of the Greeks and Romans, at the core of my teaching efforts is to teach students to think, to use their minds, to figure things out, to draw on what they have learned to learn more. However “severe” or “high” or “low” functioning a child is, she or he needs to be taught and—though the process can be slow, and progress measure in small gains (a child can zip up his own sweatshirt; a child knows how to find the front and back of a t-shirt)—learning can and does happen. Howeve...

The New Autism “E” Word

Autism Vox — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 22:05:51 +0100

News that may turn out not to be about autism—-whether or not Cho Heung-Sui ever received an autism diagnosis—-took the spotlight from what seems like almost anything else about autism this week, the third week of Autism Awareness Month 2007. On Wednesday and Thursday, April 18th and April 19th, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) held its workshop on “Autism and the Environment: Challenges and Opportunities for Research.” The Chronicle of Higher Education reported today on the workshop in an article with the headline of Federal Agencies Pledge to Study Whether Environmental Factors Trigger Autism—-as the Chronicle noted, it is a “marked shift” for federal officials and agencies to say that “they have paid too little attention to the possibility that...

Play Date with a Friend; or, What We Need

Autism Vox — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 05:51:20 +0100

Autism Awareness Month is starting to feel rather like Autism Information Month: April 18th saw the IOM Workshop on Autism and the Environment and new legislation in Pennsylvania that would require private insurance companies to cover autism treatments; on April 17th, Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey introduced legislation for $350 million for treatment and support for autism in Washington. Autism was on Oprah. Autism was on the CBS Early Edition. There are more and more books and films. There is a musical. (Maybe it’s more like Autism Information Overload Month…….) Going through news articles from every state in the US, from many countries around the world, I ask: What exactly is this “autism” that is being described? That treatment is sought for? That causes a...

Soft Pedaling on Heavy Metal Treatment

Autism Vox — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 02:57:11 +0100

In a post today on Stats.org at George Mason University, Maia Szalavitz takes CBS to task for featuring DAN! doctor Kenneth Bock, M.D.. She notes that CBS anchor Harry Smith failed “to even mention that Bock supports the idea that autism is caused by mercury in vaccines – a connection which is not supported by scientific evidence, despite repeated studies of the issue.” did “not question Bock about his use of chelation to treat autism, a method of removing heavy metals from the blood that has already killed at least one autistic child, and is completely unproven as a treatment for autism.” Indeed: As I noted yesterday, Dr. Bock himself writes in his newly published book, Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies: The Groundbreaking...

Turning a Negative Into a Positive

Autism Vox — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 06:07:14 +0100

It was a cold, wet, blustery Monday here by us. It was tragic. It was why the words of the poet can seem to sound too true: April is the cruelest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. It is never just a “spring rain,” but it pours: It was a nor’easter came through this weekend making manhole covers pop in Jersey City, leaving mud and muddy puddles, and flooding. I left work early to make sure I got home in time for Charlie and found my in-laws and their live-in nurse watching TV coverage of what happened at Virginia Tech (and they kept the news on until it was time for Jeopardy). Where is it safe anymore, a friend emailed me (she has a child in college); I thought of the lockdown drill I had found myse...

Perspective: Autistic Children Are Teachable

Autism Vox — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 18:45:32 +0100

4 hour “drive” to work today (I wasn’t “driving” all the time but “sitting in an unmoving car” with a semi crowding into my lane): Thanks to the nor’easter bestowing record-breaking rainfall on the East Coast, there is flooding, and road closures, everywhere. When I finally got into my office at noon, one student had written to me that he would have made it to class, had he been “lucky enough to have a boat”; another had gotten into a car accident. Charlie’s teacher had written to me: Despite allergies and sniffles and a cough on Sunday, and being (as Jim put it) “out on his feet” while boarding the bus, Charlie was having a great day and was just headed to gym class. One student showed up for Intermediate Latin ...

Age Management & Autism Treatment: Business Opportunities?

Autism Vox — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 17:42:56 +0100

This is from the April 15th New York Times: For four days last December, America’s pleasure dome in the desert, Las Vegas, played host to a convention dedicated to the proposition that [X] is “a treatable medical condition.” Booths advertising vitamins, hormones and pharmaceutical drugs, along with an array of oxygenating or detoxifying paraphernalia, filled the exhibition hall of the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino. What do you think [X] is? The Autism Research Institute (ARI) has its “Autism Is Treatable” campaign. Autism is described as a “treatable medical illness” by Jaquelyn McCandless, M.D.. But it’s not autism the New York Times article is talking about. [X] is aging. The title of the article is Aging: Disease or Business Opportunity?. Regarding t...

Autism, Chelation and Quackery

Left Brain/Right Brain — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 07:36:17 +0100

Mercury Mum, Christine Heeren recently posted a video of her son receiving IV chelation on YouTube. Its a disturbing video on many levels. Heeren’s son has been undergoing chelation for seven months now and is still clearly totally autistic. During this video he is apparently writing ‘bus numbers’ down. The blog that Ms Heeren keeps (link on YouTube page) also makes it clear that her son still stims and he displays many common outward signs of autism (the scrunching up of the eyes at the start of the video reminds me of something my daughter does very much). Heeren is subjecting her son to the Buttar protocol which should give anyone the stone cold heebie jeebies in and of itself. One patient of Buttar’s said that: I find that Dr. Buttar talks a lot but produc...

Who speaks for autism? How do you “treat” autism?

Autism Vox — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 03:29:01 +0100

It is definitely Autism Awareness Month: Media coverage about autism is everywhere (and a little controversy has only added to the pile). A few stories stood out to me, the first from today’s Hartford Courant with the headline Calhoun becomes national voice for autism This is UConn basketball coach Jim Calhoun, two of whose grandchildren are autistic: It is great that Calhoun is speaking publicly about autism, but the voice of autism does not belong to any parent, teacher, grandparent, relative, etc. of a person with autism. The voice of autism is that of an autistic person. The second article is about “a little-known movement that started in the Northwest called DAN”—with Defeat Autism Now!—–in today’s Evening Magazine (WA). Entitled Autism cure:...

Katie Wright’s big day

Left Brain/Right Brain — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 09:25:56 +0100

Yesterday four big things happened to Katie Wright. Firstly, she joined the board of Directors of SafeMinds. Secondly she joined the board of directors of the National Autism Association. Thirdly, she appeared on the US Oprah Winfrey show. Fourthly, she allowed Brad Handley, who she has described previously as her mentor, to cast away her association to her parents. Brad, as befits all religious cult leaders drove a wedge between her and her parents. We’ll get to that later. The elusive Ginger blogged the NAA and SafeMinds news which was announced just before/during/after (depending on your timezone) the Oprah show. The Opera show itself was a mixed bag apparently. There was a lot of self pity at the start: “he’s not there, I don’t know where he is but he̵...

Katie Wright and Autism Speaks - woo confirmed

Left Brain/Right Brain — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 10:26:58 +0100

For the last few weeks the subject of ire on the EoH maillist has been Autism Speaks, they’ve been the subject of some very nasty descriptions indeed. The reason is that the EoHers knew that Katie Wright, daughter of the owners of Autism Speaks, was taking her son Christian to a DAN! doctor and yet Autism Speaks were keeping this quiet. Well, as blogged by David Kirby, Katie Wright has now confirmed that Christian is seeing a DAN! doctor (lets hope its not one of the paedophiles or Scientologists) and has gone ‘on the record’ as stating she believes vaccines caused Christians autism. The mercury militia and David Kirby report this: Many in the upper echelons of Autism Speaks have rejected any environmental hypothesis and insisted that autism is purely a genetic diso...

Questions for Dr. Anju Usman

Action For Autism — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 23:27:41 +0100

Treating Autism is hosting the two day Autism-Biomedical Conference at the Bournemouth International Centre with funding from the National Lottery this weekend. (Friday 9th and Saturday 10th February) Regular readers of this blog will not be surprised to learn that I have misgivings about this. Basically the DAN! protocol is being promoted in a big way in England for the first time. This follows on from the success of Action Against Autism in setting up a DAN! clinic in Scotland under the leadership of Lorene Amet following their biomed conference in Edinburgh in October 2005. I have three major objections to DAN! They accept as fact that there is an epidemic of autism caused by environmental toxins. They claim that by using chelation to remove these toxins children can be recover...