You know there are certain things that REEEEALLLLY push my buttons and when mainstream media skews facts and botches studies to make the parents that treat autism “alternatively” look like “desperate parents who will try anything” it really makes my blood boil.
So, when I received this article from 3 people yesterday, I decided to respond to the Schafer Report (my autism bible). We’ll see if it makes it in there.
Article: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j71A7ZN9GaxtikP7Mo0ZmINil4aQD91PUI3G0
Response:
My son’s test results showed that he had high mercury and lead
levels. With the help of my doctor, we chelated him
with both DMPS (transdermal) and oral EDTA and have
seen amazing results. In all honesty, the process is
a little nerve wracking in that when the metals start
to move around, strange behaviors and tantrums are
easy to come by. BUT, we ultimately saw impressive
results and I would chelate again if his metal levels
deemed it necessary.
Chelation is not a process to be taken lightly, we did
regular blood tests to confirm that his vitamin and
mineral levels were ok and that his liver was not
taking a hit from all of the “filtering” that was
required of it.
So, I understand the chelation process and would call
myself a fan of chelation when heavy metals are high
and it’s done under the watchful eye of a qualified
doctor. Outside of that, I wouldn’t recommend it in
the same way that I wouldn’t recommend you call a tow
truck if you didn’t need a car towed.
What boggles my mind is that in the article “Fringe
Autism Treatment
Could Get Federal Study,” chelation is referred to as
an unproven autism treatment. Chelation is not an
autism treatment, it is a heavy metal toxicity
treatment. To prescribe chelation to a patient without
a heavy metal burden would be the same as prescribing
chemotherapy to someone who does not have cancer. We
were not treating autism, we were treating heavy metal
toxicity, which just happens to present itself (among
other things) as social deficits, language and speech
difficulties, and issues with focus and attention.
So, once again…we, the “alternative” parents of
children on the autism spectrum, are made to look like
desperate, frustrated, morons who will try ANYTHING to
help our kids. It’s really getting tiring and
offensive. My apologies for addressing my child’s
array of health issues vs. simply writing him off as
autistic and therefore – in the mainstream’s eyes -
hopeless. Should I stop bringing him to the dentist
too? Is it false hope to assume a prescribed cleaning
will rid his teeth of tartar? Perhaps I should wait
for someone to create a plaque vaccination and we can
do away with that problem altogether.
In the “Fringe Autism Treatment Could Get Federal
Study” article, it goes on to say, “The process,
called chelation, is used to treat lead poisoning.
Studies of adults have shown it to be ineffective
unless there are high levels of metals in the blood.”
WHAT??? The process of removing heavy metals didn’t
work when no heavy metals were present? Shocking.
Are we to believe that this makes chelation a bogus
treatment?
More from the article.. “Any study in children would
have to exclude those with high levels of lead or
mercury, which would require treatment and preclude
using a placebo.” WHAT??? Then what are they
studying? And if these children require treatment,
what would that be? Chelation?
Today we are going to be studying the effects of
Visine, BUT study participants cannot have red or
irritated eyes because those people really need to use
Visine, so we can’t give them a placebo.
Is this all a big joke? Personally, I’m still waiting
for the part where it gets funny. Until then, you can
find me on the fringe.
- Spectrum Mom