Mercury links to autism

[Junestar6]

I think my 8 year old son may have mild autism. We have just been referred for testing / assessment. He was also intolerant to Milk protein as a baby, but seems to tolerate it now in small amounts. We are also under speech therapy etc....

I have been reading about Mercury in Vaccinations, and have realised that in 2002 when my son had his, they did contain mercury. I also had the anti-D in pregnancy. I am shocked and disgusted that Mercury was added as a preservative, and am left wondering if all of my son's difficulties could have been prevented?

My son developed his Milk protein intolerance at 9 weeks old, after thriving on cows milk previously. I am now wondering if this coincided with his first baby jabs, and was a reaction to the Mercury?

Has anyone else explored this subject?

www.treatingautism.co.uk/

have a look there - very good yahoo group with lots of info

A lot of people do believe this.

My DS's problems started the day after his 3 month vaccination and we very strongly believe that mercury posioning is a good explanation for his problems. ( Mercury Poisoning used to be called 'Mad Hatters Disease' - and this is exactly what he acts like :) )

Also, he is receiving a lot of treatment from the Sound Learning Centre and they suggested that his problems are caused by Mercury Poisoning.

However, I haven't really looked at treatements to do with getting rid of Mercury yet.... Because at the moment I'm concentrating on his retained reflexes and sensory processing disorder...

(They also thought his retained reflexes could be due to a caeserian birth!)

I believe this too. My ds (asd & dyspraxia) was born in 2003 and mercury was given in his shots too. They took the mercury out of the shots shortly after. My son had very bad peeling hands and feet whenever he had a shot, including the mmr's.

I have unintentionally added to my ds's problem by allowing him to eat so much of his favourite food 'tuna'. For a long time this was all he would eat in his sandwich.

When my son was offered the swine flu jab, I did some research and found out that there was as much mercury in a tuna sandwich as there was in a vaccine. This almost made my jaw drop. He had been eating tuna most days for a years.

I have seen lots of positive changes since we have cut the tuna back from daily to monthly.

I also started 'natural' treatments to try and help the burden. I cannot tell you honestly whether the treatments worked as just stopping the tuna will have helped anyway.

We bath him in Epsom salts twice a week (this is meant to naturally detox).

I tried putting small amounts of coriander on his garlic bread (coriander is a mercury detox but some say it should not be used for autistic children)

Made sure he got lots of exercise and sunlight. This is tricky though as my ds rarely sweats because when his body warms up at all he breaks out in hives.

Also tried to avoid 'glucose fructose syrup' this sometimes contains small amounts of mercury because of how it is made.

My ds is much better now but still very much on the spectrum. He is much better with sound sensitivity and his immune system has improved. He was always ill before we cut back the tuna.

I wish I had know sooner how harmful too much fish would be. When I asked the peaditrition about this she denied that there would be any link, can't understand why?

I also had the anti-d and like your ds my son also had problems with milk when he was little.

I believe that my son has a problem expelling toxins, bacteria and metals. Whether this causes the autism or the autism causes the problem is the big question.
I have read almost every article that I can find and have done so much to help my ds.

The thing is that I can see asd traits throughout my family and many of them never received any vaccinations. This makes me believe that genetics makes some of us suffer with toxin overload, unless care is taken.
Therefore vaccinations would simply add to the burden that would happen anyway through natural exposure.

Just one look at the ingredients of processed food shows how many toxins and additives we are pumping our systems with. I believe this is why we have so many auto-immune problems.

DeepThoughts - lots of good advice there. How do I buy epsom salts? And is twice a week the 'optimal' number - or just what fits into your schedule?

Thanks

I buy my Epsom salts from here a- www.justasoap.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=38 me and my husband bath in them as well as there are so many benefits.

We bath him in them just 2 times a week as he is prone to excema, but I did read that every other night would be good. They can alter the ph of your skin so I read that they are best alternated with apple cider vinegar baths (this makes his skin lovely and soft).

The article that I found most useful with detox information was this : www.dietarysupport.com/detox(art).html

Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride has some you tube videos that I found so interesting as she gave so much information.

I have been using Epsom salts for 2 and a half years now. I always buy a large bucket and split them with my friend, her daughter gets bad constipation and then becomes distant, but the salts keep her regular.

I add a couple of handfuls to his bath, but I think it's best to just start with a small amount. They are also meant to promote a restful sleep, this works for me and dh but not as much for ds.

U can get epsom salts in Boots too.
I am also a great fan of Dr Campbell McBride, great advice in her book.

Deep Thoughts, I also think that the genetic susceptibility makes them more vunerable. Does your ds have keratosis pilaris? Coz I found out that this blocks skin pores so they can't sweat well. We are now working on getting rid of that, it's gone from his legs, but still on his arms and back.
I also had my ds hair tested and still has mercury, even though he only had the first vaccine and no boosters, so mercury must be coming from food. He was also high in copper (probably from insecticides used on veg) and Zn deficient (so we gently supplement Zn as it supposed to help with deatox too). Copper is also toxic if not balanced with Zn

Wow nightcat, can you give me more info on the hair test? I have always wanted to do one, but didn't know where would be most reliable.

My ds has had mild keratosis pilaris in the past but it has mostly gone. I used to feel all the bumps on his skin in the past. The reason my ds doesn't sweat is because when he gets hot through heat or exercise he breaks out in really itchy hives and welts. I believe this is the toxins coming to the skins surface. He struggles to carry on whatever he is doing and stops before he ever sweats. Apparently the itching will eventually stop when the sweating starts. He has daily antihistamine in the summer.

You should look for the ingredient glucose fructose syrup if you haven't already. I read about that on wikepedia when reading about mercury poisoning.
Also I know that some fish supplements can contain mercury if they are no a good brand.

I knew the glucose-fructose syrup was bad as it cannot be easily metabolised, but didn't realise about mercury, thanks for that. And of course it's in a lot of products nowadays, inc gluten-free substitutes.

I had my ds hair tested at Foresight lab, they give discount for children under 16. It was quite shocking how high his copper and low Zn were, he was then vegeterian through self-restricted diet. I then increased his Zn and B vits and then he became more open minded about food. And then I realised that Zn is better absorbed from meat than veg and it all fell into place.

There is another place in London where they do hair testing as well, the name escapes me at present, I will let you know if it comes back.

That makes so much sense actually. I remember reading once that when you are low in zinc then almost everything tastes bad. So children low on zinc generally have very limited diet based mainly on texture. Poor little things.

I would love to do the hair test as I have had to read all the info on vitamins and minerals and try and balance him with food (very hard).
Do you just send the hair sample in the post?

I used to give him kirkman labs multi vitamin as they were high in zinc and had no copper at all as apparently that is generally the case with autistic childre (high copper and low zinc).

I don't give him any vitamins at the minute as I felt the levels were all off. His health isn't too bad right now.

My ds also stopped eating meat other than chicken but I also read that may have something to do with high ammonia in the urine? Making them not want the red meat?

I am also looking into urine, what a coincidence!!
There could be something about ammonia, will need to check my ds urine results for that. For keratosis we use uric acid cream externally, I am sure there is a connection, will check on our results in the next few days.
I also go easy on vits, just give him occasional B vit/omega/Zn/fish oil - literally no more than 2 tablets/capsules a week (not each!). Weird thing with my ds was that all blood tests he had were showing omega6 (not omega 3) deficiency when everyone around was telling me that we are all short in omega 3. I reckon this was poor absorption of fats due to gluten overload (another long story).
Look up the link for the lab, it's all done by post, they send you a form and instructions how much to take, you cut it from the nape of the neck or thereabouts (or when he has his haircut). I just snipped various places and he was a bit mad when he saw the result - but I was a bit impatient to wait for the next haircut.

Thats great, I have just been for a read. I will probably do it in a couple of weeks. I think his hair is just a little under half an inch.
I thought it would be much more expensive for hair tests. The price is totally reasonable.

I think I might have mine done too. Ha ha

Gluten...one day I may try and limit this, he lives off the stuff :( I know I should at least cut him down.

I was given Anti-d with both dd's, dd1 was clearly Autistic from day 1 (was hard work, hated being held/touched). Dd2 was ok until around the time of her MMR, she also had a bad reaction to her 2nd MMR (ended up in hospital).

what's this about anti-d? Being A- I too had anti-d. Does anybody have any links on the adverse effects of this (please)?

They haven't managed to find any good research that definitely links autism and mercury or autism and vaccinations.
When they did research on how many people are on the autism spectrum, they found it's the same numbers at all ages, so there hasn't been a rise in numbers linked to vaccines. I'm not saying that it can't cause autism, but there's not proper evidence either way.

What there is new and strong evidence for is children's brains altering naturally at certain points. Those who are going to be autistic will alter dramatically in X way, and those who aren't going to be autistic will alter dramatically in Y way. If that happens to be the same time as children are being vaccinated, it might well look like the vaccine did it. That's what they're now investigating further.

Amber - I thought autism only started being diagnosed at the same time as vaccinations were introduced - i.e. the 1950s????

There are many, many anecdotes of dramatic changes to their baby's that co-incide exactly with an immunization (including my sons). Methinks that studies finds what they are paid to find.

Aye, but it's because they didn't know what to call it before then. People were regarded as hugely eccentric, as 'idiot savants', as learning disabled, etc. Looking at people now in their 60s, 70s and 80s, the rates of autism are the same as for young people. We've got better at diagnosing what it is, it seems.

Amber is right

Lots and lots of theories about any increse is it exists as well

new survey due out soon about people who took fertility meds

Tis an exciting time in autism research for sure. Though I suspect long term the answer will simply be that there isn't one- lots and lots of reasons incluidng diagnostic improvemnt.

WRT to the mercury, when I was pg with ds3 (the more severe of my boys) I craved mercury and the advice to avoid hadn't reached here so I was eating a tin a day just happy that I was eating after a hyperemetic pregnancy with ds1.

However, ds3 also experienced a head injury as a child (DS1 related), was accidentally presribed lactise rather than casein free formula long term by a GP, and regressed after his (delayed) MMR,

In truth I have no idea what caused him to have more clinically severe (becuase as ds1 is more behaviourally severe by a long shot) ASD, but I suspect a similar genetic presentation to ds1 combined by many forms of environmental insult. He ahd chickenpox aged a few weeks as well, come to think of it.

DS2 has dyspraxia which can be asd related but doesn't have the casein intoleramnce )severe, we didn't need lab tests- I have it as well, indeed so does ds4 but he ahs avoided exposure) that caused ds1 and ds3 to fail to thrive initially.

My ds can spend hours walking around in circles mumbling random nothings when he consumes too many chemicals/toxins in food. Then on a good day people would not believe he was even on the spectrum. This is one of many reasons that I believe that autism (at least in some cases) is induced and because of that can also be reversed to some extent.

Maybe there are different forms of autism, that is what some people believe. I think that if you child shows signs of allergy (red ears/cheeks, digestion problems, congestion, hives, asthma, eczema etc...) then there is likely to be problems with hormone imbalances, enzymes, brain chemicals etc...

If I had not of intervened with my ds's diet/chemical overload he would of been so Poorly. It was the medical issues that made me change things originally.

I don't believe he was damaged by the vaccines, as he was born with issues. He had toxic burden from day one, this is probably due to my diet as I didn't know then what I know now.

Also it is not just mercury that causes problems, there are so many other toxic metals that we are exposed to every day. Years ago many homes used lead pipes.

Some children just need a little gentle help to expel these.

Depends which of these two we think is true...

Autism = behaviour
Autism = brain design

I can feel a hell of a lot worse if I eat or drink or do the wrong things, and it makes my autistic behaviours much worse.

But I'm still autistic even if I'm behaving well. My whole way of sensing and 'being' is still autistic, it's just I'm better able to remember the rules for how to behave around other people and how to follow social protocols (that still don't make any sense to me - but I can do it). On a day where my stomach is hurting from eating the wrong things for me, I can be really panicky and ratty and yuk and fail to take the extra time and care to observe people closely and think and re-think what I'm supposed to do or so.

There's no doubt that tailoring environment, food etc to help us to cope is a good plan. I'm just not convinced that it would have ever made my brain redesign itself to be entirely 'normal'. Does that make sense?

Yes. Genetic predisposition + environmental insult sounds likely.

(To me) the question is: Should children with genetic predisposition to autism (i.e. autism already in the family) get vaccinated?

I would always tell anyone with Autism in the family to not get their kids vaccinated.... Or at least not until they're at least 3 years old.

Also...as I was unaware of the high content of methyl mercury in tuna I ate it a LOT too. This was from quite a young age. Since cutting my son back on tuna, I have done the same and low and behold, I have now lost a stone and a half (I was a overweight), my skin has become smooth and also I got my first period this year. My energy levels are higher than they have ever been.

Many mothers of asd children have similar problems to their little ones. They are just different as they are adults. I certainly do and therefore what I do for him, I do for me.

Yes I agree with most of what you are saying amber light...but personally I don't think autism is brain design. Neither do I think that it is behaviour I think that it just shows in behaviour.
From experience (there are a few diagnosed with autism in my extended family as well as my ds) I think that it is an imbalance of everything in the body.

I think there are genes that somehow react with each other and make the body unable to keep the levels of serotonin, melatonin, omegas, enzymes, gut bacteria, hormones, acids ect... In check.

Look at Jaffa cakes for instance the main ingredient is glucose fructose syrup.
Now I'm not 100% sure here so don't quote me, but about 6 jaffas could equal the same dose of methyl mercury as one vaccination.
I say 'could' because not all glucose fructose contains mercury, as it is created in the making process.

Before I knew that my son ate at least one a day in his packed lunch. That would be the equivalent to a vaccine a week.

I am going to check on that now.

DeepThoughts, the brain scientists who are dissecting brains and looking at them in fMRI scanners are seeing very clear differences in brain design for autism, though? More research to be done on this, but they can see changes from the third month of pregnancy onwards.