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?

deepthought and amber I agree with a lot of what you both say LOL

I do think its brian design; I have a very obvious underlying AS that is ahrd to see unless you put me in a specific sort of situation (really silly things- appraoch someone I know: er no, don't have the script sorry) until I ingest casein or oats, or have a major rouitne change.

I think there is an inherent neurological issue, but one that is receptive to all sorts of extraneous factors, many dependent on the individual. I don't think you can induce autism but I think environment can push already existent issues to a clinical level.

Interestingly, ds1 was obviously AS from day one- even mentions independence on maternity notes LOL- but ds3 not at all.

DT are you a newbie or a namechanger? can never spot them LOL and always nice to have people with opinions about.

Hi!
SMA - you sound a lot like me.
Yes it's my original name, I normally just browse the boards and don't really have much input. Ha ha

I don't know much about brain structure, Ive never really looked past chemicals and stuff. If there is evidence of brain alterations that would cause an impairment then for definate that would be undeniable.
I have read somewhere that they found a difference in the brain...but would your brain automatically form depending on the parts that are most active etc... My ds never babbles or spoke until he was 3 so the speech part of his brain would have been inactive.

I have said in the past that my ds will probably always have autism, but with the interventions he is able to laugh, kiss, hug, explain worries...before he seemed to be in a world of his own.

In that case DT I will offer you the MA powerpoints I have from my ASD course, and if you want send on the aetiology module I am doing this year when it is all ready?

Never know with namechanging whether i've already given stuff to people LOL

'but would your brain automatically form depending on the parts that are most active etc... My ds never babbles or spoke until he was 3 so the speech part of his brain would have been inactive.

You've hit on a very ineterstinga rea theere I think

I think braina reas would form but connections not be made if taht makes sense? Like when my DH wires a circuit: once builit it's all there, but unless someone presses the on switch no actual connections are amde and nothing happens.

With the brain as well I think repeated use makes connections stronger. Liek repeatedly tracing over a very faint pencil line until it beocmes dark and obvious and easily followed.

(Sorry, am useless at analogies LOL)

Ha ha, that would be fantastic, I would appreciate that a lot.

Email me on peaches and cream 04 @ bt internet . com and as I have a useless memeory feel free to chase if I forget

That sounds spot on.
Great way of explaining it.

I see two types of people in the world introverts and extroverts. Me and ds are introverts, dh is extrovert.
I struggle communicating with most extroverts.

I think too much about things I can/should say, as does my ds and most other people on the spectrum.

I can be either intro or extrovert depending very much on circs

With close friends or in certain situations I am very much the extrovert

but

tkae me outsiode that comfort zone and I son't sdtand a chance; everything I say has to be monitored by my brain and then it's too late to say it anyway; people think I am rude, I pick up on that and it spirals downwards

Yes...sounds very familiar!

Me and ds likewise great in the home, even with extrovert visitors. Sometimes ds can put on a show and take control. Then at school or outside we both go to pot.
I also know the ignorance thing. You think about saying something but then you analyse something to check it won't hurt feelings or sound inappropriate and before you know it they are gone.
Afterwards you probably replay whole conversations in your head and wish you had/hadn't said things.

When I drink alcohol I don't have any problems.

Yup re the brain trying to rewire itself. Looking at the way I've adapted to things over a lifetime, by practising and practising, I've got my brain to find novel ways round things. I think it has put in new wiring or re-routed wiring. Trouble is, because this is substandard stuff, it overheats really easily and isn't as good as if it was born with the superfast 'broadband' wiring in the right place anyway. Hence I can put on a great show of 'normal' for abour 1 and a half or two hours, then I can't do it any more. Overheated that bit of re-routed wiring - need it to cool down again.

Also explains why I can do stuff, but more slowly than other people. I can see expressions...really slowly. Decode body language...really slowly. Decide what the right thing is to say...really slowly. I'm having to use wiring that is too thin and slow to give me the ideas and info fast enough.

But...there's other stuff my brain can do way, way faster than other people. And in some cases, better. Not true for everyone on the autism spectrum, but recent figures suggest it is true for quite a large number of us (at every point on the spectrum). Like the weird thing I can do with famous artists...there was a piccy of a supposed painting by Lowry in the papers and instantly I could tell it was a fake even without reading the article. My brain 'sees' the whole picture and every detail of what the artist did. Even the art experts were fairly fooled by it, it seems.

I guess those bits got all the main wiring.

Yes that sounds very much like ds. He focuses more on the world in shapes, patterns, colours and sounds.
If I ask what happened on a school trip he would have memorised things he heard and saw, but the other children would have been overlooked, they don't get a mention.
Amberlight, when did you know you had autism?

'Afterwards you probably replay whole conversations in your head and wish you had/hadn't said things.
' yup, even from age 5 or on here.
Still.

And YY to alcohol though as there is a big history of alcoholism in dad's side of the family I try to keep drinking as a rare thing. I am sure we have the genes for it to get out of control.

OTOH as Amber says there are benefits: I have a memory that once managed to retain an entire act of a west end play for years on hearing it once, great for exams and winning arghuments when you can repeat back a conversation from three eyars ago verbatim LOL. And I can write well (not type LOL, I know that ) so have had things published a few times and spot syntax errors and the like easily- indeed a van proclaiming to offer 'garanteed work' made me feel ill last week, that happens to my Mum as well: we couldn't eat in the pub offering vegitarian meals, or the cafe offering omlets.

Is a funny old thing the mind eh?

DS1 is a real victim of the holding it togetehr thing: he's on his second week at summer scheme and after a good week last week by Friday he was in the garrden with teh abck door lcoked (safe, six foot walls) smashing his way through the doorr with a swingball spike whilst we all sat in the front room out of the way of potentially falling glass ( DLA: one new door!). And the potion making is back too. Same old story.

Oh dear! Sounds quite scary.
Potion making?

Ah yes: one of his things. Can be whatever he finds- herns and spices, cosmetics, whatever- seems to have an urge.

One on occasion he took one ot school in an attempt to poison another child but luckily otehr child not that stupid to drink it!

DS1 is complex though; his Psych admits he may well end up in prison and that really, he was amde to be a dictaorr not a member of a democracy.

Oh dear! How old is he?

He'll be eleven in December. He's just ahd a statement rise though and we're hoping for a aplce at a specilaist AS school for Comp (will know November).

DS3 has mroe severe ASD in termrs of clinical DX but he is very different- his alck of social skills is the other side of the coin: he is everyone's best friend, people adore him. Funny how different theya re.

Yes, they can be very different.
Saying that my ds used to be very temperamental and was like a time bomb always waiting to explode.
Now he is generally quite calm, when things are predictable for him.

DeepThought, I knew I was on the autism spectrum ten years ago, but didn't get a formal DX until 5 years ago and then went for a second DX of different type 2years ago (long story but the first one was written in science rather than language people could read - great for me, useless for telling people what I need). Then an update fairly recently when we had new info about my early communication skills etc (was originally classed as Aspergers but now 'HFA')

I bet you felt so much better after finally getting a diagnosis. It's a bit like being in limbo beforehand.

Yes in a way, though the complete lack of services is a bit of a downer (to use an expression). It's like having a rail ticket and finding out there's no rail and no trains.

amber: i'm finding your posts really interesting (great analogy on the services!). Can you elaborate on your early communication skills? Did you have a receptive/expressive language delay/disorder when you were a child? I'm asking this as I'm trying to understand my dd2 and some of what you've written is ringing true of her.
Thanks x

I'm no good with SALT terms about language, but we know that I used language only repetitively and with absolutely no real understanding of communication until I was nearly school age- I repeated phrases I'd heard in what I thought was the right context, upsetting and alarming people all over the village, it seems. I didn't know I was a person until I was 10, and couldn't hold a meaningful conversation with someone for many more years than that. Originally they were looking at the fact that I was speaking at all, and counting that as Aspergers, but now they're not at all sure there's any difference between aspergers and HFA anyway. And just repeating stuff like a budgie would do isn't 'using language'.
Even now, if asked to talk to someone unexpectedly, I haven't a clue how to do it.

I've learned to use very complicated language and very complicated writing by repeating phrases I've heard thousands of times and practising putting them into sentences. But my word skills on tests register in 'learning disability' levels because I can only use them in that certain way. Can't even do simple crosswords. It fascinates the experts.

DT, it came back to me re hair tests: the other place where you could do hair test is Biolab in London. I did some other tests with them, and seen they do hair as well but haven't asked the price as it was after we had done ours.

Thank you night cat i'm going to use the original one you linked me to. I read all the stuff on the site and it seems very good.
I'm Just waiting a couple of weeks for his hair to grow a bit more.
I'm going to send one for me and him, See if I can find out more about the polycystic ovary syndrome. - should be interesting.

DT, I haven't forgotten, just no time at the mo to get our urine tests results out again, I am now curious if ammonia was there and how much
I will be asking for another retest in the next few weeks, is there anything specific you are aware of in urine that might be worth testing? I normally ask for aminoacids and whatever else they do for urine..