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?

Amber: your words really struck me because that's the first time I've spoken to someone who may actually understand dd2. Dd2 is 5, she is really bright, fiercely independent, you only have to show her how to do something once and she gets it, but language is a different matter: it's as if she's learnt English as a foreign language but all scrambled up and is now trying to relearn it properly. You'd wouldn't know if you talked to her briefly - she has her everyday responses worked out - but anything out of context or actual conversation itself trips her up big time. She?s aware of this and has learnt to skilfully distract people?s attention onto something else where she can show rather tell. I?ve taught her to read and I believe that it has already helped enormously with learning more vocabulary and sentence structure, though this did present a few problems initially, e.g she could not accept that letters in different fonts/size/colour were still the same letter - the differences overruled the concept.

Like you Amber, my dd2 will learn language and conversation (I believe this strongly) . I admit though that I hope that by teaching her to be the same as everyone else that it doesn?t take away that intensely visual way of seeing things, that originality of thought.
It?s hugely helpful to meet someone like you who can give an insight into what it's like to live with and overcome language difficulties. Thankyou.

Nightcat can you get a urine test done for gut bacteria, specifically Candida albicans?
Since there are skin problems there may be an imbalance in gut flora.

I give my ds probiotics on and off when I feel that he needs them to keep things in check.

Also talking about urine, it seems a study has just been done which has identified certain chemical structures that are different in autistic children. I have only read a little so far, but it looks interesting.

I think that ammonia may have been caused by the ph level of the body, I once read that when ammonia was high a child simply would not eat meat. I don't know how true that Is, it sounds very clever.

I think autism is many different things.

I don't think ds1's autism is at all like the majority with AS in terms of genetics, affect on brain structure or anything really. Maybe some form of sensory processing is shared, but more extremely disordered in ds1 although (very limited) research has suggested it might be quite different in those who remain non-verbal at older ages.

Donna Williams is really good on this topic imo. Link to some of her writings. I don't think she write specifically about mercury but she does write a lot about the immune system.

ds3 (NT) btw has the same urinary profile as ds1 (non-verbal aged 11). They shared many similar issues (which can be related to autism) as well - repeated ear infections, gut problems, some headbanging (still in ds1 - stopped in ds3 when we fiddled with diet when he was tiny).

There's no autism or AS in our large extended families (I have 23 first cousins so plenty of opportunity!) but a lot of immune issues and immune related disorders.

oh I scoffed loads of tuna with ds1 (as did he) - it was before Krebs changed the guidelines. He had mercury containing DTP and I had antiD (does it make it into milk?)

Obviously I had antiD with ds3 as well, but no mercury jabs and limited tuna.

DT, I had a look at my ds results and :( urea wasn't tested, no surprise I didn't remember anything about it. His urine tests were just aminoacids. But will add fungal/bacterial & urea next time.
However, in our aminoacids I picked up taurine deficiency, which has subsequently improved and also citrulline deficiency, that was looking into and didn't understand it then (liver converts citrulline to arginine and thankfully arginine did show up although also deficient). This conversion (plus various others) depend on Zn too and arginine detoxifies ammonia..

MY GOD, it all fits together, thank you for pointing me in that direction. It was so hard to try and read about every single aminoacid w/o knowing how it all fits together. So, Zn comes out again, will step it up gently.
In hair he was deficient in Zn, Mg and excessive in copper and lead (copper DOUBLE of normal, but been told that ZN will push it out).
BTW, don't worry about giving your ds herbs, this type of detox is really gentle, I do the same, but wouldn't do anything more agressive. People on celiac.com eat them by handfuls to either detox of fix deficiencies (eg iron). My ds so loves herbs now that he always ask for more and every main meal has loads of these.

Ah, I was going to link this, a brief writeup which makes sense to me now.

DT, one more link for you about how to understand hair analysis, found it very useful.

DT, I found a blood test that had urea, it was close to upper range, so it all adds up.

Night cat, sorry I have just seen these messages. I wish I could get an email when replies are made.
That all sounds fantastic, it seems that you are putting these defences right. You must have done some pretty intense research there! :)

It is just so complicated, but when you get to the root of the deficiencies/overloads the other things seem to also work themselves out.
I will read up on the links you posted soon. They sound to be just what I need.
How wonderful that your little one will have herbs, ha ha. I had to make my own garlic bread and grate coriander on it to try and pass it off as parsley ha ha.

I think I will think of new ways of putting them into his foods. Hee hee.

DT, have done more reading and can't thank you enough, it's shocking that no one was able to interpret our test results in this context. The increased levels of ammonia (= hyperammonemia) can affect brain function if prolonged and this is pretty much what was happening to my ds in the past and now I can see it in his results too! I don't think this was mentioned in Natasha Campbell-McBride's book - if it was I must have missed it.

Going back to your original mercury question, I reckon that it can be anything toxic that can ultimately restict brain development, mercury, other metals, additives etc. Brain then may not develop the way it should and restrict growth of structures or links. Funny that they developed the autism tests for adults (when brain is pretty much structurally developed) rather than children. This is actually hopeful that the young brain is still plastic enough to possibly adapt, esp if toxicity is removed.

(My ds problems were quite severe neuro and some autistic).

Your little comment opened another avenue for me, how brill is that. I will talk to our dr to repeat the tests (more are suggested in hyperammonemia publications).

Re: herbs, I always add loads to soups and caseroles, so many lovely things around, current favourite is dill, but I use them all.

DT, look what I found, I wonder why urea cycle is not checked more frequently
autism/urea cycle connection?

That is quite startling. The thing that rang alarm bell with me was the 'dragging of the right foot' as when my ds was younger he often walked with a limp. I notice it more now when I view old videos of him.

There are so many tests that should be done for autistic children. Instead of years of observation appointments I think doctors should jump in and check all major body functions especially where there is obvious delays/problems.

I don't know if it is just us, but we get a diagnosis of dispraxia and asd and they seem only interested in behaviour. The hives/allergies/weakened immune system etc... Are just ignored. We are then left to go and work these things out for ourselves.

My ds was found to be mildly anaemic, though this was never retested or dealt with in any of his 6 monthly appointments. This has been corrected now, but with no thanks to any doctor he has seen.

Another thing that I am looking into is acid/alkaline foods, as my ds eats only acidic foods - which is not good.

My ds was also lopsided, less so now, I think this is to do with left & right brain not communicating well, these are the links that they are supposed to be making as they grow, hence physical activity is very important. I have read loads of stuff to help my ds and glad I did, because I felt that unless I do something, no one else would bothered. It seems to pay off so far.

I find nutritional approach fascinating (mind-blowing really) but drs are not keeping up - or not interested - many are just trained to dish up tablets and only the brightest bunch are able to consider a wider picture.

I also find it hard to get any decent interpretation and often keep going back over the tests myself many times, like on this occasion.