I've finally got round to buying the book so highly recommended by Jimjams..Autism, Brain and Environment

[zippitippitoes]

and although I haven't yet got very far into it, it is extremely interesting.

I have ummed and aahed about getting it because it is only in hardback and expensive at 15.99, but now I have it is excellent and very thought provoking and well written.

Lots of coverage of really interesting material and although "academic" it is accessible to a lay person like me with no scientific background.

Is/has anyone else read it?

I'm about half way through now.

I've found the idea of there being so much heavy metal in seafood quite surprising, although I superficially knew that fish carried eg mercury I didn't realise how much.

I keep relating info in the book back to ds and the compromised immune system is very interesting..he has had skin infections, me at a young age and now most recently stomach ulcer.

His most challenging behaviour has also ameliorated as he went through his teens which is also mentioned in passing in the book.

Another interesting part which I had never heard before is the relationship between allergies and diabetes, asthma in the extended and immediate family etc to ASD

Yes, he's not keen on seafood is he. I ate loads of fish when pregnant with ds1 and used to give him tuna steak a lot (the fresh stuff). By the time I was pregnant with ds2 the fish warnings had been released.....

I keep thinking about fish and Japan....I would have thought that the diet there was by this theory richer in heavy metals and possibly quite polluted city wise?

The correlation betwen the gut and the brain is very well explained too, although my ability to understand the real science is extremely limited glossing over that he makes a very convincing argument.

Oh I lived in Japan

I'm not sure how polluted the sea is around there, in comparison. I think his point is that it is "susceptible" children who are at risk (from doses that are OK for non-susceptible)- I can't remember if its him who describes autistics as "early warning systems" and "caged canaries".

We've been very careful about heavy metal exposure for ds2 and ds3.

We have been heavily involved in "biomed" interventions for our boy for the last year and after numerous tests, supplementation and now chelation, are beginning to see vast improvements in all levels. We have a DAN practitioner and to the letter, all the things he predicted, that would come out in the tests and in behaviours in our boy, came true. He has many viral issues, gut bugs, the lot. Working to get those sorted but the best thing so far has been chelation. Plenty of yahoo groups with committed parents sharing knowledge about this subject.

mamadada.., what type of chelation are you doing? I was considering it, but got a bit put off.. so we are gf & almost cf, cooking from scratch mainly and supplements.
Can't find a good zinc sulfate tho (w/o soya).
AM considering homeopathy too.

Hi nightcat, under the direction of a DAN practitioner we are starting slow with a product called TTFD, its a mild chelator. Then we are working up to using DMSA if needed. WE have already seen TTFD working within a week! More words are coming out. We have been slowly building up to this point for months.

We also used MB12 (methylcobalamin) which for some kids is a godsend, but for our boy was too much too soon (see www.drneurbrander.com) and go to his videos section to see what other parents have to say about mb12. Lots of peer reviewed stuff on it as well.

Our boy was not vaccinated, and did not eat fish, nor did i, yet he still developed autism. I have about 30 huge mercury fillings in my mouth and if you are like me, you will have passed on the leaking mercury to your child. There is mercury everywhere, has been since time began, only much more now. Add to that, lead, aluminium arsenic, you name it and its just a boiling pot of toxins. Our water has lead in it from the old pipes. Over time, the lead builds up, lodges in the brain/bone and is difficult to get out. Just as an aside, i made the mistake of putting the TTFD (its a cream) on my boy without using a rubber glove. that day my mouth went haywire. It felt like my teeth were coming out. The mercury was being pulled out of my system. It cant be used on people who have mercury fillings. Just proved to me how much it works!!

expensive though and you need a prescription. There are all kinds of protocols for chelation, you have to read read read and do what you think is right. For us, this is right. Just started reading the book, looks really good.

nightcat, we use zinc picolinate from vitamin research products. You can get it at nutricentre for about £7.00. No junk, and very good, easily absorbable. Any reason why u are using zinc sulphate as opposed to any other kind?

mamad.., really appreciate your reply and the links. I need to compare the zinc supplements, the sulfate was mentioned in some research I read, looks like you covered enormous ground, I am new to this. I never realised you can have a cream, I thought it was all IV, although have heard about sprays.
I will come back to ask more, but must read up first as you say. Thanks again!!

mamadadawahwah, I have a few questions that you might be able to help with:

To reduce aluminium, did you get rid of the non-stick frying pans? What do you use instead? It struck me that this must be one of the sources of the increased aluminium.

The other one is, my son is on gf and virtually cf free diet, he has improved, but what do you think is the most likely culprit in increased anxiety: eggs, tomatoes (salicylates) or something else altogether?

I am still reading about DAN and chelation procedures, does your son have to have a lot of blood tests? Does the cream only deals with heavy metals or is there a risk that it might be lowering calcium as well? Mine doesn't eat fish, but I do (and did when pregnant), also I have old mercury fillings too.

And, I have ordered the book from the library, amazingly, it was on the shelf in a different location, so it's now in trnsit to me!

Nightcat, been looking through old messages, any progress with biomed?