Metal Poisoning

Both my son's fit the profile for asperger's syndrome (AS), which is an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). So a lot of what I have learned about alternative remedies comes from communities of people who discuss alternative medicine for treating ASD. Over the years, starting at age 16 (several years before I even had kids), I have read a great many articles and a few books about autism and related disorders. I have seen many articles which proclaim to have found THE cure for it, often by parents who found something which worked for their own child and some other children. I filed that info away and noted that there were lots of different thoughts on what worked but no consistent answer, singular answer.

However, at this point in time, my best understanding is that about 75% of people with an ASD improve with chelation (removal of metals from the body) and there is reason to believe that they have a genetic predisposition to retain metals. Treating someone for metal poisoning usually also involves treating them for viral issues, bacterial issues, gut problems, yeast overgrowth, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and sometimes parasites. (Coincidentally, I have treated myself and my sons for ALL of those things in trying to get well while living with cystic fibrosis and in defiance of medical opinion that we cannot get well and shouldn't aspire to it.) That list of issues actually includes the majority of "miracle cures" for ASD that I have read.

For many years prior to learning what I know about metal poisoning, I have taken some of the same precautions that many people currently take who are trying to address metal poisoning. I had read snippets over the years and I felt I didn't need absolute proof in order to consider these precautions reasonable. So here are some things I have done for a long time already:

• Avoided aluminum cookware and limited use of any metal cookware. I prefer glass bakeware and enamel cookware. I also liked my Visions glass cookware but my understanding is that is no longer made. Some people still buy it second-hand.
• I never allowed any dentist to give my kids amalgam fillings. I had tons of them in my own mouth from having lots of dental problems as a kid. I am healthier since losing 5 molars with large amalgam fillings and as an adult I have never allowed any dentist to do amalgam fillings in my mouth either.
• I avoid use of aluminum foil in cooking as well.

Autism-mercury

This is a yahoo group. I am still subscribed but have not been active there in recent months. I learned a LOT there about dealing with gut issues and about metal poisoning. This is also the means by which I became acquainted with the other sources listed here (below).

Mercury Detox: Information, Tools, and Resources

This is Moria Merriweather's website. It is a compendium of links to good posts on the autism-mercury list and commentary by her. A unique and valuable resource for quickly getting at some of the gems of wisdom and experience that can be found in the huge archive of posts.

Dana's View from the Inside (home page) Biological and Medical Information section

This is a website created by a mother of a child diagnosed with "classic Kanner syndrome" (full blown autism) and told that her child would never be more intelligent than your average infant. She has successfully treated him for all of the issues listed above (metal poisoning, vitamin deficiencies, gut issues, viral issues, etc). She posts regularly on the autism-mercury list and probably on other lists as well. She is a wealth of information.

Amalgam Illness Diagnosis and Treatment

This is a book by Dr. Andrew Hall Cutler. I think he has written more than one book on the topic. He also posts on various chelation lists and is a wealth of information.

Last, I want to note that a few people have asked if there is a connection between cystic fibrosis and metal poisoning. I suspect there is. I cannot cite any formal studies at this time but both Celiac's and ASD seem to occur at abnormally high rates in the CF community and I have heard credible testimony that both ASD and Celiac's a) have a genetic component which makes them abnormally vulnerable to metal poisoning and b) symptoms are often triggered by exposure to metals (such as the preservative thimersol found in some vaccines).