New Autism Cure - breakthrough treatments and cures for autism

It is believed that Mercury plays a large role in adversely affecting brain cells in people with Autism. Those who don’t believe that Mercury is the culprit mostly stand by the results of tests being done on the brain, and mercury not being found. It makes sense - if there is no Mercury being found, then how is it affecting the body? Out of sarcasm, some naysayers say “What, is the Mercury hiding or something?”

In a sense, yes.

In order to remove Mercury or other heavy metals, they must first be located. The brain is showing signs of effects similar to mercury, but it’s not being found. The mystery has stunned and stumped researchers. Until now.

A few weeks ago, we talked a bit about Biofilm. (Feel free to catch up by reading the post here).  As a brief summary, Biofilm is the substance that bacteria, parasites,  and other microbes often hide themselves in to avoid antibiotics and other treatment methods. Not only are the hidden bacteria damaging, but it has been found that the biofilm itself may contain damaging contents, particularly heavy metals.

For some time, we were unable to break down the Biofilm, or find out what its contents are. Researchers have found that digestive enzymes from the earthworm family can be utilized to assist in the digestion of the Biofilm and to release not only what the protective matrix is holding onto within it’s walls, but also what it’s covering up, which is often infections, bacteria, parasites and other gut disturbing particles.

It has been found that heavy metals often are part of the Biofilm matrix. Because the Biofilm is negatively charged, it attracts things like heavy metals which are positively charged and holds tight to them. The Mercury and other heavy metals being in the digestive system cause the same effect on brain cells as they would if they were actually contained in the brain.

In order to detoxify the body of such metals, they have to be released out of the grips of the biofilm. Once they’re released Chelation therapy can be initiated in order to remove the metals.

Sounds good, right?

As with many things, the proof ends up being in the results. As logical and simple as this all sounds, what have been the results of finding biofilm in the stomach, breaking it down, releasing the metals and bacteria, and detoxing the body?

There are several posts throughout the Autism Message boards discussing biofilm protocol. One testimonial in particular that I’d like to share is from Grace.

Grace has a young daughter, Jaden who has Autism. They began the Biofilm Protocol, and while very rigorous and time sensitive dosing of medication was involved, she saw results. Grace reported that Jaden was very ornery, and learned to lie and steal. She also was having very large and interesting bowel movements. In a nutshell, Jaden is a handful. Grace says:

“Why do we put up with this?, you might be asking. Because all of those difficult moments mean the yeast and bacteria are being pulled from their mucousy biofilm, where they were safe before, and killed! Once the protocol is over  Jaden will likely not need antifungals very often. We sent off her urine two weeks ago and received the results today–proof that the protocol is going to work for Jaden!

The good things we have seen: much independence! Getting out of bed on her own and turning on the TV and petting the cat while waiting for me to come out. Getting dressed completely on her own. Getting her own drinks from the cooler and the refrigerator. Using words like ‘disgraceful’ and ‘gross’. Having a phone conversation with her sister and answering every single question–correctly! Enjoying (and asking to go to) the public library and picking out books for herself. Then making me read them over and over and over. She learned to zipper and isn’t afraid of the vacuum anymore!”

It’s one of those stories that you hear relatively often in the world of Autism. For as many studies as there are supporting the idea that Mercury, a metal found in medication, dental fillings and water, has an affect on those with Autism, there is another study that disproves the theory. Though it’s known that one of the symptoms of Mercury Poisoning is impairment of speech, hearing, walking and other developmental elements, it’s not completely proven that it in fact causes Autism, despite its ability to cause developmental impairments in children.

A recent study done at the University of California-Davis aimed at comparing the mercury levels in children.

“We looked at blood-mercury levels in children who had autism and children who did not have autism,” said lead author Irva Hertz-Picciotto, a professor of environmental and occupational health.

“The bottom line is that blood-mercury levels in both populations were essentially the same. However, this analysis did not address a causal role, because we measured mercury after the diagnosis was made.”

The study itself focused on children ages 2-5 years old, and investigated their mercury intake in things such as fish consumption, nasal sprays, and vaccinations.

Children who had dental fillings made of mercury and were known to chew gum had higher mercury-blood levels. Also, children who consumed fresh water fish, such as tuna.

The study was carried out on 452 children: 249 were diagnosed as autistic, 143 were deemed to be developing normally and 60 showed retarded development such as Down Syndrome.

“Just as autism is complex, with great variation in severity and presentation, it is highly likely that its causes will be found to be equally complex. It’s time to abandon the idea that a single ’smoking gun’ will emerge to explain why so many children are developing autism,” said Hertz-Picciotto.

Canadian neurotherapist Paul Swingle will be the first to admit that his methods of treatment for Autism are often criticized. Many claim that there are no dependable studies that prove his neurotherapy sessions work.  Melanie Lewis of Harrogate, England is a firm believer in Swingle’s treatment and she says her son is proof of its effectiveness.

When Melanie’s son, Martin was three years old, she and her husband began to worry about him. His speech was delayed, he lacked coordination and was unable to focus on any one thing for too long. He soon began to have seizures and visited doctor after doctor who would simply give him more medication and send them on their way.

At 8 1/2 years old, Martin began having a different kind of seizure.  Melanie took him to several different doctors and neurologists who gave negative prognosis and their answers were to up his dosages on his medication. Melanie says, “It was a time of fairly major disillusionment in the medical system.”

Melanie, a doctor and her husband, previously a doctor, now a lawyer have always taken a “proactive” approach to their son’s condition. They tried everything from modifying his diet to horse-back riding to having him take Ritalin and anti-seizure medication. None of these things seemed to help, at least not dramatically.

It was across the world that Melanie would soon locate Paul Swingle, a psychologist from Vancouver. She says she was browsing around the internet and came across Swingle’s website. The neurotherapy that he specializes in made sense to Melanie and this convinced her to fly halfway across the world to try to find a successful treatment for her son.

Having surfaced in the 70’s, neurotherapy was introduced to treat a variety of disorder’s including attention deficit disorder, autism, epilepsy and addiction. It has also been used as treatment for stoke victims.

Swingle describes neurotherapy treatment as involving normalizing, modifying and optimizing brain functioning.  He goes on to say that “We find areas [of the brain] that are not functioning efficiently.” Then neurotherapeutic exercises are introduced to stimulate the non-functioning areas.The idea is similar to physical exercises that enhance muscles.

The first step in the neurotherapy treatment is an initial analysis which includes the measurement of brainwaves. An electroencephalograph (EEG) is used to determine which brain waves are excessive and which are under or dysfunctional. This information is then used to give feedback to the patient and they can then learn how to regulate their brain waves to achieve successful relief from symptoms.

Swingle says that “self-regulation” of brain activity can be compared to using Yoga and meditation to reach complete relaxed states, focusing on the power of the mind. He says this can mind control also be achieved using neurotherapy exercises.

What exercises are used to reach the point of regulation? Swingle explains in his book, Biofeedback for the Brain:  How Neurotherapy Effectively Treats Depression, ADHD, Autism and More that “A brain-controlled Pac-Man game is often a popular and effective reward. Using rewards of sounds and game-like computer images that provide information about successful brain regulation allows the person to learn what concentration feels like and, better yet, how to sustain that mental state.”

Melanie admits that she was a bit nervous about flying across the world to have her son take part in a treatment that she hardly knew anything about - but the changes she has seen have made her a believer.  Within 5 days, Melanie claims Martin was off of the Ritalin that he had been on since he was 2 years old. He hasn’t had any since.  Though he still does take anti-seizure medication, his dosage has been cut in half since he began neurotherapy. Melanie also reports that she has seen drastic changes in Martin’s behavior, social skills and cognitive function.

As mentioned, neurotherapy has its critics.  On QuackWatch.com, along with Facilitated Communication which we discussed a few weeks ago, Neurotherapy is listed as a method of treatment that “should be avoided. ” Although documented cases of success exist, ” a comprehensive review has concluded that none of these claims is supported by well-designed studies.”

Despite this, Melanie explains that being a parent of a child who has diagnosed disorders you will try anything to help them. Neurotherapy has worked for her son and she’s happy for this.

Neurotherapy sessions with Swingle cost about $105 per session.  It is also worth mentioning that this method is traditionally only used with high-functioning autistic children in an attempt to correct dysfunctional brain-wave patterns.

Parents - Can you remember exactly what you were doing with your child when they were 47 days old? Seems to be a  random question to ask, and one that I wouldn’t be surprised if you were not able to accurately answer. Scott and Deanna Gromowski will certainly not forget that they were saying goodbye to their newborn baby son, Ian on his 47th day of life.

Ian was born 2 weeks premature. Weighing in at an impressive 8 lbs, 1.5 oz and 20 1/2 inches tall, he seemed to be as healthy as any baby should be. Soon after he was born, the doctor’s decided to move Ian to the NICU due to fear of Meconium Aspiration (MAS), which is the inhalation of meconium and amniotic fluid. This can occur before, during or after birth and is very common. In the most extreme of cases, the infant is placed in ICU for 2 weeks while the fluid drains from the lungs.

After being in the NICU for 24 hours, it was confirmed that Ian had MAS along with a fever and rapid breathing. He had to be fed via a stomach tube. Despite his condition, the doctors remained confident that Ian would be released to go home that day. Scott and Deanna were overjoyed and started preparing to go home with their new baby boy.

Despite the doctor’s confidence of Ian’s expected release, Deanna had something eating away at her - Mommy Instinct. She noticed that Ian seemed to be constantly in pain and wincing at it. The nurses were called and Ian was transferred again to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Mom and Dad waited patiently for news on his condition.

On day 4 of his most recent trip to the NICU, Ian was celebrating his one week birthday. Things seemed to be looking up for the little fighter, and the doctor’s again gave the promise of his release the following day. All that was left was to take a hearing test and receive a Hepatitis B vaccination. He received his shot and by the evening, he had had a severe allergic reaction. He broke out in hives, and the Doctor’s and Nurses had no explanation - except for one: “It can’t be the vaccine. Vaccines don’t cause this type of reaction.”

Over the next few days, Ian became increasingly more ill. His platelet count went down, more hives appeared, his posture was described as “seizure like” and he was no longer eating. In addition, he was having trouble breathing. One doctor believed that Ian had some kind of virus and only had a 50/50 chance of survival. In the days to come, Ian progressed to stopping breathing every so often. Eventually his breathing ceased all together and he became filled with fluid. Scott and Deanna had Ian baptized and on the same day they made the risky decision to have him transported to Children’s Hospital. There was a high risk that Ian would not survive the transport.

To every one’s surprise, Ian kept on fighting and made it successfully to Children’s Hospital where a battery of tests were done, blood was taken, and a bone marrow biopsy was done. Scott and Deanna watched close by in horror as their son was examined, and tested. Deanna says on her website:

“I cannot imagine how my son was feeling at that moment. He was such a good boy. While Scott and I were devastated and exhausted, we would have given anything to have traded places with Ian.”

As he became progressively worse, every department of Children’s Hospital saw Ian, from Dermatology to Infectious Diseases. No one had a definite explanation for Ian’s condition or if it would worsen or improve. The only thing everyone seemed to agree on was that it “definitely wasn’t the Hepatitis Vaccine.” He received blood transfusions, and antibiotics. Rashes continued to develop, and it was found that he was allergic to some of the antibiotics that were being administered.

When Ian was just one month old, he went into surgery to have a tube put into his stomach to drain the fluid that had developed inside of him. This would also hopefully help his kidneys which had also begun to shut down. “Through it all,” Deanna recounts, “Ian remained a peaceful strong boy. He made us proud to be his parents.” After some time, his Kidneys began to work on their own. As wonderful as this was to hear, there was still a long road ahead, and Ian’s liver had swollen so badly, that it was visible through his stomach which was very swollen and looked very much like an over inflated balloon. The liver had began to heal itself, but Deanna and Scott knew that all of the medications were proving to be counter productive for Ian. They requested that he be taken off all pain medication and soon after this decision, Ian began to look better. He would open his eyes, and his movement increased dramatically.

No sooner could Deanna and Scott be given a glimmer of hope, Ian took a turn for the worse. During one of his Bone Marrow biopsies, he was accidentally given one of the antibiotics that he was found to be allergic to. They placed Ian on a Bone Marrow Transplant list, but he became increasingly more sick and his breathing which should have been at 100%, hovered just as 60%. His body was giving up on him, but Ian fought to the very last moment.

His last breath was taken at 1AM on August 10th, 2007. He was just 47 days old.

Deanna and Scott did much research into baby Ian’s condition and soon found documentation that proved that though uncommon, there are such things as allergic reactions to vaccinations. In addition they found that there is no treatment available for allergic reactions to such vaccines.

On their website, Ian’s Voice, Deanna and Scott share this bit of information:

Fact: It is suggested that infants get the hepatitis B shot before they leave the hospital. It is not required.

Fact: You can work out your own vaccination schedule and guidelines with your pediatrician.

Fact: You can order vaccines directly from the drug company with fewer additives and in single doses.

Fact: An infant’s immune system is very weak at birth. The hepatitis B vaccine can cause serious reactions if the system is already compromised, as was Ian’s.

Deanna went a step further and had a professional at Children’s Hospital write a case report on Ian’s condition and submitted it to see if there were any other like cases. It was found that several like cases had been reported - let alone those that had not been reported.

One of Ian’s neonatologists at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin did report Ian’s case to VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System).  She also wanted to document Ian’s life in a case study for the Journal of American Academy of Pediatrics. Children’s Hospital would not allow her to do this.

It’s important that as a parent to know your rights and be made aware of the dangers of  vaccinations. Though often helpful in warding off illness, the fact of the matter is that vaccines can also be dangerous. If your child has a reaction to a vaccination, be sure to have a VAERS report done so that more parents can be made aware of the ever growing number of  negative reaction cases.

Had Deanna and Scott been made aware of the risks and sometimes fatal side effects of the Hepatitis vaccine, they might have decided against their son getting the vaccine that would cost him his life. Different people have different opinions on vaccines and their benefits - one thing is for certain - Ian was a strong little boy who fought to the end of his short life. He was determined to live, but you can only survive so long when your body is working against you.

Ian’s detailed story and pictures can be found on the website that Deanna created in his honor. The pictures are very difficult to look at, but tell Ian’s story more accurately that anyone else could.

It’s as best time as any to say that Ian is gone, but will never ever be forgotten.