Saturday, November 6, 2010

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Opening the proverbial can of worms


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That's right, folks, I'm going to bring up a VERY controversial subject. Indeed, a subject that has parents, medical professionals, chemists, and the government alike screaming and yelling and debating  talking. Let it be noted that I will be playing the part of Switzerland throughout. 

Chelation. I had heard snippets about it here and there, nothing big, nothing resembling a hard sell. Then, after starting this blog, I had a parent tell me that I should sell anything, borrow anything, do anything... to get my Logan to a certain doctor in Phoenix for chelation treatments to "cure him".  


I offer the following videos, and would appreciate it if you watched them before reading on.

Part 1



Part 2



And now, this is where I learn from everyone else, rather than pretending to be informed. Thus, the reason for being Switzerland.

It is clear that this is very much a debate. There are those that swear it works, those that swear there is little or no effect. I have questions for all of you, no matter which camp you belong to.

  • Do you think autism is caused by an outside source, such as a vaccine/series of vaccines, or pollution, which then causes mercury poisoning, which then causes your child's autism, or do you think it is genetic/a developmental issue that a child can "grow out of"/ somewhat autoimmune?
  • Would you ever consider chelation treatments for your child?
  • If the answer to the above queston is yes, would you opt for chemical chelation or food derived chelation?
  • If you are now, or have previously, administered chelation treatments to your child, did you search out a DAN! doctor, or do the research yourself and find a naturopath with like views?
  • Do you think diet and therapy should be replaced by chelation treatments in autistic children, or should they work in tandem?
  • There have been stories about certain DAN! doctors who gave chelation treatments to children who had mercury levels that were NOT excessive. What do you think testing requirements should be?
  • If chelation is administered, how should parent/physician culpability be determined if there are ill effects/harm/death as a result of this treatment?
Please remember, I am Switzerland. I am not offering an opinion, nor am I advocating for or against. However, I think the conversation which will inevitably result could be beneficial. 


I welcome your comments. Please keep in mind the fact that this is a family friendly site. If in doubt, look at the picture of my sweet baby above. If the words you are thinking could be said to my angel ( never forget the fact that he has a vicious Momma bear), then please share them here. Keep it clean, keep it respectful. I will consider such behavior a personal favor.  Now, then.  Bring it on!

2 comments:

Gina @ Special Happens said...

Lots of questions....I'm *not* switzerland. I do believe Mercury has a role and I do believe other environmental factors have a role in autism's development. I do not dismiss the physiological (genetic) coupling in the mess, but I *DO NOT* believe it's some random, latent gene that all of a sudden has 'woken up' and started this mass rise in autism. (cough...really?!?!)

Yes, I have and am considering Chelation for our son. I have not decided what type. For our family, we need to wait until other things even out. I would research myself, as I do with everything and have 2 reputable names from our very trusted nutritionist. When the time comes, they will be researched as well.

I do not think diet and therapy should step aside for Chelation. It's a puzzle. Every therapy, every diet, every treatment has its place. In my (personal) opinion and experience, you go with the least invasive first. We've been doing therapy. We've begun the diet. We have other diagnosis that have to be quieted first before we can directly go to Chelation, but it is a piece of our puzzle, especially considering our son's mercury levels.

For the last question, I don't know. We are the parents making the decisions, but we are also the parents trusting in the expertise of the doctors. *And you didn't ask, but none of my children *will ever* receive a mercury filled vaccine again.

Jessica said...

The TACT study showed chelation doesn't work, and there was no scientific, physiological reason to believe it did anyway. Other reasons to suspect genetics: ASD kids are more likely than NT kids to have engineers in their family history. (To go along with this, the average mathematician or engineer scores a 21 on the AQ, the average person scores a 16.) ASD kids' siblings often have autist-like traits even if they aren't diagnosable. Populations that don't vaccinate still have ASDs. Some parents have one autistic child, then don't vaccinate the next child and that child still has an ASD. Rates of ASDs go up in places where there are a lot of systemizers, such as Silicon Valley.

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