Pondering Causes (was: Love him or hate him)

[Guest guest]

Excellent letter, . I try to stay middle of the road on most of the

" controversies " as to the cause of autism but do read as much as I can on

all sides. I think it's sad that so much fighting seems to be keeping us

from really finding the answers. I'd love to see Dr. Goldberg share his vast

knowledge more with other doctors or researchers since he clearly has a

history of effectively treating at least one part of the puzzle. I try to

understand the studies coming out but many are over my head. My thoughts to

ponder are below.

In a message dated 1/6/2011 11:26:21 P.M. Central Standard Time,

thecolemans4@... writes:

<<Autism is a medical disorder, not developmental, not genetic, and not

vaccine

damage. You cannot have a genetic or developmental epidemic - it's

scientifically impossible. >>

I agree that the larger number of cases especially with clear physical

problems these days points to a medical disorder. I don't think that genetics

has been ruled out though and some of the research points in that

direction. I'm very intrigued by the genetic mutations Dr. Amy Yasko has found

in

people with autism, chronic fatigue and other disorders. I'm not so sure

about how effective her treatment protocol is but the patterns are

interesting. Also, I heard an interesting speaker a few years ago from UT

Southwestern that talked about how the mutation of genes can lead to problems.

There are various triggers for these mutations, including environmental. In

the end, I don't think they'll find one gene that causes autism, but rather

groupings that make one more susceptible to various immune-related disorders.

<<Vaccines can only exacerbate a pre-existing problem, resulting in

certain

injuries. Autism has many studies showing immune dysfunction - however,

while

many try to show the vaccines are causing the dysfunction, it is

incorrect.

It's an incorrect paradigm. There is chronic immune activation, causing

chronic

immune activation in the brain, >>

I would agree with them exacerbating a pre-existing problem but would like

more research on what they are doing in the bodies of those with

pre-existing conditions. The constant fight against vaccines causing any harm

seems

to drown out the interesting research that could help us determine what is

going awry in some. Here is a link to some very interesting study

citations on measles and gastro problems, as well as other studies that found a

unique form of inflamatory bowel disease in autistic patients:

_http://www.cryshame.co.uk//index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id=124 & It

emid=210_

(http://www.cryshame.co.uk//index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id=124 & Itemid\

=210)

As I read a few of these last night, I was struck by the mention of

esoniphilic colitis in many of the patients. I recall Dr. G fussing with me

constantly about my son's high EOS counts (ranged from 7-10% at that time)

insisting that it had to be dietary. Except for the two times that an ignorant

relative sneaked milk products into my son's food, we followed the diet

extremely strictly so this was very frustrating for me. Over the last two

years, I've noticed that my son's EOS counts are now 3%. He still follows a

diet, but much less strictly than when we were working with Dr. G. So what

has changed? On the advice of his endocrinologist, he started taking

Periactin, an allergy medication many gastro doctors use. He's been able to

eat without discomfort much better since then so perhaps that's it. Or,

perhaps being on the medicines for so long has helped better regulate his

system.

<<The fierce belief that mercury causes autism is because the near

criminal

practice of chelation for mercury etc actually can show immediate and

significant improvements in some kids - but it likely has nothing to do

with

mercury being removed. Chelation can actually modulate the immune system

and

temporarily reduce the inflammation>>

I find the immune modulating effects of some chelators interesting but I

don't think this fully explains the benefit some are seeing from chelation.

If it was, it would seem that most of the people would regress when they

stopped chelating or at least after a period of time like they do when

they stop anti-virals or other immune modulators.

<<findings of higher levels of metals like mercury in a person can be the

result of chronic

immune activation or chronic infection, because the magnificent body will

disable the part that removes these, just keeping it safely disabled while

it

works on infection or inflammation. It has nothing to do with

consumption. If

a body gets healthy, it will dump all it's metals on it's own far better

than

chelation ever could.>>

The question still remains what is causing this chronic immune activation

or infection in so many people? Just like a healthy body having a

tendency to effectively rid itself of toxic metals, isn't it also effective at

fighting off viruses? Where is the breakdown happening? And why does it seem

to be happening so much more now? The retrovirus theory is also very

intriguing but it also doesn't seem to be the answer in my mind. In the end, I

think we'll find that there are a large combination of factors that

trigger the problem, sadly all working together to send people over the edge to

different degrees.

Gaylen