Masturbation/Mercury Poisoning

[Guest guest]

Moria has posted great links on our site that have often answered many of

my questions about what is going on with my seven-year old mercury-poisoned son.

The site below is a valuable 106 page document with tables comparing symptoms of

autism to symptoms of mercury poisoning. Sallie Bernard, Binstock, and

Lyn Redwood are a few of the noteworthy names associated with this report/paper.

http://www.autism.com/ari/mercurylong.html

Pages 28-30 of this document address some of the unusual behaviors associated

with autism/mercury poisoning to include masturbatory tendencies. It states

that " ...priapism, persistent erection of the penis due to a pathologic

condition resulting in pain and tenderness, has been noted in boys with mercury

poisoning (Amin-Zaki et al, 1978). " It also states, " The frequent temper

tantrums of a previously normal 12-year old, poisoned by mercury vapor, included

hitting herself on the head and screaming; furthermore, she had extreme genital

burning and was observed to masturbate even in front of others (Fagala and Wigg,

1992). "

This has helped me quite a bit in understanding what my son is experiencing. He

has a medical reason for this that hopefully will be set to rights once the

metals are chelated out. Just the same, I feel we must teach our children what

are suitable and unsuitable behaviors. We have never seen ph stimulating

himself, however, we did notice about a year ago that our son was pressing

himself against us when hugging us and he particularly wanted to lay his pelvis

on my husband's feet when my husband took his shoes off. After much

deliberation and prayer we decided to teach him that this behavior is " bad

touching " . Although his language abilities are very weak, he now says " bad

touch " when he feels himself becoming aroused when hugging us for a prolonged

period of time or when rough-housing, and he now voluntarily withdraws. He

still laughs inappropriately about this but that is o-k for now. We are a very

affectionate family and we all hug a lot. Had he not learned to tell us what he

was feeling, we would not always know when to terminate a hug because it was

stimulating him in an improper way. Learning what is a " bad touch " at this

stage in the game not only will help him adapt to society's rules in the future

but may help protect him from sexual predators, heaven forbid. Even though he

has a medical reason for his unusual behavior, we know we must guide him in

developing self-control in this area. This applies to all areas of his

behavior. We have created an ever-expanding " Rule Book " teaching him with

pictures (using Mayer-'s software, Writing With Symbols) what a

particular rule is (no pooping in the bathtub, no playing with matches, etc.)

and emphasizing that he must obey Mommy/Daddy and what the consequence of his

disobedience will be (no computer, no desert, and yes - spanking - for those

infractions that would put his or others' lives at risk). Our children,

especially our special children, must learn that this world has rules that they

must comply with, that they are accountable for their actions and that there are

consequences to their actions. Their very lives may depend on how well they

comply and are willingly obedient to our - and one day, society's - rules. It

is the best gift we can give them other than getting the metals out.

DJ