Stem cell treatment for autism - anyone have experience?

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I have taken my 15 yr old son 3 times in the past year for stem cell treatments. My son regressed at 12 months of age after an illness and a round of several vaccines. Although I used to consider him mildly autistic because he had language, could read and write and was fairly cooperative the past several years he has become extremely difficult. Although we have done every possible biomedical intervention since he was 2 years old the past 3 years he has become very difficult due to PANDAS .......uncooperative, rages, panic attacks, uncooperative, no longer able to learn, difficult to take places. I believe the autoimmunity from the autism just got worse from the strep exposure. We did several IVIG's which helped but then the gains faded before we moved to stem

cells. In August 2011 we went to the Dominican Republic and my son received adipose stem cells from his stomach fat. The mini lipo procedure was easy and the stem cells were processed in a few hours and IV'd back into his arm. We saw gains within 24 hrs......no more anxiety, panic attacks, rages, very happy and cooperative. These gains lasted 4 to 6 weeks visitand tehn begain to fade. By 8 weeks post stem cells we were back to square one and back to doing monthly IVIG. In December 2011 we went to Panama where my son got both cord/placenta stem cells from fresh ananymous donors. The cord blood and placenta are throughly tested and screened. You can learn more about Panama at www.cellmedicine.com My son received 2 IV infusions and 2 lumbar puncture infusions. All of this is explained on their

website. Over the next few months we saw some gains in language and cognition which remained. His PANDAS symptoms although a bit bettter were still a significant issue for us and after 3 months we started monthly IVIG again. In May 2012 we went back to Panama for another round ......same procedure as first time. We have only been home one week so far but we have noticed gains in language and he does seem to have some relief from his PANDAS....he is overall happier, more cooperative, no tantrums, less OCD. The changes from the cord/placenta cells take up to 6 months to fullly work so it is way to soon to tell how well they have worked or not. They have told us in Panama that for older children they will need to go for 4 to 5 procedures for recovery. The cost for the stem cells is approximately $15,000. After doing tons of

research I feel that Panama is one of the top stem cell places in the world and their procedures are thouroughly researched and safe. Feel free to email me with any other questions To: DRNParentSupportNetwork Sent: Friday, June 8, 2012 9:31 AM Subject: [DRNParentSupportNetwork] Stem cell treatment for autism - anyone have experience?

Hi everyone,

Me again. So, with the second little one on the way, it occurred to us that we should at least think about banking the cord blood when he is born in case either he or can use it in the future.

Does anyone have experience with stem cell therapy? I've been reading about it a bit lately, and it seems like it could be such a great therapy if all that you hear/read is true, but it almost seems too good to be true. If anyone has done this therapy, would you mind sharing a few details, such as:

1) Where did you go for treatment, and were you happy with your choice?

2) What results did you see?

3) Did the results "stick" or did they wear off over time?

4) Did you use your own stored cord blood stem cells, and if so, how did you coordinate that with the clinic?

5) How much did it cost?

6) How many days was the treatment spread over?

7) Did you do intravenous or intrathecal administration, or both?

8) Would you make the same choice if you had it do over again?

I would really appreciate any feedback that anyone has on this, and I know that I may not even receive any responses since it's so experimental and expensive that most people probably don't even consider it. We are just thinking about it at this point and would have to know a lot more before making that kind of commitment of our time and resources. BUT we are willing to entertain the possibility, if it truly is the miracle that it sounds like it could be. Thanks in advance for any replies. I'll probably send this same email out to other groups so I'll be sure to get to the few who have done this.

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