Chelation/Leaky Gut Syndrome?

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My son 8 yrs- Aspergers. Known for approx. 3 months. Met another mom. Has 14 year old daughter. Dx. at 3 yrs. old. Been on chelation since 4 yrs. and gluten and casein free diet. Was non-verbal, now high functioning. My son is high functioning. She is of opinion Autism can be cured through these methods. I have found no evidence on web to support this. Any feedback? Would be wary of chelation.

I would be wary of chelation. Unless your kid has lead poisoning (which I doubt).

Chelation could be dangerous in and of itself. It definately will drain your pocketbook.

The diets are restrictive and might further socially isolate your child. If your child happens to have a genuine wheat allergy (celiac disease) than by all means, go for a restrictive diet.

You have to remember, anecdotal evidence (like that other mum saying that her daughter did so well on these diets and chelation) don't factor in the following:

after a couple of years, I kid is going to learn and grow in some form or other - with or without treatment of any manner or description.

a well meaning parent who has spent countless hours and tens of thousands of dollars in chelation and special diets will WANT to observe improvement. This is their child. This is their effort and money that has gone into these treatments and diets. They are hardly objective.

I am not saying that diet modification is a bad thing. A healthy, well balanced diet is good for ANY kid, including those with autism. Keeping sugar levels low (water instead of sugary pop, not too many sweets or treats, full grains as opposed to simple sugars and simple carbs) is good for ANY kid and may be especially good for an autistic kid (this is just anecdotal - but I found my own child does much, much better with his ABA therapy when he has not had sugary snacks - although this is anecdotal, it is also observed by my ABI's and is established in the medical and educational community - kids on sugar highs don't do as well!)

Spend the money that you would on special diets and chelation and DAN doctors on ABA therapy, Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy and even Music Therapy. Spend your time and money on therapies and products that WORK and have evidence to back it up.

My daughter was non verbal at 3 and is now considered HFA at age 5. I did not do any crazy diets and certainly never anything as dangerous as chelation therapy....just, swimming lessons, speech, OT, one on one therapy in our home three times a week,school four times a week, and lots of understanding and love. My son was diagnosed Asperger's at age 6 gets OT and speech through school, one on one once a week and also he attends a social group...he is doing great.

Also, there is no cure for Autism or Aspergers but through therapy you can learn more about the world and how to find your way. I was dx after my daughter with Asperger's.....I had no therapy but I do now and I think it helps me understand myself and the rest of the world far better than I did before.

Have to be careful with the reasoning, i.e. "Fed child Cherios. Child eventually began walking. Therefore Cherios caused walking." Autism isn't absolutely frozen development in every way (and what would be); i.e. most autistic kids end up speaking eventually, if later than usual.

So a kid who ends up high functioning could have that attributed to chelation, but it could also be the result of teaching/learning and growth & development that would've occurred anyway. IOW, there's no control in that chelation experiment.

Also:

Boy with autism dies after chelation therapy <-- link

My son has autism. An acquaintance told me that his son's autism was cured with chelation therapy. Is this possible?

You can also check PubMed for the status of curing autism -- there isn't any scientifically backed or validated cure.

There is very scant evidence (most of it suspect) that chelation helps, and plenty that it is risky. Personally, I would not choose that path.

Chelation has also been shown to cause cognitive problems in rats, so echo the point that is can be worse than not doing it. Also people have die on chelation, because it is often done by people with poor understanding of medical science.

Fear and lack of understanding can cause people to do stupid things.

Be very careful regarding chelation treatment, while most medical doctors are trustworthy you need to watch out for some who are keen to sell you a false hope.

The other thing to be careful of "inductive reasoning", one of the others has already made a remark about it. Like SARS I say it is good to give a name to the demon which troubles you. The basis of inductive reasoning is this.... Take two statements and from these two create a new statement..... Lets have a go....

1. Mr X owns a dog.
2. Mr X has autism.

So combine the two statements... Now we have

"Dog ownership causes autism"

Very stupid and very wrong, but before you laugh too much bear in mind some of the "medical treatments" for autism have equally stupid logic behind them.

_________________
Health is a state of physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity I am not a jigsaw, I am a free man !

Diagnosed under the DSM5 rules with autism spectrum disorder, under DSM4 psychologist said would have been AS (299.80) but I suspect that I am somewhere between 299.80 and 299.00 (Autism) under DSM4.

READ my BLOG.
A doctor diagnosed my daughter with LEAKY GUT.
The "protocol" she prescribed could have KILLED my child!!
There are serious flaws in the science behind the blood tests. If your child has problems with his/her intestines then you need to see a gastroenterologist!

Do NOT do a BIOFILM protocol.
READ the NY Times article from this past Monday. Many blood allergy tests have been totally debunked.
I would write more, but we are in a rush this morning.
Bloody guiac tests can result from wiping with rough toilet paper, or having a small pimple or diaper rash in the butt. Not all bloody guiac tests mean that your child has ripped intestines. See a mainstream gastroenterologist, the one with the highest possible reputation. Bring copies of ALL previous paperwork/test results/food logs/etc! Once you are in the office make the gastroenterologist go over ALL test results with you!! !

PenguinMom has been down this road. Listen to her.

I've been reading and listening and considering for a long time and I will say the following with absolute conviction:

Chelation is dangerous and of no proven potential benefit. Those who push it follow quack science. Actual metals poisoning is very rare, and the tests the popular doctors are doing are not accurate (honestly, how often do they test for metal poisoning and NOT find it? Big red flag right there). The NIH wanted to study chelation because of all the anecdotal success stories but dropped it as it became apparent too much harm was being done. I understand that parents want to believe, and that there are compelling stories out there, but there are also many quiet success stories that come from parents simply loving and working with their child. You cannot change your friend's mind, I wouldn't even try, but you CAN keep yourself from buying into her disillusion.

With diet issues, the quacks may have stumbled onto something, ie that those on the spectrum function much worse when poorly affected by food, and that is worth considering. We have many many threads here devoted to the topic, with ideas on when to consider diet changes and when not, and how to split the hairs on the idea. Being successful with a diet change is actually more and less complicated than going GFCF, in that your unique child's food sensitivities may encompass different elements than the GFCF deals with. Since it has been discussed extensively, I would recommend you look at the other threads. They are not all the same, so reading a variety is worth the effort. Again, you aren't going to be able to change your friend's conviction on the topic, but you can and should get the more accurate and better information so that if you do make diet changes, you make the ones most likely to work for your unique child without simply feeding your hard earned money into all the industries that have arisen around GFCF.

You will find that many members here feel really strongly against the ideas your friend holds, and these therapies have become really divisive in the autistic communities. Adults with AS tend to have a strong need for logic, and little patience for the lack of logic and scientific rigor that supports chelation and GFCF. The parents who believe in it feel they've got the evidence in front of their own eyes, and you will never persuade them differently. I consider myself to be pretty good at sifting through complicated data and ideas quickly - all my past employers have told me that it is one of my gifts - and I've ended up siding pretty solidly with the AS adults on this one. Even so, I'm gentle with the parents who believe otherwise. They need to believe for some reason, and I know I can't change it.