Link Between Autism and Heavy Metals

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Hey there. My name is Elske, I am the mother of 2 daughters. My 11 year old daughter is not autistic, but my 9 year old daughter is severely autistic, cannot speak. I often wonder to myself what caused her autism, if it was something I did? So, I started to think what was different about both pregnancies. Well, my non autistic daughter was born in Tucson, but my autistic daughter was born in Reno. So I got to thinking that perhaps the water in Reno was contaminated. I did research and a friend gave me a link to a test I can purchase for around a hundred dollars to test her for heavy metals. Well, today I read MSNBC, and I see an article about the 10 Cities in the USA with the worst, most toxic water. I clicked the link, to specifically look for Reno, and it was number 5 on the list. They say they have alot of arsenic in the water there. So I did another search trying to link arsenic and autism and I am finding alot of them. Even a study where a scientist recorded high levels of arsenic in all of the autistic children, but was at a loss to explain the source. I wanted to speak out as a mother of an autistic child. I used to think there was a genetic link, because I used to see the parents at therapy with multiple autistic kids, now I think perhaps is is just the water. I have yet to test my daughter for the heavy metals, but I have a feeling that she will be high. After I test her, I will test myself. If anyone has any information on the links between heavy metal poisoning and autism, I am very interested to learn. Thank you.

Even if your child were not autistic heavy metal poisoning is not good. My son and I both have/had lead poisoning. We have both had to go through chelation for lead poisoning thanks to lead exposure. His kidney function is up and I can tell he feels better. Is he talking more/doing better I'm not sure but I'm still autistic but now my kidneys work a lot better. Also I think he is figuring things out faster but lead and reduced intelligence are connected.

My advice is get a doctor to do a blood and hair and porphyrin test if you have a legitimate concern. A lot of people look at me funny for chelating my autistic child but he does not deserve to have lead poisoning(nobody does) PAN me if you want to know more.

Autism isn't caused by metal poisoning and chelation doesn't work.

Stop listening to Jenny McCarthy and other quacks.

It is very unlikely that heavy metals have caused your child's autism.

I know high lead levels can cause mental retardation of children, but for autism no one has ever linked metal exposure to the condition. The

Also testing for heavy metal contamination of a person is not simple. I know for some metals that hair can be used to make an estimate of exposure. For example As in hair can be estimated with NAA or ICP.

But As (arsenic) has a very short biological half life, any As in your child when she was born will be gone by the time she starts to go to school.

If you do not know what metal you or your child has been exposed to then it will be very expensive to test for all heavy metals.

I have never heard of arsenic being linked to autism. So I did a quick search of the scientific literature. I found only ten papers on "autism" and "arsenic". Some of these papers seemed quite odd. I read a few of these papers and as a scientist I was not impressed.

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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.

Asperger's Syndrome is abbreviated AS...

Arsenic is abbreviated As...

Come on! The linkage is obvious, isn't it??

To Elske: Yes, it's genetic. It's not necessarily going to express in every child - I'm fourth of five, and only my younger sister and I (who were born in different states, but I was born in the same place as two of my elder siblings) exhibit any signs of autism - but that's where the roots are. It's nothing you did, unless you want to blame yourself for your (or your SO's) choice of ancestors.

And for the love of Tesla, don't chelate your child - that technique is useless against autism, potentially lethal, and only indicated in cases of grave heavy-metal poisoning.

such as lead poisoning to the point where your kidneys are massively affected and the alternative is VERY bad. Some of my organs were not working properly and the same goes for my 4 yr old son.

You do NOT want to do Chelation unless you absolutely have to. I dread it and it has been a very low point for us all. Insurance does not pay for the treatments. The only plus is my son's kidney function is improving and he is doing better in terms of his health. We were both heavily exposed to lead. It is the CDC and Mayo clinic advised treatment for Lead poisoning and is not quackery for the removal of lead when there has been a definite prolonged and major exposure that nothing else will get it out quickly enough.

As I said I'm still Autistic but now unleaded and autistic. Plus my organs are now working properly and my kidneys are working better.

The school my son attends says he seems to be making some progress cognitively(they're surprised about that) and they said he has Mental retardation but had to remove that when I told them it's not Mental retardation but lead poisoning. I shoveled all the test results down their throats. after the treatments my son seems to be a tiny bit smarter(or maybe that's my wishful thinking) whatever we are going to continue until the lead is out and his organ function is normal which is FAR more important to me than him having Autism or not.

If your that concerned do the testing and stop worrying. Also have you considered Augmentative communication? A good SLP could really help with that.

I would advise anyone considering chelation treatment for lead to be very careful, if the wrong drug is used for heavy metals then the whole body burden of lead will go down. But the lead level in the brain can go up.

_________________
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.

My AS friend likes heavy metal...

When it comes to reasons for asperger it’s generally genetic but complications during birth and lack of oxygen can also be an important factor.