Autism: Biological Cause, pointers to treatment.

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To Members, Indian Association of Private Psychiatry, India. Dt: 15.11.2006 Dear Doctors, I am an autistic. How I am different from other autistics is that I regressed when I was nearly an adult and I could manage to study my condition and recover enough to tell the tale. If I was called upon to help these children I would offer a mixture of naturopathy, ayurveda, nutrition, homeopathy, and psychiatric intervention. I keep psychiatric intervention to the last as feedback from children is a problem. In my own case I have observed the onset of nightmares which a child may not be able to report. However as healers, the duty ought to be to heal, not to insist on any method of treatment. This attitude would help in winning back the confidence of the masses. Coming back to the

treatment method; 1. A complete routine of naturopathy, simple pranayama. 2. Certain elements of panchakarma ayurvedic detoxification and rejuvenation depending upon the exigencies of the case, 3. Gluten free, casein free diet, specially if the child is found uncomfortable with them, 4. Vit A, C, E, B6 5. Minerals; zinc, magnesium, potassium. 6. The homeopathic remedies Thuja, Carcinosin, Medorrhinum, Mercurius, Alumina, Rhus Glabra, Hepar Sulph, Anacardium, Arsenic, etc. depending upon symptoms. 7. "Mentat" syrup of Himalaya Health Care. Ayurvedic remedies for gut and immune related problems. 7. Behaviour therapy. Complete cure may not be possible as the damage is very deep. Certain aspects like damage to eyesight and the

glandular system may be irreversible. For a scientific perspective, not much of which is available, I am enclosing a research study and an article by a reputed psychiatrist. Yours faithfully, Jagannath Chatterjee. ------------------ 1. This is a PDF file readable with adobe acrobat readerhttp://www.vaccinationnews.com /DailyNews/2003/December /Vaccines & Autism.pdfVaccines & Autismby Bernard Rimland, Ph.D. and Woody McGinnis, M.D. of the Autism ResearchInstitute - journal article (Laboratory Medicine) (2002) ---------------- 2. http://www.whale.to/v/rimland .html (website is down but info is here) Testimony of Bernard Rimland, Ph.D.Before HouseCommittee on Government ReformApril 6, 2000The Autism Increase: Research Needed on the Vaccine Connection My name is Bernard Rimland. I am a research psychologist (Ph.D.).and am Director Of the Autism Research Institute, which I founded in 1967.I am also the founder of the Autism Society of America (1965), and theeditor of the Autism Research Review International. My book, InfantileAutism: The Syndrome and Its Implication for a Neural Theory of

Behavior(1964) is widely credited with changing the field of psychiatry from itsclaim that autism is an emotional illness, caused by destructive mothers,to its current recognition that autism is a biological disorder. I havelectured on autism and related problems throughout the world, and amauthor of numerous publications. I served as primary technical advisor onautism for the film Rain Man. My son Mark was born in 1956. It was obvious from birth that thisperfectly normal-looking infant had something drastically wrong with him.I had earned my Ph.D in experimental psychology 3 years earlier and hadnever encountered the word autism. Our pediatrician, with 35 years ofexperience, had never heard of autism either. Autism was extremely rarethen – it is extremely common now. Some supposed experts will tell you that the increase reflects

onlygreater awareness. That is nonsense. Any pediatrician, teacher or schoolofficial with 20 or more years experience will confirm what the studiestell us: there is a real increase in autism and the numbers are huge andgrowing. The epidemic is serious and world-wide. Soon after my textbook on autism was published in 1964, I began tohear from other parents. Many parents told me that their children werenormal until getting a triple vaccine – the DPT shot. In 1965 I begansystematically collecting data on the symptoms and possible causes ofautism: In 1967—33 years ago—I began querying the parents, specificallyabout the child’s response to the DPT shot. Many had reported markeddeterioration. During the past few years the Autism Research Institute has beenflooded with an upsurge in pleas for help from parents throughout the

world– from wherever the World Health Organization vaccine guidelines arefollowed. The majority of these parents say their children were normaluntil getting the MMR – another triple vaccine. Let me dispel several myths promoted by those who deny theautism-vaccine connection: 1. They claim the vaccines are safe, but physicians are indoctrinatedto disbelieve claims of harm and are not trained to recognize nor requiredto report any adverse reactions. From 90% to 99% of the adverse reactionsreported to doctors are never reported by those doctors to the government’sextremely lax Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, known as the VAERS. 2. They say that the suspected linkage between the MMR vaccinationand autism has been disproved by a study conducted by Brent Taylor and hiscolleagues in London, and published last year in The Lancet. The Taylorstudy is seriously flawed in many ways, as had been noted in a number ofletters to the editor of The Lancet and in a number of additional letterson the subject which have been posted on the internet. It was subject tostrong attack at a recent meeting of the British Statistical Society. Ihave been a full-time researcher my entire professional life, for almost 50years, and I respectfully asked Dr. Taylor for a copy of the data so that Icould reanalyze them. He refused this ordinary professional courtesy, andI have subsequently written to the editor of The Lancet requesting that animpartial committee be asked to reexamine Dr. Taylor’s statistical methods. If he refuses again, I urged The Lancet to retract his paper. 3. They say that autism has a large genetic component, and

thereforevaccines must play a minimal, if any, role in the causation of autism. Mybook Infantile Autism, published in 1964, was the first systematic attemptto marshal the evidence for genetics as a contributing cause of autism, soI am certainly not hostile to that idea. However, genes do not begin toaccount for the huge increase in the incidence of autism, ranging from250% to 500% in various places. I might add that we have just reviewed allof the recent genetic studies for the next issue of the Autism ResearchReview International, which I edit. The results are spectacularlyinconsistent. The best guess is that there are at least 20 different genesinvolved in the causation of autism. Gene therapy is decades off, and maybe infeasible. 4. They claim that autism naturally occurs at about 18 months, whenthe MMR is routinely given, so the association

is merely coincidental andnot causal. But the onset of autism at 18 months is a recent development. Autism starting at 18 months rose very sharply in the mid-1980s, when theMMR vaccine came into wide use. A coincidence? Hardly! See the graph below. Autism is not the only severe chronic illness which has reachedepidemic proportions as the number of (profitable) vaccines has rapidlyincreased. Children now receive 33 vaccines before they enter school – ahuge increase. The vaccines contain not only live viruses but also verysignificant amounts of highly toxic substances such as mercury, aluminumand formaldehyde. Could this be the reason for the upsurge in autism,ADHD, asthma, arthritis, Crohn’s disease, lupus and other chronic disorders? As a parent and as a full-time professional researcher, I am bitterlydisappointed with the medical

establishment’s dismal record with regard toautism over the past 60 years. The medical schools, as well as thegovernmental agencies, have consistently supported outmoded, unproven andeven disproven theories from the very beginning, and have actively opposedthe most promising approaches for the treatment of autism. They supportedthe psychoanalytically-based theories which held the mother responsible forcausing autism through her supposedly hostile attitude toward the child.They opposed the use of behavior modification, the most uniformlybeneficial treatment for autism, by claiming that it neglected thedeep-seated emotional blocks that were supposedly at the root of autism.They have ignored, and continue to ignore, the long series of studiesconducted both in the U. S. and Europe showing that the elimination offoods containing gluten and

casein from the diet brings about markedimprovement in many autistic children. They have consistently ignored theseries of 18 consecutive studies, conducted by researchers in 6 countries,which showed that almost half of all autistic children and adults respondfavorably to high doses of vitamin B6 and magnesium., with no adverseeffects. Eleven of these studies were double-blind placebo-crossoverexperiments. There is no drug that comes close to B6/magnesium in terms ofsafety, efficacy and positive research findings. Tens of millions of dollars have been spent on non-productive linesof research, while virtually no money at all has been given to research onthe methods of alternative medicine, which are far more promising in termsof both safety and efficacy. The most interesting questions are not being asked: Why does themajority of the population survive

such epidemics as autism, the bubonicplague, Legionnaires’ disease, polio and AIDS, while relatively few succumb? The answer is that the survivors have a healthy, effective immunesystem. Would enhancing the immune system decrease the likelihood ofadverse reactions to vaccines (including the anthrax vaccine – DOD pleasenote!)? Very probably. It is well known that the immune system must be adequately suppliedwith many nutrients if it is to function properly, including especiallyvitamins A, C, E, B6 and a number of minerals, including zinc, magnesium,and selenium. Nutritional levels of these substances are not onlyharmless, they are essential to good health. Since people do not changetheir diets readily, I believe that foods should be fortified with thesenutrients – especially foods that will be consumed by infants and children. Research along these

lines – as well as on the safety of the vaccines – isdesperately needed. As a parent and a researcher, I believe there should be a markedredirection of effort and funding, along the lines suggested above. "I am, and have been for years a confirmed anti-vaccinationist. I have not the least doubt in my mind that vaccination is a filthy process that is harmful in the end" - Mahatma Gandhi (Koren Publications Inc.)

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