More on Autism, mercury and chelation

Following from yesterday’s article, a couple more items on autism and mercury.

First, according to the CDC, symptoms of organic mercury poisoning might include:

paresthesias (pins and needles), headaches, ataxia (loss of the ability to coordinate muscular movement), dysarthria (difficulty in articulating words, caused by impairment of the muscles used in speech), visual field constriction, blindness, and hearing impairment.

While symptoms of autism usually include:

Abnormal reactions to sensory stimuli (i.e., senses may be over- or underactive). Touches may be experienced as painful, smells may be overwhelmingly unpleasant, and ordinary daily noises may be painful. Loud noises (e.g., motorcycle going by, vacuum cleaner) and bright lights may cause inconsolable crying.

Other signs of the disorder in infants include the following:

• Appears indifferent to surroundings
• Appears content to be alone, happier to play alone
• Displays lack of interest in toys
• Displays lack of response to others
• Does not point out objects of interest to others (called protodeclarative pointing)
• Marked reduction or increase in activity level
• Resists cuddling

They don’t look much alike to me.

Next, an article by James R. Laidler, MD, who was once an impassioned supporter of chelation therapy for autism, but who examined the actual evidence and changed his mind:

There were more treatments for autism than I could ever hope to try on my son, and every one of them had passionate promoters claiming that it had cured at least one autistic child—usually their own. There were blood tests, urine test, hair tests, saliva tests, brain wave tests and eye tests, all claiming to be able to find the specific cause for a child’s autism. And they had specific treatments for each of those causes. Sure, some of them were contradictory, but nobody seemed to mind that. What really caught my interest was the proposition that thimerosal, the mercury-based preservative in vaccines, caused autism and chelation therapy could cure it. Advocates of this idea spoke authoritatively, with impressive lists of references and well-designed PowerPoint slides. I was intrigued even though the children I had seen with mercury poisoning did not behave like my autistic son and the recommended dosage for the chelating agents made no sense to me.

(Snip)

In the following months, we stopped every treatment except speech and occupational therapy for both boys. They did not deteriorate and, in fact, continued to improve at the same rate as before—or faster. Our bank balance improved, and the circles under our eyes started to fade. And quite frankly, I began to get mad at myself for being so gullible and for misleading other parents of autistic children.

Looking back on my experiences with "alternate" autism therapies, they seem almost unreal, like Alice's adventures in Wonderland. Utter nonsense treated like scientific data, people nodding in sage agreement with blatant contradictions, and theories made out of thin air and unrelated facts—and all of it happening right here and now, not in some book. Real people are being deceived and hurt, and there won't be a happy ending unless enough of us get together and write one.

(My bold.)

He could be describing much of alternative medicine, of course.

Finally, an item today on the effects the anti-vaxers have, supported by celebrity idiots and the press, from the Guardian’s Bad Science guy. I wish I could write like that.

Comments

[Njorl]

While I am far from convinced of the connection between mercury and autism, this is idiotic.

The symptoms for mercury poisoning listed are obviously for the affects of mercury on an adult brain. The hypothetical reasoning behind mercury causing autism is that the effects on a developing brain would be significantly different. Any effects that inhibit development would never enter into case histories of adults with mercury poisoning.

As for these symptoms:
"paresthesias (pins and needles), headaches, ataxia (loss of the ability to coordinate muscular movement), dysarthria (difficulty in articulating words, caused by impairment of the muscles used in speech), visual field constriction, blindness, and hearing impairment."

Take any autistic child and you will not be able to rule out half of these. It does not mean they have these symptoms, it just reflects the extreme difficulty in diagnosing their ailments.

[Skeptico]

As for these symptoms:
…
Take any autistic child and you will not be able to rule out half of these.

Not according to ">http://www.autism-watch.org/about/bio2.shtml"> James R. Laidler, who wrote:

the children I had seen with mercury poisoning did not behave like my autistic son

(My bold)

[Kim Atkins]

http://youandmecassidy.blogspot.com/

I have experienced this same nonsense with alternative autism "treatments." It sickens me to think that there are people out there brainwashing desperate parents into believing their crap and forking over all of their money.

I had a doctor tell us that her treatments were very expensive but we should find a way to pay it and not give up until my daughter was cured.

Everything I tried on her from chelation to diet changes was making her sick. She lost a lot of weight. Autism is not curable. It can be controlled to some degree. It sickens me that people out there are playing snake oil salesman to parents of autistic children.

Kim

[Dennis C. During]

I wonder whether there is a specific testing protocol for determining the "level" of autism displayed by a child at a given developmental level. I would specifically be interested if there was one that was convenient to administer weekly (or more frequently) and involved minimal levels of interpretation.

Such a testing protocol would enable parents to regularly monitor the progress of their child and also the possible effect of any treatments. Such a test would, in effect, allow parents to come to some kind of conclusion about the value of the treatments they were providing for their child. A test with a single subject may not be convincing for many others, but it would be fairly convincing for the parents of THAT child. Such a course of testing would have some value for others if it were replicated enough times.

This kind of experimentation (akin to the self-experimentation advocated by Psych. Prof. Seth Roberts of UC Berkeley) would be very empowering for parents of autistic children, for parents of children with other disorders with no clear remedies of broad application, and for individuals suffering from a variety of maladies, addictions, and habits.