Research Chelation Therapy

As reported in this week by the Arizona Republic:

The country’s leading pediatricians group is making its strongest push yet to have all children screened for autism twice by age 2, warning of symptoms such as babies who don’t babble at 9 months and 1-year-olds who don’t point to toys.

The advice is meant to help parents and doctors spot autism sooner. There is no cure for the disorder, but experts say that early therapy can lessen its severity.

Symptoms to watch for and the call for early screening come in two new reports. They are being released today by the American Academy of Pediatrics at its annual meeting in San Francisco and will appear in the November issue of the journal Pediatrics and on the group’s Web site: www.aap.org.

The reports list numerous warning signs, such as a 4-month-old not smiling at the sound of Mom or Dad’s voice, or the loss of language or social skills at any age.

Experts say one in 150 U.S. children have the troubling developmental disorder.

Lindsey Tanner
Associated Press
Oct. 29, 2007 12:00 AM

For additional information on autism and autism nutrition please visit: www.awakennutrition.com

Source: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1029A1autism1029.html

Chelation therapy is used as a treatment for acute mercury, iron, arsenic, lead, uranium and other toxic metal poisoning. Chelation functions by making a chemical bond with the metal ions rendering them inactive and allowing the metal to be excreted naturally from the body. The medical community has regularly used chelation therapy since the early 1960’s to treat lead poisoning in military personnel and other heavy metal poisoning. This process is done through intravenous injection using dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA), dimercaptopropane sulfonate (DMPS), or ethylene diaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA).

Oral Chelation therapies are available as an alternative to the intravenous option. Agents such as PCA-Rx, a breakthrough peptide clathration formula have shown to effectively clear heavy metals, toxins, plaque, pesticides, chemicals, and residuals from prior bacterial and viral infections. It has also been shown effective for the treatment of heart disease, and the treatment of children with autism.

PCA-Rx acts as a clathration formula which encloses the toxin using three different types of irreversible bonds. These bonds attach to and completely envelop the toxin, neutralzing it, and keep it from coming into contact with any other bodily tissues and is naturally expelled from the body through urination. This method is especially effective against heavy metals.

Practitioners claim that the exposure to heavy metals in the environment and through childhood vaccinations have contributed to the poisoning of the body and may have led to the development of autism. Those who have been exposed to pesticides, lead paints or mercury through dental amalgam fillings or thimerosal and ethyl-mercury used in childhood vaccinations are most at risk. Some in the medical community have discovered the benefits of using chelation treatment for heart disease believing that the chelation agent forms a complex with the calcium in the walls of the arteries allowing it to build up and cause hardening of the arteries which can lead to heart disease.

Oral Chelation agents such as PCA-Rx, are available to treat children with autism and people with other
disorders, however, no treatment is a replacement for medical attention from a licensed practitioner. Always ask your doctor before taking any kind of treatment or nutritional supplement. For more information on chelation and PCA-Rx please visit: www.awakennutrition.com

Good news on the front lines of autism research, scientists have completed the first genome scan for autism. This exciting news will help to understand autism and the most effective treatments for autism. See article below:

BOSTON, Oct. 23 (UPI) — A U.S. group of scientists has completed and released the first genome scan for autism spectrum disorders for use by researchers around the world.

The Autism Consortium, a group of researchers, clinicians and families dedicated to radically accelerating research and enhancing clinical care for autism, said the scan was conducted using new, high-resolution technology on genetic data from more than 3,000 children with ASD and their families.

The release of genetic and phenotypic autism data marks a significant achievement, said Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute for Mental Health.

“Progress in finding the causes and cures for autism spectrum disorders rests in large part on improving the rapid access and sharing of data and resources,” said Insel. “That the consortium is making the data available to the scientific community even before its own researchers have fully analyzed the information, demonstrates their high degree of commitment to and leadership in advancing autism research.”

Officials said the new data provide the most detailed look to date at the genetic variation patterns in families with autism.

Researchers conducted the genome wide study using GeneChip microarray technology made by Affymetrix Inc, of Santa Clara, Calif.

Published: 23, 2007 at 11:03 AM

Source: http://www.upi.com

Screening, treatment center to open on Florida Tech’s campus in 2009. Florida Tech is hosting an Autism Conference on Oct. 18 and 19 for educators, health care and social service providers, and families. A positive step in promoting the early detection and treatment options for Autism. See full article from “Florida Today” below:

“One of triplets, Nicholas Diaz began falling behind his brothers, developmentally, as early as 8 months of age, according to his mother, Dee Dee.

“There were big delays in crawling, talking and eye contact, even then,” she said.

But, because of other medical problems associated with entering the world two months prematurely, she said, Nicholas did not get an official autism diagnosis until about 21/2 years ago.

Today, at age 5, the Palm Bay boy goes to a small clinic on the Florida Tech campus, where he undergoes applied behavioral analysis, a highly structured therapy that rewards him for learning language and social skills appropriate to his age, so he can eventually attend regular school.

“I am seeing a huge difference,” his mother said, citing better word recognition, among other new skills, even though Nicholas still rarely speaks. “Applied behavioral analysis is the most research-proven therapy we have.”

By spring 2009, Florida Tech in Melbourne plans to showcase this intervention for as many as 30 to 40 other individuals every week in a new 18,000-square-foot Autism Center, to be built on campus, starting next year. Estimated cost: about $4.5 million.

Although most of those undergoing treatment will be children Nicholas’ age or younger, university officials said, the center will serve individuals across the life span with autism, a spectrum of disorders that cause substantial impairments in social interaction and communication, along with odd behaviors and peculiarly intense interests.

As part of the school’s mission to develop this comprehensive new autism resource, Florida Tech is hosting an Autism Conference on Oct. 18 and 19 for educators, health care and social service providers, and families.

“We want to educate the public about autism and the types of treatments that are known to be the most effective,” said Mary Beth Kunkel, dean of the College of Psychology and Liberal Arts. “One of the hallmarks for our center is we are committed only to treatments with empirical support.”

That means the university does not intend to offer still-controversial biomedical therapies some parents swear by, such as nutrition and vitamin supplementation; chelation therapy to remove mercury and other metals from the blood; and hyperbaric oxygen, to improve circulation to every area of the body, including the brain.

Nor, Kunkel said, will there be any talks about thimerosal, the mercury-based preservative once routinely put in children’s vaccines, but now a rarity, which remains at the heart of a fierce debate over its role in autism’s development.

“Research tells us now mercury is not related to autism, but it is still an issue with some parents,” she conceded. “It’s a major controversy.”

1 in 150 affected

By existing standards, autism spectrum disorders in the United States are the second most serious developmental disability after mental retardation, affecting about 1 in 150 children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Because prevalence is clearly on the rise, and no one yet knows the cause, “everybody is concerned,” Kunkel said. “But our real focus is, if you have a loved one with autism, what are you going to do?”

Eb Blakely, a behavioral analyst with the nonprofit Quest Inc. in Orlando, and one of the conference speakers, said he intends to address that question in his talk, “Autism and the Scientific Method.”

“What I hope to do is help people figure out what to do with their kid if he or she is diagnosed with autism,” he said. “It’s complex. You need to ask: Is there any research on a (particular) treatment, and if there is, what kind is it?”

To illustrate his point, Blakely plans to use a case study, involving hormone-replacement therapy, whose early promise in the 1980s and 1990s arose out of “weak” observational studies, he said, rather than the gold standard — controlled, randomized trials.

As a result, in 2003, the government abruptly halted a major study in postmenopausal women after it was found this therapy increased, rather than lessened, the risks for heart attacks, breast cancers and stroke.

Of the various treatment approaches to autism, Blakely said, “it’s a difficult topic and I’m not taking any stands. Let the science speak for itself.”

The best-known study backing a behavior-based approach to autism dates to 1987, experts say.

Sixty children were randomly assigned at that time to several years of intensive therapy with one of three approaches, including applied behavioral analysis.

Rewards in this approach, often a toy or some type of social interaction, come as a child completes each task at his or her age level, based on performance.

The study found 47 percent of children who got the behavioral intervention were able to go back into regular classrooms, said David Wilder, an associate professor in Florida Tech’s psychology college.

“At the end of the study, they were indistinguishable from their peers,” he said. “And their IQ improved dramatically.

Like his colleagues, Wilder emphasized the importance of early intervention, however.

“The earlier we get to these kids, the better,” he said.

Alternative approaches

Despite her clear support for behavior-based therapy, Dee Dee Diaz said she and her husband also have taken Nicholas to the nonprofit International Child Development Research Center in Melbourne, run by Dr. Jeffrey Bradstreet, to try alternative therapies.

Bradstreet is a leading proponent of unproven biomedical therapies that enhance methylation, a process critical to normal cell function and nerve development and overall immune responses.

Nicholas not only eats a restricted diet, his mother said, he also has undergone chelation therapy and hyperbaric oyxgen treatments at Bradstreet’s center — both of which appeared to bring some benefit.

“From a parent’s perspective, we try one thing out at a time,” she said. “When you see your child turn around and suddenly say a few words, it’s monumental.”

As an elementary school teacher and an educator, she added, “I think hard science is wonderful,” but parents worry, if they wait 20 years for the science, “their children may be so far out into their own world by then, nobody will be able to help them.”

BY SUSAN JENKS
FLORIDA TODAY

RALEIGH, NC – As part of his continuing Midday Health Series, John C. Pittman, MD, of The Carolina Center for Integrative Medicine (CCIM), presented “Chelation Therapy for Heart Disease” on Thursday, September 6th. This free, public health presentation discussed how chelating drugs have been shown to remove calcium plaque from artery walls, reverse atherosclerosis, and effectively treat heart disease for many individuals.

Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States. Blood vessel diseases, including heart disease, are caused by atherosclerosis or thickening of the arteries, which results from the accumulation of fats, calcium, and other substances in the arterial wall. Modern conventional medical treatment for atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries is focused primarily on invasive procedures to unblock the artery. While this may be life saving to a patient with advanced heart disease, it only addresses one specific section of his blood vessel system. There is another approach to treating circulatory disease called EDTA Chelation Therapy.

Chelation refers to the ability of a chemical compound (EDTA) to bind to a mineral or toxic metal. The binding site of EDTA is negatively charged and therefore likes to grab positively charged substances. EDTA was initially developed to pull calcium out of hard water for use in the textile industry, but was later discovered to have medical benefits in treatment of patients with high blood levels of calcium.

“Over the last thirty years, EDTA chelation research has focused primarily on its effects on the cardiovascular system,” explains Dr. Pittman. “Some of this research has involved beneficial effects seen in patients with chronic lung disease including improved pulmonary function and blood oxygenation. Another study showed that bone density levels in patients with osteoporosis increased to a significant degree following EDTA chelation therapy. Perhaps the most interesting study shows that EDTA chelation will improve kidney function in patients with mild to moderately reduced function as evidenced by improvement in blood chemistry tests.”

About the Carolina Center for Integrative Medicine
Since 1994, the Carolina Center for Integrative Medicine has been the Triangle’s leading provider of integrative medical treatments and therapies. Practice founder, Dr. John Pittman, is the only local physician fully certified in chelation therapy for the treatment of heavy metal toxicity and only one of six medical practitioners in the state of North Carolina who is a Diplomate through the American Board of Clinical Metal Toxicology.

The Carolina Center utilizes a combination of the most progressive alternative therapies, along with dietary and lifestyle modifications, to treat a wide variety of chronic illnesses and immune system dysfunctions. Conditions treated include Atherosclerosis & Disorders of Circulation, Chronic Digestive Disturbances, Chronic Infections & Immune Dysfunction, Degenerative Neurological Disorders, Fibromyalgia, Lyme Disease, Natural Hormone Replacement Therapy, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity/Environmental Allergies, and Pediatric Program for Autism. The Carolina Center also provides Chemical Detoxification and support for patients injured through exposure to mold, pesticides, hydraulic fluid, mercury, and sick building syndrome.

For more information, call (919) 571-4391 or visit www.carolinacenter.com

Article fro the San Jose Mercury News sites the rise in autism a “public health crisis”. Making the public more aware of the important issues surrounding autism and the available treatments for autism will eventually force government agencies to take action. Article below:

SACRAMENTO – Government agencies are facing a new public health crisis – a dramatic increase in autistic children – and must swiftly explore how best to provide better care and protection for them over their lifetimes, a blue-ribbon state commission concluded Tuesday.

The California Legislative Blue Ribbon Commission on Autism said its overall findings included a lack of screening for the disorder, poor public awareness generally, barriers to seeking care for the afflicted, and overlapping efforts between the public and private sectors that need to be better coordinated.

“Throughout the state,” the report says, “there is an intense need to plan for and address the impending housing, transportation, employment and educational needs of the tsunami of young people with” autism.

The panel’s report recommended the state adopt legislation next year to immediately address such problems.

The panel also concluded that urgent efforts should be made to better educate police and judges so they don’t accidentally abuse those with the disorder, which can be characterized by seemingly aggressive behavior.

Senate leader Don Perata, an Oakland Democrat, who authored a bill two years ago forming the 16-member panel, said the report will allow lawmakers “an opportunity to link the science, knowledge and best practices regarding autism to public policy.”

The commission’s recommendations included:

• Bolstering early identification and intervention.

• Working toward better education of those with the disorder, through the college years.• Establishing regulations to ensure appropriate and equitable health insurance.

• Creating a statewide public awareness campaign.

The disorder has increased more than 600 percent in recent years, now affecting about one in every 150 children. It is the fastest growing serious developmental disability in the United States.

author: Mathew Avrahmi

Another inspiring story of success for a family implementing Biomedical Treatments for Autism for their son:

“I am a stay-at-home mother to three boys (Daniel, Charlie and Joe) and my husband is a Federal Prosecutor in Chicago. Our eldest son had life-threatening asthma at age 2 and our middle son has autism.

I run a state-wide support group called “Illinois Biomedical Kids” where parents draw support and guidance from one another as they successfully treat their children with autism.

In August of 2005, there were 20 of us. Now, two years later, we are almost 200 parents strong.

My husband and I are very thankful we decided to look into the science ourselves and not simply take the “experts” word for it. Through the medical treatments aimed at detoxifying their bodies of heavy metals and regulating their immune systems, my boys are doing extremely well today.

My eldest no longer has asthma and my son with autism is mainstreamed in a 2nd grade classroom. Fortunately, he received intensive therapy through Early Intervention from age 10 months and once we began treating his underlying medical problems, he has flourished in home Applied Behvior Analysis (ABA) programs. He is a well-liked member of his class with many friends. My youngest, under-vaccinated boy, has neither autism nor asthma.

I know the word “recovery” strikes a resonant chord in many individuals within the autism community. We aren’t trying to change who our children are-we are simply not ignoring the very real medical problems they have.

For instance, all the mainstream doctors I approached (including the very talented allergy/immunology team at Children’s Memorial Hospital) assured me that my son didn’t have any problems with milk and could not explain why he threw up almost everything he ate and had severe gastric reflux as a 6-week-old infant. However, when I finally bit the bullet and took milk products out of his diet, he stopped throwing up.

I remember when he was 3 years old, he used to have to sleep next to a bed pan every night. By simply replacing milk and wheat products with healthier, easier to digest alternatives, he not only became healthier but his language and cognitive skills improved dramatically.

I know this because his diet was the only thing we changed within a six-month period of time and we had his language tested right when we started the diet and then six months into the diet. His expressive language scores jumped 10 months with absolutely no speech therapy and a very difficult family move during this period of time.

The same improvement was seen by all who worked with him when we began chelation (using chemicals to remove excess or toxic metals) as well as hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Transition tantrums ceased and his congitive skills soared.

Is Charlie cured now? I don’t consider him to be, but I really believe it depends on who you ask. Many people would never guess he was ever as severe as he was and he has playdates with all neurotypical peers who don’t see him as anything but another playmate.

Once we paid attention to his medical issues, educational and therapuetic issues fell into place and the difficult social skills and language taught through many hours of therapy were finally ’sticking.” It no longer feels as if we are pushing a boulder up a steep hill.

I also know a lot of parents with “recovered” children who choose not to talk about it. Perhaps many of us resist using the word “recovered” because it implies that the journey is over.

For those of us who have entered the realm of biomedical treatments for our children, it has become impossible to go back and pretend that we don’t know better when we make parenting choices based on convenience rather than health. To pay close attention to the diets of our affected children and ignore the processed food we feed our “neurotypical” children. To ignore our own health.

I’m truly thankful that my son is at the point when I can take a little bit of time for myself now and then, yet this is unfortunately not the case for so many parents whose job is to ensure the very safety of their child, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. My son may not have lost his autism diagnosis yet.

However, when I consider the fact that just a few years ago, he could not hold down the food he ate, he stimmed alone for hours on end, he could not carry on a simple conversation, and he tantrumed to the point of kicking my then-pregnant belly repeatedly when transitioning from one activity to the next, I marvel at the endless possibilities within his little 8-year-old body and can’t help but hope for his future. For all of our children’s futures.

source: chicagotribune.com

There are always stories about the dangers of chelation therapy and the instances in which a tragic circumstance has occurred but I came across an uplifting story about a family who has found chelation therapy beneficial for their son Charlie who struggles with autisim. His marked improvements are obvious to both the family and school.

See story:

“His parents and his school are amazed at the progress an autistic little boy named Charlie Blakey has been making.

The transformation began right after Charlie started a treatment most experts say is useless — and possibly dangerous.

The treatment, called chelation, removes mercury and other toxic metals from the body. The theory is that the mercury kids received from vaccines caused their autism.

Since undergoing chelation, Charlie has had fewer temper tantrums and is spending less time walking around in circles. He is talking more and is easier to understand. And, there’s been a big jump in his language test scores.

“The brain fog lifted,” said his mother, Christina Blakey, of Oak Park. “He just started picking things up. They couldn’t teach him fast enough.”

No one knows how many autistic kids are undergoing chelation, but by most estimates, the number is in the thousands or even tens of thousands.

Dr. Anju Usman, who prescribed Charlie’s chelation, has 1,000 autistic kids in her practice, and a two-year waiting list of 500 patients. The Naperville family practice physician is among a handful of doctors in the country who prescribe chelation. Usman recommends chelation when other treatments don’t work. “Parents see kids get better and they tell one another,” Usman said. “It’s the results that bring them here.”

The chelation movement is a grass-roots revolt against mainstream medicine, which has been unable to find out what causes autism or how to cure it.”

source: Chicago Sun-Times, by Jim Ritter

New article from the Sacramento Bee in California announces a new Autism study to be conducted by the University of California at Davis to focus on the environment and the effects it may have on children with Autism. Study will track babies from before birth by tracking the environmental aspects surrounding the mother and then follow up once the baby is born until about age 3.

This is a step in the right direction to finally get answers to the increased numbers of Autistic Children in the U.S. today. Right now the best autism therapies are based on suspected environmental causes and include: casein-free diets, supplements, and oral chelation. Hopefully at the end of this study scientists will find a cause and eventually a cure to this now common condition in our children. See full article below:

“Researchers have long suspected that autism’s causes are rooted in one’s genes, combined with some kind of a hit from the environment. But pinpointing the interplay of these factors has been daunting, in part because the probing tends to come after a child is diagnosed.

A new study at the University of California at Davis will examine potential clues pointing to the neurodevelopmental disorder before it occurs – prior to birth and during a baby’s earliest years.

“We are quite concerned about the role that environment might play in autism,” said Nigel Fields, a scientist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, one of two federal agencies to fund the $7.5 million research. “We would like to understand the complex interaction of genes and environmental factors as early in the developmental process as possible.”

Autistic children often have trouble talking, exhibit repetitive behaviors and are unable to connect with other people.

Researchers in the new study will look at the mother before, during and after pregnancy, and at the baby throughout its first three years.

The goal is to learn how to identify children most susceptible to environmental exposures that may lead to autism.

The project, known as MARBLES for Markers of Autism Risk in Babies – Learning Early Signs, is the first of its kind to look in real time at environmental exposures. They could include a mother’s infections during pregnancy, an infant’s childhood vaccinations, and other potential contaminants such as mercury, flame retardants and common, chlorinated chemicals such as those found in pesticides.

MARBLES is an extension of another project under way examining the influence of genes and environmental factors in more than 800 families in which a child is already diagnosed with the disorder.

That study, called CHARGE, Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment, already has found that autistic children’s immune systems respond differently to certain substances than do those of children who do not have autism, leading experts to suspect that autism is an immune function disorder as well as a neurological disorder.

“But if you really want to get at causes, it’s crucial to go back in time,” said Irva Hertz-Picciotto, a UC Davis environmental epidemiologist and one of the project’s principal investigators.

MARBLES will enroll more than 200 pregnant women who already have had at least one child diagnosed with autism, since mothers of autistic children are at least 10 times more likely to have another child with the disorder.

Researchers will comb their homes for potential environmental poisons – gathering the contents of vacuum cleaners, carpet dust and samples of air. They will conduct extensive interviews with the mothers about their exposures to everything from nail polish products to mercury-tainted fish. They will collect blood, and immediately after the baby’s birth, placental tissue, umbilical cord blood, as well as mother’s breast milk and urine from both mom and baby.”

By Dorsey Griffith
Sacramento Bee
published 8/10/2007