Autism Biomedical Experience
5/6/2002 1:11:02 AM Eastern Daylight Time
My name is Julie Duffield. I hold a degree in Math and Chemistry from Brigham Young University, and I have 2 children with Autism. We have had incredible experiences working with our children through biomedical treatment, and we hope for a full recovery. At this point, many educators and psychiatric evaluators comment on our children's improvement socially, but we don't feel like our children are out of the fog yet. This is a short version of our story. Even though I can only tell one item at a time, some events and treatments overlap.
Let me start with my oldest boy, Michael. He was a the happiest child we'd ever seen. He was plump and all smiles. He was learning how to sing, talk and dance. He loved to lead music as it played, and I was convinced that he would be a drummer or have something to do with music.
I found out that I was pregnant with my second child. We were so excited, since Michael was such a joy. Relatives and friends would warn us that the next one could not possibly be as easy to deal with as our wonderchild Michael. We often had people offer and even beg to babysit little Michael. If it weren't for his frequent ear infections and antibiotics, he would have been the perfect child.
Then, we brought in Michael to his 18 month well baby appt. We gave him Tylenol before going to the doctor's, since he had high fevers following his previous vaccines. He received 4 vaccines on that day. He started screaming, and straightened out his whole body stiff, and jerked in my arms as they administered the rest of the shots. They were prepared to give a 5th shot of chickenpox, but I declined.
I had never seen my boy react like this to pain. The convulsive type motion was blown off by the doctors as my son's anger at my allowing him to have the injections. I thought that might be a possibility, so I shrugged my shoulders as I took my screaming child out of the office.
Michael had a fever within 4 hours of the shots. It got up to 104, but we knew this was normal, so we kept giving Tylenol as the doctor had recommended. On the third day of the fever, I called the doctors office. The nurse said that if it was still there on the 4th day, we should come in. We came in on the fourth day, where we were told that it was most likely a viral infection, and there was nothing they could do. If it got worse, we should come back. "Worse than 104?" -- was to be my question over the next 3 months solid of fevers. Instacares, Nightime pediatrics and even emergency rooms were no help either. The high was 105.7 under the arm, and Tylenol would bring it down to 101 or 102 temporarily. The average remained around 104. We were told that the vaccines could have nothing to do with the sickness, since the pharmaceutical pamphlet said that the fever would only last 1-3 days. It had to be something else.
During this three month period, Michael lost all of his social skills. His speech was replaced by angry grunting. He didn't understand what we were saying. He was scared of most sounds, and no longer liked music. He was inconsolable during the 4th of July fireworks. He would cry all of the time. It was absolute Hell to watch his regression, which we associated with his being ill. An ear infection developed at the end of the three months, treated with a round of antibiotics, finally stopped the fever.
The misery we experienced while he was ill, was nothing compared to the horrors that began when the fever finally stopped. He began to deteriorate into a stick figure child. He lost weight, and wore the same clothes size for over a year and a half. Growing babies are not supposed to stay the same size, and we became quite concerned. Michael wouldn't sleep. He would nap at about 6AM, and wake up 2 hours later. Sleep meds only seemed to make him more wild. I was sick from being pregnant, and needed to wake at 6AM for my science teaching position. My husband often had to work late with his job, so I would be up with Michael till one or two in the morning, while Joe would stay up the rest of the night with Michael. Our house was a constant nightmare. My husband and I were at our wits end. We never saw each other, since he needed to sleep whenever we were both home at the same time, to make up for lost sleep taking care of Michael.
The most disturbing behavior from Michael, was his willingness to slam his head against walls. He would zone out, and laugh as though he were drunk. He would often get on all fours and slam his head downward on the hardwood. Another thing that bothered me, is that he'd slowly push his eyeballs backward into his sockets. We would have to restrain him often, to avoid serious damage.
When we went back to the family practitioner who had given the shots, he Family practitioner treated my visits as though I were an overconcerned mother. He thought Michael was going through a phase, and injuring himself to get attention. He did offer to give me anti-depressants. I didn't think that drugging mom would solve the problem, so we never returned to that doctor. It took us 5 months to find a new doctor who would work with my public education insurance. We were on multiple waiting lists to get Michael evaluated for a developmental assessment.
During that time, we dealt with all of the glaring eyes, with neighbors and relatives thinking we were the worst parents in the world. Everyone had advice. ...If you would sing to him more...If you would only read books to him!... If you just would forbid TV...If you would stay home instead of working...If you would just get his sleep on schedule...Maybe you should get his hearing tested... even though we knew he could hear an ambulance approaching before the rest of us. No one really understood, and we couldn't explain it either. It wasn't much fun to visit others, and fewer people came to visit us.
Michael was diagnosed with Autism, 2 weeks before Jessica was born. We were told such things as, you will have to institutionalize him when he gets strong enough to hurt you. Therapy is the only option. He might learn to use the bathroom by himself by the time he's 18. Ritalin and other psychotic drugs are the only way to improve your life at home. Autism can't be treated, it is lifelong.
We were essentially written over to the mental health department, with no recommendation for testing on what was going on internally in our boy. We were told we would have to wait 6 months before Michael would be able to go to the autism school. This was his only hope of improving.
Ear infections and other illnesses continued, and Michael was often in need of stronger antibiotics. We worried that our options of antibiotic treatment might run out. He seemed to develop resistance to them quickly.
Friends began to bring us literature on biomedical treatment for autism. We put Michael on the GFCF diet. After 3 days, he started to make eye contact, and began sleeping through the night. We were quite encouraged, and began to search for biomedical factors in autism. We also were worried about Michael's weak immune system and possible IgA deficiency, so we looked for what might help the immune system.
It was this point in time that we ran into the Mothers Milk Club of Utah. They had organized a supply of Mothers Milk to give to children with weak immune systems. The university hospital provided the bulk of the donations. You must understand, that the use of the breastmilk was intended to treat immune function, not autism. As we gave Michael breastmilk from myself, friends and the hospital, not only did the ear infections stop for good, his autism started to go away.
Michael began hugging me. He became quite social and sought attention from others. He started babbling more. He seemed to snap out of his little world. We were so pleased. We found that we weren't the only ones benefiting from the breastmilk with autism. There was a growing group in the Mothers Milk Club who were having similar success stories. I found it fascinating that children with autism often have altered immunity.
Since then, Michael has been diagnosed with a low IgA level, heavy metal toxicity from mercury, aluminum, lead, cadmium, arsenic and antimony (similar to that of an Alzheimers patient), Autoantibodies that attack his own brain protein (Myelin Basic Protein and NeuroAxon Filament protein), abnormal EEG, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, seizure disorder, elevated measles titer, nutritional deficiencies, inability to properly digest food, Magnesium deficiency and Zinc deficiency -- among other diagnosis.
For those who may not know, having autoantibodies to the brain indicate that the body is attacking it's own brain protein.
The breastmilk seemed to keep most of his symptoms at bay. We had people raving that he didn't behave as though he were autistic anymore. You can tell he has symptoms if you work with him directly, but his play and happiness appeared quite normal.
Then, we lost the breastmilk donations through the university hospital. The head nurse didn't want to use up their freezer shelf space for the program, and didn't want to be hassled with any inconvenience. The other nurses would still try to collect milk for us for a time there, but pretty soon the pressure from superiors and the inconvenience stopped the donations completely.
We kept up with the breastmilk for awhile through my pumping milk and through donations from friends, but some weeks we'd have plenty, and other weeks we'd go without. The worst part, was to watch Michael regress into old behaviors when we didn't have enough breastmilk.
This is when we discovered Transfer Factor. A woman who was using this to keep her diabetes at bay called me about it. We started using the TF whenever we didn't have breastmilk. We'd use up to 9 a day. As far as we could tell, the TF had the same effect as the breastmilk. We just made sure we supplemented with Vitamin A, taurine and fish oils - to make sure he was getting the nutrients he used to receive from the breastmilk.
We have since used secretin, chelation for heavy metals, liquid magnesium, zinc, calcium, molybdenum, Selenium and other supplements. We try our best to keep up to date on nutritional deficiencies found in Autism, so that we may find other helpful treatments for our son. We are also paying more than what we make on ABA therapy, which goes well when we get the right supplements into him. Our son is improving quickly. He is now 3 1/2, and is well on the road to recovery. His language is coming the slowest, but he is now imitating sounds, and is starting to understand basic commands. He improves each time we chelate the heavy metals. We really feel like the Transfer Factor sustains him through the chelation process.
As for my daughter, well, her story is completely different. She reacted to her first Hepatitis B shot as a newborn. She developed lesions in her mouth and rectum, and it was suggested that the lesions may be running all of they way through the digestional tract. After that shot, we decided that we'd never give her another. They say the serious reactions are one in a million, but we have seen two of our own children react. Interestingly enough, no doctor reported our children's reactions to their vaccines. If adverse reactions are not reported, how can we know the true stats on reactions to vaccines?
This is when we started studying the immunizations, to find that they contain Mercury, Aluminum, Formaldehyde, foreign DNA and other toxins including the mutated virus or bacteria that is the vaccine. All of these components are capable of changing humans genetically. Mercury and Aluminum have terrifying implications. Mercury will build up in the bodily organs - the liver, kidney and brain - and interfere with all of the bodily systems. One major sign of mercury poisoning (since it will not show up in urine, blood or hair unless the exposure is recent), is that the individual seems to have lost their ability to detox heavy metals and viruses. They will accumulate these toxins with a lower exposure than others, which interferes with the bodies ability to process necessary minerals properly.
Recent congressional hearings lined up the symptoms of mercury poisoning to the symptoms of Autism, and they matched perfectly. Even though major government groups maintain that there is no proof that mercury is a problem for babies, they are requiring the pharmaceutical companies to get it out of the vaccines. No recall of mercury vaccines has taken place, however, so no financial burden would be placed on the manufacturers.
One question, why do some kids react badly to the mercury, and others do not? Are some vaccine lots higher in mercury that others? When a nurse preps the vaccine, and uses it on 3 children, is the child with the last use (where all of the settled vaccine product accumulates), getting a higher dose of virotoxin with the mercury? Is it purely an allergy issue? Does it depend on how many shots the child receives in a day? Does it depend on the child's previous exposure to toxins?
We were glad to find out this info, so we could do better by Jessica. We decided to avoid heavy metal exposure. We started drinking reverse osmosis filtered water. We avoided Fluoride, which is known to carry Lead across the blood/brain barrier. We avoided milk, in case she had a sensitivity to it as Michael did.
So, we stood and watched Jessica develop a bit behind schedule.
We were highly concerned for her welfare. She was slightly behind on milestones, but not enough to show big concern. She smiled and made eye contact, and would imitate us. At her one year doctors appt, she would clap her hands, do the indian yell and do actions to children's songs. Her speech was simple babble, but multiple consonants were included in the babble. She knew her own name, and she loved to cuddle.
Then, somewhere between 13 and 14 months, she started to regress. She could no longer imitate song actions. She stopped babbling completely. She didn't seem to know her name - and she stopped making eye contact. She exhibited some seizure activity, in the form of altered eye dilation and zoning. Sometimes - without a change in light intensity - her eyes would dilate and then the pupils would snap back to a small size. She moved strangely in her sleep, as though she were having nightmares. Her arms would spread out and she would have strange tics.
We took her to her pediatrician at 16 months, who couldn't believe what she saw. She had truly regressed. Her muscle tone had gone down, and her walking was now a bit unsteady. Her eye contact was rare, and she'd avoid looking at mommy. She refused to go to anyone but mom, since mom would breastfeed her.
She received a diagnosis of Autism by age 17 months. We started her on Transfer Factor and chelation, and she has improved dramatically. She is now 18 months old. We took her back to the psychiatrist who initially evaluated her, and she says that Jessica is a different child than she was two weeks prior. She is not 'cured' or 'recovered', but she makes eye contact, smiles and is gaining back her imitation. She is playing with toys again. The great thing, is that she is so young. At 18 months, she has gained what she lost before the regression, and we know she responds to biomedical treatment and ABA. She should come back even faster than Michael.
As a result of her regression and dramatic improvement, we have had our home, soil and even my breastmilk tested. Our home is high in Lead. Our soil had elevated lead in certain areas. My breastmilk has arsenic and trace amounts of lead coming through. When we tested our families immune systems, we found that Jessica also had autoantibodies to her own brain, and a high Human Herpes Virus 6 titer. This would explain why Transfer Factor would help. As for me, I have an incredibly high Rubella titer, which suggests an atypical rubella infection.
We have to sit and wonder, did the Lead in our home set up our kids for the vaccine reaction, or did the mercury in the vaccines make my children more susceptible to the lead? Are my children hypersensitive to mercury, or did my case of rubella from my adult MMR shots set me up to weaken any children while in utero?
Some good news, is that the removal of mercury can reverse the presence of autoantibodies to the brain. In the meantime, Transfer Factor can regulate the immune system from doing more damage.
Seizure activity in autism, took a lot longer for us to figure out. We didn't know that Michael had seizures till we had an EEG done. Some children with autism have a normal EEG, but seizure activity shows up on a MEG scan. Michael's EEG showed that he has more when he's asleep than when he is awake. We have come to recognize his staring spells and strange eye movement linked to his seizures. In some cases, we notice a seizure when we see his pupils dilate completely, then snap down to size again -- with no change of light on his eyes. On occasion, we would see more serious seizures where he would clench his fists and shake. We previously thought these were tantrums, since they would usually accompany stressful situations. We didn't know that stress could trigger seizures. We didn't know much about seizure activity at all, when you come right down to it. We began to notice 7 to 10 seizures a day, after we knew what to look for. I often wonder if seizures are more prominent in autism than previously thought.
We have been able to keep seizures at bay, with the liquid magnesium, activated B-6 vitamin, taurine (an amino acid) and pycnogenol (maritime tree bark). When we can sneak all of these supplements into Michael's sipper cup, he has no more visible seizures. If we leave even one of them out, we see 3 or 4 seizures a day. As for pycnogenol, the highest quality product that we can find, is Choice Prime from 4Life. We aren't sure if the pycnogenol from grapeseed has the same effect. It might.
We are so pleased that we have found a seizure control that works without doing damage to the liver or interfering with other body functions. We couldn't use standard seizure meds, since my boy's liver was already in such bad shape.
With as much help as the supplements can be to a child with Autism, you can expect a different amount of time to see results. For example... when some children have a chronic infection with a hidden virus, they will most likely get sick on Transfer Factor before they get better. This does not mean they are reacting to the Transfer Factor, but that the Transfer Factor is working. If the virus or bacteria in the child was able to trick the child's immune system into believing that it was not a threat, the Transfer Factor will suddenly alert the body of the foreign presence. This is why the child might get ill for days, or even weeks before improving. Remember, illness after starting Transfer Factor is a good indicator that the Transfer Factor is working.
The more cleanup that must be done in the body, the longer it will take to see the positive effects of the supplement. Some people may notice an effect within days, but you shouldn't necessarily give up if it takes months for your particular child. As in all cases, trust your gut feeling, to decide if you should raise or lower the amount of supplement given. The parents are the most perceptive in knowing whether or not a supplement is helping their child. Transfer Factor may not alleviate autism symptoms in some children, but help them remain healthy as the parents work with their particular child's case.
There is so much internal repair to do in Autism, that it is necessary to keep looking for answers for your child. Even my two children are not alike in treatment and response. Treatments that are perfectly safe, such as essential fatty acids, Transfer Factor or RDA vitamin dosage are easy to jump into, while chelation therapy or high dosage vitamins should be studied and used under direction of a physician who is educated on biomedical treatments for Autism. Again, you are the only one who will have the insight to see if the treatment is helping your child.
I suspect that most families will not receive all the diagnosis of my children, but I hope that the biological side of Autism will become well known for families and physicians. I must stress that what I've written is not the only answer for these children. Each child must be looked at as an individual.
I hope our particular families case will help bring hope to others.
BioMedical Treatment Options For Autism
Transfer Factor therapy is based on the fact that an immune system dysfunction has occurred. Most likely this dysfunction occurred from a nutritional deficiency via a virus/vaccine leading to autoimmunity, and thus autism.
There are different types of Transfer Factor. In 1985 Dr. Fudenburg used Transfer Factor on twenty-two children with “classic” autism. He found that twenty of the children had Myelin Basic Protein Antibodies (MBPA). These children were treated for three-three and a half years, receiving Transfer Factor three days every six weeks. After the treatment twenty-one out of twenty two had improved. Ten were considered normal, in that they no longer exhibited autistic symptoms and were mainstreamed in their schools. Unfortunately, this type of disease specific Transfer Factor is not available for use today and is still being researched.
According to 4 Life Research, a company that produces 4 Life Transfer Factor, “Transfer Factors have been made from colostrums produced by cattle and are naturally occurring immune system messengers that teach the body’s immune system to identify infectious agents.” According to Kenneth Bock, MD, numerous anecdotal reports have been accumulated on the use of Transfer Factor in children with ASD and improvement in their clinical behaviors.
Related article: Read the article by a certified nurse whose child with developmental delays used transfer factor successfully - here.