Autistic boy dies during controversial treatment

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Autistic boy dies during controversial treatment

Wednesday, August 24, 2005 By Karen Kane and Virginia Linn, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A 5-year-old Monroeville boy died this week during a medical treatment that's being touted by some as a cure for autism.
The autistic boy died while receiving chelation -- an intravenous injection of a synthetic amino acid known as EDTA, for ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid. The Food and Drug Administration has approved the practice only to treat heavy metal (such as lead) poisoning. The treatment is becoming increasingly popular, though still controversial, for autism.
Police are investigating the boy's death, which occurred Tuesday morning in the office of Dr. Roy Kerry in Portersville. Kerry did not return calls today.
An autopsy conducted today was inconclusive. Results on the cause and manner of death are pending additional testing that could take up to five months to complete, authorities said.


Lori S. Shery, President
ASPEN
Asperger Syndrome Education Network, Inc.
www.aspennj.org
 

Fran

Former desparate mom
This is my hometown. I got the newspaper article from several of my friends. :grief:
People are so desparate.
 
Chelation has been around for a long time and is used for adults as well as children. It is not something that I subscribe to but many people find it helpful.
 

Debbie MA

New Member
Many parents of autistic children are offended when the word "desperate" is used. From the article I posted by GenerationRescue:

"An important question we hope many people will ask is, "Why would Tariq's parents, his father a trained "mainstream" physician, relocate from England to the United States specifically to receive a treatment for their son that is not endorsed by mainstream medicine?" Only they can answer that question, but our guess is that they went through the same process and did the same research so many of us have done. We are not desperate parents willing to try anything. We are educated, caring parents who have done thousands of hours of research and administered dozens of medical tests on our children under the care of knowledgeable physicians.

What we have discovered is that our children are heavy metal poisoned, particularly with mercury. The primary source of mercury comes from a vaccine preservative called Thimerosal. We have a diagnosis of mercury poisoning; we choose chelation as the therapy to remove mercury. This is a critical distinction: we are NOT chelating our children to cure autism. Autism is a behavioral diagnosis, applied through observation. The autism diagnosis does not offer any guidance on the medical issues in our children that may be behind these observed behaviors. The matching of symptoms and the science of lab work gives us the evidence we need to pursue proper medical treatment for our children."
 
Many MD's take their children to homeopaths because homeopathic medicine works. Many MD's, particularly psychiatrists are studying to be homeopaths because they have seen the limits and horrors of Western medicine.
 

Fran

Former desparate mom
Maybe they aren't desparate but I am.
To each their own. I would feed difficult child wood chips if I thought it would help. Feeding difficult child wood chips hasn't been proven to my satisfaction that it works so I haven't done it.

:confused:
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Many people want to think autism can be cured. It can't. Actually there are no medications specifically for autism. My son is medication free and still autistic, but happy and doing well. I would never try a controversial method on a child, especially one not approved by the medical community. Homeopathic stuff may work for others, but I tried it for bipolar and ony got worse, so it didn't work for me.
 

cmdh

New Member
Much to my surprise a leading pediatrician specialist at a leading Chicago hospital told me "most western medication has not been proven either"!!!!!!!
Then he prescribed enzymes for difficult child and started acupuncture with her because western medication was not working. This same hospital I have been told is using various 'alternative' medicine approaches in other disciplines too.

Yes the FDA is supposed to be our western medication safety check but this is the same federal agency that approved some of the drugs that have caused problems - many approved drugs have been pulled because of massive problems. Yes I do look to them for their guidance and I don't expect them to be god - but the agency is not perfect. This is the agency that guides drug therapies given by traditional doctors.

In fact there are many drugs for children that have not been 'proven' because of lack of clinical trials.. Many are not recommended (FDA) for children but still given as therapies.

I agree that autism can't be 'cured' but will stand behind the theory that in many children it can be 'controlled' to a point where the difficult child's can have a happy, productive life. I would be happy to host guests that would like to watch difficult child in an uncontrolled state and watch her transformation with alternative therapies.

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS if you have a difficult child with autism that is happy and productive without some kind of intervention. I as I suspect others on this board DO NOT. My difficult child can barely function without support. Western medication was not helping at all. We just happened to find an alternative approach that worked.

As for the fact that we are using alternatives. Yes I freak out about it all the time - in fact I'm due for my daily melt down :panic: ! I research, talk with others who have been through the same therapies etc. In fact it's a 1000 x more than I do for western medication that is given to me by difficult child pediatrician. Fran in fact if I found wood chips would do it we would be in line behind you! :Warrior:

Are doctors preying on grieving, desperate families dealing with autism? ABSOUTELY. I've also heard plenty of stories about west medication dr's incompetence and putting their patients in harms way unnecessarily.

I'm waiting to hear the autopsy results to decide further detox treatments for our difficult child. (by the way we were not doing IV. We were doing oral) I will not judge the families decision since I have not walked a mile in their shoes - I have NO IDEA why they decided to do the therapy. I just pray that they will find peace in spite of all this media frenzy.


:Warrior:
 
People with autism have been cured. It is rare but it does happen. There is no easy answer but these fortunate few found the treatment that was the magic bullet for them. Even if we followed the precise protocol they did, it might not work. What we CAN do is make sure that our children have the best possible support.
In order to benefit fully from homeopathic medicine, it is critical to find a top-notch homeopath. Just as there are poor MD's, there are poor homeopathic physicians.
Originally posted by MidwestMom:
[qb] Many people want to think autism can be cured. It can't. Actually there are no medications specifically for autism. My son is medication free and still autistic, but happy and doing well. I would never try a controversial method on a child, especially one not approved by the medical community. Homeopathic stuff may work for others, but I tried it for bipolar and ony got worse, so it didn't work for me. [/qb]
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Nobody with autism has been cured. Some have gotten so much better that their symptoms seem to have abated and they can live a relatively "normal" life. Autism is not cureable. Most autistics continue to struggle well into adulthood but can have very productive and happy lives, often with the help of a caregiver unless they are INCREDIBLY mild. My son is the happiest kid I know. He may not live a "productive" life for a typical kid, but he will work and have a busy life and always with a smile.
 
You might want to read "The Impossible Cure" by Amy Lansky. There are also other books that show amazing cures. Some people insist there was a misdiagnosis or that it is a "spontaneous remission". A cure is a cure.
 
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