Cher10 wrote:
I am sorry the name of the organization I recommended is not great, but it does list some common deficiencies and factors that effect those on the autistic spectrum and can be an indicator of what to do to treat conditions that can make things difficult. I have struggled with every aspect of life having aspergers syndrome and I just want to help others to have it easier than I have. I am not trying to make having autism a death sentaince. I am not trying to quote Jenny MCCarthy. I do read what doctors write about the conditions that can accompany autism and not just the DAN Material, the information matched. Also, I have read about parents whose kids had autism symptoms and were checked for metal levels and they were excessively high. It couldn't hurt to get tested by a doctor.
The problem with metals testing is that I pretty never hear of someone testing for metals and discovering that the levels were NOT excessively high. The tests may not be reliable, and the treatment to REMOVE the metals can be outright dangerous. Which is, in a nutshell, where the majority of membership on this site departs dramatically from DAN! and anything the organization puts out. DAN! doctors, quite honestly, seem to be more interested in making money off of autsim than figuring out if anything they are doing is based on sound science. Sure, they mix in the stuff with scientific support as well - that means more services to sell. But going through that protocol includes an incredible amount of misinformation, expensive testing, and potentially harmful treatments. When I talk to parents who go that route life seems to be a misery of appointments, treatments, and expense, all in the name of, "but if there was any chance of it helping, and I didn't do it, I would never forgive myself." Well, if a doctor wants a revenue stream, seems like a great group of people to be selling to. I don't trust it at all. I would much prefer a doctor saying, "there is nothing known to work, but there are a few things you can try on your own that can't hurt." I am getting 99% of my information from people who have no money to make from what they share with me.
Some AS have food issues that can make things worse. For them, solving the food issues will improve their overall health. Nothing wrong with that. But can you see the conflict in what you wrote, the "knowns?" Zinc deficiency you list as one. Did you know that soy is a natural chelation agent for zinc? So what happens when a child goes GFCF? The parent replaces the dairy with soy products, right? And there goes the zinc the child needs ... Isn't it better to figure out if the child only needs GF, or nothing at all? My son, it turns out, is sensitive to soy, the exact product so many families INCREASE in their kids following DAN! protocols. OK, I haven't kept up with what the group says, so maybe they've figured out that little trap, too, but big blankets without scientific basis are not much more than false hope. The successes have been accidents because of small truths hiding in the blanket, like the fact that an AS child who is sensitve to gluten will do better without it. We're talking maybe 10% here, that is it. All anecdotal what I've got in this paragraph - but I've read a LOT of families on this board, and I would bet anything that my anecdotal beats Jenny McCarthies.
I know, we're all just figuring out how to make life with AS as pleasant as possible. I guess I really worry that DAN! has muddied the waters far more than clarified them.
_________________
Mom to an amazing young adult AS son, plus an also amazing non-AS daughter. Most likely part of the "Broader Autism Phenotype" (some traits).
15 Feb 2010, 7:39 pm
