April 2, 2018
April is Autism Awareness Month. We’ve found over the years that only certain information gets into the mainstream when it comes to April’s “Awareness.” There is so much more to autism, and autism treatment, than you will ever see in mainstream media and “Light It Up, Blue!” campaigns. One thing there is still not enough “Awareness” about is the fact that autism is so much more treatable than most doctors know. In fact, there is so much about healing that those doctors can learn from parents who have learned it the hard way—out of necessity—if they only have the humility and grace to listen.
My daughter’s report card this quarter: 5 As and 1 B.
I think she is pretty amazing, and I think it’s time for a “Dear Doctor” letter:
Dear Doctor,
Remember that time when you sat in front of me and told me that my daughter would never be able to function in school? (Yes, the one where you told me to find an institution for her and a good support group for us.) This is what happens when you actually bother to treat patients. Oh no, you didn’t do this; we did. We did your job.
And the result is that she is a high school student in a large public school, without any assistance, making good grades. Her teachers describe her “ability to function” as dedicated, well behaved, driven, sincere, a pleasure in the classroom, actively engaged, and one of their best students. She has picked her college as a freshman and is taking advanced classes to try to get over the 4.0 GPA level going into next year.
She isn’t unique in her abilities; she is every child that deserves the opportunity to not be dismissed before they ever have a chance. It was your job to run the labs, to figure out what was happening, to talk about the cause, to help us navigate the “what next?” But you chose to instead go with the “it’s just autism”and “we have no answers” bull. I promise you as a parent who had no medical background that if I could and did find answers, that you and your colleagues can do the same. Your choice to do nothing is why we have families who are struggling every day. It’s why we are decades behind where we should be and kids are suffering. It’s not “just autism,” and yes there are answers.
The ability to function isn’t about our kids and a classroom; it’s about medical professionals and their patients. The information is there. How come you can’t figure it out? Do you not function well enough to do your job, to hold that license, to look at the research, to care for patients, to take that oath? I would find you a support group to help you cope, but the truth is, maybe it’s better that I direct you to MAPS or one of our conferences where real doctors are actually doing the work and changing lives. Or maybe you could just start by listening to the parents, as they are pretty good about telling you how very wrong you were. Better yet . . . the kids can show you.
Signed,
One proud parent who thankfully never listened
~ Crush
For more by Crush, click here.
Prof_TMR , from my dealings with experienced older nurses, the truth about vaccines is already very widely known , which means the doctors definitely know.
Damn scoundrels are cooperating with the program for the dirty cash (milgram)
From my experiences, physicians are good at diagnosing and treating problems where there are well-defined disease entities, surgical problems, or trauma. It is in the realm of diseases that medical science does not have answers for, or at least not good answers, such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic Lyme disease, or newer entities like mitochondrial disorders, extremely rare genetic diseases, and problems that don’t fit into good definitions that alternative medicine seems to have a function, since traditional medicine doesn’t always have answers. I would encourage you, however, not to assume that because something works, or appears to work, without scientific testing, it is the answer. Things sometimes get better spontaneously.
And yet, the chronic illnesses rarely do get better spontaneously when being treated by allopathic physicians and often do when treated by “alternative health providers.” But by all means, if you’re uncomfortable with testing on yourself, ignore the testimony of your friends and family and wait until scientific testing (which is generally funded by allopathic medicine) proves that those amazing results were not due to coincidence. 😉
Unfortunately, the hand on the reins of “scientific testing” is too often held tightly by some pharmaceutical interest, who has the money to conduct the research. We have to keep “ science” more accountable—and open minded to possibilities outside the conventional Pharma box. A careful juggling act indeed. In the case of autism, patients seem to be discovering “on their own “ cures for their children . The scientific community needs to pay more attention to what the moms are doing, and know when to follow their lead. There isn’t anyone on earth more dedicated to finding cures for autism than the mothers of autistic children.
Oh, Lucy, I see you were a physician assistant, so that is your license to practice medicine. Glad you found homeopathy which gives you more independent practice rather than being subservient to a physician. Just curious what dietary changes and herb cured your endometriosis. More women should know about it. I thought, though, that herbal remedies and homeopathy are two different things. I see I have much to learn.
You may have much to learn, but herbal remedies and homeopathy ARE two different things. She never said otherwise.
Actually, practicing homeopathy does not give me any greater freedoms. I undergo physician supervision in accordance with state PA licensing laws. And no, homeopathy is not usually equated with botanical medicine.
Just wondered why you mentioned an herb in conjunction with homeopathy.
???not sure where you are going with this, and your other comments. I was merely responding to Prof TMR’s comment about those serious health crises for which allopathic meds have little to offer ( such as I underwent) being a turning point in the professional life of an individual who also practices medicine. If you do research , you will also be able to learn more about alternatives that work; better yet, consult with a licensed naturopathic physician who specializes in gynecology. I will say emphatically that, if it is endometriosis ( and not autism) that is your topic, I would look at the vast research of David Redwine, MD, for starters ( on surgical excision , compared to the other mostly useless medical-surgical approaches). And yes, dietary or herbal strategies might work with some cases — as they did with mine. It’s important to remember that real healing is generally an individualized thing, and that tossing this dietary , herbal, pharmaceutical, surgical, homeopathic, TCM, nutraceutical, or any other advice your way ( got a bad case of endo, do you?) about a case I know nothing about would be just plain bad medical practice. I don’t think this is an appropriate forum for that conversation, anyway, and I’m a tad perplexed , wondering what your and Mr . Davis’ agendas are here. you seem to have missed the gist of what was being said, which is about the need to think outside the box, and how the med/ Pharma community is failing to do so in autism.
No, I am curious what worked because someone I am close to has had the problem. No agenda, only following your mention.
Check out Dr. Redwine’s work, and find a doc for her trained in his methods. Or else a good ND who specializes in gynecology. Best wishes to her.
Curious about dietary changes and herb for treatment of endometriosis. Please inform us.
“And yet, the chronic illnesses rarely do get better spontaneously when being treated by allopathic physicians and often do when treated by “alternative health providers.””
Do you have some documentation for that?
By the way, allopathic physicians are MDs, osteopathic physicians are osteopaths. Nurse practitioners have started to call themselves “cathopathic physicians”, for what it’s worth, and some chiropractors refer to themselves as “functional neurologists”, again, FWIW.
“Documentation”? By that I suspect you mean double-blinded placebo-controlled trials? Sure… ’cause there are so many businesses and governments putting their money into proving things that they don’t want you to believe. 😉
But if by any chance you mean actual medical tests for actual people, the documentation is EVERYWHERE. You have only to join one or two of the hundreds of forums dedicated to chronic illnesses–or even hang around our Facebook page and talk to some of the 60,000+ followers who have similar stories where mainstream medicine failed them utterly, but some alternative treatment turned their lives around.
The plural of anecdote isn’t data. Science is advanced by double blind studies, not anecdotes of I used this diet, this herb, or this essential oil. I empathize with all those whose lives are turned upside down by a child with autism (or Down syndrome, or Dravet syndrome, or a host of genetic/metabolic/infectious/etc. diseases). But really, mother’s and fathers, the most effective way to find treatments is with science and technology.
I can tell you are not a scientist. Science is advanced by a whole lot of things, and double-blind studies are a relatively new phenomenon. Insistence on them as the only form of data that is acceptable in order to make progress is ridiculous. And, yes, the plural of anecdotes is indeed data, albeit unquantified data. Quantification of data doesn’t make it data; it merely collates into readable form that which already existed and a keen observer has probably long known. Science and technology COULD be effective for finding real treatments if they were being used that way, but unfortunately these days they are being used primarily to develop and promote patentable drugs, which are often the LEAST “effective” treatments (if by “effective” one means actually pushes the body in the direction of healing and better health) for chronic illnesses.
Crush – I am happy for you that your daughter has done so well.
I’ve sort of had the opposite experience – for the most part the doctors (we used conventional and alternative), therapists, educators, etc., were positive about my son – encouraging us to try various treatments and therapies. Everyone pointed to examples like Temple Grandin to show us what individuals with autism could accomplish. I listened to my gut – and I also listened to the expertise of individuals who seemed both knowledgeable and open-minded.
However, my son, despite extensive, intensive treatment and therapy over 25+ years is still profoundly affected by autism. We’ve done everything medical, biomedical, educational, therapeutic, etc. I don’t think there’s a treatment in autism we haven’t tried, and we also started with the medical issues because I agree that those issues are bedrock issues that matter. They need to be treated before the brain can heal and learn. We have made some progress over the years, but he needs and will need lifelong care and support.
I wish that there was more research into effective treatment and therapy throughout the lifespan. I’m not sure what the recovery rate is, but from what I read, it’s under 10%.
Thanks for your input, Aimee. The only available data does suggest we are running at about 10%. But only a small subset of autism families have even tried medical interventions, so it is unclear what percentage could ultimately heal fully if diagnosed and treated at an early age. What IS clear is that, at present, that is NOT 100%. Many families like yours have “tried everything” and have only achieved partial mitigation of symptoms at best. I think James Lyons-Weiler’s suggestions for research into the interaction of genetic predispositions and environmental exposures, providing the ability to drill down into individuals’ specific issues, hold a great deal of promise for the future.
Congratulations on your saughter’s Achievements. Wonderful.
But, There are no lab or X-ray tests to demonstrate autism. There aren’t specific medical treatments for autism. Counseling, guidance, focused training does help, as her success demonstrates. Glad you didn’t get too discouraged by a negative experience with a physician, but physicians don’t know everything. Don’t fall into the trap, however, of assuming that an alternative provider, such as a naturopath, chiropractor, essential oil promulgation, etc. does. Our society has a way of finding out what works and what doesn’t. Ask an alternative provider such as a naturopath who he/she would seek out for cancer, advanced heart disease, multiple sclerosis, etc.
Don’t fall into the trap of assuming that an alternative provider does NOT, either. For every child with an autism diagnosis, there ARE medical treatments that help (and they can be crucial to the kind of success that Crush’s daughter has achieved), it’s just that those medical treatments will not be the same for all children with autism.
John, I believe that you missed the point here. Counseling, guidance, and focused training is not what gets you to fully functional. You need to treat the medical issues behind the autism. ABA is like training a puppy, helpful but it doesn’t restore the function of the brain just improves the behavior.
The medical issues? Like what? Is it inflammatory? Infectious? Vascular? Autoimmune? Dietary? If you have the answers great. I hope you donbelieve every case if autism is caused by vaccination.
Whether or not she believes it doesn’t really matter (few people do, by the way), just as the fact that there are lots of people who believe autism is strictly genetic doesn’t matter to the truth either. The truth that more and more people are coming to understand is that there are many different ways to reach similar outcomes, which depend upon which specific genetic predispositions a person has and how they interact with their environmental exposures.
There are no labs or X-rays that demonstrate apraxia either, and the recommended treatment is intensive speech therapy. My son had intensive speech therapy with a fabulous provider (he was the head of the speech department at Long Island University and had done wonders for my daughter in a very short period of time), but it wasn’t doing ANYTHING until I read about some targeted medical interventions that might help: digestive enzymes, fish oils, and probiotics. My son was talking more IMMEDIATELY, and within two weeks was putting syllables and sentences together. A feat that had been utterly beyond his abilities previously. You can call it “coincidence” all you like, but I know better.
Moral of the story is that just because a diagnosis is based upon observed behaviors doesn’t mean that the observed behaviors aren’t due to medical issues.
By the way, I know a number of alternative health providers who were very mainstream UNTIL they were diagnosed with a serious condition such as those you mention, and that’s exactly when they began seeking help from the alternative health community. When they received that help, not only did it change their physical health dramatically, it also changed their career path.
Yes. This was my fate as well. Diagnosed with endometriosis at age 28, cured it with dietary changes and an herb, after Allopathic Medicine only made new symptoms. I am a medically licensed homeopath today . So many docs would rather not help their patients at all than admit that the allopathic paradigm doesn’t work for everyone and everything. Their paternalistic attitudes are sickening.
Not sure how a homeopath gets a medical license. Maybe you mean you have a license to practice homeopathy. In 3 states, MDs or DOs can get a license to practice homeopathy.
Apraxia is a clinical diagnosis, with good criteria to exclude or include someone. I am glad your son improved; I would love to see a prospective, double blind study that demonstrates a particular intervention is (or isn’t) effective. The plural of anecdote isn’t data.
Thank you for your kind words John. While I don’t discourage anything that a parent believes will help their child, I am a firm believer in that all of the counseling, behavioral therapy, training, etc does very little when the body is not functioning. I can of course only speak to our experience but, my daughter did not receive any of those things because once we addressed her medical issues the symptoms (how we define autism) disappeared. Now of course every person is different and I believe that we have multiple issues at play in autism and that means that not every person will have the same causes, the same ways of addressing, nor the same results…but I believe we can get there if only we stopped this idea that there are no answers.
If the doctor (or any of the others we saw over the years) had bothered to listen, we could have addressed legitimate medical issues. There may not be labs for diagnosing autism per se, but there are plenty of labs that can address or at least identify and then help us address everything from underlying issues like mitochondrial dysfunction, pans, gi disorders, nutritional deficiencies, metabolic disorders, Lyme, allergies, histamine problems, methylation, toxicity, genetics, etc. Instead as parents we are usually given the it’s just autism and nobody knows anything…but that’s not true. There are labs thay can be done. There are hundreds of peer reviewed studies on these things. And most importantly there are clues to what is happening and how we should approach this. The goal is to provide everyone with as much health as possible so that they have the potential to be whoever they are. I believe we can get there and while I wish mainstream medicine would catch up to what does exist; I won’t discourage anyone who wants to step up and LEGITIMATELY do that job whether it’s “alternative doctors” or as it has been…parents.
Thanks for commenting, I appreciate hearing everyone’s views. It helps is figure out how we all get there.
CRUSH