Are holistic treatments effective to cure autism?

Question

My 3-year-old was diagnosed with autism, mild form. There is this doctor in the Tampa bay area that does a treatment like chellation (measuring mercury levels) and gluten free diet and vitamins? do you know if it is true?, I am very skeptical because insurance wont pay for it and he wants to charge $360+ testing and medications for the first time visit, then $90 for every 15 minutes on the subsequent visits. My son's therapists and doctors, neurologists and pediatricinas said nothing of that is true, I am afraid to fall for it and to be a scam and a lie to rip us out of money, I don't know what to do... does anyone have experience with this?

Answer 1

Marta, for everyone who encounters a disease or condition that has no cure, there are dozens of people who are waiting with "snake oil" cures to take their money. Your child does not learn like typically developing children do, but that does not mean he won't make progress and become a valued member of our society. He needs special methods, strategies, & interventions to learn. I am a special education Pre k teacher here in the Tampa Bay area, and I work with many children with autism and other special needs. The best advice I can give you is to work closely with your child's therapists & teacher to carry over into the home the strategies & interventions the teachers are working with at school. If your child is not yet in a Pre K ESE (exceptional student education) program, I would encourage you to get him enrolled now. This time before Kindergarten is critical in helping & teaching him to prepare for his school career, social skills, and language development. One thing I see too much of on the internet is the "Us vs. Them" attitudes between parents of children with autism and teachers/ school system. This is tragic, because we need each other in order to help the child to be successful and reach his goals. You, as a parent, are his first and most important teacher. If you work with his teachers to carry over skills into the home, then he has a better chance of success. Get in touch with CARD at USF (Center for Autism & Related Disorders). In my 10 years of teaching Pre K, I have seen parents use chelation, GFCF diets, and supplements. I have not noticed any difference with any of these. Be careful of what's out there. Best wishes to you.

Answer 2

Chelation is very dangerous and should only be carried out inpatient. If he is diagnosed, then I am assuming your medical team put him through a battery of tests first- did THEY say he had mercury poisoning? If not, I would be very dubious.
Medical care is bound by ethics AND law to abide by Evidence-Based Medicine: to only use practices and medications that have been shown in clinical trials to be 1) safe, 2) effective.
Holistic practitioners do not have to abide by these same rules because they are not licensed and regulated the same as docs.
That said: I am in a doctorate program for pharmacy and do a lot of research. I also have an autistic friend and relative.
I HAVE seen some research that SOME autistic people seem to be more sensitive to certain chemicals AND proteins.
Gluten and casein are the two proteins most research has focused on: some children improve when these two proteins are removed
and others don't.
Look on the National Institutes of Health website and do a search.
You can look at the research yourself.
I am celiac and live gluten-free, so it's do-able: you just have to be very wary.
IMHO, you do not need to pay some quack for unproven tests and treatment. Ask this guy for data. Google him in Google scholar to see if he has published articles- if not, he's a fake. Real docs have data on PubMed. My doc does.
Get to an autism support group and get some advice from people who walk in the same kind of moccasins.
Good luck. Enjoy your child's childhood and be happy- you must be a special mom to be given a special child. I have a special child too- he is 25, getting a master's degree and working very happily. Happy endings can and do happen!

Answer 3

Personally I would not trust anyone with my child's health like that.
Autism can not be cured. A also feel there is no more people with autism now then before. People just know of it more for it is publicized.

I also feel by giving into all these claims these so called doctors are making and believing it your child will believe there is something wrong with him and it is his fault for having it. Children do not think like adults do.

My child has a form of autism with many sub symptoms and epilepsy to boot. He has a hard enough time trying to fit into school and social activities without being depressed, or thinking there is something wrong with him.

Just raise your kid in a loving environment, making changes for him when they need changing. Your life is going to change in ways you never realized! Children with any form of autism need a nurturing environment without promises of being cured. At this point I do not know if I want my kid to be cured. Just to be "normal" like everyone else....he is normal in my eyes.

Your child is still a baby you will learn there are many out there that will promise you the world if only you give up your money....I do not even believe in popping pills for everything (the side effects are worse then the actual symptom), therefor my child is on only his seizures meds. We deal with all his other short comings with logic, and lots of love. This son is 11 now.

Good luck and just remember do not believe everything you are told or read that has the $$$ sign near it.

Answer 4

I agree with CYP. Chelation is quackery and is dangerous. It has killed children. These DAN! doctors who use it are the lowest of the low because they prey on your fears. If there were such thing as these "recovered" autistics from using chelation, believe me, it would be all over the news and supported by the medical community. It seems the only "scientists" who support its use as treatment stand to gain monetarily from vaccine litigation-that should send off alarm bells. Special diets will help some with digestive problems but it does not benefit anyone who does not have an allergies to those foods. There is not a cookie cutter approach to help all autistics so you must find what works best for your child. IMO, what you must first do is find out how your child learns and teach in a way he/she understands. It's much easier and less frustrating than forcing him to learn in a traditional way. Your child will need to have a team of educators who understand and are willing to adapt their styles to tap into your child's potential-that's when the magic happens.
What makes most parents fearful is when their child is not hitting the developmental milestones and they think they've lost the child. Your child will develop more but maybe on a totally different timetable and only when they're ready. Your child may never develop speech or may lose it one day-the same with other abilities. What's important is that they have some avenue to express themselves-be it speech, written or with facilitated communication. The hard part is teaching yourself to learn your childs language and establishing that avenue. Keep in mind that your child is trying to process a world that is totally alien to them and it can be taxing on them (tantrums, meltdowns, shutdowns). It's just as hard (usually harder) for your child to understand your behaviors and actions as it is for you to understand theirs. To sum up, your time is better spent learning all the inner workings of your child to the best of your ability than chasing miracle "cures". Short of totally rewiring your childs brain, curing autism is not possible. Figure out which teaching style works best for your child and get his/her educators on the same page and the results will most likely be good. It will not be easy so find support where you can but NEVER, NEVER FALL FOR QUACK TREATMENTS LIKE CHELATION.

Answer 5

I wish there was a cure for autism, but there isn't.

There are treatments. You're right to be skeptical. I've heard positive things about chelation therapy, but can't give you any more insight than that.

I had a neighbor with autism that got a black belt in Tae Kwon Do at the age of 12. So it's not a death sentence.

Answer 6

The first thing you need to do is get rid of ALL of your toxic household cleaners and laundry products and replace them with all natural ones. Most regular cleaners are registered pesticides. Do not throw your old cleaners in the trash as these need to be disposed of at a toxic waste reclycling place. Once you replace your cleaners and laundry products thoroughly clean your house, carpets and furniture with the new products including your sons mattress and pillows etc. Wash all clothes and towels in the new non toxic laundry products making sure you run a wash load with just the soap and no clothes in to clean the washer of any residue from the toxic laundry products you now use. This will help tremendously. Also consider eliminating foods with dyes and artificial ingredients as much as possible. You might also want to try him off dairy products for a couple weeks to see if this helps or not. Good Luck.