Hi Everyone!

Let me start by saying this is a looooong post, so really you only need read the first couple of paragraphs if you want. Friend or stranger, please feel free to contact me any time, and please feel free to forward this as far and wide as you'd like.

My husband and I have an 8 year old son who was diagnosed with Autism when he was four years old. Over the last four years, we have spent tireless hours researching possible causes and treatments, talking to parents and doctors, participating in research studies and trying new, progressive and sometimes even controversial treatments. It has been a long, hard road full of exhasting days and frustrating moments, but even more than that many grand moments of inspiration and victory.

Our latest and most incredible news is this:
Last month Ricky was re-evaluated by his psychologist, occupational therapist, speech and language pathologist and others to determine how he is progressing. I was called in to a meeting to discuss the test findings and I was told this: Ricky no longer meets the criteria designated to qualify as Autistic. Let me say that again. Our son is no longer Autistic. I asked if they had ever heard of anyone "losing" an autism diagnosis. They all said no. Never. The Psychologist said she considered it "nothing short of miraculous" and wouldn't believe it if she hadn't seen it for herself. At the end of the meeting I left the room and as I was walking away tears began to stream down my face. This is what we believed in, this is what we worked for, this is what we did. Autism is NOT a lifelong sentence. How could it be so if we reversed it?

Now, these professionals had never heard of someone "recovering" from Autism, but let me tell you - I am hearing it more and more. Our research led us to a fast growing and forward thinking group of parents and doctors who believe that Autism and related disorders like Aspergers, PPD/NOS, ADD/ADHD, speech delay etc are treatable and even reversible. I know of hundreds of families who are using the treatments we used and who are getting their kids out of the fog of these horrible afflictions.

Most parents will report that their Autistic children are born healthy and develop normally for the first year or two of life and then something happens.. something that takes their child away. They begin to regress, to slip away. Eye contact stops. Smiles and laughter go away. Language stops developing and often disappears. They aren't interested in other kids, in toys, in social interaction and emotional reciprocity. They become preoccupied with specific things or parts of things, become sensitive to touch, bright light or sounds. They exhibit self stimulatory behavior like hand flapping, spinning and rocking. The list goes on and on.

What happens that causes these kids to slip away? Western medicine will say this is a genetic life-long illness with little hope of improvement. How can that be if Autism has gone from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 150 in just a few short decades? How can that be if our kids were fine for the first year or two of life and then lost them? Why can't we get them back? These were the questions I asked. We refused to believe that there was little to be done. We knew our son, we knew he was in there and we were determined to get him back. If he was fine, and then suddenly he was not... how do we fix it?

We have come to believe that Autism and related disorders are often illnesses of the body that become so bad they affect the mind. Heal the body, heal the mind. The treatments we have done are nothing radical in our opinion, they make sense. We feed him healthy food and use quality vitamins, minerals and other supplements like probiotics and digestive enzymes. We use B-12, cod liver oil, glutathione (a naturally occuring anti-oxidant made by the liver) and most importanty in our case, treatments for out of control viral infections and chelation therapy to remove toxic levels of heavy metals. Our son was tested by doctors and found to have toxic levels of lead, mercury and aluminum in his body. Why? He wasn't exposed to any more than any other kid his age, but we found his body is unable to remove these metals on it's own. Look on the internet for the symptoms of heavy metal poisoning and they are nearly identical Autism. With each round of chelation we did we saw huge leaps in his social interaction, eye contact and social language. His fine motor skills improved and he started to write and draw. His recovery happened so fast and the reason became obvious to us.

I know this is getting long so I will stop here. There are so very many things I could share and so many stories to tell, but this is a post and not a novel. The point is this:

Autism is preventable, treatable and reversible. We did it. Many other parents have too. It isn't always as simple as removing heavy metals or changing diet as each child is different, but sometimes the simplest seeming littlest things can make such a huge difference. I am more than happy to share our story with anyone anytime! Please feel free to cross post or forward this to anyone you know and I will gladly talk to anyone - friend, family or complete stranger - about what we have done. Parents need to know there is so much that can be done, and they can do most of it themselves. There is a huge network of parents worldwide that are out there doing these things and supporting one another. There is hope.

with much love
Lisa Mize
Ricky's mom
lkmize@yahoo.com


Resources:
www.generationrescue.org
www.autism.com
www.safeminds.org