Autism Tsunami Carries Away Parents' Resources

At his baptism at two-and-a-half-months old, my son Fridrik, had better focus and communication skills than he would two years later when the regressive form of autism took hold. That rite followed the first batch of baby vaccinations by two weeks. Those immunizations included DTP, hepatitis B, and HiB vaccines. But Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis (DTP) was a triple shot that contained thimerosal. So Fridrik, weighing a slight thirteen pounds at the time, had in essence five vaccines in a single day. And that didn't include the "birth dose" of hepatitis B he received in the hours after he was born.

In retrospect, it wasn't the six vaccines he had in sixty days that did the damage, but it allowed thimerosal, the mercury-based preservative used in many baby vaccines, to take root and accumulate. The full impact of that accumulation of mercury poisoning wouldn't reveal itself until after the end of the baby vaccination cycle. By then Fridrik's nervous system began to show signs of being fried. It would strangle his speech, turn his fingers into claws, causing him to lose his desire to draw, and make his skin very sensitive to the touch. Gone too was his ability to focus, socialize, and recognize the faces of his mother and father.

It would be a full year after the first signs of autism that he was officially diagnosed, and another year after that before his parents figured out what to do about the devastating disorder.

A year into treating Fridrik with the multi-prong approach of vitamins, lipoic, folinic and amino acids, glutathione, and chelation therapy, we are starting to see results. Yet we also know the horizon of recovery, when he can be "mainstreamed" with his peers, is several years away.

Most parents at the onset of bringing their autistic child to a DAN (Defeat Autism Now!) doctor are unaware of the expense that lies ahead. The sheer outlay of money often accumulates faster than thimerosal in the tissues of spectrum kids. The costs go well beyond the visits to one or more doctors, who have developed varying protocols to treat different spokes of the autism wheel.

The commitment to treat an ASD child cannot be measured in weeks or months, but years and even decades. At a cost of $10,000 to $30,000 or more a year after taxes, with little or no insurance reimbursement, and our local, state, and federal governments giving a deaf ear, the money squeeze is on. There are myriad tests, from blood and yeast tests to stomach X-rays and brain MRI's, that balloon costs upfront. That's because doctors need to rule out a variety of ailments that either fall on the spectrum or outside it. When gastrointestinal (GI) problems, aka "leaky gut" or inflamed bowel disease, are added to the mix the expense and the course for treatment soar exponentially.

No longer are parents of leaky gut children merely treating the brain and detoxing the body of heavy metals, they are also trying to balance diets to curb a relentless diarrhea and constipation and get their aging kids out of wearing diapers. Leaky gut issues also have another hidden long-term drawback: Cost. When it comes to chelation therapy, my son, who doesn't have GI issues, takes the oral and stronger form of chelation. But the DMPS chelation pill ravages the stomach of children with leaky gut, who have yeast, bacteria and absorption problems, which in turn causes inflammation.

The majority of ASD kids who are receiving chelation therapy are forced to take it as a transdermal cream application, using the skin as opposed to the stomach as the conduit to receive the medicine. This slower acting chelator costs more than the pill and takes three to five years to work, due to the gradual absorption rate. The pill form takes approximately half that time and is given in cycles of every two weeks as opposed to every day or two. Thus the costs of chelating autistic children with gut issues are far more exorbitant and time-consuming than those who do not suffer GI ailments.

Add to the monetary obligation of following a doctor's protocol, periodic tests to monitor whether a protocol is working, office visits, and trying new and more exotic treatments, such as a hyperbaric oxygen chamber—to enhance oxygenation of the brain—and parents can be pushed to the precipice of financial ruin.

The decision to cutback on treatment or to continue to treat autistic children in the face of bankruptcy is too often dictated by money. But the damage to the family, the fabric of American society, is incalculable both in terms of cost and loss productivity for the stressed-out working parent.

But the costs of the autism tsunami do not end there. When the population of more than one million—and growing— ASD children never reaches full potential as contributors to tomorrow's workforce, the term brain drain will take on a darker connotation.

In recent months, New York University (NYU) announced that it will build a new $200 million center for mentally disabled children, because they saw the need to address the "acute shortage" of mental health teachers and therapists. Acute shortage, however, does not address the real problem. The autism epidemic, along with the spike in children with ADHD, created the gap not because there is a shortage of professionals, but because there are literally tens of thousands of more kids to treat than in 2000. Without admitting there is an epidemic, our government and institutions are unable to call the white elephant standing in the room by its true name.

NYU's philanthropy is good for the long run in trying to keep pace with the spate of ASD cases, but it does not address the parents' plight of trying to acquire treatments for children who suffer from leaky gut and heavy metals contamination.

In the same vein, much has been made of Bill and Melinda Gates winning two thirds of Time People of the Year in 2005. The co-founders of the Gates Foundation received the award mainly due to their charitable work to curb malaria in Africa by bankrolling a vaccine to fight the deadly disease. But there could be unintended consequences in carrying out such a plan. That's because thimerosal, used in the production of vaccines, will find its way into the bloodstream of African infants. Most of them will be able to excrete the toxin. But there will be a subpopulation which cannot and they might show signs of autism in a few years.

With no government oversight of American-made vaccines sent abroad, I would be wary of anyone giving away vaccine shots for free. Maybe if the Gates understood the issue of autism in America, what its causes are, and that it can be treated to a great degree beyond special education, then they can redirect some of their philanthropy to help families on the verge of collapse.

James Ottar Grundvig is the father of an autistic child. He lives and works in New York City.