Dear Sir, I am writing in connection with the recent publicity surrounding the MMR vaccination.
Many experts in the field of autism agree that classically autistic children can be identified from as young as 2 or 3 months of age.
At 14 months of age, my youngest son was considered by all health professionals known to him, to be both physically and developmentally normal. He received his MMR vaccination and within a few weeks showed signs of developmental and behavioural regression, and also symptoms suggestive of a serious bowel disorder began to manifest.
At 2 years of age he was assessed and found to have "autistic tendencies". At almost 3 years of age he received a diagnosis of autism. He has recently been extensively reassessed by a clinical neuro-psychologist who is internationally aclaimed in the field of autism. At 4 1/2 years of age, he now significantly exceeds the cut-off point for a diagnosis of autism in all core areas. In other words, the development of his condition has been regressional.
His bowel dysfunction is continuing, and a biopsy result has shown the presence of measles virus on his bowel tissue, even though he has never been exposed to wild measles. I am convinced that his problems are a direct result of an adverse reaction to the MMR vaccination. Thousands of parents are having identical experiences with their own children and are reaching the same conclusion.
The Department of Health is continuing to reassure the public that the MMR vaccination is both safe and effective.
Clearly something is going badly wrong with these children. I feel that the Department of Health should take responsibility for finding out exactly what has caused so many children to developmentally regress, and to develop this unique bowel damage, if it were not MMR.
Dr Fiona Scott, of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University, was commissioned by the Government to carry out epidemiological studied into autism.
She studied the population of boys aged between 5 and 12 years in Cambridgeshire. Her results demonstrated that 1 in 125 children in this population has a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder. A similar study carried out in East Surrey showed an incidence of autism of 1 in 69 boys under 7 years of age.
This pattern of regression was historically rare, with only 65 cases appearing in the clinical literature between 1908 and 1988. Presently in the United Kingdom alone, there are in excess of 2000 families describing children with regressional autism.
I think that it is grossly unfair to dismiss these observations as merely anecdotal, as parents generally do not have the opportunity to have peer reviewed reports published in medical journals.
If the Department of Health is committed to reassuring the public of the safety of the MMR vaccination, then I feel that it will ahve to demonstrate clearly an alternative mechanism by which all of these children have fallen ill.
Yours Sincerely,
Mrs Julie Loch M.R.Pharm.S.

I am in total agreement with you!!!! My 3 year old son went through the same thing however, he is only NOW being assessed for Autism. I am convinced that his situation is a result of MMR vaccine and possibly a combo of other mercury filled vaccines he had received like the Flu vaccine that he received at one year old. We were considering having a biopsy of his intestines performed, but we need to convince the doctors. Currently we can not afford to take him to a private MD that specializes in Autism disorders, because we have Kaiser ins. As well we have our six month old who is going down a similar path in that he is sick all the time, since his 2 month shots. I believe that my childrens livers were not able to detoxify the high level of mercury given via vaccines. It is a battle and most doctors want to tell us to deal with it and refuse to believe the potential case possibly being due to vaccines. Next week my son will have a 24 hour urine performed to see if he has mercury toxicisity. I have heard by researches that the urine is useless. I was not able to get the MD to perform a hair analysis, though. Would you suggest the biopsy?? Did your child have any complications afterward? My concern is that my son has leaky-gut syndrome with the candida and clostridium overgrowth. I wonder if the biopsy could potentially cause a systemic infection? This has been a long almost 3 years for us. I am a nurse, which helps, but I can no longer work even part time due to my 2 youngest sons medical conditions. So the funds are limited as far as having the proper tests performed. We paid out of pocket for my 3 year old to have an organic acid test performed and they reccomend that we repeat the test every 3-6 months. We also pay out of pocket for special vitamins and Culturelle, as well as his special dietary items. The expenses are adding up and we are hitting a road block with the traditional doctors. Now that you found that your child has the mercury poisoning will you persue the Chelating??? Here is a phone number I got Re: Compensation for injury due to vaccinations. #1-800-338-2382. Please keep me posted. We may be able to exchange information. krisyd@juno.com

hi, we have three kids with autism, i think
our youngest was damaged by the mmr he sounds similar to your son, elliot had lots of speech, was using the potty, we had no worries about him and we were looking at him very closely because of his sisters DX he
had the mmr then he stopped talking lost
interest in his surroundings wouldn't allow
people too near him and only his dad could touch him, he started being obsesive lining
things up, jumping up and down flapping his hands, won't eat anything but bread chips
biscuits crisps, he will only drink and eat
whilst sitting in one particular chair,
elliot is almost four now and is using some
language, he goes to special needs nursery
and we are just sorting out a school for him
jo.


------------------

WOW! 3 children with autism? Did you go through genetic testing or have Organic Acid tests performed? I would advise you to change all of your childrens diets to remove the high protein molecule foods, like, milk, wheat, gluten, soy, eggs, cheese, casein, whey, avoid white, wheat (spelt, kamut) and rye,flour. I would also avoid sugar, preservatives, and dyes ( red, yellow and blue are in everything). Once I started this diet my son improved greatly, especially eye contact. My son has great speech, actually he was tested last week and is above average IQ, but his ability to make transitions, to be in a social setting and act appropriately is lacking. He also has unpredictable temper tantrums, bites and is very strong willed. He has a definate food allergy problem, however, it is due to an underlining intestinal problem. Because of the food allergies his immuninty is compromised so he is sensitive enviromentally causing behavior reactions to many offending allergens whether it is mold or laundry detergant, he goes over the edge. I believe that once his intestines are cured he will be able to have a normal life. I am hoping this is possible. he will be tested for MMR in the intestine via a biopsy if the GI MD approves, next week. I suggest having the kids tested for mercury poisoning and MMR vaccine reaction. Another thing that really makes a difference is using Nystatin( sugar, dye and preservative free) for the treatment of yeast in the intestine, as well as CulturelleGG, these help maintain as good a normal flora as can be considering the possibility of damage from MMR or other factors. They also decrease the toxins in the intestine give off by the clostricium and yeast. I am hopeful for a cure for my sons type of problem. Some children with autism look normal or just have a real pale face with the dark circles due to the allergies and immone difficiency. My son was born normal and appeared normalfor the first few months. He didn't have much eye contact after his first set of immunizations. As I said the diet and medicine has helped him to settle down with the behavior some, talk more and now he maintains eye contact, most of the time. You may have tried all of this with or with out success, but for me it has to be a way of life for now until we find out how to cure his intestine. If you only tried it for a week, it wouldn't be enough. For us we noticed some results in days but overall it took one solid month of maintaining the diet, and he became a different boy. What ages are your children? Were they born normal? Do they look normal? Do you think it is an issue of brain damage or just intestinal damage? I hear if mercury poisoning is the issue it is irreversable thropugh a process called Chelating. You may want to check the MMR and mercury factors. This is where I am pursuing.. persistantly with MD's who don't want to be bothered, unfortunately. But! I don't let up. My sons life and future are very important to me. Curently my son is 3. He started a special school, yesterday. This school integrate the kids with different disabilities and social, behavioral, and emotional, occupational,and physical problems. We didn't get off to a good start because he bit the teacher on the first day. However, I hope he settles in well. I hope this is of some help to you.

Hi OliverThomas!
What are the MD's going to do for your sons bowel tissue?? Is their a potential cure. an the damage be reversed. I hear they have some type of medicine that is suppose to decrease the inflammation of the bowel. Please let me know. Thank you. Kris

OliverThomas/Julie Loch:
I am having trouble with my children's MD's treating them. My daughter suffers from regressive autism and her triplet brothers suffer from various gastro problems as well as asthma and allergies. My daughter's lab tests showed she has an ongoing colonic inflammation. I took this to a local ped gastroenterologist and he just looked at me like I was from another plant. Other lab results over the years have indicated a high white blood cell count but her MD's have all dismissed that as her probably trying to fight off some common bug at day of lab work. Unfortunately, I learned too late about the risks of the MMR and she had her boosters last year. Fearful of what may befall her brothers, I had their immune titers checked before their boosters and they both show abnormally high titers for measles that reflect a "current or recent infection." Well, their first and only MMR was 4 years ago, and my fear is that they too have a vaccinal measles infection of their gut. My one son has lost his appetite over the years and always complains of tummy aches. Again, no concern, from their doctors point of view. My children's PedMD and Ped-allergy/immunologist do not know what to think about these lab results and, even though my PedMD has a copy of the DAN protocol, "they haven't had the time to read it."

Since you have been through the gastro bio and diagnosis, can you provide any insight for me as to how high the titers to rubeola (measles) have to be to indicate an infection. Her brothers' titers were 2.97 ISR and 1.81 ISR respectively (the reference range is <0.91). Their immunologist's nurse practitioner, who gave me the results, said the only thing to glean from these lab results is that "they are highly protected from getting the measles." I need to find some concrete research/clinical observations that have been published so that I can present this info to another MD so that they know I am not just a anti-vaccine nut. Do you know of any info I can access? Your assistance in answering any of these questions would be greatly appreciated.

WOW! I am totally amazed after reading all of your posts. First, it makes me very angry that you guys have such a hard time getting your doctors to help you, or at least do the testing/biopsies you want done in your search for finding answers to your children's problems. Secondly, I must say that since I have been reading the posts on this board I am beginning to have some 'light bulb moments' myself. My son is also autistic, but he has a primary diagnosis of Tuberous Sclerosis (tubers/tumors in his brain). I have thought all of his life that his problem was retardation due to the TS. It wasn't until a year ago (he's 8) that I discovered that Autism was present in almost 50% of kids with TS. I had always felt like he was autistic, but like you guys, his doctors just chalked it up as 'developmentally delayed'. The part that has my wheels spinning is...on Oct 7, 1992 my son had a MMR. I don't recall seeing any major change in him, but on Nov 23, 1992 he had his first seizure(due to what we later found out was the TS). He wasn't diagnosed with seizures until Dec 19. At the time he was admitted to the hospital for an EEG he was on an anti-biotic for URI, brochitis, and croup. He was put on Phenobarbitol and Dilantin at the age of 6 months. He was on it for a 1.5 years. He quit cooing, he quit sitting up, he quit rolling over, he quit making eye contact. He was very unhappy and whiney all the time. When he reached the age of two, he was taken off of the Phenobarb and put on Depakote. Within a month his physical delays were almost non-exsistant. He was walking, smiling, laughing. He will be 9 in June and has never developed speech. He displays all of the classic symptoms of Autism. I also read on here that research has shown that Phenobarb is the only anti-convulsant medication that has been proven to cause brain damage http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/frown.gif http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/frown.gif Getting to my point, how do you guys know that your kids have the food allergies and intestinal problems? If I knew how to tell, I would treat my son the same as you guys have treated your kids or are trying to get treatment for them. Keith appears to have no allergies or any type of intestinal problems. Do they manifest themselves in any way other than behavior? He is very healthy, rarely ever sick. He does get very angry and hard to control when he gets hungry sometimes. I don't know whether to believe that his MMR could have had something to do with it and his phenobarb just disguised it by doping him up, or did the phenobarb cause damage to his brain and rob him of his critcial years of development? I have felt the later all along, but now just don't know what to believe. Sorry to run on so long, I am just very curious and interested in learning more about what you guys are talking about. Good Luck to both of you in your quest for help for you precious ones. Take Care!!

Firstdonoharm2,
I am with you 100%. To bad we are all over the world because if we were all in the same town then we could all come together to speak out for the desperate need we have to cure our kids intestine. It is not easy to basck a doctor against the wall but if you have a bunch of frustrated people, something has to be done. For me I know it is obviously the problem. I don't know where to go from here I just pray for God to provide the help we all so desperately need. I am currently considering a intestinal biopsy but I am not happy with my GI doctor at this point because he thinks I am way off track with all this as well. If you come up with any answers please let me know. My sons rubella titer was like 2.4 or 2.9 and the range was like<1.1. I wondered if that was concidered high. I am totally anti-vaccine as I was told by a pediatric MD who I very much like, that if I gave my son any more vaccines especially MMR which is due for him this year, he would probably regress and become profoundly autistic. He also told me to avoid the DTP and pnuemonia vaccines. I am concerned about mennigitis due to my own experience when I was working pediatric urgent care, and seeing the devastating and life threatening potential it produces. So I may consider getting the HIB eventually for my 8 month old. anyway please keep us posted on your findings. I am at the same stand still as you. I hope you get an answer soon. I encourage you to hang in there. I know how frustrating it may be but the hope and prayer keep me going.

Hi Krisyd,
Your information and support have really meant alot to me since I started posting to this board. I too have been praying--praying that God will continue to help Wakefield, Singh, etc. in their search for the truth and healing that our children need. Praying that I and other parents will have the strength and patience to continue to persevere for their children, but most importantly, that our children will have a future.

I made a comment about not being an anti-vaccine nut, but what I meant to convey was that my anti-vaccine sentiment is based on an informed, objective criticism of the not-so-rare adverse reactions inherent in their use. However, I do believe that with the proper science, right intentions and effort, safe vaccines could have been developed and could still be developed if only money were not the driving force behind public health.

Hi,
So many questions have been raised about our children's intestinal problems.
My son had an endoscopy and a colonoscopy. The endoscopy showed that he has oesophagitis, and also acid reflux, for which he takes ranitidine. The colonoscopy revealed an extensive overgrowth of lymph tissue in his terminal ileum. He also has inflammation throughout his colon and rectum, for which he takes salazopyrin. He has huge problems with constipation, and is on a constant laxative regime.
This bowel damage has now been shown to be completely unique, by the team at the Royal Free Hospital, and they have termed it "autistic enterocolitis".
We have not had antibody titres for measles/rubella carried out, though Oliver's blood is currently being studied to look for markers indicative of the virus that has been found in his bowel tissue. I know that Dr Tina Zecca, from the States was doing a lot of work with such titres, so it may be worth contacting her.
Oliver has a "leaky" gut, and opioid peptides have been found in his urine, so we have introduced a GF/CF diet, though it hasn,t made a huge difference. Dr Kalle Reichelt, from Norway, and Paul Shattock, from the U.K. are currently looking at peptides in depth.
I hope that some of this information is of help.
My son has recently become increasingly aggressive. If anyone has any ideas about controlling/preventing this unpredictable aggression, I (and my other children) would be deeply grateful.
With very best wishes,
From
Julie Loch

Hi Oliverthomas,
I think it is wonderful that you are able to get all the necessary testing for your son. I am so happy for you finally getting to the bottom of things with his intestines. I hope your situation opens the eyes of docotrs working with kids that have the spectrum disorder. As for your sons aggressive behavior. I would venture to think that it could be due to a yeast and bacteria die off in his intestines for two reasons. First because of the most recent Dx. and new meds introduced for decreasing inflammation and promoting healing, as well as introducoing the GF/CF diet, which would definately cause the yeast to start to rapidly die off. I suggest that you consider the Nystatin and Culturelle in order to balance yeast and bacteria. The culturelle will replace the good bacteria. The toxins from yeast and clostridium effect the nervous system, and brain. When we first started the nystatin on Michael, he acted like he was under the influence of alcohol, and also had real aggressive unpredictable behavior. I would also check the side effects of all the new medications your son is on as well. Please keep us all posted. As for my son I found out yesterday that Kaiser hosp. insurance plan is just this week putting together an Autism and spectrum disorder group of doctors and therapists. They are apparently hiring on a pediatric neurologist who is an expert on autism. I am so thankful. This is just proof that prayer works and God is in control. Thank you and I hope this helps you some. Also I would try to minimize the sugar intake as it will defeat the purpose of trying to rid the body of yeastand bacterial overgrowth. My son does great on this diet, all though it is not a cure, he is incredibly better and he has above average language. Bye for now

Hi My name is Lisa, and I have a daughter just 4. Julia had 2-3 word sentences at 15 mos, noticable food allergies and chronic infection. Between 12 and 15 mos she was introduced gluten and casein into her diet. She vomited profusely and had chronic diarreah. She also had chronic otis media between 8 mos and 20. (at 20 mos she got ear tubes and off the continuous antibiotics)In May 1998 Julia (at 15 mos) was given her MMR with the brand new chicken pox vac (quickly changed and NOT given with MMR). 16 days prior she had vomited for 8 days straight. She also had finished a 10 day course of Zithromax 3 days prior. She had had a middle ear infection that was on it's third round of antibiotics in a row. Her temp was 100.3 and she had diarreah. I protested, but the doctor was impatient and yelling at my older son to stop spinning a chair. I gave in and signed. Within two weeks to a month, Julia lost all her speech. She began running fearlessly around, running into walls and became self-injourious, lost all eye contact. By 2 yrs 9 mos Julia's was totally psychotic, totally self-injourious, would not get in the car, enter buildings, sit in a carseat, if I left her at preschool (if I could get her through the door) she would be self-injourious and I'd get a call to pick her up. I knew something was seriously wrong, she did not play with toys or talk or smile or make eye contact and raged constantly and lost her balance. Her urine stunk and her constant diareah had food particles in it. I began removing dairy at 2 yrs 9 mos. Gluten went at 2 yrs 11 mos when I discoved Karyn Serrousi's article in Parents magazine. Julia began seeing a DAN doctor at 3 yrs 3 mos. and at that point she went on Nystatin (for 5-6 months) and Citrabacter F. was found in her stool (and treated with bacterim). Her speech came back in eight weeks. Her pronouns were reversed and she had major articulation problems. Since then Julia has just turned four, she talks (her expressive language came in Dec. (still lacks pragmatics) and non-verbal gesture and she is currently playing low-level imaginative. She makes full eye contact and is catching up developmentally with everday. She still stumbles around while "in an episode" and during that period her circulation is noticeably altered. She has had few tests, and is now seeing a DAN doctor who is expert in nutrition and allergy (and does chelation and I may/may not consider). She is being rescreened for mercury (a nateopath pre-diet found it in her hair at fairly high levels along with aluminum). She "went" allergic to chicken and rice a couple months into the dietary intervention, and later developed the PST thing (craved grapes and rasins and still get crazy on fruit). Right now, her behavior is rather bi-polar mimicking, and I have been told by a expert psychologist in the area (specializes in PDD) that sensory integration dysfunction can mimic bi-polar. She very recently understands emotion and is having one very hard time dealing with it. I have done a ton of research, and my doctors two think I develped two heads. They are pressuring me to put her on psychiatric drugs and after much research am going to try GABA. I think that the supplements need to be closely monitored and constantly adjusted such each kid has different sets of problems, but they are all related. I have no doubt Julia has high measles titers and will be testing her to get out of the 4-5 yr old MMR. I guarantee you folks, if I give Julia her 4-5 yr old MMR, she will regress back into profound autism. Lisa (PS we have autoimmunity problems in our family and celiac disease and my sister's kid is also PDD, craves gluten and casein (no intervention, eight years old) and so aggressive he is almost kicked out of preschool (special pre-school) i also have a son who is a story for another day. He has Wakefield's gut problem (impaction on Xray) and will "stim" like an autistic kid if given casein. Mark is a normal, extremely bright 8 yr old. (and boy am I glad I know about this, or the school would still be pressuring me to put him on some sort of drug.) Supplements I use cod liver oil, probiotics (at least 20 billion cells taken at night alone with water), vitamins, calcium/mag/minerals, glatathione, Q-10, SereNaid (or stronger digestive enzyme) (I always forget a few). her diet is rotated (many things rotated every four days). She is fed mostly organic whole foods (some fruit, emphasize vegetables), free range meats (and some regular). I bake nongluten with tapico starch, potato starch and have just begun to add corn starch carefully. No eggs, soy, rice milk always has trace gluten, vinegar and ketchup must be avoided, and now fruii must be greatly limited as any sugar). They won't like it, but forget quickly if you play tough. I have had her gut tested and it is nearly healed...

Hi Lisa,
How did you have Julia's intestinal permeability tested? My GI MD said the only way to test for permeability would be to go to Sweden or England where they arew doing the research. As far as MMR vaccine Julia is due for, I would look at the vaccine alternatives. She has come too far!! I won't vaccinate my son because I know for a fact that he will react and if it doesn't cause him to regress, it might kill him. Not to produce fear but reality. I would never take the chance. There are so many MD's trying to force the immunizations, and they are quite a bit on the ignorant side. Where did you hear about the rice milk having a trace of gluten??? I sure hope the kind I am using doesn't because it is all Michael can drink. I hear aloe vera juice is healing to the leaky-gut. I tried it on Michael and in 20 minutes he went into a major behavioral episode. I guess either he is allergic or there may have been something in it that they didn't specify. Would you know of any other remedies for healing the intestinal lining? I have used the nystatin and probiotics, they worked great but I was wondering if there is anyhting else out there that is safe? I listened to the Congressonal Hearing on the Secretin. They had wonderful results. I just don't want to use the synthetic form, I'd rather use the real stuff made from pigs. I wonder if it heals the lining, and if so is the healing permanant. Do you know? I'll write you again soon. Thanks