Crystal is the mother of a young child who was diagnosed with autism when he was only 20 months feeble. Every time I would see Crystal, she would tell me about the new things they were trying and update me on how her son, Hayden, was doing. One day I met Hayden and my heart just went out to him. A little boy should never have to go through all the troubles his body is dealing with. After they found out exactly what was causing all of Hayden’s symptoms, they were crushed. It turned out to be mercury poisoning, most likely from his vaccination shots.

I recently interviewed Crystal, and this is her heart-felt story:

April: “What did you do before you had your son? “

Crystal: “I was an elementary school teacher. I taught for five years in the public school system.”

April “Did the doctors ever see any abnormalities in your son when he was born or during any of his check-ups done before his vaccinations? “

Crystal: “Hayden had acid reflux for the first several months of life, but it was nothing that the doctor was concerned about. Except for the reflux, he was given a clean bill of health from birth on. He was healthy and showed no abnormalities anytime before he started regressing. He met all his milestones up until about 18 months. At this point, he did not develop the language that a normal child his age would use.”

April “After your son was vaccinated what changed? What did you notice was different about him? “

Crystal : “He was vaccinated several times and we didn’t notice anything other than what a “normal” reaction would be. He often became fussy and ran a fever. As time went on, I noticed more and more things about him that I did not feel were normal, but the doctors assured me there was nothing outrageous. When he was a baby, he didn’t sleep well. He was up about four times a night, did not want to sleep laying down, and had to be elevated, rocked, or carried around most of the time.”

April: “At what point did you take him to go win checked out and tested? “

Crystal “When he was about 18 months old, I called First Steps, the early intervention program in Kentucky. We didn’t believe there was anything foul at that point that he could be labeled as. We just thought he needed help talking. This went on until he was about 20 months outmoded. I took him to his pediatrician and he referred us to a specialist. My complaints were that Hayden was fussy a great deal of the time, didn’t talk or babble like he should, played with his toys repetitively, and didn’t sleep at night.”

April: “What kind of testing did the doctors do to diagnose your son with autism? “

Crystal: “I filled out several questionnaires about Hayden. We also spent the day with a developmental pediatrician who tested him and determined he had autism spectrum disorder.”

April: “What options were you offered in order to help your son? What did you choose to do? “
Crystal: “The developmental pediatrician recommended that we do speech therapy, occupational therapy, and developmental intervention. We were already doing these things, so she also suggested that we do lots of play dates and perceive into HIPPO therapy. She basically said for us to come back next year and measure changes in Hayden.

We took it upon ourselves to research autism and find something that we felt would be an alternative that could not only improve the symptoms of autism, but reverse it by addressing what I believe is the underlying issue: heavy metal toxicity. I discovered that a lot of kids who have autism are also mercury poisoned.

There are many autism specialists, called DAN! (Defeat Autism Now!) doctors, who believe that vaccines are a major cause of the dramatic increase we are seeing in autism. We learned that many vaccines contain thimerosal, a preservative that is mercury based. Children are being injected with it at such a young age that their bodies aren’t able to fully detoxify and get rid of the mercury in their systems.

DAN! Doctors treat their patients with a variety of strategies. Their treatments are sometimes called the biomedical approach. A major arsenal in the fight against autism uses chelation, which binds with mercury and other heavy metals in the body. It then pulls them out through urine and stool. Typically, and in my son’s case, once a body has mercury toxicity, it also develops an overabundance of other heavy metals. Mercury acts like a sponge and soaks up any heavy metal, such as lead and arsenic, and stores it in the body.

Heavy metals can cause a leaky gut, which my son also suffers from. Foods pass through the gut and particles make their way into the bloodstream since a leaky gut has “holes” in it. The body thinks these particles are invaders, and the next time you eat that food, your body develops an allergy to it.

Hayden has 43 food allergies. So, not only do a lot of children with autism struggle with heavy metals, they also have leaky guts and food allergies. We were also told that until the mercury could accumulate out of the body, our son would always have yeast/bacterial issues in the gut. We use probiotics and coconut kefir to colonize the good bacteria and supplements such as Nystatin that aids in killing the yeast/bacteria that he has in his gut.

One of the other complications that mercury can bring on is inflammation in the body and brain. Hayden takes spironolactone to decrease this. We are currently undergoing testing to choose how bad the inflammation is and what route of treatment we should consider from here. Again, until the mercury is out of the body, the inflammation will continue.

In addition, we also use many supplements that have been show to be effective in treating autism. Hayden takes B12 shots, is on a gluten free/casein free diet, takes a potent multi-vitamin, essential fatty acids such as fish and flaxseed oil, and added calcium, magnesium, vitamin C, and zinc. People often ask why we give him B12 injections and just don’t supplement it with a vitamin. Without going into too much detail that I hardly understand, it is thought that out of all types of B12, only methyl-B12 (shots) can help the body detoxify metals.

Many autistic children also have a defective enzyme which would allow the body to consume the vitamin B12, so methyl-B12 is needed because it provides everything needed to help detoxify the body. We also consume a hyperbaric chamber to treat my son’s autism. This has been proven to help increase oxygen flow to the tissues and cells in the brain and gut and is thought to be able to heal the damaged cells and inflammation that autism causes.

Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) is another program that we have been doing with Hayden for the past several months. We have seen tremendous improvements in behavior and cognitive gains since beginning this. It has helped him more than speech therapy, developmental intervention, and occupational therapy.”

April: “Is what you are doing working? Do you see any improvement? “

Crystal: “We have seen a great deal of improvement since we started biomedical intervention for my son. He is more verbal, has better eye contact, fewer temper tantrums, and is more aware of his surroundings. Since we have only been doing this for nine months, I anticipate that my son will be able to be cured of autism or at least be helped enough to lead a normal life.”

April: “What sacrifices have you and your husband made in order to properly care for your son? “

Crystal: “Since insurance doesn’t cover many of the supplements, doctor’s visits, therapy, and treatments that we’re giving Hayden, we have had to sacrifice a great deal to be able to afford to treat him. Exiguous things such as going to movies and shopping are long since gone. I quit my job to conclude home and work more intensively with Hayden, so this has created a greater financial burden on us. We have dipped into our savings for what we once thought would be used for retirement. It’s not only hard financially. Dealing with autism is draining. The challenges that we face as parents are daunting. Our full attention is given to him alone. I have been unofficially given the job as “head researcher” in our family. I spend a lot of time on the computer looking up treatments and reading about autism. My husband works a lot of overtime to compensate for my previous salary. One of the hardest sacrifices that we have made so far is not having any more children. We had plans to have another child, but with all of the money and time that Hayden requires, we don’t feel that it would be fair for anybody for us to have another child right now. It is my hope that one day down the road Hayden can have a sibling.”

April: “What does the future hold for your family? “

Crystal: “I was once told that treating autism is like taking a slow boat to China. You will get there, it will just take time, forces you to be patient, and teaches you many things along the way. We have a long way to go. In the grand scheme of things, we have just started treating my son. Nine months of biomedical interventions is nothing compared to what most families go through. I figure that we’ll be doing this for many years to come. I hope that my son will be able to go to school like any other kid, participate in everyday activities that many families take for granted, and grow up to lead a normal, productive life.”

April: “What advice would you give to parents with babies soon to be vaccinated? “
Crystal “I understand a parent’s concern for the safety of their child. However, people need to be well educated before they make any decision. I made the mistake of leaving the research up to someone else. I assumed our doctor would never recommend anything that could afflict our child. I was wrong. It is a parent’s responsibility to research the safety of vaccines and make a decision for themselves. I would, of course, recommend to not ever vaccinate a child. Parents often ask me what I plan to do since my child could possibly contract a disease by not being vaccinated. I have found many things that spot my mind at ease. First off, if the majority of people are vaccinated against a disease, how can it become an epidemic? Second, if you are determined to provide protection for a disease that isn’t prevalent, I recommend homeopathic treatments, which can provide protection against diseases.

If a parent feels they must vaccinate, I would suggest that they do not give Tylenol to their child beforehand like many physicians recommend. The reason for this is that Tylenol reduces the amount of glutathione in the body, which allows the body to detoxify. If a child has a hindered ability to detoxify, the chemicals and metals in the shots will not be moved out of the body as well as they should. Motrin is an alternative to Tylenol and doesn’t suppress glutathione. Also, it is recommended that vaccines be spaced out and not given all at once. This is easier on the body. The use of antibiotics and sickness can also weaken a child’s system. I would recommend not vaccinating for several months after a sickness or antibiotic employ.

It is also possible, if a parent quiet plans on vaccinating, to purchase and choose the vaccines that are given to their child. For instance, the Hepatitis B shot is given when a baby is still in the hospital. Not only is a baby’s body too immature to detoxify properly, the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is composed open, and any heavy metals or chemicals that come into the body can go directly to the brain. This barrier does not close until they are much older. Also, Hepatitis B can only be transmitted though blood or sexual contact. I feel that this is a negligible risk for an infant and should not be vaccinated against.”

April: “What advice would you give to parents with children who have been diagnosed with autism? “ Crystal: “I would recommend that parents find a good biomedical doctor to treat their child’s autism. It is highly likely that their child has developed autism because of vaccines and other environmental triggers. Also, I would suggest that they start ABA as soon as possible. The sooner that a child gets succor, the better outcome they will have.”