Katie Wright-Hildebrand, NAA and Safe Minds Board Member
April 5, 2007 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Katie Wright-Hildebrand, autism mother and daughter of Autism Speaks co-founders Bob and Suzanne Wright, has joined the boards of the National Autism Association (NAA) and of Safe Minds, two organizations that advocate for a link between autism and mercury.
Also: Dr. Andrew Wakefield—the primary author of the first paper suggesting an MMR-autism link (a paper that has since been retracted by the journal that published it)—is one of four Keynote Speakers at the Autism Society of America’s 2007 conference in Jacksonville Phoenix, AZ.
Things are getting very interesting.
You’re getting me to think regarding “wild child” fascination and Frankenstein—-I’ll have to let the ideas percolate……… Grinker does discuss “wild children” at the start of his book (I just checked) but I didn’t see a reference to drowning…..
Again, Phil, I would have to add my (maternal) grandfather to the list of pre-1931 autistic persons. A very original man.
And, Phil, have you brought all these allegations against Wakefield to the attention of ASA?
Maria,
The link was broken, but I found your site thru Google.
There’s certainly a lot to get thru there.
I have a very busy 10 days coming up, but will work my way thru your site before additional comments.
Regards,
Joe
Kristina, I live in Australia so I’m not much help to a US based issue (re Wakefield).
As for you, Best – it was Bink’s grandfather I was referring to, not mine. Just goes to show you don’t pay proper attention to what’s being said. If you weren’t such an meglomaniac I’d get you assessed for ADD!!
And if the institutions were re-opened now they would be far better places than the old ones because more respect would be given to them as human beings. And only those who can’t look after themselves would be admitted – unlike the old days when anyone who wasn’t seen as “normal” would be chucked in there willy nilly.
And for the record – it has been known for HFA’s to have a reasonable sex life! But of course you don’t believe that is possible do you?
Hello – Earth calling JBJ!!
Oh I just realised you were talking to Phil Schwartz, not me! *embarrassed*
Phil, my apologies! I will be more careful about specifying whom I am addressing. Thanks for the point about institutions and institutionalization.
A couple of weeks ago I read where a doctor, active in th field of autism, was troubled about the ear infections and chronic diarrhea in autistic children. I asked if we could cooperate. To indicate that I might have useful information I included two citations which I thought would be useful. Afterwards I realized that I might have ‘given away the farm’. The first work is available from PubMed. Search for “Piggott [au] AND autism AND 1979 [dp]” In the ‘editorial’ he surmised about the ailments associated with autism. Were there a number ‘of synchronized ailments, … or was there a single disturbance which affected multiple body systems resulting in multiple manifestations. When I found that work I was was pleased but not surprised.
I faxed a write up on “ear infections”. It appeared in JADD back in October 2003. All you can get from PubMed is the citation.
It says that sleep causes ear infection. At the end of an apnea the diaphragm collapses and the rapid expulsion of air sounds like a snort. The rapid expulsion of air opens the eustahian tube, and blows gastric juices and infectious organisms into the middle ear.
I have a number of submissions (They get rejected.) I have included that in my submissions.
I do not think the doctor can find all the things which I know.
I just checked back on this after a while. Hmm, as for my grandfather being a “train wreck,” well, first of all I would not refer to any human being that way, nor would any Christian. Second, geez, study history a wee bit, mkay? In my grandfather’s time, in his culture and his country, pretty much any male could find a wife and bear children. That is the way it has been throughout most of recorded time. The truth was that it ended up being extraordinarily difficult for my grandmother, but there it is. The scare tactics used by this poster and others like him (you are DOOMED without the goods/services I wish to sell you!!!!) are ridiculous, akin to used car salesmen and bad realtors.
Phil, sorry, I did not see your remark until after that last post. I do tell people about this. Anyone who knew him and who can read the DSM-IV instantly recognizes this truth. Many people I know with kids with autism also are able to recognize that they have relatives on the spectrum. It’s not at all uncommon IMO.
Know one seemed to mention anything about the data that has been collected on the Amish population and the fact that this disability is not occuring in that segment of our population…mmm…. Why do we not look at this more closely……..
Diane and Katie: this is the way I think it works.
The ‘single disturbance’ theory of regressive autism
This ‘single disturbance’ theory of regressive autism is: Early weaning followed by vaccination with vaccines containing measles or pertussis is the primary cause of regressive autism. The theory implies that prolonged breast feeding combined with the avoidance of both measles and pertussis vaccines will reduce the incidence of regressive autism.
The basic theory, one of two possibilities postulated by Piggott in 1979 is: “… the possibility remains that there is only one disturbance that in varying degrees affects many body systems and thus manifests in a variety of overlapping syndromes.” Most of these syndromes and autism have another common factor, namely bottle feeding, which combined with Tanoue’s (1989), ”… early weaning may contribute to the etiology of infantile autism” suggests bottle feeding is a facilitating element in autism.
There are two reasons to speculate that obstructive sleep apnea is the ‘single disturbance’. The general profile of gout (uric acid) patients is similar to that of obstructive sleep apnea patients. The general profile for both is “Overweight men and women after menopause”. In addition, obstructive sleep apnea seems to underlie the physical manifestations of regressive autism. Some physical presentations of regressive autism are bedwetting, diarrhea, high uric acid levels, reflux, ear infections, breathing and sleeping problems.
Guilleminault (1985), reports increased respiratory effort can occur even when a complete apnea does not occur and that the muscular effort may cause some of the clinical symptoms. I surmise the diaphragm’s increased effort inflicts ‘blunt force trauma’ on and injures the bladder, intestines, kidneys and pancreas resulting in bedwetting (or nocturia if the person wakes up), diarrhea, high levels of uric acid and diabetes.
Obstructive sleep apnea has an unusual characteristic (snort) which seems to cause ear infections. In 1976 Bluestone presented the concept of a pressure gradient which opens the eustachian tube and insufflates organisms into the middle ear. The rapid expulsion of air (snort) which occurs at apnea termination seems equivalent to the positive pressure gradient.
For reflux, the ligament connecting the diaphragm with the lower esophageal sphincter transfers the diaphragm’s force to the sphincter, opening it while the diaphragm is squeezing the stomach, pushing some of the stomach’s contents through the sphincter.
The breathing and sleep problems are consistent with “sleep apnea”.
The behaviors of autistic patients imply brain injury. During respiratory events there is limited or no air entering or leaving the body. It is speculated oxygen deprivation underlies brain injury in autistic children.
I postulate the sequence of events leading to regressive autism is: 1) The child is bottle fed, 2) the child is exposed to a cause of nasal congestion, 3) the child develops nasal congestion, 4) nasal congestion upsets the balance between respiratory drive and airway characteristics of resistance and patency resulting in obstructive sleep apnea. Palmer, in a 1999 paper, suggested that bottle feeding alters the shape of the skull to one predisposed to obstructive sleep apnea. The skull shape is not altered by breast feeding because the forces used are different from those used in bottle feeding.
In 2000 Corey identified a number of causes of nasal congestion: “The most common clinical syndromes that cause nasal congestion are allergic rhinitis, vasomotor rhinitis, chronic sinusitis, and upper respiratory viral infections (common colds).” Children are not the appropriate age for a diagnosis of gout, obstructive sleep apnea or Type 2 diabetes. This suggests human intervention, not something from nature. It is speculated that the ‘something’ underlying nasal congestion is not ‘wild’ but from society. Both measles and pertussis are upper respiratory viral infections. It is further speculated that vaccinations containing either measles or pertussis can initiate the sequence of: Nasal congestion — Obstructive sleep apnea — Regressive autism.
For many years the role of bottle feeding as a risk for so many ailments has been explained with: “Maternal antibodies protect the breast fed child”. The actual reason seems to be: “Bottle feeding causes obstructive sleep apnea, which in turn has multiple manifestations”. Bottle feeding is a risk even if expressed breast milk is in the bottle because the forces the child will use will be those of bottle feeding.
Who is at fault for autism? Blame technology! Without refrigeration it would not be possible to safely store baby bottles and vaccine vials.
Validation of the “single disturbance” theory will be invaluable in preventing regressive autism and may suggest treatment protocols for existing patients.
I am sickened by the whole thing. Just like corporate America, when the smaller research groups merged and became one larger group, it made more noise as far as publicity but also has created more policital problems within the organization. I don’t know why I am so surprised!
I hope Katie is going with her instinct which is all we parents have to go on for our children.
Instinct? More likely folie à plusieurs.
I have written a book that describes why the rise in austism has been paralleled by increases in childhood asthma, childhood diabetes and antibiotic resistance. It explains why it is so difficult to finger mercury as a causative agent. The book is authoritatively referenced. If you would like a complimentary copy of this book (as an ebook), please contact me at bsardi@aol.com
Bill Sardi
Knowledge of Health, Inc.
http://www.knowledgeofhealth.com
http://www.naturalhealthlibrarian.com
bsardi@aol.com
I am the mother of a 16 y/o high functioning austistic son, who never had vaccinations. While I admire Katie’s zeal in searching for a cause, I think that we are overlooking one of the great evils in our environment: radiation. There was virtually no radiation in our environment before Hiroshima, but after that levels of genetically damaging radiation skyrocketed around the world. Today’s children are receiving 50 times the amount of radiation in their food, water and air than their parents. We know radiation destroys DNA and wrecks havoc on our genes. Why is no one questioning what this is doing to our children? Radiation knows no boundaries so children worldwide are exposed and damaged, I wish Katie would see this post and contact me, I have results from studies being done on this issue. But no one is talking about it because it is being whitewashed and covered up by governments and industry.