What’s Your Label? Your Diagnosis?
February 27, 2007 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Gifted? Autistic? Or Just Quirky?: As More Children Receive Diagnoses, Effects of These Labels Seem Mixed reads the headline for a February 27th Washington Post article by Maia Szalavitz. The article describes the rising number of American children who are given labels that range “from psychiatric and neurological diagnoses such as Asperger’s and attention-deficit disorder to educational descriptors including “gifted” and “learning disabled.” Indeed, parents—once fearful of the stigma associated with such labels, are now (according to the article) seeking them out, in order for their children “to get them extra time on tests, to receive insurance reimbursement for treatment, to qualify for extra educational services or simply to have a name (and treatment) for a problem.”
And this trend is not only the case for parents and children. Some adults are themselves seeking a diagnosis for a never-before-named condition. Software developer Phil Schwarz found his diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome “‘paradoxically liberating’”; Schwarz was diagnosed while in his late 30s, just after his son Jeremy was found to be autistic. Schwarz is now the vice-president of the Asperger’s Association of New England and notes that his diagnosis “‘allowed me to make sense of everything through a new lens.’” As Roy Richard Grinker, author of Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism notes regarding his daughter’s autism diagnosis in another Washington Post article, “A valid diagnosis of what was wrong with Isabel was more satisfying than devastating.”
Szalavitz (who is a senior fellow at Stats.org and the co-author of The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog and Other Stories From a Child Psychiatrist’s Notebook) interviews a number of individuals with a number of labels—and with some thoughtful things to say about what it means to be “different”:
- Dan Grover, an 18-year-old college student in Boston who co-founded WrongPlanet.net: “Sometimes people distance themselves from you when they know……It’s both good and bad — good because it definitely explains some things and gives you some perspective, but at the same time it can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Being aware of [traits related to the label] can magnify them.”
- A 13-year-old from New York who was recently diagnosed with ADHD: “labels make me see myself as a painting that didn’t come out right, and it makes me feel really bad. I think that having these labels is negative because it categorizes children into groups. These labels can be very hurtful, and they don’t truly reflect a person’s true personality.”
- Kathleen Seidel, proprietor of Neurodiversity.com and mother of an autistic child, on attempts to link autism with mercury poisoning: “”Some people say, ‘My child is a toxic waste dump.’ People don’t understand the stigma. I don’t want someone looking at my family member that way.”
- Phil Schwarz on the “dual nature of autism”: “As sure as the sky is blue — well, the sky is really black and starry, but we see it as blue. The sun is a metaphor for the only thing that arrests our attention — the painful burning intensity of the disability, that’s your world. But of course there’s more to it.”
There is more to any label than what the DSM-IV says, even though a label—a diagnosis–can give one a name to something, to what had seemed a loose set of characteristics or “quirks.”
For instance: All three of the labels in the title of Szalavitz’s article, Gifted? Autistic? Or Just Quirky?, are represented in our family of three: My husband Jim figured out his label–ADHD—far into his adulthood, with a certain amount of relief. I suspect that, prior to that, “quirky” may have been a label bestowed upon him; the nuns in his elementary school had some frustration due to his being unable to sit at his desk, pay attention, focus. I was labeled “gifted” at some early point in my elementary school career. This meant I got out of regular classes to go to learn about something “special” (India and Norway, as it turned out). It also meant that, as I tended to finish all of my schoolwork quickly, I was allowed to go through all the books in my classroom’s small library where, one day in the fourth grade, I found a book on classical mythology, its brown and black drawings imitating a painting on a Greek vase. I was fascinated and read everything I could find on Greek myths (not that there was too much to be found in the library of our very suburban California town), and when I had the chance to learn Latin when I was thirteen, I immediately signed up (thus setting in motion my studies in Classics).
Charlie’s diagnosis happened much earlier than either mine or Jim’s: He was just over two years old when we heard “he has autism.” These were hard words to hear and yet they were also a relief, a confirmation of what we had suspected and had, perhaps, known for a long time.
So: “Gifted” mother, ADHD father, autistic son. But rather than call us a family of labels, I would say we are a family of difference, and we all fit right in.
My daughter was (and is) relieved and empowered to have the label of (depends on the document) dyslexia and/or specific learning disability — reading.
It gave a reason for her struggles in k-2nd grade; it gave her a sense of where to focus her attention (”reading quickly and accurately is difficult for me, so I need to work on that this way and that way”) and later, in high school, the label gave her a way to explain to naive teachers why (for example) her spelling in handwritten work was so variable.
‘label=services,’ it’s a mantra that keeps me sane [well, maybe[?]
I like your conclusion — of the family fitting together just right, regardless of labels. I am often described as gifted (but I think it’s just my penchant for Trivia contests), I am hearing impaired, my son is visually impaired and has Asperger’s syndrome. Somehow, we fit just right.
Has anyone seen the “Real Rain Man” on the science channel? I don’t know if it’s new, but I saw it the other night. Of course, some parts of the program are quite silly, with college students peppering Kim with questions, but the last line of the show is so touching. Kim has been taken care of by his father his whole life. At the end he is asked about spending his life with his father and Kim says, “My father and I have the same shadow.” It was touching and amazing, and just summed up everything for me and my family.
I have not seen that show—will look for it, thank you! Kim and his father having the “same shadow” makes me think of how my son and husband look so clearly linked—so connected—when they walk together.
Mercury has been determined by health officials to be one of the most toxic and poisonous minerals known. On March 15, 2005, EPA issued the Clean Air Mercury Rule to permanently cap and reduce mercury emissions. According to the World Health Organiztion, amalgam dental fillings are a primary source of mercury exposure. According to the Centers for Disease Control exposure to hazardous Hg (mercury) levels can cause permanent neurologic and kidney impairment.
In July 1999, U.S. Department of Health and Human Service (DHHS) agencies, including the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID); The American Academy of Pediatrics; and vaccine manufacturers agreed that thimerosal should be reduced or eliminated in vaccines as a precautionary measure and to reduce exposure to mercury from all sources. This decision was based on the various Federal guidelines for methyl mercury exposure and the assumption that the health risks from methyl and ethyl mercury were the same. Mercury ingestion is known to produce multi faceted symptoms such as Neurological disorders, mental deterioration caused by a toxic neuro-encephalopathy in which the neuronal cells of the cerebral and cerebellar cortex are selectively affected, Alzheimer’s disease, Minimata’s disease, depression, failure of memory and concentration, autism, hand tremors, irritability and, given it’s antagonistic relationship to selenium, all of the selenium deficiency diseases including cancer and heart disease. Despite this thimerisol and silver amalgam fillings are still used today.
According to Dr. Stephanie Cave, M.D. (with Dr. Amy Holmes) in her testimony presented to the Committee on Government Reform U.S. House of Representatives July 18, 2000, the organic ethyl mercury, injected in bolus through vaccines, enters the brain and converts to inorganic mercury, which cannot cross back over the blood brain barrier. This form is more likely to cause autoimmune antibodies to brain tissue. Similar antibodies appear in autism. Stajeck and Lopez (Journal of Pediatrics, 2000) have shown mercury in the blood of infants at birth prior to the hepatitis B injections. After the vaccine, the levels rose in the blood of the infants tested. In some preterm infants there were levels that measured ten times that seen in term infants. Despite this mercury continues to be given to children and adults today. For more information on getting tested or for natural approaches to removing mercury contact Graceful Earth Inc. at: 1-877-697-7300 or visit their web site at http://www.gracefulearth.com.
We the undersigned implore you to pass legislation banning the use of all forms of mercury from vaccines including but not limited to the following list of drugs (taken from the EPA’s own list of mercury containing medications):
Manufacturer Name of Product Ingredient %
Akorn Inc. AK Spore Ophthalmic Solution TM .001
Akorn Inc. AK Spore HC Ophthalmic Combo Drops TM NS
Akorn Inc. Fluoracaine Ophthalmic Solution TM NS
Akorn Inc. AK Spore HC Otic Suspension TM NS
* Alcon Laboratories Profenal 1% Ophthalmic Solution TM .005
* Alcon Laboratories Adsorbonac 2% Ophthalmic Solution TM .004
* Alcon Laboratories Adsorbonac 5% Ophthalmic Solution TM .004
Allergan America Ocufen Ophthalmic Solution TM .005
Allergan America Poly Pred Ophthalmic Suspension TM .001
Allergan Inc. Blephamide SOP Ophthalmic Ointment PMA .0008
Allergan Inc. Bleph-10 Ophthalmic Ointment 10% PMA .0008
Allergan Inc. FML SOP Ophthalmic Ointment 0.1% PMA .0008
Allergan Inc. Poly Pred Ophthalmic Suspension TM .001
Altaire Pharmaceuticals Nasal Relief 12 Hour Spray PMA NS
American Assn. Retired Persons Oxymetazoline Nasal Spray PMA .002
American International Chemical Thimerosal (bulk chemical) TM 100
American International Chemical Thimerosal (bulk chemical) TM 100
American International Chemical Thimerosal USP 97% (bulk chemical) TM 97
American Pharmaceutical 12 Hour Nasal Solution PMA NS
Appletree Markets Long Lasting Nasal Spray PMA NS
* Bausch & Lomb Flurbiprofen Sodium Ophthalmic Solution TM .005
* Bausch & Lomb Neomycin & Polymyxin B Sulfates & Gramicidin Ophthalmic Solution TM .001
* Bausch & Lomb Neomycin & Polymyxin B Sulfates & Hydrocortisone Otic Suspension TM .01
* Bausch & Lomb Sulfacetamide Sodium & Prednisolone Sodium Phosphate Ophthalmic Solution 10%/.23% TM .01
* Bristol-Myers Squibb Fungizone Lotion TM .01
* Bristol-Myers Squibb Fungizone Cream TM .01
C.O. Truxton Inc. Bio-Cot Otic Suspension TM .01
C.O. Truxton Inc. Decongest Nasal Spray PMA NS
Cheshire Pharmaceutical Otocort Otic Suspension TM .01
Cheshire Pharmaceutical Ocutricin Ophthalmic Solution TM .01
Cheshire Pharmaceutical Sulfapred Ophthalmic Solution TM NS
CVS Nasal Spray Pump PMA NS
CVS Revco DS Inc. 12 Hour Decongestant Pump Nasal Spray PMA NS
Dolder Ltd. Thimerosal (bulk chemical) TM 100
Dorex International Corp. Long Acting Nasal Spray PMA .002
Drug Guild Distributors Long Acting Nasal Spray Kolex LA PMA .002
DRX Pharmaceutical Blephamide Ophthalmic Ointment PMA NS
DRX Pharmaceutical Cortisporin Ophthalmic Suspension TM .001
DRX Pharmaceutical Neomycin Polymyxin B Sulfates Hydrocortisone Ophthalmic Suspension TM NS
DRX Pharmaceutical Neomycin Polymyxin B Hydrocortisone Otic Suspension TM .01
DRX Pharmaceutical Neomycin Polymyxin B Gramicidin Ophthalmic Solution TM .01
DRX Pharmaceutical Vasocidin Ophthalmic Solution TM NS
DRX Pharmaceutical Colymycin S Otic Suspension TM .002
DRX Pharmaceutical Pediotic Otic Suspension TM NS
Dysers Sal Thimerosal (bulk chemical) TM NS
Family Independent Pharmacy 12 Hour Nasal Decongestant Spray PMA NS
Family Independent Pharmacy Long Acting Nasal Spray PMA NS
Farm Fresh Inc. Hemorrhoid Relief Ointment PMN .01
Fays Drug Services 12 Hour Nasal Spray Pump PMA NS
Federated Foods Long Acting Nasal Spray PMA .002
Fleming Companies 12 Hour Nasal Spray PMA .002
Foxmeyer Drug Co. Nasal Spray Pump PMA NS
Global Source Nasin Long Acting Nasal Spray PMA NS
Harco Drug Mercurochrome Aqueous Solution MB 2
Harris-Teeter Oxymetazoline Nasal Spray PMA .002
Hi Tech Pharmacal Co. Long Acting Nasal Spray PMA .002
Hudson Corp. Nasal Spray Extended Relief PMA NS
Hurst Pharmaceutical Duomycin-HC Otic Suspension TM .01
K and B Distributors Mercurochrome Aqueous Solution MB 2
* King Pharmaceuticals Cortisporin Ophthalmic Suspension TM .001
* King Pharmaceuticals Neosporin Ophthalmic Suspension TM .001
* King Pharmaceuticals Viroptic Ophthalmic Solution TM .001
King Pharmaceuticals Neomycin Polymyxin B Sulfates Hydrocortisone Otic Suspension TM NS
* King Pharmaceuticals Pediotic Suspension TM .001
* King Pharmaceuticals Cortisporin Otic Suspension TM .01
Kinray Oxymetazoline Nasal Spray PMA .002
Laboratori Derivati Adrenal Cortex Injection TM .01
Leader 12 Hour Nasal Spray PMA NS
Leader Nasal Pump Spray PMA NS
Longs Drug Stores Nasal Spray Pump PMA NS
LS Raw Materials Ltd. Mercurochrome NF 12 100% (bulk chemical) MB 100
Major Pharmaceuticals Cortomycin Ophthalmic Suspension TM NS
Major Pharmaceuticals Sulfacetamide Sodium & Prednisolone Sodium Phosphate Ophthalmic Solution TM .01
Major Pharmaceuticals Cortomycin Otic Suspension TM .01
Major Pharmaceuticals Neocidin Ophthalmic Solution TM .01
Martin Surgical Supply Testosterone Injection Suspension 50 mg TM .008
Martin Surgical Supply Testosterone Injection Suspension 100 mg TM NS
Mays Drug Stores Hemorrhoid Relief Ointment PMN .01
Medalist Laboratories Long Lasting Nasal Spray Pump PMA NS
Meyers Supply Inc. Long Acting Nasal Spray PMA .002
Navresso Long Acting Nasal Spray PMA NS
Omicron Quimica SA Thimerosal USP 97% (bulk chemical) TM 97
Parade (Grocer’s Supply) Oxymetazoline Nasal Spray PMA .002
* Parkedale Pharmaceuticals Coly-Mycin S Otic Suspension TM .002
Pay N Save Corp. Decongestant Nasal Spray PMA NS
Pharmedix Bleph 10 Ophthalmic Solution 10% TM .005
Pharmedix Viroptic Ophthalmic Solution 1% TM .001
Pharmedix Blephamide Ophthalmic Ointment PMA NS
Pharmedix Triple Antibiotic Ophthalmic Solution TM .01
Pharmedix Colymycin S Otic Solution TM .002
Pharmedix Neo Poly with HC Otic Suspension TM .01
Physicians Total Care Inc. Neomycin Polymyxin B Sulfates Hydrocortisone Ophthalmic Suspension TM NS
Physicians Total Care Inc. Viroptic Ophthalmic Solution TM .001
Physicians Total Care Inc. Cortisporin Ophthalmic Suspension TM .001
Physicians Total Care Inc. Ocufen Ophthalmic Solution TM .0005
Physicians Total Care Inc. Vasocidin Ophthalmic Solution TM NS
Ping On Ointment Co. Ltd. Ping On Topical Ointment Mercury NS
Prime Natural Health 12 Hour Nasal Spray PMA NS
Primedics Laboratories Testerone Injection Suspension 50 mg TM .008
Publix Inc. Long Acting Nasal Spray PMA NS
Publix Supermarkets Long Acting Decongestant Nasal Spray PMA NS
Qualitest Pharmaceuticals Nasal Spray Solution PMA NS
Qualitest Pharmaceuticals Antibiotic HC Otic Suspension TM NS
RDS Acquisition Corp. 12 Hour Nasal Spray PMA NS
Republic Drug Co. 12 Hour Nasal Spray PMA .002
* Schering-Plough Animal Health Gentocin Durafilm Ophthalmic Solution (for dogs only) PMN .002
Scrivner, Inc. Hemorrhoid Relief Ointment PMN .01
Sight Pharmaceuticals Neomycin Polymyxin B Sulfates Hydrocortisone Otic Suspension TM NS
Sight Pharmaceuticals Sulfacetamide Sodium & Prednisolone Sodium Phosphate Ophthalmic Solution TM .01
Spectrum Quality Products Merbromin (bulk chemical) MB 100
Spectrum Quality Products Mercuric Oxide Yellow (bulk chemical) MOY 100
Spectrum Quality Products Thimerosal (bulk chemical) TM 100
Spectrum Quality Products Thimerosal (bulk chemical) TM 100
Super Laboratories Long Acting Nasal Spray PMA NS
* Taro Pharmaceuticals Taro Nasal Decongestant Spray PMA .002
Teral Laboratories Oticin HC Otic Suspension TM .01
Thames Pharmacal Co. 12 Hour Nasal Spray PMA NS
Thrifty Payless Inc. Nasal Spray Pump Formula PMA NS
Thrifty Payless Inc. Decongestant Nasal Spray Pump PMA NS
United Research Labs Antibiotic Ear Suspension TM .01
United Research Labs Neomycin Polymyxin B Sulfates Gramicidin Ophthalmic Solution TM .01
US Ophthalmics Fluorescein Sodium Ophthalmic Solution TM NS
US Ophthalmics Sulf-10 Ophthalmic Solution TM NS
US Ophthalmics Vasocidin Ophthalmic Solution TM NS
US Ophthalmics Phenylephrine HC1 Ophthalmic Solution 10% TM NS
USCO Logistics Procofen Ophthalmic Solution TM .005
USCO Logistics Profenal Ophthalmic Solution TM .005
VEDCO Inc. Tribiotic Ophthalmic Solution TM NS
Waldbaum Inc. Hemorrhoidal Ointment MN NS
Weeks and Leo Co. Inc. Long Acting Nasal Spray Solution PMA .002
* Whilehall-Robins Dristan 12-Hour Nasal Spray TM .002
Signatures
Mr. Friedenberg, Thank you for commenting here. Might your specify how your comment is connected to this post?
Label = service. Main reason I didn’t pitch a fit about T.’s autism label.
(S. is unmistakeable if you know what you’re looking for; C. is following patterns I read other parents discussing in their autism spectrum-diagnosed children. T. doesn’t look to us to have enough of a social impairment for the label. Then again, given what we have to compare in the family, “most normal” could still be “autistic”.)
Mostly, they’re delightful and help keep me in shape.
Dear Kristina Chew, PhD,
My comments are related to the many associations between autism and mineral imbalances, toxicities and or deficiencies.
Broad-brush labels used to describe Learning difficulties (including difficulties in reading and writing, a short attention span, poor concentration, and an inability to retain information or poor memory),
Autism
ADD (with or without hyper-activity), ADHD,
Dyslexia (inability to process words)
Dyspraxia (physical clumsiness)
Dyscalculia (inability to process numbers)
Physical factors such as poor hearing or eyesight often undiagnosed
Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Head Banging and rocking,
Mineral Deficiencies, Toxicities, and Imbalances to Consider
Concentrations of chromium are higher in newborns than those of adults. Concentrations of chromium in human hair are ten times greater than those of blood making hair analysis a more accurate gauge of levels and stores. There is less hardening of the arteries in people of Asian countries, who it is estimated have five times higher chromium tissue levels than Americans. People of Near Eastern countries who have about four times the average U.S. levels and African people who have twice our chromium levels seem to experience less diabetes than Americans. These higher tissue levels of chromium are due primarily to better soil supplies and a less refined diet. Chromium may be only one of the factors accounting for the differences in rates of diabetes, ADD, ADHD, Learning disabilities and atherosclerosis between cultures.
The decline of serum chromium levels has declined steadily commensurate with the increased consumption of sugar in America.
Mean Chromium blood levels (u/l) Year
28-1000 ……………………………………………………. 1948
13 ……………………………………………………………. 1971
10 ……………………………………………………………. 1972
4.7 – 5.1 …………………………………………… 1973
0.73 – 1.6 …………………………………………. 1974
0.16 …………………………………………………………. 1978
0.43 …………………………………………………………. 1980
0.13 …………………………………………………………. 1985
Additionally, In his book, “Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy,” New York Times writer David Kirby writes:
“Autism has rarely been reported outside of industrialized countries, at least until recent years. A good example is China, where companies such as Merck and Glaxo-SmithKline have began an aggressive pediatric-marketing campaign, selling millions of dollars in vaccines to the Communist government. …
“On Aug. 11, 2004, the official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, reported that children suffering with autism in that country had suddenly and unexpectedly skyrocketed. In a few short years, the number of reported cases jumped from nearly nothing to some 1.8 million children.”
In the late 1990s, the U.S. House of Representatives Government Reform Committee, reached this conclusion:
“Thimerosal …in vaccines is likely related to the autism epidemic. This epidemic in all probability may have been prevented or curtailed had the FDA not been asleep at the switch regarding injected Thimerosal and the sharp rise of infant exposure to this neurotoxin.
“Our public health agencies’ failure to act is indicative of institutional malfeasance for self-protection and misplaced protectionism of the pharmaceutical industry.”
According to Terri, studies since then have established a conclusive link between mercury and autism.
Mercury has always been known to be a neurotoxin,” and it’s relationship to autism could be one factor involved in the etiology of this disease. Other relationships to mineral imbalances could be copper, zinc, cobalt, aluminum, lead, chromium and vanadium deficiencies resulting from high sugar consumption . China also has a very low sugar consumption compared to the USA. This is changing however as the “grass seems greener on the other side” and the western diet infiltrates Shanghai and other cosmopolitan cities of China.
I hope that this has been helpful to you and your readers.
Best Wishes,
Kenneth Friedenberg, VP
Graceful Earth Inc.
http://www.gracefulearth.com
http://www.analysisofhair.com
1-877-697-7300
I can’t help but to think that Mr. Friedenberg is using this blog to spam.
Please consider visiting http://www.neoteny.org/?cat=7 for a unique unorthodox theory of the cause of autism.
Mother’s testosterone levels are at the center of enviromental and social structure issues.
Thank you,
Andrew
To quote Andrew: “I don’t have to be a narcissist to even consider that I might be right. But it helps.”