Comments on: What’s Your Label? Your Diagnosis?

By: loves chocolate milk

loves chocolate milk — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 06:18:41 +0000

To quote Andrew: “I don’t have to be a narcissist to even consider that I might be right. But it helps.”

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:51:51 +0000

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

By: Chicken or Egg: What’s Behind the Increase in Autism?

Chicken or Egg: What’s Behind the Increase in Autism? — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:16:52 +0000

[...] category. And if your child is autistic, parents so often find that a diagnosis — a label — can seem just a bunch of letters, some of which might provide more services than [...]

By: What’s In a Label?

What’s In a Label? — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 16:37:23 +0000

[...] with a label is the same person. Sometimes for the better, if a parent, or a person him or herself, finally has a name to describe things that have been problems; if a parent receives an early diagnosis for a child and [...]

By: watchful words: 7 ways to rename a mental illness » change therapy - isabella mori

Fri, 11 May 2007 18:28:27 +0000

[...] christina chew asks whether people with autism and/or asperger’s syndrome aren’t just “quirky” or [...]

By: christschool

christschool — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 11:40:07 +0000

I can’t help but to think that Mr. Friedenberg is using this blog to spam.

By: Kenneth Friedenberg

Kenneth Friedenberg — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 07:32:31 +0000

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

By: Autism Vox » Very Late Diagnosis

Autism Vox » Very Late Diagnosis — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 22:11:01 +0000

[...] who was 73 years old, as well as on the “relief” some feel when they finally receive a diagnosis or label that names their “difference.” I can think of at least one good friend of ours who only [...]

By: Autism Vox » Acceptance vs. Cure

Autism Vox » Acceptance vs. Cure — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 21:35:19 +0000

[...] Nyhan has identified what is indeed a source of tension in discussions about autism, as evidenced by the back and forth in the comments on this post regarding Amanda Baggs‘ appearance on CNN. A letter today from Phil Schwarz, Vice President of the Asperger’s Assocation of New England, in response to last week’s Washington Post article on labeling on the rising number of American children who are given labels (ADHD, ASD, LD, gifted, etc.), describes another way to think about autism as a disability, but without drawing on medicalizing terminology: As I said to Maia Szalavitz [when she interviewed me for her story], it’s not labels that are problematic, it’s their baggage. Our society adopts the medical model of disability: something “broken” that prevents the individual from accomplishing goals the “normal” way. We don’t deal very well with whatever we can’t fix. [...]

By: Autism Vox » 22 Years Old and Just Diagnosed

Autism Vox » 22 Years Old and Just Diagnosed — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 03:00:24 +0000

[...] Theo’s only being diagnosed as an adult has, Ballard notes, made it even harder for him; “Young adults are not open to learning coping strategies in the way that children are,” she writes. In contrast to an article in last week’s Washington Post that noted how some adults feels a sense of relief on learning that there is a name, a label for why they have been “different” throughout their lives, Ballard’s account in Beyond diagnosis presents how just finding a name for what one “has” is not necessarily a solution, and can indeed only open more questions that do not seem to have answers. Taken together, his difficulties make him feel that embarking on an independent adult life is a frightening and arduous endeavour. [...]