Category Archives: biomedical

>Long-Term Investment

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Here are the top 3 reasons I hear from other parents on why they choose not to try biomedical


1. GFCF diet is so hard – “I don’t know what to feed my child, it’s so expensive, my kid will only drink milk and eat chocolate biscuits, I don’t know where to buy GFCF substitutes, I’m frustrated because my son doesn’t like the taste, it’s taking so long to convert him fully to rice milk because he can taste the difference, it’s so hard to do this diet because we don’t have the brands like in the U.S.”
Yes, it is hard. The first couple of months are really tough. But once you find your favorite brand of milk, your son is happy because those GFCF chocolate animal cookies and rice crackers are yummy, you serve him more rice based meals rather than pizza and cheese sandwiches and you’ve successfully converted him fully to casein free milk, it eventually gets easier and easier. It’s actually easier for us in malaysia, there’s GFCF foods all around us. Asian foods are traditionally rice flour based and uses coconut milk instead of dairy. The benefits are huge and well worth the effort. Many parents have successfully implemented the diet, so can you. Check out this link for more info on GFCF diet

2. It’s a bunch of quack – “These doctors are all quacks and just trying to scam your money, there’s no evidence that biomedical works, I’m afraid it will make my child worse, my friend told me it didn’t work for her son, biomedical is expensive, I tried it for a couple of months and I didn’t see any improvements”
75% of children will benefit from biomedical intervention. A number of them go on to recover fully from Autism. Please read this wonderful article by the Autism Research Institute on the causes of Autism and the treatment options http://www.autism.com/autism/first/adviceforparents.htm

Before you discard biomedical treatments, please read through all the research that has been done by the Autism Research Institute http://www.autism.com Please watch the videos of parents testimonials of how biomedical intervention recovered their children http://www.recoveryvideos.com Please read the books on how these parents recovered their kids – Mother Warriors by Jenny McCarthy. Read the medical treatment guides such as Children with Starving Brains by Jaquelyn McCandless and Effective Biomedical Treatment by Dr Jon Pangborn.

Insurance will not cover anything that falls under Autism. However, your insurance will cover medical costs for gastrointestinal issues, allergies and other medical issues. But mostly the financial burden will be borne by the parents. The treatment costs will vary and yes, they can get very high. However, Paul and I view it more as a long-term investment in our child’s future. The gains are huge, but it takes time to mature. Everyone has to work within their means, the financial burden is staggering for any family with a special needs child.

Just because a particular treatment helped my child, doesn’t mean it’s right for yours. And if it didn’t work for your friend’s son, doesn’t mean it will not work for yours. Autism is such a complex disorder that 2 months is not going to cut it. GFCF diet alone is not enough, you must take the baseline supplements, consult a DAN doctor, do all the tests, faithfully take the 2nd tier supplements and much more. Commit fully for at least 6 months to 1 year before giving up. You need to meticulously keep a journal and always keep going to the next level. Finally, you will never know if biomedical intervention will help your child if you never try it.

3. Biomedical is dangerous – “Chelation caused a child’s death”
Chelation (pronounced key-lay-shun) is the process of detoxifying heavy metals from the body. It’s the most `controversial’ and unfortunately the most well known treatment associated with biomedical. Most people think that biomedical is chelation only and tend to stay away from biomedical because of the risks involved in it. Yes, there is always a risk in any medical treatment. However, chelation is only a part of biomedical. There are many other treatments that constitutes biomedical intervention. Chelation is usually a treatment left last or at least to be considered only after undergoing many other initial treatments. Some children improve so well on the other treatments that chelation was not necessary.

Even with the help of an experienced DAN doctor, the parent should always do your own research. Don’t be afraid to question the doctor, double check everything. Paul and I are lucky to have finally found a wonderful and trusted doctor in Dr Erwin Kay in Singapore. And we also consult with a very experienced and senior doctor in Dr Mark Westaway who was previously based in Australia but is now a consultant in a prestigious hospital in the UK. We get second and third opinions on just about everything. We take meticulous notes and keep a journal on every supplement Maya takes and her reaction to it. And we learn from other parents who have gone through this journey before us.

The case of 5 year old Abubakar Tariq who died whilst undergoing chelation treatment needs to clarified. Most don’t realize that the child’s death was due to human error – the medical practitioner gave him the wrong medication. The chelation agent Calcium Disodium EDTA was supposed to be used, instead the doctor administered Disodium EDTA instead. Both medications have similar names, both are colorless and it was a mistake resulting in his death. This is an unfortunate and extremely sad outcome for Abubakar’s family and my heart goes out to them. Please read the full report here http://www.autism-pdd.net/testdump/test5198.htm

Some of the treatments I’ve tried brought no changes, some made Maya sick or regress, but some
have made significant improvement in her. Treat your child’s underlying medical issues, prioritize
which to treat first, start one at a time. Don’t give up on biomedical when a treatment failed to show
the results you expected – educate yourself, implement, keep a log, investigate, try again, move on.
It is a long-term `investment’, so expect highs and lows. Accept the fact that there will be infractions
and mistakes made by yourself and others. Forgive and move on. The cost of biomedical treatment
is never ending. Prioritize, budget and give yourself realistic goals.



>Scratchy Bottom & Itchy Feet

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Maya had GI issues such as constipation, bloating, gassiness, very picky eater, a lot of pain behavior as well as yeast & fungal related behaviors. She would scratch her bottom all the time, occasionally there are peeling skin at the bottom of her feet and sometimes she would bite the skin off her toes. She hated wearing shoes and sometimes she would scratch her back till it bled.
Treating her GI issues was our most immediate concern, and we finally figured out that some of her behavior such as scratching and biting was due to yeast overgrowth.
One of the focus of biomedical intervention is to heal gastrointestinal disorders. 91% of children with Autism has gastrointestinal (GI) issues. Examples of GI distress include inflammation of the gut, abnormal intestinal permeability (also known as leaky gut syndrome), malabsorption, maldigestion, reflux esophagitis, colitis, yeast or fungal overgrowth and others. 70% of the body’s immune system lies in the gut, making it a very important part of your biomedical protocol.
Symptom –
GI symptoms usually presents itself as chronic constipation, diarrhea, abnormal stools, foul smelling stools, bloating and gassiness. Obvious symptoms such as these are easier to detect, however some children do not present these symptoms.
There are also other subtle symptoms or clues that a child has GI issues. Historical clues may include difficulty breast feeding, persistent colic, reflux, eczema, food sensitivities, picky eater, frequent antibiotics, abnormal posturing, self-injurious behavior and poor sleep. Our children may have a combination of these symptoms.
Some of the behavior linked to gastrointestinal distress include confusion, hyperactivity, short attention span, lethargy, irritability and aggression. It also causes headaches, stomachaches, constipation, gas pains, fatigue and depression. Reflux and intestinal discomfort may also be a reason for your child’s sleep problems.
You may require to do stool and urine tests for this, please refer to my previous blog on testing.
What causes it?
Gastrointestinal dysbiosis (imbalance) may occur in Autism through different means; frequent use of antibiotics causes a depletion of the good flora in our gut. The lack of beneficial flora will lead to an overgrowth of bad flora & bacteria such as clostridia. Damage caused by other environmental toxic assaults such as pesticides, heavy metals and chemicals may result in nutritional deficiencies. Food sensitivities such as gluten and casein causes damage to the intestine and the mucosal lining, which results in leaky gut and painful inflammation. Parasites and viral infections are also commonly reported in Autism children.
Yeast overgrowth
A combination of the lack of good flora and a bad diet results in yeast and fungal overgrowth. Foods such as sugar and simple carbohydrates keeps on feeding the yeast. Yeast or more commonly candida usually resides in the digestive tract. When the yeast multiples, it releases toxins in the body. And these toxins also impair the central nervous system and the immune system. Apart from rashes, yeast and fungal overgrowth may also present itself behaviorally.
Healing the gut
The basic protocol involves removing the allergens in food- the IgG food sensitivity test will help to identify what foods your child is allergic to. The GFCF diet is a very good start, also avoid yeast, sugars and artificial colors, flavorings and preservatives.
It’s important to replenish essential vitamins and minerals, give probiotics and start taking enzymes. Super Nu Thera, calcium and vitamin C is a good base to start with. Make sure you get the refrigerated type of probiotics – ask a pharmacy for probiotics multi-species at the highest CFUs you can find. I like to start at 10 billion CFUs a day, then work up to twice a day. A digestive enzyme of the DPP-IV variety is recommended with every meal. You can implement the diet, baseline supplements, probiotics and enzymes yourself.
Only take antibiotics if it’s absolutely necessary. Please make sure to replenish with more probiotics when taking antibiotics. Apart from killing the virus it’s supposed to, antibiotics also kills up to 90% of the good flora in the gut. When there’s less good flora, there’s more room for the bad flora to grow.
You will need the help of a doctor to prescribe a course of anti-fungal treatment to get rid of candida, some may need to treat clostridia, also anti-viral treatment for the viral infections and anti-inflammatory supplementation.
Healing the gut takes a long time but the benefits are enormous. Just by treating the GI alone does not mean that it will recover your child from Autism. It will take away the discomfort, allow him to concentrate and perform during therapy, it will regulate the immune system, give him a healthy body, improve his quality of life and most importantly it will take away the pain.
Nowadays, Maya is a happier girl, she has regular bowel movements, enjoys her food and is open to new textures and flavors. She is sleeping through the night, doesn’t crave for sugary treats and she no longer has dark circles under her eyes or red rimmed eyes due to food allergies. When Maya’s language improved, I asked her recently about her feet. She replied softly “It’s painful”. Now, Maya has a love for shoes and never ever scratches her bottom at all.

>A TEST of Patience

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As Autism parents, we are subjected to numerous tests and evaluations from doctors, child psychiatrists and clinical psychologists. And these tests are just to confirm that yes, your child has Autism. What next? Therapy and more therapy.

Now that we know there are biomedical interventions that can help our children recover and we’ve done the basic steps that I’ve listed in the previous blog, and you’ve done your research, you find out there are MORE tests to be done, sigh……. So, what are these tests we need to do? Where can we do them? How much does it cost?
1. IgG Food Allergy – This is to test for delayed immune response and for food intolerances. Unlike the IgE, which is the most commonly used food allergy testing, IgE tests for immediate immune response such as common allergic reactions to peanuts and seafood. Going back to IgG, this is the test where you’ll discover intolerances to gluten & casein and others too.
In Malaysia, to do the IgG test requires drawing of blood up to 1 – 2 liters sometimes. It’s extremely traumatic for any parent and child to go through this, it took 6 people including me to hold Maya down when we did this previously. (Ironically, those tests were inconclusive and it was a complete waste of time, money and unnecessary trauma) Dr Erwin Kay has specially ordered test kits from a trusted lab (www.usbiotekcom) that only require a bloodspot – where the doctor only pricks the end of the little finger, and rubs the drops of blood onto a test pad. Maya barely even noticed it.
We did the IgG Asian Food Panel for 96 food items by US Biotek. Cost – SGD$460.00 / RM1,110.00. If you choose to do it in Malaysia, most hospitals and labs would charge RM50-70 per food item. You’d usually have to test >30 food items. A parent told me she was quoted RM300 for ONE food item! These cost do not include the consultation, lab services and other items for such procedures.
2. Comprehensive Stool Analysis – This is to test for bacteria, good and bad flora levels, fungal and yeast overgrowth, immunology, digestion, for any inflammation and fatty acids levels. You MAY be able to persuade your local doctor to do a stool test for fungal and yeast, though it would not give you a comprehensive look at your child’s digestive system and other metabolic markers. Our test from Doctor’s Data (www.doctorsdata.com). Cost – SGD$540 / RM1,300.00
3. Urine Organic Acid Test – This is to test for nutrient levels, vitamin markers, cell regulation, detoxification markers and others. We did the testing by Metametrics (www.metametrics.com) and we found Maya had amino acid insufficiencies, oxidative damage, lethargy, impaired detoxification, yeast infection and others. Cost – SGD$850.00 / RM2,060.00
4. Heavy Metals testing – you either do hair analysis or a DMSA challenge test (urine). This is to test for mercury, lead, aluminum and other toxic heavy metals. We did a hair test with Dr Sundardas in Singapore (www.naturaltherapies.com) by the lab Trace Elements, Inc. Cost – RM425.00.
Where can we do these in Malaysia? Through reports from other parents and my own experiences we find that when we go to the GP or pediatrician, (our collective experience with numerous doctors in numerous hospitals) we encounter a lot of negative responses such as `you’re over-concerned’, “these are unnecessary” or “you’re over-testing”. We parents know that our children have health issues and in order to get the appropriate treatments, we need data from these tests. I would recommend to go directly to a DAN! doctor either in Singapore or Indonesia. Otherwise, expect a battle of words with your doctor and expect to go home totally infuriated & frustrated.
While waiting to see a pediatrician recently, I noticed that it takes less than 10 minutes for a doctor to diagnose a patient and send them home with antibiotics, whilst it took Paul and I a full 1 hour to beg, plead and convince the doctor to do these tests. The `wait and see’ approach should not be applied to any child who’s suffering from chronic constipation, diarrhea, chronically ill from fever, colds and flu, or exhibiting self-injurious behaviour such as head banging, because we the parents know that our kids are in pain, all the time.
These are the basic tests that you usually do, depending on your budget, talk to the doctor whether you can do this all at once or if you wish to stagger it. You may have to do more testings, but that would probably come at least 1 year later, after you’ve addressed all the issues found from the first tests. Good luck & share your experiences with me and others. There’s a lot of rainbows in the sky, if only we keep looking for it.