Hello from a new member.

[Guest guest]

Hello.

I'm new to the group. I don't have any children who've been diagnosed

on the spectrum. However, you could say that I've had an interest in

autism since I was eight years old, and knew that there was something

different about me. While other children would have to be told not to

talk to their classmates, in school, I never had to be told. When I

was eleven or so, I first learned of autism, and suspected that I had

something related. I believe I have Aspergers, although I've not been

diagnosed.

I did a bit of research when I was in college at Cleveland State

University, and it was there that I first became aware of the research

that Dr. Rimland did at ARI. But I never really got that involved

with the issue until my oldest daughter was three, and there were

concerns about her development. It was her GI specialist (she would go

a week to ten days without having a bowel movement) who first

suggested to us that she might be autistic. She was evaluated tho and

never diagnosed with autism or aspergers or pdd-nos or anything. One

psychologist called her `just kind of odd', so I guess that's her

diagnoses. I told the psychologist that I could live with that.

is doing well enough. She was mainstreamed in school and just

graduated from highschool and will attend CSU this fall. She does

struggle terribly though, socially. She is terrified she will get

fired from her fast food job. She quit her last one rather than stay

on because she felt sure that if she didn't quit she would eventually

be fired. The few friends she has have the persistence of stalkers

practically. She will never initiate a phone call or a get together.

But all in all she's doing alright.

About four years ago I became aware of the book Evidence of Harm, and

I read it, and I am one of those crazy women who is quite certain that

the government not only poisoned a generation of children, but that

there were people who knew exactly what happened and choose to deal

with it by desperately trying to cover up the fact, even if that meant

that the damage would continue to be done to more and more children.

It isn't just what I read, though, that has me convinced, it is things

that have happened to me.

When was three, one of the first things I did when it was

suggested that she might be autistic was to contact ARI. I wanted to

know about vitamin B6, as I'd heard it was helpful but had also heard

that it could cause problems. When the receptionist there asked me if

I would like to speak with Dr. Rimland about it, I said yes, sure I

would. We had a brief conversation that I will never forget. I asked

him why, if B6 was so promising, it wasn't being advocated by the

mainstream doctors, and he told me that he didn't know, but that it

almost seemed to him that they didn't want the cause to be found. When

I asked him who `they' were, he said that there were a lot of

researchers getting government funds, and it was these people he was

referring to. He never said anything about vaccines, but it is clear

to me now that he must have been aware, or at least very suspicious of

the connection, at that time.

I never really gave much thought to autism in the years between that

conversation, and when I read Evidence of Harm. When my daughter

was about fourteen or fifteen, another incident, however, occurred

which leads me to believe that there is something to the claims of

vaccine damage.

She was assigned a science report on the disease Porphyria. While she

was researching it, she came to me and she said " mom, I think I have

lead poisoning " and when I told her I didn't think she did, she paused

for a moment and then she said to me " well then, I think I have

mercury poisoning. I have a lot of the symptoms. " This was before

either she or I had heard about mercury in vaccines. I brushed

off the comment at the time. But after I read Evidence of Harm, a year

or so later, I could see that she was exactly right. All of the

complaints that I ever took her to the doctor for over the years were

right there in the list of symptoms of mercury poisoning. I took her

to the pediatrician with this information, but he would not have her

tested for mercury poisoning. He said that the American Academy of

Pediatrics put to rest any concerns regarding this. I, however, remain

unconvinced.

I must say that so far I've met with some very unfriendly behavior

when I speak about my beliefs on this issue. On the internet, I've

been banned from political chatrooms whether they lean to the left or

the right. I was not rude, I was not hysterical, I only presented

information about Thimerosal, the vaccine preservative that is half

mercury. When I showed up at a recent Autism Speaks benefit concert at

the House of Blues downtown to hand out flyers about Thimerosal, I was

told that I had to leave or I would be arrested. I told them that as

far as I was aware, I was within my rights to be on the sidewalk,

which is public property, distributing information, so long as I

wasn't accosting or harassing anyone. The chief of police was summoned

and he told me that I could stay. But it seems to me and to many

others that the organization Autism Speaks is actively working against

the scientists and doctors and parents who believe that vaccines have

harmed their children and only want the truth to be told, and want

this looked into.

I recently contacted the NAA because I knew that was

putting her support behind them, and that she has been the only person

to publicly state her belief that vaccines damaged her child. I met

n at a recent biomedical support group with Dr. Demio, a DAN

doctor who practices biomedical and chelation treatment. I am curious

to meet other parents in the area here. I feel it is very important to

get the word out in any way possible, as we can't rely on the media. I

myself am taking supplements (B6, DMSA, NAC, caprylic acid for yeast)

and I am curious to find out the experiences of others with

supplements and diets.

I put together this flyer some years ago and I've been distributing it

whenever and wherever I can where I think parents of young children

might be.

http://www.wideopenwest.com/~r_nemeth/vaccine_flyer.htm

I am hoping to be at one of the meetings that take place the

first Tuesday of each month, soon, so that I can meet people, although

I won't be able to make the July meeting. Perhaps I will be at the zoo

on Monday. Wearing my `autism—it's no mystery, it's mercury' tee, and

handing out my flyers.

Robin Nemeth