Re: Castration Drug Pushed for Autistic Children

[Guest guest]

I can agree that testosterone can be dangerous: just look at all the trouble it causes in NT males trying to prove their machismo to NT females. Perhaps the jocks and pretty boys are the ones who need this treatment?

As for Autistics, I don't see how this will have any effect at all. At best it might calm them down a little during puberty but at potential long-term health cost. Its just more snake oil being sold to suckers.

In a message dated 5/21/2009 12:26:42 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, no_reply writes:

'Miracle drug' called junk sciencePowerful castration drug pushed for autistic children, but medical experts denounce unproven claims Huge savings on HDTVs from Dell.com!

[Guest guest]

I vote we show up on their doorsteps with long clippers, a soldering iron, and

some way to surgically attach Lupron pump to all of them, just to make sure

that anything accidentally left behind in the process of cutting them down to

size is effectively removed: clearly they have an overabundance of testosterone

that makes them think it is remotely right to attack all the autistics they're

" treating " with this. They'd better hope I never see them in public an

recognize them...

>

> http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/chi-autism-lupron-may21,0,242705.story

>

> 'Miracle drug' called junk science

>

> Powerful castration drug pushed for autistic children, but medical experts

denounce unproven claims

>

> By Trine Tsouderos | Tribune reporter

> May 21, 2009

>

> Desperate to help their autistic children, hundreds of parents nationwide are

turning to an unproven and potentially damaging treatment: multiple high doses

of a drug sometimes used to chemically castrate sex offenders.

>

> The therapy is based on a theory, unsupported by mainstream medicine, that

autism is caused by a harmful link between mercury and testosterone. Children

with autism have too much of the hormone, according to the theory, and a drug

called Lupron can fix that.

>

> " Lupron is the miracle drug, " Dr. Mark Geier of land said after meeting

with an autistic patient in suburban Chicago.

>

> Geier and his son developed the " Lupron protocol " for autism and are marketing

it across the country, opening clinics in states from Washington to New Jersey.

In the Chicago area, the treatment is available through Dr. Mayer Eisenstein, a

family practitioner in Rolling Meadows.

>

> But experts say the idea that Lupron can work miracles for children with

autism is not grounded in scientific evidence.

>

> Four of the world's top pediatric endocrinologists told the Tribune that the

Lupron protocol is baseless, supported only by junk science. More than two dozen

prominent endocrinologists dismissed the treatment earlier this year in a paper

published online by the journal Pediatrics.

>

> Simon Baron-Cohen, a professor of developmental psychopathology at the

University of Cambridge in England and director of the Autism Research Center in

Cambridge, said it is irresponsible to treat autistic children with Lupron.

>

> " The idea of using it with vulnerable children with autism, who do not have a

life-threatening disease and pose no danger to anyone, without a careful trial

to determine the unwanted side effects or indeed any benefits, fills me with

horror, " he said.

>

> Experts in childhood hormones warn that Lupron can disrupt normal development,

interfering with natural puberty and potentially putting children's heart and

bones at risk. The treatment also means subjecting children to daily injections,

including painful shots deep into muscle every other week.

>

> This weekend, Eisenstein, Geier and his son, , are scheduled to speak at

the Autism One conference at the Westin O'Hare in Rosemont. The five-day

conference, featuring a keynote speech by actress-turned-activist

McCarthy, steps in where modern medicine has yet to succeed, offering answers

for what causes autism and treatments with allegedly dramatic results.

>

> All three men plan to talk about the link they see between autism and

vaccines; the Geiers will also discuss hormones and autism.

>

> Mark Geier and Eisenstein are physicians, but neither is board-certified in

any specialty relevant to autism and the use of Lupron, including pediatrics,

endocrinology, psychiatry and neurology. Geier is a geneticist; his son has a

bachelor's degree in biology. Eisenstein, a family doctor who preaches a message

of home birth, vitamins and vaccine safety, said he treated " virtually no "

autistic children in the past.

>

> Eisenstein said he met the Geiers last summer at the Health Freedom Expo in

Chicago and that he began offering Lupron in his office because parents of

autistic children were pleading with him for help.

>

> Since his Autism Recovery Clinic opened in late January, Eisenstein said he

has seen about 75 autistic children, with about 35 undergoing extensive lab

testing. On May 11 he told the Tribune that four or five children were on

Lupron, and 15 to 20 could start treatment within weeks.

>

> The Geiers say they have probably treated 300 autistic children and a handful

of adults with Lupron, and an additional 200 people are being tested.

>

> In February, when the Geiers visited his office, Eisenstein was effusively

enthusiastic about Lupron. " It is awesome, just awesome, " he told doctors in his

practice after the Geiers spoke about their therapy.

>

> But three days after his May interview with the Tribune, Eisenstein called to

say he was having second thoughts about the autism clinic, citing issues with

insurance companies and less-than-spectacular results.

>

> " It's highly unlikely that we're going to be part of the autism program much

longer, " Eisenstein said. " I'm not pleased enough with it. It's not where I want

to put my energy. "

>

> Several parents whose children are on Lupron told the Tribune that it works,

saying their children are better-behaved and show cognitive improvement. " It was

an obvious, undeniable result, " said Duffield of Carpentersville, whose

11-year-old son has autism. " I wish you could see what he was like before. "

>

> Experts said such beliefs are common among parents who try alternative autism

treatments. It's easy, they say, to attribute normal developmental leaps to

whatever treatment is being tried at the time.

>

> " It has become a cottage industry of false hope, and false hope is no gift to

parents, " said Autism Science Foundation President Alison Singer, whose daughter

has autism. " A lot of these therapies have no science behind them. You are using

your child as a guinea pig. "

>

> Doctor: 'I am going to treat as many as I can'

>

> Mainstream science has yet to explain or solve autism, a developmental

disorder that impairs the ability to communicate and interact. About 1 in 150

children in the U.S. are diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, from mild

to severe. There is no cure, but experts often recommend sessions with

therapists who work on communication and social interaction.

>

> In the absence of definitive answers, unproven treatments have proliferated,

including diets that eliminate wheat and dairy, chelation drugs that leach

metals out of the body, and treatment in hyperbaric oxygen chambers similar to

those used to treat scuba divers with " the bends. "

>

> A vocal minority of people believe vaccines are to blame for autism, though

numerous studies have failed to support any of those theories. One of the most

persistent puts the blame on thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative once found

in some childhood vaccines but now included only in some flu shots or in trace

amounts.

>

> The Lupron protocol adds a new twist to the thimerosal theory. According to

the Geiers, who filed for at least one patent on their therapy, many autistic

children have not only toxic mercury in their system, but also high testosterone

that causes early, or " precocious, " puberty.

>

> The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Lupron to treat precocious

puberty, an extremely rare disorder that involves finding signs of puberty in

very young girls and boys.

>

> Lupron is also used to treat prostate cancer in men, to treat endometriosis in

women, and to chemically castrate sex offenders.

>

> To treat an autistic child, the Geiers order $12,000 in lab tests, more than

50 in all. Some measure hormone levels. If at least one testosterone-related

level falls outside the lab's reference range, the Geiers consider beginning

injections of Lupron. The daily dose is 10 times the amount American doctors use

to treat precocious puberty.

>

> By lowering testosterone, the Geiers said, the drug eliminates unwanted

testosterone-related behaviors, such as aggression and masturbation. They

recommend starting kids on Lupron as young as possible and say some may need the

drug through the age of puberty and into adulthood.

>

> The cost of the Lupron therapy is $5,000 to $6,000 a month, which health plans

cover, Mark Geier said. However, two families told the Tribune that they had

trouble getting insurance to pay for the treatment.

>

> Dean of Rockford, whose 19-year-old daughter is on Lupron, said her

insurance company paid for a year of the therapy, then stopped. Eventually the

family filed for disability Medicare insurance, which is picking up costs again,

Dean said.

>

> The Geiers' first Lupron patient, a Virginia boy with severe autism who is now

13, started the treatment about four years ago. Since then, the Geiers have

opened eight clinics in six states, including one in Springfield and their

arrangement with Eisenstein, which he described as a " franchise " of sorts.

>

> " We plan to open everywhere, " Mark Geier said in February at Eisenstein's

office. " I am going to treat as many as I can. "

>

> Some of the Geiers' clinics are headed by doctors; a psychiatrist runs the

Springfield clinic. But that is not always the case. The clinic in Indianapolis

is run by an X-ray technologist who has an autistic child.

>

> In Washington state, the head is a health advocate and documentary filmmaker.

>

> Geiers stand firm despite criticism

>

> Specialists in autism, hormones and pharmacology who are familiar with the

Geiers' protocol said it cannot work as they suggest.

>

> " In terms of science, there is nothing suggesting the most basic elements of

what they are talking about, " said Tom Owley, director of the Neurodevelopmental

Pharmacology Clinic at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a specialist in

the treatment of autistic children with medicine. " That there are high levels of

mercury in autism -- not proven! That they have precocious puberty -- not

proven! "

>

> To support their theory that a link exists between testosterone, mercury and

autism, the Geiers often cite their own paper published in the journal Hormone

Research. Their report describes symptoms and lab results for 16 autistic

children ages 3 to 10 and finds nearly all have high testosterone.

>

> Experts who read the paper said it is deeply flawed and its conclusions are

baseless.

>

> The blood tests the Geiers use as proof of excessive testosterone don't show

that at all, and other data they cite mean nothing, said Kaplowitz, chief

of endocrinology at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and

an expert on precocious puberty. They also leave out test results that could

help show whether the children are in early puberty, he added.

>

> Looking at the tests, Kaplowitz said he asks himself: " Is Dr. Geier just

misinformed and he hasn't studied endocrinology, or is he trying to mislead? "

>

> Mark Geier responded that these are " opinions by people who don't know what

they are talking about, " saying the pediatric endocrinologists interviewed by

the Tribune don't treat autistic children and have not tried the Lupron

treatment. Geier said prominent scientists support their work and gave as

an example Baron-Cohen, the autism expert who told the Tribune that the Geiers'

Lupron treatment filled him with horror.

>

> The Geiers also say mainstream medicine condemns them because of their vocal

stance that pediatricians, health officials and drug companies are covering up

the link between vaccines and autism. " Nobody likes a whistle-blower, " Mark

Geier said in an interview.

>

> The Geiers challenge critics not to dismiss their regimen without trying it.

" Now that we have done hundreds and hundreds of kids, I can say ... the kids are

much, much better, " Mark Geier said.

>

> In their presentations, the Geiers focus on issues most likely to disturb

parents, such as aggressive behavior and excessive masturbation.

>

> " With masturbating there is a degree of normal, and then there is autism.

Parents will say: 'He will hump pillows, he will hump your leg,' " Geier

told doctors at Eisenstein's office. He made similar statements on the same

visit to about 60 parents of autistic children.

>

> In an autistic teenager, high testosterone will lead to dangerous aggression,

Mark Geier said, mentioning an autistic Ohio teen accused of killing his mother.

" They are incredibly strong. They can hurt you, " he said. " You have to respect

that these kids are on massive testosterone. "

>

> Autistic children with high testosterone are heading down an ominous path, the

Geiers said, and likely will end up hooked on psychiatric drugs,

institutionalized or jailed.

>

> In an interview, Eisenstein described going to the home of a young child to

administer a Lupron shot that is injected into the buttocks with a long needle.

" His dad is a big guy like myself, [and] it took both of us to hold him down to

give him the first injection, " he said. " It reminded me of ... a really wild dog

or a cat. "

>

> Critics say it is wrong to assume that a child with autism is destined for a

future of violence and drastic interventions, and that treating a young child

with Lupron for that reason would be a mistake.

>

> Boy's father asks: 'Will it affect his masculinity?'

>

> Recently at the Rolling Meadows clinic, Curt Linderman of Galesburg, Ill.,

said he was torn about giving Lupron to his 7-year-old son.

>

> The boy was on the no-dairy, no-wheat diet and was doing pretty well,

attending school in a regular 1st-grade classroom with the help of a special

aide. He had some issues with socialization but wasn't aggressive.

>

> If blood tests showed the boy had high testosterone, the family planned to

consider Lupron. Still, Linderman worried about the long-term implications of

suppressing his son's hormones.

>

> " Will it affect his masculinity? " he said quietly. " I want him to be normal. I

want him to have what every other child will have -- a family, kids, a

marriage. "

>

> Pediatric endocrinologists said Linderman is right to be concerned. While

Lupron might not have a significant impact on very young children -- beyond the

discomfort of daily injections -- they said continuing treatment into the teen

years is another matter. Lupron would put puberty on hold for those children.

>

> A teenage boy " becomes a kid again, " said Dr. Alan Rogol, a pediatric

endocrinologist at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. " He stops making

testosterone. They don't grow as well. It is not good for their bones. They

would come to a dead stop. "

>

> Said Kaplowitz: " You can lower sex drive, yes, but are you going to do that

for every autistic [teenage] boy, do a medical castration? ... For a year? For

their lives? "

>

> Neither Eisenstein nor the Geiers dispute that what they are doing amounts to

chemical castration.

>

> Speaking about one teen he put on the drug, Mark Geier said: " I wasn't worried

about whether he would have children when he is 25 years old. If you want to

call it a nasty name, call it chemical castration. If you want to call it

something nice, say you are lowering testosterone. "

>

> Eisenstein said the choices to treat severely autistic children are few --

psychiatric drugs that will turn them into " a zombie, " or Lupron.

>

> " Will they be chemically castrated? " he said. " Yeah, it's a possibility. "

>

> Still, Eisenstein said he would not treat teenagers with Lupron, citing

insurance difficulties. " It is easy to explain a 4- to 5-year-old with high

testosterone [to an insurer]. It falls under precocious puberty, " he said. " But

with an 11-, 12-year-old, it becomes a big fight. "

>

> Geier said his father diagnoses high-testosterone teens not with

precocious puberty, but with another very rare condition: testicular

hyperfunction.

>

> The effects of children taking Lupron in high doses indefinitely are unknown,

but endocrinologists said the drug would deprive takers of puberty's beneficial

effects.

>

> " In women, you are talking about bone density, and in both sexes, cardio

health in addition to sexuality and reproduction, " said Dr. Lee, a

pediatric endocrinologist at Penn State College of Medicine.

>

> 'Anxiety boy' now a pretty calm kid, mother says

>

> Duffield, whose son is on Lupron through Eisenstein, said she's more worried

about his happiness and keeping him out of an institution than the 11-year-old's

sex drive. The drug, she said, is helping the boy.

>

> Duffield has also tried treating her son with digestive enzymes,

multivitamins, fatty acids, chelation and hyperbaric oxygen therapy. On Lupron,

she said, the boy's moods improved, he could switch activities more easily and

he could complete tasks.

>

> " He couldn't sleep through the night and he was 'anxiety boy,' " Duffield

said. " Now he is a pretty calm kid. "

>

> Medical experts said lowering testosterone could make boys more docile and

decrease masturbation. But the drug is unlikely to help with social interaction

or cognition, they said.

>

> Autistic children, like all children, develop in fits and starts, Owley

explained. They have bursts of learning, then plateau. Parents trying numerous

treatments on their children will see that natural development and credit

whatever therapy they are using at the time, he said.

>

> " You are really susceptible, " said Singer of the Autism Science Foundation.

" We all want our children to get better. We love our kids so much, and you want

to believe the interventions are making a difference. "

>

> Duffield responds that people besides her have noticed changes in her son.

" Talk to people at school, the speech therapist and the respite-care workers, "

she said. " They know. We had a day where we had not given the shot yet, and the

speech therapist said I won't work with him until you give him the shot. "

>

> But even Eisenstein said he doesn't think Lupron's effects are miraculous --

behavioral changes the Geiers like to describe as " a wow. " " All the kids have

done substantially better, but it's not like, wow, they are really, really

good, " he said May 11.

>

> In a final interview Wednesday night, he was even more ambivalent about the

treatment.

>

> " I was hoping it was a good part of the answer, " he said, " but I've seen

enough to know it's not the answer. "

>

> ttsouderos@...

>

> Tribune reporters Steve Mills, Callahan and Tim contributed to

this report.

>