Re: DDI hair test - need help interpreting

March 19, 2004

If the table I sent didn't render well for you (because it was

converted from plain text to HTML), you can see it here:

http://jaiden.net/jaiden_hair.txt

Thanks,

-

> Any input based on the numbers below would be greatly appreciated.

March 19, 2004

> Below are the results of Jaiden's baseline hair elements test

> I really don't think these results

> indicate a high probability of mercury poisoning

By the counting rules, they don't.

I could argue it both ways: CR very negative, everything OK with Hg.

On the other hand,

> Aluminum 13. < 8.0 yellow

> Antimony 0.095 < 0.066 yellow

> Arsenic 0.20 < 0.080 red

> Tin 0.40 < 0.30 yellow

> Titanium 1.6 < 1.0 yellow

> Zirconium 3.5 0.040 - 1.0 red ----

->

elevations of these are quite typical of mercury induced mineral

transport derangements.

Alternatively, the arsenic and antimony could be the problem, they are

both similar toxins and thus can be quite synergistic in their effects.

Also, regardless of root cause,

> Calcium 146. 125 - 370 green <-----

> Magnesium 11. 12 - 30 yellow/green line <-----

> Sodium 97. 12 - 90 green/yellow line ----

->

> Potassium 110. 12 - 40 yellow ----

->

this pattern suggests adrenal issues which indicate SOME physical cause

for his condition (as opposed to genetic or congenital brain damage/

problems) that is creating ongoing stress.

> (We are working with a DAN! doctor [Anju Usman, MD], and no, I don't want

> to talk about the general level of competency among such doctors.

Good. They mostly are decent people trying to help.

> Suffice

> to say we don't deify or inherently trust any of the people or methods we

> use to treat Jaiden.)

Good. My generally bombastic comments on the list are because most

people do deify doctors and it appears to be necessary to say pretty

harsh things to get through that so the parents can just focus on

whether the proposed interventions are helping or not.

> Any input based on the numbers below would be greatly appreciated.

If he doesn't have any amalgam fillings, I'd suggest a trial of

chelation. 5 cycles (weekends) is more than enough to be sure if it is

working. Mabye mercury, maybe not. Maybe arsenic/antimony, maybe not.

If it is either of these, you should see something happen with DMSA/

ALA. Resolving it through laboratory testing would be difficult,

expensive, and ambiguous. . . . .. . . . . ..

> Thanks,

>

> -, Jaiden's dad

March 20, 2004

Dear ,

Welcome! Many of us would begin our stories the same way you did... " mainstream

medical worldview " is a succinct and kind way to put it. When my son was

diagnosed with autism in 1999, I looked at my graduate psychology textbook and

it still said autism was caused by refrigerator mothers!

Others will comment on the questions you have re: hair testing. I just wanted

to welcome you and tell you that I have great respect for Dr. Usman. In my

opinion, she is one of the " good doctors " who is intelligent and an independent

thinker. Even when she was at Pfeiffer she seemed to be always looking " outside

the box. " She is not only smart, but intellectually curious - a trait that we

all wished all doctors were blessed with...

Again, welcome to the list. Ask lots of questions. This is a great group.

All the best to you and your family. Have a great weekend!

, mom to and

[ ] DDI hair test - need help interpreting

Hi all,

This is my first post to this list. My son, Jaiden, was diagnostic

with autism in April of 2003. He was 2 years, 9 months at the time.

A month later we started an in-home Verbal Behavior program. It has

taken us nearly a year to warm up to idea that biomedical intervention

might work (what can I say, our mainstream medical worldview at the

time of his diagnosis didn't allow us to take it seriously).

Below are the results of Jaiden's baseline hair elements test from DDI.

Other than being on a GF/CF diet no other biomedical intervention was

in place at the time of this test. This test was completed in mid

February of this year. I have a fax of the results so I'm not 100%

sure on some of the color designations. I did find a sample on DDI's

website that shows the color boundaries, but some of the results below

appear to be right on the line or very close to it.

I did read over the counting rules, but again, without the colors to go

on it was a little difficult. I really don't think these results

indicate a high probability of mercury poisoning based on steps 1-3 of

the counting rules, however, I'd like to get an opinion from someone who

has looked at more than one of these. Also, these results _do_ look

" scattered " to me but I don't know what qualifies as " scattered " and what

does not.

(We are working with a DAN! doctor [Anju Usman, MD], and no, I don't want

to talk about the general level of competency among such doctors. Suffice

to say we don't deify or inherently trust any of the people or methods we

use to treat Jaiden.)

Any input based on the numbers below would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

-, Jaiden's dad

http://jaiden.net/

Note: results are mcg/g

POTENTIALLY TOXIC ELEMENTS

===============================================

Element Result Ref. Range

===============================================

Aluminum 13. < 8.0 yellow

Antimony 0.095 < 0.066 yellow

Arsenic 0.20 < 0.080 red

Beryllium < 0.01 < 0.020

Bismuth 0.14 < 0.13 green/yellow (on line)

Cadmium 0.054 < 0.15 green

Lead 0.33 < 1.0 green

Mercury 0.03 < 0.40 green

Platinum < 0.003 < 0.005

Thallium < 0.001 < 0.010

Thorium < 0.001 < 0.005

Uranium 0.058 < 0.060 green/yellow (on line)

Nickel 0.07 < 0.40 green

Silver 0.02 < 0.20 green

Tin 0.40 < 0.30 yellow

Titanium 1.6 < 1.0 yellow

Total Toxic Representation ~70th percentile (yellow)

ESSENTIAL AND OTHER ELEMENTS

========================================================

Element Result Ref. Range

========================================================

Calcium 146. 125 - 370 green <-----

Magnesium 11. 12 - 30 yellow/green line <-----

Sodium 97. 12 - 90 green/yellow line ----->

Potassium 110. 12 - 40 yellow ----->

Copper 17. 8 - 16 green/yellow line ----->

Zinc 130. 100 - 190 white -

Manganese 0.09 0.20 - 0.55 red/yellow line <-----

Chromium 0.39 0.26 - 0.50 green ----->

Vanadium 0.045 0.030 - 0.10 green <-----

Molybdenum 0.070 0.050 - 0.13 green <-----

Boron 4.1 0.60 - 4.0 green/yellow line ----->

Iodine 0.45 0.25 - 1.3 green <-----

Lithium 0.020 0.007 - 0.023 green ----->

Phosphorus 169. 160 - 250 green <-----

Selenium 0.73 0.95 - 1.7 yellow <-----

Strontium 0.17 0.16 - 1.0 green <-----

Sulfur 48700. 45500 - 53000 white -

Barium 0.07 0.16 - 0.80 red/yellow line <-----

Cobalt 0.012 0.013 - 0.035 yellow/green line <-----

Iron 6.8 8.0 - 19 yellow <-----

Germanium 0.051 0.045 - 0.065 green <-----

Rubidium 0.12 0.016 - 0.18 green ----->

Zirconium 3.5 0.040 - 1.0 red ----->

=======================================================

March 20, 2004

On Fri, Mar 19, 2004 at 11:08:07PM -0000, andrewhallcutler wrote:

>

> On the other hand,

>

> > Aluminum 13. < 8.0 yellow

> > Antimony 0.095 < 0.066 yellow

> > Arsenic 0.20 < 0.080 red

> > Tin 0.40 < 0.30 yellow

> > Titanium 1.6 < 1.0 yellow

> > Zirconium 3.5 0.040 - 1.0 red ----

> ->

>

> elevations of these are quite typical of mercury induced mineral

> transport derangements.

Do you have a more technical term for " mineral transport derangement " ?

I'm trying to educate myself on this stuff to whatever extent I can

manage and this terminology doesn't give me much to go on. What exactly

can mercury do to mineral transport and how?

> Alternatively, the arsenic and antimony could be the problem, they are

> both similar toxins and thus can be quite synergistic in their effects.

Re: arsenic. Most of Jaiden's pajamas were treated with arsenic. When

we discovered this we removed them (now he just wears 100% cotton). Not

sure it's relevant... (we also have a deck built from arsenic treated

lumber, but I don't think that would matter in the time frame that would

show up in a hair test - we're in Michigan, he hasn't been on the deck

since last fall).

> Also, regardless of root cause,

>

> > Calcium 146. 125 - 370 green <-----

> > Magnesium 11. 12 - 30 yellow/green line <-----

> > Sodium 97. 12 - 90 green/yellow line ---->

> > Potassium 110. 12 - 40 yellow ---->

>

> this pattern suggests adrenal issues which indicate SOME physical cause

> for his condition (as opposed to genetic or congenital brain damage/

> problems) that is creating ongoing stress.

We certainly hope this is the case (always odd to say you hope there's

something physically wrong with your child). Can you flesh out " adrenal

issues " for me a bit as it relates to autistic-like symptoms? When I

read about adrenal insufficiency or similar I see the relationship

between specific hormones and the immune system, e.g. " They have important

actions on the body's immune response and are particularly important in

helping the body buffer any kind of stress. Mineralocorticoids help

regulate the body's sodium and potassium levels, blood volume, and blood

pressure. " -- taken from http://tinyurl.com/ysz9m -- But when I look at

the symptoms for various adrenal issues I don't see the connection to

autism. I'm reading you as saying:

(potential) adrenal issues -> something physical -> autistic symptoms

Right? I guess it's that first relationship I don't understand.

> > (We are working with a DAN! doctor [Anju Usman, MD], and no, I don't want

> > to talk about the general level of competency among such doctors.

>

> Good. They mostly are decent people trying to help.

In our extremely limited experience they vary wildly, from grossly

incompetent to quite sharp. No different than any other group of

" professionals " in that regard. Upon first impression, Dr. Usman seems

to be in the " quite sharp " camp, but ask me again in six months.

> > Suffice

> > to say we don't deify or inherently trust any of the people or methods we

> > use to treat Jaiden.)

>

> Good. My generally bombastic comments on the list are because most

> people do deify doctors and it appears to be necessary to say pretty

> harsh things to get through that so the parents can just focus on

> whether the proposed interventions are helping or not.

Yep, preaching to the choir here.

> > Any input based on the numbers below would be greatly appreciated.

>

> If he doesn't have any amalgam fillings, I'd suggest a trial of

> chelation. 5 cycles (weekends) is more than enough to be sure if it is

> working. Mabye mercury, maybe not. Maybe arsenic/antimony, maybe not.

> If it is either of these, you should see something happen with DMSA/

> ALA. Resolving it through laboratory testing would be difficult,

> expensive, and ambiguous. . . . .. . . . . ..

No amalgam. He's 3 years, 8 months and never been to the dentist. I

think we've pretty much decided that what you describe is the approach

we will take (or something very similar to it). My main motivation for

posting the hair results was not to determine whether or not we should

chelate, we had already decided we would, but to see if it screamed

obvious mercury poisoning to anybody.

Thank you for your response(s), I appreciate it.

-

March 20, 2004

Hi ,

Thanks for the welcome. I've actually been subscribed to the group

and lurking for a while (couple months, maybe), but I won't pretend

that I've been able to keep up with the volume... or anything close

to it.

Your comment about your graduate text book makes me wonder exactly

how long ago that was. ;-) I minored in psych (majored in computer

science) and my abnormal psychology book does a decent job with autism.

Of course, it was written by someone who had observed first-hand the

work with ABA at Princeton. It was also published in 1996.

We went to Dr. Usman based on comments similar to yours below. I've

only met her once but my first impression was that she was very

intuitive yet very data driven. I thought it was a great balance.

I was also pleased with her background, coming from mainstream medicine

into the world of autism out of necessity - to treat her own kid(s).

The fact that she left Pfeiffer to be on her own made her appeal to me

all the more.

-

http://jaiden.net/

On Fri, Mar 19, 2004 at 04:36:40PM -0800, Dan and wrote:

> Dear ,

>

> Welcome! Many of us would begin our stories the same way you did...

> " mainstream medical worldview " is a succinct and kind way to put it.

> When my son was diagnosed with autism in 1999, I looked at my graduate

> psychology textbook and it still said autism was caused by refrigerator

> mothers!

>

> Others will comment on the questions you have re: hair testing. I just

> wanted to welcome you and tell you that I have great respect for Dr. Usman.

> In my opinion, she is one of the " good doctors " who is intelligent and an

> independent thinker. Even when she was at Pfeiffer she seemed to be

> always looking " outside the box. " She is not only smart, but

> intellectually curious - a trait that we all wished all doctors were

> blessed with...

>

> Again, welcome to the list. Ask lots of questions. This is a great group.

>

> All the best to you and your family. Have a great weekend!

>

> , mom to and

March 20, 2004

Could you tell me why pajamas cause high arsenic? Thanks

Dorothy

Re: [ ] Re: DDI hair test - need help interpreting