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Subject: Percy-L: Literary, Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical Discussion on Walker Percy

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  • From: "Steve Dye" <sldye AT bluegrass.org>
  • To: "Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion" <percy-l AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Autism
  • Date: Wed, 8 May 2002 12:31:50 -0400


Hey, I'm new to this but I thought this was about Walker Percy????
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wade Riddick" <riddick AT mail.la.utexas.edu>
To: "Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion"
<percy-l AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, May 08, 2002 12:15 AM
Subject: [percy-l] Re: Autism


> It's interesting to me personally that Karey Perkins brings up the topic
of
> autism. I'm currently being treated for several metabolic conditions in
> Baton Rouge by Dr. Stephanie Cave, a figure in the autism community.
She's
> of the opinion that autism is a special case of mercury poisoning which
> arises in a segment of the population with a defect in the natural
> chelating gene.
>
> Chelation is the process whereby the body grabs metal toxins floating
> around in the body and gets rid of them. In the case of autism it's
> theorized that childhood exposure to mercury unnecessarily used as a
> disinfectant in vaccinations (Thimerosal) affects brain development.
Since
> autism now affects more than one in five hundred people, this is a major
> medical problem. Dr. Cave reports great progress treating autism as a
case
> of mercury poisoning - the standard treatment being a monthly course of
> DMPS shots.
>
> There is still some controversy as to whether or not the mercury we're
> needlessly shooting into the arms of our babies is making them sick. I
> simply offer the following paper for those interested. A web search
should
> turn it up quite easily. Bernard, et al. published a paper in 2000
drawing
> connections between genetic inheritance, mercury poisoning and autism
> called "Autism: A Unique Type of Mercury Poisoning." There is a strong
> correlation between exposure to mercury in Thimerosal and incidence of
> childhood autism. Until Thimerosal was introduced in vaccines in the
early
> 20th century, there was never a documented case of autism. The rate of
> autism has increased in direct proportion to mercury exposure received
> through the new vaccines, the most recent being one for Hepatitis
> introduced in the early '90s. Evidence of a genetic component becomes
> apparent when you examine twins with different vaccination records. The
> twin with lower exposure had a statistically lower chance of getting
autism
> with proportionally less severe symptoms.
>
> I can speak first hand about the cognitive effects of such disorders.
>
> My own exposure to mercury came through the four amalgam fillings in my
> teeth. Despite two knee surgeries, severely pulled muscles in my neck,
> chest pain and cubital tunnel syndrome by age twenty, the dentists who
> installed those fillings never bothered to examine me for sleep
> apnea/bruxism. The bruxism caused me to grind my teeth at night and
> there's only so much even a normal body can do to get rid of mercury.
Over
> the next decade, I developed an inevitable case of mercury poisoning.
Even
> a little bit of the metal can wreak havoc on every system in the body,
> particularly glands and neurological tissue.
>
> I'm now so sensitive to the metal, I can't eat seafood any longer thanks
to
> the mercury-rich drilling mud the offshore oil industry has been tossing
> into our oceans for decades. If you don't believe me about mercury levels
> in fish, go buy a piece of fish from the gulf and have it tested. Tuna is
> one of the worst, although the FDA has been bribed to put out statements
to
> the contrary. Pregnant women are most at risk to this kind of exposure.
> Despite that doctors continue to give pregnant women in utero inoculations
> containing Thimerosal.
>
> Combined with the exhaustion caused by apnea and a nearly lifetime yeast
> infection brought about by overexposure to antibiotics (called Candidiasis
> or Leaky Gut Syndrome), I had a severe crisis last fall which had quite
> substantial effects on my cognition. The naturally occurring yeast in my
> intestines are fungi and so were unaffected by the antibiotics. They fed
> on the sugar, carbohydrates, caffeine and other unhealthy components of
our
> modern diet - even common medications like Advil. Lacking bacterial
> competition to balance them, the yeast exploded, causing a host of
> allergies and other subtle problems doctors are only now beginning to
> recognize. Without symbiotic bacteria, I had nothing to help me process
> and absorb necessary nutrients like Vitamin B complex. No vitamin B, no
> cognition - literally. It hasn't helped that omega-3 oil levels in the
> American diet have dropped precipitously over the last century.
>
> Every single one of these conditions I've described is quite common, but
> most doctors are not trained to spot and treat them. I would not be
> surprised if half the people on this list had some sort of yeast problem
> they have dismissed as acne, athletes' foot, hay fever or any of a hundred
> other things. It's easier to get a cream or salve or pill to treat the
> symptoms instead of giving up all those modern foods most bodies aren't
> evolved to handle.
>
> Yeah, I know. I come across as a vitamin-pushing Scientologist - except
> there are plenty of boneheaded leftists hurting themselves on vegetarian
> diets too because their ideologies blind them to scientific truth the same
> way politicians and the dairy lobby are trying to convince us that cow's
> milk is really healthy for our children.
>
> Who would have ever thought the healthiest item on the McDonald's menu is
> the patty - well, assuming it's not fried in hydrogenated oils.
>
> What I've done to treat myself is based on solid diagnostic bloodwork.
>
> You will say, oh, that's a lot of B.S.
>
> I ran out of alpha-ketoglutaric acid pills this weekend and my hands got
> dry and swelled back up. The insomnia came back and I couldn't focus long
> enough to read a single newspaper article. What's worse, I didn't want
to.
> This happens to me now if I run out of calcium, magnesium or any of a
dozen
> other pills. In the last six months I've quite literally lost sixty
pounds
> without changing how much I eat or exercise.
>
> While I may have been at death's door six months ago, I do consider myself
> fortunate in that I will not have to wait until I'm sixty and riddled with
> some sort of prostate cancer to find out the toll modern living has taken
> on me. By then it's too late.
>
> You can't turn medical treatment into religion, but in the context of
> discussions on cognition I thought you would find my experiences
> enlightening.
>
> Whether it was the mercury or the Vitamin B deficiency or some
combination,
> I'll never truly know. I do know for the last few years my ability to
> concentrate and read large books has been affected. I can concentrate as
> long as I'm writing, but it's become difficult to write too. Certainly
the
> mathematics and computer programming skill has gone out the window. I
> never understood why. It's more a question of inclination than ability,
> but if you can't coax your toe into the water you can hardly swim the
race.
>
> I still am startled by loud sounds. I still have days when I am fuzzier
> than others. At the absolute nadir of my condition, I stood, painfully,
in
> the living room trying to have a conversation with my father. While it
> took everything I had to listen to him, I knew what I wanted to say in
> response but suddenly everything froze and I couldn't speak. As soon as I
> started thinking of my response, the inner voice that made me *me* was
> suddenly ten feet under and gasping for air. This lasted almost a minute.
> The whole world was crawling by anyway - my perception of time had long
> been screwed up - but it wasn't like one moment I had seen something and
> the next minute the whole arrangement had changed. It wasn't like being
> suddenly transported into the future. I knew my father was moving around
> waiting for an answer but then again I didn't really *know* that either.
> It's hard to explain. It was like my brain skipped a beat, but that
wasn't
> quite it either. True, words and memories had become inaccessible to me
at
> awkward moments but it's as if my speech centers had ceased to exist.
>
> Sometimes I'd watch a stupid sitcom and get the joke a half-hour later.
> The scene I had just watched would suddenly register after all that time.
> It's like I had seen it and now I was finally getting around to *watching*
> it. (Forget laughing. My facial muscles physically hurt even if I felt
> like it.)
>
> I used to blank out like this with doctors. Sometimes, literally, no
> matter how hard I tried I could not listen to people. Sometimes I
couldn't
> stop talking. Then I'd be so sluggish sitting there with doctors I
> couldn't manage a word. The best strategy I adopted when talking to
> doctors was to imagine what they were saying as words typed on a screen
and
> then read those back to myself in my mind's eye. That worked. I could
pay
> attention and understand then. It wasn't like rainwater rolling off the
> eaves; it stuck. I'd type what I wanted to say back and read it to them.
> I found when I thought in text there were a lot fewer dropped words and a
> lot fewer missed memories and a lot fewer halting conversations. I have
no
> idea why I was still able to do this.
>
> I had serious trouble reading. While I had trouble getting the urge to
sit
> down and type, once I started I was fine. If it weren't for getting
online
> and chatting with others I would have never straightened out certain parts
> of my condition. I could and still do write up a coherent storm. I don't
> know why that part of me was spared but sitting down, writing up lists and
> trying to coordinate research really saved me. I still download important
> articles but don't read them for a month. I wish I knew exactly what was
> affecting me. I do have faith that it will eventually go away. I am
> getting better and I've had a few brief moments here and there where I'm
me
> again.
>
> I suppose the best way to explain it is to say it's like that worst moment
> you've ever had with the flu. You role over in the middle of the night,
> look at the alarm clock, see "3:30" flashing at you and you wonder why
it's
> dark outside and you haven't been fired for not showing up at work. If
> it's so dark, why isn't it raining? It's that sort of confusion, except
> all day long. You can grab on to reality if you try, but it's like moving
> through mud. It's so bad you can't feel sleepy. That's how isolated you
> are from so many of the things essential to the human condition. If
> emotion and mood were sharp cutlery, then it's like trying to dine on life
> with bowling balls.
>
> If you're interested, you can read more on my condition and others in the
> Yeast-L archives.
>
> http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/yeast-l.html
>
> Apnea is a life-threatening injury to the jaw that can kill you suddenly
in
> your sleep. It doesn't necessarily involve snoring. If you have generic
> joint pains, clicking sounds in your jaw, prematurely receding gums,
> popping ears, hearing loss or circles under your eyes, please seek out a
> qualified dentist for an exam.
>
> Wade Riddick
>
>
>
>
> --
> An archive of all list discussion is available at
<http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail>.
> Visit the Walker Percy Project at <http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy>.
>





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