Book Review: Mother Warriors

Another great book on Autism and healing. Jenny tells a little more of her story, goes into the efforts she has been making for more Autism awareness, her efforts to get the AAP to recognize and learn DAN! protocol, etc. She also tells some amazing stories of Autism recovery as well as one tragic story of recovery and loss. She reminds us that Autism is not just a genetic disorder. It is not just a neurological disorder. It is an illness. That these kids are sick. They have so many health issues that can be treated. Kids in pain, kids with infections raging in their bodies, with leaky guts allowing toxins to enter their brains, will exhibit neurological problems. But the body CAN be recovered. They may try to convince us that it is untreatable, but these families are proving them wrong. As they say "come see my science".

Jenny would not have been my first choice for my advocate and spokesperson, but I am still very thankful for all that she is doing for our children and for us. She is doing an amazing job and I pray that it pays off.
(Review written Oct 2008)
As with Louder Than Words, I wish the story could have been told without some of the harsh language and questionable morals. But, I am grateful to her and the other parents for being willing to share their stories.

My favorite quote is at the very beginning of the book:

"All illnesses have some hereditary contribution. Genetics loads the gun and environment pulls the trigger."
- Dr. Francis S. Collins, Director, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health.

Amen. Yes, genetics plays a huge part in Autism, just as it does in all other auto-immune disease. My husband had a genetic disposition toward Diabetes. But something triggered the attack on his pancreas and caused the Diabetes. My daughter had a genetic disposition toward Autism. I see enough minor ASD traits in both my dh and I that there is no way I will deny the genetics. But, the environment pulled the trigger. She was not born Autistic. She was born with the potential to become Autistic. And it's probably thanks to my MILs reaction to the Hep B vax that she is not severely autistic. Because that caused me to refuse to load her up with HIGH dosages of mercury at birth which would have had increased the impact of the environmental bullet.

One environmental impact that I had never considered before was brought to my attention by one of the parents. They mentioned a connection between Herpes 6 virus and autism. Knowing that Jess has fought a mighty battle against a HPV in the form of warts sent me on a research. I wasn't sure what HPV number it was and wanted to see if that was the connection. Nope. HHV-6 is the Herpes virus associated with Roseola. There is a theory that latent Roseola virus in combination with the live viruses in certian vaccines may be one of the causes of the auto immune response. So, not only did my daughter have a measles issue, her case of Roseola, too close to a live vaccine, may have played a part. Too many viruses for the immune system to deal with at the same time. Who knows. All I know is both her case of Roseola and what I am convinced was a mild case of the measles where both horrible experiences.

Here is what the "Warrior Dad" in the book had to say:

Autism is a combination of infections and toxins that can ultimately lead to a neurological breakdown. It could be many types infections: bacterial, fungal, viral...a recent study found children with autism are 16 times likely to have mycoplasma, chlamydia or herpes virus 6. And that's just three of the many infections these kids can have. There are also studies showing that viral infections cause toxic metals to move to the brain. Other studies show that certain commonly undiagnosed bacterial infections in these children's guts can make toxins like mercury even more toxic. - Stan Kurtz.

Parents are recoverying their kids by fighting these infections and viruses. The autism symptoms are dissapearing when these illnesses are cleaned out of the bodies.

I also like the analogy of Autistic kids and the canaries in the coal mine. How their sensitivies to toxins are just a warning to the rest of us. She says:

I look at the older generation right now and and the rise of Alzhiemer's, Parkinson's, MS. Then I look at this young generation and see autism, ADD, ADHD, allergies childhood diabetes, and Tourette's and wonder what our future will look like when my generation grows old. If before us is Alzheimer's and Parkison's and behind us are all of these other diseases and disabilities, shouldn't we be a little worried about what the h--- we're gonna get?

Another thing I noted was that not all of these children regressed at 15-18 months. "Coincidentally", those children who were given their MMR vaccines at earlier ages regressed at earlier ages. One, who was given muliple live vaccines at the age of 6 months became Autistic very early. They try to convince us that we connect autism with vaccines because it just happens to manifest at the same time the MMR comes onto the schedule. How interesting that it manifested at the same time as the shot in all these kids, no matter what age they got the shot. Hmm. And remember, there is NO mercury in live vaccines. This is not a mercury issue. (Mercury and aluminum, etc is a side issue that doesn't help.) This is a viral issue. This is injecting live viruses into a body that may be immune suppressed for one reason or another. Sometimes it is the presence of illness. (Do you know how often doctors "catch up" multiple vax when kids are brought in for a sick visit?"). Sometimes it is a mitochondrial issue. There can be any number of reasons that the body is immune suppressed at the time of the shot, causing the body to be overloaded. I also find it interesting that a lot of these kids (like mine) were developing on time and sometimes ahead of schedule before they regressed. They were very neurotypical up until the time the trigger was pulled.

Jenny also touches the issues of siblings and spouses. Often when a mother is battling to recover her child, she gets tunnel vision and the rest of the family suffers. 80% of families with Autism deal with divorce. Siblings often feel left out in the single minded pursuit of dealing with the Autsim. This is a sad reality. I am fortunate in that my daughter is not severely autistic. I have not been faced with the same battle that many of these parents are dealing with, so I can't put myself in their shoes. But, I came to the conclusion that I must not rank up with the rest of the warriors because while I am very fanatical about doing what I can for my daughter, I am not willing to lose the rest of my family in the process. We are all in this together.

I admire these parents for fighting the battles for their kids. Pulling the toxins out, cleansing out the viruses, the bacteria, the yeast that is so prevalent in our autistic children is not a fun job. Often the symptoms get worse as the infections are moved out of the system. But the reward is great. The stories are awesome.

Of course I always come away from reading these awesome stories of recovery wishing I could afford some of these tests and treatments. There are so many things I want to pursue.

A must read book for parents of children with ASD, for doctors, for everyone. One thing I liked about this book was that at the end, there is a list of resources AND a list of DAN! doctors.