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Children with autism are also often subjected to different types of
abuse weather is in institutions, care givers , sometimes schools and even
physicians who practice experimental medicine and taking advantage of
devastated parents searching for a cure. I have a child with autism and I
have heard many suggestions from friends and other parents of children
with autism to try one of the different modalities of alternative medicine
for treatment. I have been given information about doctors who perform
chelation therapy and others who provide holistic medicine, different
dietary management and therapy for yeast infection of the bowel. I heard a
lot about the effect of the gluten free diet too and some people
practically blaming me for not trying it. Truthfully, I thought my son is
already very selective in his diet and even though he does have frequent
bowel movements every day I didn’t want to commit to a special diet unless
I have an indication. One thing though as a physician I can tell that the
suggestion for testing for celiac disease, though a very common disease,
was faced by rejection by one of my colleagues with feeling that I am
dictating care for my child. I also noticed that even asking gently for
testing for vitamin deficiency was not that welcome. It turned out that he
did have pyridoxine deficiency. When a relative of mine who resides in
one of the European countries asked me about the special diet I mentioned
again that I had no intention to try that without evidence. She
voluntarily sent me an over the counter test kit for celiac disease and
even though I knew it is not that sensitive or specific I did try it and
for my relief my son tested negative. So from the prospective of a
parent, as long as there is no etiology clearly defined for Autism,
physicians need to consider the amount of stress parents go through every
day dealing with this disease and they need to work with families to
provide an ethically acceptable care.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests:
No competing interests
28 March 2010
Mayada H. Issa
assistant professor in Internal Medicine
West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA 26505
Autism abuse
Children with autism are also often subjected to different types of
abuse weather is in institutions, care givers , sometimes schools and even
physicians who practice experimental medicine and taking advantage of
devastated parents searching for a cure. I have a child with autism and I
have heard many suggestions from friends and other parents of children
with autism to try one of the different modalities of alternative medicine
for treatment. I have been given information about doctors who perform
chelation therapy and others who provide holistic medicine, different
dietary management and therapy for yeast infection of the bowel. I heard a
lot about the effect of the gluten free diet too and some people
practically blaming me for not trying it. Truthfully, I thought my son is
already very selective in his diet and even though he does have frequent
bowel movements every day I didn’t want to commit to a special diet unless
I have an indication. One thing though as a physician I can tell that the
suggestion for testing for celiac disease, though a very common disease,
was faced by rejection by one of my colleagues with feeling that I am
dictating care for my child. I also noticed that even asking gently for
testing for vitamin deficiency was not that welcome. It turned out that he
did have pyridoxine deficiency. When a relative of mine who resides in
one of the European countries asked me about the special diet I mentioned
again that I had no intention to try that without evidence. She
voluntarily sent me an over the counter test kit for celiac disease and
even though I knew it is not that sensitive or specific I did try it and
for my relief my son tested negative. So from the prospective of a
parent, as long as there is no etiology clearly defined for Autism,
physicians need to consider the amount of stress parents go through every
day dealing with this disease and they need to work with families to
provide an ethically acceptable care.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests