Biomedical intervention entails doing medical testing to determine what is going on inside a person’s body, and trying to rectify any problems, in order to restore health.  Many parents see great improvements in their children’s ability to engage and to benefit from their therapies, by addressing these health issues.  Many believe that these medical issues are the cause of their children’s autism and that, by helping their children become healthier, they can also help their child recover from autism.  There are, of course, many that do not believe in the medical paradigm, but a few of us have seen remarkable changes in our children with biomedical intervention.  We encourage you to research the biomedical piece to see if you think your child can benefit.

Medical problems with which children with ASD present include: gastrointestinal problems (yeast or bacteria overgrowth, dysbiosis, entercolitis), overactive or deficient immune function, multiple food or environmental allergies, viral problems (antibodies to specific viruses or abnormally high viral titers), and thyroid and/or adrenal issues.

Tests that can be done are blood tests (CBC/Metabolic Profile, immune function, thyroid function, viral titers and antibodies), tests to determine digestive/ metabolic function and nutrient absorption (Stool, Organic Acid Test) and tests for toxicity (stool, urine, hair).  Doctors will try to determine how the body (and thereby the brain, as well) is functioning and, if there are problems, how to correct those.  Also, they will try to determine whether toxicity or other means could have caused these medical issues. 

Treatments for the specific issues that are uncovered may be diet changes (GFCF, SCD, Feingold, Yeast-free, etc); supplementation of vitamins and minerals; immune support; use of probiotics, anti-fungals, and enzymes; improvement of impaired pathways (methylation, sulfation, etc.); and detoxification (by either enhancing the body’s natural detox systems or through chelation).    

Websites –
Generation Rescue (discusses autism-mercury connection) http://www.generationrescue.org/index2.html

Fair Autism Media – provides a variety of interviews with parents, doctors, and researchers on video.  http://www.autismmedia.org/media4.html

Autism Research Institute (includes a list of national and international DAN! Doctors) http://www.autismwebsite.com/ari/dan/dan.htm

Dana’s View – An unbelievable amount of information on virtually all pertinent topics - IEP’s, autism therapies, biomedical intervention, etc.  http://www.danasview.net/index.htm
SafeMinds -  Information and research on the autism-mercury connection.
www.safeminds.org

Yahoo Groups – 
Asd_Solutions -  Well-rounded group that discusses all aspects of biomedical intervention, including chelation, HBOT, viral treatments, etc.  http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/asd_solutions/

Chelatingkids2 – This is a yahoo group that primarily discusses chelation with the Buttar protocol, but also talks about other aspects of biomedical intervention.
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/chelatingkids2/

Illinois Biomedical Kids – This is a group with only Illinois residents.  All aspects of biomedical intervention are discussed, as well as political advocacy.  Also, this is a good site to exchange referrals re: doctors, therapists, school, etc.
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/IllinoisBiomedicalKids/

Autism-Mercury – This group discusses mercury as a cause for autism and also discusses chelation with Andy Cutlar’s protocol.  All other biomedical topics are included.
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Autism-Mercury/

HBOT Therapy for Autism - Hyberaic oxygen treatment is used for many neurological disorders and early strudies are showing promise with children with autism.
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/HBOTherapyforAutism/?

Mild HBOT - This yahoo group focuses on mild hyberbaric oxygen treatment, which is similar to HBOT only it uses less oxygen and less pressure.
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/mildhbot/

MB12Valtrex - This groups discusses the benefits of  methyl b-12 nasal spray, natural antivirals, and and Valtrex for chronic viral issues in children with chronic illness (chronic fatigue, fybromyalgia, etc), autism or ASD. http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/mb12valtrex/