LUPRON, AUTISM: 'Miracle drug' called junk science: Baltimore Sun

Baltimore Sun :

Desperate to help their autistic children, hundreds of parents nationwide are turning to an unproven and potentially damaging treatment: multiple high doses of a drug sometimes used to chemically castrate sex offenders.

The therapy is based on a theory, unsupported by mainstream medicine, that autism is caused by a harmful link between mercury and testosterone. Children with autism have too much of the hormone, according to the theory, and a drug called Lupron can fix that.

Read the whole story: Baltimore Sun

Comments

[kwombles]

"But, take a moment and recall: what is the Geiers’ rationale for prescribing lupron? The answer: the Geiers claim that autistic children have a very high incidence of precocious puberty. They are not treating autism, they say. No, they are treating the precocious puberty, with Lupron, a drug which reduces testosterone production in the body. At least, this is what they tell the insurance companies in order to get reimbursements for the parents.

Recently it hit me. Why the franchises? Precocious puberty is diagnosed and treated by pediatric endocrinologists. Heck, pediatricians can do an initial diagnosis.

Is there a shortage of pediatric endocrinologists in, say, Chicago? (I counted 12 in that list in Chicago proper).

If this were really about autistic kids almost all having precocious puberty, Dr. Geier’s talks would have one simple tag line: Get your kid to a to the nearest pediatric endocrinologist for a full work up.

Instead, his message seems to be: call me (someone who doesn’t specialize in pediatric endocrinology) or wait until I establish a franchise in your home town.

That would be one giant red flag for me if I were considering using the Geiers."



Read more: "Autism Blog - Why lupron “franchises” for autism? « Left Brain/Right Brain" - http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/?p=2410#ixzz0GkHIwZZj&A

[kwombles]

"The history of forced sterilization in the U.S. may not be well-remembered, but it is long and dark. If we are to protect some of our most vulnerable, we must change our ahistorical thinking. And, yes, chemical castration, as is being practiced on autistic children, is not the same as actual sterilization. In some ways, it's worse. It interferes with normal growth and development, perhaps adding life-long psychological and physical disabilities to the cognitive and social problems that already exist. It does, however, share at least one fundamental characteristic with forced sterilization: it is a crime against humanity."

http://scienceblogs.com/whitecoatunderground/2009/05/generations_of_idiots.php

[Kim Stagliano - Huffpost Blogger]

When my daughter was 8, a mainstream pediatric endocrinologist wanted me to put her on Lupron to reverse her early(ish) puberty. She had a seizure disorder at the time. And she has autism. I asked the doctor what the Lupron would do. "It will make her breast buds and axillary hair disappear." He kept tell me me about the "social stigma" of an early period for girls. I kept telling my my daughter's autism pretty well wiped out the social stigma. He couldn't seem to follow my reasoning. When I asked what the Lupron would do to her seizures or autism he could not answer. He had no idea. this was a Fellow from Dartmouth at a leading children's hospital in Cleveland. He could only say, "But the social stigma...." I never went back. I googled Lupron and it scared the heck out of me. I will say this, I'll bet the Geiers could tell me exactly what it would have done to her seizures and autism. I probably still would have avoided it, I tend to be more natural in my biomed approach.

The mainstream doc was happy to shove a script at me, and he had no idea what the result would be. I call that dangerous.

[kwombles]

And what the Geiers do even more dangerous. I seriously doubt the Geiers could have told you what the long term effects of lupron would do, let alone what it would do in the short term. Their IRB board for their research is fraudulent at best. Their research completely debunked. What they are doing should be criminal.

As for the mainstream doc, I don't blame you for running from him. I would have, too. Every bit as fast as I'd run from the Geiers.

[kwombles]

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=503

[kwombles]

For a moment, I'd like to daydream: this article, this prominent rebuttal of all things Geiers will have a stunning ripple effect in the autism continuum. Parents who have latched onto the various biomedical woo-interventions will stop, step away from the HBOT, step away from chelation, away from Lupron, away from megadoses of vitamins, step away from vaccine fearmongering, and take a deep breath and reconsider everything. Reconsider and then begin to read any decent critical thinking text, a general psychology text or Malcolm Gladwell and Daniel Gardner (who do a fantastic job of explaining things to the layperson). Then, these parents will back away from GR and AoA fast, start reading Simon Baron-Cohen and other leading autism researchers. They will invest in texts that deal with operant conditioning, theory of mind, and social skills training. They will accept that cause of autism, now that they have a child with autism, isn't really relevant to them any more, what really matters is intense intervention for the child, working on eye contact, working on when it is appropriate to engage in stimming behavior and when it would be best to not do so, why it is important to comply with the requests of parents and teachers even when the child doesn't see a reason to, to work on social scripts so that the child will know what to say and when, and that it is okay to say, "I'm sorry, I don't understand."

[maggiemom]

I first want to say - I know why you said that- this article made me want to find a brick and a window. Or atleast a piece or poster board a black marker and the corner nearest these "doctors" offices! So in this case I give you all the space to rage- go ahead.


But beyond that just two things.

Not all biomed is the same. I would never do this. Ever ever ever- do this. If it was used for a hundred years and was the standard treatment and even worked(which I highly doubt!) I wouldn't do this. Our first question when considering anyhting has always been- can this hurt him? Even before - does this make sense was that question of do no harm. Please do not toss diet, vitamins, supplements and even HBOT in the same pool as this!
We do not agree that Biomed is worthwhile but I think you can agree there is a big difference between a doctor telling parents to give fish oil to their child and this!
Second: we all do those other things too! Ofcourse we do- I have only read two books in the last 3 years that were not about battling ADD(mine+my daughters) or Autism(my boys)! Ofcourse some have been biomed and some have been traditional behavioral.


On my soap box: I am especially pissed because insurance will pay for THIS! But I can't get a metal screening and they won't cover RDI or ABA!

[kwombles]

You're right, not all biomed is the same. That's why I specified biomedical wooquackery. I didn't bring up diet; as long as it's balanced, the GFCF diet doesn't cause any harm. A serious amount of work (having done it for four years) and a lot of money, but as long as calcium is supplemented, no harm.

I'm not against supplementing with vitamins and minerals -- I'm against megadosing in quantiities that can be harmful, and there are doctors doing just that.

I'll keep the HBOT there, though, since it has no scientific evidence proving any efficacy and can do harm.

ABA should be covered either though insurance or through the school district. Absolutely. It is evidence-based. Behavioral therapy should be provided by trained individuals.

Glad we could find again a common area of agreement. :-)

[autismnostrum]

HBOT absolutely belongs in the same pool. As does chelation and mega vitamins. There's no indication these are effective, and all carry some pretty serious potential risks.

[nicole473]

Great dream, kwombles. :)

[kwombles]

:-)

[Principaldad]

I agree. It is a wonderful dream. I hope that reaonable, rational thought and careful consideration can me more than a dream.

[autismnostrum]

Wouldn't that be awesome? Of course prominent rebutting of all things Wakefield in MSM still hasn't dampened his reputation in some crowds. I'm pretty stunned that the Geiers are actually getting shunned by places like AoA. How did this happen?

[sirenity]

Kudos to Kwombles, well said.

According to the Ministry of Family and Children Services in Canada, parents allowing such 'treatments' to be given to their children could be facing criminal charges. I would not be surprised in the least to see the Geiers on the front page soon with bylines such as
"Quack Doctor and Son Arrested!"

[Endersdragon]

You know you are desensitized to abuse of autistics when you can read a stunning story like this... and not even have it surprize you for a second.