I finally was able to get a copy of the Gut and Psychology Syndrome book by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride from the library.

(A little warning here–a little gross, so if you’re eating breakfast or lunch, probably not the time to read this.:)

p. 11-12

…in 1998 Dr. Andrew Wakefield, a consultant gastroenterologist at the Royal Free Hospital in London and his team published their research, suggesting a connection between chronic inflammatory bowel disease and autism.

[…]

Dr. Wakefield and his team have identified a condition in the bowel of those children, which they named Ileal-Lymphoid-Nodular Hyperplasia and Non-specific Colitis. […] Ileum is a name given to the last three-fifths of the small intestine. […] The major function of the small intestine in general is food absorption.  However, not much food absorption happens in the ileum.  The walls of this part of the small intestine are packed with large numbers of lymph nodes, called Peyer’s patches, which are small, round or bean shaped structures, ranging in size from 1 to 25 mm.

[…]

We know two major functions they fulfill:

1.  The first function is filtering the lymph (tissue liquid) coming from the ileum and removing bacteria, viruses, fungi, dead cells  (including cancer cells) and various toxins from it.  It is a good place to look at what particular infectious agents might be lurking in your intestine because the lymph nodes are like a prison from these viruses, bacteria, dead cells, and fungi–if they cannot destroy them, they imprison them.  So, when gastroenterologists perform endoscopies, they always try to get a sample of these lymph nodes to be examined under the microscope.  This is what Dr. Wakefield’s team had done.

2.  A second function of lymph nodes is production of lymphocytes–a large group of immune system cells, a major function of which is fighting infections.  In fact lymph nodes themselves are made primarily of lymphocytes, together with some other cells.  So, when the lymph nodes are faced with an infection, they start producing a lot of lymphocytes to fight the infection, which makes the lymph nodes large and inflamed, sometimes painful.  This enlargement of the lymph nodes is called lymphoid nodular hyperplasia and this is what Dr. Wakefield has found in the ileum of autistic children.

Because many of the children from his study have developed autistic features after MMR vaccines, this is the direction Dr. Wakefield pursued when looking at what particular infection may have caused this enlargement of the lymph nodes.  Suspecting that it might be the measles virus, he involved in his research a well-known virologist Dr. John O’Leary, a professor of pathology from Dublin.  Sure enough, Dr. O’Leary has found the same measles virus used in the MMR vaccine in the ileal lymph nodes of the autistic children.  This particular part of Dr. Wakefield’s research concerning the measles virus and MMR vaccine, casued a lot of controversy and vigorous resistance from government and the medical establishment which distracted attention from the main issue.  The main issue is:  autistic children have enlarged and inflamed lymph nodes in their gut wall, which is a clear sign of a fight with some infection going on there.

p.13

[…]  Dr. Wakefield’s team has found various stages of the mucous membranes of the colon and intestines, abscesses filled with pus, ulcers, and plenty of faecal compaction.  In some places the gut wall was so inflamed with such enlargement of the lymph nodes, that it almost obstructed the lumen of the gut.  In some ways this inflammation resembled ulcerative colitis, in some–Crohn’s disease, when some features were completely unique to these autistic children.

[…]  the findings of Dr. Wakefield and his team…have been independently supported by…Buie, et al; Uhlmann et al; Furlano, et al; Morris, et al; …[and by] practicing doctors around the world [through clinical observation].

 

~~~~~~~~

The autism connection to heavy metal poisoning is talked about quite a bit on the support group–the anecdotal evidence is to voluminous to be ignored.  However, Dr. Campbell-McBride makes a point later that there are children with inflamed guts whose parents have not had them vaccinated.  Then the questions turn to what else could be causing it?  She touches on our toxic environment and how our bodies are already being assaulted by chemicals daily and it’s destroying our immune systems.  It doesn’t take a whole lot to tip them over the edge so that one starts having problems such as “leaky gut”.

I do think it’s significant that the same measles virus injected into these kids is the same one found in the inflamed gut.  Huge red flag.  Dr. McBride still believes that children should be vaccinated, however, which just blows me away.  She has a list of cautions–like children of parents with compromised immune systems, siblings with immune system issues or epilepsy, schizophrenia, autism, etc., should not be vaccinated at all.  Next, she recommends vaccines in one single dose–she makes the point that we don’t get measles, mumps and rubella all at once, so why should we be exposed to all of them at once?  Same with the Diptheria, Pertussis, and Tetanus vaccine.

However, Dr. McBride fails to acknowledge that there is a huge controversy about how people’s health was improved with better hygienic practices, not by vaccination.

Here’s a resource center on vaccines.

What I don’t get is this:  I had ALL of the diseases they’re now vaccinating for–both kinds of measles, mumps (both sides at the same time, ugh), and chicken pox at six months of age–and I survived. OMG! It’s a miracle!

I mean, measles are scary for a pregnant woman because it can lead to mental retardation…but this idea struck me as I read about all the mental issues associated with the measles vaccine (and leaky gut).  Although it didn’t cause mental retardation, was it behind the other mental issues?  Which is worse–taking a chance for mental retardation on a few or causing so many to suffer their entire lives?  That gets into a huge ethics question.

And there is so much about the immune system that is not understood.  If there’s no profit in it, the medical establishment isn’t interested.

I still think information is the key–give people the information and let them make up their own minds to whether they want to risk it or not.  For me, if I knew all that I know now, I would take that risk.   I feel guilty even now for giving my kids antibiotics when they were young–it’s another drug that is not fully understood and they do not count destruction of the “good” bacteria as a problem, even though it causes serious problems for people’s immune system.