Does Massive Brain Devastation Await The Autistic Child...
At The Onset Of Puberty?
What the article below appears to be saying is that those who suffer from "childhood schizophrenia" lose 4X more gray matter at the pre-puberty stage than they should. At puberty onset, the brain is known to reorganize and "prune" itself... in those with "childhood schizophrenia", that "pruning" is extremely magnified.
In other words... normal children lose a certain amount of "gray matter" just before puberty... but, per this article - reproduced in full below, those with "childhood schizophrenia" experience 4 TIMES the normal amount of gray matter loss ... meaning MASSIVE DEVASTATION. Also keep in mind that the adolescents who participated in this research were not exposed to the aggressive and compressed vaccination schedules we now have for children. As such, what will happen in those children who have had more aggressive and compressed vaccination schedules... and been exposed to more mercury and aluminum!!! :o( :o( :o( :o( :o( :o(
Note: "autism" was once called "childhood schizophrenia" and that term is still used in some circles today per this link: http://www.geocities.com/arnfl/overview.html.
This article just confirms some circles still use "childhood schizophrenia" to refer to "autism". In fact, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, the couple of things that distinguish childhood onset schizophrenia from autism are 1) presence of hallucinations (which we also know exist in autism) and delusions (see my thoughts under Updates for more on that) and 2) AGE of onset. Autism is usually diagnosed around age 3, schizophrenia around age 7 or later.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/schizkids.cfm
Based on the parallels between autism and schizophrenia... in my opinion, there are many more "things that are the same" than things that are different and age of onset, in my opinion, is a bogus criteria to use - especially based on recent discoveries as they relate to brain development.
See my "Updates" section (link provided below article on gray matter loss) where I discuss the difference among the labels of Autism, Schizophrenia and Alzheimer's categorizations based on the Emil Kraepelin mental disorder categorization system and why, in my opinion, it is really NOT a valid system to use in categorizing mental illness based on recent discoveries.
Article on gray matter loss is further down on this page.
PLEASE READ ENTIRE ARTICLE BELOW AND LOOK AT THE AUTISM-ALZHEIMER'S-SCHIZOPHRENIA COMPARISON AND MY COMMENTS BELOW THIS ARTICLE AS WELL.
See paragraph 3 on p. 1 below - last
half of paragraph...
I reproduced text because things often disappear from Internet but this was taken from: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/teenbrain.cfm
When I put this together with the information provided under my CRITICAL LESSON IN HISTORY section, I can not help but think that massive brain damage may await many, many autistic children from the onset of puberty on!!! This is what I fear our children may face with puberty onset!
Above image is taken from research of Dr. Paul Thompson at UCLA, http://www.loni.ucla.edu/~thompson/MEDIA/PNAS/NIMH.html
Note: Puberty should be a time of gray matter THICKENING... but in schizophrenia, these teens are LOSING gray matter... and devastatingly so! Remember: According to the Simpsonwood transcript on mercury in vaccines, it was stated, and I quote:
Dr. Keller, pgs. 116 & 118: "…we know the developing neurologic system is more sensitive than one that is fully developed…"
Note: That states "WE KNOW" - not "we think"... "WE KNOW"!
My research into these issues has now convinced me that metals (mercury, aluminum and iron) target/devastate the most immature cells and destroy them... in autism, that would be the cerebellum (takes 20+ years to mature), in schizophrenia, that would be the entire brain (as shown above) when it should be having gray matter thickening throughout... when there should be growth in terms of cells... they are being lost... and devastatingly so! See Book 3 - Breaking The Code: Putting Pieces In Place! posted in full on this website for a whole lot more on these issues!
With the onset of puberty, is mercury once again "on the move" in the autistic brain. The cerebellum and the corpus collosum are both known to undergo major changes at puberty. Mercury appears to have a propensity for developing cells. If these areas of the brain are undergoing major changes, is mercury targeting these areas as they grow toward maturity - leading to further neural degeneration?
Or, could it be that nitric oxide (NO) may be flowing through the brain and leading to cell death? Nitric oxide (NO) is a neurotransmitter GAS. As such, it is very different than other neurotransmitters. It can impact cells that are considered "far away" because it is a gas and needs only diffuse into cells. (NO) is found in its highest concentrations in the cerebellum - the part of the brain so closely linked to autism and the part of the brain that changes the most at puberty onset.
The cerebellum is known to be involved in the regulation of higher functioning, language, emotions, and motor functions (and I suspect many other things).
(NO) is also known to be involved in immune system functions and blood flow regulation functions. Given the recent discovery of (NO) in 1998, relatively little is known about (NO) and its functions in the brain. What is known is that when there is too much of it, it is known to lead to cell death.
If the cerebellum is involved in coordination of higher functioning, language, emotions and motion, would it not also be involved in the "reorganization" processes and "pruning" of the brain that normally occurs from puberty on in these various parts of the brain.
Of course, I have no way of knowing if this is what is going on... this is just a theory I am putting forth. I very much suspect that many metals could be at play here... mercury (known to impact hormones... insulin and iron modulate one another in the human body), aluminum (known to bind to transferrin) and iron (known to bind to NO) If indeed (NO) is causing this massive loss of gray matter in those with schizophrenia (something I suspect, we may also see in the autistic) during adolescence as opposed to mercury, then, perhaps, nitric oxide neutralizers could be a saving grace for these children. So many questions, so many theories - and so few answers!
A whole lot more on all this in "Book 3" and in my Research File!
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Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee. Psalm 55:22