Dr Andrew Cutler (ALA Chelation) offered several references to Mercury Poisoning causing mitochondrial disorder in a Yahoo group earlier this week.

It appears ALA Chelation removes the source of the cause and these disorders should be resolving themselves?

Perhaps the MITO COCKTAILS so often referenced are able to 'jump start' the mitochondria and benefit affected kids?

"And the pharmaceutical industry and medical system want to make it all sound so complicated so that they can continue to blame our children's inherited DNA instead of the actual cause which is plain old POISON."

Along the lines of Autism Grandma's observation I just quoted, that's exactly the reaction I got from a pediatric neurologist in Boston I took my son to see when we thought he might be having seizures. At the time, my son had severe anxiety issues, receptive and expressive language difficulties, OCD, and he was excessively fidgety (couldn't sit still, had to get up and walk around, touch everything in the office, etc.). The doctor took one look at my son and his look of disgust which he could barely conceal made my heart and stomach collide in my chest. Against my better judgment (because I wanted to take my son and run as fast as we could), I let this 'doctor' do something akin to a field sobriety test to check my son's reflexes and responses. He had to repeat the directions to my language-impaired son and became so impatient, his look of disgust now not concealed at all, he actually said to my son in a raised, annoyed voice, "Stop being so silly!" I knew right then and there he saw my son as nothing but a collection of broken pieces haphazardly fashioned into a defective organism for which no cause or cure exists. It's just the way my son was made and I really had no business asking questions or seeking help for it. That's what these a**holes really think and that's how they treat our kids. The good news is that that sorry excuse for a pediatric neurologist was wrong... my son is about 90 percent recovered and getting better every day. So he, and the rest of the "it's the DNA, Stupid!" crowd can stick their blame and disgust where the sun don't shine and spin on it.

Not surprised at all.

I have CFS.
I am XMRV positive.
I have mitochondrial dysfunction as measured by the Acumen ATP Profile.
Suspect a couple of my relatives might have Aspergers.

As someone who has researched the effects of toxic exposures and toxic overloads due to my own chemical injury over 20 years ago, from my own point of view "this ain't exactly rocket science". Basically, when the body is POISONED by toxins, the gamut of damages runs from the cellular level up to the end organ damage. The detoxification system collapses due to being depleted of critical nutrients from the toxic overload. Methyl B12, Glutathione, Magnesium, Niacin, and other nutrients are not available to detoxify, thus resulting in additional toxic overload.

In the case of the intestines, when the crucial intestinal flora is wiped out by toxins, including antibiotics and steroid medications, the digestive tract cannot digest foods sufficiently resulting in malabsorption of protein, fat and nutrients, which then results in a "leaky gut" [intestinal lining becomes permeable] and therefore undigested food toxins leak into the bloodstream creating another toxic overload.

These toxins produce mitochondrial DNA damages and also take up residence in the cells, with some toxins more stubborn to remove than others, especially heavy metals. The toxins stored in the cells prevent the cells from functioning properly and also interfere with nutrient uptake into the cells.

Good God, it's a miracle that any cells can function at all in this condition, and another miracle of Divine Creation that human beings can even remain alive. Thankfully, God has created many nutrients that can assist the human body to recover from these damages and even regenerate new cells. But all of this requires alot of careful attention so as not to re-circulate poisons stored in cells back into the system to create further damages.

It's sure a heck of alot more complicated to remove the toxins and reverse the damages, than it would have been if the toxins were not introduced into the body to begin with. How easy it was for the doctors to just inject toxins directly into our childrens body leaving us with the barren landscape of an atomic explosion to deal with.

Yes, it's a very complicated situation to address the many toxic injuries and remove the toxins from the cells, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand the simple fact that toxins poison the cells in the body thus resulting in cellular malfunctioning, "mitochondrial Dysfunction" and damaged DNA, which then results in autism,and many other diseases including cancer.

I am grateful to be alive after so many serious health issues caused by toxic poisoning, and I am grateful to have reversed much of the damage caused in the last 20 years, and I am grateful to be a two time cancer survivor thanks to natural therapies created by God and NOT manmade toxic chemo and radiation....

However, it sure as hell would have been a whole lot easier if every cell in my body was not poisoned in the first place, and I can say the same for my grandson who was poisoned by 27 doses of vaccines given within 6 months.

No, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand all this, but medical doctors with an 8 year Harvard education can't even figure out that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"... Most of them don't WANT to know that they are systematically poisoning our children, and they have big house payments to make so they are not about to stop vaccinating and they are going to continue prescribing toxic drugs.

And the pharmaceutical industry and medical system want to make it all sound so complicated so that they can continue to blame our children's inherited DNA instead of the actual cause which is plain old POISON.

It's useful to remember that Rett syndrome, which causes severe ASD-like condition to emerge after a period of apparently normal development, in some ways resembles mitochondrial disorders. Rett syndrome is caused by mutations in the MECP2 gene, which encodes a protein that profoundly affects neurodevelopment by regulating the expression of many other genes—and affects mitochondria. Although mutations within the MECP2 are rare in ASD, expression of this regulatory gene is commonly altered and the levels of the MECP2 gene product are commonly aberrant in ASD. Thus the mitochondrial defects observed in this study may well be a consequence of the abnormal expression of this critical regulatory gene in ASD rather a cause of ASD.

Sarah:
So this new test; have you had it done?
If so is it just a blood test or does it still require cutting a piece of muscle from the shoulder and leg?

New dynamics Dignostic Company: is this the only place in the United States, way out in California? If so that is a bit far to send blood or even muscle samples that have to be very - very fresh from the EASTERN Part of the US?

And does this mitochondria test just say you have it, or does it zero into exactly what part of the Krebs Cycle is screwed up?

As far as I can read many of the kids that have this mitochondria dysfunction that comes from vaccines, are like my husband and Hannah Poling: it is called Oxidation Phosphorylation, and the Krebs cycle is messing up on the complex I and complex III.

There's a company called Medomics that has developed a Mito diagnostic test. Here's more info:

Medomics Mito test:

http://www.medomics.com/MitoDx

Watch Gwynnie's story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8KQhDy3Z3E

New Test Helps Detect Mitochondrial Disease

http://www.medomics.com/sites/default/files/docs/news/MEDomics%20KTLA%20Jan%2029,%202010.pdf

It's like Ground Hog Day anymore. The same stuff keeps coming up. Yes, mercury/thimerosal causes mito dysfunction and autism. Just admit it already. Oh yeah, they already have at Simpsonwood.

The news article from Science Daily below reports that "1 in 200 individuals harbor mitochonrial DNA mutations that may lead to diease" so the fact that UC Davis MIND Institute scientists found mito dysfunction in our kids makes sense.

A letter to President Obama signed by over 50 Mitochondrial experts states that mitochindrial dysfunction is "at the core of many common diseases and chronic conditions".

If they look at the mitochondrial DNA in our kids, they'll probably see small otherwise hidden defects. I surmise too much stress on these weakened areas would trigger a mitochondrial dysfunction, energy depletion and autistic regression.

Large Reservoir Of Mitochondrial DNA Mutations Identified In Humans

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080811200144.htm

Letter to President Obama signed by over 50 Mitochondrial Experts:

http://www.solacenutrition.com/reading-room/mitochondrial-disease/mitochondrial-research-letter.html