Unfortunately, there are people and “health practitioners” out there who are using autism as their marketing tool, as their way to market a product or service to a vulnerable niche. This may sound like an extremely harsh criticism on my part. After all, some people really ARE helped by the DAN! program and by other medical and alternative medical treatment programs out there. That is absolutely wonderful, and I love hearing testimonials about things that work. But, what irks me to no end is when people with clout take what helped them or their family member, get up on a lucrative soapbox, and market their story and product as THE solution for ALL people with autism. It just doesn’t work that way! This is why I am not an advocate of any organization that promotes one thing or, like the DAN! program does, promotes the latest thing to come along. So, since gluten/casein diets obviously don’t help EVERYone with autism, along came the mitochondrial defect theory -- a new soapbox to captivate an audience. Mitochondrial diseases do exist. But the people who have them have musculoskeletal disorders, not autism. People with autism can have mitochondrial diseases, and when this issue is addressed they do improve. But, like everything else, it is not a be-all-and-end-all answer.
These sometimes melodramatic pitches about “what helped my child will help everybody” or “what I have (or do) is THE cure” are why I am a practitioner of responsible functional medicine evaluation. Do I tell people I can help them? Sure! Do I promise people I can cure them? Absolutely not. Can I test you for food allergies? Yes. I can also test for mitochondrial disease, for heavy metal toxicity, for genetic defects, for impaired neurological development, for amino acid deficiency, for hormonal imbalances, and a whole lot more. I don’t just randomly throw you onto an arbitrary treatment and expect things to get better. My approach is very different. Unlike some “health practitioners” who do the DAN! program, chelation therapy, and maybe even hyperbaric oxygen treatments or some other theoretical workage all at once and with no apparent basis for some of them, my approach is extremely individualized, evidence-based, and conservative. And it comes without promises of a cure.
With that being said, I should point out some important news from the “other side”, from the perspective of the person that HAS autism. Many of US do not like being treated as a person with a disease, somebody who needs to be corrected or cured, nor do we like being looked down upon because we don’t “fit in”. We just want to be accepted AS WE ARE. My goal is not to “fix” your kid, your spouse, or you who don’t seem to “get it”. My goal is to help those who are least functional, are greatly challenged, or who really want to see what they can do for themselves and their overall health concerns, and to do so sincerely and with compassion. After all, I have autism too, and I DO know what your concerns are.
