I read a really powerful and valuable book for parents this week called He’s Not Autistic, But… How We Pulled Our Son From the Mouth of the Abyss by Tenna Merchent, M.H.
I was initially drawn to this book because 1. The author’s son was on the autism spectrum like mine and 2. the author believes that vaccines caused or at the very least greatly exacerbated her son’s condition just like I believe was the case with my son. The author shares her journey to heal her son in non-conventional and alternative ways when industrialized medicine was not able to do a darn thing for him. And guess what…she found the healing she was looking for…the healing that conventional doctors say doesn’t exist. She did pull her son from the mouth of the abyss. The book touched me and made me cry. I wish every parent could read it and be forewarned. I made the decision to forever alter my own son’s life on the second day of his life when I allowed a Hep B vaccination shot and I sent him further into a darker hole with each subsequent vaccination until FINALLY one sent him over the edge and almost into a body bag. The realization that vaccines did this was of little comfort though as my son lay in a hospital bed hooked to a respirator. I can only hope that with books like these, that more parents will realize this is risky business.
It is also a good book for people who want to learn about what alternative medicine has to offer. The author not only healed her son but she was sick as well and she healed herself and has since become a Master Herbalist and is pursuing her N.D (Doctor of Naturopathy) degree. Interestingly she believes that her sickness…aluminum toxicity and a yeast overgrowth were passed on to her son in utero and this what what set him up for all the problems he had…allergies, autism spectrum, Candida, speech delay, sensory issues, etc. I say HAD because her son is now CURED.
In the beginning of this book Merchent gives us a long list of the behaviors her son exhibited that clearly showed he was at risk for autism. Then she goes on to describe issues facing most autistic children that must be addressed, allergens and yeast. Many kids on the autism spectrum are allergic to milk, corn, soy, eggs, and wheat. They also have yeast build-ups in their bodies. Surprisingly though Merchent mentions that aluminum in our bodies is usually the cause for the yeast imbalance. Aluminum kills off the good bacteria and then sets us up for an imbalance. Aluminum just happens to be found in tons of prescription medications for children and adults. It can also be found in many food products and of course, cans of soda…which Merchent drank religiously. Merchent points out that we will not be able to get yeast under control unless we get rid of the aluminum first and she explores this in depth in subsequent chapters. Merchent basically believes that she had an aluminum problem, in large part due to a diet soda habit..she passed that on to her son who received aluminum from other sources including vaccines, and meds given to him to fix his illnesses contained aluminum and so and so on. Very interesting stuff.
This is only the tip of the iceberg though…seriously you have to get his book, especially if you plan on having more kids…or even if your not. I will not be having anymore but I still went to town on this book with a highlighter and notes in the margins. It has some seriously important health info.
For instance, Merchent shares the three things that can really set your child up for autism that happen before they are even born or at birth and two of them are interventions. She also shares her experiences with painful nursing despite the fact that she was doing everything right…the cause was yeast overgrowth and she describes the symptoms of yeast overgrowth you may not even know you have…she had it for years and never knew. She also talks about sensory integration issues that her son had and seem to quite common nowadays.
The vaccines chapter I read all the while nodding my head in agreement. Vaccines are connected to SIDS, seizures, learning disabilities, and autism. My son was injured by a vaccine and 3 of those 4 things affected him in some way although only one affected him severely. She made a sobering statement at the end of this chapter that I identified with:
I am one of the lucky mothers; my son recovered from the damage caused by shots.
I hear you Tenna. I am one of the lucky ones too. When I think of what could have been…well I don’t like to think about it.
Her chapter on allergies really got my wheels turning. Her son would walk on his tippy toes and bang his
head against things if he had chocolate. My youngest son doesn’t have bang his head but he does walk on his tippy toes quite a bit and it has always bothered me because typically it is a sign of autism. He is also almost 28 months old and doesn’t speak. I need to read the book she referred to as the allergy Bible, Is this Your Child? by Doris Rapp, M.D. I wonder if my youngest could be allergic to something that is delaying his speech and causing the tippy toe walking. I just ordered the book they are only a couple bucks used, at Amazon.
Merchent walks us through the first year and a half of her son’s life and her experiences with his doctors. After reading about it I want to track them and slap them silly. This kid had TONS of problems and all they cared about was giving him vaccines. They also acknowledged after much time that he did have allergies to several foods but advised his mom to feed him those foods anyway so he would gain weight. I was furious just reading about what she went through.
As I said though I have only scratched the surface. There is some great information about allergies and aluminum that EVERY person should read….especially if you get sick often, have Candida or suspect that you might, have allergies, or if you drink soda from a can. I put this book down and immediately started looking for a Master Herbalist to visit in my area.
I highly recommend this awesome book: He’s Not Autistic, But… How We Pulled Our Son From the Mouth of the Abyss by Tenna Merchent, M.H.
I will check the book out. Thanks. I’m not a mother against vaccines. I live in an area with a lot of illegal immigrants so I feel that I must have my children vaccinated. Especially with the outbreak of measels recently. Yes they come in close contact with these children at our local park. Anyhow regarding your son not talking. My son didn’t talk. We had speech therapy and we were on the path to a lot more therapy because of the behavior issues. We even went to a nuerologist. Thankfully the speech therapist set us up with a hearing test (he passed that one at birth) Guess what. He had absolutely no hearing in one ear and little in the other. We never had ear infections, fluids in ear or anything like that. One surgery later with tubes and he was starting to talk within a week. Ok his behavior isn’t the best (spoiled) but a simple hearing test helped us out dramatically. Not all solutions will be that easy, but it’s worth a try.
We have only given our son the HepB because our Pedi was adamant about it, but that is only one and he is okay w/ us not getting any until our son is older. We waited until our daugther was almost 2 before she got most of her vaccines. Have you read anything about a connection between low levels of Omega 3 and autism? I am reading a couple books on that now.
I have added the book to my wishlist.
Oh and thank you for recommending the Growing Healthy Families cook book a while back, I bought a copy and so far every recipe I have made has been great included the cleaning ones.
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It interesting how everyone in the alternative medical community see autism as related to diet and currently the normal medical community is only looking at genetic causes. I have read two article that both suggested that autism could be reversed through diet change, both suggested that autistic children suffer from common food allergies, that overwhelm their systems and it make it harder for them to digest things their bodies and brains need like omega fatty acids and zinc. This makes me fear for my own child, who is so far normal, but allergic to soy and sensitive to dairy. She also shares a common trait with autistic children, that she frequently has hard stools. Obviously something with her diet is off, but I have yet to find out what.
” I live in an area with a lot of illegal immigrants so I feel that I must have my children vaccinated”
Seriously… who says this kind of crap? A lot of “illegal immigrants” get free healthcare here in the US for themselves and their kids so therefore they are vaccinated. Also in Mexico they push vaccinations like crazy, I believe they might even still give vaccinations in school, it is “mandatory” there just as it is here.
Okay you sold me on this book. When I was teaching the number of children each year that came to me with autism, allergies and asthma went up and up and up. I’m not against vaccines but that is another post and comment. I understand 100% why you would be though and respect that. I for sure believe that kids have issues because of allergies, chemicals and bad stuff in their food and containers. The BPA up roar for example.
My daughter is suffering horribly with asthma and allergies and the doctors through prescriptions at me and don’t even meet me in the middle when it comes to natural remidies (and we don’t use chemical cleaners so that isn’t the issue). Doctors need to learn there is a need and use for alternative medicine. I am buying this book ASAP! Thank you soooo much. Great review!
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I am ordering this book YESTERDAY! I am pregnant with my first child – a boy – and have a lot of concerns about vaccines and autism. I am currently reading The Vaccine Book, which is written by a doctor, and has a lot of scary info about aluminum in it. Tough choices to make… maybe this book might help me further with my vaccine decisions.
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Thanks again for another great post. I am pregnant with my second girl and my husband is very concerned with the link between autism and vaccines since he saw Jenny McCarthy on Laryy King. Our first daughter had all of hers on time and is 21 months and doing fine but I do worry about giving their immune system too many at once…26 by the time they are 2 is alot. As far as the diet goes, I firmly believe that it effects all of us. It’s unbelievable what is put in our and ours children’s food.
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Thanks so much! My son tested Very high for aluminum (his highest toxicity) and we have worked hard to get it out. He also has horrible yeast issues, is intolerant to gluten, corn, has issues with soy (because of copper) and is lactose intolerant. However, he was adopted from Russia and had a horrible stomach bacteria that had to be treated with medications that were high in aluminum. He also had parasites so he had to take flagyl (VERY high in aluminum).
All vaccines are high in aluminum as well so we stay away.
My favorite book is Doris Rapp’s book because it helped me discover his intolerances when allergy testing did not help.
Fabulous post!
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Tiff, I’m going to get this book. My son isn’t on the spectrum but he became very close to it. He does have other issues though, like you mentioned. I also believe that my candida was passed to him…and I know he has yeast overgrowths…it’s just got to be the hardest thing in the world to rid yourself of though! Thanks for the review. Off to buy it now.
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I wish I had read this book sooner. My son is 5 years old. He falls with the spectrum. Although the school say’s he has a communication disorder. He has only been talking for 2 years now. With lots and lots of work. I feel that I have been able to pull him out of his darkness. I knew that there was something different about him. As he was not doing things that my other 4 children had. I look forward to reading this book. I find everything that you have touch on is stuff that I saw in my son. I have heard of Candida, but have not read into. Look forward to studing it out more. So as to help my son more.
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Heavy metals and yeast are behind so many chronic illnesses and medical conditions. I hope this book and others help to open the public’s eyes as to how detoxing and eating whole foods work wonders in healing broken bodies and spirits. Thanks for making folks aware.
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Sounds like a great book! I don’t have a child on the spectrum, but our oldest has mild CP (a tippy-toe walker too!) and has some allergy/asthma issues. I also had a major candida problem when nursing all of mine and would be really interested in what the book had to say.
Thanks for sharing this!
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Tiffany. I just finished the book this weekend. Thank you. I’ve passed it on to a friend whose son is on the autistic scale.
Regarding the poster who claimed my first sentence was crap. I do take offense to this. I didn’t specify which undocumented/illegal people/immigrants live in my area. Mexicans are not the only country who wish to live here. Not everyone gets vaccines and that is their personal choice. Not everyone attends school for that matter (think adults) Just because health care is “free” doesn’t mean you use it or have access to it.
This sounds like an amazing book!! I just visited a Naturopath this past fall. I had Candida overgrowth. My son also seems to suffer from some of the same symptoms and has had sensory issues. I will definitely check it out. Love your blog by the way!
I just finished the book and will likely re-read it and take notes this time. I also emailed Tenna for a recommendation of a MH close to me. I’ve been fully emersed in Candida talk for over ayear since I’ve been trying to heal myself and never heard of the Aluminum…maybe this is why I haven’t been able to heal myself. Very good book and it left me wanting to learn much more from Tenna.
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This is such good information but I am surprised at the lack of talk of sugar in the book, the post and comments. Sugar is the number one substance that feeds the candida. It is also a substance (not a food, as it goes straight into the blood stream and not through the digestive system), that greatly affects behaviour. It is also a very addictive substance.
It is very likely that the sugar in the soda has an equal or greater impact on the drinker than the aluminium in the can.
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” I live in an area with a lot of illegal immigrants so I feel that I must have my children vaccinated”
Seriously? That could be one, if not, THE, most racist, insensitive remark I have heard in a while.
And Tiffany, thanks for pointing out this book – a friend’s 3 year old was just diagnosed, I am going to send him the link to this review.
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Thanks for the article. I will check out the book soon. My 11 year old is on the spectrum and also has Non Verbal Learning Disorder. I have a love/hate thing with vaccines. I do believe that they can be helpful, but it has taken lots of chelation therapy to get the toxins out of his body. These same toxins that his brother’s body eliminates quite easily. Go figure.
Personally, I think that autism is one way to show us how different all of these kids are and how a single treatment won’t work for everyone. What works for these kids is for someone to really find out the problem that this individual child is having and then go after it. There is no “one size fits all” in autism.
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Very interesting. Thanks for posting. Interestingly enough, I have researched this information and it is also related to endometriosis! Had not heard about aluminium which is good to know. Sugar and gluten definitely feed the candida…
Regarding tippy toe walking, that seems a bit much. My oldest daughter did this constantly. To the point that the pediatrician recommended some exercises so the Achilles’ tendon would not “atrophy,” but she eventually grew out of it and has never been even remotely linked with autism. One of my other daughters did it too, but not as much and is also very healthy.
Thanks for the post…the book sounds like it’s definitely worth a look. I’m not sure I believe vaccines cause autism, but I do believe there is a strong possibility there is a link between the two. I still think more research needs to be done. Autism is certainly on the rise and the numbers just continue to increase. There is actually a really great debate about the possible link between vaccines and autism at http://www.opposingviews.com/questions/are-autism-and-vaccines-linked. Multiple experts from both sides debate the issue, and there is a guy named Kevin Leitch who is really taking on some of the groups who believe the two are linked. Really informative debate!
I read in one of the comments by Nell that she wrote to Tenna.I purchased the book but nowhere Tenna’s contact info is given.I desperately want to contact Tenna or Nell. Can anyone help me??????
Nell- I just finished the book and will likely re-read it and take notes this time. I also emailed Tenna for a recommendation of a MH close to me. I’ve been fully emersed in Candida talk for over ayear since I’ve been trying to heal myself and never heard of the Aluminum…maybe this is why I haven’t been able to heal myself. Very good book and it left me wanting to learn much more from Tenna.
It is not “racist” to imply that there is a connection between illegal immigrants and certain diseases. It is FACT! Poverty and lack of good, consistent health care can increase risk to certain diseases. For instance, TB has increased in inner city areas due to poverty and illegal immigration. This is not an anti-immigrant statement! If we are not aware of these trends, we cannot improve the situation!.
Thank you I am also ordering Is this your child. I love your posts, read them often when life allows and I always enjoy them!