I have been doing some reading lately and have found that some research shows that toxic metals and chemicals such as mercury, lead, arsenic, cadmium, insecticides and pesticides are a causative factor in many cases of autism and ADD.

I find this hard to believe since in the info I have found it only lists symptoms such as mental fog, learning disablilities, loss of short term memory and does not mention any of the positive things about ADD.

My question is: Does anyone have any good links or other info concerning this?

Here are a couple of starting points for you. Try the link for the US Surgeon Generals Report on Mental Health: Chapter 3, the beginning sections of "Taking Charge of ADHD", by Russ Barkley, "The ADHD Book of Lists" by Sandra Rief, and "You Mean I'm Not LAzy, Stupid Or Carzy?" by Kate Kelly & Peg Ramundo.

Hope this helps.

Kim

I find this hard to believe since in the info I have found it only lists symptoms such as mental fog, learning disablilities, loss of short term memory and does not mention any of the positive things about ADD.

My question is: Does anyone have any good links or other info concerning this?
This is why I find ADD to be a totaly inadequate term for what we are (contextual mind missing the culture "uplink")

Many many things can cause attention deficit. What we are is not attention deficit but attention surplus. We just do not "store and process" information like the majority do... does that make us disordered?

Ok, off my soapbox.

Better to be on the soapbox than in it though :) I will try to find some links... I have read a bit about this and indeed there are "symptoms" that look like ADD, from a medical perspective.

where did you read this? if it is on the net can you post the links. :) :)

I am interested in the link between ADD and heavy metal toxicity because it is possible that over the last three years of restoring an old house I may have been exposed to lead and who knows what at an unsafe level. I have noticed that in the last year my "bad" ADD symptoms have become much worse.

Since my working partner has had an unexplained illness for over 8 months that landed her in the hospital a couple of times I am beginning to wonder.

I don't think that toxicity in any form causes ADD but as Chain pointed out may cause some symptoms that mimic ADD.

I have looked at many sites but none that I have seen so far seem all that creditable. I would rather read research that an essay aimed at selling me a product!

I have listed some sites below.

www.alternativementalhealth.com/articles/drugfree.htm
www.extremehealthusa.com/autism.html
www.chiro.org/pediatrics/ADD.shtml
www.all-natural.com/add.htm
www.lef.org/protocols/prtcl-156.shtml

Yes, metal poisioning can cause ADD like symptoms. Is is well known. When my doctor diagnosed me as having ADD-like symptoms , one of the first things I was tested for was metal poisioning.
It turend out to be neurological (due to hearing loss).

I am very interested in this matter as well - I didn't have my first problems in school related to ADD until a few months to a year after being exposed to a fairly large quantity of elemental mercury. While I always managed to get by with academic guerilla tactics prior to that (the eigth grade) I hit my first wall with problems processing and remembering even simple mathematical formulas, and recieved my first failing grade as a result (prior to that I'd done well in accelerated math classes my entire life).

I didn't know until recently that liquid mercury is indeed absorbed by the skin, so I never gave much concern to the fact that I handled about 10 grams of it with my bare hands for around an hour each day for about a week straight at the age of 13. (My Lord I wish I was supervised better) I learned about the real life "Mad Hatters" (neurological damage from holding mercury-tipped hat pins in their mouths) later on and became concerned. Like someone just mentioned, my "bad" ADD symptoms became much worse, or at least interfered more severely after I was exposed - and I'm wondering if maybe that wasn't just because I was encountering more complex material in school. Also, it wasn't until about a year after my exposure that I began having retinal migraines - something for which I have absolutely zero family history to point to.

Does anyone know how I could find out if I am suffering from Chronic Mercury poisoning? It's been ten years since I was exposed, and from what I've read they can test for recent exposure, but not necessarily damage from past exposure.

Quite honestly I'd have a good laugh if I found out I suffer from a mild form of "Mad Hatter's Disease," it would be a great conversation starter to say the least! I've encountered several articles that suggest the link between mercury poisoning and ADD, but they focus mostly on exposure from dental fillings - and spend no time telling you how to figure out if this has happened to you.

Any information that anyone could provide would be greatly appreciated, even if it's just to say that my exposure was or was not large enough to be concerned about....

Does anyone know how I could find out if I am suffering from Chronic Mercury poisoning?

Heavy metal poisoning is usually detected through blood or hair testing and pretty much any drug testing lab can do it with a doctors order. The test is limited to exposure in the last two to three years though.



I've encountered several articles that suggest the link between mercury poisoning and ADD
Nope. It's hereditary. I've got a kid with no fillings and zero chance of exposure to heavy metals and he still has ADD. He does have to parents w/ ADD though.

I am very interested in this matter as well - I didn't have my first problems in school related to ADD until a few months to a year after being exposed to a fairly large quantity of elemental mercury.

He's not the man I married, could it be ADHD? **


While metallic mercury is not recommended for play :( (it evaporates slightly and can be inhaled), methyl-mercury (and other organic mercury compounds) are responsible for the bulk of mercury poisoning in the world. And there's a lot of this stuff loose in the environment.

You eat fish (think nice, white Albacore tuna) you get exposed to methyl mercury. I suspect you've probably ingested far more methyl-mercury than you inhaled or absorbed when exposed directly to the good old shiny stuff. Isn't that comforting?


Lead
As for lead, the State of California puts out a video titled,

"He's not the man I married, could it be lead?"**
http://www.dhs.ca.gov/ohb/OLPPP/leadgnl.htm **lots of good info here about lead exposure and blood tests for lead.***

You can imagine what neurological symptoms poor Joe endured a few months after he started his own business; stripping lead-based paint with a blowtorch. But Joe did not have ADHD and his symptoms cleared up after he changed his work habits.

Same thing's true of Mercury poisoning. Not good, but you do eventually offload the stuff (unless you're a fisherman, or a daily seafood eater--nice if you can afford it) .



Genetic Component to ADHD:

Recent research clearly indicate that genetic effects overwhelm environmental influences in ADHD.


A twin study of 6000 pairs showed heritability estimates of 0.78-0.81 (80-90%) for ADHD. (1,2) That's high, to say the least.

Furthermore, a smaller study of siblings with ADHD (only 52 non-twin pairs) that investigated family clustering of problems in executive functioning, obtained a corrulation of .4 for the performance measures between direct sibs. (3) This is a moderate corrulation indicating that directly measured ADHD bevavior clusters within families. Diminished executive funtions (theoretically leading to impulsivity, time- and goal orientation problems, etc.) are believed to characterize ADHD.


Autism and mercury?


There's a lot of foment (and websites) about childhood vaccines thought to cause autism due to the mercuric perservative (thimerosal) they contain. This issue has been put to rest many times over, but is continually resurrected by a group of paid expert witnesses involved in suites against the vaccine manufacturers and the govt. The websites stir-up vulnerable parents of autistic children, who are then signed on as litigants in these legal suites.


There's an excellent recent review article about the genetic components of autism (4) available online:


http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/113/5/e472


Also see the National Institutes of Medicine's conclusion about thimerosal and autism; they reject the hypothesis that a vaccine containing thimerosal caused autism:

http://www.iom.edu/report.asp?id=20155


BIB

1- Dick, D. M.; Viken, R. J.; Kaprio, J.; Pulkkinen, L., and Rose, R. J. Understanding the covariation among childhood externalizing symptoms: genetic and environmental influences on conduct disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and oppositional defiant disorder symptoms. J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2005 Apr; 33(2):219-29.



2- Price, T. S.; Simonoff, E.; Asherson, P.; Curran, S.; Kuntsi, J.; Waldman, I., and Plomin, R. Continuity and change in preschool ADHD symptoms: longitudinal genetic analysis with contrast effects. Behav Genet. 2005 Mar; 35(2):121-32.



3- Slaats-Willemse, D.; Swaab-Barneveld, H.; De Sonneville, L., and Buitelaar, J. Familial clustering of executive functioning in affected sibling pair families with ADHD. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2005 Apr; v


4- Muhle, R.; Trentacoste, S. V., and Rapin, I. The genetics of autism. Pediatrics. 2004 May; 113(5):e472-86.