Stephanie Cave, M.D., F.A.A.F.P.

Dr. Cave received her M.D. from LSU Medical School in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1983. She completed a residency in 1986 and is board certified in Family Practice, and presently practices in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Specializing in the metabolic treatment of patients, she and her colleague, Dr. Amy Holmes, are presently treating more than 1,900 children with autism spectrum disorders. Both travel extensively throughout the country speaking about autism to groups of parents and professionals.

[2002] AUTISM AND IMMUNIZATIONS by Stephanie F. Cave, M.S., M.D., F.A.A.F.P.

[2002] Balancing Biochemistry: An Interview with Stephanie Cave

[2000] Autism and Mercury by Stephanie Cave M.D.  Testimony Presented before the Committee on Government Reform U.S. House of Representatives

Book
What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children's Vaccinations by Stephanie Cave, M.D., F.A.A.F.P.
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Hair analysis reveals high levels of aluminum, which is also found in vaccines. "I think in later years we are going to look back at aluminum the way we are looking at mercury now," said Cave. "Aluminum is neurotoxic but is found in city water, cookware, cans, and foil. All of this can accumulate, and it is a very difficult metal to pull out of their systems....It is a slow, arduous process, but if I had to name one treatment that has had astounding results, it is pulling metals [through nutritional therapies]....The age group that seems to benefit the most is between two and seven. Between seven and 12 there is speech and social recovery, and after 12 there is an ability to reduce the rage usually seen. Metal is rage. When you pull the metal, the rage goes."  [2001] Vaccine Conference Exclusive Report By Lisa Reagan

"So we are going back to look at prenatal sources, dietary sources, through fish, and amalgam fillings in the mother's mouth," said Cave. "Mercury poisoning and autism have nearly identical symptoms: self-injurious behavior, social withdrawal, lack of eye contact, lack of facial expression, hypersensitivity to noise and touch, and repetitive behaviors." Cave's treatment program for autistic children includes a rigorous history and physical evaluation of the family and the child; routine blood and thyroid work; quantitative immunoglogulin and cellular studies; hair analysis to screen for toxic metals; digestive stool analysis; food allergy studies; amino acid, vitamin, mineral, and unsaturated fatty acids assessments at the cellular level; urine morphine peptides and urine organic acids tests; and autoimmune antibody studies.[2001] Vaccine Conference Exclusive Report By Lisa Reagan

Quotes
Dr Dunbar found that the drug insert mentions that the Hepatitis B vaccine was only monitored for five days for safety. The literature shows plasma immune reactions happening weeks after the shot&endash;neurological, rheumatoid, vascular, and skin. There is a criminal investigation in France regarding the introduction of the vaccine prior to knowledge of reactions. Dr. Dunbar has discussed the fact that the clinical trail data is not available to researchers. The information of adverse reactions reported is not available and the antigens are not available to scientists for research. [2002] AUTISM AND IMMUNIZATIONS by Stephanie F. Cave, M.S., M.D., F.A.A.F.P.

Presently my colleague and I are treating over 1500 children with this problem (autism). In the past five years we have seen an incredible number of children recover from this devastating illness and take their places beside their schoolmates and siblings. .....We test all developmentally delayed children for the presence of heavy metals. Hair is screened followed by a determination in urine after a challenge of an oral chelator, DMSA (2,3 Dimercaptosuccinic). It is rare that we find any child with a developmental problem who does not have increased levels of mercury in the urine after a chelator challenge. An interesting phenomenon is that we are finding many more lead intoxicated children than blood screen would indicate. Lead amplifies the toxicity of ethyl mercury in the brain. .....The abnormal findings that we see in autism involving the immune system, GI tract, and central nervous system are also seen in mercury poisoning. These include, but are not limited to changes in T lymphocytes, low levels of glutathione, low sulfate levels, IgA deficiency, and the presence of myelin basic protein antibodies in brain. The children are responding well to the use of oral chelators and supplements, which take out heavy metals. We are measuring levels in urine as we treat. The changes in the children are remarkable with each dose of a chelator. This treatment may take months to complete, but the chance for recovery is evident on a daily basis. Because mercury has such far-reaching effects in the destruction of function in many systems of the body, our treatment also involves nutritional repletion of cellular chemistry, normalization of gastrointestinal bacterial balance, dietary programs, and restoration of liver detoxification systems.
    Our medical training did not adequately prepare us for this challenge. We learned little about testing for heavy metals and even less about treating. The word chelation is not in the vocabulary of most physicians. The few physicians who are treating these children are inundated with them in their practices. The good news is that they are responding well to the chelation treatment. The changes in neurological functioning are remarkable with each day of treatment. [2002] AUTISM AND IMMUNIZATIONS by Stephanie F. Cave, M.S., M.D., F.A.A.F.P.

DMSA binds to the mercury and removes it from the body. It is approved by the FDA for lead detoxification. As it circulates through the body, metals attach to it and are then excreted in the urine. It pulls out mercury, aluminum, antimony, and arsenic. My colleague Amy Holmes did a study that showed that autistic babies had very little mercury in their hair, ten times less than normal children. This was at a time when we knew that the exposure was very high because of the vaccines that were given.   A lot of people who were looking for high mercury in the hair of the autistic children didn't find it and thought that the theory was wrong--they assumed that mercury in the hair meant that there was mercury in the body. But in fact the mercury was being retained. We know it is there when we treat because we can measure the amounts excreted in the urine. Balancing Biochemistry: An Interview with Stephanie Cave

We give them so much metal early in life, specifically through the hepatitis B vaccine given at birth, that their bodies keep producing metallothionein, which is what helps us to remove metals from the body. After their biochemistry is depleted, they end up with an inability to handle any metal at all.  Biochemist Bill Walsh of the Pfeiffer Treatment Center made this discovery. He tested 503 autistic children and found that 91 percent had a deficiency of metallothionein, whereas normal children do not. [2002] Balancing Biochemistry: An Interview with Stephanie Cave

The epidemic with autism really started during the late 1980s and early 1990s, and it seemed to coincide with the time that the vaccines for Hib (Hemophilus influenzae type b) and hepatitis B were added to the vaccine schedule--Hib around 1988, hepatitis B in 1991. The children had already had the DTP (diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis) vaccine through the 1980s, and the MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) was subsequently added; but we did not realize much of an upswing until the hepatitis B vaccine was added at birth. Balancing Biochemistry: An Interview with Stephanie Cave

When hepatitis B began to be administered at birth during the 1990s, we started seeing ear infections beginning around two weeks of age, which was almost unheard of before that. Balancing Biochemistry: An Interview with Stephanie Cave

we found that more than 53 percent of our mothers of autistic children were Rh- negative and received an immunoglobulin preserved with thimerosal during pregnancy. In contrast, only 3 percent of our mothers with normal children were Rh- negative. This is a very significant difference, as it demonstrates an in-utero exposure to ethyl mercury; the metal from this gestational exposure can pass through the placenta to the baby. We also did a study on amalgam fillings (49.6 percent mercury) in mothers and found that the mothers of autistic children have significantly more of these fillings than the mothers of normal children. That's another intrauterine source. Yet another in-utero exposure comes from the flu vaccine, currently recommended for all pregnant women past 14 weeks gestation. Balancing Biochemistry: An Interview with Stephanie Cave

Most of the physicians on the committees that approve vaccines are infectious disease specialists not immunologists, so they're looking at eliminating disease. They have access to a child more readily at birth than any other time. They can cover more children if they give the vaccine at birth. Hepatitis B is the first genetically engineered vaccine we've ever had, and it had five days of safety study! Giving it to a newborn baby was a big, big risk, and I think it still is, even with the mercury taken out of it. We see more autoimmune processes in these ASD babies, and we're not sure where that's coming from-mercury, the hepatitis B itself, or the MMR. Balancing Biochemistry: An Interview with Stephanie Cave

these children would not have gone undiagnosed in the past. If you have a child who, within a week's time, loses speech, eye contact, and the ability to socialize with other children, and starts hurting himself, it's going to be diagnosed as something. It would be pretty hard to miss that. Balancing Biochemistry: An Interview with Stephanie Cave

And this is regressive autism; it's not from birth. It happens sometimes within two days or a week. When the parents come in, the histories are so similar. We try not to suggest anything when we're taking a history. We just say, "What happened? What did you find? Did the child develop normally?" And the mother will say, "Yes, until..." and we know what she is going to say next: "...until some vaccine was given around 15 to 18 months." Doctors used to give the MMR on the same day as the DTP and the Hib, and that was usually the time the regression started. They've now shifted the schedule--the MMR is being given at 12 months. Balancing Biochemistry: An Interview with Stephanie Cave

Now we know just what a mistake it is to give infants a live attenuated virus (MMR) at the same time you are giving them ethyl mercury, which suppresses their immune system. The big question is, is it the MMR or the thimerosal? I think both are contributing factors. Balancing Biochemistry: An Interview with Stephanie Cave

In a study last year, we found that about 40 percent of the children that we looked at (out of a total of perhaps 120) showed marked improvement, particularly in the younger age group. In most of the ones that resolve, the children go from not having any speech or eye contact to complete dialogue with good eye contact. It's the two, three, and four year olds that resolve most quickly. Within about six to eight months time, they get to a point where you can't tell that they were ever autistic. It's amazing. The parents come into our office in tears; they'll fly across the country just to show the children to us. Balancing Biochemistry: An Interview with Stephanie Cave