Are you seeing odd behavioural patterns and habits in your preschool child? Is your child having difficulty with speech such as difficulty in forming short phrases or/and with plenty of babbling? Is he having problems interacting socially with the other kids? These are possible signs that your child may just be autistic.

Autism is a neurological brain disorder. Some experts say that autism may be caused by mercury found in the body. Mercury is known to cause neurological disorders as it mainly triggers brain dysfunction. Mercury is likely to be absorbed by the body if it is presented as ethyl mercury that are usually used in thimerosal, preservatives, and additives and even in pediatric vaccines.

Hence to get rid of the mercury, it appears that it is necessary to do a mercury detox. Mercury detox is a process where chelating agents aid the body into excreting heavy metals by bonding with the toxic materials and make them less active. Mercury detox is in progress when hazardous metals are absorbed by the bloodstream and is excreted safely by the liver or kidney.

There are a lot of medications that can aid in mercury detox. DMSA is one of the most common FDA-approved drugs to treat individuals who need heavy metal detox. It contains mixed disulfide and cysteine that forms a water-soluble chelating agent that can effectively excrete lead content through urination.

DMSA may be deemed as an effective heavy metal detox agent but there are known side effects that move a lot of physicians not to recommend it to autistic children. Some of the reported side effects of DMSA are self-stimming, seizures and some dysfunction of the central nervous system.

Individuals with autism may or may not show these side effects because as mentioned earlier, it's always a case-to-case basis.

Another option for heavy metal detox is the intake of DMPS. This is the next alternative for DMSA. DMPS may be a little pricey, but it is recommended to be taken only once a month. This is generally cheaper compared to DMSA because you have to take them 28 times on a monthly basis.

There are also other options that you can consider for your child for a much gentler way of detoxification. For instance, taking certain herbal supplements known to aid in detoxification as well as homeopathy.

It is important that you first get your child tested for mercury or heavy metals. If the tests indicate the high presence of these toxic materials, consult your health care provider on what your options are.