Autism

Now that we have learned that autism creates havoc with verbal speech and the communication between the brain and how speech is produced, we now have to look at how autism affects body language. Body language is the second form of communication that humans use to express their wants and emotions. As with speech, the autistic child has difficulty or no skill at all deciphering what a person is saying with facial expressions or body language. If you want someone to come closer you wave to them. If you want somebody to know your angry, you usually have a scowl on your face. If you are sad or happy, you can see the emotion in your facial expression and how you move your body.

The autistic child does not have an understanding or either body language of facial expression. They are in a world that is centered in themselves and the nuances of a gesture or hand motion is lost to them. Most autistic children have a hard time making eye contact during conversation. If the adult speaking or working with them does have this knowledge of no eye contact, it can be very for that adult to understand what is happening. It can be frustrating for both the adult and the child when that simple knowledge can save a lot of grief. The child may be listening to you and maybe even understand what you have said, but there attention and focus looks like it is on something else.

The autistic child may not even be looking at what you are thinking they are looking at. Eye contact is a simple human reaction to communication and that reaction within them does not exist. Even the simple activity of pointing to something you want can be lost in translation to the untrained parent or teacher. If the child is pointing at a cookie, the cookie may not be the object of his or her desire. The cookie is a symbol that may represent that they are hungry or it may be so abstract that the shape of the cookie, round, is the same shape as the toilet and they need to use the restroom. Even color may be an indication of a connection between a want and an abstract idea. It takes time and observation and a lot of out of the box thinking to link the communication patterns of an autistic individual.

The autistic child will have trouble associating your voice and your words in exactly what you want from them. Even their name may not be recognizable to them in their brain and the response to your words may be slow or may not be attended to at all. For this reason some autistic children who have not been diagnosed yet will have a diagnosis of a hearing problem. This is not the case. The child just does not know to respond to your words and if they respond it may not be in the manner that the parent or other adult expects.

The use of grammar in a sentence for mild autistic child is again a problem. Personal pronouns and verb agreement sometimes do not meet what the adult wants the child to say. You may say, ‘it is your birthday today,’ and the child will repeat the entire sentence back to you without changing the your to my. First, second, and third person is not always used correctly or will not be used at all. Some autistic children will be stuck on one view of person and will use it in every context. It takes patience and time to be able to build a communication process, and even with both the autistic child may never be able to communicate their needs.

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Autism – in all its forms – is, understandably, widely accepted as being a big threat to it all. After all, autism can take a huge toll on a child’s social and communication skills, and their capability to adapt and adjust to new situations; and it does not make much imagination to understand that this can upset his or her life considerably for years or even decades to come. It is something of a double-edged sword that health professionals don’t usually diagnose the existence of autism in children until they are 2 to 4 years old even though they echo that the sooner the symptoms are recognized the better.

 

It is also true those children who have autism, to a certain extent, have a higher health risk than those who don’t. Studies point out that autistic children typically develop quite slowly than their counterparts of similar age and may also be more sensitive towards certain diseases and illnesses, including allergies, digestive disorders, and respiratory problems.

 

Autism is a mental disorder in which the victim’s senses play a key part. It affects a person’s interactions and communication with others. To discuss further, the below 4 paragraphs outline some possible symptoms of having autism in your children that you should be on the lookout for.

 

Children having autism respond in a very different manner to children without autism. They may totally ignore certain sounds – even their own name when it is called out! Those with autism may be less disposed to mimicking their parents’ gestures (facial or physical).

 

Children with autism tend to be more lacking in attention span than those without; lacking the ability to concentrate or to pay attention to objects which are presented before them. They may also not follow movement.

 

Poor social skills is listed as a common trait among children with autism, as they are seen to have difficulty understanding another person’s feelings, or to relate to their peers, or even to show compassion for another person seen to be in distress.

 

Then there is the “lack of imagination” consideration. To wit: autistic children can show signs of difficulty while playing some “pretend games” or in case of using imagination. Autistic children may only be able to link the very term “imagination” to events and ideas contained within fiction and so on. But it of course goes much further than that!

 

Establishing the autism signs in child could prove to be a challenge. But it is true that babies and toddlers are a lot more capable of communicating than most people believe. If you try to raise eyebrows at a non-autistic toddler, they will do the same. If you try to pass on smile, they will do the same. Autistic children are unable to recognize this kind of body language like non-autistic children can.

 

Repetitive behavior can be a sign of autism, be vigilant. Please visit www.getautismhelp.info

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Autism is a group of disorders related to development in person. The autistic affected person has problems related behavior, communicating with others and social movement in groups. Autism is usually diagnosed only when a child reaches three years of age and begins to show certain changes in the behavior and learning ability. Still in certain cases even when the child is in infant stage you can find the symptoms of autism such as lack of proper crying, not reacting to touches and meticulously fussy and doest have eye contact with others, etc.

Tests to be done:

Doctors do the following medical tests to find out if a child is suffering from autism:

  • Tests to find out food allergies.
  • Tests to find out the presence of heavy metals.
  • Vitamin analysis to find out any lack of any particular vitamins in the body.
  • Neurotransmitter test.
  • Level of Histamine, Candida, fatty acids and amino acids in the blood.
  • Test to evaluate immunity function and any imbalances in chemicals called T-helper-1/T-helper-2 cytokines.
  • Test to find the proper function of Intestinal obstruction.
  • Test to find any viral or fungal infection in the body.
  • Test to find the antibodies in the immune system.

The food allergy test that is taken will help both the parents and the doctor to sort out the allergic foods so that it can be avoided on the child as it may cause some digestive troubles.

Amino Acid tests are done to test for any deficiency in neurotransmitters which are helpful in co-ordination of hand and brain like block building, sensitivity towards chemicals, etc. These tests also show nutritional imbalances.

Tests for heavy metals will be very helpful to find out if there are any toxins like arsenic, mercury, lead, etc. So that, that particular element can be avoided through food or water.

Vitamin analysis test will also be helpful in including or avoiding any particular vitamin that are lacking or is more.

Neurotransmitter test is helpful in showing any particular imbalance in the brain’s chemistry which is the major impact on the behavior of the brain. Autistic Children usually have a chemical called Candida more in the intestine and very low level of essential fatty acids in their body.

Treatment methods to be opted:

The parents and doctor of each autism affected child should discuss and decide upon what type of Curative treatment should be followed for that particular child. Because each autistic child is different from the other like how normal child is different from the other. After proper analysis for any nervous imbalances and immune imbalances and proper method of treatment is sort out.

These tests are done and proper treatments are recommended by doctors and now-a-days even pediatricians specialize in this particular field of autism and they can recommend best treatment for your child who has the particular symptom of autism so that they can lead a normal life. 

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Alternate Therapies for Autism
This page is designed to help you do research finding help and solutions that improve the autism symptoms. You can use this reference page to search further on many and various therapies that have helped others.  New products and theories are showing up all the time.
There are many different therapies that have helped many people with “mental problems”, ranging from ADD/ADHD/Autism to depression, and even schizophrenia.  Some (such as EEG Biofeedback  (aka Neurofeedback  (NFB)) or End Point Titration (EPT) or Hyperbaric (oxygen tanks), etc, that now have inexpensive alternates are not included.  Google these “names” if info is desired on them.
   1.  The newest and certainly the least expensive “brain training” method is the Neuroliminal Training (NT) system.  This has now been shown to be an excellent and inexpensive alternate to both the very expensive Neurofeedback (NFB) training, and Hyperbaric Oxygen.  Results are very similar to Neurofeedback  (both EEG and HEG BF).  For a fraction of the cost of those, it offers an affordable and much better alternative to Ritalin and other dangerous drugs for mid and low income families who simply cannot afford Neurofeedback or Hyperbaric.  Both NFB  and NT work to eliminate allergen affects causing mental problems of all types.  http://ADHD-Autism.com for more info.
   2.  Allergens are almost always part of all “brain problems”, There’s a simple and free (except for some detective work) way to detect them.  Even if you use the NT or NFB Training, this is a good idea!  Check out Dr Bate’s FREE Caveman Diet and pulse test at:  http://drbate.com/Ref/pulse.html
   3.  For the ADD to Autism continuum (as well as depression and schizophrenia), there is a good possibility that mercury used in infant or childhood vaccines (or other toxic minerals) may be the real underlying problem.  These mineral toxins MUST be chelated out of the body.  There are various old and new methods of doing this:
       a.  Vitamin C in large doses:  This has two advantages;  it’s relatively cheap, and it’s good for overall health.  In my former practice, I used it with excellent success in many schizophrenia cases.  In general, it is very safe, unless the patient has an allergy to corn (not that unusual).  For smaller children, I would recommend 1 gram (1000 mg) at each meal per 40 pounds per child.  Overdosing only causes diarrhea, and it might be necessary to work up to this amount if such occurs.  If a corn allergy is suspected, then use Calcium Ascorbate, either in powder or pill form.  I buy the cheapest form of Ascorbic acid from Cosco, but my wife (with corn allergy) has to use the Calcium Ascorbate.
       b.  Injecting chelating chemical:  A therapy where a chelating drug (EDTA) is injected into a vein for an hour or so in a clinic office.  This is also quite expensive.  Not recommended.
       c.  Zeolite in liquid form: A newer method taken by mouth (and relatively expensive).  This is actually a form of lava rock that is very porous, and this porosity attracts heavy metals (mercury, lead, copper, etc) binds to it, and carries it out via the urine/kidney pathway. The reports are excellent, but it’s marketed by a sort of MultiLevelMarketing (MLM) scheme that makes it more expensive. Base retail price is about $50, but if you become a distributor, it drops to $33 or so. You can get more details by Googling “zeolite”.
       d.  Glutathione Supplements:  There’s a (new to me) supplement specifically designed to raise Glutathione levels in the body.  Glutathione is a natural combination of amino acids that is a powerful anti-oxident with several other interesting features:
It’s a major part of the immune system often overlooked by scientists.          
Glutathione detoxifies the body by taking poisons, including mercury and other toxic minerals out.  (Similar to chelation, but most other toxins as well as minerals.)
It’s not absorbed well when taken as a direct supplement.  This is important as there are many supplements that contain glutathione that are not generally effective.
Low levels of glutathione are found in all autistic children, as well as many other sick or toxic persons.  These low levels do not allow excretion well.  This explains why hair, blood, and urine tests of mercury (and other minerals) do not show accurately what is stored in the body.
Price of supplement program – $85 for a 28 day supply.  Again not cheap, but this seems to be worth the price if you can afford it.  For more details go to: http://maxgxl.com/brainadvance
    4.  There’s a company that advocates a special “Body Ecology Diet”,  This has had good success with autism and virtually all other health issues.  It includes many products designed to effectively make the human body work better and more efficiently.  It includes some very good probiotics as well as others that help get rid of yeast overgrowth & the “Leaky Gut Syndrome”.  Again, not cheap, but worth it, if it is affordable for your family.  For more information:  http://www.bodyecology.com
   5.  What do digestive enzymes have to do with ADD/ADHD and autism?   A “leaky” gut syndrome” produces more allergy/sensitivity, and enzymes with meals break down the food better lessening the need for the “leaky gut”.  This has helped many ADD/ADHD as well as autistic persons.
          a. There is a bulletin board sponsored by Kirkman Labs that has a forum on special digestive enzymes.  Join at: enzymesandautism-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
          b. Another company that has an excellent line of enzymes is New Beginnings.  In addition to the enzymes, they have a lot of Gluten/Casein Free Nutritional Supplements, and a “purified source” of cholesterol (see below). Info and catalogs at http://nbnus.com
   6.  At the recent Orlando conference, I also learned that many autistics have low cholesterol, and supplementing with two egg yolks a day may improve many symptoms.  This is certainly easy and cheap to try.  If the person has an allergy to eggs (not uncommon) then a “purified” cholesterol may be obtained from the New Beginnings supplier above that is non allergenic.
   7.  For autistic (and ADD/ADHD) children, there’s a lot of evidence that a gluten free and dairy free diet can help considerably.   Google gfcf for more info.  (The Caveman Diet above includes this and many more of the commonly allergenic foods.  Try it for a week or so, then switch to gfcf.)
   8.  The latest research also shows that supplementing with fish oil can dramatically improve the ADD-Autism set of problems.  I use the salmon fish oil from Our Health Co-op  (http://www.ourhealthcoop.com)  This web based health food store is one of the best for both quality and pricing.  (I have no financial interest in this company or Solgar, but I do buy several supplements from them.)
   9.  There’s a drug therapy called LDN (Low Dose Naltrexone).  While it is a drug, it seems that in low doses, it can significantly decrease many disease problems (symptoms) in autism, HIV/Aids, cancers, etc.  For more i
nformation  http://www.lowdosenaltrexone.org   Some good results for autistics have been reported.
  10.  Another new nutritional “therapy” consists of supplemental glyconutrients.  A company called Mannotech is marketing these by an MLM (which I hate), and they apparently are helping with some ADD-Autism symptoms.  For more details on glyconutrients – a new found essential nutrient – check out both Mannotech and glyconutrients by googling them.
  11.  There’s also a therapy technique called EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) that has also shown some good results with ADD/ADHD, depression, etc.  This was put together by Gary Craig, and his website containing lots of free and almost free information may be found at http://www.emofree.com
  12.  Some have had good results with NAET (Nambudripad Allergy Elimination Technique). However, results are mixed, and Dr Nambudripad has been unhappy with many practitioners who do not follow her technique carefully.  There is further information at  http://www.naet.com/subscribers/index_ns.html
  13.  There’s a system similar to NAET called Bioset.  There’s a book “Food Allergy Cure” by Dr. Ellen Cutler, which explains using Bioset to remove allergies.  This can also be done at home as the book explains “How To”.  Check your local library and see if they can order it for you, or you can probably get it from Amazon.com.  Google Bioset.
  14.  Don’t forget a very important way to improve all mental “diseases”.  Help to solve the “leaky  gut syndrome” by cleaning out the gut (http://drbate.com/Ref/gut.html), and by supplementing with a good vitamin/mineral regimen (http://drbate.com/vitmin.html.  This should be a first step.
  15. Finally, one of the oldest, cheapest & effective “remedies” of all – magnesium!  It’s been known for years as the “calming chemical”.  In our culture we seldom get enough and this deficiency may worsen many mental problems.  It’s safe as if you overdose, like vitamin C, you only get diarrhea!.  Milk of Magnesia and Epsom Salts (Magnesium Sulphate) are two very old good products that are often overlooked today . For autistic and ADHD children in particular, try baths using Epsom Salts.  It’s helped a lot of kids and adults.  I prefer Magnesium Citrate daily for supplemental use.  I get this from the Health Co-op mentioned above.
There is also a lot of free information on my “drbate.com” website, and you can get a free copy of the full book “The Health Revolution” by signing up for my free newsletter on that home page.     
Also consider joining the Discussion Group/newsletters/bulletin board moderated by Dr Bate.  This very active group is devoted to Orthomolecular, Holistic & drugfree Therapies.  Subscribe by sending an email to:  Orthomolecular-subscribe@yahoogroups.  There are many “experts” in all aspects of holistic and orthomolecular therapies who will happily answer your questions free.  While a minority, there are still many people that are devoted to helping others.

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Integrated 4 Part Therapy for Autism

There seem to be hundreds of therapies for autism on the market today and “on the market” seems to be the reason – money.

However, there is no real integration of any of these therapies and little information for the “poor” parents with an autistic child (and “poor” is often correct as autism is a “bankrupting disease”).

There are four different basic problems with four different therapies needed to solve them and work towards any cure or improvements.  These are:

Mercury and other heavy metal toxins

Allergies and food sensitivities

Digestive (gut) problems

Inadequate nutrition

Dealing with Heavy Metal toxicity.

This is the major problem and few doctors really understand it.   Measuring heavy metal, particularly in an autistic infant or child is no simple matter.  Few MDs are aware that the autistic patients are ALWAYS short in any chelating material in the blood, such as Vitamin C, or glutathione.  (At every autism conference, there are several booths, each extolling a different way to get expensive glutathione into an autistic child.  Vitamin C is cheaper and better.)  

The doctor takes blood or urine sample, and runs a mineral assay, comparing the heavy metals to the nutritional minerals in the blood stream.  They believe that this is somewhat accurate, BUT IT’S NOT!

Understand that the function of the liver is to filter these toxic minerals out of the blood so that they cannot get to the brain where they can actually kill brain cells.  Once the toxins are filtered into the liver, some are gradually shifted to other safe storage areas of the body.  However, with a large load of mercury, such as multiple vaccines, added to what’s already in the liver, the liver may not be able to handle it all and brain cells are damaged or killed.  (Check the mother’s mercury level as well.)

The liver is under strict instructions NEVER to release these toxins until and unless some chelation material is present in the bloodstream.  A chelating material combines with the heavy metal, and converts it to a harmless chemical that is water soluble, and it can be filtered out via the kidneys and urine pathway. 

So, if blood is measured, what is actually measured is only what the liver can release (if a chelate is present, a short time after the chelate is sensed).  Blood then may contain at that time and for some time after, a reasonable amount of the toxin.  Urine takes this similar amount out of the body after it has been filtered out by the kidneys.  (Adults may be measured more accurately by hair analysis.)
So, if you followed the above, you can see that with an autistic child it is more than likely any measurement of mercury or lead will show a false negative – that is actually below toxicity.

How can you get a more accurate or at least NOT a false negative reading?  Pre-load your child with Vitamin C.  I recommend vitamin C for several reasons:  It’s cheap; it’s antiviral and antibacterial; and the only bad side effect is diarrhea, even for infants.

Since vitamin C only lasts four hours, I would load up to 1 gram (1000mg) every four hours for every 50 pounds of child.  If, or when, the child gets diarrhea, lower that amount until just below the point where diarrhea starts.  (That’s called “bowel tolerance”). 
  
If the patient shows toxic for heavy metal, start chelating and continue until tests show a level way below toxic.  This may take up to a year or more.  Remember that this is very slow and safe, and it takes a long time to get all of it out of storage and released into the blood.  I’ve seen continued high heavy metal toxicity 6 months or a year after starting this chelation.

 There are many different chelators on the market and some of them are advertised as fast.  I’m not convinced that these really are that fast, or they just get the toxin out of the liver, and leave it in the stored fatty areas.   I still recommend vitamin C as the cheapest and best chelator for the reasons above.  For chelation purposes, I used 10 grams per day in split doses for adults, and modified that for children, often using bowel tolerance as a measure. 

If every pregnant mother were tested for toxic minerals at start of pregnancy and started chelation if toxic, it could easily end this autism “epidemic”.    I believe that if pregnant women took 4 grams of vitamin C and a good multi vitamin all thru pregnancy, they would have healthy babies!

Here’s some good news – using vitamin C this way, your child or even infant will NOT get colds or flu while on these amounts of vitamin C.  Nor would pregnant women.

 
Allergies & Sensitivities

Every child with ADD to Autism has more allergies than the average kids, and they develop more than the average amount of food and chemical sensitivities due to “Leaky Gut Syndrome”.

Here’s the downward spiral progression.  It starts with huge stress.  Stress is additive, so start with mercury (leading cause of autism today), add in a genetic tendency towards allergies, and “normal” living stress.  This additive amount requires extra vitamins and amino acids just to handle the effects.

However, the autistic infant or child is a very picky and difficult eater and in our culture today, malnutrition is a given for most children.   Too often, the only food wanted by an autistic child is not what they need for.  Fast food is not good nutrition!

In order to get more needed nutrition, the brain tells the gut to open up a bit and let more amino acids thru to the bloodstream.  This allows longer strings of amino acids (peptides) to enter the blood.
Some of these peptide strings are so long that the brain thinks that they might be dangerous bacteria, so it develops “sensitivity” to whatever caused that long string to get in.  This is called “Leaky Gut Syndrome”.   Since some of the first foods fed to infants are milk and bread, it’s easy to see why the GFCF (Gluten Free Casein Free) diet helps so many.  The Leaky Gut Syndrome was responsible!

Also see that these new allergies add more stress to the mix, and the spiral continues downward?
 
Allergy testing and cure is very expensive and difficult to get correct at best.  In 2000, I first proposed the theory “Raising the SMR brainwave somehow changes the brain affect from allergens”.  This theory is the only viable theory today as to how EEG Biofeedback  (NFB) and Neuroliminal Training (NT) work, and there are many stories that confirm this theory

My favorite story concerns twin boys about 9 yrs old.  The mother was concerned about using NT as the boys slept in the same room.  I assured her that only good was possible, and about 2 months later she reported that the one was cured of ADHD and the other no longer had ragweed hay fever!

Personally, my wife and I have been using one or another NT CD. as I have developed and improved them, for 5 years.  I no longer suffer from Rheumatoid Arthritis (Peanuts), nor neuralgia (Soy), nor Hay Fever (Ragweed) and overweight (wheat).  My wife had a headache within a minute or less of eating any form of corn.  She now eats corn on the cob and popcorn without a problem.  At 64, she lost enough weight to again wear bikinis, (and she can and does). 

Most people continue to use the NT CD’s long after the particular problem has been solved, and I have to believe that the longer it’s used, the more allergies are solved.  That’s certainly been the case for us.

For this part of the therapy, of course I recommend the Autism CD package.  EEG biofeedback, or Neurofeedback (as it’s often called now) will also work, but it’s so expensive as to be prohibit
ive for autism with over 200 visits to a clinic required.  Compare that to $147 total cost for NT.

 
Digestive (gut) problems

First realize that your internal body and your digestive system (gut) are completely separate, and must be so to work as designed.  The gut has bacteria and toxins that are poisonous to the internal body.  Compare the two systems to a doughnut.  The gut is the hole, and not really a part of the body, but a doughnut isn’t really a doughnut without a hole. 

The correct gut bacteria are absolutely essential to good digestion.  If you take an antibiotic, some of it goes into the gut, and kills some essential bacteria, while not affecting fungus or yeast.  In a really healthy person, maybe you can re-grow that necessary bacteria colony, but probably not.  Maybe, that particular area is taken over by fungus or yeast cells.  The gut can’t work at normal efficiency, and not enough necessary nutrition is getting thru.  Does the term “Leaky Gut Syndrome” sound familiar? 

Antibiotics can be good things, but they are not all good.  Every time anyone takes any internal antibacterial pill or capsule, they should start an Acidophilous regime after they stop the antibiotic.

Here’s what I recommend:  Start with 5 capsules of Acidophilous (found in your health food store in the refrigerator).  Wait for two days, and if gas and cramps are not too bad or gone, go up to 10 capsules.  Try to take with some milk product (got to feed the troops going to war).  If no serious gas or cramping occurs, go up to 20 capsules every other day for 2- 3 times, depending on the color and smell as described below.  This is what I recommend for an adult, modify for a child.

Here’s the fun part.  You have to monitor the color of the stool.  It’ll start out pretty dark and smelly.  As you progress, it will get lighter and less smelly (less yeast and more good bacteria).  By the 5th or 6th dose, it should be yellowish brown, or orange brown, and be much less smelly. 

Repeat whenever any antibiotic is taken that can get into the gut.  (Shots and external don’t count.)

Inadequate Nutrition

This along with the mercury problem is the hardest to do correctly.  There are many opinions on this, and there are beginning to be some solutions.  We know that the B and C vitamins and some amino acids are needed most.

I have a chemist friend who has concocted a “rub-on” sort of lotion that can provide various vitamins and amino acids, but it’s not cheap, and is still out of the reach of most autistic budgets.  He has developed such a regimen for getting necessary nutrition into gastric bypass patients, and many such surgeons use his suppositories and lotions.  I’ll have more information on my website if I can get him to sit down and start some web pages of his own.

If you can get pills into an autistic child, go with at least a 50 mg B complex daily.  If not, get capsules, open them up, and mix the powder into juice.  You can do the same with vitamin C, and even dissolve Acidophilous into yoghurt or bottled milk. 

Do not use the cheap “protein” food.  That’s just powdered milk and egg.  Get the real mix of amino acids that has the “predigested” form.  It’s more expensive, but it provides real nutrition, no matter what the condition of the gut.  In my former practice, I delighted in reversing senility (a few of which had been diagnosed as Alzheimer’s) with such a diet. 

The above is the first step toward sufficient nutrition to stop “Leaky Gut Syndrome”, which results in even more allergy stress, requiring even more good nutrition. 

If you do all the above steps together, I guarantee that you will see amazing progress.  I guarantee “noticeable improvement” just from my NT Autism CD package within 8 weeks, or your money back.  This integrated therapy will make for even more progress, and make it possible for some behavior therapy towards normalcy to really work.

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