Lee-Silsby, Part 2

I called Lee Silsby pharmacy this morning to get the scoop. I wanted to hear what the guy had to say. Here is the conversation. I used my cell to record my responses. His are to the best of my recollection:

[pharmacist gets on the phone]This is the pharmacist.
[ME] Hi, I came across your info online and I was calling to find out about your autism treatments.
[P] Do you have a child with autism?
[ME] I have a child with PDD.
[P] well, we have many options for you. I would suggest you start at the website www.autism.com for more information about biomedical autism treatments.
[ME] sure. well, I just want to know what you offer.
[P] well, kids with ASDs have mineral and vitamin deficiencies.
[ME] do they?
[P] yes.
[ME] how do you know?
[P] what?
[ME] how do you know that every child on the spectrum has this?
[P] well, the biomedical research shows it. it comes from their blood draws.
[ME] I guess I don't understand, if autism is neurological, what a blood draw is doing in the mix.[P] well, are you seeing a pediatrician?
[ME] of course.
[P] most pediatricians are not going to go the biomedical route. they won't offer you the type of testing biomedical physicans offer. they tell you it's neurological because that's what the AAP tells them. we work with several biomed doctors who have had amazing results using both our treatments and then other treatments they have designed.
[ME] but these guys, they aren't at UH.
[P] no.
[ME] they don't practice in a hospital.
[P] biomedical isn't part of the mainstream medical community. did you see Larry King the other night? there was a doctor from UH on with Jenny McCarthy, I've met with him at conferences and he is interested in what we're doing but won't commit to research on it.
[ME] Max Wiznitzer, yeah. I know him.
[P] you do?
[ME] he's my daughter's neurologist. and I have to say, I don't think Max is all that interested in what you're doing. maybe he was just being polite.

[silence here]

[ME] so you offer vitamin supplements, it looks like, and topical treatments.
[P] yes, the vitamin supplements help kid with ASD replenish what they are missing, and the topical treatments help detoxify their systems.
[ME] and this detoxifying, this will help with the flapping?
[P] I'm sorry?
[ME] welll, a lot of kids flap, you know....they have a lot of gross motor things going on...and usually it's some kind of behavioral modification that teaches them to self-monitor their bodies...I am wondering what this detoxification does for the flapping.
[P] look, if you just go to the website I mentioned, you'll get all the info you need about how our supplements cure some of these symptoms.
[ME] cure them?
[P] I have had patients all over the world be cured of many of their symptoms through our products. We also offer vitamin B12 shots, dietary programs...
[ME] people are just giving their kids shots?
[P] oh yes.
[ME] do their tell their doctors they are doing this?
[P] sometimes not, no.
[ME] and you're ok with that?

[silence here]

[ME] I am just still not getting how your stuff works and how you are getting reimbursed by insurance companies for it, when I can't get mine to pay for $3000 in outstanding OT bills we have from the Cleveland Clinic, which was prescribed by a doctor. How is your stuff getting covered and it just seems like kitchen brew?
[P] I don't have half an hour to explain this all to you.
[ME] but you are willing to sell me god knows what to rub on my kid and leech stuff out of her body?
[P] I am not sure what you want me to tell you.
[ME] well, here's what I'm going to tell you. I am boycotting your pharmacy because I think what you are doing is ethically wrong. You are selling stuff to desperate parents because they think their kid is broke and you can fix them.
[P] We have research from thousands of parents...
[ME] the plural of anecdote is not data.

[here's where I hung up.]