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Children on the autism spectrum have a tendency to be much more sensitive with regard to interaction with their environment. A major part of this interaction is there diet and overall food intake. Here is a link to a blog post in which the author describes a multitude of detrimental effects to having sugar in your diet. One of the things that I like to do is take information not directly related to autism spectrum disorders and adapt them to these conditions and present them to you. At times, this may require you to take a little bit of a leap or move your thinking a step further. Usually, I try to make this a small step. Thus if sugar is detrimental to a normal and healthy body, we can expect it to be even more detrimental to a child on the autism spectrum. This of course is particularly relevant if the child has or is prone to yeast infections. Here is the link to 76 ways sugar can ruin your health
http://www.freeads13.com/blogs/index.php/20090828-793/76-ways-sugar-can-ruin-your-health/
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Mercury levels whether from vaccines or elsewhere are certainly on the list of epigenetic triggers associated with autism spectrum disorders. For children and their families who are currently on the autism spectrum looking forward is definitely something that can be both therapeutic to the family as well as others. Those who have had that epigenetic switch flipped will have to engage in therapeutics of their choice to try to remedy the situation. In my office, we obviously favor functional medicine and functional neurology to address these issues. Something that we can all do is try to help future generations that are not yet affected avoid this thing that is autism spectrum disorders. Here is an article from Age of Autism with some information for those of us that what to be pro active and help others by trying to influence the legislating process. thttp://www.ageofautism.com/2009/08/from-safeminds-how-to-help-stop-two-sources-of-mercury-poisoning-.html
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Many in the autism community, especially those interested in biomedical solutions are familiar with the concept of leaky gut or intestinal hyper permeability. Many however, are not familiar with the concept of a leaky brain. I was asked the other day by the mom of a child with ADHD if she should give her child GABA, gama amino butyric acid, to help. The thought being if we could get him to calm down then we could get more out of the hemispheric integration therapy sessions he was participating in. In order to get the most benefit from hemispheric integration therapy the patient must be able to participate in the treatment program. That is, the more he can do, the more we can do for him and the better it works. In this particular case, the child’s attention span is so short that it is difficult to get him to perform a particular therapeutic exercise long enough for it to be of benefit to him. This led me to discuss GABA, the GABA challenge and a leaky brain.
GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system. Inhibitory meaning that it encourages nerve cells not to fire, as opposed to excitatory which encourages neurons to fire. Thus, GABA supplements have the reputation of acting as a calming agent. This was the rationale behind the mom’s suggestion to give him GABA before his treatments in order to calm him down and thus we could get more work done during the time of his treatment sessions.
The problem with this theory is that our brains are considered very precious and therefore have a special barrier to protect them from substances circulating in the blood and the rest of the body. This is called the blood brain barrier. The blood brain barrier is semipermeable meaning that it allows some substances to get through while prevents other substances from crossing over to the environment of the brain. Therefore, the blood brain functions to protect the brain from foreign substances circulating in the blood that could be harmful to the brain. This semipermeable function is similar to the way the intestinal barrier that acts as a screening portal of entry from the outside world to the body. For example, the blood brain barrier is very effective in protecting the brain from bacterial agents in the blood and body. These bacterial agents are screened out by the blood brain barrier and not allowed to cross into the environment of the brain making infections of the brain very rare.There is an issue when the semi-perm permeable blood brain barrier becomes too permeable and allows substances that should not pass through to the brain, into the brain and its environment. This is obviously of significant importance when dealing with patients on the autism spectrum.
In the case of testing for a leaky gut barrier we give the patient two sugars in a solution to drink. One sugar should be absorbed and one sugar should not.We then collect the patient’s urine. If the sugar that should not have been absorbed appears in the urine then the gut barrier was not doing its job and is leaky. To test for a leaky brain or hyper permeable blood brain barrier we use a similar concept. This is called the GABA challenge. GABA taken orally should not be able to cross the blood brain barrier assuming that the barrier is intact. That is, when the doorman of the brain(the barrier) is at the door deciding who gets to go in and who should be kept out, GABA should be kept out. A healthy blood brain barrier should not allow GABA to cross into the environment of the brain. It is impractical to measure cerebral spinal fluid before and after administering GABA to see if there has been a significant change. However we do know the effects of GABA and we can observe for those. That is to say, if GABA did cross the blood brain barrier we would expect to see a calming effect on the individual who took the GABA. This is the basis for the GABA challenge. A GABA supplement is given to the patient and if within a two-hour period the patient becomes more relaxed, then we make the assumption that the GABA crossed the blood brain barrier and had its inhibitory/calming effect. This suggests a leaky blood brain barrier.
So the leaky brain may answer the question as to why some people take GABA and it has a calming effect, while the same GABA does not have any effect on others. Therefore, in this case, if mom gives her son some GABA in order to calm him down so that we may have more effective hemispheric integration therapy sessions with the child and this is effective, then we have unearthed another problem. Although this may help us have more effective sessions, we will have discovered the issue of a leaky blood brain barrier. A leaky brain is a serious problem which needs to be dealt with particularly in relation to autism spectrum disorders. We do not want a weak blood brain barrier leaving the brain susceptible potential bacteria, toxins and inflammatory reactions.
As always, these illustrations are simplified examples with many other factors that need to be taken into consideration and performing tests such as a GABA challenge should only be done with appropriate physician supervision.
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Another nice gluten free site had a list of gluten free candies. Once again, this site is not just for those on the autism spectrum http://glutenfreeislife.wordpress.com/gluten-free-candy-list-2008/
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Many times I am asked about things that one can do to help a child from a functional medicine stand point that does not involve testing. Let’s face it, if we test every thing it can start to get expensive. Some parents have a lot of money and want to know exactly what is wrong with their child in order to have the most accurate and efficient treatment possible. Others are limited in funds but not in passion or the amount of effort they are willing to put out for their child. The elimination rotation diet deals with food sensitivities and we all know that kids on the spectrum have issues with food sensitivities and allergic responses. Frankly, this diet is something that we all could do and would benefit from. Here is a nice post on a web site that gives a nice explanation regarding what this diet is all about. http://www.nourishmd.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=260:elimination-rotation-diet-plan-&catid=206:food-allergies&Itemid=557
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I just got home from our summer conference here in Tampa. Everyone I talked to said they got a lot of information. I spoke regarding Hemispheric Integration Therapy as well as Functional Medicine with regard to Biomedical Interventions for the Autism Spectrum. Dr Knaus gave us some backround on himself as well as gave us some information regarding HBOT. Nancy Bentley informed us with regards to fermented foods and a diet which promotes digestive and general health. Suzanne Azizi ( I am a mother first) provided a passionate and inspiring story about her daughter and dealing with the educational system, IEPs and the law. The faciliies at the Children’s Board were excellent. Everyone seemed to have a good time a well as came away with some good information and it was free to all. So, I am happy with our first conference. Look for our next one!!
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Last week we had our support group meeting here in Tampa. I am so amazed and impressed with the store house of knowledge that some of our parents have regarding this broad and life encompassing subject that is the autism spectrum community. This subject is immense. I spend my time where I feel it is best allocated reading diligently about neurology or functional medicine. I have a family. I have a practice. Yet I still try to read at least an hour a night and more on the weekends. Yes, some people say I am a bit nerdy or boring because of this. For this reason I am so thankful to these parents that are really expert in subjects like I.E.P.s, home schooling, the law and legislative process and advocating for their children. Just listening to them share and help other parents is like having a private tutor on this subject. Thanks to all those who help, share and educate me and others.
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We recently had a mom who took her child in for allergy testing. The child is a low functioning autistic boy. She wanted to see if there was anything relating to food etc. that she should be avoiding in order to help her child progress. The child had standard allergy testing with all the little needle sticks in his back. After the testing, this child who had been making substantial progress with his hemispheric integration treatment (H.I.T), regressed back to almost the way he was on his first visit. He had more vocalizations and just overall regressed in many ways. The testing was negative and should then theoretically have had no affect on the child. The allergist was aware of the regression as he had noticed the child’s overall improvement since beginning the hemispheric integration treatment several weeks prior to the testing. He stated that he had notced the same type of regression reaction in some other children. He was going to talk to some colleagues about doing a study regarding this reaction. Most importantly for all of you is that he said there is a way to get allergy testing through a blood draw. By using a blood draw test as opposed to a needle stick test no foreign substances would be introduced into the patient’s body and therefore this regression could be avoided. I hope that this is the type of information that will be helpful to my bloggers and I hope to share with the community in addition to my knowledge of Hemispheric Interation Therapy, functional medicine and biomedical interventions. There are hundreds of stories like this out there that we can share and possibly help someone else somwhere else in the world. Please post. Please share. Please help.
