Autism / Autism Spectrum Support Group
Autism is classified as a neurodevelopmental disorder which manifests itself in markedly abnormal social interaction, communication ability, patterns of interests, and patterns of behavior. Although the specific etiology of autism is unknown, many researchers suspect that autism results from genetically mediated vulnerabilities to environmental triggers.
This may be a little lengthy, but it's something I'm passionate about. I know not much is said about biomedical treatments for autism here, but if I could be an advocate, I would. And these are the therapies that have worked for me.
GFCF Diet- This really isn't a biomedical treatment, but it was the first thing I tried. I took my son off dairy first (on a Friday), and when he went back to daycare the following Monday, his provider asked what we ad done with him. His situational awareness and aggressiveness had an almost immediate improvement. I always thought he had rosy cheeks when he was much younger, but less than a day after taking him off dairy, the rosty cheeks disappeared. Now, if he touches anything with dairy, his cheeks will get flushed within an hour; it was his way of reacting.
Digestive enzymes and probiotics- We did this next and saw a very quick improvement in energy and focus. His body wasn't breaking down food enough to get the proper energy from it. The probiotics kept his yeast overgrowth in check, and his chronic diarrhea became less frequent.
We also had him on a variety of homeopathics (about 14 for neurotransmitter function, yeast eliminator, toxin flow, immune system support, etc.), and within a week, many people commented on how improved his eye contact was. He wasn't getting sick as often (only one doctor visit for strep in six months).
Recently, we've taken on a truer form of biomedical treatment. We're giving him b12 injections instead of orally. It wasn't long after that before he started picking up words more quickly, and his articulation has made vast improvements. We put him on Nystatin (for a yeast overgrowth), and he started dumping yeast through his urine (which smells bad when doing this and he can fill a diaper in less than 20 minutes) and through little rashes that spring up here and there. I've noticed that the more yeast he dumps, the more solid his BMs have become. His chronic diarrhea is virtually gone. We're giving him transdermal glutathione for detox, and I'm waiting for his latest urine test to come back to show his toxin burden. This will determine how aggressively we will detox (through chelation).
What has all this done? It's taken a child who only spoke a handful of words, didn't socialize, had chronic diarrhea (for two years), didn't make eye contact, was sick and aggressive all the time, and it turned him into a nice, calm child who sometimes speaks in complete sentences, will look you in the eyes, has normal BMs (we're still working on potty training), doesn't hardly get sick, and has gone up to other children, looked them in the eyes, and said, "Hi." He will tell mommy and daddy that he loves them, and that still brings tears to my eyes.
We had him evaluated for speech therapy before we started his biomedical treatment but didn't take him back for financial reasons. I've gottne that cleared up and finally took him in for his 1st session (after about 6 months of biomed.). The ST was scrambling the entire time to figure out what to do because my son was breezing through everything she had. She had a smile on her face the entire time and kept saying how astonished she was at his improvements and development, especially since he had no real formal speech therapy. Everybody who knows him has said that his improvements and development are nothing short of amazing. To me, this is validation enough for the effectiveness of his biomedical treatments.
Is it expensive? Yes. Is it difficult? A very profound yes. Is it difficult coming up with the resources an implementing the treatments? It almost seems like a constant train of supplements, meds, taking him to therapy, etc. All of it is very difficult, but I have to do something. Whenever I think any of it is getting to be too hard, I think of how hard it's going to be to change his diapers when he's 20. I think of my little boy, who was doing fine until all the "environmental toxins" (and I think we all know what I'm talking about), overloaded his system and sent it out of whack. In a picture of him when he was 4 months, he had this look in his eyes, a sparkle that all parents want to see. That look was gone, but we're now, slowly but surely, getting it back. I'm starting to get my little boy back.
GFCF Diet- This really isn't a biomedical treatment, but it was the first thing I tried. I took my son off dairy first (on a Friday), and when he went back to daycare the following Monday, his provider asked what we ad done with him. His situational awareness and aggressiveness had an almost immediate improvement. I always thought he had rosy cheeks when he was much younger, but less than a day after taking him off dairy, the rosty cheeks disappeared. Now, if he touches anything with dairy, his cheeks will get flushed within an hour; it was his way of reacting.
Digestive enzymes and probiotics- We did this next and saw a very quick improvement in energy and focus. His body wasn't breaking down food enough to get the proper energy from it. The probiotics kept his yeast overgrowth in check, and his chronic diarrhea became less frequent.
We also had him on a variety of homeopathics (about 14 for neurotransmitter function, yeast eliminator, toxin flow, immune system support, etc.), and within a week, many people commented on how improved his eye contact was. He wasn't getting sick as often (only one doctor visit for strep in six months).
Recently, we've taken on a truer form of biomedical treatment. We're giving him b12 injections instead of orally. It wasn't long after that before he started picking up words more quickly, and his articulation has made vast improvements. We put him on Nystatin (for a yeast overgrowth), and he started dumping yeast through his urine (which smells bad when doing this and he can fill a diaper in less than 20 minutes) and through little rashes that spring up here and there. I've noticed that the more yeast he dumps, the more solid his BMs have become. His chronic diarrhea is virtually gone. We're giving him transdermal glutathione for detox, and I'm waiting for his latest urine test to come back to show his toxin burden. This will determine how aggressively we will detox (through chelation).
What has all this done? It's taken a child who only spoke a handful of words, didn't socialize, had chronic diarrhea (for two years), didn't make eye contact, was sick and aggressive all the time, and it turned him into a nice, calm child who sometimes speaks in complete sentences, will look you in the eyes, has normal BMs (we're still working on potty training), doesn't hardly get sick, and has gone up to other children, looked them in the eyes, and said, "Hi." He will tell mommy and daddy that he loves them, and that still brings tears to my eyes.
We had him evaluated for speech therapy before we started his biomedical treatment but didn't take him back for financial reasons. I've gottne that cleared up and finally took him in for his 1st session (after about 6 months of biomed.). The ST was scrambling the entire time to figure out what to do because my son was breezing through everything she had. She had a smile on her face the entire time and kept saying how astonished she was at his improvements and development, especially since he had no real formal speech therapy. Everybody who knows him has said that his improvements and development are nothing short of amazing. To me, this is validation enough for the effectiveness of his biomedical treatments.
Is it expensive? Yes. Is it difficult? A very profound yes. Is it difficult coming up with the resources an implementing the treatments? It almost seems like a constant train of supplements, meds, taking him to therapy, etc. All of it is very difficult, but I have to do something. Whenever I think any of it is getting to be too hard, I think of how hard it's going to be to change his diapers when he's 20. I think of my little boy, who was doing fine until all the "environmental toxins" (and I think we all know what I'm talking about), overloaded his system and sent it out of whack. In a picture of him when he was 4 months, he had this look in his eyes, a sparkle that all parents want to see. That look was gone, but we're now, slowly but surely, getting it back. I'm starting to get my little boy back.
It seems that we are doing a lot of the same therapies. I'm glad to hear you are also having success.
Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I hope you continue to have wonderful things happen.
Within 24 hours of beginning the Bs, we had a big jump in word frequency. He had 14 words, but would go a day or more without using any & would drop a word when he picked up a new one. He stopped dropping words & would use several each day. Everyone noticed. We eventually cut back on the morning B6 because it made him hyper at school.
The Omegas made him more aware of, for lack of better word, me. He started to cry when I left him at school. Heart wrenching, but he Noticed.
We also do probiotics, that gave just enough of a bowel reaction to let me know he had had a small problem.
I strongly recommend trying biomedical, the results are obvious when it works. And equally obvious when it doesnt. (Enzymes, Cod Liver Oil & magnesium were no-gos for us) Infraction are also obvious. Like your sons red cheeks with dairy or mines loss of language use when he skips his vitamins for 3 days.
Starting small isn't too costly & well worth the effort.