|
|
|
|
Events Review of Autism, PDD, AD(H)D and Behaviour Disorders: Conference presented by The Great Plains
Laboratory, Inc. By Dr. Caroline Harvey-Smith PhD., N.D. Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine. This was a highly informative and practical conference, consisting of general sessions aimed at care givers, educators and practitioners on days one and two, and an in depth investigation of biomedical tests and treatment options specifically for licensed practitioners on day three. I have presented the schedule to indicate the breadth of areas discussed. Clearly it will not be possible to review the entire conference here, however, if anyone reading this article would like more information about any of the topics that I do not cover, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Dr. William Shaw of Great Plains Laboratory described the autistic spectrum in this way: normal--- AD(H)D---- PDD----mild autism, Asperger’s---- Severe autism The holistic model for treating patients with any of autistic spectrum disorders involves taking as much time as needed to look for a cause or causes of the disorder. They can include any combination of the following, each of which may be more or less important:
Diet and supplementation, as well as lifestyle changes are all recommended when starting to help families with children with autistic spectrum disorders. Sometimes these treatments alone produce very real and positive changes in the child, especially if they are implemented when the patient is less than 4 years old. The Feingold diet is one of the most well known diets utilised in the treatment of autistic spectrum disorders. It is a very sensible diet that removes all processed food. These foods contain too much sugar, Aspartame®, common salt, MSG, artificial preservatives, colouring and flavouring. It is a well researched diet with a very active group, the Feingold Association, promoting its benefits. This diet does not include the removal of other potentially problematic foods such as gluten, dairy and soy, all of which have been shown to have an affect on some of the patients. Candida overgrowth is considered to be one of the more significant infections associated with the autistic spectrum. Research studies have shown that 42% of children with autism spectrum diseases have at least one gene (C4BQ null) that prevents them from effectively destroying invasive micro-organisms, including bacteria and Candida (Odell et al. 2005). Other research found that there was a suppression of Candida immunity after measles vaccination. This is especially relevant in light of the fact that an unusual MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) antibody was found in 60% of autistic children, but none of the 92 normal children investigated. Significant differences have been observed in the behaviour of autistic children with and without intestinal yeast overgrowth, and it appears clear that the addition of sugar to the diet of a person suffering from an intestinal yeast overgrowth increases the number of yeast organisms. Simply removing sugar from the diet has a profound effect on many children, but does not appear to be sufficient to reduce yeast in heavily infected children, especially those with IgA deficiency. Dr. William Shaw and colleagues recommend using a variety of prescription and over-the-counter antifungals to improve cognitive function in these children. There are other instances where the use of an anti-bacterial and the utilization of beneficial bacteria have resulted in significant improvement in function, pointing to the importance of the gut-flora brain connection. It has been observed that 36% of children on the autistic spectrum had values of black oxalate crystals in the urine higher than 90 mmol/mol creatinine, the value consistent with a diagnosis of a genetic hyperoxaluria compared to none of the controls. There are three sources of oxalates: the diet, from various fungi and from human metabolism and it has been shown that the use of a diet low in oxalates markedly reduces the symptoms in autism-spectrum children. Another important dietary component that has been shown to have an association with both autism and schizophrenia are the opiate peptides, gliadorphin (from gliadin component of the gluten molecule) and casomorphin (from dairy proteins and especially from bovine beta-casein). Dr. Shaw reports that as many as 90% of children with autistic-spectrum disorders have high IgG antibody titres to bovine casein, and that gluten and casein-free diets caused significant improvement in 81% of patients with autism within 3 months. Reduced digestive enzymes and leaky gut syndrome may have a part to play in situations where allergies or sensitivities to foods are important. Malabsorption of nutrients and consequent low levels in the blood can significantly affect growth and development, as well as cognitive function. Any of these problems may have an underlying genetic component. If, after careful investigation and changing components that may have an affect on the patient, there is still little or no improvement it is prudent to take a more methodical biomedical approach. The premise of the biomedical approach is that the majority of autistic spectrum patients suffer from the effects of biological problems (e.g. deficiencies,) or toxicity (e.g. environmental or internally created) or both and that many of these can be investigated easily using different quantitative tests. Biomedical testing with concurrent treatment to ascertain which of the many root causes may be involved in a particular case is of great interest to me in my practice, and this conference presented many exciting options for testing that are available to naturopaths and their patients. This approach leads to the development of specific individual treatment plans for children with autism spectrum disorders. Testing using the biomedical approach consists of:
It was clear from the conference that the opportunity for investigating the causes of autistic spectrum disorders using biomedical testing is huge. Knowledge acquired using these tests can play an extremely important role in treating children who do not appear to be responding to any of the most commonly recommended treatment options. Ultimately a child’s treatment will involve many aspects including diagnostic testing, dietary and lifestyle modifications, nutritional supplements, medications were necessary, combined with speech, behavioural, auditory and other therapies such as, counselling, energy work, massage etc. |
site design by sandy @ vinyltangerine.com |
