Guest guest Posted July 22, 2002 Report Share Posted July 22, 2002 Here's the article from Florida http://www.flatoday.com/!NEWSROOM/columnstoryA24139A.htm Jul 17, 3:14 PM Institute offers hope for autism Annette Clifford Parenting I am not an expert on autism, but I have a friend who is. She acquired her expertise out of necessity -- her son received the diagnosis some 10 years ago, despite meeting all developmental benchmarks up to age 3. This condition is sometimes called acquired or regressive autism, in contrast to congenital autism. He was a smart kid, knew all his alphabet letters by 2. Then, things started changing. They changed dramatically when he was 5. A teen-ager now, he attends a special school and requires a tremendous amount of involvement on her part and on the part of her family. So, it is no wonder, then, that she has taken it upon herself to investigate autism, its history, its perceived causes, its standard treatments and potential new treatments. Or that she has joined with other parents of children with the diagnosis, doctors, and researchers, in an organization calling for a radical rethinking of autism. That organization is the Research Institute, standing for neuro-immune dysfunction syndromes. The basic premise of the institute, according to the draft proposal posted on its Web site (www.nids.net), is acquired autism and a handful of related disorders, " are not congenital, brain-damaged conditions, but instead are medical disease processes acquired early in life. " As such, the proposal continues, patients " need to be viewed as suffering from an auto-immune medical illness that is potentially treatable. " Once considered a rare disorder, autism rates are on the rise. According to the Medical Advisory Board, the condition occurred in 1 to 3 births per 10,000 a decade ago. The NIH now estimates 1 in 250 children receive the autism diagnosis. The December 2001 issue of Wired magazine featured articles on the " clusters " of autism diagnoses in high-tech areas such as Silicon Valley. Wired speculated these incidences might be related to a so-called " geek " syndrome, in which the gene pools of mathematically proficient but socially challenged techies met, married and produced a higher than usual number of offspring with autismlike symptoms. Dr. Goldberg of Tarzana, Calif., director of the Medical Advisory Board and a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, has years of experience treating children with autism, attention-deficit disorder, chronic fatigue syndrome and other disorders. In 1983, he began to investigate neuro-immune dysfunction. His wife had developed a baffling illness with recurrent flu, fatigue sore throat and a decrease in some cognitive functions. Blood work profiles for his wife resembled those of many children in his care. Goldberg eventually concluded autism was a " disease process masquerading, or being misinterpreted, as a 'developmental' disorder. " patients, according to Goldberg, are genetically predisposed to having a dysregulated immune system, and then likely encounter some form of trauma -- be it a virus, prenatal or neonatal stress, or illness -- that triggers immune system malfunction. It may be important to note makes no claim that childhood vaccines " cause " autism, but sees vaccines as another possible trigger of symptoms in a genetically predisposed individual. Diagnosis for this " disease " process involves, among other things, an immune panel of blood tests to look for abnormal levels of herpeslike viruses, low counts of natural killer cells and imbalances in some immune cell ratios. A NeuroSPECT scan, which measures blood flow to the brain, is also used, with scans of patients showing reduced blood flow to such areas as the temporal lobes. A complete listing of the proposed work-up can be found on the Web site. With the purpose of regulating the immune system of patients, Goldberg and his colleagues have proposed a new protocol for treatment, using FDA approved drugs, including antifungals, antibiotics and antivirals, and some dietary modifications if the child has food sensitivities. In addition, they are calling for trials of new " immune modulator drugs " to be undertaken quickly. Testimonials from parents of children who have improved significantly, or even " lost " the autism diagnosis as a result of these treatments are posted on the Web site. There are a lot of quacks out there, says my friend, who belongs to the Parents Coalition. She doesn't think the work of the Research Institute is a bunch of quackery. Certainly, parents of the increasing number of children involved in this " epidemic " will want to explore for themselves the possibilities for help offered through this group. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Annette Clifford is a mother of three boys from Satellite Beach. Her weekly column is distributed nationally by Gannett News Service. You can find it online at www.floridatoday.com/news/columnists/clifford/index.htm She can be reached via e-mail at acliff123@... _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 23, 2002 Report Share Posted July 23, 2002 The person who wrote the article is a friend of mine who I met in the Outer Banks after 25 years. She has an ADD kid and spouse with autoimmune disease...she is syndicated in @ 30 papers so we should see reprints of the article around the country . Florida article about > Here's the article from Florida > > > http://www.flatoday.com/!NEWSROOM/columnstoryA24139A.htm > Jul 17, 3:14 PM > > Institute offers hope for autism > > Annette Clifford > Parenting > > > > I am not an expert on autism, but I have a friend who is. She acquired her > expertise out of necessity -- her son received the diagnosis some 10 years > ago, despite meeting all developmental benchmarks up to age 3. This > condition is sometimes called acquired or regressive autism, in contrast to > congenital autism. > > He was a smart kid, knew all his alphabet letters by 2. Then, things started > changing. They changed dramatically when he was 5. A teen-ager now, he > attends a special school and requires a tremendous amount of involvement on > her part and on the part of her family. > > So, it is no wonder, then, that she has taken it upon herself to investigate > autism, its history, its perceived causes, its standard treatments and > potential new treatments. Or that she has joined with other parents of > children with the diagnosis, doctors, and researchers, in an organization > calling for a radical rethinking of autism. That organization is the > Research Institute, standing for neuro-immune dysfunction syndromes. > > The basic premise of the institute, according to the draft proposal posted > on its Web site (www.nids.net), is acquired autism and a handful of related > disorders, " are not congenital, brain-damaged conditions, but instead are > medical disease processes acquired early in life. " As such, the proposal > continues, patients " need to be viewed as suffering from an auto-immune > medical illness that is potentially treatable. " > > Once considered a rare disorder, autism rates are on the rise. According to > the Medical Advisory Board, the condition occurred in 1 to 3 births per > 10,000 a decade ago. The NIH now estimates 1 in 250 children receive the > autism diagnosis. The December 2001 issue of Wired magazine featured > articles on the " clusters " of autism diagnoses in high-tech areas such as > Silicon Valley. Wired speculated these incidences might be related to a > so-called " geek " syndrome, in which the gene pools of mathematically > proficient but socially challenged techies met, married and produced a > higher than usual number of offspring with autismlike symptoms. > > Dr. Goldberg of Tarzana, Calif., director of the Medical > Advisory Board and a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, has years > of experience treating children with autism, attention-deficit disorder, > chronic fatigue syndrome and other disorders. In 1983, he began to > investigate neuro-immune dysfunction. His wife had developed a baffling > illness with recurrent flu, fatigue sore throat and a decrease in some > cognitive functions. Blood work profiles for his wife resembled those of > many children in his care. Goldberg eventually concluded autism was a > " disease process masquerading, or being misinterpreted, as a 'developmental' > disorder. " > > patients, according to Goldberg, are genetically predisposed to having > a dysregulated immune system, and then likely encounter some form of trauma > -- be it a virus, prenatal or neonatal stress, or illness -- that triggers > immune system malfunction. It may be important to note makes no claim > that childhood vaccines " cause " autism, but sees vaccines as another > possible trigger of symptoms in a genetically predisposed individual. > > Diagnosis for this " disease " process involves, among other things, an immune > panel of blood tests to look for abnormal levels of herpeslike viruses, low > counts of natural killer cells and imbalances in some immune cell ratios. A > NeuroSPECT scan, which measures blood flow to the brain, is also used, with > scans of patients showing reduced blood flow to such areas as the > temporal lobes. A complete listing of the proposed work-up can be found > on the Web site. > > With the purpose of regulating the immune system of patients, Goldberg > and his colleagues have proposed a new protocol for treatment, using FDA > approved drugs, including antifungals, antibiotics and antivirals, and some > dietary modifications if the child has food sensitivities. In addition, they > are calling for trials of new " immune modulator drugs " to be undertaken > quickly. Testimonials from parents of children who have improved > significantly, or even " lost " the autism diagnosis as a result of these > treatments are posted on the Web site. > > There are a lot of quacks out there, says my friend, who belongs to the > Parents Coalition. She doesn't think the work of the Research Institute > is a bunch of quackery. Certainly, parents of the increasing number of > children involved in this " epidemic " will want to explore for themselves the > possibilities for help offered through this group. > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ > > Annette Clifford is a mother of three boys from Satellite Beach. Her weekly > column is distributed nationally by Gannett News Service. You can find it > online at www.floridatoday.com/news/columnists/clifford/index.htm She can be > reached via e-mail at acliff123@... > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com > > > > Responsibility for the content of this message lies strictly with > the original author, and is not necessarily endorsed by or the > opinion of the Research Institute. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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