Mood Swings on LDN

[Guest guest]

Hi, I'm owner of the autism children's LDN group, and wanted to mention my ideas and experiences with mood swings in some of the autistic kids with whom I am working. As you all know, naltrexone is an opioid antagonist. In the early years of treating autism, many of us tried naltrexone in the regular doses (we didn't yet know about LDN) to try to offset the opioids produced in autistic children's brains because of their inability to break down the large peptides of casein, gluten, and usually soy and sometimes corn too. We hoped to avoid having to put them on special diets by this means. It never worked well except for a few SIB (Self Injurious Behavior) kids, and we recognized they were probably having opioid withdrawal symptoms but of course didn't know until Bihari's work that their immune systems were probably being made even worse by the regular 50mg doses. (Children who are unable to excrete heavy metals and got poisoned from 1991 until 2002 by

the mercury in their newborn vaccines sustained gut injuries and immune system injuries, the hallmarks of autism, and the primary cause of the huge epidemic of autism occurring in that decade. This high rate is finally starting to go down now as they have finally removed much of the mercury from newborn vaccines). However, even in the ultra-small doses we are using, some people not on GF/CF diets may have dietary opioids that are causing them the withdrawal phenomenon. And some people may have unusual endogenous opioids, but my suspicion is that these offenders often come from the diet, and a sizeable number of some people other than just autistic kids have the inability to digest the big peptides in some foods. This could be a genetic variation or some lack of gut enzymes that cause the large peptides to not break down into the amino acids but to circulate in the brain and get into the brain as caseo/gluteo-opioids. Some of

these people will manifest the opioid antagonism as irritability and mood swings, like a drug addict that can't get the "fix." When I did my first study with 15 of my own patients, all were on dietary restricted diets (no casein, gluten, or soy) and no one had a problem with mood swings. When it got out into the greater autism community and some kids were for various reasons not on the restricted diets, some reports started coming in about mood swings. If I could convince the parents to get their kids on the diet, many of those side effects abated. However, many people are addicted to wheat and milk, and would rather forego the benefits of LDN rather than not get their fix of these foods, particularly adults who have ages-long dietary habits and may not even know how it feels to feel good. With the autistic kids, 85-90% improve with just removing these foods, not even considering LDN, so many of the knowledgeable and

sophisticated parents have their children on these restrictions already, so we do not get too many who have the mood reactions. And, some kids have recovered enough that they no longer have this intolerance. I just thought I would mention this as some of you might really want to try taking casein and gluten (which are not really GOOD for anyone anyway), out of your diet and see if that helps LDN work without the moodiness. Sometimes just removing dairy will do the trick, or just gluten (wheat, rye, oats and barley). If that is an unbearable thought, and you don't want to give up your wheat and milk OR your LDN, you could at least try some excellent digestive enzymes that have been designed for autistic kids but have many of us adults using them, and for some people, this will be enough to break down the large peptides so they do not have to go on a strict diet. Klaire Labs makes an excellent one called Vital-Zymes Complete, and one with

each meal or two with a heavy casein/gluten meal helps the digestion for many of us. Just some food for thought. (Klaire will not dispense to the public, only to doctors, but if you tell them I sent you (Dr. Jaquelyn McCandless) they will not only sell them to you but give you a 20% discount on any of their products and also donate 10% to Autism Research Institute for research. I helped them over two years develop this enzyme, and decided to donate all proceeds they wanted to give me directly to ARI for badly needed research money (none of which I have ever asked for). Klaire's phone is 866-216-6127). Best wishes, Dr. JM