http://james-autism.blogspot.com/2005/08/dr-kendal-stewart.html

[Guest guest]

dr kendal has been around for a long time read this guys blog he uses drugs like

provigil

GENERIC NAME: modafinil

BRAND NAME: Provigil

DRUG CLASS AND MECHANISM: Modafinil is an oral drug that is used for improving

wakefulness in patients with excessive sleepiness. The effect of modafinil is

similar to caffeine. Both drugs promote wakefulness by stimulating the brain.

Thus, both drugs are considered stimulants. Other stimulants, for example,

dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine) and sibutramine (Meridia), also have the different

effect of suppressing appetite. All four of these drugs affect the

neurotransmitters in the brain, the chemicals that the nerves of the brain use

to communicate with each other; however, they affect the neurotransmitters

differently. Modafinil was approved by the FDA in December, 1998.

TIS IS NOT FOR CHILDREN

progress, treatment, and development.

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Dr. Kendal

Several months into 's occupational therapy, around June of 2003, we went

to see Dr. Kendal , an ENT/Neurotologist who provided a somewhat

unconventional approach to autism and other sensory processing problems: a

six-month regimen of Valtrex, twice a day.

The basic theory behind his treatments is that autism and other related sensory

processing disorders are actually auto-immune conditions, or at least caused by

them. According to his theory (several other doctors have similar theories

related to or based on his), the culprit is one of the various strains of herpes

present in the environment. The virus isn't detectable in the blood stream

because it hides in the nervous system. Valtrex draws it out so that the immune

system can kill it. Naturally, I asked if this was directly measurable, but

unfortunately it did not sound that way to me without doing a biopsy of 's

brain; on the other hand, Dr. had a suite of tests. Several of them

involved measuring the ear's response to stimuli, the ear itself being something

of a " giant nerve " (sorry, my layman's oversimplification of things).

I was skeptical, but kept an open mind. Dr. was very articulate.

Although we spent well over an hour talking and answering my questions (most

doctors don't do that), had data suggestion strong correlations, and had what

seemed to be a unique system of analyzing this data, there were no formal

studies based on things such as double-blind placebo trials. As Dr.

pointed out, " these are children--no wants to be in the control group; their

time is limited. " I believe Dr. claimed around five years of success

with various patients. As an alternative to classic clinical trials, Dr.

employed a battery of diagnostics to generate what he called " evidence based "

analysis. As a software engineer, such an approach seemed familar to me (albeit

not as scientifically airtight). But more importantly to any parent, it was

explained to me that the dosage and treatment was low-risk. Primum non nocere.

( " Do no harm. " )

We did six months of the Valtrex treatment, grinding then pulverizing those damn

hard, bitter blue pills into his orange juice twice a day, every day, for six

months. Nevermind the double-take from the pharmacist when she realized that the

prescription was for a four-year old and not me. 's mother was around for

the first few months, but when she moved away to California after the divorce, I

continued the ritual alone. Near the end began to resist his drinks,

blowing bubbles, throwing and " accidentally " spilling them on the ground out of

protest. I don't blame him. Tasted like shit. I added more sugar, thickened the

juice, woke him up earlier in the mornings to wait on him to finish--did

whatever I could to get him to complete the dreaded routine. I joking asked the

nurse if we could just do it as shots or a patch. Then finally, Dr. said

was ready to end the treatment on October 31st.

Did improve? Yes. Was it the Valtrex treament? I'm not sure.

During the Valtrex treament, was attending speech and occupational

therapy. He was with other children the first time. Lots of stimuli, lots of

things coming at him all at once. Impossible to know what part each piece

played. To complicate things, only participated in one of Dr. 's

measurements: responding to whether or not he heard an audible signal. Other

tests, including one that involved measuring the ear's physical response to

signals, required ear-plug devices that we could not get him to wear.

Some of the things we tried along with the Valtex, such as an HGH patch and

Omega-3 oils, seemed low risk. But I had reservations about some of the drugs

used in conjunction with the Valtrex, albeit in low dosages. He recommended

Straterra, which I dropped after a couple of weeks. (This was before the bad

press about the drug. From the beginning our neurologist disagreed with Dr.

's application of the drug, and I didn't notice any positive effects.) I

also could not bring myself to using Provigil on a four-year old. Although I

never felt like I was being pushed, after 's Valtrex treatment was

completed I decided to move on and try a different path. At least for a while.

But I will say this: each time we visited, Dr. observed 's gait

during a running exercise. He made cautious predictions not only about

improvements in 's movement, but also mentioned possible changes in 's

awareness of the environment. Those observation generally seemed to be coming

true. For example, began to pay more attention to objects on the road

while riding in the car, as predicted. Although I could rationalize this out

with the fact that was also going through occupational therapy at the

time, I'm not convinced that would be enough to dismiss all of his observations.

I certainly don't doubt his intentions.

Was Dr. right? I don't know, and I may never know. I deeply hope he was,

but hopein' ain't believin'. I do know that is still autistic. There was

no " magic bullet " or " moment of awakening " for us. No one ever promised us that.

Treatment of autism is in its infancy, and everyone still seems to be trying to

figure it out. We are in a gray area, just now making movements out of the dark

ages. We have a long way to go, but is better off than before. I don't

regret putting him on Valtrex for six months, because not trying anything after

hearing Dr. 's convincing pitch would have been something I would have

truly regretted.

is just pushing his new Doc