Re: New - false hope?

[Guest guest]

Hey Miranda,

 

Welcome to the group! I have found that giving my son one Danactive drink a day (I buy it at Walmart) helps with his gut issues. It took about a month to a month and a half to work.

 

- Jenn

On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 5:14 PM, miranda.flemming <miranda.flemming@...> wrote:

 

My 7 year old son has been diagnosed Asperger's and I am considered mild myself. Diagnosis was tricky as we improved so much with identifying diet sensitivities. We get drugged by many foods. I am interested in the whole area of healing the gut (probiotics, digestive enzymes).

I have heard claims that some people are " cured " and no longer on the spectrum (eg after doing GAPS protocol). I have seen improvements in ourselves with diet changes, but is Asperger's just the way someone is? Our brains are supposed to develop differently? Is it more genetic? Or can it be fundamentally a gut issue? Or toxins in the environment (which links to genetic)? Or does no-one really know?

ThanksMiranda

[Guest guest]

A great book to read is Making sense of autistic spectrum disorders By Dr.

Coplan. We had it at our library. He goes through all the causes and is up to

date on the latest treatment available.

In the book he doesn't give much credit to therapies that

cost parents lots of money (oxygen therapies).

He goes over the various alternate treatments.

He says that autism is a developmental disorder, most kids

do get better even without therapies so it is hard

to evaluate treatments.

He gave stock to behavior therapy, social skill training.

About the causes he said about 10-15% have a medical condition

like fragile X or other rare conditions and that the rest

have autism only. He says that autism increases with the

age of the parents, if someone in the family or extended

family has autism or asperger's syndrome.

Pam

>

> My 7 year old son has been diagnosed Asperger's and I am considered mild

myself. Diagnosis was tricky as we improved so much with identifying diet

sensitivities. We get drugged by many foods. I am interested in the whole area

of healing the gut (probiotics, digestive enzymes).

>

> I have heard claims that some people are " cured " and no longer on the spectrum

(eg after doing GAPS protocol). I have seen improvements in ourselves with diet

changes, but is Asperger's just the way someone is? Our brains are supposed to

develop differently? Is it more genetic? Or can it be fundamentally a gut

issue? Or toxins in the environment (which links to genetic)? Or does no-one

really know?

>

> Thanks

>

> Miranda

>

[Guest guest]

On May 26, 2010, at 5:14 PM, miranda.flemming wrote:My 7 year old son has been diagnosed Asperger's and I am considered mild myself. Diagnosis was tricky as we improved so much with identifying diet sensitivities. We get drugged by many foods. I am interested in the whole area of healing the gut (probiotics, digestive enzymes).I have heard claims that some people are "cured" and no longer on the spectrum (eg after doing GAPS protocol). I have seen improvements in ourselves with diet changes, but is Asperger's just the way someone is? Our brains are supposed to develop differently? Is it more genetic? Or can it be fundamentally a gut issue? Or toxins in the environment (which links to genetic)? Or does no-one really know?It's my feeling that autism is most likely genetic in the majority of cases.  I base that on 28  years worth of research on my own, and on our experience with our own son.  Of course, there are comorbid conditions that can make things even more.....interesting.  In Louie's case (our son), he's lactose intolerant and has prosopagnosia (face blindness, and also a sensitivity to the phenols in apples and their products (they disturb his sleep patterns).  So, long long ago, we took milk products and apple products out of his diet....the first made him more pleasant to be around (the smell was gone!), the other let him sleep soundly through the night for the first time in his life (we took away apples when he was 16 and found out about the problem).   His rage seems to be able to be controlled by medication, and his dr. suspects it's because of the structure of his brain in the section that handles emotion (he still has troubles with strong emotion, but he copes).Louie has been obviously autistic since infancy.  He carries the dual dx of HFA/AS.  He's also 30 and delightful. Annie, who loves ya                                            annie@...***************************************************"Aim at heaven and you get earth thrown in.  Aim at earth and you get neither." C.S.

[Guest guest]

On May 26, 2010, at 5:14 PM, miranda.flemming wrote:My 7 year old son has been diagnosed Asperger's and I am considered mild myself. Diagnosis was tricky as we improved so much with identifying diet sensitivities. We get drugged by many foods. I am interested in the whole area of healing the gut (probiotics, digestive enzymes).I have heard claims that some people are "cured" and no longer on the spectrum (eg after doing GAPS protocol). I have seen improvements in ourselves with diet changes, but is Asperger's just the way someone is? Our brains are supposed to develop differently? Is it more genetic? Or can it be fundamentally a gut issue? Or toxins in the environment (which links to genetic)? Or does no-one really know?It's my feeling that autism is most likely genetic in the majority of cases.  I base that on 28  years worth of research on my own, and on our experience with our own son.  Of course, there are comorbid conditions that can make things even more.....interesting.  In Louie's case (our son), he's lactose intolerant and has prosopagnosia (face blindness, and also a sensitivity to the phenols in apples and their products (they disturb his sleep patterns).  So, long long ago, we took milk products and apple products out of his diet....the first made him more pleasant to be around (the smell was gone!), the other let him sleep soundly through the night for the first time in his life (we took away apples when he was 16 and found out about the problem).   His rage seems to be able to be controlled by medication, and his dr. suspects it's because of the structure of his brain in the section that handles emotion (he still has troubles with strong emotion, but he copes).Louie has been obviously autistic since infancy.  He carries the dual dx of HFA/AS.  He's also 30 and delightful. Annie, who loves ya                                            annie@...***************************************************"Aim at heaven and you get earth thrown in.  Aim at earth and you get neither." C.S.

[Guest guest]

I like the word, difference, versus diagnosis.

I tracked the genes that could cause autism, for a couple of years; and by about 2006, there were 36. Could be more now. . .

I do agree there are families that pass on autism/asperger's/ADHD. So, there are some cases which seem to be genetic. And some cases where, hey, it just happened-- could be mercury toxicity to the same areas of the brain as genetic.

Then I ran across an article that said this same thing, someone was finding in some kids the defective chromosomes are inherited. And in some, there are pieces that actually break, due to being blasted environmentally. It was something posted in research Autism Speaks was paying for; but I haven't been able to find it or anything like it since.

There is also the fact that autism is higher in areas close to water, which is polluted, and same with areas where coal burns into the air.

The idea about the food thing is that because our children's guts don't digest well, being that things that need to go on are shut down also by mercury and toxins, they don't get enough glucose to the brain. The dietary changes give the children easier foods to digest, with higher nutritional content. (The Asians, for instance, often have diets with no cheese and predominantly rice, even their noodles can be made from things like rice and buckwheat.) They also do better when you add things that stimulate their digestion and appetite. (the Ayurvedics use ginger/salt/lemon 15 min before a meal, Koreans add cayenne, Japanese have pickled condiments).

I'd sort of heard about the apple thing, once, indirectly; but glad for you to mention it here. Comes to mind, when mine was small, she nearly choked to death on an apple, when first introduced. We had to turn her upside down and give her that heimlich maneuver thing. After that her whole childhood I gave it to her w/o the peeling, sometimes, not often. And she did okay. When you think about it, apples are loaded with pesticides.

And lastly, I'd comment that it seems that in families with multiple children on the spectrum, the diagnosis seems to get worse and worse to me, as you go thru to the more recent child. I have been told if you're asperger's, your chances of having a child with autism, lower functioning than you, greatly increased. And if my child is HFA, if she had a child he/she'd more likely be LFA.

Nina

On Thu, 27 May 2010 14:28 -0600, " Annie Shank " <annie@...> wrote:

On May 26, 2010, at 5:14 PM, miranda.flemming wrote:

My 7 year old son has been diagnosed Asperger's and I am considered mild myself. Diagnosis was tricky as we improved so much with identifying diet sensitivities. We get drugged by many foods. I am interested in the whole area of healing the gut (probiotics, digestive enzymes).

I have heard claims that some people are " cured " and no longer on the spectrum (eg after doing GAPS protocol). I have seen improvements in ourselves with diet changes, but is Asperger's just the way someone is? Our brains are supposed to develop differently? Is it more genetic? Or can it be fundamentally a gut issue? Or toxins in the environment (which links to genetic)? Or does no-one really know?

It's my feeling that autism is most likely genetic in the majority of cases. I base that on 28 years worth of research on my own, and on our experience with our own son. Of course, there are comorbid conditions that can make things even more.....interesting. In Louie's case (our son), he's lactose intolerant and has prosopagnosia (face blindness, and also a sensitivity to the phenols in apples and their products (they disturb his sleep patterns). So, long long ago, we took milk products and apple products out of his diet....the first made him more pleasant to be around (the smell was gone!), the other let him sleep soundly through the night for the first time in his life (we took away apples when he was 16 and found out about the problem). His rage seems to be able to be controlled by medication, and his dr. suspects it's because of the structure of his brain in the section that handles emotion (he still has troubles with strong emotion, but he copes).

Louie has been obviously autistic since infancy. He carries the dual dx of HFA/AS. He's also 30 and delightful.

Annie, who loves ya annie@...

***************************************************

" Aim at heaven and you get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither. " C.S.

--

Nina Forest

autismlearning@...