Let me talk to you a little bit about how to use supplements as a treatment for Autism. Now we know that many individuals on the Autism spectrum have core issues with socialization problems, language problems, behavioral problems, stereotypical behaviors, sensory issues, self stimulatory behavior, etc. There can be a number of ways to intervene, whether it is through behavioral therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, etc. There are a wide variety of supplements obviously that are used and available to help treat some of the core problems. And the way you many times have to decide what to use is certainly to learn about what some of the different types of treatments are.

I have created a website called www.AutismSupplementCenter.com and in this website you can actually research supplements by name so if you are looking for a particular multi-vitamin or if you are looking for a specific amino acid like Gaba or Taurine or a probiotic you can search for it that way. But you can also search for supplements as treatment groups or treatment categories. So let’s say you are looking for supplements that are known to help with hyperactivity or supplements that are known to help with attention and focusing issues. You can search for things on this website in that way as well.

So it is important when you are looking at supplements to understand that many times supplements work synergistically with each other, which means that the more things you use many times the cumulative effect you are going to have. It is not just always about one supplement but about doing a total nutritional program to really get the desired effect. Many of these supplements are encapsulated, there are some liquids and each kid is going to be a little bit different about what they will tolerate. If you have a young child who can’t swallow capsules then many times you have to either open the contents of the capsules in juice or pear sauce, apple sauce or in some sort of food item to get them to take it. Kids who can swallow capsules it is usually not a problem, they can easily swallow them. Some of the liquid supplements can easily be mixed many times in juices of various degrees, pineapple juice or mango juice or other citrus juice.

In a previous video I talked about what are considered to be traditional treatments for Autism such as Risperdal medication, things like behavioral therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy. Let me talk a little bit about what are called biomedical therapies. Biomedical therapies are those therapies that are used medically but they are not necessarily commonly recognized by the traditional medical communities. That does not diminish their effectiveness because they can be quite effective. But within the traditional medical world they are not either recognized to a significant degree and many cases not even known about. They really break down into multiple categories.

Supplements, so using various nutritional supplements like multi-vitamins, multi-minerals, folic acid, B-12 can be very helpful for some individuals. As a matter of fact one particular vitamin called vitamin B-6 has actually been very helpful for a number of individuals on the Autism spectrum because it has a bolstering effect on brain chemistry that can help with the eye contact, attention, focusing and in many cases, behavioral problems.

We also have other therapies that deal with the digestive problems that kids have. So looking at yeast and bacterial issues, using things called probiotics or treating for yeast and bacterial problems in the digestive tract either with medications like Nystatin, Diflucan and sometimes antibiotics can help many individuals improve cognitively overall because we know that there is link between digestive toxicity and brain function.

Dietary therapy is another biomedical intervention. The one most commonly known about is the Gluten and Casein free diet. We know that the gluten and casein actually have a chemical effect on the brain. This has even been traced to people with bi-polar, depression, schizophrenia as well. But with individuals on the Autism spectrum, these particular food proteins can actually interfere with brain chemistry and create problems, attention problems, eye contact problems, socialization problems, language problems, behavioral problems, etc.

So when you are looking at biomedical therapies, these are therapies that are used medically, they just sort of fall outside what would be considered the norm of the traditional medical community, supplement therapies, digestive therapies, dietary therapies, etc. They can be incredibly useful and just as powerful in many cases, if not more powerful as the traditional therapies like speech, OT, ABA therapy or medications. So it is important to keep your mind open to other possibilities, to keep searching, to keep learning because there is a world of information out there with respects to treatments for Autism. I have just touched on a few of them in this video.

Food allergy and sensitivity testing and what you need to know

Let’s talk about the differences between a food IgE and a food IgG.  Most food allergy tests that are performed look at food reactions through a chemical called IgG.  IgG is the most abundant immune chemical in the body and It reacts with food quite adversity which can lead to low level inflammatory and immune reactions in the body.  These reactions are called IgG delayed hypersensitivity reactions.  They are not life threatening but in the digestive system they can cause bloating, gas, diarrhea.  In the body that can lead to low level inflammation that might lead to joint pain, muscle pain, fatigue, brain fog, etc.  With kids on the spectrum many times they have elevated food IgG reactions that can weaken their immune systems over time that makes them more susceptible to things like viruses and bacteria that they are exposed to. So a food IgG reaction, even though sometimes it is called an allergic reaction, it is truly not an allergy but rather a hypersensitivity to those food proteins. So when you do a food IgG panel you are looking at 90 or 96 different foods that your child is eating and measuring that immune chemical against it. Now an IgE reaction is a true allergy.  This is something an allergist can test through the blood for a food, pollen, dust, animal hair, etc.  They can also do this through skin prick testing to look for an IgE reaction.  Most food reactions we come in contact with and are testing for are not IgE reactions but they are more IgG reactions. And an IgE reaction is usually pretty obvious.  It can many times happen within minutes of eating something.  We’ve heard these cases where someone reacts to peanuts or strawberries or pineapples or shell fish.  In a real extreme case they can develop welts on their body, their lips may swell, they get runny eyes or an itchy throat and these are types of reactions that are immediate after having a food.  In severe situations it can lead to anaphylactic reaction or anaphylactic shock. Someone who has a true allergy to bee stings for example can develop and anaphylactic reaction and need to be hospitalized and take medication to short circuit that reaction. So there is a difference.  When you are looking at doing food sensitivity testing for your child, you are primarily looking at doing an IgG food sensitivity testing.  The profile that I tend to use in my practice is from Great Plains Labs and is called the food IgG profile and that is where you are actually looking at these immune chemicals to your child’s diet. Hopefully that clears up some of the confusion surrounding IgG and IgE allergy testing. Just remember that IgE is true allergy and IgG is sensitivity.