Autism & Epilepsy & General Epilepsy Experiences

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Blonde Angel,

You might be interested in "The Autoimmune Epidemic" written by Donna Nakasawa. She has had severe health challenges to overcome. She specifically addresses toxins in our environment, like toxic dump sites, and the clusters of disorders, like Lupus, that appear in proximity to the dumpsites.
 
Hi Angel,

When you have time, can you post the name of doctor who focuses on nutritional medicine with a link to his article on brain poisons... I'm very interested in what he thinks is the WHY for so many developing ASD symptoms.
If you want to try an alternative to lateral posting, try posting the response in columns instead of rows.

:roflmao:

I am seeing him on Wedesday.

I will aim to get the information you request, he has written publications not sure if they are released on the internet.
 
Thanks Zoe. I definitely found the studies on metabolic disorders very interesting (msg. 98 ) as I was unaware of the association with ASD.
I’m not sure why you posted the first link. If you thought I said that epilepsy was not associated with epilepsy please understand I was trying to say the opposite since both epilepsy & ASD involve our neurology.
The 2nd Link had very poor results. It talked about how hard the ketogenic diet was to implement and how it worked on so few subjects.
We instituted a ketogenic diet (KD) in 6/16 patients who had demonstrated a pathological increase in serum b-OH-b associated with glucose loading. Although our desire was to implement the KD in all 16 patients, it is a diet particularly challenging to implement in autistic patients, and we were only successful in six cases. One of these six patients showed a remarkable improvement in CARS scale (Table (Table4)4) and subsequently medications (risperidone and hydroxyzine) were stopped.
7% (13/187) of patients for whom biotin supplementation or institution of a KD resulted in mild to significant clinical improvement in autistic features.
The 3rd link on the role of diet in ASD was interesting but we have to be careful about getting too excited about studies that have been done in mice or rats & haven’t even been duplicated yet. It is exciting to see that diet might have more of a roll than previously thought but this is very preliminary & I think we should wait before we come to any conclusion. Even the doctor quoted said
“The idea that a selective deficiency of certain nutrients in brains cells could have a genetic basis, cause autism, and be reversed is an exciting concept that deserves more study.”
Please understand that when something deserves more study that means it is as of yet not shown to be true.

Again I’m not sure why you posted the links to the Alyssa Davi article or the Epilepsy Ireland article so I’m not sure what to say.

The Epileptic Disorders link gave a possible explanation of how epilepsy is thought to likely be associated with ASD, even if it hasn’t been confirmed yet. Again that confirms what I said about how seizures would be more likely in ASD. I did enjoy the fact that they gave possible reasons, even if uncomfirmed as to why that might be.
Decreased ATP production, the main biochemical consequence of impaired respiratory chain function, probably leads to unstable membrane potentials, making neurons prone to epileptic activity because about 40% of neuronal ATP production is needed for Na,K-ATPase and maintenance of the membrane potential (Kunz 2002). One of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations causing myoclonic epilepsy with ragged red fibres (MERRF) seems to impair mitochondrial calcium handling, again leading to increased seizure susceptibility (Brini et al. 1999). Another possible mechanism has recently been discussed after impaired importation of mitochondrial glutamate was shown to cause one form of early myoclonic encephalopathy (EME); the clinical features may be caused by a putative imbalance of this excitatory neurotransmitter (Molinari et al. 2004)
Do be cautious as all the journals that were linked to have very low impact factors, one even being less than 1. The highest impact factor was 3.6. To give you an idea how low that is, the British Journal of Medicine has an impact factor of 31 and the New England Journal of Medicine has an impact factor of 55.873. Not everything should be judged by impact factor but when something seems to be published only in low impact factor or pay journals (who post anything for a price) I tend to be careful about how much weight to give it.
I would really like to encourage anyone who has an interest or belief in nutrition & food helping ASD to find out what research is being done close to where you live & let them know about your situation. To participate in a study or even using you as a case study can only help researchers get closer to understanding how this pathology really works which inevitably leads to better treatment.
 
Children admitted on the keto diet usually have severe epilepsy AND other mental or multiple problems/handicaps. There is a very high co-morbid rate in this group. Just like children with brain damage, metabolic disorders etc. have a higher chance to have severe to control epilepsy, they have a higher rate of autism specter disorders. The keto diet has proven to improve both epilepsy and autism in about 50% of the children in many research groups.
 
Some words about hair analysis.
Just measuring blood levels via blood tests don't give much answers on the science of Tiissue Mineral Science and Metallotoxicology.
Hair samples have been used to provide reference ranges to indicate why toxic metals can cause illness. Eg toxic elements like arsenic, cadmium, lead affect nutrient mineral levels by pushing some minerals HIGHER than the reference range.
Hair samples are done once a year ( used to be twice ) I'm pleased to say there's been improvements in her results, but it's been a very slow process.
All under the guidance of a medical professional understands the mechanisms of nutrient flow and has set up an individualised nutritional prescription for my girl.
Oh yeah.
do make sure it's relevant to where you live because I live in Oz and what I say just may not be relevant and worth checking into .
However, it's worth to consider just this fact:
Geographies don't stop the the importance of understanding the biochemical basis of symptoms.
Just because someone lives elsewhere it does not mean that info is less relevant or important.
 
The Epileptic Disorders link gave a possible explanation of how epilepsy is thought to likely be associated with ASD, even if it hasn’t been confirmed yet.
Over 50% of all children from all people (far over 4000) who are or were once member of our Dutch parental support group in the last 14 years, do have some kind of autistic spectrum disorders. They all do or did have difficult to control epilepsy or a diagnosed epilepsy syndrome and many of them do have brain damage, brain abnormalities, chromosomal mutations or metabolic diseases as underlying cause of the epilepsy. Seems to me like a significant sample to prove the co-morbidity of autism and E. furthermore this is confirmed in a lot of medical literature about scientific research I read about epilepsy syndromes in children.

Autism and Epilepsy: What Has Regression Got to Do with It? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1783438/

Recent work investigating epileptic risk factors for the development of autism in patients with tuberous sclerosis found that tubers in the temporal lobes predisposed patients to autism spectrum disorders and, more specifically, that temporal lobe epileptiform discharges, a history of infantile spasms, and onset of seizures in the first 3 years of life determined whether or not an individual with tuberous sclerosis complex developed an autistic spectrum disorder (20). Furthermore, among children with epilepsy, at least among those seen in a tertiary care epilepsy clinics, the greatest risk for developing autism appears to be among children whose seizures start around age 2 or before (2).
It is reasonable to hypothesize, as in the example of tuberous sclerosis, that there may be multiple variables, such as age of onset of the seizures, interictal epileptiform activity and location, or extent of the epileptiform activity that influence whether or not the full autism behavioral phenotype develops.
Children with late-onset autistic and cognitive regression, usually occurring after age 3, have been classified under the subgroup of disintegrative disorder; this subgroup has a higher incidence of epilepsy (70% vs. 30%) than other subgroups of children with autism
Interesting research article from Science Direct Data Base, (legaly downloaded with my licence!), full title:

An investigation of comorbid psychological disorders, sleep problems, gastrointestinal symptoms and epilepsy in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: A two year follow-up

View attachment An investigation of comorbid psychological disorders, sleep problems, gastrointestinal symptoms .pdf

Nordin and Gillberg (1998 ) recommended that follow-up studies should include clear descriptions of comorbid conditions, and that the long-term effects of the conditions and their possible interactions with each other should be evaluated. Follow-up studies have been conducted in individuals with ASD investigating whether they developed epilepsy (Bolton et al., 2011; Billstedt, Gillberg, & Gillberg, 2005; Hara, 2007). Billstedt et al. (2005) found that new cases of epilepsy appeared in the post-adolescent period, but no individual developed epilepsy after the age of 20 years. Bolton et al. (2011) found that 22% of individuals developed epilepsy. This highlights the importance of following up on the diagnosis of epilepsy in our current study. Mannion et al. (2013) found that 10.1% of children and adolescents with ASD had epilepsy. The current study will allow us to determine if participants had developed an epilepsy diagnosis within the previous two years.

And two other ones from Science Direct:

Current controversies in the relationships between autism and epilepsy: View attachment Current controversies in the relationships between autism and epilepsy.pdf

Epilepsy in autism spectrum disorder View attachment Epilepsy in autism spectrum disorder.pdf


 
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Its Tuesday and I have seen my medical nutritionist I'm glad I double checked because I originally thought it was for Wednesday.

Zoe I remember you asking me about the homocysteine stuff in particularly about the inflammatory process. I asked Dr T about this and his feedback is as follows:

*genetics
*folate metabolism
*gene profile
Look up the process of Homocysteine metabolism, other key words include the effect of homocysteine on *brain fog,(consequences of low levels of methylcobalamin) *vascular disease, *methionine, B6 and mg2+, what is harmless metabolites, *folate and coenzyme B12 and how is B12 blocked by copper lead and mercury.
Another interesting thing he mentioned is that the strongest predictor of vascular disease is not cholesterol levels but the level of homocysteine. When methionine is metabolized the immediate step is homocysteine, which causes vascular damage.

He also mentions heavy metals and copper overload keep homocysteine levels high in certain places and can cause diseases in those tissues.

Look into long-term consequences of low SAMe production which involve depression, cancer, heart disease, Alzheimers etc.
 
Hi Angel,

When you have time, can you post the name of doctor who focuses on nutritional medicine with a link to his article on brain poisons... I'm very interested in what he thinks is the WHY for so many developing ASD symptoms.
If you want to try an alternative to lateral posting, try posting the response in columns instead of rows.

:roflmao:

Dr T looks at what drives biochemical changes from normal to abnormal.
Five things:
1. genetics
2. deficiency
3. imbalance
4. excess
5. toxins

Another thing to think of is the process of industrialisation
How does chronic inflammation affect the copper:iron ratio exactly??
 
Blonde Angel,

You might be interested in "The Autoimmune Epidemic" written by Donna Nakasawa. She has had severe health challenges to overcome. She specifically addresses toxins in our environment, like toxic dump sites, and the clusters of disorders, like Lupus, that appear in proximity to the dumpsites.

To get an understanding of anything chronic there needs to be some recoginition that the process of industrialization has basically been to poison everything on the planet.
Some other good reads are by Peter Dingle, David Suzuki, Rachel Carson, Eve Hilary, David Weir, Theo Colborn and Sharon Beder.
Only if you choose to Michael.:twocents:
 
Its Tuesday and I have seen my medical nutritionist I'm glad I double checked because I originally thought it was for Wednesday.

Zoe I remember you asking me about the homocysteine stuff in particularly about the inflammatory process. I asked Dr T about this and his feedback is as follows:

*genetics
*folate metabolism
*gene profile
Look up the process of Homocysteine metabolism, other key words include the effect of homocysteine on *brain fog,(consequences of low levels of methylcobalamin) *vascular disease, *methionine, B6 and mg2+, what is harmless metabolites, *folate and coenzyme B12 and how is B12 blocked by copper lead and mercury.
Another interesting thing he mentioned is that the strongest predictor of vascular disease is not cholesterol levels but the level of homocysteine. When methionine is metabolized the immediate step is homocysteine, which causes vascular damage.

He also mentions heavy metals and copper overload keep homocysteine levels high in certain places and can cause diseases in those tissues.

Look into long-term consequences of low SAMe production which involve depression, cancer, heart disease, Alzheimers etc.


Hi Angel,
One by one, why don't you look up the name of any anticonvulsant, or psychiatric drug and homocysteine. Many will show information on homocysteine. For example, Google: dilantin homocysteine.

Next do a Google search, "homocysteine" "seizure threshold"
And another, "homocysteine" cognitive impairment'
And another "elevated homocysteine" "symptoms"
One more "homocysteine" "autism"

That should yield some interesting results. There's more to pursue on this, too
 
The effect of antiepileptic drugs on vitamin B12 metabolism.
Aslan K1, Bozdemir H, Unsal C, Güvenc B.

The effects of antiepileptic drugs (AED) on the serum concentration of vitamin B12, folic acid and homocysteine (HMC), and erythrocyte folic acid levels were determined in 45 epileptic patients (30 women, 15 men; mean age 31.7 years) and 23 healthy volunteers (control group; 18 women, five men; mean age 33.4 years). All patients were either on carbamazepine (CMZ), oxcarbazepine (OXZ), or valporate (VP) monotherapy. Serum vitamin B12 levels were low in 17.8% of patients and 8.7% of the controls (P = 0.299). Serum homocysteine levels were high in 17.8% of the patients (P = 0.008). Fifty percent of the patients who had hyperhomocysteinemia, and 75% of the patients who had low serum vitamin B12 level were on CMZ monotherapy. Peripheral blood smears showed hypersegmented neutrophils and macrocytosis in 13.3%, hypochromia and microcytosis in 26.7%, acanthocytes in 2.2%, and thrombocytosis in 2.2% of all patients. The control group had normal peripheral blood smears, except in four cases that showed hypocromia and microcytosis. Long-term administration of AED may cause elevation of homocysteine and development of subnormal serum vitamin B12 levels. ...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18190464

My girl is on Trileptal (Oxcarbazepine) the study mentions that homocysteine levels were high in 17.8% of patients . Too much for my liking. :(

Then consider a child with ASD and they already have issues in communication, ,socialisation and behaviour it really does make life certainly tougher....
 
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I went to a school Xmas concert and I happened to meet up with other parents one particular has it tough, their child has missed out in school at least 50% of the year due to so much seizure activity.
So I really cant whinge too much ..What really interested me is the fact that seizures really impede the learning, we both agreed that our kids so seem to lose the learning capability . Its like they learn a skill and then lose it and then it may come back slowly or never be the same again.
We both have experienced the unexplained irritability and anger and the occasional episodes of what I describe as manic/ mania type symptoms when I notice my girl hysterically laughing about something that I have no idea. No these episodes don't lead to any seizure activity.

Just talking to other parents do provide more feedback than science sometimes. The reality of how epilepsy and autism is affecting those who love and care for them each and every day in our community.
 
I went to a school Xmas concert and I happened to meet up with other parents one particular has it tough, their child has missed out in school at least 50% of the year due to so much seizure activity.
So I really cant whinge too much ..What really interested me is the fact that seizures really impede the learning, we both agreed that our kids so seem to lose the learning capability . Its like they learn a skill and then lose it and then it may come back slowly or never be the same again.
We both have experienced the unexplained irritability and anger and the occasional episodes of what I describe as manic/ mania type symptoms when I notice my girl hysterically laughing about something that I have no idea. No these episodes don't lead to any seizure activity.

Just talking to other parents do provide more feedback than science sometimes. The reality of how epilepsy and autism is affecting those who love and care for them each and every day in our community.

Hi Angel,

The hysterical laughter for no apparent reason may be the way a seizure plays out. I dated a man who had this type seizure. I had seizures in which I would have sudden intense mood change of despair and start weeping. All of the interruptions of course trigger stress and confusion which will affect learning and behavior. Doing things that have a calming effect after such a spell may help her recover better. I learned some slow gentle breathing exercises which helped me with these.
 
Hi Angel,

The hysterical laughter for no apparent reason may be the way a seizure plays out. I dated a man who had this type seizure. I had seizures in which I would have sudden intense mood change of despair and start weeping. All of the interruptions of course trigger stress and confusion which will affect learning and behavior. Doing things that have a calming effect after such a spell may help her recover better. I learned some slow gentle breathing exercises which helped me with these.

The thing is:
my girl is quite focussed and does not seem to be in seizure state, when I call her name she gives me eye contact and this mania does last for hours not seconds or minutes.
eg
Yesterday afternoon giggling and laughing hysterically and was able to do what she was told eg puts the balls away, goes to the toilet when asked.
 
Look up the process of Homocysteine metabolism

the Cys/Met metabolism PLP-dependent enzyme family is a family of proteins including enzymes involved in cysteine and methioninemetabolism which use PLP (pyridoxal-5'-phosphate) as a cofactor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cys/Met_metabolism_PLP-dependent_enzyme_family

Dopamine and Serotonin synthesis.
Aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase
The enzyme uses Pyridoxal Phosphate, the active form of vitamin B6, as a cofactor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aromatic_L-amino_acid_decarboxylase
http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/aromatic-l-amino-acid-decarboxylase-deficiency
http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1413008/


Vitamin B6 and behavioural symptoms:


I was quiet at school not disruptive despite having Asperger's Syndrome and Dyslexia (Both conditions were officially undiagnosed during my school days).

B6 is also used by some to calm the Keppra rage.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213323215000377
Treatment for at least two months also reduced the children’s social, communicative, behavioral, and functional symptoms.
http://www.ariconference.com/ari/newsletter/203/page5.pdf


The PLP dependent enzyme Glutamic Acid Decarboxylase (GAD):
http://www.ebi.ac.uk/intenz/query?cmd=SearchEC&ec=4.1.1.15
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/gad-antibody-test.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11084/

Additional reading:
http://treatautism.ca/brain-chemicals/
Although PLP-dependent enzymes belong to a small number of independent evolutionary lineages, they encompass more than 160 distinct catalytic functions, thus representing a striking example of divergent evolution.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2105/10/273
http://www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/aut/vitam-b6.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21345627

Enzymes and Metabolism
http://mcat-review.org/enzymes-metabolism.php

Also researching other vitamins maybe of interest to you, for example: vitamin B2 (riboflavin) coenzymes 'FAD' and 'FMN', vitamin B3 (Niacin) coenzymes 'NAD+' and 'NADH' and vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid) coenzyme 'CoA'. Here's a couple of URLs:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25631020 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citric_acid_cycle

I have also posted on the following threads regarding my extremely rare condition, 'PNPO Deficiency': http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/wheres-line-what-isnt-worth-25542/index4.html
and http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/40-years-vitamin-b6-11674/

**DO NOT ALTER ANY MEDICATION WITHOUT YOUR DOCTOR'S CONSENT**

Regards,

Andrew, Vitamin B6 Dependent epilepsy, Dyslexia and Asperger's Syndrome.
 
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Andrew
thank you such much for your effort in producing such various links and providing me and others with an insight with your unique PNPO deficiency.
I have never heard of this and I thank you for educating me in this so I understand what else is there

I'm humbled in how motivating you are in advocating yourself with the combo of challenges you have.
You have broadened my thoughts to understand the meaning of individual strength and persistence with multiple challenges .

Ive read on the biochemistry of serotonin ánd the pathway does include the cofactors .

The question I always ask is what causes the symptoms ? The quest is trying to decode it to what leads to better health.

Something else to think about if you wish?


What is the metabolic observations in Autism? Look into relevance of Glutathione in Autism.. glutathione does have a role in protecting the brain cells from mercury.

The B vitamin complex has been studied extensively, what is the process involved in B-vitamin activation?
eg
how is Mg involved?
how is zinc involved?
 
Hi Angel,

The hysterical laughter for no apparent reason may be the way a seizure plays out. I dated a man who had this type seizure. I had seizures in which I would have sudden intense mood change of despair and start weeping. All of the interruptions of course trigger stress and confusion which will affect learning and behavior. Doing things that have a calming effect after such a spell may help her recover better. I learned some slow gentle breathing exercises which helped me with these.

Is the manic stuff like a precursor to an impending seizure? The reason I ask is its because most times this mania leads to no seizure activity. that's why I dismissed your previous comment before.

You see there was once when the day previously she was laughing and manic and the next day she had a seizure.
I completely forgot that until I looked at her record of seizure stuff where I describe her behaviours.

So you could have a point there Zoe.....:ponder:
 
I'm reading into some information on an article by a lady who is from South Australia by the name of Elisa Black.


She describes her journey about her anxiety, she tried the meds, yoga, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, hypnosis, visted the psyches, naturopaths, herbalists and more.

She took Folinic Acid and it changed her life, she had a genetic mutation that affects close to one in five persons and could be responsible for mood disorder, cardiovascular issues and other illnesses.

One can get tested for this MTHFR variation.



What is relevant to my situation for my child is this:

MTHFR and anxiety. People with Autism do have issues with anxiety.

MTHFR refers to methylenetetrahydrofolate gene.
There is a study in Arkansas, that's published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry that found a group of kids with Autism who were treated with folinic acid showed significant improvements in verbal communication, receptive and expressive language, attention and the stereotype Autism traits . One third of the kids did show improvements.


Is it something so simple credible?

Another topic I want to look into more is nutrigenetic testing. This is defined as how human genetic variation results in distinct nutritional requirements and how diet and nutrition modulate the expression of genes.
 
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