(quote)Yes Zoe,
I'm not disputing your statement... I've though about that many times and I'm not one to believe in coincidence..
What is the exact relationship between Autism and Epilepsy?.. How is their mechanisms elucidated?
Is science missing something still with the interactive aspects of 1. brain, 2. nutrition and digestion. 3. Immune system.??? (quote)
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Hi Angel,
If we don't agree on every point, it is just a difference in opinion, no one being necessarily right or wrong. We can both be right with different opinions too. All we have to work with is a set of information. If we are able to learn and grow we can easily change and expand our understanding when someone comes along (or we discover) information that challenges what we know at any given moment.
What some researchers and parents have seen over decades now, is that children being diagnosed with autism are sick and\or brain injured and not all for the same reasons. About a hundred years ago, a Russian doctor,named Metchnikov, suggested that children with bowel diseases were sick from bacterial problems in their intestines. When food is not well digested, what are now recognized as bad bacteria can build up in the intestines. These bacteria feed on the waste in the digestive tract. In their process of digestion the bacterial waste products form toxins which get absorbed into the bloodstream where they can cause illness throughout the digestive tract and the body.
Metchnikoff called the process "auto-intoxication. He advocated the use of fermented foods(Milk)to help break down and eliminate the harmful bacteria.
Mainstream medicine is still missing pieces of the jigsaw. His theory, was ignored or derided in the U.S. and elsewhere for this past century. Now, though there is a lot of research showing he was on the right track. Now it is typical for doctors to prescribe yogurt or probiotics to replace bad gut bacteria with good to heal digestive disorders.
http://www.gutpathogens.com/content/5/1/5
Before Probiotics Think Metchnikoff | NDNR
ndnr.com/gastrointestinal/before-probiotics-think-metchnikoff/
by E Metchnikoff - Related articles
Dec 2, 2014 - Let me introduce you to Metchnikoff, a remarkable scholar and clinician not ... He developed the theory of intestinal auto-intoxication, which was ...
http://ndnr.com/gastrointestinal/before-probiotics-think-metchnikoff/
More slowly is a connection between children labeled with autism or epilepsy is coming to be recognized, further researched and addressed. A lot of research done in Italy was published in the peer reviewed journal "Lancet" in the 1990s showing a connection between gluten intolerance and celiac disease and neurological disorders including seizures and autism. It was often ignored or derided in the US. Around 2000, a study of what were called blood markers for celiac disease indicatede gluten intolerance, or the tendency to develop it, was fairly common in the US. That changed everything. Suddenly the gluten free connection was getting lots of attention and gluten free diet products became a major industry.
This theory, like others needs to be revised as new information is learned. There is much study now also showing that the way wheat is cooked may be the major reason for it not being properly digested and instead causing major illnesses due to Metchnikov's auto-intoxication.
Now there is quite a lot of research showing that if you, or your child is gluten intolerant, poorly digesting it can make you sick. Over time, you may develop intestinal disorders, brain lesions from the inflammation and disorders connected to the damaged areas. So if your child develops lesions in the brain from long term poor digestion of gluten products they might show up in the form of seizures and who knows what else. You can find plenty of people who are seeing themselves or their children improving or recovering using diet strategies like the Specific Carbohydrate, gluten\dairy-free or other diets.
There are many things that can cause the symptoms of seizures and others considered autistic. If you are seeing improvement but not recovery, there are more possibilities for you to explore.
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(quote) You have personally noticed that avoiding wheat and dairy ( I think you avoid wheat ? .. Correct me if I Am wrong) you haven't had dramas with seizures... Well I've noticed reductions in Autistic symptoms & reduction but no elimination of the seizures for my girl.?(quote)
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Oh, I had some pretty intense “dramas” with my seizures. One was having a drop attack as I stepped into a busy intersection and coming to beneath a car that nearly killed me. There were many others. Seizure disorders often take a long time to develop. It may be useful to do a thread on this at some point. I found that it was necessary to literally retrain how my nervous system responded to the beginning symptoms of a seizure coming on, first by breath training and self hypnosis. It took about five years to become seizure free. I don't consider myself "cured" becuase my nervous system is severely damaged and it would take less stress to cause me to have a seizure than it might for others who never had neurological injury.
It is hard to imagine that anyone now would think that autism is a mental illness when so much information suggests otherwise. Also, there may be no single one cause, but multiple that are interrelated. That's one reason it is important to keep a journal or otherwise look for patterns in when, where, and what may have triggered a seizure. There may be many triggers, a bad night of sleep, a negative experience, a food or drug reaction, or just to much excitement.
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(quote) Something that's interesting is the role of zinc.
Imagine a stomach without zinc. No zinc no acid. No zinc , no mucous layer. We have the ironic situation that we need acid to digest food, but if we have too much acidity we don't feel well. Giving drugs to suppress stomach acid only hides the problem... And someone makes a lot of $$.
The anti microbial properties of zinc make it a " bowel bug policeman". What happens to the gut when zinc is low? We'd get inflammation and ulcers..
Guess what abnormalities is seen when Autism patients are endoscoped! (quote)
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Zinc is important and you may want to do some Google searching on zinc and seizures. It also is needed for the body to get and use vitamin A. In the liver zinc is a catalyst that enables the liver to release it's stored vitamin A into the blood stream. So what problems may arise in this regard if there is a zinc deficiency?
Zinc | Linus Pauling Institute | Oregon State University
lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/minerals/zinc
Linus Pauling Institute
Jun 11, 2015 - Zinc deficiency is associated with decreased release of vitamin A from the liver, which may contribute to symptoms of night blindness that are ...
?Deficiency - ?The RDA - ?Disease Prevention - ?Disease Treatment
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/minerals/zinc
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(quote)
Just a mental illness ?
Hmmm there's more to it Zoe..
I'm no scientist, chemist or nutrionist, but I'm questioning medications and I want to try to understand those drug interactions and pay more attention to those side effects.
I've got a girl that needs me to do this.
I'm her advocate.(quote)
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I am no scientist either, just do a lot of research on my own.
Search search and search for more information to advocate for your daughter.
If you haven't already, you may want to try searches like:
"name of medication" "nutrients depleted"
"name of medication" " cognitive impairment"
"name Of Medication" "homocysteine"
"homocysteine levels" "autism"
"homocysteine levels" "seizure threshold"
"name of medication" "side effects," "folic acid"
"name of medication" "side effects," "Kidney"
"name of medication" "long term side effects"
You will come up with many more possibilities that may help you understand how medications may help or harm your daughter.
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More links to explore:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3137939/
Effects of vitamin B12 and folate deficiency on brain development in children
developmental disorders folate deficiency
A focus on homocysteine in autism
www.actabp.pl/pdf/2_2013/137.pdf
Acta Biochimica Polonica
by J Kaluzna-Czaplinska - ?Cited by 5 - ?Related articles
by the enzymes involved in homocysteine metabolism. Therefore, monitoring of ... of homocysteine in the body fluids of autistic children. Key words: autism ..... based on psychological tests and speech therapy were also analyzed. The studies ...
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Vitamin supplementation reduces the level of homocysteine in the urine of autistic children.
Nutr Res. 2011 Apr;31(4):318-21. doi: 10.1016/j.nutres.2011.03.009.
Vitamin supplementation reduces the level of homocysteine in the urine of autistic children.
Kaluzna-Czaplinska J1, Michalska M, Rynkowski J.
Author information
Abstract
Significant differences in homocysteine levels in the urine of autistic children are observed. We hypothesized that vitamin supplementation might reduce the level of urinary homocysteine. To rationalize such a hypothesis, analyses were performed using the gas chromatography/mass spectrometry method. The homocysteine level in the urine of autistic children was measured twice: (1) before vitamin supplementation (group C, 30 autistic children) and (2) after supplementation, with either folic acid and vitamins B(6) and B(12) (group A1, 24 autistic children) or vitamins B(6) and B(12) alone (group A2, 6 autistic children). The homocysteine level in the urine of autistic children before vitamin supplementation was 2.41 ± 1.10 mmol/mol creatinine (mean ± SD difference). After treatment, the homocysteine level was reduced to 1.13 ± 0.44 and 1.33 ± 0.39 mmol/mol creatinine for A1 and A2 groups, respectively. The intake of vitamins B(6) and B(12), together with folic acid, was found to be more effective in lowering the levels of urinary homocysteine than the intake of vitamins B(6) and B(12) alone. Our findings may lead to the recommendation of including vitamins B(6) and B(12) together with folic acid supplementation in the diets of children with autism.
Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
http://researchautism.net/publicati...omocysteine-in-the-urine-of-autistic-children.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21530806
--abstract
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Angel,
I am very impressed with Paul Whiteley and his research into autism whose link is below. Let me know what you think of him when you read his stuff.
Questioning Answers
questioning-answers.blogspot.com/
11 hours ago - A blog about research and investigations into autism spectrum and related conditions emphasising ... Posted by Paul Whiteley at 10:19 ...
?January - ?March - ?February - ?June
http://questioning-answers.blogspot.com/
Who's who at ESPA Research
www.espa-research.org.uk/who.html
Paul Whiteley has completed post-graduate research degrees on autism. His research interests include: examining the effectiveness of a gluten- and casein-free ..
http://www.espa-research.org.uk/who.html