I guess I'll start off on this page with an outline of our particular experiences in Biomedical Intervention. I'll detail for you what treatments we've tried, the reasoning behind it, and how they have helped our son. The diet of course was first and as I learned about that I was also hearing about other treatments through the same resources. I decided we'd look into these other treatments after we got comfortable on the diet.
The first thing we did was get with a DAN! doctor in Roseville CA by the name of Dr. Terrance Chang. He's on the board of Directors for UC Davis school of medicine Alumni and also works with some clinical research at the M.I.N.D. Institute. He prescribed the GFCFSF Diet but at that point we were already on the diet for a few months. He also had Jackson tested for various things commonly found in children on the spectrum such as vitamin deficiencies, heavy metal blood content, and a yeast stool culture and food allergy testing.
So this needs to just be outright said... as we progress with my son's Biomed we are seeing across the board improvements in his Autistic symptoms. This means that by addressing his particular issues (some diagnosed through medical testing some not) we are in essence curing his Autism. Take the repetitive self stimming behavior of teeth grinding during the day for example, my son doesn't do that anymore. It went away within two weeks of starting him on Probiotics. I'm not kidding or exaggerating one bit. It went away completely but did come back during a two week period when he was off all supplements. As soon as he was back on them it went away again. With each new Biomedical treatment we tried we saw a new level of improvement. So much so that I can tell you exactly how his behavior and symptoms were improved with each step along the way. Take our little nightly ritual of giving a Zinc supplement. Zinc has improved his eye contact quite a bit, and has improved his tantrums, mood swings, and self limiting diet. Probiotics helped with speech improvements, angry aggressive behaviors, self injurious behaviors, spacey dopey staring, teeth grinding, and constipation. See what I'm saying here? This is not just me and a lot of placebo effect wishful thinking where I'm seeing more than is really there. Thousands and thousands of families every year are doing the same thing with their kids and seeing the same results. The trick is figuring out what pieces are missing to your child's puzzle and solving it for good.
Click HERE to see a Survey of parents who took the time to answer questions about what treatments worked for their children or made them worse. What I noticed while reading the list is that across the board the treatments that are the most natural were the ones that worked best for the kids. I think that with the exception of Diflucan and Nyacin and other prescription anti-fungals to treat yeast the majority of psychiatric drugs were unsuccessful in treating Autism when compared with the Biomedical treatments. I'm not saying that these drugs don't have their place because they do, but the biomedical treatments address the problem at the source and seek to fix what was missing or wrong.
We've focused on a combination of biomed with traditional therapies and couldn't be happier with the results. After my son's last IEP meeting the whole team agrees that he will have no problems in moving to a normal preschool class next year. Last year he was in a special ASD program preschool. So I never thought I'd be the crazy nutrition Nazi but hey if it works right? I'm poking fun at myself but really it's not that severe, it's just that the more I paid attention and researched and tried, the better he got and the more I began to realize how things affected him. Armed with my new research and an attentive eye, I began to see his behaviors or symptoms in a new light.
Take artificial colors for instance he's a madman after having red dye or yellow dye, or whatever color they use in processed foods. These are dubbed safe to eat but for kids on the spectrum they can be like a meltdown inducer. Dyes turn up the volume on my son's Autism 100 fold and so we don't give him dyes anymore unless it's a special occasion like a trip to the Yogurt shop when grand parents come to town. The only things he gets there that he doesn't at home is the dyes and artificial sweeteners (high fructose corn syrup anyone?), we limit these to once in a blue moon. When we do give them to him we know we will have to deal with the "difficult Jackson" for a few days so we try and do this when he's out of school or over a long weekend. The biggest part about Biomed is paying very close attention to how certain foods affect your child's autistic behaviors. It was suggested to me through my GFCF mom's group that the dyes and artificial flavors cause issues with kids on the spectrum. Last Halloween he had been on the diet for a few months but we still wanted to make sure he could have some candy so I went and got candy he could eat. No gluten, casein, or soy but lots of dyes and artificial sweeteners. He had very little candy and after 3 days his behavior was so bad I could not take it so I cut him off from more candy. It took him another 3 days to come back down to normal. A few days after that I came home and found my husband giving Jackson another piece and we were off and running again. Three days later he came back down to normal. I threw out all the candy. At Christmas I had an idea, no dyes or artificial sweeteners would be allowed but he could have as much natural sugars and home made cookies as he liked. This was just unbelievable! He ate cookies, cider, and more cookies, but never got difficult or out of control with the Autism behaviors. He was like a Halloween devil and a Christmas angel. The difference was obvious and dramatic. So now we make sure all candy comes from the natural foods stores, at Easter this worked out really well. He had Chocolate and jelly beans just like any other kid.
This is Biomedical Intervention. I know just the name can sound intimidating but it's very basic nutrition not wacky hippie stuff (although I do love me some hippies) and it really can be as simple as adding the right amounts of vitamins for your child. Let me list what we've done to treat our son's Autism, how it has helped, and a bit of the reasoning behind it.
1. We see a DAN! doctor.
They are pretty much the man when it comes to treating Autism. They have yearly conferences and are the leaders in clinical research for the treatment of Autism. They can get you started on your Biomed journey by prescribing all the testing you'll need. We were fortunate enough to find one who took our insurance but he's 3.5 hours away. This is an important step because I mean really, ask a local doctor to help you treat and cure your child's Autism and they would laugh you out of their office. DAN! doctors understand the common issues with ASD kids and you won't have to convince them to order a certain test. Better still is that most are doctors of Immunology, or Neurology so their services are usually covered on your insurance. Hello tax deduction by the way for your mileage and vitamin supplements since they are recommended by your doctor. Check the links page for Tax codes related to Autism. Find a DAN! doctor HERE By the way there are many many parents who for whatever reason don't see a DAN! doctor but still treat their children with various biomed treatments. I was comfortable enough to try the diet and a few supplements by myself but when it came to the vitamins I wasn't comfortable adding them into the mix without guidance from a doctor because ASD kids require higher levels of doses, better safe than sorry right? We were fortunate enough to find a DAN! doc that was in network but many people aren't so lucky. Also one of the goals of this blog is to get parents together so we can start requesting that at least one of our local doctors takes the time to learn the right way to treat our children with Autism.
2. GFCFSF Diet
See "The Diet, Our Story" for more info on this. Let's just say that my son (and the vast majority of kids on the spectrum) is allergic to the proteins Gluten, Casein, and Soy and is unable to properly process these proteins and they in effect turn into an Opiate in my son's blood and makes him act high, spacey, and unresponsive to his name being called and prone to violent outbursts. These allergies are found to be present in as many as 80% of children with Autism. Many in that number also allergic to corn, and eggs. Since starting the diet my son has developed leaps and bounds. It was apparent to us that it was working by the 4th or 5th day. See our story page for more details on the positive effects of starting and maintaining the diet. I will say though that after 3 and 4 months on the diet we were still seeing great improvements in his symptoms and at that time all we were doing was the diet. Casein and Soy exit the body within a few days but it takes Gluten 3 months plus to completely leave the system. Most people recommend sticking with the diet for at least 3 months before deciding that it does not work for your child. Some kids are first responders and some come around after a longer period. I say do your reading and prep and decide what's best for your kids and your house. Just be honest with yourself about your level of commitment, don't decide it does not work if you are still allowing treats here and there or if you can't be sure that there haven't been dietary infractions during your trial period or if you served foods processed in the same facility as wheat (this is a common pitfall). Then consider expanding your test trial to include the removal of eggs and corn too. Many kids show no improvements on the diet and research is now suggesting that these children have the biggest issues with food allergies and it's important to identify exactly what is causing harm before you decide the diet is not working. No one's perfect but with this stuff it's either all out or none of it's out as far as I'm concerned. I talk to parents all the time who thought they did the diet and it didn't work. Usually upon questioning I find out that they didn't know about taking out soy too and the cross contamination rules so of course it didn't work. If this has a 70% chance of making a significant life change for your child then it's imperative that you're all in otherwise it's got a 100% chance of not working and being a big waste of time. The trial period needs to be very strict but after that you can relax with it a bit more.
The ultimate goal here is to heal the gut so your kid can eat these offending proteins after a few years on the diet and Biomed therapies with the help of digestive aids. Let me repeat that ok, the goal is to heal the gut so they can eat normally again one day. OK I'll step off my soap box now. This does not work for every one's kids but it's not the end all beat all of Biomed. There are still many other pieces to try and fit in that spot and you'll see improvements when you progress with the puzzle. Let's move on to another big topic....Gut Issues.
3. We started giving Probiotics and Digestive Enzymes
Gut issues are a very big issue with many children on the spectrum. Due to a Yeast overgrowth my son's intestines were being damaged making it hard for him to properly digest foods and yeast also produces neurotoxin which are harming his brain and reeking havoc with his digestion, autistic symptoms and damaging his intestines. Here is a list from TACA's website detailing the possible symptoms of a yeast overgrowth.
Behavioral Signs
Headaches
Inappropriate laughter
Sleep disturbances
Unexplained intermittent crying episodes
Belly aches
Constipation
Bed wetting
Gas pains
Fatigue
Depression
“Foggyness”
Inattention
Hyperactivity
Anger, aggression
Increased self-stimulatory behavior
High-pitched squealing
Increased sensory defensiveness
Climbing/jumping off things
Sugar cravings
Confusion
Lethargy
Physical Signs
Yeast in the mouth, in the form of thrush
on the skin such as diaper rash or eczema
red ring around the anus
rash or cracking between the toes or joints
For my son the following symptoms improved after starting the probiotics: fogginess, constipation, inattentiveness, self-stimulatory behavior, sensory seeking behaviors, numbness to pain stimulus sugar cravings, confusion, lethargy, red ring around anus, cracking between toes, and diaper rash.
As you can see many of these are "Autistic" symptoms. Treat the yeast, treat the symptoms. Yeast like everything else is good in moderation or balance. The problem is that in many ASD kids the balance of intestinal bacteria is off and over populated by yeast. This overgrowth is called a yeast flare up and causes all kinds of behavioral and physical symptoms. The problem is false negatives on stool cultures are quite common so many parents give probiotics even if they get a negative culture for yeast. Our son tested negative for yeast but we started high dose probiotics anyway and saw immediate improvements across the board. You do need to be prepared for what happens when you start the probiotics. It's called a "die off" period for the first few days due to the yeast dying and releasing higher levels of toxins into the blood. These toxins make for a rough couple of days behavior wise at first but typically flush within 3-4 days after starting probiotics and the craziness subsides.
We also give digestive enzymes. These are naturally occurring substances that aid in the digestion or breaking down of certain foods and help to heal the gut and promote overall intestinal health. This is an essential part of Biomedical Intervention. For whatever reason studies are finding out that ASD kids have numerous issues with digestion and absorption of many foods. Yeast also ties in with the Opioid Theory too. Check on that HERE We started giving our son enzymes with each meal and finally his bowel movements are normal. Not sour nasty smelling any more, no constipation. Lots of ASD kids also have issues with latent viruses and out of control bacteria so visit this link HERE to learn more about the importance of intestinal health in kids on the spectrum. Also visit my link at the bottom of the page for a full listing of all biomedical treatments currently available to you. It's really the most comprehensive free straight forward guide to biomedical treatments I've ever found. So save yourself some time and benefit from my obsessive research and read every word yeah? It is a must read for every parent of a child with Autism..
4. Limit the Weird Stuff
We improved our son's diet even further by removing all artificial sweeteners, then limiting artificial dyes, preservatives, and nitrates., and processed foods. It all didn't happen at once, it was a slow progression over the past year. As I learned more about nutrition I learned about how bad these things are for our kids and slowly edited them out of the mix. As stated earlier dyes and sweeteners have a negative effect on my son's behaviors so we try to limit them. Also we tend to stay away from processed foods with more than 5 or 6 ingredients. Any more than around that number and you're getting into stuff you can't pronounce and most of that will still be around on a shelf when you're dead and buried. Can you imagine someone passing around a tray of monosodium glutamate at a party? You'd turn that down in a flash but most people won't bat a lash at it when it's included in "normal" processed foods. A tiny google search on the word monosodium glutamate will show you it's effects on the human body and that my friends will make your head spin faster than you can say MSG. So it sounds like a big deal to clean out their diets of the garbage but you can do this one thing at a time, just find replacements. The biggest drawback to healthy living will always be a loss of convince foods, but with a little planning, proper hardware, and effort, even I was able to make this happen for my son and I'm totally a procrastinator with limited free time.
5. Vitamin and Mineral Supplements
OK, this is another biggie with ASD kids. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies. After testing our son our DAN! doctor prescribed the following supplements and minerals be given on a daily basis. I personally believe you should only do this with a DAN! doctor because the levels needed for ASD kids are sometimes 3-4 times higher dosing than a neuro typical child and giving too much of some vitamins can be toxic. The thinking behind the higher doses is to circumvent the damaged intestinal walls and make more of the vitamins available for absorption. This is where the body absorbs it's nutrients but if you've got leaky damages to your guts then you can't absorb what you need to. Add a little sensory processing issue, self limiting diet and you've got a recipe for a perpetuating cycle that has the potential to profoundly affect your child's quality of life forever. Most ASD kids need the higher doses and this is the focus of the book I recommend called "Children with Starving Brains". Check the book tab. Here's what we give the little man on a daily basis.
-Calcium and Magnesium (In a liquid form. Essential for anybody but more so for our kids since they can't drink milk.)
-Super-Nu Thera (A potent multivitamin especially formulated for kids on the spectrum with no gluten, casein, or soy. Made by Kirkman Labs)Kirkman Labs Kids on the spectrum test consistently with vitamin deficiencies. Their bodies and brains are starving for the right amounts of vitamins and minerals. Furthermore many studies have been conducted that show that kids on the spectrum benefit from an increased RDA of various B vitamins. The theory is that ASD kids need higher doses of vitamins available in their systems because of the Leaky Gut syndrome. Kirkman has been making vitamins for the autism community for decades and really listen to what parents need.) In our case this also helped with social awareness, and speech, and his wellbeing in general. He lost his greyish color that I never realized was there until it was gone.
-Zinc (capsules emptied in juice before bed, given with a syringe. Zinc deficiencies will cause kids on the spectrum to self limit their diets because low zinc levels mess with taste buds. Zinc is also essential to let the body put vitamin A to use. See my post on Cucumbers to hear more on this subject.)
-Essential Fatty Acids and Cod Liver Oil (Works directly on eye contact in or house and cognitive function and also has helped keep his echolalia down to a minimum. Many families swear by this stuff for eye contact and speech improvements.)
-Enzymes (To help him digest any Gluten, Casein, or Soy he might get into or picks up from the environment through his hands. His constipation finally stopped after adding these to the mix. Finally normal looking and normal smelling bowel movements. Before Enzymes he had horrible, sour, very strong smelling gas and bowel movements. These are gone now. There is some research that suggests Enzymes are good for healing the intestines too.)
-Probiotics (Naturally occurring bacteria that is already found in our intestines. To help heal the intestines and rebalance intestinal flora needed for proper digestion. Helps to get rid of yeast which reeks havoc in our ASD kids. Yeast produces among many other things...neurotoxins! After adding these his stimming stopped, and speech improved, bowel movements improved and cognitive functions improved quite significantly, and he developed a more reciprocal relationship with the people around him. This is huge for a child on the spectrum.)
-Reduced L-Glutathione ( A natural substance produced by the body helps keep inflammation down. Inflammation is caused by exposure to allergens in the diet and environment and can cause among many other problems like asthma and...Brain swelling. Research is now indicating that a large number of children on the spectrum have auto-immune disorders too. This means that their own bodies are attacking them inside and are inflamed and swollen as a result. This inflammation causes severe symptoms in behavior of children. There is a podcast on the Autism One channel on itunes where you can listen to a presentation on inflammation by a doctor at the conference. It's technical but eye opening.)
It looks like a lot but we started one at a time weeks apart so we could watch for reactions. I'm not gonna lie, getting him to take the supplements was sooo hard. I must have tried 50 different ways to get that kid to take his vitamins but we have finally hit a groove with it and he just puckers up his lips and takes them willingly now. Which is amazing considering where we came from. I'm not kidding I was all Mission impossible on his ass for months before I could get him to full daily doses on a consistent basis. In the end a combination of sticker reward charts, high praise, story boarding, and super power sneakiness worked for us and it's not a big deal anymore. It was super frustrating for me and I called it a daily struggle for a while but it's so completely worth it now. Also I was convinced of the importance of the supplements after a 2 week hiatus from them all. He was so combative about the vitamins at that time that I opted to take a break and regroup, I was at the end of my rope. I didn't want to hold him down and make him take them so I decided to stop them and hope that he forgot how worked up he was getting over them. The result was a heart breaking regression back into old autistic symptoms that he used to have. I was watching my baby regress back into self stimming and violent repetitive behaviors right before my eyes and couldn't wait to get him back on the supplements again. As soon as we did he came right back to us again and Husband and I were sold for good. There are a few other supplements out there that we may look into as time goes by but we are defiantly happy with where he's at after the addition of vitamins and mineral supplements. Every day on my email groups I see other people learning the same things about how these vitamins improve their child's Autism. Here is the link to Kirkman Labs where we get all our supplements. They have been working with and for the Autism community since forever and really work to make supplements easier for parents. It's a great place to learn too. Many doctors believe that No child with Autism should go without the proper vitamin schedule that's appropriate for them. Don't be mislead by a local doctor who says that the tiny colored cartoon character you give your kids daily is sufficient. Pediatricians are not Nutritionists! They know much less than you think they would about nutrition and even less about how that affects autism. If you are curious ask them about the recommended daily allowance for a few of the essential vitamins and minerals. You'll be surprised at the blow off or stumbling. Autism requires a special blend at specific concentrations in order to be properly absorbed due to the "Leaky Gut" issue.
I guess that's about all the Biomedical treatments that we've tried so far. By no means is this all there is out there. We never had troubles with heavy metals, sleep problems like night walking or refusing to nap, or seizures. There are many other treatments to look into for others areas of spectrum symptoms so check out the links I provide to see how you can best address your child's symptoms. Again read the summary of treatments link below to look up the studies yourself. If I had this link a year ago I woulda saved myself a whole nervous breakdown...so all I gotta say about that is ya'll owe me one...lol...just sayin. Remember take it slow and don't overwhelm yourself with too much info. I wish you luck and send you love. Starting this journey is a daunting task but hopefully soon ours will be a community of parents helping parents and healing, and learning. My every second at this keyboard is devoted to just that. I'm deciding to heed the advise of Gandhi and be the change I want to see in the world. Knowing that this will help build that community of knowledge and love and understanding is what fuels me and inspires me.
Summary of Biomedical Treatments for Autism By James B. Adams, Ph.D.
Kirkman Labs
