Autism Treatment –Regression, Gut Problems and Autism Part 1

This is part 1 in a 2 part series discussing the issues related to regression and gut issues in children with Autism. I want to discuss a little about the children who cycle or recycle through problems with their digestive system and who have little improvement. In my years of experience I have seen many children with Autism who suffer from yeast and bacterial imbalances. Many of them also have issues with food sensitivities and both of those things tend to contribute to their Autism symptoms and their inability at times to progress.

Many times special diets are implemented which can range from the specific carbohydrate diet, the gluten and casein free diet, the low oxalate diet or any combination of those. You may also be implementing various anti-parasitic, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial therapies as well and you may see benefits and then once again see regression. It can be very frustrating for parents and caregivers to watch a child cycle through from seeing gains to regressing over and over again. You may question how you will ever really get a handle on gut issues such as bacteria and yeast. You may feel that regardless of what diet you employ, it is three steps forward and yet two steps back. But it has been my experience, and I have been a physician focusing on the biomedical treatment options for children with Autism since 1998, that for the great majority of these children they suffer from a true case of underlying inflammatory bowel disease.

I do believe this to be a very under diagnosed condition and feel that many more children with Autism suffer from inflammatory bowel disease than are being recognized. What ends up happening is that you reduce bowel toxicity when you treat yeast, parasites and bacteria and remove foods that the child is sensitive to. Then you improve bowel function as they are able to excrete more of the metabolic waste through their fecal matter. So then you see a period of improvement from the positive changes in digestive function as well as less of the absorption of poorly digested food that the child is sensitive to. So we may see improvements in behavior, improved concentration, improved sociability, improved attention and maybe even an improvement in language. These gains last for a period of time until something negative happens. The child could get sick, maybe there is a change in weather, there could be a change in seasons and then you go back to square one. In part 2 we will cover more on some additional ways to test for inflammatory bowel disease.