Blog

Functional Medicine is making a difference to many Autistic children.  Every child on spectrum  is different.  Functional medicine recognises this and looks for the triggers that caused imbalances in the patient’s body.

Autism affects 1 in 68 children with those numbers rising all the time. There is no medical test for determining if a person has autism. Symptoms or unusual behaviour causes a parent to take notice and get their child to a physician, psychiatrist or psychologist. Some of the signs of autism or other developmental difficulties on the autism spectrum (such as Asperger’s Syndrome and Pervasive Developmental Disorder) include:

No smiles, laughs or other joyful expressions by 6 months of age
No mimicking of sounds or expressions by 9 months of age
No babbling noises by 1 year of age
No mimicking of interactions (waving, pointing, reaching) by 1 year of age
No words spoken by 16 months of age
No two-word phrases by 24 months of age
Loss of speech or social skills at any age

Functional Medicine is making a difference to many Autistic children.  Every child on spectrum  is different.  Functional medicine recognises this and looks for the triggers that caused imbalances in the patient’s body.

Autism affects 1 in 68 children with those numbers rising all the time. There is no medical test for determining if a person has autism. Symptoms or unusual behaviour causes a parent to take notice and get their child to a physician, psychiatrist or psychologist. Some of the signs of autism or other developmental difficulties on the autism spectrum (such as Asperger’s Syndrome and Pervasive Developmental Disorder) include:

• No smiles, laughs or other joyful expressions by 6 months of age
• No mimicking of sounds or expressions by 9 months of age
• No babbling noises by 1 year of age
• No mimicking of interactions (waving, pointing, reaching) by 1 year of age
• No words spoken by 16 months of age
• No two-word phrases by 24 months of age
• Loss of speech or social skills at any age

Martha Herbert, MD, a paediatric neurologist from Harvard Medical School, showed how core abnormalities in immunity, gut function, and detoxification play a central role in causing autism’s behavioural and mood symptoms.

Autism is just a label, its important to look at the underlying causes for the symptoms of an autistic child.

These could be :

1. Gluten Intolerance most common could be associated with dairy, eggs, yeast, and soy Intolerance.
2. Leaky gut with high level of  inflammatory marker called eosinophil protein X. Yeast, Candida overgrowth with poor healthy bacterial flora.
3. Urine with very high levels of D-lactate, an indicator of overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine.
4. Multiple nutrient deficiencies.
5. Amino acids required  for normal brain function and detoxification pathways are depleted
6. High levels of heavy metals such as aluminum and lead, antimony and arsenic, which can be tested with Oligoscan.
7. Low sulfer and Glutathione levels, Leading to compromised capacity to detox. which is the body’s main antioxidant and major detoxification pathway for getting rid of metals and pesticides.
8. Methylation defect, required to make normal neurotransmitters and brain chemicals and critical for helping the body rid toxins. This can be seen as low levels of homocysteine (signs of problems with folate metabolism) and high methylmalonic acid (signs of problems with B12 metabolism).
9. High oxidative stress or free radical activity, including markers that cause brain to be inflamed make free radicals.
10. Multiple nutritional deficiencies due to poor gut health and compromised absorption of the nutrients.

When we address these underlying causes in autistic children with the help of Nutraceuticals, Detoxification, and dietary interventions, we see a huge change in the symptoms of autism.

Dr Kalpana Shekhawat-M.D.

Functional Medicine Specialist