We treat a lot of children and young adults with autism and in the last year we have added some treatments that seem to make a real difference in their lifestyle. The first thing is there was an interesting study out of Stanford University California where they looked at the angiotensin/vasopressin pathway in the brain. This pathway deals with H2O absorption in the renals and with blood pressure. Evidently it deals with a lot more than that. They gave the autistic children a nasal spray of angiotensin and vasopressin called DDAVP in one nostril at bedtime for one to two months and they noticed that the children that were unsociable were now sociable. They also noticed they stopped a lot of their repetitive behaviors. They have not noticed any side effects. I use it with children who at 6,7,8 or older that still wet the bed at night. Usually, they stop wetting the bed in less than a week.
In looking at general bloodwork thoroughly in autistic children most doctors never check the complete blood count (CBC), the mean corpuscular volume (MCV), or the size of the red blood cells in the body is noted in this test. Even if the MCV is in the range but less than 90 this can mean the child does not hold onto oxygen on the red blood cells. They are hypoxic (low oxygen) so the brain and other organs are not well oxygenated. These children often need iron. If the autistic children’s brain is low in oxygen this is not good. Yet it can easily be reversed. Low oxygen makes the brain irritated. You don’t want this in any child.
There is an interesting study showing how stem cells and stem cell products affect autistic children. In a study 45 autistic kids were divided into 3 groups of 15. Group A did whatever treatments they wanted and after 1 year they improved slightly on the autistic scale. Group B did Umbilical Cord Stem Cells and improved significantly over the year. Group C did Stem Cells and Wharton’s Jelly and saw slightly greater improvement than group B over the course of a year. On a side note we also noted that in our own studies that the patients that received Stem Cells and 20 minutes of red light therapy tend to improve faster.
Vitamin D in many of my autistic patients is low. I find levels near 100 tend to reduce neuro inflammation as Vitamin D is a large part of our immune system. There ae some interesting studies looking at low dose human growth hormone and the rebuilding of new brain pathways. There is a lot of research dealing with autism. I will try to keep you all posted.