PLT Test Blog

In this post we look at another existing drug that research shows may be effective in treating core symptoms of autism.   The drug, Clonazepam, is inexpensive and is already used in larger doses to treat anxiety in autism.   You make have seen this Venn diagram before, it is one of those graphics I like to produce to make things easier to understand, both for you and for me. In our quest to treat autism we first need to understand the disease as much as possible.   By far the most complex of the four main areas is the dysfunction of the ion channels and transporters in the brain, the so-called channelopathies.   Ion channels were only discovered relatively recently and science's understanding of them is still evolving. Here is very useful layperson’s summary:-   Autism-Linked Variations in Ion Channel Genes Increase Brain Excitability   "Neuronal communication guides virtually all aspects of brain development. To better understand Autism Spectrum Disorders ...

Some readers are more interested in how Monty, aged 10 with ASD, is doing these days, rather than in all the scientific research.   This is a post for them. At school things are moving ahead both academically and socially.   In September our American/Greek ABA consultant visited us; one important point she made was that we should get him to interact more concretely with the other kids at school, and not just superficially.   He has made great strides forward in this area and now greets all his classmates and the staff members by name.   In the playground he is trying hard to join in the soccer games and the other activities.   This works well, the more he engages with the other kids, the more they want to engage with him.   When a group of girls were having a problem with a particular boy, one girl went over to fetch Monty to help them; and he did, he made the other boy go away.   This is quite a change - to be giving help, rather than receiving it. ...

Last summer, I wrote a lot about autism getting much worse in that time of the year and how I found that common “24 hour” anti-histamine drugs seemed to have a magical effect; but one that lasted only 2-3 hours. There were only visible signs of a mild allergy, which could indeed easily be overlooked. I did later receive a message from a reader who noticed his child’s ASD behaviours were greatly improved by Zrtec and his doctor agreed to prescribe this H1 antihistamine all year round. Recently, I stumbled upon a blog, rich with many comments of parents of kids with severer types of autism.  Here I noted some parents referring to “summertime raging”, and I thought to myself, I know what they mean.  Fortunately, I found out how to make it go away. Ant-histamine drugs The two most common antihistamine drugs are Claritin (Loratadine), its active derivative Aerius ( Desloratadine) and Zrtec (Ceterizine) and its active derivative Xyzal ( levocetirizine). The main action of an antihis...

  An interesting trial of a TNF- α and IL-6 inhibitor in autism has been brought to my attention.   It was by Michael Chez, the neurologist from Sacramento, who has made several appearances on this blog. By coincidence, a copy of his book arrived this week.   The book is called “ Autism and its Medical Management ”, Chez is one of the few mainstream doctors who does try and treat autism.   The book is rational, readable and in no way radical, so you could show it to your family doctor without upsetting him/her.   Chez does particularly focus on distinguishing regressive from non-regressive autism, as do I. His view is that it is regressive autism, even if it was regression from slightly abnormal.   The important part is that some learned skills, like language, were lost sometime after 12 months of age.   He believes that regressive autism has a different basis to non-regressive autism; he has his own ideas about this, but he admits there is no concr...

You may be wondering why, with so many research papers written about autism, so little progress has been made.   It is a very complex task, but nobody is coordinating it. How do you find a Boeing 777 missing somewhere in Asia?   Another daunting challenge, but with the right people and resources it can be done.   With the wrong people, it will prove to be impossible. Ashwood et al have documented the level of various inflammatory markers in autism.   Very helpfully, they created three groups: typical children, children with non-regressive autism, and children with regressive autism. Elevated plasma cytokines in autism spectrum disorders provide evidence   of immune dysfunction and are associated with impaired behavioral outcome Table 2, on the third page, tells us what we need to know.   Certain cytokine levels are markedly elevated in regressive autism, including IL-6 and TNF-alpha.   Furthermore, the difference between the two types of autism is dram...