PLT Test Blog

Today’s post is another one to fill in some of the gaps in this blog. Psychiatrists have long been using electric shocks, of one kind or the other, to treat their patients. There is even a special school in the US (the Judge Rotenberg Center) where they used electric shocks as aversive therapy, until very recently.    FDA Proposes Ban On Electric Shock Devices Used On Autistic Children   Cannabis, in the form of Cannabidiol (CBD), is currently the subject of an autism trial in Israel, home to some very innovative people. Electroconvulsive therapy ( ECT ) Electroconvulsive therapy ( ECT ), formerly known as electroshock therapy , and often referred to as shock treatment , is a psychiatric treatment in which seizures are electrically induced in patients to provide relief from mental disorders . The ECT procedure was first conducted in 1938 is often used as a last line of intervention for major depressive disorder , mania , and catatonia. As of 2001, it was estimated that ...

Regular readers will know that I believe in the value of investigating the comorbidities of autism.   We have a cleaning lady who comes each week to help keep our house in order.   She also understands the value of comorbidities. She is one of my independent observers, in changes in the behaviour of Monty, aged 10 with ASD.   She has a friend, whose husband was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s is not autism, but they are both examples of brain damage. Still in his early 50s, the husband does not recognize his children and cannot leave home.   The expert Professor, treating him privately, was not halting the rapid decline. So the cleaning lady asks me about all my investigations and decides that she might as well tell her friend.   She decided to suggest the antioxidant NAC and the cholinergic stimulant nicotine. Well, after NAC, the husband was able to make it to the WC and do his business.   A small step forward. After a day with the nic...

Piracetam was first synthesized in 1964 by a Romanian scientist called Corneliu Giurgea, who was highly unusual.  He was educated in then communist Romania, followed by research in Russia and then at the University of Rochester in the US, before ending up in Belgium, eventually as the Head of Research at drug firm UCB and being a Professor at a Belgian university.   How this was possible under the strict form of communism followed in Romania,  I do not really understand. Anyway, Giurgea was clearly very resourceful and he decided to invent a new class of drugs, to be called Nootropic. He stated that Nootropic drugs should have the following characteristics: 1.      They should enhance learning and memory. 2.      They should enhance the resistance of learned behaviors/memories to conditions which tend to disrupt them (e.g. electroconvulsive shock , hypoxia ). 3.      They should protect the brain against var...

This post is all about those stomach problems typical of many kids with ASD and some of their neuro-typical close relatives. Since Monty, aged 10 with ASD, does not have any of these problems, it is not something I have looked into earlier.   As you will see later in this post, by understanding the underlying science, we can move another step towards inhibiting systemic inflammation, which affects all people with ASD.   Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), First of all we need to differentiate two common conditions with very similar symptoms.   IBS is the less serious condition, though it causes lots of discomfort.   Irritable Bowel syndrome - IBS Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) sufferers show no sign of disease or abnormalities when the colon is examined. IBS does not produce the destructive inflammation found in IBD. It does not result in permanent harm to the intestines, intestinal bleeding, or the harmful complications often oc...