PLT Test Blog

    A pathway to somewhere, hopefully Today’s post was prompted by our reader George’s observation that the probiotic Lactobacillus Plantarum 299v increased speech in his adult son.   This widely available probiotic is commonly used to treat IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and I did mention it in a recent post about Eubiotics. Eubiotics for GI Dysfunction and some Autism Increased speech is a target for many people treating autism and this probiotic is known to be safely used long term - so it is interesting. Since I already had this probiotic at home, I made a trial and I observed a very similar effect to what happened several years ago when Monty started to use Sulforaphane / broccoli sprout powder.   The effect of broccoli powder was a brief period of euphoria about 20 minutes later and a then a marked increase in verbalization.   The effect on mood was seen by some other readers, but not the majority. I recall back then a very happy parent who was feedin...

Reader’s of this blog will be aware that serotonin plays a major role in autism, and also in many other mental health conditions, like depression. Vitamin D also regularly raises its head in discussions about autism.   You may recall the Somali autism clusters in Sweden and Minneapolis; researchers suggested that the Somali immigrants were not getting enough sun and therefore lacked vitamin D and so produced children with autism.   I did point out that another large Somali autism cluster exists in sun-drenched San Diego. Even Martha Herbert talks about vitamin D deficiency and autism. A while back we had a guest blogger, Seth Bittker, present his opposing view, that too much vitamin D added to food in the American diet may be contributing to the rise in autism there. In same week that Seth has published his paper on this subject, yet another paper has appeared with the opposing view.   So who is right? The case for (even) more Vitamin D The first paper is:-   Vit...

Poly Genetic Theory of Autism Autism appears to be the result of the expression of multiple abnormal genes acting in concert, likely initiated by some external factor(s).   This would explain why there are so many variants of autism and why there can seem to be autistic-like traits in close relatives.     Gene-based Autism Research Several candidate genes have been identified, such as those linked to fragile X syndrome, tuberous sclerosis etc.   Researchers then follow the science from the target gene to identify a possible therapy.   At this point the researchers then seem to lose their scientific logic; they then try and apply their new therapy to all kinds of autism, i.e. the ones without the “faulty gene”. This really goes back to our current limited understanding of the brain, medicine is more art than science, and we should perhaps suspend logic and accept this trial and error approach as valid.  At least call it trial an...

  Today’s post has an impressive title and a year ago I would not have understood it, but it summarizes exactly what may be going on inside the autistic brain.   It fits into the wider puzzle of hormonal imbalances in autism that then manifest themselves into behaviours ranging from qwerky to extreme self-injury. Human emotions and behaviours are influenced by parallel signals from the nervous system (i.e. the brain) and the endocrine system.   The two systems are interconnected and so your state of mind in controlled by hormones that you cannot directly control and the nervous system which you can learn to control.   For example, you can make yourself happy, unhappy, or depressed with the power of your mind.   You can train yourself to overcome fear.   Some people are clearly very much better at doing this than others; but the potential to do so lies within all of us, autistic or neurotypical.   This also explains why singing makes you happy and rapid...