PLT Test Blog

Today's post is only indirectly about autism, it is more to do with what expectations are realistic from medical science in 2013. I come from a family full of doctors and two engineers.  As one of the engineers, I know that engineering is a true science, and I had assumed that so was medicine.  In engineering the answers are either right or wrong, maybe or sometimes is not acceptable.  If you build 100 aeroplanes, full of maybe millions of components, you expect them work (ie not crash) everyday for 30 years.  An acceptable failure is much less than 1%, over the entire life of the planes.  So the science needs to be fully understood to the tiniest detail. The more I am reading about medical science, the more clear it becomes how little is really understood and how trial and error is behind many breakthroughs.  Many drugs, particularly in neuroscience, work for reasons not fully understood; or there are several proposed methods of action, perhaps one of...

If you are a regular reader of this blog you will know that the key to controlling autism is reducing oxidative stress and neuroinflammation.   One of the key drivers of the on-going neuroinflammation are signalling molecules called cytokines ; if you can limit the release of harmful cytokines you can reduce neuroinflammation.   This appears to be easier said than done.   I learnt that some statins limit the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and neuroscientists in the US are researching their use, but not yet in autism.   I did some home research and found a positive effect within 24 hours. It turns out there is an entire field of neuroscience relating to cytokines as a mediator of disease and this is all channelled through the Vagus nerve .  There is an eminent  neuroscientist, Kevin Tracey, who dominates this field; he is credited with discovering that vagus nerve stimulation inhibits inflammation by suppressing pro-inflammatory cytokine production ....

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...

It is widely known that autism and epilepsy are comorbid with each other. Statistics are not very consistent, but it appears that up to 35% of people with autism will develop epilepsy and something like 30% of people with epilepsy already have autism. My interest in epilepsy is currently just as a comorbidity, since Monty, aged 10 with ASD, has not exhibited any signs of it.   I will refer back to epilepsy in later posts when I attempt to “validate” potential autism interventions.   My logic is that if something has a positive effect across the majority of comorbidities, then I may be on to something.   For example, I found it insightful to read in a small study that nicotine patches reduced the incidence of epileptic attacks by 50%. I recently came across an excellent, highly readable, paper that I think all parents interested in ASD should read.   It is written by an Israeli lady who is also doing some other very thoughtful research into treating autism.   The...

Following requests for more information about supplements and drugs that really do seem to help with autistic behaviours, I have updated my "Top Tips" page.  Here is the updated information for anyone who is interested. You will find links to the science behind all these ideas in various posts on my blog.  Many of these are "off label" applications, since there are no treatments yet  licensed for autism. From comments received, it is clear people want "supplements" because they are available without prescription.  The rules vary widely from country to country.  A supplement in the US may be a drug in the UK and vica versa.  Or even a drug in UK is a supplement in Germany.  Just do some research on the internet.   Since I am not a doctor, this is not medical advice.  Since your doctor does not read the autism research, he/she will probably not be able to help you. Anti-oxidants Science established some time ago that oxidative stress plays a ce...

I have not met that many parents of kids with ASD; from those that I have met it, is clear that often the therapies applied are limited by the more skeptical parent.  There really are no therapies that everyone agrees on. So it is no surprise that sometimes my wife doubts the value of the therapies I am sharing in this blog.  She would far rather have a homeopathic wonder cure, than use drugs or ABA.  I saw today as an opportunity.  Monty, aged 10 with ASD, had been up half of the night with a virus and his Mum said "don't give him any of your medicines"; "OK" I replied. By 2pm Monty was in an increasingly bad mood, frustrated,  exhibiting obsessive repetitive behaviours and showing warning signs of mild self injury. So I mixed him up a Peter cocktail (1.2g NAC, 10 mg atorvastatin and 1mg of bumetanide) in orange juice.  Within 10 minutes things started to change.  Facial expression switched from anger to contented and, most telling of all, he sat at t...

Following on from my last, rather science-heavy post , in which I became convinced of the possible value of nicotine patches in autism, I found that in the field of Alzheimer’s, their therapeutic value has already been established. Autism is indeed not Alzheimer’s, but studies on brain samples in both diseases   have shown the same diminished acetylcholine and nicotinic receptor activity .   Also, note that the two Alzheimer’s drugs Donepezil and Galantamine, that are acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, were successfully trialed in autism.   I had proposed that nicotine patches might do the same job and hopefully without the side effects. Alzheimer’s research is well funded.   You will below how the research is very professional.   Paul Newhouse, Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit, Vanderbilt University Dr Newhouse has already been looking at the effect of nicotine on Alzheimer’s and MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment) for many years.   Only in 2012 though did h...