PLT Test Blog

Lake Geneva with its famous fountain (Jet d'eau) As some regular readers are well aware, people with autism are often prescribed psychotropic/psychiatric drugs to make them more manageable; this is particularly true of those who live in residential care homes and for those living in America. When it comes to adults, as Tyler just pointed out in a comment, 1 in 6 adult American takes one or more psychotropic/psychiatric drugs. These drugs do not treat the underlying dysfunctions in most autism, but do produce a more compliant/sedated individual. They often lead to weight gain and its associated medical problems; some of these drugs are addictive, some can cause irreversible side effects (e.g. tardive dyskinesia). In England there is a campaign called STOMP to stop this overuse of these psychiatric drugs in people with autism, which can only be a good thing. STEP Hopefully one day there will be a campaign to treat the underlying biological dysfunctions within autism, which could be c...

Amino acids in your body are the building blocks for making proteins. There are essential Amino Acids that you must obtain from diet and semi-essential amino acids that in young children are body is still not able to produce and non-essential amino acids that your body can produce.   There was an earlier post on Amino Acids:- Amino Acids in Autism  There are also sub-groups, Branch Chained Amino Acids (BCAAs) and aromatic.  The branched chained amino acids (BCAAs) compete with the aromatic amino acids for entry into the brain. Therefore, altering BCAA levels can affect the levels of the neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine in the brain.  Alanine Arginine (essential) Asparagine Aspartic acid Cysteine Glutamic acid Glutamine Glycine Histidine (essential) Aromatic Isoleucine (essential) BCAA Leucine (essential) BCAA Lysine (essential) Methionine (essential) Phenylalanine (essential)  Aromatic Proline Serine Threonine (essential) ...

After several months of testing Agmatine, including stopping and then re-starting, it is time to add it to my PolyPill . The idea to trial Agmatine came from our reader Tyler. It ticks all the boxes, it really does have a benefit; that benefit continues for at least several months. When you stop taking it, the benefit stops and when you restart you see the same benefit return. It is safe, inexpensive and widely available if you live anywhere outside the EU. Since it is relatively recent to the market as a supplement, it can no longer be sold in the EU until someone applies for it to be approved; long established supplements bypass this recent legislation. There were earlier posts evaluating why it might help some types of autism and now there even is one study on an animal model of autism.   Hypoperfusion in Autism Revisited   Nitric Oxide (NO), Arginase and Endothelial Dysfunction in Autism   Agmatine - a Magic Bullet inClinical Neuroscience?   Agmatine rescues auti...

I wrote this list because most people visit this blog and do not go any further into the details, either because they think this blog is nonsense, or it is just too complicated. It certainly does sometimes get complicated, but complex subjects require detailed attention. There is little point in looking superficially.   Understanding autism science is not beyond most people’s ability, but it does take time. It will not cost you a penny. Then you can make up your own mind as what is a novel therapy and what is likely a quack therapy. Some doctors do know best .  While your family doctor no doubt was taught autism is untreatable, some doctors who have a child with autism think differently and I do not mean MAPS/DAN doctors. Some mainstream doctors read the same research as me and successfully treat their child – an example of personalized medicine. In the ideal world they would all publish their experiences, but most keep it private. Autism is not a biological medical diagnosis ...

If you are looking for personalized medicine, you or your doctor need to be a good detective. Not to mention you need some clues. If you are treating a condition like autism and certain things cause a marked change in the severity of the condition, these are pretty good places to start. In the case of our reader in Delhi, it is Beta-lactam antibiotics (penicillin, amoxicillin etc), that consistently seem to improve her son’s autism. Improvement during treatment with antibiotics is reported quite often in autism, but with all kinds of different antibiotic.   Nothing is simple. For non-medical readers, there are several categories of antibiotics; common types including:- ·         Beta-lactams (e.g. Penicillins) ·         Macrolides (e.g. Erythromycin , Azithromycin ) ·         Fluoroquinolones (e.g. Ciprofloxacin )   ·         Tetracyclines...

Today’s post is about the non-academic benefits of treating classic autism, which mainly seem to come from raising cognition (IQ). Our reader Liz from Australia, whose five year old daughter has been using Bumetanide for two years, was telling us recently in her comments how her daughter can now go surfing with her four brothers. While we do all want success at school and mastering practical skills like doing up shoe laces, the importance of being able to actively participate with siblings should not be underestimated. Some siblings may be angels, but quite often there is resentment about having a sibling with special needs. One way to compensate is to have cool talents like surfing, skiing, fencing - something you can do well. When I started this blog I was contacted by an Australian doctor who has a son with autism, she went to the same university as me. Her son was diagnosed early with severe autism with MR/ID, but progressed remarkably well and attended a mainstream school. His cho...