Actress Jenny McCarthy talks openly about her son, Evan and his diagnosis with autism in her book, Louder Than Words. In her search for help for her son, Jenny has switched Evan to a gluten free diet, which – along with medication, therapy and supplements – has shown some very positive results for them. Evan, who once communicated no more than one word at a time is now fully conversational and can maintain eye contact – in other words, interacting like a normal child.
The theory is that some people suffer from a receptor sensitivity to glutamate. There are receptors located on the surface of the brain. Those receptors receive information from other chemicals, similar to the way a key works in a lock. So glutamate is responsible for triggering the NMDA receptor in the brain. When the glutamate triggers the receptor, it unlocks the electrical activity in the brain. Then you have the electrical activity in the brain which causes the electrical transmission of chemical impulses, this is all necessary for normal brain function.
Before we proceed any further, let me give you a general definition of autism. Generally speaking, autism is a medical condition that affects the neurological development of young children. The result would be repressed/slower communication and interaction in every day society. Furthermore, autism will cause a child to repeat a series of actions that are driven by motor muscles. These repetitions appear to serve no purpose and is still considered to be baffling by experts since they could potentially injure the autistic.
Symptoms
They could pick on a specific toy and play with the same thing all day long every day, while not even playing in the same way that most other kids would. It is common to find a patient with autism sitting and staring at a wall for long hours or just lining up their toys; they could repeat body movements all the time, and when in distress they could harm themselves by biting or knocking their heads against a wall.
Autistic patients tend to be extra sensitive with certain specific stimuli like sounds, sights, smells, or textures. They could hate the smell of new clothes… bad enough to never want to touch them. They might also dread the sound of falling rain… enough to freak out screaming when they hear it. Often they appear to be mentally retarded, but this has been proven to be non-generic; however, they do tend to have intellectual abilities that have been professionally put down as the savant syndrome.
Communication: This is and can be quite a tricky issue. The reason is because there are many different characteristics where communication is involved. Common communication symptoms in autistic children can vary from one who are not able to communicate with any clear audible words from the very beginning to one with excellent skills, repeated phrases/words to one who starts off as being able to speak and communicate normally before experiencing problems during later stages. Classic autistic children communicate by using their hands and other bodily movements as opposed to actual words in general. On top of this, they also tend to repeat words and phrases that they are familiar with and those that might otherwise come across as odd to normal individuals.
1. If a baby does not look you in the eye, does not look intently at toys, or will not search with their eyes when their name is called can be an early warning sign of autism.
2. A baby who shows no facial emotions, such as grimacing or exuberance or anger or fear.
3. A baby who doesn’t mimic your actions, whether it’s smiling, scowling or waving your hand.
4. A baby who will not try to create consonant sounds, or imitate the sounds you make when you talk to him or her.
5. A baby who is not energized by the objects he or she looks at..
Treatments
Many children with Autism suffer from cholesterol levels that are too low, but there is an effective therapy to help. The focus for years in the medical community has been on high cholesterol. High cholesterol increases our risk factors for things like heart disease and stroke and yet low cholesterol also presents health risks too. Yet most doctors would encourage low cholesterol to help ward off the risk of heart disease. But having cholesterol levels that are too low can disrupt hormone development, as well as have negative effects on the immune and nervous systems.
How can you know if a gluten and casein free diet will help your autistic child? Research has still not shown conclusively how – or if – it works. However, there is no reason not to try it with your child, because there are plenty of good food substitutes for the the foods you would have to eliminate from the child’s diet. A gluten and casein-free diet is still a healthy and nutritious diet for your child. One recommendation though, is that you not make a sudden switch, especially in younger children, because it can cause withdrawal and a worsening of autism symptoms. It is better to slowly switch the child from restricted foods and introduce new foods over time. You need to give the new diet at least six months before you can expect to start seeing results.
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