[SPAM?] Re: pyrolia? Have they considered other GI dysfuction constipation,reflux

[Guest guest]

My son acts this way for stomach distress mostly. They should ask doctor about

constipation, Does she have anyone who can think this way helping her. They can

get a quick X ray of his gut and see if he is full of stool. Reflux and

inflammation and constipation and food or mold sensitivities seem to be alot of

the cause for this kind of pain behavior in kids, Doctors always attibute it to

their autism which is soo sad to me because so many are just in Pain. What

hospital are they going to? Do they have a DAN doc they can have call the

hospital to recommend some GI tests? Article may be useful for them to

read..copied..Treating the Body vs. the Mind

By RACHEL ZIMMERMAN

Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

February 15, 2005

Many parents of autistic kids have long argued that something other than

the disorder itself was causing some of their children's problems. Now,

mainstream medicine is beginning to acknowledge that.

The idea, embraced by a growing number of top specialists, is to treat

medical conditions that are common in autistic children. These problems

-- which include gastrointestinal disturbances, sleep disorders and food

allergies -- may be contributing to the children's behavioral difficulties.

While such conditions are frequently treatable, they often go undetected due to

lack of physician

awareness and the children's poor language skills.

Major hospitals, from Massachusetts General to the Cleveland Clinic, have begun

aggressively treating

underlying medical problems in autistic children, and researching how these

problems may be linked to

the disorder's symptoms. The movement got a big push this month when six

hospitals joined together to

form the Autism Treatment Network, aimed at coordinating an approach to a wide

range of potential

physical problems.

When 10-year-old Becky Sullivan began biting holes in her wrists and hitting her

own face so hard that

it bruised, two psychiatrists and a neurologist told her mother the outbursts

were behavioral problems

caused by her autism. One suggested an antipsychotic medication, but that didn't

stop the aggressive

behavior.

Her mother then took Becky to Massachusetts General Hospital

in Boston, where a pediatric gastroenterologist found that

Becky's esophagus was severely inflamed and covered with

ulcers. Her violent behavior likely resulted from frustration with

her inability to communicate the excruciating pain, the doctor

concluded. Acid-reflux medicines halted the problem almost

immediately. " She's a whole different kid, " says Becky's mother,

Jacquelyn Sullivan of Quincy, Mass.

Autism is a broad term used to describe a spectrum of developmental disorders

marked by language

difficulties and emotional withdrawal. Currently, there is little agreement

about what causes it, or why

its incidence appears to have increased tenfold over the past decade. Desperate

parents have often

stumbled through a morass of conflicting medical and behavioral advice, from

intravenous supplements

to swimming with dolphins.

Guidelines for an Exam

The Autism Treatment Network, which recently began meeting, plans to draw up

national guidelines for

a thorough physical examination aimed at catching medical problems that appear

to disproportionately

affect autistic children. The hospitals plan to gather data on patients and

publish findings on the

prevalence of different medical disorders in autistic children. Centers

participating in the network

include Baylor College of Medicine, Houston; Cleveland Clinic Foundation,

Cleveland; Columbia

University Medical Center, New York; Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston;

Oregon Health &

Science University, Portland, Ore.; and the University of Washington Medical

Center in Seattle.

" What we are trying to standardize is the concept that children with autism can

and do have health-care

issues just like typical kids and they deserve the same degree of attention,

evaluation and treatment, "

says Margaret Bauman, a pediatric neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital

and a member of the

committee that will oversee the new consortium.

One of the first priorities of researchers will be to settle -- through clinical

study -- the hotly debated

question of whether certain medical conditions, such as acid reflux, diarrhea

and other gastrointestinal

maladies, are more common in autistic children than in other kids.

For example, sleep deprivation, which can cause irritability and social

difficulties in healthy people of

all ages, appears at least at first blush to be more common in autistic

children. One small study found

that more than 66% of autistic children suffer from insomnia or other sleep

disturbances, compared with

only 30% of typical children, says , co-director of the pediatric

sleep clinic at Oregon

Health & Science University.

The autism network will soon begin collecting data on children and adolescents'

sleep patterns.

Researchers may also look for potential causes of the sleep problems, such as

defects in the production

of melatonin, a brain hormone that induces sleep, which preliminary work

suggests may be produced at

lower levels in autistic children. Some parents already treat their autistic

children with over-the-counter

supplements, but there's little proof they work.

Another area getting increased attention is food allergies. Scientists at

Massachusetts General and across

the country have begun looking for the reason that many autistic people appear

unable to tolerate certain

foods, such as wheat and dairy. Early research suggests the children have very

" permeable guts, " a term

that means the intestines allow certain substances to cross into the bloodstream

that would normally be

blocked, says Buie, the gastroenterologist who treated Becky Sullivan.

One theory of how this relates to autism is that the small proteins of wheat and

milk could bind to cell

receptors in the brain and alter a child's mental state.

Fade, a Medina, Wash., venture capitalist and parent of an autistic

child who helped organize

and raise funds for the new consortium, says he eliminated wheat and dairy from

son Mitch's diet four

years ago. The then-6-year-old's temper tantrums and anxiety decreased

dramatically, and the

unpleasant rashes on his body went away, his father says. The dietary change

didn't cure his autism,

diagnosed at age 2, notes Mr. Fade, but " there's a night-and-day difference in

what he can do. "

Another area the network will research is so-called metabolic disorders, where

the body can't properly

break down important biochemicals. One related problem that appears to affect a

small percentage of

autistic children is a malfunction in the mitochondria, small intra-cellular

bodies that produce the energy

needed to fuel the body, says Marvin Natowicz, a medical geneticist in the

neurology department at the

Cleveland Clinic. A mitochondrial malfunction could be responsible for the

extreme exhaustion found in

some autistic children, Dr. Natowicz says. It could also be somehow causing

other symptoms as

disparate as seizures, significant diarrhea and even constipation.

Supplements and Vitamins

Some physicians have tried giving high doses of certain vitamins such as B2, B1

and C, which are

believed to aid aspects of mitochondrial function. Another approach is to give

supplements such as

antioxidants or carnitine, an amino-acid derivative, which scientists believe

can neutralize the buildup of

certain compounds if the mitochondria aren't working properly. The consortium

plans to gather data on

children with a series of tests to screen for chromosomal and metabolic

disorders.

Until more is known, many doctors say parents with autistic children who are

acting out should press

their pediatricians to keep looking for possible medical causes -- and seek

multiple opinions from

specialists if necessary. " If the kid is being aggressive, self injurious, or

otherwise exhibiting odd

behavior or symptoms, parents should be unwilling to accept that as 'autism'

behavior until prove

-----csb-autism-rx wrote: -----I

To: <csb-autism-rx >

Sent by: csb-autism-rx

Date: 05/22/2005 02:29PM

Subject: Re: pyrolia?

Two things come to mind here. Severe GI pain, or possibly very low zinc.

Severe GI pain, especially if he cannot verbalize it, is a very real

possibility.

Please keep us posted.

Becky

pyrolia?

> Hello Everyone,

> This inquiry is for a 3y/o nv autistic boy who has really started to

> really try to hurt himself(alot of banging his head on the floor,throwing

> himself around)and trying to hurt others.He is in the hospital w/mom and

> it does not seem that the Dr's are looking for physical causes for this.I

> remember another child who became violent suddenly and someone?mentioned

> pyrolia(probably spelled wrong ,sorry)

> would someone know ,or have a reference I can share with her about what

> might be causing this

> Thank you

> theresa

>

>