At the center of using biomed interventions to treat autism spectrum disorders, and other disorders as well, is the concept that a person’s gut “leaks”. One of my readers asked me how this can be. In my non-scientific way, I had described this as food particles actually slipping into the bloodstream where the immune system attacked them, causing inflammation.

I was partially right.

Our GI tracts are designed to digest food, convert food into energy and allow certain vitamins and nutrients to cross through the intestinal lining and into the bloodstream on carrier proteins. If a “gut” becomes too permeable, more than just the nutrients attached to the proteins start crossing... more

With LuLu on a megadose of antibiotics (two antibiotics for 14 days), I need to point out to those of you who haven’t experienced this yet…antibiotics are not particular about which bacteria they kill. While you definitely need antibiotics to rid your body of such nasty bugs as Strep or h pylori, antibiotics also wipe out the “good” flora of your intestinal tract, giving yeast a chance to take control.

I first discovered this as a new mother 16 years ago, when my baby began to get ear infections and be prescribed many rounds of antibiotics. She then developed the most gruesome diaper rash, that I quickly learned was a yeast infection.

So, anytime that one of us is on antibiotics,... more

Each day I wonder what I’m accomplishing. As a formerly goal-oriented person, I’m used to having my days mapped out with a “to do” list that I check off and feel as if I’ve accomplished something. I am also used to looking back over my scheduling book and seeing progress.

In the world of parenting and teaching LuLu, there are days where nothing on any list gets accomplished. The past two days have definitely fallen into that category. Actually, we have accomplished something, school wise, but it has not been what I’ve hoped for. My hope (which feels more like the... more

No kidding, this is a real allergy also known as cold hives or urticaria. The people who suffer from this allergy have a sudden reaction when they go out into the cold weather. When their skin is exposed to cold temperatures, histamine and other chemicals are released into the skin. Similar to other allergic reactions, the sufferers experience redness of the skin, itching, swelling, and hives. The symptoms frequently worsen as the skin is being warmed again. Honestly, if I had an adopted child tell... more

Finding biomedical answers to psychiatric, neurological and developmental issues is a hot topic of debate on some of the support group lists I read. Having spent the last two years exploring these types of interventions for LuLu, I admit that I have very mixed feelings about it all.

Like every other intervention or therapy we’ve tried, I was hoping that it was THE answer; the one thing to make her better. But as the years have waned on, I’ve realized that there isn’t a THE answer. So, what I’m left with is what will make her life better and her issues easier for... more

Histamine is responsible for your allergic responses – sneezing, watery eyes, a rash. Histamine is also involved in our tear production, our pain response and our sex drive. Having too much or too little in your brain chemistry can really cause problems.

Back in the mid- 1960s, Dr. Carl Pfeiffer discovered that many people with schizophrenia had abnormal levels of histamine in their blood…either too much or too little. Over the last four decades doctors have come to believe that about 2/3 of all those with schizophrenia have histamine problems. And Dr. Pfeiffer’s... more

What I know about histamine dates back nearly four decades. My younger sister developed her first signs of having asthma right after my mother stopped breastfeeding her. Soon, she learned that my sister was allergic (deathly allergic) to peanuts. She was also allergic to all types of other foods – eggs, chicken, legumes…and more.

In the 1960s there just wasn’t that much research out there on food allergies or the connection to asthma. And my mom didn’t have the internet. She had to rely on what local doctors told her ( in a Midwest farm town). But, like... more

Parents, you should be concerned about the health of your teenagers. The number of Americans with sexually transmitted diseases (STD), particularly those between the ages of 15 and 24, continues to rise. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates the number of newly diagnosed STDs each year in the United States to be 19 million. In 2006, there was over a million new cases chlamydia making it the most common reportable STD in the United State. Gonorrhea and syphilis also... more

Last week our 15-month-old daughter’s health care provider suggested that both she and our four year old be immunized with the flu vaccine. They are more vulnerable because of their young ages. However, we couldn’t get the vaccine right then because their office had run out. Today the office called to say they had received a regular supply and wanted to schedule a time to bring the children in to receive the shots. Unfortunately, only our 15-month-old daughter was eligible for the shots they have in stock because she is adopted and on our private medical insurance.... more

Researchers from the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands wanted to know if an adenotonsillectomy would reduce levels of potentially harmful bacteria growing in the back of the throat. Therefore, they conducted a study involving 300 randomly selected children who suffered from repeat throat infections. The children ages two to eight years either underwent an adenotonsillectomy or received careful follow-up care. Throats were swabbed at the beginning of the study and at three months and... more