The Biomedical Approach to Treating Autism Spectrum Disorders: An Overview

ANJU USMAN, MD, is the

medical director o True Health Medical Center and Pure Compounding Pharmacy in Naperville, Illinois. She specializes in the biomedical treatment o children with autism/ADD and developmental delays. She has been involved in researching copper/zinc imbalances, metallothionein dysunction, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, nucca adjustments and chronic inections in ASD patients. She is actively involved in the Deeat Autism Now! movement as a speaker and advisor. She is also co-ounder o ACE (Autism Center or Enlightenment), a non-proft dedicated to education, resear research, ch, and support or amilies.

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AUTISMSCIENCEDIGEST:THEJOURNALOFAUTISMONE ISSUE01 APRI L 2011 

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REPR INT ED W ITH PE RMISS ION

www. autsmone.org

The Bi Biome omedi dica cal l a pp ppR Roach To TReaTinG auTism specTRum disoRdeRs: an oveRview By ANjU USMAN, MD

INTRODUCTION

A lance at cuent autsm statstcs leaves no doubt that we ae n the mdst o  a hoc epdemc that s nsdously “stealn” the health o thousands o ou chlden. Cuent estmates ae that 1 out o evey 110 chlden n Ameca ae ben danosed wth an autsm spectum dsode (ASD) (Centes o Dsease Contol and Peventon, 2010). Ts ate supasses the ncdence o both chldhood cance and Down syndome. rememben that t s medcally mpossble to have a enetc epdemc, the concluson that the autsm epdemc has envonmental oots s nescapable. Potental envonmental causes (a eecton o the toxc wold  we nhabt) nclude oveuse o antbotcs and exposue to heavy metals, pestcdes, plastczes, and pollutants. Te use o pescpton medcatons to teat chlden wth ASD s common. Howeve, the antpsychotcs spedone and now appazole, the only medcatons speccally appoved by the US Food and Du Admnstaton (FDA) o the teatment o autsm (o the symptomatc teatment o tablty), have the potental o seous and le-theatenn advese eects. Psychotopc medcatons, epotedly used by moe than 27% o chlden wth ASD, also ental numeous sde eects whose lon-tem consequences have not been establshed (Amecan Academy o Pedatcs, 2010). Moeove, newe studes epot that SSris (selectve seotonn euptake nhbtos), whch ae commonly pescbed o obsessve behavos, have lttle eect on autstc patents wth compulsve o epettve behavos (Kn et al., 2009). The bIOmeDICAl AppROACh

gven the sn numbes o chlden aected by the autsm epdemc, t comes as no supse that paents om aound the wold have tuned to novel, unconventonal, and/o o-label teatments to help the chlden wth ASD. in a evew o the lteatue om 1943 to the pesent, rataczak (2011) outlnes evdence o homones, metaboltes, amno acds, and othe bomakes bomakes pesent n sncantly deent quanttes n autstc subects compaed to ae- and sex-matched contols. rataczak  notes that these deences can be measued n the astontestnal, mmunoloc,

neuoloc, and toxcoloc systems o the body, wth some bomakes shown  wde applcaton. applcaton. in addton, thee ae unyn concep concepts ts thouhout the autsm lteatue shown nceased vulneablty to oxdatve stess, mmune luta matec dysuncton, and pneal land malu ncton. Ts evdence base, collected ove ove the past 50 yeas, can be used n a udcous manne to develop sae and ndvdualzed teatment statees o patents patents suen wth autsm. Ts appoach, oen eeed to as the bomedcal appoach, has aned momentum and cedblty ove the past decade as moe clncal evdence s atheed eadn the eal medcal ssues aced by ASD patents and the eectve medcal teatments that ae aleady avalable to them. Paents and loved ones o someone wth autsm have come to ealze that an autsm danoss need not epesent a devastatn le sentence no be pooly manaed by psychotopc medcatons. Te heat o the bomedcal appoach les n the pncple that autsm s a medical disorder , not a mental health dsode. Te soul o the bomedcal appoach (the local coollay to the st pncple) s the convcton that autsm s treatable . OveRvIew Of bIOmeDICAl TReATmeNT OpTIONs

Te bomedcal appoach to autsm seeks to teat patents by analyzn the basc body unctons, dentyn beakdowns, and usn a combnaton o vtamns, mneals, amno acds, nutaceutcals, homones, enzymes, pobotcs pobotcs and pescpton dus to heal aeas that ae mbalanced (rossnol, 2009). Bomedcal clncans can ode specc laboatoy tests to check o many o the metabolc and comobd medcal condtons that seem to exacebate autstc-lke behavos. Many bomedcal teatments seem to wok by deceasn oxdatve stess and/ o nammaton. Oxdatve stess, whch damaes tssues and s neutalzed by  antoxdants such as vtamns C, A , and E, s one o the coe medcal ssues that can be tested and addessed thouh bomedcal teatment. Evdence has mplcated oxdatve stess n many so-called psychatc dsodes, ncludn ASD ( james et al., 2004). 20 04). Othe studes n ndvduals w th ASD have descbed ceebal ceebal (L et al., 2009) and astontestnal (gi) nammaton (oente et al., 2002). Usn clncal tests to denty mpaed poducton o lutathone (the body’s man

remembeing that it is medical medicall l impossible impossible to have a genetic epidemic, epidemic, the t he conclusion concl usion that the t he autism epidemic has envionmental oots is inescapable. www. autsmone.org

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Ae ecevn a danoss o autsm, pevasve developmental dsode (PDD), o Aspee’s syndome (pesumn that enetc causalty has been uled out), t s mpotant o patents to undeo an electoencephaloam (EEg) to denty o ule out undelyn sezues. About 60% o moe o chlden wth autsm have subclncal sezue actvty, wth “subclncal” dened as abnomal electcal actvty n the ban n the absence o ull-blown sezues.

antoxdant and detoxe), bomedcal pacttones can ecommend appopate teatment. Eatn a vaety o antoxdant-ch oods and takn supplements such as lutathone and methyl B12 (whch helps the body make ts own lutathone) can allevate oxdatve stess and theeoe theeoe nammaton (james et al., 2009). Te top ten most eectve bomedcal teatment statees used ove the past decade (as epoted by 27,000 paents to the Autsm reseach insttute [2009] n San Deo) ae lsted below. Tese bomedcal nteventons, alon wth numeous othes, have been shown to esult n a hhe ate o patent mpovement and a lowe sde eect pole as compaed to phamaceutcal aents. 

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Vtamn B6  Manesum Znc Methyl B12 (nectons, o oal o nasal admnstaton) Essental atty acds (cod lve ol) Destve enzymes Melatonn Hypebac oxyen theapy  Detoxcaton (chelaton) Specal dets (luten-ee/casen-ee, Specc Cabohydate Det™, alley elmnaton elmnaton))

CONClUsION

Te bomedcal appoach to teatn autsm s n ts nancy but has aleady shown eat pomse n bnn sae and nnovatve teatments to ASD patents. A own numbe o chlden ae losn the autsm danoss completely as a  esult o ecevn bomedcal teatments. Tousands o these cases have been documented by the Autsm reseach insttute (Ari). Tese ecoveed chlden now have the potental to lead ull and poductve lves. We must contnue to leap owad wth teatments that addess the dsease pocess we call autsm and embace the pomse o a new, moe hopeul paadm. A eneaton o chlden’s lves depends on t.

REfEREncES

American Academy of Pediatrics. Child ren with autism frequently receive psychotropic medications. ScienceDaily. 2 May 201 2010. 0. 14 Februar y 2011 2011 Autism Research Institute. Parent ratings of behavioral effects of biomedical interventions. ARI Publ. 34, March 2009. Available at:  /www.autism.com/pdf/providers/ ParentRatings2009.pdf.

wo uthe examples can seve to llustate the bomedcal teatment appoach as t petans to autsm-elated sezues and gi dsodes.

Buie T, Campbell DB, Fuchs GJ, Furuta GT, Levy J, Van de Water J et al. Evalu ation, diagnosis, and treatment of gastrointestinal disorders in individu als with ASDs: A consensus report. Pediatrics. 2010;125(Suppl): S1-S18.

seIZURes

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. Published online June 1, 2010, http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/ features/counting-autism.html.

Ae ecevn a danoss o autsm, pevasve developmental dsode (PDD), o Aspee’s syndome (pesumn that enetc causalty has been uled out), t s mpotant o patents to undeo an electoencephaloam (EEg) to denty  o ule out undelyn sezues. About 60% o moe o chlden wth autsm have subclncal sezue actvty (Chez, 2006; Lew ne, 1999), 1999), wth “subclncal” dened as abnomal electcal actvty n the ban n the absence o ull-blown sezues. Subclncal sezues can oen be helped wth supplements such as vtamn B6, taune, manesum, ma nesum, and olnc acd o wth appo appopate pate medcatons. Some patents may expeence mpovements n behavo, lanuae, and speech when the subclncal sezue actvty s teated. GAsTROINTesTINAl sympTOms

in 2010, the ounal  Pediatrics publshed a consensus epot on the “evaluaton, danoss, and teatment o astontestnal dsodes n ndvduals w th ASDs” (Bue et al., 2010). Ts epot epot n a mansteam medcal ounal nall y acknowledes  what paents o ASD ch lden and bomedcal clncans have lon known, namely, that patents wth autsm oen have ut patholoy that may pesent wth behavoal ssues and aesson. Te specalsts epesented n the  Pediatrics  epot make t clea that patents wth autsm who ae expeencn astontestnal symptoms deseve medcal attenton and medcal teatment o ssues that may nclude abdomnal pan, astoesophaeal eux, dahea, constpaton, and even mtochondal dsease. Te bomedcal appoach—whch uses detay nteventons, pobotcs 12

(ood bactea), pebotcs (be that eeds ood bactea), destve enzymes, and natual antmcobals, antbotcs, antbotcs, and antunals—s antu nals—s oen helpul n teatn these gi condtons. Phamaceutcal aents may also be needed to teat moe dfcult cases.

AUTISMSCIENCEDIGEST:THEJOURNALOFAUTISMONE ISSUE01 APRI L 2011 

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