Autisum: It's not just in the head.

mle_ii · Post by **mle_ii** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 11:01 pm

I just finished reading an article in Discover magazine called "Autisum: It's not just in the head." writen by Jill Neimark. It's in the April 2007 edition. It talks about how autisum may be linked more to environment than we had thought and more a problem of the body which manifests in the brain. They have found that they were able to help some of these children get their lives back by improving the detoxification done by the body and removing toxins/heavy metals via chelation.

I can't help but think that this might be part of what's going on in ours and other diseases. It makes so much sense, especialy considering how similar a lot of they things they found wrong in these kids are things I'm seeing in myself, though minus the mental aspects. I'm most definitly going to pursue looking into having the heavy metals and toxins tested and to see if I can remove them and see where that gets me.

Very interesting indeed.

I highly recommend picking up the magazine or even reading it the local library.

Thanks,
Mike

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 8:22 am

Thanks for the reference, Mike.

I have major concerns about all of the chemicals/heavy metals, and other pollutants in our environment. Especially when it comes to developing fetuses and children, where the impact can so much more devastating (particularly on the developing brain). The increase in incidence of autism is scary , and I don't think it can be explained simply by better methods of diagnosing it.

Did the article mention anything about gluten/dairy as contributing causes to autism? There is a group of parents who have found that their autistic kids improve when gluten and dairy are eliminated.

Polly

mle_ii · Post by **mle_ii** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 10:49 am

It did mention how children were helped by removing gluten/dairy. It mentioned how some kids just got better in general when fasting for dr appts. They also talked about the methylation process and how it's messed up in autistic kids. Supposedly the dr who figured out the methylation aspect of it wrote something, but they don't mention what it is in the article so I'll have to do some sluething there.

Reggie · Post by **Reggie** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 1:58 pm

Here are a couple of links for methylation. They are too technical for me. The first guy, at WSU, is totally convinced.

http://molecular.biosciences.wsu.edu/Fa ... l_main.htm

http://phoenix-cfs.org/GSH%20Methylatio ... enburg.htm

mle_ii · Post by **mle_ii** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 2:23 pm

Reggie wrote:Here are a couple of links for methylation. They are too technical for me. The first guy, at WSU, is totally convinced.

http://molecular.biosciences.wsu.edu/Fa ... l_main.htm

http://phoenix-cfs.org/GSH%20Methylatio ... enburg.htm

Wow, thanks for that second link Reggie, it goes into the same things that are going on with me, specfically the glutatione and b12 being low.

mle_ii · Post by **mle_ii** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 3:26 pm

Here's a more recent article:
http://phoenix-cfs.org/GSH%20Methylatio ... enburg.htm

Reggie · Post by **Reggie** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 3:05 pm

The author is active on the CFS experimental group on Yahoo. I'm not too sure who he is or what his credentials are.

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/CFSFMExperimental/

mle_ii · Post by **mle_ii** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 10:32 am

Reggie wrote:The author is active on the CFS experimental group on Yahoo. I'm not too sure who he is or what his credentials are.

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/CFSFMExperimental/

Thanks Reggie, very good stuff up there with regards to this topic.

mle_ii · Post by **mle_ii** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 10:33 am

Seems the article is now online:
http://discovermagazine.com/2007/apr/au ... n-the-head

cludwig · Post by **cludwig** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 10:51 am

That's a great article, Mike.

It makes me wonder if the environmental toxins are getting to the babies before or after birth. If it is coming from the parents ...I wonder if prospective parents will begin to think about going through chelation before getting pregnant. Thanks for sharing. The connection between autism and CFS and the gut is pretty exciting.

Love,
Cristi

mle_ii · Post by **mle_ii** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 11:13 am

cludwig wrote:That's a great article, Mike.

It makes me wonder if the environmental toxins are getting to the babies before or after birth. If it is coming from the parents ...I wonder if prospective parents will begin to think about going through chelation before getting pregnant. Thanks for sharing. The connection between autism and CFS and the gut is pretty exciting.

Love,
Cristi

Yep, this might be one of those things that get overlooked and thought of as "genetic". Does make you wonder.

mle_ii · Post by **mle_ii** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 11:20 am

Huh, it appears that Acetaminophen might be a no no for those with low glutathone levels or those who want to increase their levels.
http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic819.htm

In acute overdose or when the maximum daily dose is exceeded over a prolonged period, the normal conjugative pathways of metabolism become saturated. Excess APAP is then oxidatively metabolized in the liver via the mixed function oxidase P450 system to a toxic metabolite, N-acetyl-p-benzoquinone-imine (NAPQI). NAPQI has an extremely short half-life and is rapidly conjugated with glutathione, a sulfhydryl donor, and is renally excreted. Under conditions of excessive NAPQI formation or reduced glutathione stores, NAPQI covalently binds to vital proteins and the lipid bilayer of hepatocyte membranes. The result is hepatocellular death and centrilobular liver necrosis.

The antidote for APAP poisoning is N-acetylcysteine (NAC). NAC is theorized to work through a number of protective mechanisms. NAC is a precursor of glutathione and increases glutathione availability to bind to NAPQI. It may also enhance sulfate conjugation of any unmetabolized APAP. NAC also functions as an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant and has positive inotropic effects. NAC increases local nitric oxide concentrations, and this vasodilatory effect on microcirculatory blood flow enhances local oxygen delivery to peripheral tissues. These vasodilating effects decrease morbidity and mortality even in the setting of established hepatotoxicity.

NAC is most effective when administered within 8 hours of ingestion. When indicated, however, NAC should be administered regardless of the time since the overdose. Therapy with NAC has been shown to decrease mortality rates in late-presenting patients with fulminant hepatic failure, even in the absence of measurable serum acetaminophen levels.

mle_ii · Post by **mle_ii** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 4:08 pm

In my research on glutathione I'm starting to wonder if lowered levels of this might play a key in the pathogenesis of MC.

What I found interesting is that gut bacteria can help elevate levels along with melatonin.

And take a look at this, I think that dysbiosis is a player in a lot of various diseases, as I'm sure you're already aware it affects glutathione levels.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... s=17217564
"L. fermentum significantly counteracted the colonic glutathione depletion induced by the inflammatory process."

Here we have melatonin having an effect, though the study is on rats:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... s=16927145
"Treatment with melatonin significantly increased GSH levels compared to those in TNBS-treated rats."

Oh boy and here's more related to colitis (Crohn's Disease), seems that there can be autoantigens generated towards glutathione peroxidase. That can't be good.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... s=16831593
Our findings indicate gastrointestinal glutathione peroxidase as a novel autoantigen in CD.

mle_ii · Post by **mle_ii** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 5:12 pm

I'm starting to wonder if Glutathione is involved in the problems folks here have with drugs and some supplements. Glutathione is involved in the detoxification of the body, if glutathione levels are low then one won't detoxify or get rid of these drugs easily and they can build up to toxic levels in the body.

I've heard various folks here say that the felt sicker and sicker the more they took some drugs, I believe I remember, Matthew, Bob, Cristi, specficially, were there others?

This might explain why Cristi has high mercury levels, were there others with heavy metals, and/or low antioxident blood levels?

Mike

cludwig · Post by **cludwig** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 7:24 pm

Hi Mike,

This has been one of the angles my naturopath is taking with me. She contends my liver isn't detoxifying well and I have been taking carnitine tartrate powder. I have been tolerating it well. She theorizes that this could be the reason for my blood labs being different from my excreting labs. The book Bob recommended talks about this supplement as being helpful...but also goes on to say that if you only attack CFS with a few things and miss a couple...you won't feel any better. Deep sleep and balancing the endocrine system are my missing links...IMHO. They wouldn't give me chelation therapy last year because I was too frail....but I am much stronger now...so will explore that as well.

I don't believe I have had my glutathione levels checked. It will be interesting to see what they look for at this CFS clinic.

Love,
Cristi