Our son Nicholas was diagnosed autistic at the age of three

Nicholas’s Story

Our son Nicholas was diagnosed autistic at the age of three. At 3,5 we started an ABA programme with CARD and finished it in three years. Nicholas now is 7, he is in a mainstream school doing reasonably well. His academic achievements are within normal range for his age though his social sckills are slightly behind. He is very sociable and despite him being clumsy, naïve, and hyperactive, children want to play with him and he has got quite a few friends. Looking back now nobody could predict that a little boy without any language, constantly self stimulating, eating very little apart of milk from a baby bottle could undergo such a transformation. On the whole what happened to him can only be described as a miracle. However, his achievements are not due solely to the ABA programme. A huge part of it was and is his nutritional management which we devoted a lot of time and effort to. Being trained as a medical doctor I knew that conventional medicine has nothing to offer children like our son. So, I went back to university and trained myself as a nutritionist. We have changed Nicholas's diet as well as the diet of the whole family and after trying various nutritional supplements we have found the one's which work. This process took years and we are still learning. But I would like to share what we have learned so far. Perhaps it will help other parents to help their autistic children.

Before talking about nutritional management it is important to understand what is happening with your child. I will try to describe my understanding of it.

The father of all medicine Hippocrates stated more than two thousand years ago that human health begins and finishes in the digestive tract. And that is where autism begins. The crucial part of the digestive tract is about 1,5 kg of bacteria that live there. Without them we simply can not be healthy. The functions of normal gut flora, known to science so far, are multiple and far reaching.

Normal balanced gut bacteria:

· have a protective and barrier role against invasive pathogenic micro-organisms by producing antibiotic-like substances, antifungal volatiles (AFV), and surfactins that dissolve the lipid membrane of envelope viruses and bacteria .

· play a major role in the digestion and absorption of all nutrients.

· provide a major source of nourishment and energy for the gut lining.

· synthesise various aminoacids, vitamin K, panthotenic acid, thiamin, riboflavine, niacin, folic acid, piridoxine, and ciancobalamine.

· play an important role in recycling of bile acids and normal cholesterol metabolism.

· play a major immunomodulating role by stimulating antibody production, interferon synthesis, and inhibition of IgA degradation (IgA is secreted into the lumen of the digestive tract in response to coming food and is essential for the proper digestion of that food).

This microscopic world within us is highly organised. It is dominated by certain "good" bacteria which keep under control a huge variety of pathogenic "bad" bacteria, some of which are resident in the human gut, and others are constantly arriving with food and water. Some of these residents, like the well known Candida Albicans, an opportunistic fungus normally harmless, once out of control, can absolutely ruin one's health. Other species like Proteus and Clostridia, when out of the "good" bacteria's control, contribute to the development of ulcerative colitis, Chron's disease and cancer.

Babies are born with a sterile gut. In the first 20 days after birth their gut flora is largely established. Breast feeding, particularly in the first few days when mother's breasts produce colostrum, insures normal colonisation of the baby's gut with balanced, properly organised microbial flora. For whatever, yet unknown reason, autistic children develop deficient gut flora. While purely breast fed, these children may be developing quite well, as mother's milk is the easiest thing on Earth for the baby to digest and absorb and it provides that essential immune protection to keep the "bad" bacteria under control. But, as these babies get weaned off the breast to other foods, things start going terribly wrong. Lacking properly established "good" bacteria in the gut, so essential for appropriate food digestion and absorption, an autistic baby starts developing multiple nutritional deficiencies (vitamins, minerals, essential amino acids and fatty acids) which has got a drastic effect on it's development. In parallel pathogenic and opportunistic microbes, not being controlled by weakened "good" bacteria, grow big colonies and transform into active states (like in the case of Candida which transforms from its inactive one cell state into highly invasive micelle). This growth produces a whole host of toxic substances which go into the blood stream and, to put it simply, poison the baby. The developing brain is particularly sensitive to these "poisons" as well as to the nutritional deficiencies. As a result, whatever skills the baby has developed, while exclusively breast fed, are gradually lost, there is no normal development of language, comprehension, behaviour etc. - all of which you are very familiar with. Milk and wheat, being main weaning foods for babies, become main foods for the pathogenic microbes. That's why many autistic children become "intolerant" to these foods and feel better when they are withdrawn from the diet. Why? Because the less you feed pathogenic microbes, the less toxins they produce,- hence the less autistic symptoms you see.

Coming back to the digestive system, most parents of autistic children recall constant problems like diarrhoea, constipation, colic etc.. Well, hosting an abnormal microbial mass, of course the gut can not be healthy. Normal gut flora is a major source of nourishment and energy for the digestive tract itself. The gut lining, being malnourished, at the same time is attacked by growing armies of pathogenic bacteria, viruses and fungi. Damaged gut lining becomes "leaky". It allows substances through which normally should not be absorbed. The immune system recognises these substances as foreign and attacks them - hence allergies.

Normal gut flora is the right hand of the immune system. It keeps it constantly stimulated and balanced in producing the right amounts of various immunoglobulines as well as providing it with proper nourishment. A person without normal gut flora can not have strong working immune system. That's why autistic children are prone to so many colds and other infections, like the ear infection, for example, when the child gets treated with antibiotics, which damage the gut flora even further.

The picture would be incomplete if we don't talk about an extremely important system in human body - the detoxification system. This system, like a big ministry, has got its head quarters in the liver and its representatives in every cell of the body. It is responsible for cleaning and eliminating all the by-products of our own metabolism as well as environmental toxins. Of course, the major source of toxins in a child with abnormal gut flora is its own digestive system. To work efficiently the detoxification system has to have a good supply of certain minerals, vitamins, amino acids and fatty acids - all the substances an autistic child is deficient in. As a result, in autistic children the detoxification system can not work at an optimum at the same time as being overloaded with toxins. Not being able to deal with the toxic overload, the body stores toxins in order to eliminate them later. Unfortunately the storage site for these toxins are fats. The human brain is largely made of fats, so it becomes a dumping ground in a developing child.

On the whole the picture looks hopeless! And yes, that is the official position of professional medicine. You probably all can recall that traumatic moment of the diagnosis "Autism", being announced to you by your doctor followed by a statement "There is nothing that can be done.". Well, being a doctor myself, I have to say: "Your doctor is wrong! There is a lot that can be done." You all know what miracles an ABA programme can do. But it is not enough. An autistic child needs a very special nutritional management, a major part of it being - putting his gut flora right! Gut flora is a living organism very sensitive to the diet, quality of drinking water (chlorinated water is very damaging, it is best to drink bottled mineral water or install a good water filter), antibiotics, steroids and stress. A diet full of sugars, wheat, processed foods and soft drinks with all the colorants, flavourings and preservatives not just alters gut flora by feeding the pathogenic microbes, but changes the whole body metabolism altering its pH towards acidic. This has got far reaching and immediate consequences: altering the brain chemistry, altering microbial flora in other body areas (skin, upper and lower respiratory tract, vagina, bladder etc.) which predisposes children to eczema, asthma, ear infections and colds and having a direct damaging effect on the immune system. Morning cereals, so heavily promoted by profiting companies as "health foods", are highly processed products full of sugar and salt. An autistic child should not be near them. Cereals on the whole are not recommended to any person with digestive tract problems. They are very hard to digest and can be very damaging to the unhealthy gut lining. The diet of an autistic child should mainly consist of eggs, meats (fresh, not preserved), fish, vegetables, fruit and nuts. The fresher and closer to the way nature made it, the better is the food you give your child. Vegetables and fruit are best uncooked. Carrot sticks, cucumber, tomatoes, freshly prepared salads and home made vegetable soups are all a major part of our son's diet. For snacks between meals he has plenty of fresh fruit and nuts and seeds. Nuts are a wonderful source of nutrition for children. They can replace milk as an excellent source of calcium, magnesium, zinc and other minerals essential for normal bone development. We use ground nuts instead of wheat flower for baking and making pancakes. Unfortunately, some children are allergic to nuts. It is important to make sure that it is a true allergy and not a food intolerance, as children with food intolerance can start tolerating nuts after a healing process is underway.

Diet on its own is a very powerful tool in helping an autistic child. But it can not solve all the problems without nutritional supplements. After trying various combinations of antifungal drugs and nutritional supplements without much effect we heard about a new probiotic called Primal Defense. Most probiotics on the market are very weak. Primal Defense contains a unique combination of bacteria very effective in eliminating Candida and other pathogenic species and restoring normal gut flora. It was a huge relief to replace 10 or 15 various supplements we were giving Nicholas with just one Primal Defense and one colloidal mineral and vitamin supplement which we all take. We followed the manufacturers instructions on the dose building it up slowly to the therapeutic level, staying on the high dose for three months, then reducing it to a maintenance level. Nicholas has been taking Primal Defense for 16 months now. From about two to three months after starting it we saw dramatic improvements in our son - his eye contact became normal and stable, the self-stimulation had almost disappeared, he generally became more aware and with us. This probiotic has got strong immuno-stimulating properties. In this year Nicholas had no colds. Everybody comments on how healthy he looks. The important thing that we have noticed is that on those rare occasions when he eats wheat, sweets or cakes, he does not react to them the way he used to. The reaction is much milder and does not last. Nicholas used to be on a milk free diet. Two months ago we introduced milk back into his diet and found that he tolerates it now without any symptoms. It has been recorded that people with food intolerance after using Primal Defense start tolerating foods they used to be allergic to. This probiotic also is said to increase absorption of nutrients by 50% which addresses the nutritional deficiencies problem of autistic children.

Having seen the results on Nicholas we have tried Primal Defense on the rest of the family. Our younger son has got a pre disposition to asthma and eczema. He has been taking Primal Defense for about a year now on a very low dose - just 2caps a day. He had no colds, eczema or asthma episodes all year. He used to be allergic to dust and no matter how clean we tried to keep his bedroom he would wake up congested in the morning. For the last year, while taking Primal Defense, he was waking up absolutely clear despite the fact that I got quite lazy with his bedroom. We introduced milk back into his diet at the same time as Nicholas and he is tolerating it very well without any of the symptoms he used to get. I myself have got a pre disposition to rheumatoid arthritis and used to be plagued with Candida. After going through the course of treatment with Primal Defense I am a different person. I feel healthy, full of energy and everybody comments on how well I look.

As a final step we installed a Kitchen Spring water filter in the kitchen. We use it for all water which we use in preparing drinks and food, including cooking. Everything tastes better, and we can be sure that no chlorine is damaging our healthy gut bacteria, and that no toxins from agricultural chemicals in the tap water are getting through. It is very economical at about a penny per litre, compared with 20 - 40 pence per litre for bottled water.

Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride

MD & Consultant Nutritionist

August 2000

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