Tackling autism, child by child

Today’s post is to highlight an unusually well informed article about autism, pointed out to me by our reader Natasa.  

It is about how autism is treated by Dr Richard Frye at Arkansas Children's Hospital.  If you read the article, you may wonder why your pediatrician is unaware of these methods.

Click the link below to read the article.

Tackling autism, child by child 

Interview Series with Leading Autism Researchers

Seth Bittker, a regular reader of this blog and our occasional guest blogger, is creating an excellent interview series with leading autism researchers.

These interviews will be of interest to all readers of this blog.  There is something for everyone, whether you are the type that reads the literature in detail, or is more interested in the lay summary.

There are three interviews, all with podcasts, and more will be added later.

1)    Dr. Richard Frye on folate receptor alpha antibodies and folinic supplementation in autism. 

2)    Dr. Robert Hendrenon his recent double blind placebo controlled trial of methyl-B12 in autism.  

3)    Dr. Derrick Lonsdale on thiamine deficiency and supplementation of thiamine derivatives in autism.   

Good work Seth!  I am sure he will be interested in your suggestions for future interview candidates. 

By the way, in the third interview, Dr Lonsdale refers to his preferred thiamine supplement called TTFD, this has been used for decades in Japan.   It is also called Fursultiamine and the Japanese brand name is Alinamin, which is made by Takeda, a major Japanese company.  The Japanese website (in English) is here.

Takeda have various combinations with other B vitamins and some are sold on Amazon/eBay.  Some with very high amounts of B12.  

In interview number two above, Dr Hendrenon clearly does believe in the merits of extra B12 in autism.  His trial did inject the vitamin, rather than take it orally. 

It is best to only supplement at high doses the B vitamins that really help in your specific case; there are known  negative reactions to some B vitamins, so best to go through them one by one.

There is also a version of TTFD sold as Allithiamine by a small US company, Ecological Formulas, which Seth is investigating.

So as long as swallowing pills is possible, you have the opportunity to replicate Dr Lonsdale's trial and see if you have a responder or not. 


Side Effects of high dose B vitamins

According to the University of Maryland taking any one of the B vitamins for a long period of time can result in an imbalance of other important B vitamins, they suggest taking a B-complex vitamin which includes all B vitamins.

This might explain why some people who initially respond well to high doses of biotin, vitamin B7, later experience a negative response. 

Many people do not respond well to high doses of multiple B vitamins as prescribed by some DAN-type doctors.

Dr Frye, from interview number one, is also a big believer in B vitamin supplementation.

Clearly B vitamin supplementation needs to be much better thought out, to keep any good effects, without developing any bad effects.