But yes, families with children with autism seem to have a higher incidence of autoimmune diseases in blood relatives. NATHANSON-LIPPITT: Yes, once again we are talking sub-groups. Do you find that there is a certain set of factors with the parents of autistic kids? Let’s say some immune issues or similar types of things?ĭR. One of the factors, like inflammation, clearly directs the doctor to investigate the immune system. So, you mentioned that there are certain family clusters and, in some ways, you can observe a certain proximity between siblings or sometimes a certain dependency between what the parents have and what their children have. So, there are different pathways that can lead to you having a person who is having trouble with language, with socialization, with a need for sameness, which we put together and call autism. We know that we have multiple indicators that many of the kids in the autism spectrum have high levels of oxidative stress in their bodies as well as signs of inflammation. SHENGAOUT: And your immunity wipes out the pathogen?ĭR. If that particular pathogen tries to get into your body again, your white cells immediately recognize an enemy and you’re got all your immunity troops line up to kill the pathogen. So we talk about the amount of antibody you have in your blood as the titer. And you are protected from that pathogen from those antibodies. NATHANSON-LIPPITT: When you get immunizations, your body makes antibodies against that particular pathogen. SHENGAOUT: Could you explain what protective titers are?ĭR. Overall, these individuals don’t have protective titers to, for example Whooping Cough, which is another of the illnesses that they often seem to have trouble making good titers for. For example, people in the autistic spectrum have a much higher incidence of elevated titers to the herpes virus called Herpes 6, which is not the genital kind that is more well-known by the public, and we often see many of these kids who have been fully immunized. There are also problems with inflammation. But many people also have problems with getting rid of these toxic elements and, once again, we see a much higher level of toxic accumulation in people in the autistic spectrum. Most of us are fairly good at getting this stuff out of our body. We are all, I think, familiar with the risks of lead in brightly colored paints on the things that kids chew on and eat, with mercury pollution from coal plants and other areas. We live in a very dirty world where sucking on batteries can get you a load of cadmium, playing on pressure treated wood can get you a load of arsenic. We also know that there is a subgroup of kids with autism who don’t detoxify well. So we know that there is the clearly genetic factor, and probably more than one genetic factor.
If you look at family clusters, you’ll see that close relatives have a statistically higher risk. We know from studies that if there is one autistic person in a family, there is an increased risk that other children in that family will exhibit autistic symptoms. Although many of them are absolutely not autistic, again, statistically the presence of Fragile X syndrome increases the risk of autism. Fragile X Syndrome is common in people with Down Syndrome.
This means that a very high percentage of people with Fragile X Syndrome are autistic. If you aren’t a good methylator you’ll have problems in many areas, including a problem with brain function, which can lead to autistic symptoms. The methyl group also makes things like Vitamin B12 functional inside the neurons. You can think of it as Mother Nature’s switch for turning on and off different genes. A methyl group is a carbon atom with three hydrogen atoms attached to it. Interestingly, many of these genes are involved with the process called methylation. The most common one that we see is Fragile X Syndrome which is a disorder of some of the genes on the X chromosome. NATHANSON-LIPPITT: First of all, we know that there are number of genetic disorders which result in a very high incidence of autism. SHENGAOUT: Which factors have been identified as causes of autism?ĭR. NATHANSON-LIPPITT: It’s more accurate to think of autism as an end point, a clinical picture you can arrive at from a number of different paths. Is it accurate to talk about autism as a single disease or is autism a category that includes a variety of conditions?ĭR. SHENGAOUT: My first question has to do with the term Autistic Spectrum Disorder. MICHAEL SHENGAOUT: Hello Linda! Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to answer some questions about autism and the types of therapies that exist for autism.ĭR. The interview took place between Michael Shengaout and Dr. Dr Linda Nathanson-Lippitt of Children’s Habilitation Center in Atlanta, has kindly agreed to talk to our magazine about autism, its causes and treatments.
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