Want info on possible cures for autism/AS?

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I'm about to give up trying to explain since no one seems to understand me.
I'll try one last time. Here's criteria that meets the requirement for AS from the DSM IV-TR:

Some infections are known to cause fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, and other symptoms which could easily result in someone meeting the criteria for AS. Fatigue and brain fog can cause someone to ignore people and prefer being alone (first two criteria above). Someone who is suffering from this may compensate by wanting everything to be the same and be inflexible when someone wants to change their routine (third criteria above). This obviously doesn't mean that infections are the only causes of this behavior.



If Lyme disease causes symptoms that fulfill the criteria for autism, then wouldn't Lyme disease, by definition, cause autism. I believe it has already been proven that Lyme can cause profound fatigue, memory problems, slowed processing of information (which can result in meeting the first 2 criteria) and OCD (which meets 3rd criteria). I'm sure if you asked people with Lyme disease whether the criteria for AS describe them, I'm sure many will say yes. The International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society lists "autism-like syndrome" as a symptom of Lyme disease. It's at the bottom left of page 2 at http://www.ilads.org/PsychiatristBrochure.pdf The only difference seems to be that Lyme has to affect someone as a baby instead of as an adult.

If I understand correctly, autism is a label given to people who meet certain criteria. So wouldn't anything that results in fulfilling the criteria, by definition, be a cause of autism?

Okay, let me take a shot at this. Why not? In the spirit of communication anyway.

Multiple 'conditions' can cause the same symptoms, that doesn't mean they have the same "cause" or even the same "effect". Simply that the symptoms resemble each other. I'm sure many autistics, as well as many NON-autistic people test positive for the bacterial diseases you cite. I'm sure most autistic people over the age of 5 test positive for the virus that causes chicken pox. Or at a slightly older age the human papillomavirus. It can be like an episode of House sometimes they have to look at a dozen conditions to find what's making someone sick, and all those conditions may have the same symptoms.

I used to use this explanation to the schools dealing with my sons, before enough people around here learned what they needed about Asperger's. If you have two children, both of whom runs the 100 meter race too slowly, and you examine the first child, finding him to be overweight and out of condition. Not a surprise, this is America, so you start both children on a regimen of daily exercise, healthy eating and running wind sprints. A month later, you have both children run a 100 meter distance. The first child, the one you examined improves his time significantly, as expected. However, the second child, does not improve her time by any meaningful amount. You are shocked. Both children were given the same treatment, why didn't both improve? When you examine the second child, you find she has one leg two inches shorter than the other, and simply needs to be fitted for an orthopedic correction shoe. That is done, and her 100 meter time improves significantly. Two children, same "original result" but because of completely different reasons. One size does not fit all. One solution does not work for all problems, and if a child has a need, and you treat the wrong problem, you won't see any improvement.

Just because something looks similar, doesn't mean it has ANYTHING to do with something else.

(snort)

You are joking, aren't you?

No, Tequila, I am completely serious. And if that offends you then you're on the wrong forum (if I may say so).

That is bigotry at it's finest, Zendell. Autistics are a part of this world whether you like it or not. You can't control the environment to the point that Autism will cease to exist. That's impossible because no one understands the genes that are at the root - and that won't happen until people like you stop treating it like a curable condition!!

We WILL be accepted! Just like blacks, Muslims and any other minority group you care to name. It's called human rights. We are who we are, and we have the right to be who we are - and we have the right to be protected from vilification and hate speech (amongst other things). We are human beings - withOUT any disease.



It does NOT! It means that someone has done a crap job in diagnosis. It's either Lyme disease or it's Autism. Lyme disease does NOT equal Autism and it never will.

No, it's not that. Rather, it's the idea that you think people of different skin colours and creeds are accepted when evidence shows that that is not the case. De jure it may be so in many countries but that does not make it the case in practice by any means.

I have recently got out of AS - see http://unlearningasperger.blogspot.com/ - flame away! but that's the truth and hopefully others will similarly find ways out,
very best wishes, JC

Congratulations on overcoming AS. I'll check out your site. I'm more lower functioning with neurological problems that result in my symptoms but I'll see if it helps.

I think HFA and AS will be treated like skin color. Employers and others will hire and treat equally because they have to but like race, people will still see differences and not like certain things about us. It will be difficult to make friends and be treated as equals socially. I hope to recover soon which I think has a better chance of being accepted.

zendell wrote:

No one is ever "equal". I have no equal at work, just some close enough to make friends with, they have no equals either, just people close enough that they can interrelate. Nobody is ever equal except under the law. NT's don't treat each other equally, never have and never will. We're not exactly pack animals, but it's close. Human's congregate into groups, it's the way we are. Call it tribal if that fits, I don't care. The point is, being treated equally socially, is never going to occur. Being treated equally PROFESSIONALLY is the most anybody can hope for.

If someone is infected with Borrelia burgdorferi (bacteria that causes Lyme) then they are diagnosed with Lyme disease.

If Lyme disease causes symptoms that result in a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people AND a lack of social or emotional reciprocity AND an apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals, then the criteria for AS is met and the person is diagnosed with AS.

Many children have both Lyme disease and autism and the bacteria that causes Lyme is likely what caused them to be autistic. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's not true.

Here's why you can have both Lyme and autism - Lyme is diagnosed based on neurological symptoms. Autism is diagnosed based on behavioral symptoms. If the neurological symptoms result in the behavioral symptoms of autism, then the person has both conditions.

In the future, the diagnosis for autism may be changed to add:
Symptoms not explained by an infectious disease such as Lyme, mycoplasma, HHV-6a, etc.
Symptoms not explained by mercury poisoning

The change wouldn't mean Lyme doesn't cause autism. It would instead show that Lyme causes autism (since autism is a label based on symptoms that Lyme can cause). What they would do is test everyone diagnosed with autism and then rediagnose it as Lyme in everyone who tests positive and recovers with antibiotics.

My main point - Everyone diagnosed with autism or AS, including you, may be suffering from Lyme, mycoplasma, HHV-6a, and/or mercury and may be able to recover from autism with appropriate treatment. There may be genetic causes of autism also.

That's what I was trying to say. I agree with you 100%. I want to be accepted socially which is why I'm looking at causes that can be treated.

Well you don't have to be such a pain in the ass about it to everyone else.

zendell wrote:

This is meant in all honesty, it's not an attempt to be sarcastic. Then FIND other autistics and socialize with them. We really are ALL over. There are less than 200 people in my building at work and I know at least 4 other spectrum people, most of whom are my friends. I'm NEVER going to be accepted "as one of the boys", even though I'm a corporate officer. I will NEVER participate in that religious "sports talk" they all participate in. I think the world would be a MUCH better place if every professional sport was obliterated from existence. I was unhappy when I was younger. I knew I was different but I didn't know WHY. Now I do. It made ALL the difference in the world. Look it sounds hokey and I'm NOT into the mystical, but trust your feelings... hell use the Force. I found that if I just trust my inclinations about others, I find other spectrum people quite easily. If I sit and try to think it through, I'd never see anyone better acclimated than say... Rainman.

NO thanks , im happy with who i am , i have AS , sometimes it has helped me , sometimes it has hurt me , but i cant imagine living a different way !

Sorry. I'm not trying to be. I keep getting frustrated because it seems like no one here understands what I'm trying to say so I kept trying to explain it more clearly. You don't have to agree with me but I want to at least be understood.

I see what you're saying. I've had a few friends like me before but I haven't met many people with autism or AS. I wouldn't want to be NT if everyone was AS. It's really hard being different and every time I see a bunch of people having fun together it makes me sad that I don't have a group of friends that accept me or a group of people to have fun with.