Want info on possible cures for autism/AS?

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and i resent being called a curbie... if i was called one.

i dont want to cure myself... but i think parents should be able to do as they see fit. id rather parents "cure" their kid than turn into the witch on the autism speaks video who wishes she could kill her autistic kid and teaches her other normal kid who's all of like 5 MAYBE to say horrid things about her sibbling. it's disgusting.

ive always just wanted to know why... why.. why... is why i do science.

guess that's why we practice on rats. it's just a theory @ anyrate. i don't know anything of how it would affect personality.

Sedaka, what about the proportions of gray matter to white matter in autistic vs. NT brains. Is this an urban myth? Or is the implication that environmental rather than genetic controls are governing those developments? The last prevailing theory I remember reading about those proportions was, the additional white matter allowed each section of the autistic brain to operate a bit faster than an NT brain, but the separate brain regions did not communicate as well "between themselves". In other words, an autistic brain may be able to calculate a sum more quickly, but transferring sensory information from one brain region to another does not occur as quickly. Possibly resulting in our proverbial clumsiness. I've also seen it postulated somewhere that a higher proportion of white matter would possibly generate more "creative moments" as information is allowed to come together in new patterns.

It's not my theory. Researchers have tested autistics and found:
58% are positive for Mycoplasma
30% are positive for human herpes virus-6
25% are positive for Lyme disease
33% have ANA (indicates autoimmune disorder)
58% have anti-myelin basic protein autoantibodies (antibodies that attack the brain)

The infections found in autism are known to cause neurological problems. I don't see how autism can be considered a genetic disorder when over 80% of autistics test positive for infections known to infect the brain and cause neurological symptoms. People have recovered from autism (meaning they no longer met the criteria and had their diagnosis removed). I've seen the before and after videos so I know it happens.



Why would ALL autistic people have to have the same infection? There are several infections as well as toxins known to cause neurological problems. Anyone who has them in the first year of life can become autistic as a result of them.

Some infections and toxins cause permanent brain damage so the traits they cause may not entirely disappear. Also, some symptoms result in other problems unrelated to the infection. If a baby is given morphine from birth which results in him preferring to be alone, then taking away the morphine wouldn't cure him of autism because he would still have to learn social skills and how to interact with others. I mention morphine because many autistics can't digest casomorphin from milk which attaches to the opiate receptors in the brain because it's structurally similar to morphine. There's no reason for anyone to suffer from treatable conditions which is why I'm a little offended at the anti-cure aspies who want all of us to suffer.

Which proves what? Did you consider that at the most 58 percent of those with Autism are vulnerable to such things? You're making a connection that doesn't prove Autism isn't genetic - it's all circumstantial evidence that has an alternative explanation.

If you were right, the numbers there would be much higher - and one of them would be 100 percent.

To be blunt, you are introducing confusion into an area which can't cope with it. There are already enough quacks taking advantage of panic stricken parents introducing "snake oil" medicine as a cure, when the information available only serves to make a mess of the whole concept of understanding the Autistic Spectrum.

It's time to stop. You're hurting more people than you realise.

Why is it so important to you that Aspergers/Autism should be purely genetic, with no environmental factors involved ?

Most scientists working in autism now recognise that the " cause" is not purely genetic, that autism symptoms are the result of a combination of environmental factors and genes. That environmental factors act on the process of expression of genes to determine brain development. Which genes and which env factors is still murky, but it seems definite that both are involved.

What I'm wondering is why it is so important for so many that this not be true.
It's very interesting.

You've just proven my point exactly. I'm Asperger's and high-functioning, it made my life hell when I was younger but I've dealt with it and now it's not something I think about in my day to day life - I love my life and have a great time. We're all different, which is what I'm saying - we may have one term to describe us all, and symptoms and mannerisms and physical differences and behaviour and whatever else in common, but we're all still people with our own experiences and our own lives and everything else that makes us human. So why should any one of us have the right to tell another that they can or can't be treated (assuming a treatment for symptoms or the actual root of the disorder is ever actually found) if they want to be?? I don't particularly want to be 'cured' or whatever, but the next high-functioning Aspergian may be desperate to be. None of us has the right to tell another what they can or can't do in terms of their body and their life.

It's evidence that some causes of autism aren't genetic. What is an alternative explanation? When you say that every case of autism is genetic, you are saying that there aren't any toxins, infections, or other environmental causes that result in autism.



Does that mean that if autism is genetic then the same genes will be found in everyone with autism?

One woman suffering from Lyme disease and autism gave birth to three children while she was infected with Lyme disease. All three children were born autistic. All three tested positive for Lyme disease. Just because Lyme disease causes autism doesn't mean that every case of autism is caused by Lyme. I doubt anyone will ever find a gene that is present in 100 percent with autism.




I'm sorry you have trouble coping with being autistic. The information I mentioned is what gives me hope.



Some people are being helped and probably over 1,000 people have already recovered from autism and are now enjoying their life. The genetic anti-cure theory results in lifelong suffering. I'd say that's more hurtful than hurting a few people's ego.

I think most people who are anti-cure have AS (if they even have it at all) due to a normal genetic variation and don't need to be cured (because there's nothing wrong). I think having a high IQ makes it harder to socialize and interact with normal people which results in many of them being misdiagnosed with AS. For those of us with autism who are lower functioning, I don't think it's genetic. I think there has to be something else that causes it and it's backed up by dozens of scientific studies.

I don't think that wanting a cure or not wanting one has anything to do with "AS" or being "high functioning". The original anti-cure people (before it was particularly a popular opinion) did not meet this profile whatsoever. (It's not like "anti-cure" sprang into life all at once with a whole lot of high-IQ and "high functioning" "AS" people on a board somewhere.)

Because it's true perhaps?

Anyway, the truth is that Autism is genetic at it's base. Which is pretty much what you said in the rest of that comment I quoted from.



It proves nothing of the sort. Everything you provided could also be an environmental trigger to the Autistic gene which is already there (see Ouinon's post). That's the alternative explanation. And you only provide the tip of the iceberg in that regard as well.



The genes are also found in NT's - they just haven't been activated. In other words - YES.

The example you gave proves that Lyme disease can co-exist with Autism. It does NOT prove it causes it - at all. It also proves that you can pass Lyme disease on. AIDS works the same way.



I'm coping fine. What I'm not coping with is this insistence that AS is a disease with purely environmental causes. That's what gives the curebies hope and it's what confuses the whole process - and in turn stops the real hope. That AS will be accepted in the same way as skin colour. I'm sorry YOU have trouble coping with being Autistic, and you are believing a lot of snake oil medicinal propoganda. That's not helping you.



The suffering is brought on by a lack of tolerance, not by the condition itself. There are no "completely recovered from Autism" people. It's a propoganda crock. It's the result of placebos treating symptoms that are affecting the root condition. I say placebos because they are placebos for Autism. That is the truth. Curing Lyme disease (which I believe can be done) does not affect one's Autism - except where the symptoms of Lyme disease make certain Autistic traits worse. But it does NOT get rid of them. And that's just one example.

Cure the intolerance and you'll get a much better result than what you're talking about, Zendell.

Only the first one of the quotes above is mine; the others are from Zendells post.

Oops! Sorry if I embarrassed you in any way, Ouinon!

Has anybody else here looked over the paper attached to the thread about the "evolutionary origin" of Asperger's?? The one theorizing we gained traits from the residual Neanderthal population? I found the paper long, involved, questionable in a place or two but VERY though provoking.... It paralleled many things I've been thinking about for many years. In some respects anyway.

I believe autism, like most medical conditions, is the result of a genetic susceptibility to environmental factors. Genes can't be changed but the environment can be changed.

Saying autism is genetic is like saying lung cancer is caused by a genetic disorder. Some people smoke 3 packs/day for life and don't get cancer. Others hardly smoke and get cancer. Even though genetics play a role, it's the toxins (cigarette smoke) that ultimately causes lung cancer. Cigarette smoke can be avoided but genes can't be changed.

Autism may be caused by a genetic susceptibility to vaccine damage. The Amish probably have the genes associated with autism, but don't get autism because they don't get vaccinated.

Lyme disease causes serious neurological symptoms which affect behavior and could easily result in a child born with Lyme fulfilling the criteria for a diagnosis of autism. That means the Lyme bacteria causes autism.



I hate to tell you but autistics will NEVER be accepted. People will always see us just like they see the mentally ret*d, people with Down Syndrome, and the mentally ill. I believe the only hope is a cure or enough treatment to make one improve the neurological problems as much as possible.

And that seems just to not be true. I spent quite a number of hours on the net today to do some research on that topic - and it looks like you have the most of your basics from the LIA Foundation (read "Lyme Induced Autism"). Well, we always have to be a bit critical on where infos come from, and you seem to be very critical on info coming from official/corporate sources (see the mercury thread), but be happy to copy very uncritical from an association that includes the result of their research in a kind of a magic anticipation into their name. Would you expect any result from their funded research other than what their mission = name is ?

Fact seems that there is nothing backed up by any scientific studies, neither a genetic cause nor any other.
The lyme connection might in a couple of years proof to be spot on, but also maybe show that it only is an infection with symptoms which in some cases have wrongly been diagnosed as autism.
As long as science in fact has nothing but unproven theories I really would prefer if people would be a bit careful in offering "cures".