Aspergers/ASD support thread

chrisewey76

here here. i agree. i didnt know anything about it until i was watching a makeover program, of all things! they were doing a room for an autistic boy and i just twigged that my son shared alot of the characteristics!

Zara33

Ted have you shares in the vitamin d industry as it appears vitamin d is your cure for everything.

Cazzywazzywoo

Good luck -having an autistic child is a huge challenge, but with you fighting his corner he will be just fine.

I don't want to concern you (I am sure your son is very different to mine), but I just wondered if there is anyone else out there with similar problems to me.

My son is 12 years old and severely autistic. We have had a lot of problems along the way. He is still non verbal and is now increasingly violent. We made the decision to recently place him in full time care. He has since broken 3 TV sets, injured himself (required surgery). All of his furniture has had to be bolted to the wall and he has still managed to pull some off. I feel gulity, but I have 2 more sons who I have to keep safe. We have him home every Sunday for 6 hours -which we can just about manage. He takes Risperidone which helps a lot -he was even worse before. I know it is the best for the family as a whole but I still feel bad.

Is there anyone else out there with similar issues?
Thanks
Cazzy

lil_me

Cazzy I know what you mean with the violence & damage, this has been part fo our lives for many years now with my sons autism, I don't know anyone who has chosen the same path, many who employ carers within the home to help but none who have chosen to place them in full time care whilst still a child (a couple in adulthood but parents were ill and unable to care) possibly there will be someone on https://www.asd-forum.org.uk in the same situation ?

Ted_Hutchinson

Zara33 wrote: »

Ted have you shares in the vitamin d industry as it appears vitamin d is your cure for everything.

Vitamin D3 is free from sunshine. All you have to do is to take off your clothes and lay in the sunshine for 20 minutes at midday and you will get 3 days supply (12000iu) for free. Now who's going to get rich out of that?

Similarly if you visit The Vitamin D Council website you will find links to several suppliers. The cheapest of which sells 250 X 5000iu capsules for £13ish that's enough to last someone who cannot go into the sun one whole year or someone who does use sunshine in the Summer and Supplements in the Winter 2yrs.
Do you really think that's sufficient to make anyone very rich?
Or is that you think staying vitamin D optimal throughout the year isn't worth £6.50, when it's proven to reduce colds and flu by 70% Reduces cancer incidence by 60% and also has an impact on heart disease, obesity, osteoporosis osteoarthritis and I can go on and on and on. What more to you want for your £6.50?

Do you think there isn't a vitamin D insufficiency epidemic?
Read this

Do you think people who have one autistic child shouldn't be told of a possible simple explanation that they could safely use to prevent the family having all their children become autistic?

Of course this theory isn't proven yet but there is NO RISK at all attached to becoming and staying Vitamin D replete. Why risk all those conditions and possibly having autistic children for the sake of spending £13?

Having optimal Vitamin D status 125nmol/L also means you gain maximum muscle performance and so will achieve your peak athletic performance.

If you've read all 11 pages of the paper, understood all the research that is linked to and have any valid points to make regarding this thesis then I'd be pleased to hear your considered opinion, but to sneer that I have some ulterior motive in persuading people to take their clothes of and lay in the sun reflects more on your lack of common sense than it does on my ethical integrity.

Zara33

Ted_Hutchinson wrote: »

Do you think people who have one autistic child shouldn't be told of a possible simple explanation that they could safely use to prevent the family having all their children become autistic?

Having a child with autism who is 12 years old i can safely say this is the very 1st time i have ever heard your statement, so i think i can have a differing opinion than you.

Nicki

I also have a child with autism and consider myself to be well read on the subject, and I too have never heard that there is a link between Vitamin D deficiency and autism, nor could I see anything about it in the article which you posted, Ted.

I would ally myself very firmly with Zara33 in taking umbrage at your suggestion that parents of autistic children are putting all future children at risk by not supplementing with Vitamin D. There are many many theories about what causes autism, almost all completely unproven and some quite dangerous. To even hint that a parent could be at fault for causing later siblings to also be born with the condition because they do not sign up for one theory proposed on an internet forum by someone who is not an expert in autism seems to me to be completely insensitive, particularly as we will probably still be beating ourselves up for our mercury fillings, childhood vaccinations, parenting styles, mode of delivery, PND, diet during pregnancy, subject studied at degree level and all the other "links" which have been suggested to us over recent years!

BTW I also don't believe that children "become" autistic - my child was certainly born that way!

Ted_Hutchinson

Nicki wrote: »

I also have a child with autism and consider myself to be well read on the subject, and I too have never heard that there is a link between Vitamin D deficiency and autism, nor could I see anything about it in the article which you posted, Ted.:

The fact you haven't read of it before is not surprising. Dr Cannell only posted this information to his website today and you were one of the first people to read about this theory.

The fact is that at the link Autism and Vitamin D. there are 11 pages of argument discussing the theory in detail I'm sorry you can't see that the thesis is a lack of vitamin d is causing the rise in autism. Perhaps you should read all 11 pages again and where there are little green florets move your mouse over them and click the link to read the evidence which Dr Cannell is using to support his theory.

I would ally myself very firmly with Zara33 in taking umbrage at your suggestion that parents of autistic children are putting all future children at risk by not supplementing with Vitamin D.

there are many good reasons for supplementing with Vitamin D while you are pregnant.
Low Vitamin D During Pregnancy May Result In Smaller Babies
Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy: an ongoing epidemic ...
Assessment of dietary vitamin D requirements during pregnancy and ...
News - Maternal Intake of Vitamin D during Pregnancy May Protect ...
But the fact is that even with pregnancy vitamins most pregnant women have insufficient vitamin d status and many babies are born vitamin d insufficient. We are in a Vitamin D insufficiency epidemic but most people aren't aware of the facts.

The point is that supplementing with Vitamin D3 is absolutely safe and totally risk free. and at £6.50 for a Winters supply pretty cheap. Where it's a case of a low cost no risk bet and the potential gains, in reduced cancer, cold/flu/heart attack etc risk the extra benefit of possibly avoiding autism and asthma are additional benefits that should be considered.

BTW I also don't believe that children "become" autistic - my child was certainly born that way

While you may be right that your child was born vitamin d insufficient and autistic Both the brain and the blood of autistic individuals show evidence of ongoing chronic inflammation and oxidative stress. That is, the autistic disease process is progressive and probably increasingly destructive.
The point is you don't have to remain Vit d insufficient as the brain is developing (the brain grows up to age six) If this ongoing inflammation could be interrupted, the symptoms might improve. Hope for a vitamin D treatment effect lies in activated vitamin D's powerful anti‑inflammatory properties. So ensuring your child has optimal vitamin d status will do no harm and may by providing sufficient vitamin d3 to ensure the maximum anti-inflammatory potential is available, do some good.

Ted_Hutchinson

Zara33 wrote: »

Having a child with autism who is 12 years old i can safely say this is the very 1st time i have ever heard your statement, so i think i can have a differing opinion than you.

I'm sure that this will come as a shock to many people. It is a new theory and it will take some getting used to.
But just because it is new and a novel way of looking at the subject is not a valid reason for disagreeing with it.
Do you know what your vitamin d status is?
Do you know what your child's vitamin d status is?
Only if you can say for certain that your vitamin d status is optimal 125nmol/L or at least above 100nmol/L and under 165nmol/L can you be certain you and your child have sufficient Vitamin d.

Maybe you know that you have both been taking 4000iu a day for the last few years but I doubt it.
Maybe you both lay outside in the sun at midday in you swimming cossies for 20-40 minutes whenever the sun is shining but somehow I doubt you do that at least 3 times a week.
Do you really know how much Vitamin d your body uses daily?

I don't think most people are aware of just how much new research has been done on Vitamin d in the last few years. Since I became interested the number of tissues known to use Vitamin d has gone up from 30 to 51.
Today I learned that over 200 genes are dependent on Vitamin d.
there's not much point in having genes/tissues hanging around waiting to do their stuff if the vitamin d they need to kick into action isn't present.
Pleiotropic is the word they use to describe the many different effects that vitamin d instigates.

Nicki

Ted_Hutchinson wrote: »

While you may be right that your child was born vitamin d insufficient and autistic Both the brain and the blood of autistic individuals show evidence of ongoing chronic inflammation and oxidative stress. That is, the autistic disease process is progressive and probably increasingly destructive.
The point is you don't have to remain Vit d insufficient as the brain is developing (the brain grows up to age six) If this ongoing inflammation could be interrupted, the symptoms might improve. Hope for a vitamin D treatment effect lies in activated vitamin D's powerful anti‑inflammatory properties. So ensuring your child has optimal vitamin d status will do no harm and may by providing sufficient vitamin d3 to ensure the maximum anti-inflammatory potential is available, do some good.

Sorry Ted but how can you say without seeing my child and testing her blood that she was born Vitamin D deficient!

As I say I have read round the causes of autism widely and in particular have read the studies of MRI scans done on random samples of autistic individuals in a number of different countries. These show that most people with autism have brain structures which are identical to NTs. I have not seen any studies which show that those with autism routinely have signs of any inflammation of the brain, much less that this is chronic and epidemic.

Furthermore autism isn't a "disease" it is a developmental disorder, and whilst some children do get worse over time, others improve following early intervention and during puberty, without recourse to Vitamin D.

You may well be correct that in some cases Vitamin D may improve some symptoms, but you have posted nothing which makes me think it is helpful in all circumstances, and I still feel that you do need to be sensitive when you post on a subject such as this both that you do not hold out false hope to parents, and also that you respond to parents in a less waspish fashion than I feel you did to Zara33, who I suspect like me has read very very many theories on the ways to help her child, and now takes them all with a pinch of salt!

That being said, I don't want to run the risk of this thread being hijacked into a Vitamin D discussion as it was started to support Dummie through her diagnosis process, so it may be sensible if you have further thoughts on this either to start a new thread or to PM anyone who is interested in it.