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Lyme-Induced Autism. Multiple Causative Factors, Environmental and Genetic
Sat, 06/01/2013 - 11:19am
Autism And Lyme Disease Are Connected, Lyme-Induced Autism Study Finds
by
03 JULY, 2008
Lyme disease may play a role in causing autism according to a recent study published in Medical Hypothesis, a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
A team of five physicians led by Robert Bransfield, M.D., analyzed the two diseases and discovered a connection based on epidemiological findings, symptom similarities, case reports, and laboratory test results.
The Lyme-Induced Autism (LIA) Foundation has paved the way for studies such as this one. Led by Tami Duncan, herself the mother of an autistic child, the LIA Foundation was established in 2006 by a group of parents who suspected the connection but recognized the need for scientific research.
Collaboration on the Medical Hypothesis study began during one of the LIA Foundation national conferences, which have attracted top physicians from around the country.
Charles Ray Jones, M.D., considered the nation's leading pediatric Lyme specialist, was one of nine presenters at a recent LIA Foundation conference held on April 12, 2008 in Fort Lee, New Jersey. "I've treated over 10,000 children with Lyme disease," Jones said during his presentation. "A good many of the children, we've found, have had autism-spectrum disorder."
Warren Levin, M.D., was also present at the New Jersey conference. He described the case of "a terribly ill autistic kid...who tested positive for Lyme disease." Subsequent to that case, Dr. Levin "started screening all autistic patients...and nine in a row tested positive for Lyme disease."
The LIA Foundation hosted their most recent conference on June 27-29, 2008 in Indian Wells, California.
To educate the public about the Lyme-autism connection, LIA Foundation president and co-founder Tami Duncan recently co-authored a book on the topic with author Bryan Rosner. Rosner has written three books on Lyme disease.
"Lyme disease is not the only causative factor in autism," Rosner says. "We know that many other environmental and genetic triggers are involved. However, Lyme disease is the fastest spreading infectious disease in the United States, with an estimated 200,000 new cases per year. Autism cases are also exploding. If Lyme disease can contribute to the onset of autism, then we are onto something big here."
In their book, Duncan and Rosner describe a correlation between the geographic incidences of the two diseases. "The ten states with the highest incidence of Lyme disease are the same states with the highest incidence of autism," Duncan says.
"Research also suggests that Lyme disease can be congenitally transferred from mother to child during pregnancy, even if the mother is unaware that she is infected," Duncan continues. "This can account for the early onset of Lyme-induced autism in young children."
Duncan and Rosner do not believe that the Lyme-autism connection hypothesis is new. Their book states that parents, caretakers, and researchers have long suspected the link. But the recent conferences and peer-reviewed studies are important because they attract the attention of the medical community, which can lead to life-saving research.
"New medical truths do not have significant impact until they are packaged and presented according to accepted guidelines," Rosner says. "The connection is not new, but it is finally receiving proper attention."
To learn more, visit the LIA Foundation website at www.liafoundation.org. Rosner and Duncan's book, "The Lyme-Autism Connection," can be ordered from www.lymebook.com/lyme-autism-connection orwww.amazon.com. The publisher is BioMed Publishing Group, South Lake Tahoe, California, (530) 541-7200.
Lyme-Induced Autism Foundation www.liafoundation.org
Find Original Artilce at: www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/113734.php
This is a wonderfully done piece and I thank MedicalNewsToday for making it available to share here. Divergent thinking is brought into play in this article, importantly -- many different causes -- plural. Genetics and environment combined.
I have noticed a connection between autism spectrum disorder and fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue/exhaustion, and when I was in occupational therapy school learning about 'sensory integration dysfunction', now called 'sensory processing disorder', it seemed to me that it was on the autism spectrum, and perhaps midway between profound autims and a perfectly normal neurological system. I had one client who had gotten chronic fatigue and chronic Lyme symptoms after a motor vehicle crash; she was a medical worker and got the besst brains in the city working on her case with her as a proactive patient. They surmised the neurologic trauma allowed the Lyme to tip the scales and get headway within the host that had been harboring it for an unknown amount of time. She was middle aged, a mother, wife of a emergency responder who happened to have been on duty when her crash occurred.
These are the cases that, over time, a professional like me who sees patterns of things starts to see connections, and that is where studies perhaps can start getting some interest, as this article refers to. I try to communicate any good hunches I think I have to others who might be able to add it to their hopper of observations with patients.
And so I have added my observations which are clearly subjective and relatively minor, here. Lyme, FMS, autism, sensory integration, personality disorders, mood disorders -- I'm seeing them all on the 'palate' of people with chronic illness with connections of causes that are environmental triggers working upon the genes that each person has, which are different. And don't forget the very studied and very proven connection of increased childhood trauma, or adverse childhood experiences, resulting in more chronic illness in adulthood and shortened lifespan. Autoimmune disorders, it's about a 25% increase over people who had lower stress in childhood, when the brain and nervous system are developing and most easily influenced.
The restrictive 'one thing causes another' thinking that simple science of our past was so successful with progressing us to another level simply is making it difficult for allopathic medicine consumers or professionals to figure these complex disorders out, because it focuses on 'cause' and 'effect'.
I just watched Katie Couric's website coverage of the May 30, 2013 show about autism, and she said 'cause'. And so every time you hear 'cause'/singular, make sure you stop and think 'it's causeS'. And help educate others to get in that habit of more divergent thinking. I cope Katie gets out of her convergent thinking of a singular cause.
Here is the link to go to the website this is from. Please take the journey if you're looking for a quality website about Lyme. I always encourage with Lumigrate.com's forum topics that are simple cut and pastes like this -- go to the source I've gotten them to (just remember to come back here if you want more from us!).
I attempt to whittle things down and cull out the things that are not as valuable to the most people in order to have less for our users to wade through, and thereby your knowledge can progress in an effective, more efficient manner. There are MANY online resources that are good, I just try to find the few select ones that I think are the best for hitting that 'valid and progressive' sweet spot! Hopefully we overall have a few FUN things in the forums as well, or warmhearted things, sprinkled around, such as our cache of Yenta articles in the fibromyalgia/chronic pain forum.
But for a terrific website for those interested in Lyme and/or autism, I suggest this link http://www.ilads.org/lyme_research/lyme_articles1.html and naturally, as you see at the top, MedicalNewsToday is where this was from and they clearly have done a wonderful job assembling this progressive, valid information. The link to the original article is immediately above the line ^. Live and Learn! Learn and Live Better!! ~~ Mardy
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Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!
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For those interested in seeing Temple Grandin's segment on the Katie Couric show recently, here's the link. You can find more there about autism, they were going to be doing a bit of focusing on this topic with a blog, and the other segments / people on the show that day were very good, it was a well thought out episode.
It's fun for me to see Dr Grandin, as she spoke to my occupational therapy class in 1996 before she was famous as she is today. Her office on the Colorado State University campus was just across the way from the OT building, she is a professor of animal sciences and was able to think in pictures and to also intuitively know what cows were feeling on her aunt and uncle's ranch.
Seeing the animals calm down in the squeeze machine used when being vaccinating gave her the idea to create something similar for herself and that is now used around the world with people who can benefit from having deep, consistent pressure. Naturally, there are other ways of getting deep pressure and you'll see her mention in her interview that she is very sensitive to scratch clothing. She dresses in the same manner the young men with Aspergers who came to me for driving rehabilitation dressed, I noticed, only half the time being diagnosed and knowing they had something on the autism spectrum. There is also an HBO movie, which won at least one Academy Award, about Temple Grandin. Again, another quality resource, and you'll see, she's pitching a new book!
www.katiecouric.com/videos/temple-grandin/
Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!
I would like to invite people at this point of this topic thread to follow the link to the topic I provided titled "Are You Loaded?"; about why I'm seeing so many patients from young to the elderly with these symptoms and conditions. I hope they will further people's understanding of the information and answer everyone's overall questions related to the general 'load theory' that I personally and professionally subscribe to.
http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/are-you-loaded-what-i-see-causing-illnesses-soar-children-through-elderly
"There is no one to blame. There is simply taking action!"........Wm. Marcus Spurlock, MD Dr. Spurlock presently works in Dallas, TX treating people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Bio-Identical Hormone Deficiences and Environmental Illnesses. He has been doing this work exclusively for the last 9 years. In the fall of 2011 he opened a new health center; please visit his website, which is where he posts education beyond what is sprinkled at Lumigrate. http://www.renewedvitalitymd.com/ Through a total body approach, the treatments he and his team provide are 85-90% successful in returning patients to their previous health potential. You can see his complete vitae in Lumigrate's forum "About Our Writers" (link: http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/my-vitae-wm-marcus-spurlock-m...), and the majority of his contributions on Lumigrate are in the FMS/CFS/CPain section, where you'll see a forum which includes his name: http://www.lumigrate.com/forums/health-issuesdis-eases/fibro....
Over the past 15 years, many research studies have been published in leading scientific journals showing that the majority of children with autism have signs of mitochondrial dysfunction.
In 2010, a groundbreaking study in the Journal of the American Medical
Association (JAMA) reported positive blood markers of mitochondrial
dysfunction in 80% of children with autism. Many other studies have
since supported these findings.
In 2012 researchers compiled the results of 18 different studies on
mitochondrial function in autism and found that, across all the studies, 78%of those with autism had blood tests indicating mitochondrial dysfunction.
(For more information, see the review article by Dr. Dan Rossignol and Dr.
Richard Frye: Mitochondrial dysfunction in autism spectrum disorders: a
systematic review and meta-analysis. Molecular Psychiatry 2012;17:290-
314.)
Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!