The nutrient deficiencies can occasionally cause extreme behaviors; some children with autism have been reported to have actually gouged out their eyes due to a calcium deficit. If your child is pushing at his eyes, supplement calcium, magnesium, and vitamin D3, and get him in the sun. Nevertheless, researchers took skin biopsies of 12 children with burn injuries and tracked their vitamin D levels for seven years. They found that the children’s skin (even unburned skin) became so inefficient at generating vitamin D that exposure to sunlight alone does not produce enough of the vitamin!
Hyperacusis, which is defined as abnormal acuteness of hearing due to increased irritability of the sensory neural mechanism; is characterized by intolerance for ordinary sound levels. Unlike hypersensitivity to low-pitched hums, this is hypersensitivity to all sounds making day-to-day life a misery. One report links 40% of autism cases with Hyperacusis! - page 20
Another parent’s report on head banging (often thought to be due to chronic pain) is of interest: “I told a friend about annatto 160b as her two-year-old daughter had been splitting her head open head banging. My friend has kept her daughter off the annatto for a week now and her daughter has stopped head banging. She still gets in the position when she is throwing a tantrum but doesn't bang her head. This is the only additive she has removed!” – by email. - pages 22-23
Finally, these kids are hypersensitive to everything: sound, light, touch, and colors. Typically, bright yellow will drive them up the wall leading to all sorts of aberrant behavior. This sensitivity is usually related to a deficiency of vitamin B6, zinc, and magnesium. It can be from a G-protein defect. - page 47
Since a major consequence of this immune imbalance is allergy, it is good to note some frequent manifestations. “Toddlers have excessive infections. They whine, they pinch, they hit, they spit, they kick, and they bite in excess between two and four years. They bite their siblings, their mother, in particular, and sometimes their father. They have excessive temper tantrums. They have a lot of intestinal symptoms. They vomit clear mucous, and that means milk allergy. They dislike being held. They say the same sentence over and over again. They’re hyperactive, fatigued, and they have bowel problems. These are characteristic symptoms that frequently are related to something they ate, touched, or smelled. (You can often tame the Terrible Two’s with a zinc supplement—WSL.) Any food can cause diarrhea, but the food that’s most apt to cause constipation in any age group is milk and dairy products. Abdominal complaints such as swelling, belching, bloating, rectal gas, that sort of thing, is the result.
“Bad breath is almost always milk, wheat, and eggs. Bedwetting, after age five, if it’s related to a food, is due to milk or it’s due to a fruit juice. Soiled underwear, when they leak, and they have a little bowel movement on their pants all the time, is frequently due to grapes and raisins, but other foods can also cause it (like undigested fats, shown by light-colored stool—WSL). Leg aches, called growing pains—take the milk out of the diet for a week, then add the milk back, and you’ll see that many leg aches are due to milk sensitivities. Again, there are other causes for leg aches, but this is one of the causes. Clucking throat sounds—that’s a milk allergy. The potbelly is very characteristic of people who have food allergies. There are many other causes; you may have parasites, enzymatic dysfunction, or a malfunction in your gut, but one reason is allergies.
“Learning, behavior problems, and depression: Young children four and five that want to kill themselves. Again, ask what did they eat, touch, or smell? They have headaches. They make strange noises. They bark like dogs. They have asthma, hay fever, and eczema. When a person eats a food that causes eczema, which is an itchy rash in the creases of the arms and the legs, the area will get red when you’re eating the food, and the next day, they have the rash. So, there’s a delayed reaction, and that makes it difficult to put cause and effect together. But, if you watch the skin while they’re eating, you’ll be able to tell when it feels red and hot and that’s when they’ve eaten a food to which they are sensitive. - pages 86-87
Aggressiveness and self-injury behavior can sometimes reduce rapidly as a result of anti-fungal treatment. Aggression has also been connected to both too much and too little magnesium. Usually, it is too little. Magnesium controls the breakdown and loss of serotonin in the synapse, and it is the best calcium channel blocker. - page 87
When treated with oxytocin, which neutralizes the effects of stress, within one week, autistic children become much more relaxed. Within the next week, the child will start to remember social events. Oxytocin controls the memory of social events, and autistic kids can’t remember social interactions that they had only hours before. Oxytocin is also instrumental in the ability to read facial expressions. Autistic children can’t do this. It can also help reduce stimming, which typically disappears when oxytocin levels are restored. They show better eye contact and better language expression. The protocol for using oxytocin is quite complex. – Dr. Jorge Flechas, MD. Unless Dr. Flechas has trained your doctor, a negative response to oxytocin may result from inappropriate administration. Nevertheless, it is better to restore the body’s ability to naturally excrete oxytocin as discussed above. - page 109
Aggressive and violent behavior was greatly reduced, and a fantastic increase in academic performance in math and English occurred in New York City Schools in a 1986 study (Schoenthaler 1986a, 1986b). The number of learning-disabled kids fell by an astonishing 74,000 in one year. They simply removed sugar from the school diet! They served nothing with more than 11% sugar (fruit). - page 141
One Mom found that an Epsom salts bath immediately following eliminated after-swimming problems in behavior. So, if you must swim, do the bath immediately after coming from the pool. For home pools, one Mother reports, “An ionizer cuts down chlorine use by 70-80%. Since installing this, we don’t see the reactions anymore.” - page 274
Pacing and stomping is likely a sign of restless legs. This is described as ants crawling under the skin until one cannot hold the legs still. They must be moved. This will often manifest at bedtime. It can be caused by too great an intake of calcium, or a lack of magnesium, and vitamin B6. One report told that a balancing of calcium/magnesium benefited, but the addition of adequate zinc stopped the restless-legs syndrome. There are many possible causes of restless-leg syndrome. Strong associations include kidney failure, some nerve disorders, vitamin B12 deficiencies, pregnancy, iron deficiency or anemia, hypothyroidism, and some medications (such as antidepressants). About 50% of those who have restless-leg syndrome have relatives with the same condition. Some say drinking warm salt water helps (sodium? Chloride?); others eat a banana (potassium? Serotonin?). Alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine can make it worse. In one study of pregnant women, it was found they lacked folate. Unfortunately, the typical medical approach is to do nothing or to prescribe a dopamine agonist (a drug that attaches to dopamine receptors). Studies do indicate a lack of dopamine, but that can be best supplied by a supplement of tyrosine. - page 301
A recent study showed that NO autistic patient had a normal melatonin (MLT) circadian rhythm! Moreover, autistic children showed significantly lower mean concentrations of MLT, mainly during the dark phase of the day, with respect to the values observed in the controls (causing sleep problems for sure). CONCLUSION: The results of this preliminary study suggest the existence of a pineal endocrine hypofunction in autistic children—Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2000;21(1):31-34. Methinks every child and his Mom should take 1-3 mg melatonin whether he has a sleep problem or not! - page 63