Autism Treatment – Regression, Gut Problems and Autism Part 2 of 2

In the first part of this two part series we went over some of the ways we treat gut issue for children with Autism and how often times that brings improvements followed by regression. And when I have seen these kids over the years and refer them out to have them evaluated by a gastroenterologist, I wish I could do more myself, and when they have an intestinal scope done, many times we seen inflammation in the gut that is characteristic of Autistic entercolitis. And my go-to guy for these types of assessments is Dr. Krigsman. He has been the main doctor I refer people to for years now, he is a pediatric gastroenterologist in Texas. There are not many doctors around who can evaluate these children to the level where they need to be evaluated, in my experience, from a GI standpoint and be able to decipher the complexities of these issues. I have seen, through Dr. Krigsman’s assessments, just how inflamed some childrens’ guts are, some quite severely, and yet these children have an amazing ability to compensate for the pain they must be in.

But not every child manifests with this severe pain or distress. There is a very cyclical quality of gains and then declines, we see a waxing and waning effect of improvement and then regression, improvement and then regression and this repeats itself over and over and over. Crohn’s disease can be quite similar in this waxing and waning pattern of improvement and regression as well. You can do more research on Crohn’s disease in children, especially if you think your child fits this pattern of symptoms. You will quite often find that many children with Autism have the same bowel patterns as the classic definition and description of Crohn’s disease. I know this can be extremely frustrating, watching this pattern over many, many months or even years which is why I wanted to cover it. I would suggest that if you are seeing these issues in your child that you consider getting an evaluation from a pediatric gastroenterology specialist who truly understands the complex nature of this disorder in our children with Autism to figure out what may be happening in your child’s gut.