Autism Treatment – Spring Allergies, Regression and Autism, Part 1 of 2

With springtime comes yeast flares many times for children with Autism. When spring hits, it is interesting, that for many children who have yeast overgrowth issues, we see this pattern time and time again over many years in my practice. And this happens even when their yeast is well controlled using various medications or supplements. We see the regression that can come with yeast overgrowth and many of those odd behaviors like inappropriate laughter, goofiness, giddiness, silliness and self stimulatory behaviors that we associated with high levels of yeast in children with Autism.

Of course we want to understand why this may be going on. It can be a challenge to understand exactly what is happening but the theory is that with any sort of allergenic response in the body then you will also increase the immune activation to those allergenic triggers like grass or pollen or other allergens. And in children with yeast overgrowth issues, they already have a shift in the immune function due to the yeast and that can be systemic or it can be from localized reactions, like in the intestinal tract or the mucosal lining of the nose or sinuses. And those reactions still have systemic effects as well. The yeast takes advantage of the situation when there is a shift in immune function due to allergies. It takes this opportunity to begin to grow and when it does, the metabolic activity of the yeast is increased as it grows and as a result you see an increase in biotoxins. These biotoxins have negative effects on the child’s behaviors, this negative reaction is what we call regression and we see those behaviors we associate with yeast overgrowth all over again.

In order to combat this issue, the first thing to do is to be aware of it and know it is coming. If you live in an area of the country where it goes right from being cold to be warm again, watch for any behaviors you usually associate with yeast. Ensure too that when the weather begins to warm up and you begin to spend more time outside with family and friends, doing fun things like picnics or having people over to enjoy the weather, that you watch the consumption of sugary foods, sodas, juices, etc. and for many kids that may need to be stopped in anticipation of the yeast flare. In the next article we will talk more about ways to address allergies and the yeast flares that come because of them.