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Home Tag: "ASD" (Page 2)

Tag: ASD

6Nov

Autism, more accurately known today as Autism Spectrum Disorder, or ASD, is an extremely complex condition. One of the most challenging aspects of ASD is the fact that it has so many possible behavioral symptoms that for centuries, it wasn’t even recognized as a single condition, and different symptoms were thought to be completely separate, distinct disorders. In fact, it wasn’t even until the 1980s that ASD was formally recognized as a distinct medical condition. Before this, ASD was sometimes misdiagnosed as a form of schizophrenia, at least partly because some ASD symptoms responded to antipsychotic medication.

Today, the treatment of ASD is much more comprehensive, and there are many options, both medical and behavioral, to help ASD patients and their families to understand and manage the symptoms. But what is ASD? How do people exhibit ASD symptoms, and what causes this condition?

Not A Disease

First, it’s important to understand that ASD is not a disease that is caused by the transmission of bacteria or a virus. Unlike pneumonia or even something mild like a headache or an upset stomach, taking some prescription medication doesn’t make ASD go away. There is no cure for ASD. Once ASD is diagnosed, this is a lifelong condition that must be taken into account for a person’s daily life activities, just like the precautions that need to be taken for people with asthma, diabetes, or even geriatric conditions that come with aging, such as Alzheimer’s.

This means that ASD, like other medical conditions, can only have the symptoms managed, and this will be an ongoing, lifelong activity. While most medical conditions have physical symptoms, and ASD does have a few, the majority of ASD symptoms are behavioral. This means that, unlike typical medical conditions, symptom management may involve counseling and behavioral therapy, though administering some types of medication may also be part of the regimen.

Why It Happens

Unfortunately, the understanding that medical science currently has of ASD is far from complete. While it’s now widely acknowledged that ASD has a huge range of different symptoms, some of them are physical, but most behavioral, the exact reasons why ASD occurs are still not fully known. Medical experts now know how some people come to have ASD, but the reasons why it occurs are still being researched.

However, it is safe to say that there are three primary means by which someone may contract ASD, and vaccine transmission is not one of those delivery mechanisms.

Genetic

The most common form of ASD is transmission is through family lines. If a parent has been diagnosed as having the ASD condition, then this means giving birth to a child with ASD is a possibility. In such cases, it may be prudent to have infants evaluated for ASD, or to wait until parents notice familiar ASD characteristics then bring the child in for evaluation.

Pre-Natal

Another cause of ASD may be at the pre-natal stage. That is to say, the child may not be born with ASD, but, due to circumstances that occur while developing in the womb, may contract ASD during pregnancy, and then be born with the condition.

In this case, prenatal causes of ASD have been theorized to be diseases the mother may contract, especially in the early stages of pregnancy. Rubella, for example, when exposed to pregnant mice has resulted in a higher incidence of ASD in the mice that are subsequently born. In humans, it is suspected that the mother’s immune response to rubella, especially in the critical first eight weeks of pregnancy, may lead to ASD, as it also believed to be the cause of other behavior disorders like schizophrenia.

Post-Natal

It’s also theorized that there may be causes for ASD just before birth, during the birth process, or perhaps even shortly afterward. The results of definitive post-natal causes thus far, however, are inconclusive. For example, in numerous reports, it was found that the administration of vaccines to children was found to not have any impact on the formation of ASD.

However, one report was contrary to this, and, despite that report having been withdrawn on improper research, there is a general belief among uneducated parents who refuse to do follow up research that the one now withdrawn report is valid, despite the mountains of factual and statistical evidence to the contrary.

Get Professional Help

As with any other medical condition, it is important for people with no medical training to get a professional diagnosis from trained, experienced medical experts. ASD has a variety of different symptoms at different intensities, so the recommended approach for treatment is unique to each individual.

In some cases, ASD may be treated with behavioral therapy techniques, similar to psychological counseling. In other cases, medication may be advised. Some ASD is now being treated through the use of stem cell therapy, but you should always consult with a doctor first before deciding on what approach to take for dealing with ASD in a child.

29Oct

If you’re not a medical expert, then the world of diseases, disorders, and other medical conditions are both complex and confusing. While it is easy to follow directions from a medical expert when it comes to treating certain types of medical conditions, the understanding of what a particular condition is, how it works, and arriving at the best strategy for curing or managing a condition all require years of hard work on the part of medical professionals to attain the high level of proficiency and expertise required. Beyond that, however, decades of rigorous medical research are required to generate the data that medical experts can reliably use and refer to when it comes to diagnosing and treating medical conditions.

However, the understanding that doctors have of the entire range of possible medical conditions and ailments is far from complete. There are still plenty of conditions for which research is still ongoing. There’s no cure for cancer, for example, and autism spectrum disorder is still being researched, with discoveries and changes to evaluation and diagnosis still occurring even in recent years.

So what is ASD? How does it affect the people that have it? What can be done about it?

The Autism Factor

Autism Spectrum Disorder, or ASD, is a neurophysiological condition. This means that it combines elements of physical symptoms, neural—or nerve-related—conditions, and conditions for a complex “mix” of different symptoms. ASD does have some physical symptoms. For example, one common symptom often accompanying other ASD symptoms are gastrointestinal, or digestive issues.

However, most of the symptoms that define ASD are behavioral. Where other conditions have physical effects, such as a heart condition that puts people’s cardio health at risk, or diabetes, which affects blood sugar levels, ASD’s most visible are on the ways people behave. Someone with ASD may, for example, be unable to maintain eye contact when speaking, or have an insistence of performing actions in a very specific, detailed way, with little tolerance for disrupting the established routine, resulting in irritation, or even hostility should such a disruption occur.

This has presented some real challenges for the treatment of ASD, especially since it created obstacles for the most important step of any treatment, accurate diagnosis.

The Spectrum Of Symptoms

It was not until the 1980s that formal medical texts finally recognized ASD as a distinct medical condition with its own class of diagnosis and treatment. Before the 1980s, many misdiagnoses of ASD occurred regularly because there were so many symptoms that it took some time for medical experts to realize they were all tied into a single condition. This is why, for example, Asperger’s Syndrome was known for decades, but only in the 1980s was it finally associated with ASD, as opposed to being a unique condition by itself.

In the same way, some of the more severe ASD symptoms often required medication, like antipsychotics. As a result of this response to antipsychotic medication, some ASD patients were misdiagnosed as people with schizophrenia and didn’t receive appropriate treatment for their condition, despite the antipsychotics repressing some of the more extreme symptoms.

When it was finally realized that ASD had a variety of symptoms at a huge range of intensities, this is when more focused and accurate diagnoses became possible. At first, ASD was broken into four categories according to severity, starting with Asperger’s syndrome at the “high functioning” end, and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder at the severe, low functioning end.

Today, however, the four general categories have been removed, and ASD is considered a single condition, where the most important process is diagnosing each symptom on an individual basis, and then treating that person accordingly.

Managing ASD

ASD is not a disease, so it can’t be “cleared up” with an antibiotic the way catching pneumonia can. It is a condition, like diabetes, or a heart condition, where adjustments have to be made to lifestyle, and certain precautions are taken to keep the symptoms manageable.

In the case of ASD, the type of treatment for symptom management depends mostly on the symptoms displayed and the severity of those symptoms. On the mildest end, people who would formerly have been classified as having Asperger’s Syndrome may require no medical treatment at all, as their symptoms result in behavior that is regarded as introverted or eccentric.

On the other side of the equation, some people may be unable to maintain eye contact when speaking or speak in a flat, monotone, robotic voice, or even be unable to perform normal tasks like eat food properly or tie shoes. In these cases, some behavioral therapy for training and self-regulation may be required at first to get these patients to perform normal, daily activities.

In other cases, some medication or other medical treatment may be advised. Antipsychotics are recommended for violent behavior, while stem cell therapy has been showing promise in treating some aspects of ASD, such as hostility or attention deficit.

Children boys girls fence
18Sep

The condition called autism, which today is more often referred to by specialists as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has had a very turbulent journey over the years. Medical science has not been quick to diagnose this condition, and for many decades, different aspects of ASD were thought to be completely separate disorders by themselves, while other types of ASD weren’t even recognized as disorders.

The most resounding example of this was how, until the 1980s, autism was not even thought of as a distinct medical condition, but was often misdiagnosed as one of the possible symptoms of schizophrenia, resulting in many people throughout the centuries not getting proper medical attention or treatment.

Because of the many different symptoms and intensities of those symptoms, autism is a very complex disorder to both understand and treat. This is one of the reasons why, for many years, there was a classification system in place that tried to categorize the different types of ASD. Atypical Autism was one of these, but what was Atypical Autism, and why is it that it is no longer formally recognized?

The Categorization Years

For American—and ultimately global—medical professionals, one of the “sacred texts” of mental health is the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, more colloquially known as DSM. The DSM publication first went into print in 1952 and became the benchmark that medical experts would use amongst each other, and as a tool of communication and diagnosis for different mental conditions.

It was with the third edition of DSM, known as DSM-III, that autism was finally acknowledged as a distinct condition with its own symptoms, and recommended forms of treatment. When autism was first entered into DSM-III, however, it wasn’t in its current form. It divided autism into separate categories that tried to make distinctions according to the severity of the symptoms diagnosed. On the mild end were “high functioning” autistic patients, often with what was called “Asperger’s Syndrome” during those years, a condition originally thought to be distinct, until it was understood to be a type of autism.

Then there was atypical autism, which took on a host of different symptoms and classifications.

The Miscellaneous Autism

Under DSM-III, atypical autism was formally known as Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified, or PDD-NOS. Asperger’s was considered the “mildest” or least severe category and was “high functioning.” PDD-NOS was a little more severe, and then very severe was “Classic Autism.” On the opposite end, the most severe, “low functioning” disorder was referred to as Childhood Disintegration Disorder.

One issue with PDD-NOS was that it showed the cracks in the categorization system. While experts felt that there were enough common characteristics to divide autistic patients into Asperger’s and Childhood Disintegration Disorder, many patients “fell through the cracks” and had symptoms that didn’t neatly fit into the other categories and were thus, “not otherwise specified.”

The only consistent aspect of the atypical autism classification was that it wasn’t quite as “mild” as Asperger’s. It included symptoms such as:

Atypical/Unusual Social Behavior

One of the chief symptoms of autism, in general, is atypical or unusual social behavior, but if it is more severe and pronounced, it tends to move people out of the Asperger’s category and into atypical autism. If the patient experienced difficulty in socializing, and others commented that the person’s behavior was unusual and abnormal enough to interfere with interactions, it was considered atypical.

Language/Communication Deficit

PDD-NOS was usually associated with communication problems as well. In particular, competence with language, especially conventional speech, could be a problem. This could manifest itself in different ways, such as people having difficulty speaking at all, or speaking in problematic ways, such as an inability to add inflection to words, resulting in all speech coming out flat and monotone, more like a robot than a person.

Repetitive Motions/Behaviors

PDD-NOS was also characterized by having more frequent and/or severe focus on repeated motions and behaviors. The tendency to repeat a motion, such as rock back and forth, or repeat a gesture with hands is characteristics of autism in general.

The Change

As time passed, it became more clear to the medical experts that if more and more patients were being diagnosed as atypical autism because that was far more common—or less restrictive—than the other categories, then that became a diagnostic problem.

That is why, in 2013, with the release of DSM-IV, the four categories of autism were abandoned, and atypical autism, like Asperger’s Syndrome and the other conditions, were “collapsed” into a single diagnostic class, Autism Spectrum Disorder. This meant that now, instead of looking at a few symptoms, and trying to decide which “class” of autism a patient fell into, and then apply treatment based on that class, patients are now diagnosed on the individual symptoms they exhibit, with treatment being based on their individual symptoms along a spectrum, rather than a rigid class system.

12Sep

Autism, more correctly known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is one of the more challenging medical conditions to address in our times. There is a complexity to this condition that makes it very difficult to quickly, conveniently diagnose. One of the reasons for this is that ASD has a huge range of different symptoms, as well as different degrees of severity. It’s because of this that it wasn’t even until the 1980s that ASD was properly classified as a condition of its own. Before this, some ASD patients were regularly misdiagnosed as schizophrenic and treated for that condition.

Today, we now have a better understanding of this condition, but that doesn’t mean that our knowledge is complete. While we have better information on the different symptoms of ASD, and how the condition is multifaceted and complex, that doesn’t mean we have the data that shows exactly how the condition develops. Also, when it comes to the biggest concern, dealing with ASD, medical, and scientific technology currently have no known cure for ASD. The best that current medicine can offer is different ways to manage ASD, but otherwise, it is a lifelong condition for those diagnosed with it.

Management, however, does have some promising ways to help alleviate some of the symptoms of ASD. One of them is through the application of stem cell transplants. But what is this, and what can it do for autism cases?

The Complexity Of ASD

One of the greatest challenges in addressing ASD is that science is still trying to get more concrete information about how and why ASD occurs. In many cases, a disease or disorder can be classified as something genetic, only inherited through family lines. Alternatively, a disorder can have a specific cause, such as poor artery health as a direct result of a poor diet eating too many cholesterol high foods, or it can be pre-natal, where a child contracts a condition as a direct result of a mother’s actions during pregnancy, such as consuming alcohol or smoking.

However, in the case of ASD, it seems to be caused by all three. People with ASD can pass it on to their children, so there is a genetic component. But parents without ASD also seem to be able to transmit the condition through situations such contracting some inflammation during pregnancy, or issues with lack of oxygen to the child during birth.

This type of medical complexity also extends into the ways to treat ASD. If ASD can be genetic, but can also be pre-natal, and can also be post-natal, then there is no one way to address the condition. This is one of the reasons why there is no simple cure, and also why there are many different methods for managing the condition.

The Stem Cell Alternative

One recent method of treatment that has been getting good results is the use of stem cell transplants. The easiest way to think of stem cells are as extremely powerful, versatile “blank cells” that can rewrite or “reprogram” themselves to become any cell in the human body, even ones that don’t normally reproduce in large numbers, like brain cells and bone cells.

The reason stem cells are so versatile is because they are necessary for human reproduction. Stem cells appear in their largest numbers after an egg has been fertilized. After all, how does a single cell, with no specific function multiply, again and again, eventually creating cells that become eyes, skin, a heart, and lungs? Stem cells are what make this possible.

However, once we are born and out in the world, our body no longer needs stem cells in large numbers, and so while we still contain some, most notably in our bone marrow, they are not as powerful or as versatile as the original stem cells that were involved in our growth in the womb. This is why, roughly speaking, when we lose a limb through amputation, we can’t grow back the lost bone, skin and muscle, but a lizard that loses its tail can completely regrow and replace the lost limb.

Autism Treatment

Stem cell transplants were originally used as a way for patients diagnosed with specific types of cancer to replace cells that were otherwise lost once corrupted by cancer, in this case, blood cells related to bone marrow. However, once medical experts saw how successful stem cells were in fighting an otherwise incurable disease, stem cell transplant experiments occurred for other conditions.

In the case of ASD, stem cell transplants have shown promising results in helping patients to recover from aspects of ASD that may be related to the brain, or nerve damage or disorders. Reducing the hostility and low threshold for provocation is one of the ways that stem cell transplants may be helping people with ASD to manage their condition. However, as with any new medical technique, research and application are ongoing. So the future for stem cell transplants for ASD may be bright, but it is still at the early stages of the journey.

10Sep

Autism is more technically referred to as autism spectrum order or ASD. It is a disorder that, depending on your point of view, is either growing in the number of people diagnosed with it or is now being accurately recognized as people that might have “slipped under the radar” in years past, are now being found and diagnosed with ASD.

It is a complex disorder, with many different symptoms, and, as a result, it wasn’t even until the 1980s that ASD was even given a distinct category in medical diagnosis. Before the recognition came, many people throughout the years were incorrectly diagnosed as being schizophrenic, an error that is now, thankfully, not being made today.

Unfortunately, while there is a greater understanding of what autism is, that doesn’t mean that a fast, convenient cure, like antibiotics, has been discovered that can “clear up” ASD with a single injection. With more understanding of what autism is—and isn’t—comes a greater appreciation for the complexity of the disorder and how to address it.

Stem cell therapy, a recent innovation in medical science, is one of the treatments that is showing promise, but what is it, and how can it help with autism?

ASD’s Uncertain Origins

One of the biggest hurdles to finding a definitive cure for autism is that there appears to be more than one way to contract the condition, and thus, no one way to prevent it from occurring. Autism can, in some instances, result from genetic inheritance, and there is medical evidence that shows autistic parents passing the trait onto their offspring.

However, ASD can also be pre-natal, meaning that during pregnancy, specific medical circumstances can occur, such as an infection resulting in inflammation, that can result in an autistic baby. On the other hand, autism can even be post-natal, as some medical data that suggests even a lack of oxygen during birth might lead an otherwise healthy baby to contract autism just as birth occurs.

The differences, even in just how ASD is contracted by a patient, have consequences for the ways to treat the condition. This is one of the reasons why no known cure for ASD currently exists in medicine. There are, however, different ways to manage the symptoms that arise from ASD. In some cases behavioral therapy with an emphasis on learning and training can make a difference. In others, stem cell therapy may be a solution.

The Promise Of Stem Cells

Stem cells are the powerful, versatile cells that the pregnancy process relies on to create a “complete” human being from a single, undifferentiated fertilized egg cell. Under ordinary medical circumstances, after birth, the only way to grow new replacement cells when cells from the same group reproduce. This is why, after a hair cut, hair only grows from existing hair, rather than hair growing out of your teeth, or your fingernails.

However, as a baby is developing in a mother’s womb, there are no lungs, kidneys, leg, or arm muscles in place, but they have to come from somewhere. Stem cells, also known by the nickname “master cells” can become any cell that is encoded in a person’s DNA, whether it is something as common as a skin cell, that is always growing new replacement cells, or a brain cell, which is far less prone to replacement.

Treating Autism

The challenge with autism is that there are different approaches to handling the symptoms. In some cases, the most productive approach is focused behavioral therapy, teaching an autistic child, for example, important skills to integrate and use for the rest of his or life that can also lay the groundwork for problem-solving skills that will always be a benefit. Stem cell therapy, however, takes a different approach.

While the symptoms of autism are largely behavioral, it’s not uncommon for there to be a physiological or neurological cause for that behavior. If the medical circumstances are such that damaged neural cells or atypical brain cell activity are involved, then the replacement of problem cells with “fresh,” undamaged cells may help to manage or mitigate certain symptoms.

Stem cell therapy works from this philosophy, by using either “cord blood,” or stem cells taken directly from the patient. Cord blood is the fluid in the umbilical cord that can, on request, be preserved after birth, since it is rich in stem cells. If the cord blood was not preserved, less versatile, but still effective stem cells from the patient’s bone marrow can be harvested and used in stem cell therapy.

The stem cells are then usually transfused intrathecally, which entails an injection in the spinal area, so that the stem cells may travel throughout the spinal cord and even into the brain. If stem cell therapy is a good fit for such a patient, results have been shown such as decreased hostility and even increased receptiveness to socialization and interaction with others.

However, it’s always important to get a proper medical consultation before committing to this decision. Stem cell therapy is not for every case of ASD.

27Aug

Autism or ASD is it is more accurately referred to today, is a condition with no known cure. It is not normally a lethal, degenerative disease, and while it does have some physical symptoms, such as inflammation in the brain, the majority of the symptoms displayed by those with ASD is behavioral. They often do not interact with others in a normal, expected way, and socializing with people may sometimes present great challenges.

It’s because ASD covers such a wide spectrum of different behavioral symptoms that ASD wasn’t even recognized until the 1980s as its own unique condition. Before that, people with ASD were diagnosed as schizophrenic and treated in the same way as the mentally ill, with anti-psychotics and other treatments, since some ASD patients may, in fact, respond well to anti-psychotics, while for others it is not appropriate.

As ASD was first recognized, medical experts of the time used a simpler, more rigid and less accurate form of diagnosing ASD.

Classifying The Groups

Modern diagnosis now considers everyone to have ASD, with different, specific behaviors, symptoms, or syndromes measured for individual intensity on the spectrum. This is now the preferred way, since the individual symptoms matter far more than what “class” of ASD a person falls in, and a wrong categorization could lead to incorrect treatment, as medical staff tried to fit a “square peg into a round hole.” However, this newer form of diagnosis only came into effect in 2013. Before that, from the 1980s onwards, groupings were used.

In this older system of categorization, four basic groups of ASD patients existed, with symptoms being roughly divided from one group to the next, and severity being another qualifier for ranking which people fell into which groups. Adults diagnosed with ASD recognize many of these terms, as they were widely used in the media, and even portrayed in film, television and other forms of fiction.

Asperger’s Syndrome

This is the most famous and, in some ways, the “desirable” form of ASD. The name comes from the Austrian physician Hans Asperger, who first documented patients in 1944 with similar characteristics. Asperger’s was considered the “mildest” form of ASD and was often considered the “high-functioning” version of the disorder. In many cases, people who were classified as having Asperger’s didn’t even require any kind of medical treatment.

People with Asperger’s would be considered “eccentric” or “quirky” in terms of personality. The stereotype of someone with Asperger’s is the introverted genius, as ASD can often channel awareness into a focus on detail, and an ability to process specific, high volumes of information. Former  Asperger’s syndrome diagnosed patients would often be able to interact with people, though it would be with some difficulty and introversion. The “social awkward professor” would be another example of an Asperger’s stereotype that was frequently portrayed in the media.

Pervasive Developmental Disorder—Not Otherwise Specified

This next “stage” was often referred to as PDD-NOS, was considered to be more severe, than Asperger’s. In other words, this was a “step down,” and people classified in this group were generally considered to have similar symptoms to Asperger’s but often more severe, to the point where it could actively hamper or cripple social interaction. Of course, with a name like “PDD-Not Otherwise Specified,” there was a bit more to PDD-NOS than just a more severe form of Asperger’s.

PDD-NOS was one of the reasons why the classification system of the four groups was ultimately abandoned. So many of the symptoms displayed in ASD didn’t neatly fit any of the three remaining categories that PDD-NOS grew too large, unwieldy, and unrealistic as a place to categorize “everyone else.” When the miscellaneous group becomes larger than the other categories, this presents a serious challenge to the validity of the categorization system. Poor adaptive behavior, poor response to changes in routine, and difficulty learning language were just a few of the symptoms grouped to PDD-NOS

Autistic Disorder

As with Asperger’s, this category, also sometimes referred to as “classic autism” was one of the most widely known, and also portrayed frequently in the media. This is the type of ASD that most people imagine, thanks to films like Rain Man, with severe interactive issues, and an emphasis on routine and repetitive activities.

The Autistic Disorder category was considered severe enough that comprehensive intervention was often required here. Intensive treatment, therapy, and sometimes even medication is required at this level.

Childhood Disintegrative Disorder

This was considered the most severe form of the categories and was often characterized by regression. In this case, children seemed to be developing normally, learning to crawl, walk, and speak, and then, sometime between the ages of 2-4, the children would regress, and lose the skills they’d learned.

CCD, as it was known, was thought of as the “lowest functioning” form of autism. It could be so severe that even basic motor skills and coordination like hand-eye reflexes could be compromised, so children couldn’t eat properly or even tie their shoes. Depending on the severity of the symptoms, anti-psychotics, or anti-convulsants might be prescribed to help manage symptoms.




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