Drugs used to treat autism

Medical professionals have been looking for a drug to treat autism for a long time with little success. Although there have been some glimmers of hope, mostly these have been dashed when tests were completed.

Something I've noticed is that doctors don't seem to take the concept of dignity into account when dealing with autism or other "mental disorders". Here are some of the drugs they've tried. To me they read like something out of the Hammer House of Horror.

Chlorpromazine (Largactil), Haloperidol (Serenace, Haldol) and Thioridazine (Melleril) are major tranquillizers originally developed for the treatment of schizophrenia. They frequently cause severe uncontrolled movements of the mouth and tongue which need to be treated with other drugs, such as Orphenadrine (Disipal) or Procyclidine (Kemidrin) — originally developed to treat Parkinson's Disease.

Chlorpromazine also causes photo-sensitivity, so that patients taking it have to stay out of the sun to avoid getting badly burned.

Lithium, another drug originally developed to treat schizophrenia, may sometimes be prescribed to aggressive patients to "even out" autistic mood swings.

Because autistic people have been shown to have elevated levels of serotonin, the slimming drug Fenfluramine (Ponderax) and the anti-depressants Clomipramine (Anafranil) and Fluoxetine (Prozac) (all of which affect serotonin levels) have been tried, with mixed results.

Diazepam (Valium), a highly addictive sedative normally prescribed to treat anxiety, has been tried, but seems to have little effect except as a calmative in emergency situations. This is a good thing, as one of its known side effects is impaired learning.

Carbamazepine (Tegretol), which is generally prescribed to control epilepsy, is sometimes used to reduce mood swings.

Clinical trials of Naltrexone, a drug which works to lower opioid levels in the body, are currently underway. Early results indicate that dosage may be quite critical. If this drug is shown to work, it may be simpler to remove the source of the excess opiates (as discussed in the main text, production of opiates in the body is often caused by improper digestion of gluten and/or dairy products), though this would also, of course, remove the potential for profit.

Even beta blockers — normally used to treat high blood pressure — have been prescribed in what seems like a last ditch attempt to find anything that might work.

I have spent quite a bit of time visiting with adults on many of these medications, and they are not happy memories. Personally, I would do pretty much anything to avoid my child being prescribed any of these drugs, if it could possibly be avoided. Some of the side effects can be permanent, and there are known long term health hazards.

Even so, many medical professionals prefer to prescribe these extremely dangerous substances when there is an alternative treatment available which has no side effects. Why?

The alternative treatment I'm referring to is the gluten/casein free diet. This is controversial, but many parents report very good results. It's surely worth a try?

The idea that it is better to pump young children full of drugs rather than try something less dangerous (which may actually do something other than tranquillize them) seems like a no-brainer to me. The only reason I can think of for not recommending this approach is that it puts the power in someone else's hands - the parents - and removes it from the doctor. It seems unbelievable, but I can't think of a single reason that would otherwise account for it.

Further Reading

Research shows autistic symptoms improve on a gluten and casein free diet
Gluten, Casein and how they cause problems
Who needs a gluten free, dairy free diet?
Gluten and dairy free recipe book