Any Success stories in favour of Functional Medicine to improve symptoms?

Some families see positive changes with diet and holistic approaches, but results vary. It might be worth a try with a well-reviewed clinic, but manage your expectations and track any changes carefully.

Hi Yaro

It's commendable that you are working so hard to make your son's life better. As Iain said, it's best to be wary of any new medical treatments and to take the advice of established medical professionals first regarding health issues.

I am not medically trained, so don't take anything I say as medical advice, but as you've asked the community for feedback, I would like to share some observations and thoughts.

To give you a bit of my background first - I am an Autistic older woman, and in my younger years was a special needs Teaching Assistant and I am qualified to support learners from reception class up to university level. I also have a university diploma in social sciences, have done my own personal research into autism, and have an interest in diet and nutrition.

So here are my thoughts:

You may have heard of something called the placebo effect. If people are told they are being given a drug or treatment that will help their condition but they are actually given a placebo (For example, a pill or injection with no active drug ingredients) they sometimes still get better. The expectation of something can sometimes trigger the result.

Autistic people often have high emotional empathy (we "catch" the emotions of those around us) and children tend to believe what their parents tell them, so if a parent believes a treatment will work, this belief may be transferred to the child and affect their behaviour/development.

You will be aware that autistic individuals also have sensory issues and dietary issues, including food intolerances, problems with textures, and IBS which can cause severe pain. Any of these issues can cause anxiety, which worsens autistic traits/behaviours.

There are certain ages during childhood when you can get a sudden leap in development in a child's brain. One of these is at age 7 when most children will be able to start understanding the concept of time. Therefore it's possible that a report of a child becoming "higher functioning" coincided with a natural developmental change in the brain.

If treatments are available on the NHS and recommended by your GP it might be worth considering them, but if payment is required it might be worthwhile being a little sceptical for now. It could be a good idea to ask your doctor to investigate whether your son has any food intolerance, IBS, etc, and to request referral to an NHS dietician to give you support in delevoping a diet that meets his nutritional needs while preventing any possible sensory issues (e.g. textures, smells) or gut pain.

Also be aware of your own needs and take steps to eliminate any stress and anxiety from your life. This will create a more harmonious home environment and help both you and your son.

I've got to be honest with you and say that I think these potential "cures" are a load of rubbish, I say that as someone who's autistic, had long experience of alternative medicine and have worked in the wholefoods business. I've seen many articles discussing Autism, using language that if you exchanged the word Autism, for black, gay or Jew would be regarded as hate speach.

Whilst there is some evidence that nuerodiverse people can need higher amounts of omega's, they don't cure and can't cure the arrangement of the brain and how it's hard wired as opposed to soft wired.

I understand why you need to dig under every rock, I would if it were my children, but be very very careful, their are a lot of charletans selling snake oil. They will manipulate you into feeling subtely guilty if their "cures" don't work and of course that means buying ever more expensive remedies and treatments. You could end up seriously out of pocket, out of patience and jaded.

Maybe when you're looking at treatment options think about the way they're worded and replace the term autistic with black, gay or Jew and see if the claims would still be acceptable? It's a journey with autism and it's many relations, but look at all the wonderful people here and take heart.

Good luck

I think the best thing I can do is direct you to the nice guidelines on treatment of autistic children. (https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg170/resources/autism-spectrum-disorder-in-under-19s-support-and-management-pdf-35109745515205)

“Do not use the following interventions for the management of core features of autism in children and young people:
• antipsychotics
• antidepressants
• anticonvulsants
• exclusion diets (such as gluten- or casein-free diets).”

So if functional medicine is in fact an exclusion diet it’s not medically recommended.

Hi Ian,

Thanks for your reply. 

By chronic disease I mean that the field has shown great promise in treating type 2 diabetes, auto immune conditions, heart disease and others. And as of recently claims to massively improve Autism symptoms. I have seen testimonials of non verbal kids just having a swich flicked and becoming significantly more high functioning. 

On your second point, I get it. The moment I research such a clinic and I see them use the word "cure" in regards to Autism I just stop reading :). And there are several in the UK. But I owe it to my son as his father to dig under every rock for that gold nugget that would improve their quality of life. But at the same time that has to be done with eyes wide open. 

We are trying to work as much as we can towards introducing a healthy diet with my son but he is an extremely picky eater so we use general supplements like Vitamin D, Fish Oil but I would rather not stuff him up with any more until I am aware of his particular circumstances and deficiencies. The field promises tests that would narrow down those deficiencies and address them is a holistic way (and by holistic I don't mean crystals and energy plates :) )  As I know there is no one solution fits all, the prospect of that insight is what sparks my interest in the field. 

Yaro said:

I have been looking into Functional Medicine - basically a  holistic approach to treat chronic disease, with a focus on nutrition.

Can you expand on the chronic disease part please? This will have a bearing on advice we can offer.

With this medicine being in its early stages I would be very wary of any not affliliated with mainstream medical partners  simply because the emerging fields are often full of charlatans trying to make money off "pseudo science". That is to say they make up their own colclusions without medical rigour and peddle it for lots of money.

I understand the field of medicine you refer to and it has promising applications, but have you considered trying to create your own balanced diet, free from additives, for your son? It would seem a very sensible approach to start with as it eliminates most of the ingredients that are considered to be a problem.

I'm interested to hear if anyone has first hand experience of this over a sustained period of time.