Autism now hits 1 in 36 of our children. That’s a lot of children. What has been found about autism? Is it something you live with such as asthma or allergies? Or perhaps there are thoughts about what is causing autism these days.
I went to the MAPS conference on autism and there was a talk that resonated with me. Dr. Goodenow gave a great presentation on the cause of autism
Cause of Autism
The main cause of autism is impaired myelination. What is myelination? It’s like the insulation around an electrical wire. The insulation makes the wires work well – when there’s no insulation, it doesn’t work well.
When a nerve is unmyelinated, info travels are 2 meters per second. When a nerve is myelinated, info travels at 120 meters per second, which is 60 times faster.
Why is there an insulation problem? If there’s an energy problem, there will be trouble making insulation. Energy problems can be because of genetics or perhaps other issues.
Inflammation also can cause myelination issues. What can cause inflammation? It can be an infection or maybe too much chemicals in the brain.
When there’s inflammation things don’t work well. Inflammation is stress and stress messes things up. Myelination gets messed up and the brain doesn’t work well.
So either an energy problem or inflammation can mess up myelination. And with messed up myelination, the brain doesn’t work.
The theory is a good theory and explains a lot about autism. Having a good theory means that treatment can be done based on the theory. And treatment based on that theory has been helpful in treating autism.
So realize that the science of autism is advancing and there are new treatments happening all the time. I keep up on the autism science by attending these conferences and they give me hope that we can have less autism in the future.
If you have a question about this blog post or anything medical-related, please email me thru the button below.
To your health!
Dr. Richard Chen
Focused Wellness Author,
A New Way to Health: Wheel of Health
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