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“Its autism, your child has autism!”.

This is one of those sentences that parents dread to hear. I know this from personal experience, because my first born child, my son was diagnosed autistic at one year old with complications of petit mal epilepsy. It seems we were keeping up with statistics because autism is more common in boys than girls.

Inevitably, when the shock has begun to wear off, the next question is invariably what causes autism? Truthfully, there are a number of answers to this question, not one definitive one.

One line of thought from doctors is that some people are predisposed towards autism. In other words some people are genetically susceptible to the condition. Current medical belief is that there are several genes that may cause autism, how ever they have not yet been identified.

More common is the belief that autism has been caused by faulty vaccinations. In my own case, my son had just been vaccinated when the condition appeared. Up to this point everything had appeared normal. Of course doctors were reluctant to blame vaccination, but over the years I have learned that several other people from the roughly the same area were affected by autism following vaccination in the same month. Before trying for a second child we took extensive counselling in this area, eventually deciding that our second child would not be vaccinated with the whooping cough vaccine. We had a girl, and thankfully she has been fine.

It is believed that Thimersal or Mercury in vaccines may be responsible for at the onset of autism, but to date there has been no hard and fast evidence to suggest that connection. Unfortunately Mercury can also be found in foods such as fish due to factory emissions, so researchers also think there could be a connection to pregnant woman being exposed to Mercury and their children developing autism.

Other studies show that there may be a connection between autism and environmental factors. These studies have shown that small towns with a source of high pollution, such as a factory that releases toxins into the air, have high incidences of autism. Other suggestions have included that high levels of Radon in local soil may also be responsible. Radom has been known to cause mutations in DNA, and also is known to be responsible for incidence of lung cancer in people who have received high exposure.

Other theories suggest that autism may be caused by a health issue as certain diseases can increase the chances of a child developing autism. Congenital rubella caught by a pregnant mother, or a young child may cause the child to develop the condition.

However most progress seems to have been made in the area of alcohol. There seems to be a definite connection between the consumption of alcohol by a woman who is pregnant, and their child later becoming artistic, particularly if alcohol is abused during pregnancy.

Years ago or many of these factors were not recognized, so actually trying to come to terms with what causes the condition has been difficult. One theory which has been proved to be false is that autism has been caused by an early emotional trauma. Doctors had at one point tried to blame mothers for not giving their children enough attention and love. Thankfully, at least that theory has been thrown out.

For the moment progress is being made in discovering the causes of autism, but it will be some time yet before all the causes of the condition are revealed.

To get ‘The Essential Guide to Autism’ go here

Tags: autism, causes of autism, autistic, what causes autism

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Sometimes we get that irresistible urge for a certain food or drink. But just because you get that urge, it doesn’t mean that you have a food craving. A true craving is a much more problematic situation. It is an overriding compelling compulsion that is difficult to ignore with an intense need to eat the desired food immediately. Secondary is the consideration that actually eating or satisfying the craving may be inconvenient or even dangerous.

Inexplicably sometimes children suddenly develop an intense craving for non-food items such as soil, paint chips, or maybe even paper. The term that describes the condition is ‘Pika’, which comes from the Latin term for Magpie. Of course there can be serious medical consequences from such behaviour such as lead poisoning, worm infestations, intestine blockages, or even death if caustic or poisonous substances are ingested.

Children can also be prone to impulsive cravings usually associated with a visual stimulus. For example, we warn our children not to eat anything strange that you might find in a box or container in your garden. As a child I lived in a home with a 1 acre garden, (my grandfather was a retired horticulturist), and I’m sure it if I’d been told ten times, I’d been told a hundred times not to go near, eat or drink anything strange in the garden.

Needless to say one day and I found a tin under a Fir tree with what looked like flour in it. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I had a sudden urge to taste it. It was something poisonous, but luckily my grandfather knocked it from my hand before I could get into my mouth. I never saw anything else lying around the garden again. To this day I still don’t know why I wanted to taste it.

Food cravings are something that more often affects women than men, particularly during pregnancy. Research seems to suggest that the responsibility may lie with hormonal disturbances, such as hormonal changes during a woman’s menstrual cycle, but they can also be brought about by stress.

These hormonal influences are thought to affect the production of serotonin in the brain, (a chemical which controls behaviour), and triggers a reaction not dissimilar to a person who is a smoker and whose nicotine level has decreased.

Seasonal Affective Disorder can be another trigger for food cravings. A recent study has shown that chromium supplements can help reduce craving in patients who are depressed with this condition.

Obesity cravings can originate because of a specific illness, an addiction, or a psychological problem.

Pregnancy can often lead to strange food cravings especially for pickles and other foods high in salt. In this case it usually reflects a physical need. When a woman is pregnant, her volume of blood doubles resulting in the need for extra salt to maintain a proper balance. A craving for ice may show a sign of iron deficiency, but usually there is no harm in satisfying the craving if it is for something harmless, as experts believe these urges to eat particular foods are to fulfil a particular need.

Some medications particularly those containing steroids and hormonal preparations can also induce cravings. If the cravings are non specific but just a general craving to eat something, then it is possible that the craving has resulting from a recent medication and this should be considered before jumping to more serious assumption.

Generally it would appear that the advice given about food cravings is unless there’s something serious like Pika involved, is to go ahead and satisfy them in moderation, and only become concerned if the cravings turn obsessive or abnormal.
Tags: food cravings, food craving, pica, obesity, pregnancy



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