Treating Autism

Autism remains without effective treatment due to the lack of distinct pathogenesis and objective biomarkers. In addition to the typical symptoms of autism, many children have allergic problems, especially food intolerance, which involves activation of mast cells. Recent epidemiological studies have shown a strong statistical correlation between the risk for autism and either maternal or infantile atopic diseases, such as asthma, eczema, food allergies and food intolerance, all of which involve activation of mast cells. Moreover, it has been reported that the risk of autism is ten times higher than the general population in mastocytosis, a disorder characterised by increased number of hyperactive mast cells. Mast cells could contribute to focal brain inflammation and autism through different ways and their regulation could have important therapeutic benefit in autism.

‘Evidence-based Medical Diagnostics in Autism – How it can help your child ’
Agnieszka Wroczyńska MD PhD

Recent scientific evidence shows that many medical conditions are not only highly prevalent in individuals autism and contribute to lower quality of life, high mortality and early deaths, but can often contribute to overall severity of autism symptoms. Many of those conditions can both be ruled out and, when identified, can be treated with existing evidence-based treatments. This talk will focus on when (which symptoms) and how (which tests) to go about identifying possible underlying or comorbid medical conditions in autism, such as inborn errors of metabolism, mitochondrial dysfunction, epilepsy and subclinical epileptiform discharges; gastrointestinal disorders with high prevalence in autism such as celiac disease, reflux disorders and eosinophilic esophagitis; immune dysfunction and allergies, mast cell activation disorders, autoimmune encephalitis, PANDAS/PANS and others. Dr Wroczyńska is a board certified internal medicine specialist. She works as attending physician in the Department of Tropical and Parasitic Diseases and academic teacher at the Medical University of Gdansk. She has published over 50 articles in peer reviewed journals, conference presentations and book chapters. Since 2014 she has been the physician in charge of her 10 years old son with autism and complex medical issues.

Note: We have a number of free tickets available for parents who are not members, but are unable to afford the fee. Please write to us at mail@treatingautism.org.uk to request a free admission