The Anti-Candida Diet and Autism

I recommend taking a further step with regard to yeast problems with Autism.

We implemented this for several years with our son who improved remarkably during this time, while also receiving other therapy.

Yeast is also called Candida Albicans. Autistic persons can have an impaired immune response to yeast as mentioned in an earlier posting. Enormous amounts of yeast can be in a child's system at a given time. And the threadlike hyphae of the mycelium from the yeast can penetrate the mucous membranes and the lining of the intestine and cause permeability there, which causes further problems with immunity.

Besides simply eliminating yeast from the child's diet, a Doctor can prescribe an ingestible anti-fungal called Nystatin, in a powder form, a drinkable liquid, and a cream for topical application. Keep Nystatin in the refrigerator but do not freeze it.

Nystatin is a polyene antifungal drug to which many molds and yeast infections are sensitive, including Candida. Nystatin has some toxicity associated with it when given intravenously, but it is not absorbed across intact skin or mucous membranes. It is considered a relatively safe drug for treating oral or gastrointestinal fungal infections.

Skin, vaginal, mucosal and esophageal Candida infections usually respond well to treatment with nystatin. Cryptococcus is also sensitive to nystatin. It is used for treating oral thrush. Nystatin is often used as prophylaxis in patients who are at risk for fungal infections, such as AIDS patients with a low CD4+ count and patients receiving chemotherapy. It is prescribed in units, with doses varying from 100,000 (for oral infections) to 1 million (for intestinal ones).

As it is not absorbed from the gut, it is safe for oral use and does not have problems of drug interactions.

The lotion can be applied to the skin, and the powder can be mixed with honey in very small doses at first, and given to the child. The taste is quite bitter, but many Autistic persons like a bitter taste, or don't seem to mind it. Perhaps because it helps them to feel better. It is important to begin with very tiny amounts of the powder, as small as 1/16th of a teaspoon, and work gradually up to a theraputic dose. This is because the yeast will have a "die-off" and the dead yeast and yeast by-products are toxic to the system if all of it dies off at once.

A guide to the diets recommended for Autism is found in this book and several others:

"Feast Without Yeast: 4 Stages to Better Health: A Complete Guide to Implementing Yeast Free, Wheat (Gluten) Free and Milk (Casein) Free Living"
-- by Bruce Semon, Lori Kornblum, and Bernard Rimland (Paperback - Nov 1999)

To go this further step sounds like more work, but I think that killing off a yeast infection that might be irritating the entire sensitive digestive tract of an Autistic child can only help them. Nystatin does not work like an antibiotic. It doesn't kill off the "good bactiera" in the GI tract, only the fungal infection. Nystatin doesn't get absorbed into the bloodstream of the child, so it causes no side effects other than that caused by the dead yeast itself passing out of the child's system.

Its a non-invasive treatment, the drug is not habit-forming, causes no harm to the child, and even if the yeast isn't a very big problem for a particular child, you have nothing to loose by trying this, and everything to gain.