Biomedical Autism Treatment – How long does a child need to do therapies and Autism

I am commonly asked by parents that I see in my practice “What timeframe should we expect to continue the gluten and casein free diet?” or “Once we start methyl B-12 therapy, how long will we have to continue it?” or even “How long should we expect to continue any therapy that is recommended?” But really, I cannot answer those questions simply because each child is so unique and will respond differently. No matter how much I wish each child would respond with 100% certainty to each and every therapy, that is just not reality. And as with the whole field of medicine, that certainly isn’t the norm either. There will always be uncertainty to a degree with any therapy that is tried. And there will be patients who are called non-responders to different therapies because they don’t seem to work with them.

But there are many of the biomedical therapies out there that have been used with great success for many, many years. They have stood the test of time and tend to work for a large percentage of children, regardless of age, shape or size. And what is even more important, in my experience, is that the biomedical treatment protocols are very, very safe, especially when you compare them to medications, like Risperdal, which is the main drug that has been FDA approved for the treatment of Autism. When you compare some of the biomedical interventions like methyl B-12 therapy, dietary therapy, nutritional supplements and treating yeast and bacterial issues that are so common in individuals with Autism to some of the pharmaceuticals out there, they are incredibly safe therapies. Now that is not meant to imply that some individuals with Autism may not ever need medication at certain points because certainly behavioral problems, learning difficulties and attention issues can be extremely problematic and may need to be addressed with medications. But very often medications are not necessary and when biomedical interventions are implemented, they can make a big difference. I will go more in-depth into dietary interventions as well as nutritional supplements in part 2 of this series.