I am in no way an expert on autism, but I have encountered this question at least a couple of times. A few months back, one of my coworkers filled a prescription for the antifungal medication nystatin for her daughter. I was counseling her on the drug, and she told me that it was being used to treat her daughter’s autism. I was quite taken aback, because I have never heard of this drug being used in this way. She stated that her doctor had told her that kids with autism were more prone to fungal infections like candida and that they had significant improvements in their mental functioning after using nystatin. A couple of days later, she called and asked if the nystatin (syrup) that we were using contained sugar, which I told her it did, so she asked me to transfer her daughter’s prescription to another pharmacy, one with a 1-800 number. That pharmacy could compund nystatin prescriptions without sucrose, with some natural equivalent that was supposed to be much better for autism patients who were undergoing this type of therapy, with something called Stevia (which I have seen in health and organic food stores). My question is not so much medical as it is skeptical. Has anyone ever heard of this type of therapy for autistic kids, have there been any news stories on this pharmacy that makes these rx’s (presumatively nationwide), and, is there anyone out there that has either tried this sort of treatment for their child or looked into it and what was your experience. I view Stevia as a “natural” saccharine, and am VERY skeptical about everything I just posted.
I have searched but there is nothing out there that is really grounded in facts.
Kspharm, RPh
I have a child with a diagnosis of mild Aspergers syndrome, which is an Autistic Spectrum Disorder. I have never heard of what you are talking about, although I have heard of all sorts of weird dietary and alternative ‘cures’. So it sounds pretty bizarre to me, maybe the doctor needs looking into. It reminds me of a case out here where a medical doctor was deregistered for insisting on treating his patients (including autistic children) with Mannatech ‘glyconutrients’.
Sadly people who are desperate will try anything.
I did a Google search on “nystatin autism” and found a load of sites–mostly people’s personal websites–about this.
Remember those folks in the 80’s who said that anything wrong with you must be caused by yeast? This is an offshoot. There apparently have been some studies, but I don’t have access to the medical library at night–sorry–or the time to go through them all online.
The general concept is that kids who had multiple ear infections as infants and who got lots of antibiotics had an overgrowth of Candida, which caused their autism to develop. Treating the Candida with Nystatin and a low-carb, no-sugar diet is supposed to cause dramatic improvement. I don’t know that this is standard treatment at this point, and any info I found online was unabashedly for the treatment, with no opposing info.
Let me know what you find. I’ll keep hunting around.
-Theobroma RPh
I’ve heard of the autism/fungal angle, and the autism/no-sugar approach.
I think all this is, in part, desparate people trying desprately to find something to help their children. Completely understandable reaction. I, too, am extremely skeptical.
I don’t know if autistic kids really are more suspectible to fungal infections, or if children with communication problems are likely to have an infection overlooked because they can’t just come out and say “mommy, I don’t feel good”.
If fungal infections cause autism, why do most children with fungal infections NOT have autism?
I tend to lump it in with the people who hysterically insist childhood vaccinations cause autism - a desparate reach to put the blame on someone or something for their child’s problems. Again, a perfectly understandble reaction
If childhood vaccinations cause autism, why do most vaccinated children NOT have autism? And also, why is autism found in children who have never been vaccinated?
And is anyone else here old enough to remember when doctors blamed autism on a cold and distant mother? Funny, you don’t hear too many promoting that one anymore… although it was the official party line for decades.
If a cold and distant mother causes autism, why do most children with cold and distant - or even absent - mothers not have autism?
I don’t think anyone knows what causes autism. I don’t think we’re even close to knowing. It’s like schizophrenia - somthing goes wrong in the brain, we don’t quite know what or where, but the person affected doesn’t think like the rest of us because their thinking machinery isn’t normal. We have a few treatments and therapies that help some of these people but quite a few of them are simply not capable of fending for themselves in this world. It’s a tragedy for the families affected and I really wish we could find the cause (even if it’s not a cure) so there would be a lot less fraud and quackery around this disorder.
I wouldn’t lump stevia with any artificial sweetners. The raw form has some beneficial effects (most of which are lost when processed to the white powder). I don’t remember what the beneficial effects are nad don’t have the book with me so I can’t look it up but I would say that stevia’s beneficial effects surpass that of sucrose.
I must respectfully disagree with k2dave.
Unprocessed stevia does contain beneficial compounds such as volatile oils and various phytonutrients. As with other “healthy alternatives” such as honey, sea salt, or carob, however, you’ll kill yourself if you ingest enough stevia herb to make a difference.
Stevia is banned in a number of places, including Canada and the EU, as stevioside (the primary sweetening chemical in stevia) might be converted into the toxic and mutagenic steviol. It is undeniable that in Japan, stevia has been used for decades without ill effects being observed. However, the Japanese use it in rather small amounts; there is a concern in North America and Europe that an attitude of “anything worth doing is worth overdoing”, particularly when it comes sweeteners, will lead to toxic overconsumption of stevia.
The USFDA bans the addition of stevioside and stevia extracts to foodstuffs. As it has little power to regulate “dietary supplements”, however, it is widely available in “health food” stores and via the Web.