Feb 21 2009
Mito and Autism
Autism is much talked about lately and has been in the spotlight for many years. Jenny McCarthy’s book, Louder Than Words, made it to the best seller list and has had national recognition for Autism and the potential risks vaccinations may have in causing Autism.
Something a little less spoken about is mitochondrial disease and its relationship to autism. What is mitochondrial disease you ask?
Mitochondria are the “power houses” of energy production in the body. They are responsible for producing about 95% of the energy your body needs to function. Think of them as a factory. Inside the factory, there are 5 production lines. These lines are responsible for transporting and producing the energy for your body. In mitochondrial disease, there is a defect or dysfunction in this production line.
What does this have to do with autism?
Well, it appears that many of the kids that are affected with mitochondrial disease are also on the autistic spectrum.
Now, I am not a doctor or a biologist. In fact, I hated biology so much that it was the last college class I took before doing my internship in teaching. However, I am the parent to a child with mitochondrial disease. That child also was diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified. It seems that every parent I have spoken with so far that has a child affected by this disease, also notices symptoms on the autistic spectrum.
It is known that mitochondrial disease (which I’m going to now reference as mito) causes energy hungry body parts to malfunction because they are being deprived of the energy they need to function properly. The brain is one of the most energy hungry parts of the body. Developmental delays are just one of the many characteristics that can be associated with mito.
Why Haven’t I heard of Mito?
I do not know why it is not well known at this point. Maybe because in our celebrity obsessed country, a celebrity has not been knowingly affected by mito. Maybe it is because the medical professionals think that it is rare and are not being taught it well enough in school to properly identify it and diagnose it. Maybe it is because the spectrum, like autism, is so large and grey that the symptoms are treated (or brushed off) and never realized to be part of a bigger picture. Maybe it’s the missing puzzle piece that is overlooked all too often.
Mitochondrial defects are carried by one in 200 people and it is believed that at least one in 5000 people experience enough damage from the mutation to experience symptoms.
This is what I know:
Immediately after getting the missing puzzle piece to Noah’s health problems, mitochondrial disease, he was put on a “mito cocktail”. The first thing was high dose Coenzyme Q 10 (CoQ10). Within three weeks of starting this drug, we’ve seen an increase in pretend play (he had none before he started), conversational skills, and vocabulary. While he is still repetitve and clearly on the spectrum, it’s made a difference.
Regardless of what research shows, it is evident in my child that his body was lacking this enzyme and that it has made a difference in his pervasive developmental disorder.
We will start another supplement this week called L-Carnatine. It will be interesting to see if that makes a further difference in his symptoms. I will update with information on that as we see it.
It seems very clear for us by the reaction that our child had from the treatment of the mitochondrial disease that at least his case of autism must be related to his mitochondrial disorder. I wonder how many other kids with multiple systems affected (like Jenny McCartney’s child–who is autistic and suffered seizures) were really suffering from autism as a related symptom of a possible mitochondrial disorder. Only time will tell!
