Enzymes for Autism and Other Neurological Conditions (Updated Third Edition) Paperback – April 1, 2008

This book is AWESOME! I am a mother with a child who has a bunch of food intolerance's and have been shut down by doctors who don't "delve" into anything without a scientific study to back it up. I agree with another reviewer that the scientific community has failed our children. I have found that a bunch of educated mom's who do their research are more formidable than any scientific study. Where the medical community leaves off you can bet there are a slew of mom's who are tackling the problem. Kudos to Karen DeFelice for all the time and research she put into this book.I now give me son an array of different enzymes before meals and he can tolerate all the foods that he before couldn't eat. This is HUGE for a 10 year old boy. He can now eat treats brought into school, eat the cake and ice cream at b-day parties, and have pizza...Something as simple as a slice of cheese pizza can make a child smile, especially one who hasn't been allowed to eat pizza in 3 years. I my friend who has Celiac's and she is also seeing benefits.

I bought this book because my son was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, tourettes syndrome, anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder. In the three years after the diagnoses at age 8, he seemed to be getting worse. I had already discovered that vitamins B6 and B3 (niacin) work better for his anxiety than zoloft, plus relieved his allergies and asthma somewhat, so I expected to learn more along the same lines from this book.My son did ok in school grade-wise, but didn't speak a word all day and acted peculiar as far as not moving his arms when walking, sitting with his palms up, avoiding eye contact, etc. I was afraid he would have a lonely life. At home he threw constant temper tantrums, wouldn't cooperate with showering or changing clothes or going anywhere in the car, etc.I had discovered yeast overgrowth in a diet book a few months earlier and treated myself successfully for constant yeast infections, but I had no idea until I read this book that yeast overgrowth (dysbiosis) caused leaky gut syndrome, which results in neurological disorders in the young and over 5000 symptoms and 80 diseases in older people. This is the basic auto-immune disorder.When I read this book, I learned what the root cause of my sons neurological problems was. Also, I made the connection that my lifelong shyness, attention deficit, low thyroid, allergies, and lately constant yeast infections and worsening joint inflammation were caused by dysbiosis and/or leaky gut. Plus my anxiety was getting worse than ever along with the arthritis (caused by anti-inflammatories). I bought the enzymes for my son to take with meals, but he wouldn't take them, so I tried them myself and in two days my hip wasn't sore, and by the end of the week my anxiety was gone! My hip had been throbbing constantly for the past 2 years and I assumed that I would have to be on anti-anflammatory meds for life or get a hip replacement.Along with taking the enzymes, I dieted low carb and took nutrients to help my intestines heal faster. It took about 4 months before I could stop taking the enzymes without the arthritis or anxiety returning. I feel so lucky to have discovered this. In the end, all my son needed was the yeast cleansing and restoring beneficial bacteria. He took four small pills daily for yeast cleansing - pearls probiotic, garlic oil, grapefruit seed extract, and biotin for 6 weeks (if your child won't swallow pills, try using a tincture called wormwood complex or something similar and make sure you are giving a large enough dosage, it is hard to overdose but easy to underdose), then he took only the probiotics, a couple of them daily. After 4 days on only the probiotics, his behavior changed significantly because he was building plenty of proteins in his intestines for the first time. I would say that about 95 percent of all of his disorders disappeared. He walked and sat differently, he laughed at jokes, he quit fighting about everything and became very cooperative. He started enjoying life! All of our relatives noticed the difference.This book doesn't cover all aspects of yeast killing (like the leaky gut diet for instance), but neither do most of the other books and websites that I've read. I've learned something new from each source. I highly recommend this book as an excellent start for correcting your dysbiosis including products to use, daily maintenance and a timeline. This author could revamp the book to cover B vitamin deficiencies (B vitamins secrete from our beneficial bacteria which is compromised by the dysbiosis) and mention all auto-immune disorders and re-title it: Enzymes for Autism and Other Neurological Disorders plus Over 5,000 Diseases and Symptoms.Also, a caution. About six months after the yeast cleansing, both of us got our symptoms back and had to do another cleanse because we were eating too much sugar and breads. I did a short 2-week cleanse and then probiotics. I figured the mercury might have contributed to this and while researching about mercury detoxing, I discovered iodine therapy and infrared sauna (google them for details). Needless to say, we both did iodine therapy with lugol's iodine. It was easy and so far no recurrences. I just ordered an infrared portable sauna and I'm going to see if detoxing helps me loose weight. All of my other symptoms went away (including low thyroid) but I can't loose an extra 40 pounds. With all of the junk leaking out of my intestines for so long, I'm sure there is alot of it still being stored that might be interfering with metabolic processes.I would also like to mention that the first book on yeast overgrowth (The Yeast Connection) was published in 1982 and the concept has been rejected by the American Medical Association. It historically takes 40 years before a new concept is accepted. If the public were well aware of the magnitude of yeast overgrowth and its results so that we could treat the cause and not have to medicate the symptoms of all of these diseases, it might instigate change a little faster. But, in a conflict of interest, they would lose billions of dollars in revenue! Many think they know this and they are attempting to eliminate their competition. Lobbyists have attempted, through the FDA, to make manufacturing requirements so strict for nutritional supplements that it would put alot of companies out of business. Canada and Australia politians are trying to copy a Europe law change which allows the government to control the dosage of naturals, take some off the shelf or put them behind the counter so that you have to explain to a pharmacist why you want to buy it. They say it is to protect people from self diagnosing and prolonging effective treatment, but the truth is that national health care systems really need people to spend their money on pharmaceuticals so they can make co-payment money. Most politicians aren't aware of this. We have to be watchdogs about this, especially with so many of our leaders on the side of government-controlled medicine.

I found the book helpful, but repetitive; it could have been shorter and more concise. I liked how Karen tied ASD in with CFS, Parkinson's, Fibromyalgia and MS and she did a great job in backing her ideas with applicable research studies. Her discussions on enzyme research was very interesting.I really thought this may be the other "key" I was missing for my son. Karen's group seemed to have such a great response- over 90% success- so I thought it was worth a try for the price of a few bottles of enzymes. I used the enzymes for 3 months and I just went a week without them; I have to say that I see no change in my son's behavior, BMs, etc with or without the enzymes. Perhaps his GI issues aren't as severe as those who experience dramatic changes, or maybe his other biomed treatments (MB12 since he was 2.5 yrs) have already kick-started the healing process.From what I have seen, the key to recovering from autism is getting a handle on yeast and toxins. Enzymes help breakdown dietary proteins into the basic amino acids, but if your child is overloaded with toxins, as was the case for my son, I can't see digestive enzymes as the only fix. You have to take out the bad in order to be able to effectively use the good stuff. The bad stuff includes: mercury, arsenic, lead, cadmium that can sit on the active sites of enzymes and deactivate them, making them useless. The good stuff you want to replace these toxins with are: amino acids, vitamins and other good things like zinc and magnesium. When that happens, systemic proteins, like metallothioneine and glutathione, will get back on line and the kids will get better. Also of note is that aminos are the building blocks not only to metabolic enzymes, but also to hormones and neurotransmitters.So far, the most helpful therapy for my son has been following the low/frequent dose oral chelation. We did Cutler's protocol for almost 2yrs, every other w/e, followed by yeast treatment with an antifungal spore-forming probiotic called Symbion. That has been the biggest "WOW" factor for us. My son just turned 5; he seems like a typical kid but he is a little behind with reading and writing, so we are working to catch him up in those areas.Enzymes are worth a try; especially if your child has GI issues or is a picky eater and doesn't eat enough fresh veggies and fruit (natural enzyme sources.) (I bought a Healthtec highspeed blender and I blend fruits and greens everyday for my kids and I.) My best discovery to date-- I have found the spore-forming, antifungal probiotics such as Symbion or ThreeLac to be the best supplements of all- and they are easier to implement than giving enzymes with every meal. Another great resource is "An Extraordinary Power to Heal" by Dr. Semon.Best of luck!