The 2 weeks I was on it were absolutely amazing. I have severe ADD (no H). It affects every area of my life. I have a lot of talents but when you’re brain gets in the way and you can’t use them- it is very hard to be happy with what you are accomplishing in life. It absolutely cleared my mind in a way that nothing I have ever been on has.

I have been anti-depressents, mood stabilizers, stimulants, pseud-stimulants. Stimulants have helped the most but in a very choppy, up and down, way. Being on prednisone was SMOOTH. I don’t know how to explain how it cleared my brain.

Some on this post have said that there is no reason at all to think that P. would be any benefit to autism. That may be true. But there is also no reason to think it would totally clear my lifelong and severe ADD while I was on it. We don’t understand the brain. There is so much we don’t know.

I understand that P. is dangerous. It feels so unfair that I found the only thing that’s ever worked for me, by accident, and now I can’t use it. But this is just a PIECE of the big puzzle. The results of a test like that, which I guarantee will be closely monitered by drs., might hold an answer that can help millions of people. with MANY different conditions.

I am not saying it’s right or wrong- that’s for the Dr.s and the parents to study and work out and decide. I am saying that it is very good for us to be concerned about dangerous medicines. It is also good for us to acknowledge that we do not know all things. One of the ways we learn things that save people’s lives is by conducting studies.

Seems like a better idea to to a study on adults with autism if one is to be done. But maybe they had reason to think it could help the development at a crucial time.

Just wanted to be a voice of reason here to suggest that what you read about is MOST LIKELY not a group of parents and doctors who are just kicking back their feet and saying- what the heck? Sounds like an interesting study. We have no reason to believe it could help- but let’s just give it a whirl. And after that let’s try feeding them dirt for a few weeks and see how it affects their autism.

Let’s advocate for wisdom. Let’s also recognize that science holds the key to many mysteries before we react emotionally to something that we don’t understand. Like why they would hold a study like that.

I am currently trying to do the same thing. My son has chronic croup and Autism. During this current bout of croup/prednisone, ALL of his teachers and therapists noticed a HUGE, HUGE difference in him. They wanted to know what was different. I mentioned he was on prednisone. He is completely “on”. Its just amazing to witness such a signifigant improvement. I, like you, dont believe this is the cure all, but am trying to find out why, and what else I can do, to continue making improvements with my sons focus and speech, without harming him.

I am the mother of an autistic child who was prescribed prednisone for a life threatening auto-immune condition. It saved his life, and also managed to ‘unlock’ a lot of speech and language potential.

The fact that this happened SHOULD, IMO, encourage the medical profession to investigate why, and seek safer alternatives.

Autism is not something you cure. It is not a disease. It is a neurological condition, triggered and effected by a huge range of factors. It is something you live with, something you manage, just the same as any other condition that effects the way you live.

I totally agree that ad-hoc use of any drug or therapy and any time as a catch all ‘cure’ is dangerous and also probably useless.

I totally disagree that we should ignore something that has a positive effect on people’s lives, and shut down all questioning and investigation, for fear it will be misused.

Penicillin, anyone?

That’s the consensus among most people I know who’ve ever used Prednisone (including myself), as well as most doctors I have known who prescribe it.

There has already been at least one fatality among autistic children prescribed Prednisone “for autism”. And I have never bought “better dead than autistic so it’s worth the risk” sort of rhetoric, although I know it’s common. If this idea catches on, a lot more children will die, and I don’t want to see that.

Knowing what I now know about Eos conditions, which again is an inflammatory response of the body, it sort of makes sense to attempt anti-inflammatories with ASD kiddos. In addition, there has been much research and new beliefs that Eos may be a common issue amongst ASD kids that goes undiagnosed b/c of ill-educated doctors and a lack of screening. You know your common “colic” dx or “GERD” can actually be an Eos condition. More severe forms take on mucous and bloody stools or projectile vomiting and typically a red ring around the anus. Many doctors just dx cows or soya milk protein intolerance, which could be the case. However, nobody truly knows why the Eos are attacking the body and some kiddos get the response with any protein based food. My dd gets it when she eats carbs and her body cannot digest them. As such, all food passes straight through her and she is failing to digest the necessary nutrients. Couple that with the Eos attacking the carbs that for some reason it feels is a parasite and you have one heck of a problem. The only reason I know what I do and my dd has received the basic treatment to date, is b/c when she was 3 wks old I told 3 doctors to shove their colic theory when she had a bloody stool after 3 straight weeks of screaming! I found her a Ped. GI and he immediately biopsied her colon and found the Eos. It’s been a rollercoaster ever since. What happens to the kids that never get a dx though? Could it be ASD?

I hope I will see answers in my lifetime, but what I care about now is how to better my dd’s life and future. I would stop at NOTHING to keep my child out of pain and trust me when I say to see her attached to tubing all night and being alienated from social events b/c food is EVERYWHERE, hurts more then one could imagine!

Just my opinion, but I needed you all to know that there is a real use for these drugs with certain kids and if it works then I doubt we’d be hearing any critisism from parents.

While the Immunosuppressing Autistics Kids Is Great! Site gave these as protocolsl:

“Daily protocol: Typically 2-3 mg / kg in liquid or pill form, each morning or twice a day. This is continued for about two months, and may be followed by a two-month period of low-dose (every-other-day). The child is then weaned off the prednisone in ever-decreasing quantities for about two months.

Pulse protocol: Typically 10 mg/kg per week in pill or suppository given over over 24 hours, every 4 or 5 days; or a dose of 50-75 mg Friday and Saturday– max. 100 mg Friday and 100 mg Saturday. This is continued over a period of several months. The child is then weaned off the prednisone in ever-decreasing quantities for several months.”

Note for comparison that I’m about 47kg. I take 5mg TOTAL. The day I had OPEN SURGERY for TWO HOURS I had 120mg TOTAL, because I don’t make cortisol. That comes out to, under stress, 2.55mg/kg *stress dose*.

That’s a small dose. Discussing further what is and is not is a moot point, because giving lupus-sized doses for autism is completely irresponsible. And I have been autistic (and alive, for that matter) long enough to know that plenty of people are just that.