Posted by JD on June 17, 1999, at 16:17:41
In reply to Revia/Naltrexone and Autism, posted by patty Gates on June 17, 1999, at 6:47:05
Though there's still a lot of research to be done on naltrexone and autism, one leading hypothesis is that people with autism (like certain self-injury patients, perhaps) have a peculiar endorphin system that makes them intensely focused on internal (rather than external) rewards. Hence the self-stimulating or self-injurious patterns often seen, the self-injurying ones occuring because the person gets "addicted" to a certain kind of endorphin rush associated with pain. Still lots of controversy about whether naltrexone helps these patients, and if so how much, but it's a pretty promising area of research from what I've seen.
Best,
--JD
> Just met with a woman in our support group who has been a foster mother to abut 20 children. She mentioned that one child who has Autism and hadn't made eye contact since birth, at about the age of 6 or so, was able to do so after taking the drug Revia. Pretty wild,huh? ANy comments? (He still is mute,however.)
poster:JD
thread:7477
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990601/msgs/7488.html