DAY 215 - Is a Bacterium Controlling Your Child’s Behavior?

This is not a joke.

Have you ever wondered at the bizarre, extreme, or antisocial behavior of your own child, or that of another? Did the child not seem like himself?

Last week I attended the 18th International Symposium on Functional Medicine. The topic was “The Challenge of Emerging Infections in the 21st Century. Derrick F. MacFabe M.D., Assistant Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry (Division of Developmental Disabilities) of the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry of the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada; and the Director of  the “Kilee Patchell-Evans” Autism Research Group, opened his lecture with the question; “Are The Microbes in Charge?”

Dr. MacFabe quickly directed us to an infection-behavior model that we were all familiar with, to help us get a handle on our skepticism regarding his question. He reminded us of the extreme behavioral changes in mammals with rabies. Rabies is caused by a virus of the Lyssavirus genus of the Rhabdoviridae family. As we know, infected animals can become vicious and lose a normal sense of fear; gross behavioral changes caused by a microorganism.

The focus of Dr. MacFabe’s current research is the autistic spectrum of disorders (which includes ADHD). In one aspect of its work, his group has introduced a compound, propionic acid (PPA), which can be formed through fermentation in the human gut by the bacterium Clostridium difficile, into the brains of rats, immediately causing behaviors in the rats that appear similar, if not identical to behaviors seen in autistic children. One can see video of these behaviors at his website.

Could a low-grade infection in the gut by Clostridium difficile elevate levels of PPA, and in susceptible individuals cause autism or ADHD? Are these children hooked on carbohydrates that facilitate the bacterial formation of PPA?

In the 1950's, the incidence of autism was one in 10,000. Now it is one in 90. The incidence of ADHD has also increased dramatically. What's going on?

Look at Dr. MacFabe’s work (http://psychology.uwo.ca/autism.htm), and give some more thought to what is controlling our children’s behavior. If you don’t, who will?

DAY 141 - The Enemy: MRSA, Cancer, Terrorists?

The MRSA infection that was in my foot has affected by brain, but I don’t think it has damaged it. I’ve simply found myself reflecting on the infection and me, and me and the infection.

This post won’t break any new ground for some of you, but I believe that our culture needs this reminder about enemies, and about infections.

First off, MRSA stands for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus; an infection caused by a strain of staph bacteria that's become resistant to the antibiotics commonly used to treat ordinary staph infections.

Most of us would consider MRSA, cancer and terrorists to be enemies. Each can definitely be a serious threat.

Many of us would see the existence of these evil three, as THE problem, and would further see the logical, and complete answer, being their annihilation through a war or similar process.

It is valuable to remember that neither MRSA, nor cancer, nor terrorists can grow just anywhere. In most all cases, they require a conducive, if not nourishing environment in which to live and multiply.

Apparently, I was a good host, and provided nourishment for the MRSA that found its way into my body. While I did wage war against it with an effective and welcomed antibiotic, the war was one to markedly decrease its numbers and see if my body could re-establish its self-preserving balance once again. My war was not to kill every last MRSA organism in my body, nor in the world. It is impossible to do so in the world, and may be impossible to do so in ones body.

These organisms are everywhere. One in every 4 Americans is a carrier of MRSA. What this means is that if we randomly selected 100 Americans, and used cotton swabs to collect samples from the inside of their noses, we would find, and be able to grow these bacteria from one of every 4 samples taken.

When we find ourselves, as individuals or communities, in a situation where we are threatened by MRSA organisms, cancer cells, or terrorists, we are unwise if we miss the opportunity to ask ourselves about the terrain in which they have grown.

MRSA has not been a delight in my life, but I don’t believe that this organism is THE problem. The real power lies in me understanding how and why I am such a good host.

DAY 139 - Stopped by a Bug

It was 9 o’clock in the evening on Friday the 4th of February, DAY 123 of my book, when I realized I was in trouble.

A week earlier I had torn some connective tissue in my left ankle. No big deal; it swelled a bit and bled internally. Having done this before, I knew that it would be sore, but resolve within a week or two. Instead, 3 days later, the ankle was not just swollen and bruised, but red and warm. My sweet wife gently suggested that antibiotics might be called for. While in no way opposed to antibiotics, I have always been strongly opposed to their inappropriate use. I hoped that my immune system could handle the situation.

During the next few days the condition of my ankle fluctuated. On Thursday the 3rd, it appeared that my body had the upper hand. But by 9 PM on Friday, the invaders had me down. My left ankle was painful, hot and swollen.

Being so fortunate as to have dear friends who are medical doctors, I was able to contact one, get to an all-night pharmacy, and start on antibiotics. The next day, Saturday, my MD friend met me at his office, lanced the infected area, sent a sample for culturing, and recommended a stronger antibiotic.

By Monday the culture report was back from the lab and showed a serious infection by a bacterium that is resistant to most antibiotics.

My book and my life would be put on hold for 14 days ... by a bug.

DAY 56 - Can You Hear Me Now? Part 2

I have provided Part 1 here again, in brown - Part 2 follows - in black

This “Turning 60 Consciously”-thing continues to be a profound and pleasurable experience. Turns out for me, it’s easy to be conscious, and I always have “Something to Say”. The real work is the writing; the hours of shaping, weighing, listening, divining. I put in the effort because I am looking for a “Yes” to my question, “Can you hear me?”

The challenge I experience, trying to write in such a way that readers hear me, is compounded by my regular selection of subject matter and viewpoints that are outside our cultural vista. It is one thing to communicate about things we have in common, and entirely another, when the subject is foreign or the perspective initially appears false due to its conflict with views held.

Today, again, I will attempt to share a consideration that I believe is of significant importance to all people, but that is little known, little seen, little heard; not on our cultural radar.

The front page of the Ventura County Star was laid out on the arced bar in our kitchen as I shuffled in this morning from a long winter’s nap. The lead story, titled “Can You Hear Me Now?”, caught my attention. It made it to the front page because of the alarming content it reported; hearing-loss in young people in the US has risen by 30% between 1994 and 2006. With that increase, fully 1 in 5 US teens, in 2006, had at least slight hearing loss.

As I began reading the article, I consciously predicted that the article would blame loud noise as the cause for this dangerous loss of hearing in our youth. While there are other probable, or contributory culprits, our culture is fixated on loud noise being the cause of hearing-loss. Our blindness to other possibilities may be as dangerous as the hearing-loss itself.

The Star’s reporter is clearly convinced that loud noise is the cause. She begins the article with 3 short paragraphs that introduce us to Henry Ayala, a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Blackstock School in Oxnard who says that he listens to his iPod, turned up full blast, for an average of three hours a day.

The author of the sited, hearing-loss study, Dr. Shargorodsky, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, acknowledges that “the study did not provide conclusive reasons for the increase” of hearing loss. Nonetheless, Shargorodsky shared with the reporter, and leads the reader, down the road of the “loud noise” theory by focusing on Walkman’s, iPods, and earbuds.

A clue about other-than-loud-noise-caused hearing-loss, understandably missed by most, is found later in the article when Dr. Kathryn Huff, the coordinator of the Ventura County Office of Education’s Hearing Conservation Department, is quoted as saying that some “students need to be retested because they had a cold, allergies, earwax”. Given that these conditions affect hearing, if they are chronic problems, do they have impact on hearing-loss?

Chronic infection, chronic allergy, and poor quality diet can, and do, contribute to hearing-loss. Chronic ear and sinus infections are not uncommon. Chronic allergy is endemic. The Standard American Diet (SAD) with its health compromising effects is, of course, the norm for kids. We need to look at, think about, and study these known contributory or causative factors.

I understand that we tend to be drawn to the obvious, in this case, loud noise, but that should not keep us from remembering that things are not always as they seem. Loud noise is not the only cause of hearing-loss; our children and our culture need us to understand the rest of the story.

Can you hear me now?