It's no secret that kids with autism tend to be virus ridden, but I
was just wondering how many of you think viral issues may contribute
to your child's allergies?

My husband (the one who NEVER gets sick) got the flu about 12 days
ago, is still not better, and two days ago he started breaking out
in hives on his face. It first occurred the other night after we
had eaten some chinese food so we assumed there was some sort of
cross-contamination with shellfish because my husband is allergic to
shellfish. However, he keeps breaking out in hives on his face now
for no apparent reason.

Also, I have a friend whose child has severe multiple allergies.
The child is brilliant and has a first cousin with autism, and he is
socially awkward and introverted, so I am not sure how on the
spectrum he is. This mother said that her son's food allergies
first flared after a bad virus he had as a baby. Her other two sons
do not have food allergies and she feels as though even though they
have similar genetics, that this opportunistic virus is what caused
Tyler's food allergies. Interesting.

I have read that it is not wise to consume cow's milk products after
the stomach flu when your intestines are inflammed as it can induce
cow's milk allergy. I am very sure I read this is a common
mainstream medical article of some sort a year or two ago.

SOOOOOOOO, my point is, perhaps we should be looking to target viral
issues in this subset of kids? I, for one, have not done much in
this department. None of the DAN docs we've had have ever been hip
on testing viral titres. They say, "of course these kids have viral
issues" and while they agree it's important they always indicate we
aren't to that point yet of treating viral issues.

Sooooooooo, have any of you tried targeting viral issues? With
Valtrex, acylovir or any other drugs? What natural stuff have you
used? I know Dr. McCandless seems to like Virastop by Enzymetic
Therapy and OLE. Anyone tried these? Any good results? Anyone
doing Yasko? Please share. Any coorelation between addressing
virus and decrease in food allergies?

Just food for thought. I thought we should get the discussion
going. It's been too long.

Another interesting viral tid-bit. My son regressed/got sick after
a round of TD-DMSA last November '05. Our new DAN doc did a PRBC
analysis and found that his selenium levels were severely low. I
did a bunch of internet searching and found out that if your
selenium level gets knocked low enough it can activate the gene that
moderates the coxsackie virus or something to this effect. This
interested me because after that TD-DMSA my son had these viral
tongue bumps for two months and he had already had coxsackie when he
was younger. Anyway, I have reason to believe virus plays a large
role in my kid's case and in most kids on the spectrum but I wonder
if it could be the key to what causes food allergies? I just want
to know what to do about it?!

Well wishes to you and yours!

Jenny