Specializing in In-Home ABA Programs for Children with Autism & Other Related Disorders
What is GAPS?
Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAP Syndrome or GAPS), this term was created by Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD, MMedSci (neurology), MMedSci (human nutrition) in 2004 after working with hundreds of children and adults with neurological and psychiatric conditions, such as autistic spectrum disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD/ADD), schizophrenia, dyslexia, dyspraxia, depression, obsessive –compulsive disorder, bi-polar disorder and other neuro-psychological and psychiatric problems.
To learn about Gut and Psychology Syndrome, how it develops and how to treat it effectively with a sound nutritional protocol please read Dr Campbell-McBride’s book "Gut and Psychology Syndrome. Natural treatment for autism, ADHD/ADD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, depression and schizophrenia”
Our Medical Knowledge
The following paragraphs are excerpts from an article called “Gut And Psychology Syndrome: The GAPS in our Medical Knowledge” by Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD, Wise Tradtions, Winter, 2007.
”Autism is a serious disorder, yet it is perfectly curable.The younger the child when treatment begins, the better results I see.If you catch the autistic child under the age of three, there is about a 60-70 percent chance of full recovery.My own son was autistic but treated early.He is 15 years old now and is a normal teenager, for which I am very grateful.
So what do we do?First and foremost, treat the digestive disorder.Every so-called psychological and mental disorder is a digestive disorder at its core – whether it is schizophrenia, bipolar, obsessive-complusive behavior, substance abuse, depression, or just a cranky teenager – look first at their digestive system.
The digestive system is a long tube, and what you fill that tube with has a direct effect on its well-being.That is why ninety percent of the treatment is diet!An effective probiotic is absolutely paramount because we have to introduce benefical bacteria into the digestive systems of these children.Nutrional deficiencies have to be addressed and deoxification is an important part of treatment.”
Donna Gates, author of "The Body Ecology Diet" and Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, author of "Gut and Psychology Syndrome" talk about the importance of the gut with regards to autism.Please watch all 6 videos.
I was very excited to hear Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride speak at the Deidre Currie Festival in Ann Arbor, Michigan on September 13, 2008.The following are some of my notes from her discussion on Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS).
Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD graduated with Honors as a Medical Doctor in 1984 from Bashkir Medical University in Russia. She gained a Postgraduate Degree in Neurology at the Moscow Medical University and a postgraduate Degree in Human Nutrition at Sheffield University, UK.
Dr. Campbell-McBride founded and is senior partner at the Cambridge Nutrition Clinic. She specializes in using nutrition as a treatment, and has become recognized as one of the world’s leading experts in treating children and adults with learning disabilities and other mental disorders, as well as children and adults with digestive and immune disorders. She is the author of Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) and created the probiotic BioKult specifically for GAPS patients.For an overview of her book:http://www.behealthy.org.uk/books.htm
At the age of three, her son was diagnosed as severely autistic. "Having looked at his profound digestive abnormalities, I found that my own profession had nothing to offer my own child. He is now fifteen years old and cured. That was a fateful event in my life and what it took to knock this doctor out of the mainstream. Every medical doctor I have met who has 'moved to our side' has had something like this happen to a loved one."
WHAT IS GAPS SYNDROME?
In children it can be diagnosed as: autism, ADHD/ADD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, learning, behavior, & social problems.
These children often become adults with these problems: more prone to substance abuse (and higher chances of reacting adversely to drugs), depression, obsessive/compulsive disorder, manic-depressive, and schizophrenia.
The medical community doesn't offer any cures; all that is offered is symptomatic treatments.
In a clinical setting, one feature unites all these problems: THEY ALL HAVE DIGESTIVE PROBLEMS.
In children, digestive issues are usually the first symptom. Sometimes they are severe, but other times they're not so severe and you only find out later, after talking more about their history, that they have these problems.
Sometimes GAPS patients have allergies, asthma & eczema (those two usually alternate), thrush, or chronic cystitis (bladder infection) - have you ever heard of a doctor who would ask them about any digestive problems when they show up with these symptoms?
Some GAPS children suffer from malnutrition, but may look well nourished. When tested we find multiple nutritional deficiencies.
Feeding difficulties are universally present in these patients. They are finicky eaters. (Siblings of autistic children are almost universally picky eaters, too.) Their bodies learn that food makes them ill so they limit the foods they'll eat to the very foods that harm them most - sweet, starchy foods, sweet yogurts, bananas. When the toxins absorb they give the brain a pleasure signal, so the brain wants more and they become drug addicts in a way.
The trouble is that when you tell them about changing the diet, a lot of parents ask, "how do I change my child's eating habits, they will gag and not eat any of this!" In my GAPS book there is a whole chapter, a structured approach, on how to change a finicky child's diet gradually - you have to pull them out of the vicious cycle of cravings and dependency. They will fight you every step, but you have to help pull them out. One child lived on crackers and they took them to a dietician who said, "it's ok, at least he's eating." He looked like he was from Ethiopia. After 2 months of following the GAPS diet he was eating everything, but the parents have to be determined and strong.
In our gut (our intestinal tract), there are many beneficial microbes; they have established a symbiotic relationship with our bodies. 90% of all cells in our body are gut flora - we are a shell to hold this massive amount of bacteria - our health depends hugely on the health and status of this mixture of bacteria.
The gut flora protects it from invaders, maintains the health and integrity of the gut, provides digestion and absorption, vitamin production, detoxification, and a healthy immune system.
GAPS patients have what's called Gut Dysbiosis or "leaky gut" They have reduced or absent populations of normal flora.
The digestive track all spread out would cover a tennis court, and it's the perfect place for anything harmful in the environment to settle, yet the good bacteria there chelate (remove) chemicals and toxic metals - if they can't destroy it, they grab and it take it from the body.
Two groups of rats were given organic mercury. One group were given a powerful antibiotic, the other group were not. The mercury got into the bloodstream of only about 1% of those without the antibiotic, and 90% of those with the antibiotic. Keep gut flora healthy and strong and it will protect you. (When antibiotics are taken they wipe out bad bacteria AND beneficial bacteria.)
If you have healthy solid gut flora, it will chelate the mercury and take it out.
Chemical Chelation can be dramatic and cause regression - it pulls mercury or lead out of storage cells (fatty tissue - the brain & nervous system are mostly fat) - she recommends no chelation because a healthy gut is the better way (chelation pulls out good stuff, too).
Apart from insuring that food is digested properly, good gut flora also takes part in synthesizing B vitamins - our main source is our gut flora. If someone is pale and pasty it usually can be due to vitamin B deficiencies - no matter how many supplements they take, they are still deficient.
85% of the immune system is located in your gut wall.Antibiotics work, but you can't be on them forever. Only way to fight it is the natural way - with gut flora.Restore it!!
A TYPICAL SCENEARIO:
Almost 100% of Moms with GAPS children have abnormal gut flora.Most where not breastfed themselves, therefore did not receive good gut flora.Most have received many doses of antibiotics.Most were on a birth control pill for a long time before conceiving which has a devastating effect on gut health.Most moms also have toxin exposure from the overuse of personal care products on skin/hair and in the mouth.
This is important because babies are born sterile and get their gut flora from their mother.(If the mom breastfeeds, the baby is protected from mom’s abnormal gut flora.This is why most babies develop autism at 12 months.Most moms nurse until baby is 1 year old.)The baby then does not develop normal gut flora.The immune system is further compromised.The baby has ear infections and antibioticswhich further damage the gut flora and immune system.Then the baby is vaccinated.All this leads to gut dysbiosis, toxicity, and brain dysfunction.
If all this happens in the first 2 years of life, the child becomesautistic.If it develops at different points, then a different diagnosis.
THE KEY TREATMENT IS THE RE-ESTABLISHING OF NORMAL GUT FLORA.
"It isn't hopeless, we've treated these children for years with good results."
Diet heals these conditions (often misdiagnosed as gluten issues/celiac disease - only about 5% of these conditions qualify as true celiac disease).
Effective probiotics are crucial.
Address nutritional deficiencies – “I’m not in favor of a lot of supplements - nutrition is always best from food, healthy food”. The diet is so nutrient dense that it removes most nutritional deficiencies quickly. She doesn't recommend a multi-vitamin, in late stages maybe, but not in initial stages. Fish oils are essential from the beginning - for fat soluble vitamins & omega 3's.
Detoxification is an important part of the treatment process - "I believe in natural detoxification, in using our own digestive system. More than 80% of anything harmful in your blood is from your own digestive system. That's why keeping it healthy is so vital to us."In GAPS patients, nutrients don't get absorbed. We all have our own detox system responsible for removing toxins that come from the outside or from the gut. The system can get overloaded, like a traffic jam.
TWO METHODS FOR REMOVING TOXINS:
1.)The liver gets clogged, so it is recommended that parents introduce juicing - a time proven method of removing all sorts of toxins from the body. Start gradually, 1/3 c. (kids 1 t.) a day to start, in case of a severe die off. This is very effective - juicing provides substances to pull toxins out of storage, but will also provide live enzymes and fatty acids.
2.)Baths with Epsom or Sea Salt, apple cider vinegar, and baking soda - alternate each night and soak for ½ hour. This pulls toxins from the skin while the child is playing in the tub.
Your toxic load needs to be reduced - your exposure to man-made chemicals. Re-think everything used in the home, or for personal care. All can be toxic and are absorbed through the skin and end up at the liver.
Please read her book, Gut And Psychology Syndrome for more complete information and on how to implement the diet yourself.