Fever can unlock autism's grip: study (Reuters)

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Can you cite a news article or other supporting documentation?

Good call, Mr. Mark! I will try to do so in the future as well.

Here is some supporting documentation for the above statement:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070820141059.htm
http://www.healing-arts.org/children/autism-treatments.htm
http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/news/20070820/caution-urged-for-autism-treatments
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/autism-treatment/AN01488
http://www.generationrescue.org/biomedical.html

Taken from the mayo link you posted evilkimevil

I would hope the study showing changes in behaviour of people on the ASD's during fever will simply be used to advance knowledge of how the brain functions. It would be unethical (in my view) - to induce fever in children as a treatment option for autism.


edited to show quote from mayo

Last edited by lucy1 on 12 Dec 2007, 12:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I think you're jumping to wrong conclusions.
No-one involved in that study has suggested that fever-induction could be used as a cure - and nor would they, for it's neither permanent nor practicable.

I know that some ASDers regard their condition as something that in some ways, defines them - and have no wish to 'cure' it.
But many, many others simply don't share that outlook.

Other ASDers have considerable baggage about the way they've been treated by society (bullying, etc) and rather regard their treatment regimes as intentionally punitive rather than in any way, therapeutic.
An understandable position - but I feel that it may incline them towards resisting the finding of a cure.

I agree with you member 6 -- With my last post I was acknowledging evilkimevils ideas as posted in his references - and then simply linking in my idea with my last sentence about the point of the study.

Indeed.
But it's a measure of the desperation that the parents feel for their children, the rest of the family and themselves (their continued ability to cope), that they resort to these measures.
They are to be pitied, not reviled.
Which makes it all the more essential that a cure is devised sooner rather than later.

Don't know if this thread is dead forever, but whatever, it seems to be the one autism/fever thread.

I have experience with the fever helping out with major AS symptoms/comorbids. Mostly, it reduces my reaction to certain irritating stimuli and most important of all, it improves my executive function. Wicked!

Exercise which has an impact on core temperature, has a similar effect on me. For example, if I do something very physically demanding, like bounding up 10 flights of stairs, sprinting, or squatting with weights, I can spike my body temperature and get a meaningful difference in how I feel. Typically, people assume exercise's mental benefits are from endorphins. I think this really intense exercise helps because of the increase in core temp. This exercise, like a fever makes my executive functioning much, much better for a few hours.

Anyone else have an stimming/tricks/methods for raising core temp? Anyone else care to share results?

Feverish topic

I was sick repeatedly as a child, and endured many fevers. My behaviour changed from anxious to lassitude, and so my mother was happy and treated me better. I did not have to go to school and could jsut read all day.

Now in my older age I get hot flashes, which just irritate me. My autism has not unlocked. No key!! This makes me happy.

Interestingly enough, the only thing that I've noticed when I have a fever is that I perform better on tests for some reason.

I walked into a Stats 2 (one of the "harder" courses in my program) final exam with a C+, feeling sick as a dog, and walked out with a B+. Meaning I would have had to have aced the exam.

That sounds like a great way to kill your kids

Last time I had a fever, I just wanted to sleep. I think the whole thing is just a misunderstanding. The kids are too exhausted to resist when a parent tries to hug them or perhaps they feel so bad they want some extra hugs and affection.

I have the (mis-?)fortune of currently having a low grade fever, thanks to recent contact with an infant. And I thought I'd share some observations.

First of all, while this is really unpleasant, I am the most optomistic about life I have been in a long while. I hurt physically, but emotionally this is a world better than I have in ages.

That is not to say I am fully 'happy'. One aspect of this fever has been getting weepy. It seems my conscious thought is much more directed toward addressing my problems than it has been in a while. I have been furious with these thoughts and sometimes they involve heavy lifting that inevitably leads to tears.

I imagined conversations where I was working out the tension in my complicated relationships by talking through them with the other party. While this doesn't mean I will actually have these conversations, I am seeing those I had the relationships with and myself in a different light. I 'feel their pain' more and am much franker about my shortcommings vis-a-vis them. I don't really think my ideas vis-a-vis them are totally new, either, but they seem to come to me much, much faster and they are not limited to just one part of emotional spectrum, e.g. I can deeply respect their strengths and pity their weaknesses at the same time and become more forgiving in my attitudes because I am not so clearly either/or.

My ability to productively engage the future, as a concept in my mind, is much better than it has been in a ages. I am making plans and acting on them.

I am also strangely better at seeing my immediate needs. Changing my mind is easier and less disruptive than it usually is. That is kind of cool.

The effect appears to cumulative, i.e. I am at least 18 or so hours into the fever. It was 99.5F or 37.5C before, but I feel my best now at 99.1/37.28.

This feels just a bit like a mania. Mostly I am being hyperresponsible with things, i.e. I have taken care of a number of intractable practical things today. Basically my executive function feels really, really different than it usually does. Things are getting done. A lot of them. But it is new enough terrain I am a tad confused and worried things might go wrong. The slightly crazy structure of this post is kind of indicative of this: I need to tell you all this, but I feel so compelled I am not taking the time to add the structure I'd like to,even though I know I should. I think as I spend more time feeling 'better' like this, I might learn how to both have these thoughts and maintain the structure.

I think I remember planning phases of my life after my major illnesses. I had a better ability to think things through and decide where to apply my efforts. Those plans were all pretty good. While I am not sure I would not want another month of 103F/39.4C fevers like I had a few years ago, the period after that illness was one of the best of my life.

I think my ideas are more creative than usual. They retain their idosyncratic aspieness, but I am less uptight about following patterns. I actually need to write them down, which is the reason I am here for this.

Here's is one creative idea related to my fever and my AS. I think the fever might only be an indirect cause for my feeling better. I have long imagined sleep issues to be central to how my AS impacts me. Last night I spent nearly 14 hours in bed, wearing my eye mask and using my ear plugs to limit my sensory load. I didn't sleep the whole time, but I was away from much of the stimulation from sound and light I would go through in a normal day. I sometimes do something similar when I have migraines, though then it is even more a feeling of being forced to hide, as I have both photo- and phono-phobia. I usally feel better after migraines, too, but I find those to be much more painful than this cold, so that mitigates some of my post-migraine enjoyment.

Anyway, I just wanted to share before I get back to my busy day. This place is an important refuge for me, since I am only "out" about my AS here. I realize I should face up and all, but it had always felt like doing so would be too hard to handle. Being able to share and discuss this here hasn't always been easy, but I was always glad this resource was here. So giving everyone a heads up really felt required.

If that research is accurate, then it means Autism may be less complex than we thought. If it's right, and that's a big IF, then it opens up a number of doors to treating autism spectrum disorders. The question is how does the brain react when it has a fever? What changes?

Yes. I should say that I have sibling who has been diagnosed with thyroid disorder. I have read elsewhere here on WP that certain varieties of thyroid disorder can reduce your basal core temperature. I now feel I must push to get an endocrinologist to examine me seriously, as I have in the past had one of the thyroid tests, i.e. the one that doesn't catch the hormone that impacts temperature, and it was at the commonly recorded median.

I should also add that on a regular basis, my favorite tricks for improving mood and executive function seem to be forms of exercise that raise my core temperature. The best forms of exercise for me to do this all involve using the large, fast-twitch muscles of the body, namely the gluteus and the hamstrings, until I come close to collapse. This actually takes some planning: when I am out of shape, this is much less effective. In fact I tend to dismiss everyone's suggestion that I am just feeling endorphins. I really need to be able to work myself into massive exhaustion, which requires better than average hamstring and lower body flexibility, good muscle strength, and a cardiovascular system that is used to working hard. But when I am able to work REALLY hard with this exercise, I can improve my executive function and my disposition towards the world. For example, sprinting 200 meters up a hill or bounding up, at the fastest speed possible, 15 flights of stairs. There is a nearly immediate impact from these activities that helps a lot with getting things done and helping me take life's challenges in stride. This effect has something like a half life of maybe 3 hours.

Just to add to the mix, I know cheetahs are supposed to be able to run until their core temperature gets so hot that they have to stop or they will die. I believe they are the animals with the greatest variance in energy expenditure. Point being, that training oneself to work/exercise as hard as possible should allow one to burn energy at a much faster rate.

One thing I wonder about is how much of a change in core temperature is needed for an impact to be felt. I can imagine that certain chemical reactions have a point at which they become much more efficent and a small fraction of a degree would help them a lot. But at this point I am really talk out my hinny.

And one last thing (sorry for being verbose). I am still an oddball when I have this fever/exercise effect. I am not "cured" of AS, so much as the symptoms that vex me are almost magically less of an issue. I mentioned executive function, but I also note that my sensitives are less profound, and I mean intellectual sensitivities as well and the more narrowly defined "five senses" sensitivities. But I am still idiosyncratic with my thoughts, which is what I always liked about AS.

I never knew that autism had a grip. I thought that it was a disorder, that just was. I've never seen it, as a monster.

It is just a disorder. Milder forms provide a unique way of thinking that can be beneficial, but in more severe forms an effective treatment could be immensely beneficial.

Even having something for AS kids to take on the way to school, so they don't struggle to fit in, could have immense benefit for a large number of individuals.

Social change is still necessary, but this can lighten up some of the troubles until that happens. (Provided we get effective treatments on time.)