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

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Fever can unlock autism's grip: study

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Fever can temporarily unlock autism's grip on children, a finding that could shed light on the roots of the condition and perhaps provide clues for treatment, researchers reported on Monday.

It appears that fever restores nerve cell communications in regions of the autistic brain, restoring a child's ability to interact and socialize during the fever, the study said.

The results of this study are important because they show us that the autistic brain is plastic, or capable of altering current connections and forming new ones in response to different experiences or conditions," said Dr. Andrew Zimmerman, a pediatric neurologist at Baltimore's Kennedy Krieger Institute, who was one of the study authors.

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hope there is not now a spate of parents immersing children in hot baths etc to 'cure' them....

I had a fever yesterday; I didn't seem to interact normally (if anything, I was more withdrawn than usual).

Hmm. My autistic son had a 102 fever last night and was covered in a viral rash/hives thing. He was unusually cuddly and affectionate, fell asleep in my arms. When he woke up at 4AM with the fever spiked back up, he hugged my husband and I and kept saying iyuyoo (I love you) over and over. Do I think his fever magically cured his autism for a little while? No. I think he felt like crap and wanted some comfort. While it would be cool if they could gain something useful from this "finding", I worry about all the idiots out there who will burn their kids in tubs of hot water trying to induce a fever state to "cure" them.

I've experienced this "fever" situation with my son a number of times. Especially when he was younger, he was suddenly more able to verbalize how he felt, more social, able to make sense in situations that he wouldn't usually make sense under typical circumstances.

Although I'm not about to put him into a hot bath to recreate this situation, I have to admit that it was nice at the time when this would happen. On the one hand, you would feel bad that my child had a fever and was feeling cruddy, but on the other hand, it was wonderful to really connect with my son. I don't think it's a horrible thing to wish that would happen again -- but it would be bad to force the issue.

Kris

I was more sociable and loving when depressed and seeing black holes. Because I felt like crap and needed some comfort. I hope that now that I've said that, people won't be trying to induce depression in their kids to make them normal!

I've had numerous conversations with parents over this. It's actually old news. My son acts totally normal when he's sick with infection/fever. If the school says he was "wonderful" or "perfect" then I know something is wrong. During one particular bad time when my son was in preschool, I picked up my son after school and he "had a great day". Turns out he had pneumonia.
Something similar happened in kindergarten.

Allergies produce the opposite, making him seem "more autistic". So, when they complain at school about his "behavior", I know that he's likely rolling in grass and being exposed to cat hair.

not sure if have understood what the story is saying and whether this is the same thing but if so-am remember a long while back reading something from ASDers about how their ASD seemed to get less? when they were ill with flu/cold etc,it was either on here,AFF or ASDF.

I feel sluggish and stupid when I get sick. I must be the exception to the rule.

OMG! Something like this has happened to me before. Sometimes when I get a cold, especially a short, intense cold, I often feel less nervous about socializing, and I feel as if I am able to socialize without thinking about it. I often feel like I'm running on autopilot, and it can be a great feeling, despite the fact that I'm sick. I even remember dancing more smoothly when I was sick. I am going to have to read the original article tomorrow!

The one disclaimer is that I never usually get a fever when I'm sick, just a sore throat, and then I blow my nose a lot. But it still works for me when I'm sick, even without the fever.

We're talking about fevers here right????

and not anything like say a cold or whatnot right? the reason I ask is because I don't think that actually is true. because whenever I used to be sick, I still felt the same.

I haven't been sick(throwing up/feverish/whatever) since Senior year of high school, with the exception of the nearly killer cough that hit me in January.

Hmmm... I can't recall ever having a fever. Remind me to put that on my to-do list.

I can't stand socializing when I'm sick. Illness makes me extra-irritable.

I definitely become more "normal-feeling" when I have a fever of some sort, though which times that happens depends on my other sickly symptoms. I think it may have alot to do with a desperate need to communicate while under a physical ailment that wasn't thrust upon them (nature vs. human abuse), and/or perhaps a change in perspective whilst under duress. However, the OP could be quite right about it having something more than a psychological change, so I'm not going to disregard it unless scientific evidence -after further study of course- debunks the theory.

Last time I had a fever I quite enjoyed it. It was not until the 'pox' erupted that I came to understand why chicken pox is generally considered 'unfun'.

The fever was not unlike being at the 'tipsy' stage of (alcohol induced) inebriation, and since mild intoxication has similar associations (lowering of inhibitions often accompanied by a general increase in the expression of affectionate regard, and even in some cases a propensity to either 'smooth dance moves' or merely the subjective opinion that one's moves are smooth), I'm not convinced it's more than temporary dysfunction of usually operative neurological processes, just as occurs with mild intoxication.

There very well might be something to it, but it would take more than observation of behavior to convince me.