Infant microbes and metabolites point to childhood neurodevelopmental disorders

Are you talking about meditation? And if so, on your own or with a teacher?

What techniques are you referring to?

The difference is that I've come at it from a different approach, where this fight or flight is a neural pathway or habit of the unconscious mind that you can train yourself out of. Although trauma can probably be a significant factor on how people get to this state, "the way out" (title of the book by Alan Gordon that explained these ideas) is probable the same and I believe not all people with these issues have significant trauma, although in some it may be necessary to address as an underlying cause.

As for how you can train yourself, it's explained in the book mentioned above as well as the free podcast "Tell me about your pain". Since the podcast is free so the techniques are public knowledge, I believe I'm allowed to summarize my take:

1. Constant "problem solving" and overthinking about your health can put you in a state of stress that heightens your perception of your own body which in turn convinces you that something is seriously wrong (eg: you may hear your own heart beating very loudly even though it's beating normally, or you may feel pain even though the nerves are transmitting normal signals to your brain). If you've been to many doctors and they can't find an explanation, there's a chance they all missed a serious problem, but there's probably a bigger chance that there's nothing physically wrong with your body but your nervous system is causing the altered perception and over reaction. It can be freeing to realize you don't need to try a new diet, or spend all your free time on pubmed, or go see an expensive doctor that prescribes expensive supplements. If you have a "neuroplastic" issue these things will not only not help, but actually hinder your recovery.

2. Catching the "what if" thoughts. You can't stop yourself from going to a worst case scenario, but you can stop yourself from buying into it. Every time you think something like "what if I actually have an injury that the MRI and X-Ray missed"? You can reply to yourself how unlikely that is. The nervous system is part of the subconscious so making yourself feel calm will probably, over time, calm it down.

3. Somatic tracking, which is the action of paying attention to a painful, strange or otherwise uncomfortable sensation in your body through a lens of safety. Eg: wow, it's incredible that my brain can usually filter the sound of my heartbeat but now I'm able to hear it at full volume. If you understand that the sensation is safe and you have nothing to fear, paying attention to that sensation will slowly make it go away over time (not necessarily in one session, which although it can happen is not the goal). Your nervous system highlights pain or sensations because it believes they're dangerous and wants you to feel them to avoid further injury. When you pay attention to them in a lens of safety it understands that there's no danger so they get deactivated.

4.Paying attention to things that feel good and being mindful in the moment about them. Whether it's feeling your breath in mindfulness meditation or taking a walk in the park and consciously being present and enjoying the experience.

5. Filtering what you consume. Media and content nowadays tries to appeal to our most basic instincts, especially fear. Reading news can put you in a state of alert. Watching shorts or tiktok can overstimulate you. Try to be comfortable with stillness and doing nothing. You don't need to fill every free moment of time with your phone.

6. Have you ever though: if I was better I would do X, or when I get better I'll do Y? Being sick can bring apathy that can stop you from doing things you enjoy even after being physically capable. Actually doing them and learning to enjoy them again isn't just a possibility, it's a necessary part of recovery.

I'm sure there's more, but this is what worked for me to go from bed-bound with full body pain (with 3 surgeries to remove internal joint scarring without any injury) to being 98% recovered in less than one year. If any of this resonates with someone reading this I'd recommend listening to the podcast, it's free and got me 70% of the way there even without the book.

In contrast, it's pretty difficult to prove that an ear infection was not present at the time of evaluation. The assessment is highly subjective, can be really difficult to thoroughly assess in young kids, and generally doesn't leave any hard evidence to review or critique.

Nearly all of the bad incentives align to pressure providers to just diagnose an ear infection and prescribe the antibiotic and move on with their busy shift.

I've spent quite a bit of time in various parts of South America where antibiotics are available without prescription and from what I've seen, used for every fever and sniffle for 40 years+ now. I'm not seeing generations of Autistic and ADHD people there. If the antibiotic link was true, wouldn't it be worse there?

My approach with my kids has been to use antibiotics only if there's no progression (better or worse). I figure as long as it appears the immune system is doing its job, that's enough for most cases.

So far, we've given our 3-year antibiotics on two occasions. Once for an ear infection that wouldn't clear and for when he had pneumonia.

That being said maybe it’s causal? But it might also just be a generalized indicator of developmental issues (if you have issues on one part of the body, makes sense for other parts to have issues as well IMO. Especially given the comorbidity stuff on ADHD diagnoses)

- It's well established now that physical exercice has an effect on clinical depression and specific mental issues

- Gut flora directly affects your physical state, in particular the amount of energy you'll have to consume that day (both in what nutrients it can extract, and how effectively it does so)

Gut flora impacting your physical state, impacting your mental health would look like a decent link to me.

[1]https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-preventi...

Anxiety got totally under control.

It quickly reverts when I stop this.

Histamine intolerance is an interesting one.

[1] https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/1343/

Some of the adjustments I was told affect microbiome but I don’t know why / how.

All of that said, for an anxiety attack there’s nothing like meds, in my experience, to put a lid on it real quick.

carnivore diet solved my anxiety, but I'm stuck now, I'm able to work a job, but when something traumatic happens I'm still anxious, not as much though.

been collecting for a while, hope it helps. https://github.com/cutestuff/FoodDepressionConundrum

For the gut in general it seems to be helping to take glucosamine, magnesium and something else, I forgot just now.

I'm not saying these things don't have an influence on severity or presentation of ASD. But they are certainly not the root cause(s).

At the time most of the evidence was observational or mice running on treadmills with very little actual randomised human evidence. The ones that were high-quality intervention studies with control groups showed very small effects. Additionally, they were always done for another primary outcome, so they never controlled for stuff like people who bike more every day will also eat more.

I think it is plausible that exercise will change the microbiome, from personal experience high-intensity running for instance will increase the transit time of feces, a major determinant of the microbiome. But i believe most of the studies are low-quality and overhyped, and a glance at this review seems to indicate that the field has not changed much.

Being treated with antibiotics in infancy is extremely common.

It’s especially problematic right now in some countries where antibiotics are available over the counter, as it’s common practice in some groups to treat every childhood illness with antibiotics. The amount of antibiotic abuse happening in some countries right now is absolutely astounding.

Even in countries like the United States some parents will present to doctors and demand antibiotics for nearly every illness. The medical system here is, in general, better at withholding them from demanding parents when children show no cause for antibiotic use. It’s actually one of the bigger problems that pediatricians face with feedback and bad reviews, though that’s another story.

That said, I wouldn’t ascribe anything in particular to antibiotic use as a child. It’s rare to go through all of childhood without any exposure to antibiotics.

Yes, gut flora is definitely disrupted in people with ASD. But it's a real long stretch to suggest it's the cause.

There is no group other than "big pharma" that has massively extended average life expectancy over the past 100+ years.

It is insane that there is such a large group of people trying to drag us back to the past where snakeoil salesmen sold fake medicine and basically every aspect of our collective health was worse.