With the growing number of children developing autistic features in today’s world, researchers are on the hunt for the causes of autism. In a complex and multifaceted condition like autism, this hunt rarely ends an “aha” moment with the one answer suddenly appearing out of the research. Instead, research inches forward in fits and starts. …
Correlation does not equal causation. We hear that often in medicine. For example, we know there are correlations between maternal illness during pregnancy and autism. We know that these two conditions, maternal illness and infant autism, travel together, but we don’t have a mechanism of action to prove that the former causes the latter. We…
The hunt for autism’s trigger continues. The reason for its long continuance likely lies in that it is not one homogenous disease, but a mixture of different triggers culminating in a similar pattern of brain dysfunction and life disruption. The role of the immune system probably runs second only to genetics in terms of research…
Researchers have searched for the root causes of ADHD for decades hoping to hint at successful treatments. Sometimes, they also work backwards, looking at therapies that appear to be helpful and trying to understand why. By understanding how a medication changes dysfunction into function, they hope to uncover the root causes in the process. Functional…
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more… offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness. Eric PotterDr. Eric Potter graduated from Vanderbilt…
Why can’t we find the one cause of autism? Because… we are searching for what does not exist, the “one” cause. Autism remains a mysterious complexity and much of that complexity may lie in the fact that multiple causes may lead to it. Furthermore, multiple processes interact to produce what we see in children. Dr.…
Just who does this American Academy of Pediatrics thinks they are? Just because they control board certification for all pediatricians, set the guidelines for pediatric well and sick care, and are the largest influence in mainstream pediatrics does NOT give them the right to make outrageous claim that we in functional medicine have been making…
Correlation does not equal causation. We hear that often in medicine. For example, we know there are correlations between maternal illness during pregnancy and autism. We know that these two conditions, maternal illness and infant autism, travel together, but we don’t have a mechanism of action to prove that the former causes the latter. We…
Maternal Immune Activation Leading to Autism The hunt for autism’s trigger continues. The reason for its long continuance likely lies in that it is not one homogenous disease, but a mixture of different triggers culminating in a similar pattern of brain dysfunction and life disruption. The role of the immune system probably runs second only…
As our ability to identify and measure gut bacteria has progressed, the number of connections between our gut microbiome and various neurologic diseases constantly expands. Autism, Multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and others have been linked to various changes in the relative numbers of gut bacteria. These researchers examined the interactions between the mucous…