A lot of parents of children suffering from autism have reported gastrointestinal (GI) pain in their child, but it is yet to be determined if there’s any relationship between autism and bowel disease.
An editorial that came out in the British Medical Journal on Thursday inspected the continual belief, by many, of a probable link between the developmental disorder and the chronic inflammatory bowel disease, which was first named as “autistic enterocolitis” by British doctor, Dr. Andrew Wakefield.
The editorial affirmed that past Wakefield’s report, the proof of any association between bowel disease and autism is slight.
The theory was first launched in 1998 in a completely dishonored research by Wakefield. His study that came out in ‘The Lancet’, linked autism and bowel disease to the measles vaccine.
Critics blamed Wakefield’s paper for using formulated statistics to find a relationship between acceptance of the MMR vaccine and the beginning of what he explained as “behavioral symptoms”.
Dr. Stefani Hines, a Development-behavioral Pediatrician at William Beaumont children’s hospital in Royal Oak, Mich., said that the notion is so deep-seated in the autism society that many parents ask her if lessening their child’s stomach aches will cure their autism.
Some specialists believe that for a child who has major behavioral and communication disabilities, it might be tough for the child to commune GI issues.
However, as present study does not propose a connection between autism and bowel disease, Dr. Daniel Coury, Medical Director of the Autism Treatment Network says that alleviating the GI troubles can help in improving an autistic child’s overall health.