Autism Treatment Serotonin

Imbalances

I have covered the topic of serotonin levels in special needs children in the past, and specifically serotonin levels in children with Autism. I have also gone over how serotonin can be influential in brain function and learning, and serotonin can also influence mood and states of happiness.

Many individuals take medications like Prozac, Paxil or Zoloft, which are called serotonin reuptake inhibitors.For many people serotonin levels can become depleted and that can lead to depression. The reverse may be true for many children on the Autism spectrum. It appears that many of them have a problem converting serotonin into its more active form.

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When that conversion of serotonin fails to occur, it can have adverse effects on many of the core issues we associate with Autism like language issues, lack of eye contact, self stimulatory problems and behavioral issues.MAO-A or monoamineoxidase A is an enzyme in the brain that has been identified as one of the problem areas.

MAO-A assists with the conversion of serotonin into its active form in a perfect scenario but seems to not function properly in some children with Autism.There is a therapy out there called reserpine which is an Indian herb that has been used in the past, even dating back to the 1950's.Reserpine has been used on individuals with Autism to boost levels of MAO-A and can help with many of those core issues seen in Autism.

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A new therapy called Respen-A is a homeopathic derivative of reserpine and is in a patch form. Respen-A has been showing good benefits in regards to many of the core issues like eye contact, attention, focusing, language, self stimulatory behaviors and sensory behaviors that can be very common in Autism.

So as we learn more and more about the complexities involved in brain chemistry and more and more research is done on Autism in general, we unfold more therapies that can help. This link between serotonin and MAO-A activity is an area of great interest in Autism treatment. And the potential use of Respen-A as a therapy can help in this area.