Uncertainty is so damn hard for us humans.

We crave a solid answer for all of life’s little questions.

I do it all the time.

I demanded to know why my beautiful son had Autism, and how to cure it, so I searched. And I searched until I realized that some answers may remain a mystery.

However, John Rodakis, Founder of N for One: Autism Research Foundation, recently proposed that antibiotics may be helpful in treating Autism Spectrum Disorders after his Autistic child had a positive response to antibiotic treatment.

As much as I am thankful to see his child’s symptoms of Autism improved from taking antibiotics, I wonder about the validity of this hypothesis.

The idea of using antibiotics as a treatment for Autism reminds me of the snake oil medicines pedaled in the Old West. Yes, snake oil was probably great for some ailments, but it didn’t heal everything.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe in natural remedies like making a tea of raw garlic and ginger mixed with honey for a nasty cold.

I also believe in antibiotics.

Sure, antibiotics act as a cure when given to treat things like strep, ear infections, bronchitis, Lyme’s disease and more. Suddenly, our children are perky, and bright-eyed again. They simply feel better (and so do we, thankfully!).

So I really wish it was that simple to fix Autism with antibiotics, but it’s not.

My 15-year-old son has an ASD (or what was formally known as Asperger’s).

Over the years, I’ve had to give him antibiotics, and there were no improvements in his Autism, but sure those little pills cured his strep, and a bronchial infection from chicken pox.

Rodakis’s idea about the use of antibiotics to treat Autism reminds me of how the MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) vaccine was seen as the cause of ASD in the early 2000s, which influenced some of us parents to avoid MMRs because we were scared that our kids might get Autism from the shot, and we all know how that story ended.

Sure, Rodakis’s idea is based upon one small scientific study done at the Chicago Rush Children’s Hospital where the majority of the 10 children with severe Autism had a positive response to antibiotic treatment.

I get Rodakis’s desire to encourage funding for more studies because I, too, once believed that there must be some kind of cure for Autism.

However, I am hesitant to believe that antibiotic use will be the cure for Autism.

I can already see the beginnings of a bandwagon effect: parents will start giving their kids too many antibiotics just to cure Autism. And that could actually make it worse for them.

Antibiotics are awesome (as needed), but too many antibiotics will kill off the “happy” gut bacteria. And then there’s the whole correlation between leaky gut syndrome and Autism, so parents have been scared into diets that are free of almost anything except a Paleo-Vegan way of being (which does work for some).

And really, fear is what’s at the root of all of these discussions.

People are afraid of Autism (or having their child “get” it), and yet we shouldn’t be terrified.

Autism is not bad.

Nope, it’s the struggle of getting help for my child with Autism that has been bad and overwhelming, but my 15-year-old with Autism is amazing, and so lovable even in his most trying moments.

Autism is hard.

It’s nothing to fear even though there is no immediate cure.

And I’m okay with that because I’ve learned it’s about working with who my son will become. It’s no longer about drowning myself in the grief process with questions like Why him? and Was it my exposure to pesticides as a girl?  I’m onto the next stage, and I think we can do the same as a human race.

Yes, it’s true we need a paradigm shift about Autism, but it’s not to be solved with a magic little pill.

We need to see Autism as a brilliant and very real part of our social fabric in a culture which has cultivated an ideal of perfection. Autism challenges the pervasive (and somewhat silent) norm of perfection, and encourages us to see our culture as something more than capitalistic and materialistic, but one that is moving toward caring and compassion.

As for my son, I’ve asked him what he would do if there was a cure for Autism, and he quickly replied: “I don’t need to be fixed because I am not broken. I am who I am. I like being me.”

~

Author: Jessie “Jade” Wright

Editor: Travis May

Image: trailsanderrors/Flickr