In the previous section, Overview: Diseases, Disorders, and Discomforts Associated with Food and Chemical Sensitivities, we learned that food and chemical sensitivities can manifest as different types of maladies and that these conditions can range in seriousness from inconvenient to severe. Although the connection between disease and food and chemical sensitivities is not well known, symptoms of sensitivities, otherwise known as allergy, have been documented by many different doctors in an effort to raise awareness of the relationship between allergy and illness. Sadly, children represent the most vulnerable population to allergy-induced responses because their immune systems are not fully developed and thus cannot adequately process and discard toxins. Pound for pound, then, fetuses, infants, and toddlers are subject to the largest proportion of food and chemical toxins while simultaneously possessing the smallest capacity to handle them.

In reviewing the allergic symptoms provided in Overview: Diseases, Disorders, and Discomforts Associated with Food and Chemical Sensitivities, one of the most striking features of this inventory is the documentation provided by authors Rudy Rivera, M.D., and Roger D. Deutsch stating that autism represents one of the 21 most common symptoms of food intolerance. Equally provocative, evidence of allergic symptoms furnished by pediatric allergist Doris Rapp, M.D., details food and chemical sensitivities present in fetuses, infants, and toddlers, indicating that intolerances can affect children both in the womb and in the earliest stages of childhood. Finally, in an attempt to emphasize the pervasive role allergy plays in the creation and perpetuation of illness, Carolee Bateson-Koch, D.C., N.D., lists over 100 medically recognized symptoms related to food and chemical sensitivities present in both children and adults.

Interestingly, although autism is medically classified as an incurable brain disorder, when we compare the terminology commonly used to describe autistic children with the symptoms of allergy from the Overview: Diseases, Disorders, and Discomforts Associated with Food and Chemical Sensitivities list, we see some interesting parallels:

Curiously, these parallels suggest that, contrary to popular understanding, autistic individuals appear to be evidencing symptoms of allergy rather than an incurable brain disorder. In fact, while terms such as tactile defensiveness and sensory hypersensitivities are used as short-cut descriptions of archetypal autistic patterning, closer examination of the symptoms comprising such archetypes reveals deficits and abnormalities described as symptoms of allergy. Additionally, the list of allergic symptoms provided in the Overview: Diseases, Disorders, and Discomforts Associated with Food and Chemical Sensitivities contains only the most common indicators of intolerance; therefore, certain individuals may evidence different or additional symptoms. Moreover, if intolerances present in early childhood are not properly addressed, the types and severity of allergic symptoms may increase over time, manifesting as diagnosable autism. Thus, although the allopathic understanding of autism remains that it is an incurable brain disorder, self-education reverses this misconception, opening the doors of understanding and hope in the quest to heal autism.

Now that we know untreated allergy manifests in illnesses ranging from ear infections to autism, we must answer the following questions. First, what is the connection between food and chemical sensitivities and diagnosable autism? Second, how do we diagnose and treat food and chemical sensitivities in ourselves and our children? Finally, how does diagnosed autism become reversible so that recovery is possible? The sections that follow, The Autism Recovery Handbook and Climbing Out Of Autism One Bite At A Time: The Companion provide answers to these questions as well as resources for those seeking understanding and assistance in the autism recovery process.