SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - Her mom calls her Wonder Girl, paving the way for other kids like her. Maitri Galloway-Melichar, 10, has intractable epilepsy and medications can't control her seizures. The South Burlington child tried more than a dozen prescription drugs with limited success. Seizures make her chin quiver and her limbs hard to control. Maitri calls this "the wobbles." It's something that happens 15-20 times a day. Her mom, Annie Galloway, was losing hope when she met Paige Figi. The two bonded over their kids' conditions. "I was wishing for no more suffering because we had nothing else to try," Paige said. Paige's daughter, Charlotte, was diagnosed with Dravet syndrome, a rare, debilitating form of epilepsy. By 5, Charlotte regressed to a newborn; she couldn't walk, talk or eat on her own. That is until Charlotte's parents traded her traditional seizure meds for a cannabis oil extracted from pot plants in Colorado. "She looked me in the eye and she was there again. And she started talking and then she started walking," Paige said. A few months on the oral solution and Charlotte's seizures virtually disappeared. She went from 300 a week to just two. Charlotte's remarkable recovery sent … Continue reading →

Neurofeedback Autism Treatment Neurofeedback autism therapy is rapidly emerging as a safe and effective treatment option. This noninvasive therapy has been shown to improve a number of sym... By: Guy Annunziata … Continue reading →

Treatment State Senate still must consider House amendments to enact proposal. After years of parents pushing for it, a bill to require health insurers to pay for autism treatment for kids has finally passed both houses of the Legislature. The House passed SB57 on a 69-3 vote. But because it was amended, it was sent back to the Senate for a final vote before it may go to Gov. Gary Herbert for signature. The Senate earlier passed it 18-7. The bill would add Utah to the list of 34 states that require insurers to pay for autism treatment for children, but the coverage would not be effective until Jan. 1, 2016. "Theres a medical adage you never want to be the first or the last to embrace a therapy," Sen. Brian Shiozawa, R-Cottonwood Heights, the bills sponsor and a physician, said earlier. "This is not an investigational drug or therapy. We know this is safe and that it works." Rep. Kay McIff, R-Richfield, said, "This is an idea whose time has come. I do not recall a single group that has been more persistent" than parents of autistic parents. Rep. Roger Barrus, R-Centerville, said he has seen such bills pushed … Continue reading →

Ian McLennan Prof Ian McLennan, of the university anatomy department, is a world leader in some aspects of research involving brain-linked sex hormones, including Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH). He discussed some of his findings in one of several talks on neurological conditions and their treatment and care given at the Otago Museum's Hutton Theatre yesterday, during Brain Awareness Week. He is a member of the Brain Health Research Centre, which is organising most of the awareness activities with the museum. In the past, science had understood very little about how the human brain developed, but brain scans and other research were now providing more insights, Prof McLennan said. Many more males than females developed autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and this disorder was often associated with ''very, very rapid brain growth in the first year of life''. The hormone AMH was expressed in young boys, and could be responsible for slowing male development by about 9 months by the age of 6, compared with girls. AMH was not expressed in girls until they reached puberty, he said. If AMH slowed male development, boys with low levels of that hormone could develop more quickly and be at greater risk of developing autism, he … Continue reading →

If SB 397 were an animal, you would have to classify it as a salmon, making its implausible way upstream against a preposterous current. The state Capitol has gushed anti-Obamacare legislation this session. Republicans have damned the Affordable Care Act and government intervention in health care with an intensity that has been stunning in its breadth and imagination. Just to name two efforts: Gov. Nathan Deal has green-lighted HB 990, the effort to chip away at executive branch authority by ceding to the Legislature the right to expand Medicaid rolls. HB 707 would bar even a city dogcatcher from referring anyone to a federal health care exchange. It is in this climate that, by a vote of 51-0, the Republican-controlled Senate passed SB 397, which would require health insurance policies sold in Georgia to cover behavioral therapy for children 6 and under who have been diagnosed with autism. Thats right. A health insurance mandate. Its the right thing to do for Georgias children, said Tim Golden, R-Valdosta, chairman of the same Senate Insurance Committee that is likely to pass out HB 707 today. Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle has also placed his own prestige behind the autism coverage bill, testifying for … Continue reading →

TOPEKA, KS (KCTV) - Kansas lawmakers will hear from opponents Wednesday of a bill that mandates insurance coverage for children with autism. Autism advocates have fought for a proposal like this for years, but even they aren't supporting it 100 percent in its current form. They say it could make matters worse by hurting more children than it helps. Michael Wasmer, associate director of state government affairs for the advocacy group Autism Speaks, fights to get insurance coverage for life-changing treatment. "A year without treatment could be the difference between the child going on and being a productive, tax-paying citizen and being dependent on a lifetime of adult disability supports," Wasmer said. Prescribed treatment for autism is known as applied behavior analysis (ABA). It can cost families up to $60,000 a year out of pocket. A Kansas house bill would require private insurance coverage for autism, but it's not pleasing everyone. "We do not support the bill as written," Wasmer said. Rep. John Rubin, of Shawnee, wrote the bill with insurance companies. It would extend coverage to 250 children next year and would cover 10 hours of ABA each week. Advocates want 40 hours. "It is no different than a … Continue reading →

If your blood pressure is anything over the normal reading of 120/80 mmHg, a stroke may be in your future -- even if it's not high enough to be considered hypertension. That's what a new study published March 12 in Neurology suggests. Researchers analyzed data collected on 760,000 people, and found people with "prehypertension" were 66 percent more likely to develop a stroke than people with a normal blood pressure reading. Prehypertension is a blood pressure that's higher than 120/80 mmHg, but lower than the high blood pressure (hypertension) threshold of 140/90 mmHg. Twenty percent of all strokes seen in the study were among people with prehypertension. The raised risk remained even after ruling out other factors that could lead to a stroke, including high cholesterol, diabetes and smoking. A closer look found people with blood pressure over 130/85 mmHg (but still less than the "high" 140/90 mmHg) were 95 percent more likely to develop a stroke than people with normal blood pressure, while prehypertensives lower than 130/85 were 44 percent more likely to have a stroke than someone with a normal 120/80 mmHg reading. The study has important takeaways for the public, according to the researchers. Play Video Daily … Continue reading →