I recently blogged about the possible connection between oxytocin, social anxiety, pyroluria and depression and would like to share that there is also a connection between autism, low oxytocin and social anxiety, and possibly pyroluria too.
It’s Autism Awareness Month so I’d like to share a video from Dr. Kurt Woeller D.O., an integrative medicine physician and biomedical autism specialist. He is also a lecturer, educator, and experienced practicing clinician offering specialized diagnostic testing and treatment for individuals with complex medical conditions like autism, mental health disorders, multiple sclerosis, and other chronic health conditions.
Dr. Woeller shares how helpful oxytocin is for social anxiety, facial recognition and voice recognition in individuals with autism and Asperger’s syndrome
An interesting therapy for certain individuals on the autism spectrum is something called oxytocin. Oxytocin is a hormone that is produced in our bodies and it has a wide range of effects. When a woman is in labor, oxytocin helps with uterine contractions so it is useful for the delivery of the baby. When a mother is breastfeeding her newborn, oxytocin can be released and it is felt that oxytocin helps with mother to child bonding that occurs with breastfeeding.
This is important for human to human interaction. Oxytocin is also released during physical contact between two people, and we know it is released in large amounts particularly during sexual intercourse.
As a therapy, oxytocin has been very helpful particularly for social anxiety. There are a couple of other effects that are interesting with oxytocin. Oxytocin seems to help with facial cue recognition. That enables us to tell the difference between a happy face, sad face, inquisitive face, etc. It also helps with voice cue recognition as well.
They did a study with adults on the autism spectrum and who had Asperger’s as well and they gave them an IV infusion of oxytocin and then measured their response over a two week period of time. What they found was that the individuals that received the oxytocin did much better at looking at pictures of different facial expressions and picking out the differences as well as listening to recordings of different voice emotional cues: an angry voice, a happy voice, etc.
Oxytocin is a useful remedy to consider particularly if the child, teenager or adult that you know has social anxiety issues or lacks the recognition of facial and/or voice cues.
Oxytocin comes as a nasal spray and does need to be prepared by a compounding pharmacy.
Usually you dose oxytocin once a day, maybe twice a day or even as needed situationally. You can give oxytocin before going into a situation where your child has a problem with social anxiety.
Dr Woeller uses the Meridian Valley Lab 24-hr urinary oxytocin test which, according to them “is the best method to capture the pulsatile peaks and valleys of oxytocin production.” You can order the test (and interpretation) via his testing site Lab Tests Plus
There are a number of studies that support the use of oxytocin for improving eye-contact, facial recognition and social anxiety:
Here is a snippet from my book The Antianxiety Food Solution on the estimates of the prevalence of pyroluria (be aware that can vary depending on the type of clients/patients a practitioner works with):
Joan Mathews-Larson, considered an expert on the subject, reports the prevalence as follows: 11 percent of the healthy population, 40 percent of adults with psychiatric disorders, 25 percent of children with psychiatric disorders, 30 percent of people with schizophrenia, and 40 percent of alcoholics.
Abram Hoffer worked primarily with schizophrenic patients, but he found pyroluria was also present in 25 percent of his nonschizophrenic patients, including adults with anxiety, depression, and alcoholism, and children with learning disorders and behavioral disorders.
According to McGinnis, pyroluria is also present in about 46 percent of people with autism spectrum disorders and 71 percent of those with Down syndrome.
I work primarily with adult women who are anxious, depressed, or both and have found that at least 80 percent of my clients with moderate to severe anxiety have a large number of pyroluria symptoms.
Based on this and the research we’re seeing on autism, social anxiety and oxytocin, I would expect that if you have pyroluria you may also have low levels of oxytocin and may need to address this, especially if you not getting complete resolution with the zinc, vitamin B6 and evening primrose oil.
Love this article! We talk a lot about oxytocin in my house because we have two dogs. I saw in a documentary that petting a dog can increase oxytocin, so we often talk about getting oxytocin from the dogs. I know I actually crave petting them when I feel bad or stressed.
Michele
I love this! I’m sure your dogs are getting an oxytocin boost too!
I’m a cat person and I can totally relate. In fact when I was younger I was part of a cat rescue non-profit and we took kittens to retirement homes and sat with folks living there and had them pet the cats and chat to us. They loved it! I’m sure it was a combo of both the kittens and some engaging conversations
Trudy
Trudy, I swear I didn’t plan this! I saw this article in the news a few hours after my comment about dogs and Oxytocin. http://www.latimes.com/science/la-sci-sn-dog-human-bond-eyes-20150416-story.html
What perfect timing! and what a great study and article! I’m going to be talking about oxytocin and social anxiety on my upcoming Anxiety Summit in May and am going to have to add this study to the discussion! How wonderful if we could help boost oxytocin in those with autism and social anxiety by giving them a dog to love / love them back
Hi, Trudy. Really enjoy your articles. Love your very smart approach to nutrition. In any case, my question is this: I always thought that amino acids should be taken on an empty stomach in order to avoid having them bind to each other or to any other partial protein products present in the stomach at the time of ingested. The premise is that they don’t like being “alone” and avidly bind to any other protein product they can. Am I correct?
Another question is: what constitutes an empty stomach? I learned that items intended to be taken on an empty stomach should not be taken within 60 minutes of an upcoming meal or no earlier than 3 hrs after the last bite of one’s previous meal.
Cb
They need to be taken away from other protein-containing foods so as not to compete for absorption. About 30 mins before a meal is usually fine and an hour after a meal
Trudy
Question: where/how on earth to you find a medical provider who knows about this? Is there prescription Oxytocin available or is it just the OTC stuff we see on line that is available..I feel I am very low in it and it is really affecting my life!
BD
You would need to find a functional medicine practitioner who could do the testing and write a prescription. I would not advise OTC use with no testing as it is a hormone. I know Dr Kurt Woeller is very familiar with all this
Thanks for your blog! My husband of 8 long, hard years is on the spectrum but didmtknoetil our son was 6mons. And two more kids later I’ve tried nearly everything but he doesn’t care. He usually the way he is butdoesnt u derstand that depression, moodiness, anxiety and anger aren’t a natural reaction to life. I love him and wish we had a Life Coach that could help us get where we need to be. We’ve tried therapies, supplements, food changes, he’s off, ADHD, but lazy, sluggish, took Dr.Axe’s quiz and he is most likely Candida gut. Bought Diatemaceous Earth for that and parasites he ended up with cold symptoms, have leaky gut kit from Dr.Axe. He craves sugar, breads, and dairy which I’m trying to wean all of us off. It’s so hard when we live on a tight income. Any ideas for our next steps. No Medicaid. Too high level. Please help.
He’s off dairy and gluten and sugar most of the time. I meant but has ADHD. He craves sex, porn, anything he can help inside boost his emotions, nothing helps though. We could be together 5 times a day very one membered action, and still he’s not satisfied. He was abused also in everyway. We’ve tried several medications, my mom thinks he’s bipolar, and he took an online test saying he’s most likely antisocial disorder. I agree totally. Feel like things can be better and we deserve better but feel like we are walking blind. Used prayer for a long time too. Also he has bad teeth and gums, mercury fillings, and hates anything hygienic for himself. We need to find out what he’s low on or deficiencies I believe. I shop at a natural food store also when needed.
Amanda
I would say keeping doing what you’re doing and try and make as much changes on the food front as you can. If you do the shopping you buy what you know is ok. For your husband he has to want change and it’s hard when someone has been like this always – they just don’t know what’s possible. I also find that men tend to be less open to the fact that food and nutrients could make a difference. I’m probably going to be criticized for that comment because it’s not always true but is just what I see working with women and men.
When I hear sluggish, doesn’t care, depression, lazy, cravings I think low catecholamines and doing a tyrosine trial. If I was working with him I’d the amino acids questionnaire and review the precautions (details here https://www.everywomanover29.com/blog/amino-acids-pyroluria-supplements/) and do a trial. If he feels good and motivated and upbeat by addressing that then he may be more open to next steps, which would likely be addressing possible low serotonin (anger, anxiety, depression too and also cravings esp evening). And then possibly the endorphins/DPA for bread and dairy cravings.
Do you have my book “The Antianxiety Food Solution”? there is a complete chapter on the amino acids and how to use them. Or use this blog and search for related posts.
Oh and be sure to take care of you too! Do the amino questionnaire too – you may find GABA support helps you 🙂