If your child has a history of autism, then you will want to watch for one of the more serious symptoms: seizures. The first thing that you will have to learn if your autistic child experiences seizures is how to recognize an emergency. The following conditions make a seizure an emergency:

- If the seizure lasts more than 5 minutes, or if there are several seizures in a row without a full recovery occurring between them.

- Breathing difficulty that persists. Though it is common for an autistic child to look as though he or she has briefly stopped breathing during the seizure, breathing should quickly resume.

- If there are any injuries sustained during the seizure.

- Confusion or unconsciousness that persists.

- If it is your child’s first seizure.

- If your child has a history of seizures, but there is a significant change in the typical pattern, type, symptoms, or length of the seizure.

The occurrence of autism and seizures together is relatively common. The Journal of Child Neurology published a study called “Prospective preliminary analysis of the development of autism and epilepsy in children with infantile spasms” (Askalan R, et al) which showed that by puberty, 25 percent of autistic children will develop seizures. It is not known why the incidence of seizures increases so dramatically with adolescence. The study also showed a connection between babies who experience West Syndrome, which causes infantile spasms, and children who will later receive an autism diagnosis.

Autistic children who are at the highest risk for seizures are those who also have specific neurological conditions, for example, neurofibromatosis, tuberous sclerosis, and untreated phenylketonuria.

Many parents of autistic children who display unusual behaviors often struggle to recognize the difference between these behaviors and seizures, or whether their children are indeed having seizures at all. After all, some autistic behaviors can include sudden repetitive movements or swaying, as well as a decreased awareness of his or her surroundings. This can be exactly what a seizure looks like, depending on the person.

To tell the difference between these unusual behaviors and seizures, use the following information:

- Seizures occur suddenly without being provoked by a specific occurrence. On the other hand, unusual behaviors are usually brought about by frustration, fear, anger, or as a consequence of a certain event.

- Seizures will usually follow a type of pattern within one person, though the length and intensity may differ from time to time. However, autism behaviors will often vary in their movements and mannerisms.

- Seizures are often accompanied with a sensation of cold or fear and are frequently followed by weakness, headache, or exhaustion. After a seizure, it is unlikely that an autistic child will simply resume an activity right away.

- Similar to staring ‘off into space’ of an autistic child, absence attacks are a form of small seizure that cause a loss of consciousness for 10 seconds or less, and may involve some mild facial movements or eye blinking. Lip smacking or shuddering may also occur in more complex partial seizures. These people would not respond to any environmental stimuli. However, an autistic child displaying staring mannerisms will.

If your child has a history of autism and you believe that he or she may be having seizures, it is important to speak to your doctor or pediatrician right away to discuss the severity of the seizures as well as possible treatments and preventative measures.

Two new studies help to show the power of nutrition to assist allergies and asthma. In one study people with higher levels of folic acid in their blood had had fewer IgE antibodies, fewer reported allergies, less wheezing and lower likelihood of asthma. In another study researchers found that lower blood levels of vitamin D in children were linked to allergy and asthma severity.

There is a national epidemic of asthma in children, in part due to obesity and in part due to the overuse of antibiotics that has caused an overgrowth of Candida, in turn causing excessive production of airway inflammatory signals coming from the Candida.

Nutrients are certainly important and low levels of key nutrients may allow such problems to manifest. Magnesium has long been known to be lacking in individuals with allergies and asthma. Vitamin C and bioflavonoids, especially quercetin, are of immense help.

In the new folic acid study researchers look at medical records of 8,000 people ages 2 to 85, comparing folic acid blood levels to levels of IgE antibodies, a key immune system marker that elevates to an allergen. People with higher blood levels of folate had fewer IgE antibodies, fewer reported allergies, less wheezing and lower likelihood of asthma. The researchers believed that folic acid was acting to help reduce inflammation.

“Our findings are a clear indication that folic acid may indeed help regulate immune response to allergens, and may reduce allergy and asthma symptoms,” says lead investigator Elizabeth Matsui, M.D. M.H.S., pediatric allergist at Hopkins Children’s.

In the new vitamin D study the researchers found that “children with lower vitamin D levels were significantly more likely to have been hospitalized for asthma in the previous year, tended to have airways with increased hyperreactivity and were likely to have used more inhaled corticosteroids, all signifying higher asthma severity. These children were also significantly more likely to have several markers of allergy, including dust-mite sensitivity.”

It appears that nutrient deficiencies of common nutrients set the stage for excessive inflammatory reactions, which include allergy and asthma. Parents should obviously improve the quality of the diet of any child with such a problem.

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If you are interested in learning how to gain the most amount of weight and build massive muscle mass in record time, spend some serious time developing this one exercise. Not just the exercise itself, but the way that it is supposed to be performed for maximum effectiveness.

Pay attention closely because if you are a true hardgainer, meaning you’ve tried EVERYTHING to gain weight and build muscle to no avail, then this may very well be the most important article you’ll ever read on the subject of bodybuilding. This one exercise, performed correctly, can and will put on more muscle mass on practically your WHOLE body more then any other exercise in the world. I stand by this claim firmly because I know from personal experience and from hundreds of testimonials.

I have read countless articles and success stories from hundreds of satisfied weight trainers easy and hardgainers alike who have gained pounds and pounds of muscle and body weight fast, very fast. This exercise is no secret, but many people disregard it. The certain way that it is performed however, is surprisingly unknown to many weight trainers, personal trainers and even bodybuilding “experts.” This exercise is so phenomenal that many programs, especially weight gain programs, consist of this exercise and only one or two more exercises, performed two days a week. That’s it. And people have gained anywhere from 20 to 30 pounds of muscle in as little as 6 to 8 weeks. So what’s the exercise? The exercise for gaining is, ironically, probably the most dreaded. Have you guessed it yet? Squats.

But I’m not talking about just any type of squats, I’m talking about what’s called breathing squats. The difference between squats and breathing squats is basically this: when loading up the barbell with weight you would normally use for 10 reps, you instead do 20 reps with it.

“How” you say, “I’m I supposed to do 20 reps with the weight I normally use for 10 reps?” Let’s look at how most people do their squats (for the few who do them): pretty fast paced, only taking a second or two rest in-between reps, and finishing without getting even remotely near failure. With breathing squats however, you do them differently. After each rep, take at least three HUGE breaths, both inhaling and exhaling through your mouth to get as much air as possible, before your next rep. Take in air until your whole chest swells up, then blow it all out forcefully.

Do it in this fashion for about the first 10 reps. You will feel like stopping at 10 because it will be what you’re used to, but don’t. By now, your deep breathing will come naturally, and you may need to take 4 or 5 deep breaths in between each rep. By rep number 15, your legs will start to tremble if they aren’t already. You will only have five reps to go, the biggest challenge yet. You will need to take anywhere from 5 to 10 HUGE and DEEP breaths before each rep. Each rep will become a world of its own. By the time you hit the 20th rep you will be completely wiped out. Your whole chest will be swelled up like a balloon and your legs will feel like noodles. But you’re not done yet…..

“WHAT!? You expect me to do more after this?” Don’t worry, the next part will actually feel really good and be a huge break after your set of breathing squats. Immediately after you finish the squats, grab a light dumbbell between 20 and 40 pounds, lie down on a bench or across one, whichever is more comfortable, and do a set of 20 pullovers with them. As you lower the weight, again, take a deep breath and get a really good stretch in your rib cage. As you bring the weight back up, blow it all out. Do 20 reps of these right after your squats.

The point of the pullovers is to stretch out your rib cage and permit more room in your upper body for growth. This will really expand your rib cage and increase the size and width of your chest and shoulders, giving you a huge and powerful look. This isn’t the typical resistance exercise, so you don’t need to use a heavy dumbbell for this, just get a good stretch.

As you are probably thinking, this won’t particularly be a walk in the park. It will probably be the hardest thing you will ever do in the gym. But the results are equivalent to the hard work. And WELL worth it. And if you are a hardgainer, this is THE cure that will set you free from a skinny and weak frame.

Breathing squats, when performed properly and with an honest effort, will pack on more pounds of muscle in two months then anything in the world, assuming your diet is sound and you get plenty of rest. The good news is you only need to do 1 set of 20, two to three days a week. That’s it. Once you do them a couple times, you will understand that it is more then enough and you will feel like you’ve been run over by a garbage truck. These are meant to fit into a weight gain and bulking up “crash course” type of program so you only have to do these a couple times a year for 6 to 8 weeks at a time.

By the way, when you do them, you only need to do a few other compound exercises for the upper body, such as bench presses or bent-over rows. The breathing squats will stimulate your body for muscle growth and weight gain like nothing else, so limit the other exercises to allow enough rest for your body to grow. Here are a few pointers to make sure you get the most out of your hard work:

-Make sure you go ALL the way down until your legs are parallel to the ground. I see far too many trainees only go half way or three quarters of the way down. This is huge mistake and you will be limiting your growth substantially, so make up your mind right now that you will work hard and won’t cheat yourself.

-Add at least 5 pounds to the bar every workout. If you do the squats twice a week that means an increase in 10 pounds a week; three times a week means 15 pound increase a week. Unlike your upper body, your legs have a tremendous capacity of growth and strength, so adding 5 pounds each workout is very doable. You shouldn’t ever have to use the same weight as last week. Remember, this exercise is more a test of will power then physical ability.

-The most common reason anybody fails at these is usually due to their poundage’s. You have to work your way up into heavy weights in squats or you simply won’t grow. Shoot for AT LEAST 225 pounds for 1 set of 20 if you expect to get any serious results, and if you are increasing the weight each workout then this shouldn’t be too out of reach for anybody.

-One more tip is to remember to take in as deep of breaths as you can between your reps and the pullovers. This is a critical factor that will ensure that your upper body benefits as much as your lower body. The heavy breathing will add size and power like no other exercise so don’t take them lightly.

There you have it. If all else fails, breathing squats will be your savior for gaining weight and building muscle as fast as humanly and naturally possible. Give them an honest effort and get ready to throw out your old wardrobe and replace it with some bigger clothes.