Some of the changes we have seen after introducing supplements have been truly profound.
Within a week of starting him on zinc our son started to notice birds flying over again and then would stop running and look back at us (instead of just running and running and running and running. You know how that goes).
B6 given in the evening certainly appears to have let us sleep through the night again.
So here's a few things that have made a difference. Though we are giving him far, far more than just these. However many are because we are addressing specific test results.
Note: You really need to be working with a trained practitioner for some of this stuff. You can start out on your own but without help you might not be getting the best results and, in extremis, could be doing harm by giving too much of something (or not giving enough even!). Personally I'd go with a Walsh trained practitioner as mentioned here: Dr Walsh And Autism
Remember, start low, go slow!
This has made the largest and most instantaneous difference of any supplement so far. Very simple: We give 1/4 of one Thorne cap twice a day (breakfast and lunch - it can affect sleep otherwise).
It calms aggression and reduces emotional lability (i.e. meltdowns!) enormously.
There is a great blog post on this blog (from the woman who started the excellent Recovering Kids Facebook group):
http://www.regardingcaroline.com/adrenals.html
Note she used this form which may be easier to give: https://www.ourkidsasd.com/products/9899%7cAdrenal%20Cortex%20Extract%20Drops-Biomax%20Formulations
We have used this but it is a rather small dose of 50 mg: https://www.iherb.com/pr/Thorne-Research-Adrenal-Cortex-60-Capsules/18706
Klaire has a much higher dose at 250 mg (Klaire are excellent) which might be very useful!: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FNYWJQ2/
And another, with the higher dose: https://www.everythingspectrum.com/all-products/adrenal-cortex/
This made a huge, huge difference. Just improvements across the board.
NOTE: There are some who say that Glutathione should not be supplemented with. Mainly the problem is thought to come when using IV Glutathione (so that's injections) but also to a lesser extent oral (swallowing it) and, lesser still, transdermal (applying a cream). Specifically Andy Cutler (who created the ACC; Andy Cutler Chelation protocol) was very much against it, and it is expressly excluded if following the ACC protocol. We had no knowledge of that at the time we used this and found Glutathione very helpful indeed. Here is a page summarising the objections: http://onibasu.com/wiki/Glutathione.html I have not gained a deep understanding of the objections but there seems to be a certain group of people who are intolerant to the sulfur (thiols) in Glutathione. It is possible to test for that using a short exclusion diet which is detailed here: https://www.livingnetwork.co.za/chelationnetwork/food/high-sulfur-sulphur-food-list/ Finally I have to say that it seems strange to me that most people would have a problem with Glutathione when it is used so extensively in the body but, biochemistry is remarkably individual. Also there are posts from people on the Facebook group from people who were taking it without ill effect whilst following the ACC. Also the objection seems to mainly be that some do not tolerate sulphur (sulfur) which is a whole larger issue and also that it does not increase mercury excretion. While that may be true, Glutathione is certainly not only used for mercury detoxification, far from it. However like anything else, if you introduce always watch for any effects.
Glutathione is often called the body's "master antioxidant". It's used by all cells but especially the liver for detox.
The point of this specific brand is that it's liposomal: It's coated in fat molecules to allow it to be taken up by the liver instead of smashed apart by digestion. Most glutathione is not formulated this way and so is not so directly useable. Sure, it gives the right building block amino acids but they have to be put back together to form glutathione. If the body is not functioning well (as it probably isn't) that won't happen as readily.
This brand is the only one which uses a powdered form (that I know of) and it's almost tasteless and very easy to hide in food or drink.
Not cheap! But really made a difference (to us all in fact! Though my wife and I use another, cheaper liposomal form in a gelcap now).
Possibly the most critical factor. You'll want to take a look at: Dr Walsh And Autism
Dosing is impossible to know without testing.
In the UK zinc supplements are marked as safe for use during pregnancy (unlike the US where nothing is safe during pregnancy. Ever!).
The best form is argued about. Picolinate is generally considered best but it tastes awful and we need to hide it in food at the moment.
In the past we have used Zinc L-Carnosine. Source Naturals GastricSoothe (which has the advantage of helping the cells which line the intestine to grow): https://www.iherb.com/pr/Source-Naturals-GastricSoothe-37-5-mg-120-Capsules/22885
B6 lets us all sleep through the night, more often than not. It's metabolised very fast (hours) and so dosing morning and evening is important. The evening dose is the most important. The conversion of Glutamate (excitatory neurotransmitter) into GABA (calming neurotransmitter) requires B6.
If your child goes to sleep but is then up for several hours at night, B6 in the evening might be life changing. It has been for us and now others I've talked to. We find we need at least 25 mg (B6) at 15 kg.
B6 is extremely important relative to zinc (again, the Walsh page explains a bit more).
B6 is the "inactive" form of P5P (Pyridoxal 5'-Phosphate) but it's thought to be best to use both. Though a very small minority of people will do better on just one or the other.
If it helps, we use this B6 (least bitter tasting I've found) https://www.iherb.com/pr/Nature-s-Way-Vitamin-B-6-50-mg-100-Capsules/1823 and this P5P (which is the least bitter tasting, by far, of any I've bought, and I've bought many!) https://www.kirkmangroup.com/index.php/p5p-capsules-100ct.html
There is a chance of reversible peripheral neuropathy with very high doses of B6 (note, this isn't thought to occur with P5P). However according to Dr Walsh it's always preceded by extremely vivid, disturbing dreams. So that should be pretty easy to spot!
There are several forms. Avoid Cyano (cobalamin) as it's got small amounts of cyanide and isn't thought to be more useful than any of the other forms (and is apparently not sold anymore in the UK and Japan). Methyl may be best however our doc says ideally get Hydro and Adeno in there as well.
We currently use:
Methyl:
Hydroxo (easy to crush up and add to food - tastes of cherries a bit): https://www.iherb.com/pr/Advanced-Orthomolecular-Research-AOR-Hydroxy-B12-60-Lozenges/52244
Also this looks good but we've not tried it: https://www.metabolics.com/vitamin-b12-hydroxycobalamin-100ml.html
Adeno:
We use the dropper bottle:
Then refill from this: https://www.metabolics.com/vitamin-b12-adenosylcobalamin-250ml.html
But will try capsules when we next order https://www.metabolics.com/vitamin-b12-adenosylcobalamin-pot-of-90-capsules.html
What about the idea that B12 is only really absorbed via the mucous membranes and therefore you need to hold it in your mouth?
Well that appears to be a very, very widely believed myth. Which is a relief when you can't get your child to hold something under their tongue!
I've not got time to write out everything I found on this but to see what I mean try this https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5112015/ and this: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3922551/
That being said, I still like to hedge my bets and use the spray as well (since that stays in his mouth if I don't give him food or drink afterwards).
I spent about a month getting my son used to sprays at each meal, but it's easy now. He still doesn't like it but he knows it must be done. I spent two weeks spraying myself in the mouth at each meal and making "Mmmm" noises. Finally he was curious and wanted to try. I made a game of it and laughed and sprayed him... he didn't like it. But, each meal I'd laugh and we'd wrestle. He'd eventually get bored with wrestling and try to gouge out my eyeballs. I'd just be sure to laugh (hard bloody work) and keep it light hearted until I had to pin him down and spray him. Then I'd praise him and we'd be fine and carry on eating. It could take more than ten minutes each time for the first week but eventually it became a matter of him hearing me spray myself and he'd just turn and open his mouth...
Taste: Depends on the formulation. See above.
This has been incredibly hard to get into him because he hates the taste. We've spent hundreds on various different forms after recommendations from Facebook groups for things which are either tasteless or actually taste nice. Huh! They all make me want to spit! And our son even worse. In fact if they've even been open I can smell it throughout the house and it actually makes me feel ill.
However we keep trying as we see a really marked increase in focus and calmness within a day of getting some into him.
The one thing we've managed to get away with consistently is to give him his favourite hot-smoked salmon with a capsule of Jarrow DHA squeezed into some of it (edit: Jan 2019: He now hates that... sigh...).
It's not nice tasting but isn't too bad, however he'll still reject it if there is too much. This is how I do it: Take a third of his salmon and mix the DHA in. Then I take some of that on a fork, and take some normal salmon on the fork in front of it. When it goes in his mouth he tastes the normal salmon first and chews it up. If he tastes the DHA coated salmon first he'll spit. Sounds a bit contrived but it works.
Fish oil would be better but it seems to be the DHA which is the most critical component (your need for DHA is higher when you're young but as you age, your EPA needs go up instead).
Taste: Awful! Still working on this.
We saw a lot of "singing" and sing-song vocalisation with these. Personally I would only use Jarrow Formulas for Ubiquinol because (to make a long story short) Dr Peter Attia said that in his patient population the only way he's ever been able to get blood levels of Ubiquinol to elevate is to use the Jarrow (Attia is not an Autism doc. He's in to longevity. He's also super-human! He mentioned this in this episode of his excellent but very health-geeky podcast).
We use the combined Ubiquinol and PQQ Monday, Wednesday and Friday and the plain Ubiquinol the other days. I am doing so because I think the PQQ dose is high enough that way but I want to keep the Ubiquinol up all week.
Here they are:
https://www.iherb.com/pr/Jarrow-Formulas-Ubiquinol-QH-PQQ-Absorb-60-Softgels/64126
https://www.iherb.com/pr/Jarrow-Formulas-Ubiquinol-QH-Absorb-100-mg-120-Softgels/36529
Taste: The Ubiquinol and PQQ gelcaps are like cheap whisky chocolates! Easy to hide in many things like stew or xylitol jam. The plain Ubiquinol is reasonably pleasant but hard to describe. It's not very strong flavoured and is easy to hide.
I nearly missed this stuff and didn't buy it for months since the way they sell it means you have to buy via an affiliate site and it's quite expensive.
That appears to have been a huge mistake.
Again and again, across multiple health related Facebook groups I have seen reports of health improvements. One thread which really caught my eye was an adult asking if anyone else found they suddenly became angry after about ten days of use. Around eight or ten people (from memory) said they had experienced the same thing and were surprised they were not alone. One said they hadn't even connected it to the TRS until they read the thread. All of them said it passed in 1-3 days and all of them found they felt much, much better afterwards (not an uncommon situation when "healing" from some supplement; worse before better).
It certainly appears to have had a very large effect on our son. Much improved in many areas but especially vocalising more (not verbal yet - just his own language (late 2018)).
Our doc has since tried it with a few patients and is seeing good results. Including the fact that if they ramp the dose too fast they see a spike in agression. Which, if you're new to this, might sound bad. But if you've dug into this stuff for a while you'll know that's actually a good sign: It's having an effect but you're just going to fast.
Please don't let the strange way they sell it stop you from trying this. It really seems to have been huge for us.
I ordered via this site because she has a great explanation of the pricing: https://www.safetoxinremoval.com/howtoorder/ but you can pick any result in Google!
It's very easy to give since it's tastes of nothing but pure water and comes in a spray bottle (assuming you've got them used to a spray - see the B12 section).
Taste: Plain water!