CSF beta-endorphin levels in patients with infantile autism.

Doctors took spinal fluid from kids with autism and from kids without autism. They measured beta-endorphin, a natural opioid, in each sample.

The team also checked if higher beta-endorphin went hand-in-hand with self-injury, low pain response, or repeated movements.

Beta-endorphin levels were the same in both groups. Kids with autism did not have extra opioid activity in their spinal fluid.

Self-biting, head-banging, or hand-flapping also had no link to these opioid levels.

Two earlier studies, Attwood et al. (1988) and Eto et al. (1992), already showed no clear urine or blood chemical marks for autism. The new spinal-fluid data line up with those null results.

Bozkurt et al. (2021) and Çelikkol Sadıç et al. (2021) did find higher cortisol, leptin, and ghrelin in autistic children. Those hormones differ from beta-endorphin, so the papers do not clash; they simply point to different body systems.

Curin et al. (2003) saw lower cortisol in mixed-age autistic people, while Bravo Balsa et al. (2024) saw higher total cortisol in autistic teens. The age gap likely explains the opposite cortisol numbers, not bad methods.

You can stop chasing opioid blockers as a fix for self-injury or sensory quirks. The chemistry is normal, so look to behavioral or environmental causes instead. Save your client from needless meds and side effects.