This is a website/blog from a family who writes on the message board with me. It is absolutely chock full of GREAT information that, in my opinion, EVERY parent should read! Take a look, the information is stunning....when you think your children aren't exposed to mercury, think again!
http://www.freewebs.com/mercurybabies/
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Gearing up to remove some pesty mercury
Not much is going on right now, we are just gearing up to begin chelation. That involves making sure we have the right supplements all in place first. Considering we had to add a handful of things to his already large daily regimen of pills, we are taking it slow and adding them one at a time to watch for reaction. He tends to be ultra-sensitive to everything so we have to be careful about overloading him with anything too fast. We have already noticed good changes since adding a few of these new supplements which support the liver and lower copper. His hair test showed high copper and copper symptoms mirror mercury symptoms. Today he went to the museum for a school field trip outing and the whole time he was attentive, quiet, raised his hand to answer questions, he was focused and interested...he was a perfect child!! He lasted all day like this and only got a little hyper (normal child hyper) tonight before bed. We are ELATED!!! The fact that we are starting chelation so far ahead of the game has us really hoping for a quick and very successful process. Many people have watched their non-verbal children start to speak through chelation, the effects of removing mercury can be utterly amazing!! That is an extreme case though. One of the members of a message board I belong to told us that they were able to remove supplements completely and have no more diet restrictions after chelation. I will never again take normalcy for granted and if we end up there again, every normal day will be a gift! I have high hopes, wish us luck!!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder)
So going back to where this whole thing started for us....SPD was how we came to this place in our lives. It indicated something was off with our son and threw me into an OCD (yes, I have it, but generally it just fuels my research, he he he) fit of looking for answers. I was not satisfied with accepting that he just had SPD, I needed to find out why and ultimately, how to relieve him of it. Jenny McCarthy has really shed a lot of light on the biomedical route of recovery for much more severe children and what I noticed is that many of the things we were dealing with were VERY similar to what happens to autistic children, just on a much less severe level. So are we preventing him from being diagnosed as having Asperger's Syndrome? I don't know, but my gut tells me that, if we let him just continue the way he was going, by the time he got into grade school, there would be some sort of diagnosis like ADHD and/or Asperger's. I believe in my heart of hearts that we are preventing that! And just for the record, ADHD/ADD is in the autism spectrum...meaning they all share in the same neuro-disconnects! The autism spectrum varies considerably.
So what is SPD? And not in medical technical terms? It is not in and of itself an ASD, but it certainly is shared with those who are on the AS. What does that mean though? As far as I am concerned, it's not about the label, it is about WHAT is going on in their little bodies! SPD is a disconnect between the sensory nerves and the brain. So for example, for the average person, a warm food is tolerable, but to someone who is sensory deffensive, that warm food might be HOT and truly feels that way to them. Their brains do not properly organize and read the senses. Most people have some sensory issues, but not to the degree that they effect your everyday life. In the end, what it all comes down to is do these issues consume you or your child? Do they effect your way of living? A child who is bombarded by everything that makes them either sensory "defensive" (feeling a lot of pain all day) or they are sensory "seekers" (needing to bounce, jump and crash), they feel completely disorganized and tend to lash out emotionally. I know that when I have a canker sore, a little tiny painful annoyance that is underlying everything I do all day, I have constant irritation and I become moody in my response to things, it exhausts me. Imagine how these kids feel? They don't feel right either, they are irritated by the world around them and then their parents and teachers are telling them they aren't acting appropriately and they aren't feeling what they feel...."That isn't hot, it's warm!!" Well to them, it's hot and they aren't being justified or understood. Nor are they being taught how to compensate for what they are feeling. Could you see, if your husband constantly told you how you should feel? Or maybe he does and you understand their frustrations?!?! ha ha ha
Since SPD is neurological, I decided to research further into what causes it and found that all of my search results brought up "autism", probably because the more severe cases do involve autistic kids and interestinly, our son shared a lot of similar traits; although he wouldn't be categorized with autistic children, because he is highly social and can read body language. But keep in mind that there are a LOT of layers and overlap there. Just because he is social doesn't preclude him from sharing many traits with an autistic child. It's just not that black and white. The "diagnosis" doesn't need to be there for there to be similarities. When he was younger, I noticed hand flapping and rocking a LOT! While those traits lessened or went away, they were replaced with others, like inscesant lining up of toys, but don't all kids do that?! The constant nagging feeling in me that something wasn't quite right needed to be dealt with and I must say, I wish I addressed it earlier. I let everyone (including doctors AND my own husband) tell me that our son was perfect, that I was over analyzing. Look where we are today....need I say more?
So what is SPD? And not in medical technical terms? It is not in and of itself an ASD, but it certainly is shared with those who are on the AS. What does that mean though? As far as I am concerned, it's not about the label, it is about WHAT is going on in their little bodies! SPD is a disconnect between the sensory nerves and the brain. So for example, for the average person, a warm food is tolerable, but to someone who is sensory deffensive, that warm food might be HOT and truly feels that way to them. Their brains do not properly organize and read the senses. Most people have some sensory issues, but not to the degree that they effect your everyday life. In the end, what it all comes down to is do these issues consume you or your child? Do they effect your way of living? A child who is bombarded by everything that makes them either sensory "defensive" (feeling a lot of pain all day) or they are sensory "seekers" (needing to bounce, jump and crash), they feel completely disorganized and tend to lash out emotionally. I know that when I have a canker sore, a little tiny painful annoyance that is underlying everything I do all day, I have constant irritation and I become moody in my response to things, it exhausts me. Imagine how these kids feel? They don't feel right either, they are irritated by the world around them and then their parents and teachers are telling them they aren't acting appropriately and they aren't feeling what they feel...."That isn't hot, it's warm!!" Well to them, it's hot and they aren't being justified or understood. Nor are they being taught how to compensate for what they are feeling. Could you see, if your husband constantly told you how you should feel? Or maybe he does and you understand their frustrations?!?! ha ha ha
Since SPD is neurological, I decided to research further into what causes it and found that all of my search results brought up "autism", probably because the more severe cases do involve autistic kids and interestinly, our son shared a lot of similar traits; although he wouldn't be categorized with autistic children, because he is highly social and can read body language. But keep in mind that there are a LOT of layers and overlap there. Just because he is social doesn't preclude him from sharing many traits with an autistic child. It's just not that black and white. The "diagnosis" doesn't need to be there for there to be similarities. When he was younger, I noticed hand flapping and rocking a LOT! While those traits lessened or went away, they were replaced with others, like inscesant lining up of toys, but don't all kids do that?! The constant nagging feeling in me that something wasn't quite right needed to be dealt with and I must say, I wish I addressed it earlier. I let everyone (including doctors AND my own husband) tell me that our son was perfect, that I was over analyzing. Look where we are today....need I say more?
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Want to shout to the whole world!
I just thought I would share my excitement. The more I think about all the possibilities and all of the changes we have seen already in our biomedical journey, I just want to scream with joy at the top of my lungs, sharing it with the whole world!! Sound crazy? That is really how excited I am. When I think back to the days of tantrums and screaming and even just the days of watching Grayson shrug his shirts all day or pull on the waistbands of his pants, because they bothered him or swatting at his head (which we have learned how to manage and remove completely!!) I just can't get over how real this all is. We are REALLY healing him and watching the miraculous changes before our very eyes. Sure, we still have tantrums and mood swings, probably because we have a long road of mercury removal still ahead of us, but the changes have been nothing shy of a miracle thus far! For ANYONE who thinks they might even POSSIBLY be dealing with something similar I encourage you with all of my heart, and then some, please for the sake of you and your children, try making some changes to see if you see results. Even if they are minimal, chances are that means you NEED to treat biomedically. Yes, it's hard work and yes, some days are frustrating (ok, many) but the rewards are immesurable! Dave and I couldn't be happier with where we are headed and how far we have come already in just half a year. Our goal is to have Grayson compeletely healed and eating normal foods, sharing normal play dates and minimizing his frustrations by the time he is in Kindergarden. We hope to have all of this behind us and focusing on normal everyday kid stuff like birthday parties and play dates!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
What now? Mercury!!
I mentioned how we had a hair elements test done on Grayson to determine, if we are dealing with a heavy metal toxicity. The results are very confusing to decipher, because it's not clear cut. Mercury "hides" out in tissues, organs and the brain so tests are often inconclusive of ACTUAL mercury unless the test is done shortly after your encounter with this nasty stuff! So what that means is the hair elements test tells us what is going on with the mineral transport in his body. If he is normal and shows high metals then it IS pretty cut and dry, the metal being noted is high. When the minerals are derranged, skewed....it is indicitive of past mercury poisoning which never left the body. Mercury pushes the elements all around and into the hair in varrying degrees. So the jist of his report shows high metals - copper, nickel, antimony, cobalt and zirconium, chances are these ARE actually high and need to be reduced. His low elements are - calcium, sodium, andadium, molybdenum, boron, strontium, and rubidium. The result? Probably that he cannot metabolize mercury and is holding it all in his little bitty body! Mercury is the most toxic substance on this planet and it is coursing through his veins, the very veins that feed his brain! No wonder things aren't checking out completely with his health!!
I have to say that I am somewhat relieved that we found mercury to be the problem and I must say that I expected it. Why would I be relieved that our son has mercury poisoning?? Well, because it also means there is a way to cure him. It means that the food allergies, the never ending yeast problems, the SPD, the behaviors....they all have a reason and a cure!! If it was just genetic, then there wouldn't be much we could do for him other than possibly medicate for symptoms like ADHD and OCD down the road. Instead, we are going to remove the metals, be it no easy feat, and we are going to put our son back on the track to healthy and normal, if there is such a thing, ha ha.
Chelation (key-lay-shun) is the method of removal. It can be a very long (like years) process and it involves plenty of supplements (yes MORE than he is already on, like SEVEN more) dosed 4 times a day and a metal removing agent dosed every 3 hours day and NIGHT! GULP!! The good news, if there is any during this process, is that we chelate for about 3 days on and at least that many or more off, so we do get a break....but, we repeat that process until he shows no additional benefit to the protocol. Like I mentioned earlier, that can be years. Only time will tell, there is no way to even guess so I will avoid having any expectations other than to work hard at getting him healthy.
Since he has high copper (copper is synergistic with mercury) and one of the chelating agents (ALA) drives copper higher during chelation, we need to focus on bringing that down a bit first. To do that, we will need to give him: taurine, milk thistle, molybdenum, zinc and possibly glycine four times a day. He needs to avoid high copper foods like shellfish, nuts and avocado...more foods to avoid, the list is getting longer. Then we will begin the process of chelation with DMSA and possibly ALA, if there are no reactions to either, and we will add in additional supplements: vitamin B complex, vitamin C, vitamin E, and mixed carotenoids all spread out about 4 doses daily since chelation can diminish antioxidants.
Soooo, wish us luck! Once we begin, I will keep you all posted. And who knew that when I began this blog that I would truly have something to post progress on besides just the diet. I am thrilled to have gotten to the bottom of it all, but weary of the process we plan to embark on. Mobilizing mercury into the blood stream is risky, but it's necessary.
I have to say that I am somewhat relieved that we found mercury to be the problem and I must say that I expected it. Why would I be relieved that our son has mercury poisoning?? Well, because it also means there is a way to cure him. It means that the food allergies, the never ending yeast problems, the SPD, the behaviors....they all have a reason and a cure!! If it was just genetic, then there wouldn't be much we could do for him other than possibly medicate for symptoms like ADHD and OCD down the road. Instead, we are going to remove the metals, be it no easy feat, and we are going to put our son back on the track to healthy and normal, if there is such a thing, ha ha.
Chelation (key-lay-shun) is the method of removal. It can be a very long (like years) process and it involves plenty of supplements (yes MORE than he is already on, like SEVEN more) dosed 4 times a day and a metal removing agent dosed every 3 hours day and NIGHT! GULP!! The good news, if there is any during this process, is that we chelate for about 3 days on and at least that many or more off, so we do get a break....but, we repeat that process until he shows no additional benefit to the protocol. Like I mentioned earlier, that can be years. Only time will tell, there is no way to even guess so I will avoid having any expectations other than to work hard at getting him healthy.
Since he has high copper (copper is synergistic with mercury) and one of the chelating agents (ALA) drives copper higher during chelation, we need to focus on bringing that down a bit first. To do that, we will need to give him: taurine, milk thistle, molybdenum, zinc and possibly glycine four times a day. He needs to avoid high copper foods like shellfish, nuts and avocado...more foods to avoid, the list is getting longer. Then we will begin the process of chelation with DMSA and possibly ALA, if there are no reactions to either, and we will add in additional supplements: vitamin B complex, vitamin C, vitamin E, and mixed carotenoids all spread out about 4 doses daily since chelation can diminish antioxidants.
Soooo, wish us luck! Once we begin, I will keep you all posted. And who knew that when I began this blog that I would truly have something to post progress on besides just the diet. I am thrilled to have gotten to the bottom of it all, but weary of the process we plan to embark on. Mobilizing mercury into the blood stream is risky, but it's necessary.
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