So on to a new chapter in our lives in this household. We have always focused on treating Grayson's health concerns and tried to prevent with Gavin although some genetic things are inevitable, I am sure. With my mouth full of amalgams, I expect some of that to effect him, at minimum. He is completely unvaccinated with the exception of the vitamin K shot at the hospital. We made the educated decision to allow that considering he would be circumcised.
Little signs that things weren't completely right showed themselves over the past 22 months of his life. He has always caught illnesses with such ease that it has made it hard for us to enjoy trips that include any number of people all getting together, one of the illnesses even resulted in a febrile seizure when he hadn't even had a high temp, in fact, he was at the end of his illness. It was Grayson's 4th birthday and I will never forget that day! A ride in an ambulance resulted in a two day stay at the hospital with tubes and tests galore. The happy ending was us going home with a healthy child who had no underlying conditions to set this incident off, yet another reason to consider the possibility that genetics, immune function and heavy metals factored into his inability to stay healthy.
We decided to have Gavin's hair tested for toxic and essential elements based on some concerns we have had with mood swings, aggression, bloating, problems with chronic yeast and bacteria, slow growth, and what seems like a slowing in his developmental progression. It's so hard to assess this age, since there are normal variances in development, pains associated with teething and changes in growth patterns. There was a sale on the Doctor's Data, Inc. hair test which pushed me just over the edge of the fence I was sitting on. Getting 2 grams of hair from his fine wispy head of hair (only below the ears in back) was no easy task. I kept cutting and snipping and trying to place my scissors in locations far enough away from where I took other chunks so it wouldn't be noticeable. I just wasn't ready to snip off his wispy baby curls yet.
Results.....drum roll please....yes, mercury is at play here, along with a few other co-contenders, namely antimony, tin, phosphorus and titanium. He also had a slew of low essential elements like calcium, magnesium, potassium, and strontium. It's never quite that simple though, since there is a whole host of factors at play. The end result it still the same, so we chose chelation. We are old pros at it by now and his supplements are already on par with one who needs chelation, so we just dove right in. His first round was nothing short of remarkable. It started with the expected and the usual increased irritation then slowly progressed into improvements that just could have not developed overnight. His speech improved by leaps and bounds, his cognitive clarity was completely unreal, even his physical development jumped in a matter of one day. He has always been afraid to explore steps while standing. He is comfortable on steps, as long as he is sitting. On his third day of chelation, Grayson yelled to me, "MOM!!! Mom, Gavin just went down the stairs without holding on". I turned to find him coming down the three steps at the bottom plateau of our kitchen stairwell, standing up and not holding onto anything. He was so impressed with himself that he continued to repeat this feat over and over with ease! It looked as if he had been walking down huge steps with his tiny self for ages, when in fact, his body was able to allow him to process the event normally, without fear, for the very first time. Children with toxic metal overload tend to be delayed in fine and gross motor skills as well as harboring inappropriate fears, so this comes as no surprise to me. Something else we noticed while on this round is a connectedness that I would never have known he lacked in without seeing what he was capable of! You just don't know how unwell your child is until you see the comparison of well v.s. unwell in that same little person. Gavin has always been social, makes great eye contact when he is being social and loves people, so I never really gave this area much thought. I didn't think there was anything lacking, he was doing all the right things, but what I didn't realize, is how much more he is capable of! Dave couldn't believe his eyes and ears the minute he came through the door after work. He was promptly greeted with a wave of a little hand and a resounding, "Hi daddyyyyyy!" And every moment of the evening included direct and purposeful connections between Gavin and us. He smiled with delight and playfully interacted with each and every one of us. He showed his sense of humor, he waited more patiently, he goofed around with Grayson, he glowed with enjoyment fromt he world around him. It made us realize that he is often in his own world, tantruming about having to share with his brother, running off in a tirade of anger just to come back and start it all over again. Terrible twos seems to give us the rite of passage that entitles our kids to unruliness, but is this really a stage that deserves so much leniency? I learned otherwise this weekend!
To wrap up the round and finalize the proof that chelation is a smart step with Gavin, he is acting as would be expected post-round.....irritable, aggressive, emotional, clingy, hungry, tired and just plain difficult, along with some new activities like standing with his head on the floor and flapping his hands when distressed. Some of this is due to the redistribution of mercury/heavy metals, and some of it is directly related to the yeast overgrowth that comes with the joys of mobilizing mercury in the blood stream. So we now have to clean up the disaster left behind by the metals, increasing his yeast protocol, letting him rest more than usual and keeping his moods as level as is possible as he goes through this inevitable phase of the process. Reminds me of cancer chemotherapy in a way. We stir things up in the body to ward off the ickies, then have to deal with the ugly ramifications left behind.
In addition to starting chelation, we bought a multitude of products to help us reduce the kid's exposure to antimony, arsenic and phosphorus. While Gavin's arsenic levels were not out of range, they were on the high end of the normal range (along with a few others), which is again no surprise, since these metals, in addition to being part of the elevations caused by mercury, are also found in mattresses, carpet and furniture like couches, basically anything that is flame retardant, even their cute little jammies that aren't labeled otherwise!! Did you know that companies are not obligated to label products that are treated with these hazardous products?! We spent a small fortune on polyethylene mattress covers, one inch thick organic cotton mattress pads and organic sheets for the boys. My next step is going to be to purchase a cleaner/sealant for the wall to wall carpeting that covers more than half of our home, but I need to find a dealer for that product. One day at a time.
Grayson has started asking questions about biomedicine and why we do the things we do. I welcome questions, because with it comes the opportunity educate him and share information that will ultimately create the building blocks to ensure that they will have their own ability to continue the lifestyle on their own some day. The fact that he is asking questions also means that he is ready to hear the answers. I never want to push him so that he shuts down. He is very inquisitive and I love when he reiterates his knowledge back to us, surprising us with his level of understanding. So today, he wanted to know why he had to take two DMG tablets instead of one. In my explanation of how the the body works, I was trying to help him grasp the idea of us helping his body until his body can do this work on it's own. I explained that mercury is hindering some of the functions of his body, one in particular being methylation, so until we remove decent amounts of mercury from his body, we have to help the body function properly by giving him the DMG which is a methylator. Then, I told him that it is similar to driving. His head cocked to one side and he said, "Huh?!". I told him that until he gets his license, he still has to get around so in the meantime, we will drive him where he needs to go...until he is able to do it himself, some day in the future. We are helping him function until he can successfully function on his own without help. After some thought, his response was, "I get it." and I am sure he did.
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