Weekend in the Big Apple

We took the kids to NYC this weekend.  New York is a wild and exciting place to visit, people bustling all over, cars, horns, trucks, sirens....a sensory overload for someone with Sensory Processing Disorder.  There was a time when this would have been challenging for Grayson and there certainly were times when his hands instinctually went to his ears, but I am really impressed by how much love both boys had for this frenzy of a weekend!  They were kept up well beyond their bedtime, we traveled via the subways and we allowed them to eat some foods while we were out!  They were GREAT!

Even as well as they did, being in a hotel and hiking around a polluted city has it's consequences for the immune compromised.  Then compound the issues with less sleep and honestly, I'm very surprised we didn't have more trouble on our hands.  It wasn't long before Grayson was swatting at his ears and itching his ankles so I knew something was up.  By the end of the weekend, they were happily exhausted, but clearly needed an increase in their antimicrobials to combat the damage it did internally, because we could see their frustration thresholds slowly creeping backwards.  Today I noticed his fear of bugs came back (he was crying at the far end of the deck and wouldn't walk past a bug that he was convinced had a stinger) so we also added in his homeopathic constitutional remedy and I will continue to give it daily until that fear is reduce to a more normal response to bugs.  Gavin's red anal ring had come back too, which is already almost cleared up since having a good dose of antimicrobials this morning.

We had been reducing their supplements and antimicrobials, but then the mold exposure created a riff in that plan.  Just before this trip we had increased everything slightly and returned a lot of the supplements we dropped, just for the sake of immune function and combating the mold exposure.  We had decided this was not a good time to experiment.  Then after this weekend, we went up yet again.  They've bounced back really well too!  It's clear that the antimicrobials are the key to their behavior control.  It NEVER fails us.  When they aren't right, increase the antimicrobials and we get our kids back, but not after a little die-off.

The subway is coming...clearly not one bit afraid!

This weekend it was obvious to us that they are doing really well though.  There was little to no sensory overload, they handled change like troopers, they LOVED the subway even with the number of crammed people, the jolting unpredictable movements and noise!  They were certainly cautious when it was appropriate, but they weren't overly shy or frightened of anything!  In the past, doing anything adventurous and loud (like carnivals) was a highly stressful event with us trying to convince Grayson that he didn't have to be afraid of every sudden noise he heard.  He would literally scream with his hands over his ears, he couldn't even focus on us talking to him.  We had to get out of the situation to get him to listen to us and when he could concentrate, he was always distraught with his own reaction, but it was truly instincts at play.  He didn't want to be afraid of the sounds, he just couldn't control his reaction. 

There was a whole lot of walking this weekend.  At the height of Grayson's symptoms, he couldn't even handle walking around a store without sitting in a cart (mercury effects the mitochondria causing reduced energy).  He walked all over NYC this weekend and we are talking about blocks and blocks and blocks of walking!

Today is our first day home and with their increased doses of antimicrobials, they are playing well together (getting into mischief, of course) and seem very happy and content.  I don't think I could have asked for a better outcome from our little weekend away!