Set it straight!

I want to set something straight right here and now.  And this is regarding the mind set out there that autistic kids are permanently neurologically damaged purely by their genes.  It's to address the number of parents out there who either have no idea that biomedicine exits or they reject it completely either, because they gave it a half-assed (excuse my french) attempt or they haven't educated themselves regarding the benefits and WHY it works!

Genetics
If autism was purely genetic, it wouldn't be an epidemic, genes don't change that fast.  If autism was purely genetic, children wouldn't be recovering completely and losing their previous diagnosis' using bio-medicine.  If autism was purely genetic, there wouldn't be tests proving that the symptoms we are seeing are linked to medical causes.  If autism was purely genetic, treating the medical causes wouldn't result in complete eradication of symptoms.

When the bucket overflows, autism is the result

The cause
I wish people would stop trying so hard to point fingers at ONE cause.  There isn't one cause, there are many and yes, genetics play a role which is why one child reacts to things one way and another child can react to those same things completely differently.  Everything about our being is genetic, but it doesn't end there.  The genetics don't determine our destiny, the way we care for our body does.  Our bodies aren't invincible, we can't eat crap all day every day, smoke and drink without recourse, can we?  So why is it so far fetched to think that feeding our kids processed foods, candies and food coloring and loading them up with highly toxic products is any different?  People, we are seeing the results of changes in our own health choices, in our innocent children.  This epidemic is our fault!  We are trusting the government, doctors and advertising companies to make decisions about our health, decisions that come from money-making tactics!  Do you really think your health is their top priority?  If you put money and long-term health on the table in front of most highly paid executives, I would bet my life on most choosing the money!  The bottom line is that YOUR child is not their first priority, and why do you think s/he is?

Sorry to veer so far off topic, I get heated when I think about how detached we have come from our own health care.  The sad thing is that we believe in what we are doing, we as a society, believe that by calling a doctor when our child spikes a fever, that we ARE doing the right thing.  No one stops to think about what that fever means, why it's happening and what we should do about it, which is often, nothing!

Health status
So back to autistic kids...there are tests confirming that they are bombarded with health issues that stem from autoimmunity problems.  If your child had a kidney disease, you wouldn't ignore it and hire an occupational therapist to help teach them how to behave properly when they are in pain, would you?  Why not?  Because first of all, you would see symptoms that worry you, then you would call that ever-trusted doctor of yours, and the doctor would tell you what to do about your child's illness.  If your doctor tells you to make sure your child takes medication daily, are you going to give it?  You bet your ass you will!  Why?  Because your child's quality and possibly even length of life depends on it and no one wants their child to suffer needlessly or painfully.  Oh and don't forget, because your doctor said so, right?  Ok, so enter the autistic child.  He has GI dysfunction, leaky gut, food sensitivities, chronic diarrhea, lacks good bacteria, is overgrown in bad bacteria, often has mitochondria disorder, decreased glutathione, increased yeast, high viral titers, nutritional deficiencies, dark circles under the eyes, eczema and other rashes, allergies, seizures, this list is literally endless, but do these things look like they aren't medical to you?  They ARE medical, they ARE testable and they ARE treatable!!  And do you think the health of a person doesn't effect his or her neurological condition?  Think about when you've had a cold or the flu.  Your head hurts, you feel foggy, you want nothing to do with chores or work, you are cranky and irritable, you can barely walk sometimes.  These children are feeling like this EVERY. SINGLE. MINUTE. OF THEIR LIVES!  It's why they scream and yell, it's why they are unreasonable and have tantrums, it's why they head bang.  And we just pass this off as "genetic".  Genetic is not an excuse, it's the reason daily toxic insults (be it from the womb) are causing these outward symptoms we call autism.

Bystander

So when I see autistic children going without the care they deserve, I feel a fury that I can't even put words to.  How would you feel watching your neighbor, a friend or even a family member let their child suffer from a life-changing disease without medical care they so badly need?  You would call them names, you would shed tears for those children, you would offer them advice or the names of trusted doctors, you might even get in their faces and demand that they seek care for their pain-ridden children.  Or, would you just turn your head and walk away thinking, "It's their problem, not mine?" So now, because our mainstream doctors have turned their backs on our kids, because they don't have the answer, we follow suit and we turn our backs on our own kids.  Well not a warrior mom, she never turns her back on her kids!  She fights against the grain, knocking people down in her path!  These are the kids who are healing! 

Is he autistic?
I have gone as far as to say that my older son is not autistic, but I continue to focus on autism and it's treatments, for my children.  The reason is, because the health issues my children are dealing with mirror those of an autistic child.  We got lucky, we caught it when it was happening and we began the arduous process of reversing it before it got bad.  Many kids have symptoms that don't cross over into the spectrum, but they are teetering VERY close to it.  These kids are labeled as the trouble kids in school, they have ADHD (which IS on the spectrum), they have learning disabilities, mood disorders, allergies, eczema, chemical sensitivities....but they aren't autistic.  It doesn't matter, they are effected by the very same health malfunctions as an autistic child, just not as severely.  We would call them the lucky ones, but are they?  Will their health issues EVER be taken seriously enough to allow them to live normal lives?  I would guess, sadly, that no, they won't.

Awareness is key
If you are reading this blog and know of ANYONE who comes to mind when you read this, PLEASE pass it on.  We need to create awareness, because without it, our future generations are at risk.  No child deserves a life of pain and suffering just, because our doctors lack the knowledge to refer a patient to a biomedical doctor.  Please help me create awareness!

Biomedical markers
These typical biomedical markers of children with autism, Aspergers and/or ADHD are all indications that what we are dealing with is MEDICAL and REVERSIBLE!

 

 

Obsession or hyper-focus? Mother Warrior Mode!

If you are reading this and you don't have a child on the spectrum or one who requires biomedicine, you probably wonder what all the hype is about. If you are reading this and you DO have a child in one of these categories, you know where I am going with this, don't you?

I hear this often..."But it's just one, can one really hurt him?" and "Does he really need all of those pills?" The perception of mothers like us is one of obsession, we research and we fill our kids with gobs of supplements daily, we restrict our kids from chlorine in swimming pools, we avoid sugar, artificial colors, preservatives, wheat and MILK,....why? Is this really necessary? Don't kids need milk? No they don't, and yes this IS necessary. The only way to recovery is complete...well, you might like to call it obsession, but I prefer hyper-focus.

Mainstream doctors don't get it, they don't get us, they don't get our kids. And why is that? It's simply, because they haven't studied biomedicine. Would you go to a heart surgeon for GI problems? I think not!! My son has quirks, yes, and so do I, BUT he also has an overgrowth of yeast and bacteria, sensitivities to a plethora of foods, high oxalates, malabsorption, vitamin deficiencies, sensory issues, the list is lengthy and I could go on explaining the symptoms I used to see on a daily basis (in fact, just read the beginning of my blog for that), but I would rather tell you what this hyper-focused mommy-warrior mode does for us. Plain and simple, it turns a very unhealthy child into a healthy one with a bright future. What mother wouldn't do this for her child, if she knew it was possible? I don't see it as anything other than necessary!

The medical community forces us to this, we need to help our kids by researching, talking to other moms, trial and error, meds and supplements. The other thing that drives us is that we are told that there is a window of opportunity when it comes to recovery and we are right in that window with Grayson now. The best and most permanent results are seen when treatment is started between the ages of 1 and 5. Beyond these years and we risk a slower recovery and perhaps a less permanent recovery. This is called "Managed Recovery" in our world. Many of our kids will actually require this and it means that they are healthy, with their previous diagnosis removed (IE-autism, ADHD, PDD-NOS, etc) however, it's the diet, supplements, chelation that are possibly continuously required to maintain this level of health. It has been described as an autoimmune disease and it's believed that it will be renamed in the near future. We wills top calling these symptoms autism and start seeing them for what they are...autoimmune dysfunction.

People who meet my son now think he is just perfect, and truly, I hear that word a lot with him..."perfect". No one is perfect, but to me as a parent, I agree, he IS perfect, however, he is far from healthy and the reason he appears "perfect" to others is because of everything I do. My job as his mother is to make sure he is given the best opportunity at a healthy (and fun) life.

So I repeat, is this an obsession? Perhaps. Is it necessary? Absolutely!

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?

The hair says it all

The holidays are over, we had a sick-fest in our house through the holidays!! Everyone is getting better and we are now moving on to a happy and healthy 2009! The boys are both doing great and we are coming along in our adventures with Grayson's health!

We've decided to test his hair for toxic metals, it will tell us what the elements in his hair are and that will indicate, if there were any heavy metals responsible for malabsorption of certain elements. We are reading a great book called Children with Starving Brains, what an eye-opener! I am learning that the cause for many of these issues (food allergies, SPD, lack of enzyme production, ADHD, ASD, yeast overgrowth) is often undetected heavy metals in the system. If a person cannot metabolize them, they just build up with each offender (a mother's silver fillings - of which I have SEVEN, EMF from power lines - we used to live UNDER them, vaccinations - which he reacted to at 12 months old, the list is unfortunately endless). Mercury is one of the worst metals to introduce to a child who cannot metabolize metals, it is one of the most toxic metals in the universe! It passes through the blood-brain barrier and causes neurotoxic responses. Mercury in the brain just stays there!! It remains in other tissues as well, such as the organs. So when you think you are repairing the problem by removing allergen foods, offering supplements, detoxing the liver, treating yeast...well, if mercury is the cause, you are just pedaling in reverse. You are swimming against the current! You will never get to the cause of the problems without removing the heavy metals. So while we don't KNOW that this is our problem, it's certainly worth investigating, so today we are sending in a good sized portion of the hair from the nape of his head to a lab for testing. If he does in fact show signs of heavy metals, we will need to begin the process of detoxing (AKA - chelation) his body of the metals. This is a process that can take years, but will ultimately reverse the effects of excess metals in the system.

In the meantime, nursing a baby when a mother has excessive silver fillings exposes the infant to mercury as well, so I have recently learned that taking an additional 100mcg of selenium daily will provide the mercury with a place to bind. They are opposing ions so mercury is attracted to selenium. By giving the mercury a place to bind, it loses the ability to attach to the tissues in the body. Here's to hoping...