Is it the chicken or the egg?

I have often said that I am learning more about my own health through my children, but lately, it seems to be the reverse.  In the process of preparing to have my dental revision (replacement of amalgams and cavitations cleaned out), I am learning more about my health status which is in turn, helping me understand the deficiencies in my children! For the first time since starting biomedicine, I really feel like I am coming full circle with the whole picture.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been found to have low sodium, am borderline hypothyroid, have an enlarged thyroid, my cholesterol is too low, my MCV, MCH, and BUN are high and as odd as it sounds my eyeballs and thyroid are holding onto mercury.  There were many other findings, but these are significant.

A huge piece of the puzzle comes into play with the thyroid which is often one of the first organs to be effected by mercury poisoning.  Even before I had my blood work done, I had ordered and started using iodine, based on symptoms I was having (especially being cold and tired all the time lately).  I also was able to tie it to the kids and their symptoms which includes pathogenic and viral overgrowth as well as an inability to detox, among many other things.  In the process of ramping up my dose, I began having odd sensations and a fogginess in my eyes along with frontal headaches.  The symptoms were often reduced quite a bit by doing something called salt loading (when I load up on a sea salt with high mineral content), and since I have found out I am low in sodium, this makes complete sense.  You can see the basic iodine protocol here.  I have also read that iodine encourages natural detox, hence the eyes burning and acting up!  I've read some truly amazing stories about others who have changed their lives by addressing their thyroid problems naturally.  What I also find interesting is most of us struggling with this are under the medical radar, because our test results put us in the "normal" range.  There is actually a "Type 2" hypothyroidism that is going undetected in a huge part of the population, because of doctors who primarily treat the test results rather than the patient and his or her clinical symptoms.  The reason it isn't showing up on tests, is because there are sufficient levels of thyroid hormones being produced, it's how the body is using them (or in our cases, not using them) that differs!!

"Type 2 hypothyroidism is defined as peripheral resistance to thyroid hormones at the cellular level. It is not due to a lack of adequate thyroid hormones. Normal amounts of thyroid hormones and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) are detected by the blood tests; therefore, blood tests do not detect Type 2 hypothyroidism. Type 2 hypothyroidism is usually inherited. However, environmental toxins may also cause or exacerbate the problem."

Well that certainly makes sense to me.  These people tend to show physical signs as they progress with the illness, like puffy eyes and faces.  They retain weight regardless of their diet and work out programs and they often experience bouts of depression and fatigue.  Goodness, this sounds like more than half of America, if you ask me!  Check out this link for before and after treatment pictures that will blow you away!  I've been lucky enough to not have the puffiness or weight gain, but that is probably where another large part of my large puzzle comes into play....

Low cholesterol.  Society has been so brainwashed to think we need our cholesterol lowered.  This is not so, in fact, a healthy total cholesterol is 222mg/dL!! which is above the lab range of 125-200mg/dL. Yet again (surprise, surprise) the lab testing ranges are wrong!  People who have under 160mg/dL are predisposed to violent behavior, suicide, depression, anxiety, delinquency, bipolar disease, Parkinson's disease, manganese deficiency, celiac disease, hyperthyroidism, liver disease, malabsorption, and malnutrition.  This is because cholesterol plays an important role in many physiological factors in the body.  The formation of sterol hormones, cell membranes and bile acids, would not be possible without cholesterol!  I found this in a newsletter (again, the universe is speaking to me, I ALWAYS get ironically timely newsletters related to what is going on with our family!) from Great Plains Labs....tell me if this doesn't sound like autistic children?!

"lower cholesterol values were also found in chronic fatigue syndrome and in children with dyslexia, a difficulty in reading. More recently, it has been discovered that cholesterol is needed to activate a protein called Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) which plays a central role in neural patterning, mood regulation, and cerebral development.  This could be why individuals with cholesterol deficiency are more prone to aggressive behavior, lack of attention, increased number of infections, and motor difficulty. Cholesterol is essential for the proper functioning of serotonin receptors which are responsible for good mood and oxytocin receptors needed for good social interactions and interpersonal bonding. "

Check out this article from Great Plains Labs

It goes on further to say, regarding medical grade supplementation of cholesterol

"Parents reported that their children were sleeping through the night, overcoming aggressive behaviors, learning to walk, speaking and becoming more responsive to family members.  Other parents reported a decrease in the rate of infections, reduced skin rashes, reduction in self-injurious behaviors, improved muscle tones, rapid growth and improved behavior overall.  It was reported that one autistic adult, without speech, even spoke for the first time. "

I tend to wonder if any of the autistic children out there are even being monitored for cholesterol levels?!  This make so much sense, especially since the foods that contain the higher amounts of cholesterol are shellfish/seafood, breads, soy, eggs, and dairy!  I know for us, we are avoiding all but one of those foods and most of these kids tend to be sensitive to eggs too!  Is it the chicken or the egg?

New Beginnings makes a medical grade cholesterol supplement that offers 250mg of cholesterol per capsule, that is equal to one egg.  It's called Sonic Cholesterol and requires a doctor referral to buy.

What does this have to do with my children?  For one, the low cholesterol....probably genetic, but also would make sense that children who do not eat the foods listed above (just about all kids using biomedicine) are on the low side.  Grayson's total cholesterol was 152.  Do you think ANY Doctor mentioned this to us?  All they did was look at the items that were "out of range" per the lab standards, and even those items were brushed off.  In fact, both of my boys had elevated MCH, MCV and BUN, like me!  I have read in Andrew Cutler's book, Amalgam Illness, that elevated MCH and MCV is very typical of those with mercury poisoning.

Symptoms of low iodine in children are: slow growth (bingo), low muscle tone (bingo), lack of stomach acid (bingo), frequent infections (bingo), overgrowth of yeast and bacteria (bingo)....so far five for five.  And, according to Ayurvedic practionner Dr Douillard, "iodine protects our body’s cells from Chlorine, bromine and fluorine that can be carcinogenic in high concentrations. Heavy metals, pesticides, pollutants, compete for iodine receptors in our bodies, and if our iodine levels are low, the receptors get filled with the toxins instead."  Ahem, need I say more here? 

I see now why the symbol for autism is the piece of a puzzle.  We literally have to take bits and pieces of information from varying sources to piece together our children's health status.  Only this will allow us to put it all back together, AKA - recovery!  There is not one doctor, that I know of so far, addressing each and every one of these topics.  And this is just the tip of the iceberg, I'm sure!!  I would like to reiterate to ANYONE trusting just one doctor to find all of the answers for you....DON'T!  Get out there and research, find your own answers, scour internet sites, forums, books, read about your specific child's test results, even if they aren't off the typical ranges.  We get so hooked on scanning down that column "out of range" and breathing a sigh of release when nothing is in that column, but look at their numbers, are there any patterns emerging, are they close to the edge of the range....if there are unanswered questions in your mind, don't wait around for someone else to answer them.  In some cases, even taking a look at your own (and your partner's) health can shed light on what is going on, after all they ARE our offspring.

This, that and the other

We've got a lot going on with both boys right now, since doing our last stool tests and changing the course of treatments.  Well, not changing per say, but adding to them.  In the process, I have seen die-off in both boys, always a good sign, but not always fun to live through.

Full moon
Since the full moon was February 18th (three days ago), we started Gavin's parasite cleanse on the 14th (four days before the full moon).  The theory behind this is that parasites hatch during a full moon and in order to attack all stages of their life cycle, you start four days before a full moon and continue the cleanse until four days before the next full moon.  This time, in addition to the Humaworm kid's cleanse, I decided to add in the Artmesia and a worm cleanse called W-W by Pure Herbs.  I joined him in that cleanse, just for the heck of it, even though I plan to do the family cleanse again in April.  I am not doing Humaworm, just the W-W, Artmesia and I am adding in a separate black walnut hull capsule.  I have a feeling I have a parasite issue for sure, so it can't hurt to join him in the fun.  Since starting that cleanse with him, we've had a whole slew of die-off symptoms.  Whenever he goes through severe die-off, he experiences a day or two of minimal talking.  His speech always seems to suffer on the worst days.  I'm not sure, if it's the quality of his speech or if it's his mood which makes him less interested in being social or reasonable, and just becomes quiet and demanding at the same time.  There is definitely a mood that follows his die-off, one of anger, frustration and impatience, plus he clings to me while whining most of the day.  It's like nothing can make him happy, he wants something, then he doesn't want it, then he wants it again.  The screaming over it all is the most frustrating part about it, for us parents.  It's extremely exhausting, to say the least.  Other symptoms we have seen with this particular cleanse are: severe sleep disturbances which involve an inability for him to fall asleep and stay asleep, he wakes crying every 45 minutes until he is able to get into a deep sleep, he's craving sugars, he was irritable in the first few days, and his bloating looked incredibly painful, because it started very high in the abdomen and was so tight that blue veins were pressed visibly against his skin.  Six days into the cleanse, he had watery diarrhea that burned his rear so badly it left painful welts all the way down his thighs.  He couldn't even bear the feeling of his clean diaper against his skin at bedtime.  On this same day, his urine smelled horrible, almost like he had a bowl movement in his diaper, even though he drinks TONS of water.  There was definitely some form of potent toxin in his urine! He has had a problem with sweating for a few months now, sweating while napping or sleeping at night and now is no exception.  He wakes with his pillow soaked behind him.  Since doing research on parasite infection, this is a red flag for parasites!  Chelation was supposed to start coincidentally ON the full moon, so we decided to avoid this round with him so as not to tax his liver too much.

Glyconutrients update
On a good note, we have been able to add the glyconutrients back in without a rash.  We started back on them with half a teaspoon dose.  It's been well over a week now and no rashes so far!  I think last time perhaps we increased his dose too fast for his body to handle, because when we had gotten to a teaspoon and a half, we noticed the rash during a round of chelation, which means, there was probably too much detox between the glycos and chelation, together.  I would also imagine that the combination of the glyconutrients, the active parasite infection and chelation was just too much for his little liver.  Rashes are often a sign that the liver is malfunctioning.

For me, the parasite cleanse resulted in significant joint pain in my left wrist. This only happened on the day of the full moon and it was really painful.  The aches would come and go, throbbing deep in the joint.  One of my ankles felt like it hurt a little too, but it didn't last as long as the wrist hurt all day.  I experienced some itching (yes, rectal, nice huh?) and today after my second dose, I have a strange tightness in my chest that doesn't resolve with coughing.  I have also experienced alternating bowel movements like Gavin too.

Thyroid and iodine
My hair test suggested possible thyroid problems, so I am experimenting with Lugol's 2% iodine daily and since doing a patch test, I am increasing the dose.  I noticed that increasing the dose makes me feel better.  When you do an iodine patch test, the patch of brown iodine on your skin should remain there for 24 hours, if you aren't deficient.  If it disappears sooner, you are deficient.  My patch was gone in less than 9 hours!  So I will continue to increase the drops until the water tastes metalic to me, then I will back off and maintain at that dose.  Then I can repeat the patch test to see, if that dose is offering enough iodine to make my body happy.  When that happens, the patch should remain on my skin for at least 24 hours.  I am now also testing the boys with the patch test, today in fact!  Iodine is known to help with parasites, fungus and bacterial infections, so it's very possible they are deficient too.  I would guess that I could have passed on any of my own deficiencies to them, resulting in many of the issues we are battling now.

UPDATE - Within 5 hours, Gavin's iodine patch is gone!  I'd say he's deficient.  Grayson's is still going strong.  I guess tomorrow I will add iodine for Gavin and see how it changes things.  One thing I have learned in the interim is that adding iodine addresses parasites....interesting.

Attack of the antivirals
With Grayson, we decided to hit him hard with the natural antivirals and there is clearly a reaction happening.  I'm not sure, if the term die-off is appropriate in this situation, but it sure appears that way.  He was already taking high doses of olive leaf extract, and we added in monolaurin and lysine.  With the addition of these supplements, he is rubbing his face, nose and ears all day.  It doesn't seem to be bothering him.  He used to have more of a swatting action, but lately, it's a backhand rub on the cheeks, nose, across the mouth and forehead and he rubs the back of his head behind his ears a lot, sometimes grabbing and bending his ears.  He looks so funny when he has this chronic itching, because his hair is always sticking up all over from rubbing his head!  hahaha  In the past I would have thought this was a tic, but it's not a consistent motion (not sure, if that even matters) and he says he is itchy.  He is even putting the palm of his hand over his ear and pressing/rubbing, like you would if you had a deep inner ear itch. I've noticed that since I increased the monolaurin, he is now nasally too.  His tolerance of the monolaurin is low, we just increased his dose to three little pellets, when normally a scoop is used.  I am wondering, if this means he has a problem with Rubella, since I have heard that monolaurin is the natural antiviral of choice for rubella infections.  Oddly, even with these strange behaviors, his mood has been phenomonal!  In the very beginning, his moods were like the wind, but that passed quickly.  We've even increased his DMSA this round with no ill effects, amazingly!  In the past, just a tiny increase would send him into meltdown misery!  Not this time.  He's finally on a full 5mg dose of DMSA.  Still nowhere near his maximum dose since he could go as high as 20mg per dose safely!  I still feel like we are really making progress.  His more consistent cooperative moods make parenting a breeze!  This is something I haven't been able to say in years.  I am proud to say that I am enjoying these days immensely!