Ending rounds 46 and 21

Holy moly!  We just put the kids to bed and I feel like I just ran a marathon!  They were so incredibly yeasty tonight, it was overwhelming to all the senses.  It started with Grayson, because Gavin was still on round (I continue chelation with him through Monday, while Grayson is at school), Grayson was considered post-round since we stopped his last dose at 7:30am this morning as he left for the bus.

At dinner he just started winding up so much he couldn't seem to control it.  He was like a happy drunk.  He was talking so much and out of control, like he literally could not stop the motor.  It excelerated to a giddy hyper that slowly turned into his typical yeasty impatience.  He can't stand anything his brother does, he's too loud, too annoying, just plain too much so he yells and demands and Gavin retaliates.  So we put him in an epsom salt bath, gave him a few melatonin and read him a book.  By this time, Gavin was beginning his own yeasty wind up or perhaps it was redistribution at it's finest.  All I know is that while we were trying to wind Grayson down, Gavin was "flying" all over the second floor.  Grayson was irritated by everything his brother did and flying was no exception.  By the time we were giving them their probiotics, they were getting physical with each other.  A stomp here, a swat there, next thing we know, Gavin is hauling off and whacking Grayson, then we had tears.  Forcing a "sorry" out of Gavin when he is like this is nearly impossible, he was too inappropriately giddy and angry at the same time, such an exhausting combination.  While I was tucking Grayson in, it was like he suddenly deflated.  I think the melatonin hit him, because he said, "I'm getting tired".  Since laying Gavin down, we haven't heard a peep from him.....(Sigh)

We are finally sitting in the peace and quiet.

Wishful thinking....and a glass of wine

Is it bad that I want to drown my sorrows in a glass of wine....that I haven't even poured yet?

I was hoping that the too-good-to-be-true signs we saw after taking a break from their antimicrobials/nutraceuticals for the stool test meant that the overgrowth wasn't too out of control.  Unfortunately, it was just the calm before the storm.

Grayson went off to school perfect and came home like a space cadet.  I knew this was the start of the oh so familiar downward spiral that inevitably follows a break from their antimicrobials.  He was quiet and distant, played on his own a lot and Gavin's interferences resulted in explosive outbursts.  His belly which had been so flat for a week now, was bloated again tonight.  After bedtime, he came out of his room twice to rub a wet washcloth on his neck, because he was hot.  He was also exceptionally thirsty.  All signs of die-off.  Now, I have to decide whether to wait this out to see if he levels off again or to continue to increase the antimicrobials.  My gut tells me, we are going to be heading right back to the high doses of antimicrobials.

Gavin had a rough day today too, he was more volatile than Grayson.  His die off signs are different from Grayson's.  It actually took a while to get a handle on what they were, considering what we were so used to with Grayson.  Today his belly was huge and his moods were extreme.  He was still speaking very well, but the moods were just out of control.  He couldn't handle any direction, and he would vacillate between needy/clingy and defiant.

Bedtime was tough, I was alone tonight, but now I sit here with the glass of wine that my husband brought me and I am in self-pity-land for now.  Tomorrow is another day.

Stressing...

We ordered DNA microbiology stool tests for both boys and decided to stop their nutraceuticals Saturday night, after the noon dose, then test mid-day Sunday.  This would give us about 20-24 hours without anything.  Well, it's now Sunday night and Gavin went in his diaper twice during sleep (before waking this morning and again at nap time) so they weren't sample worthy because of the diaper chemicals and Grayson hasn't had to go yet!

I am worrying about the length of time they are going without their nutraceuticals, more for Grayson than Gavin, because of school tomorrow.  I will have to keep him home from school to do this for two reasons.  One is that they give him a dose of his nutraceuticals during school, following a doctor's note.  And the other reason is because I don't want to set him up for failure, if things come to a head during the day.  So far both are doing surprisingly well, but we have experienced the calm before the storm in the past when my husband didn't give them any of their nutraceuticals all weekend while I was away, to see how they would do.  They were great all weekend, things came to a head days later and it was an absolutely horrible time that I would rather not repeat.  It took much longer than a few days to get them back to where they were.  It caused us to have to skip rounds of chelation and my life was incredibly difficult having two going through it at the same time.

One thing I can be sure of is that they will have their nutraceuticals out of their systems for sure.  Mommy might not fair so well over the next couple of days or weeks though.  Wish us luck....

Monday morning update - I had to keep Grayson home from school.  I was hoping they would both go by now so I could get them back on their nutraceuticals and glyconutrients (I stopped those too, since they can effect microbiology).  STILL no BMs in this house, ugh!  I can't believe this, they have both always been SO regular, I could practically set a clock by them and now, the ONE time I need them to go, they don't, neither of them.  I am praying that yeast overgrowth isn't causing some sort of constipation.  That would be quite the double-edged sword!  This morning we have a lot of hyperactivity, aggravation, impatience, and outbursts.  Grayson is doing a little better than Gavin.  Gavin is back to yelling about everything, he can't communicate without screaming and explosive outbursts. 

**OH, as I am writing this, Grayson has to go, YEAY!!  Off to collect a sample, woooo hooo!

Monday evening update - I was finally able to collect a sample from Gavin at about 1:30 today, thank goodness, because all of his old symptoms were back full force: the yelling, explosive outbursts, defiance, crying a lot, red anal ring, and he even had dark circles under his eyes.  Then tonight after a shower, I noticed that the wet dog smell that had been gone, came back slightly. I am convinced now that this was related to pathogen overgrowth. 

I decided to give both boys just half of their usual nutraceutical dose instead of bombarding their body with too much die-off at once.  This proved to be a good idea, because now at 6:30 pm, they are both doing GREAT!  I feel like Grayson didn't even skip a beat with this whole thing, which proves that chelation is really helping him.  Gavin is also back to a fairly level mood again too.  I reintroduced their glyconutrients today too and with that comes the happy faces. For Gavin, the glyconutrients has reinstated lots of thorough speaking.  His speech has most definitely been effected by the glyconutrients!  If this break has proven anything to me, it's that one thing!

Another thing I was able to decipher from this is that the rash Gavin got after starting the glyconutrients is not an intolerance/allergic reaction, because while he was off of them, it didn't change at all.  It had already been slowly drying up before stopping the glyconutrients and it is still in that same condition even after two days without them.  In the past, removing the source of his eczema made almost immediate changes in the rashes, within 24 hours at minimum.  I am convinced that the glyconutrients triggered a detox of some sort, whether it be viral, bacterial, yeast related, or even heavy metal or some other toxin. 

So hopefully we are back to "normal" and in a few weeks we will know what was going on for both of them this weekend when the tests results are in.  I can't wait!!!

Just a few little tidbits on yeast and mercury in honor of stool testing
For those of us going through chelation, we know all too well that yeast is a common complication of mercury.  Our daily attempts to maintain yeast levels is just a management process in place until we can bring mercury levels down with chelation.  It isn't the fix.  For those who are treating yeast regularly and not doing chelation, it's just a bandaid.

These little snippits of information are from Andy Cutlers's book "Amalgam Illness"

• Intestinal overgrowth of yeast is common and often goes along with mercury poisoning.
• Intestinal yeast overgrowth can crowd out the bacteria that produce vitamin K, which is essential for blood clotting.
• Excessive yeast can also interfere with vitamin D metabolism in the liver and kidneys, affecting calcium metabolism.
• One very direct test for yeast infection is to administer Nystatin, which kills yeast and see if you react to it (I would recommend GSE which is a natural yeast killer).  If yeast is causing a problem, killing it will exacerbate this problem.  Whatever symptoms flare up when enough yeast are killed are due to the yeast.  If no symptom flareup occurs, then intestinal yeast is present at an appropriate level.
• A low sulfur diet may suppress yeast, a high sulfur diet will feed it as well as one high in sugars and carbohydrates.
• Coffee is a sulfur food, tea has yeast killing tannin.  If you have a yeast problem, take your liquid stimulant in the form of strong black tea instead of coffee.
• Repeated reappearance of skin dryness, hyperkeratosis or other irritation over areas where mercury containing antiseptics have been applied in the previous few years is not uncommon and should not be confused with yeast or fungal reinfection.

Waiting for the other shoe to drop

To back up a little bit, we had gone up to an LM4 potency of Grayson's homeopathic constitutional remedy, but every time we administered a dose, even just one drop, he would have an AWFUL day and I mean serious regression.  I was so confused, not knowing enough about what to expect, if this was normal aggravation to be expected with healing, if the remedy was the wrong remedy, if it was just too potent for him or were we dealing with completely different things coincidentally timed, like a yeast or bacteria flare, etc.

I contacted our doctor and she felt that the best way to handle this was to go back to the 30C potency and dose it daily, if needed.  That was just about a week ago.  We waited a day to give him the first dose of the 30C potency, so that his body could get back to it's baseline.  We had already been off the previous remedy for two days.  That first day we gave one drop of the 30C remedy and pretty much had a typical day with him....that consisted of some irritation, a low frustration threshold, but overall good mood.  His belly is always flat upon waking in the morning, but by dinner time (sometimes earlier) he is pretty bloated, and to give you a visual, think pregnant woman in her 7th month....bloated - and this day was no exception!

After a few days, we went up to 2 drops, he was having some rough moments still, not handling change well, fighting a lot with his brother, whiny and edgy, argumentative.  Even with the mood fluctuations though, he was still showing progress in other areas.  He asked us if he could go to the neighbors and ring their doorbell to ask for his golf clubs back (she borrowed them to use for her Kindergarten class lesson a few days earlier).  We permitted him to do this all on his own and he DID!  Impressive at 5, I know I wouldn't have done that at 5!! 

We decided to also go back to doing chelation since we had already taken three weeks off for the homeopathy.  Three weeks is our max, any more than that and we have a hard time with them adjusting back to the dose we were using.  So even with all the confusion, we jumped right back in at rounds 38 (Grayson) and 13 (Gavin).  Again, there were still some mood swings, but when Dave brought Grayson with him to his parent's house, he had NO fear of their huge dog.  You have to picture the usual visit ....we get to the front door, the dog (who is HUGE) starts barking his huge deep bark, Grayson runs away from the door and says, "Please put him outside!!"  Then we have to drag him inside behind our legs or carry him in until the dog is settled.  This day, he walked right in, nose to nose with the dog, no hesitation!!  He just turned his head as he was being greeted in doggy language!   He also kept a low belly all day for the first time in many months!

Now at 3 drops of his homeopathic remedy, and still chelating through the round, we being to see amazing days.  He dressed himself in matching pajamas all weekend, even tight shirts that he normally wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole, because they are "toooooo tight" (AKA - sensory).  He participated in a song on tv about sequence.  He NEVER participated in tv show songs when prompted, EVERRRR!  They were singing a song about color sequences or something and then they would prompt the "kids" watching, the viewers I guess you would say, to finish the lyrics completing the sequence....my husband and I looked at each other, jaws dropped, when we heard him singing along and following the prompts out loud.  His thoughts were very complex and thorough all weekend and he appeared quite mature to me.  He was playing a game on my iTouch called Angry Birds and he loves to play while someone watches and then watch them play.  The game requires you to page past the scene you are in, to another scene, where you have to pan ahead and fire a slingshot aiming to knock down walls to get into them and attack these little creatures at all different levels.  It takes advanced planning and coordination.  This day he was asking his father, "How would you do this one daddy"?  and when he was watching his father play, instead of trying to TELL him what to do, which is the usual, he asked him, "Now, why did you do it that way daddy?"  truly looking for an explanation.  He also showed signs of patience and concern for what others were doing.  He wanted his father to play football with him, but we were getting the deck ready for restaining and he yelled up, "Can you play football with me, Daddy.....when you are done there?"  And all the while, the belly is still REALLY low all day long!

Today, he put his socks and shoes on without a single peep of a complaint.  Normally the socks or the shoes get thrown, because he is too frustrated by the task.  He was given his last dose of chelation as we left the house for the school bus, so I was VERY worried about sending him off to school while he would be experiencing post-round symptoms of yeast overgrowth and redistribution of heavy metals.  He is often VERY irritable, defiant, unfocused, spacey, lethargic, and very bloated....needless to say, this could put a damper on how well things have been going at school for the first three weeks.  So to make things a bit easier on him, I hid the capsule contents of an activated charcoal in a few coconut carob haystacks for snack time, hehehehe.  When he returned home, I was greeted with a smile, and he still had that flat tummy!  Unbelievable!  I had also asked the teacher how he did today, because I gave him mango which he used to react to (I needed a reason to have her report his behavior today, lol) and she said he was no different from any day, in fact, he had a GREAT day!  One thing that was very out of the ordinary today too is that he was exceptionally calm.  He always gets a bit riled up when Daddy gets home, and even more so as it gets closer to bed time, but not tonight.  He was not fidgety AT ALL, he sat at dinner calmly, he spoke calmly, he went to bed CALMLY, no running or hopping or joking around and hiding on us.  I felt like yesterday we had a 5 year old in the house and today he was much more mature than any 5 year old I ever met!  Things like this just don't happen overnight, I find myself saying that a lot with the homeopathy.  Things are definitely changing by leaps and bounds.  And we even took his lithium orotate away this morning with no ill effects!  But like my title suggests, I am still waiting for the other shoe to drop....and hoping it never does.

To ALA or not to ALA

Alpha Lipoic Acid....ahhhhh the joys of chelation. So, the typical protocol for chelation involves first lowering the body burden of mercury using DMSA, which is what we have been doing for 5 rounds, meaning five sleepless-emotional-yeasty weekends full of fun! ha ha We take 4 to 11 day breaks in between those weekends and lately it appears that we are best with 11 day breaks. Then comes the ALA, dun duu duu duuuun. ALA is the only known chelator to cross the blood brain barrier. This is the scary part, because mercury can get into the brain and for some reason, it gets lost or comfy in there and doesn't come back out, and then you have....yup, neurological problems and for many it's called autism! So I repeat, ALA is the only known chelator to cross the blood brain barrier, which is the very same barrier that is SUPPOSED to protect the brain. The problem with this is that it's a two way street, the ALA can help remove the mercury, but it can also usher mercury INTO the brain, if there are any current exposures to mercury going on. In other words, if you have silver fillings - AKA amalgams - DON'T TOUCH THIS STUFF WITH A TEN FOOT POLE!!! Amazingly, ALA is a supplement that many people unknowingly take without realizing that they could be causing damage, especially if they have fillings. So anyway, I could get so easily side tracked on this topic.

We added the ALA at the same dose we are using with the DMSA. That means that I am splitting a teeny tiny, itty bitty 50mg capsule THIRTY TWO ways! UGH!!! The texture is very funny too, it's like cotton candy rather than powdery, so every time I would try to split a mini pile, it would pop or jump into little shards of annoyingness! And picture this, me with my face mask on (because I have a mouth full of silver and immediately get a headache from opening the capsules) using little pieces of paper to split these teeny weeny capsules a trillion ways just to fill an enormous capsule with this pin head sized portion of cotton candy for Grayson to take. It's practically empty!! I think I might start adding his vit C, B and magnesium into these very same capsules so he doesn't have to take a different capsule for each and it would fill up the emptiness of the capsule, it's like he's swallowing a bunch of air. Here you go Grayson, it's time for your air....I mean, ALA. Gulp, burp!

Getting back to the point, yet again, the ALA, ummmm yeah! Not so sure we are ready for this. It caused a whole slew of symptoms that we were unprepared for. It's not uncommon to see some signs of yeast overgrowth during chelation, but we are now two days post chelation and he is STILL verbally stimmy. He is doing this strange random giggle that has nothing to do with anything happening at the moment. In fact, he could be just sitting and doing nothing or looking out of the window in the car and he giggles. Not even a funny ha-ha type of giggle, it's a weird gutteral giggle that sounds more like a nervous tic. So here is the list of "symptoms" we experienced this round:

- very sensitive emotionally (although this isn't unusual for him with ANY
changes to weather, diet or schedule)
- swatting at his head, overall head and face itchiness (he used to do this a
LOT before biomedical treatment and we don't see it too much in between rounds
except with yeast overgrowth)
- defiance and resistance galore (lucky us)
- he did mostly well during the middle of his round, but at times he was highly
stimmy, verbally (strange random giggles even when he was alone) and with touch
(he had to trace everything with his hands).
- when the ALA wore off, things got crazy. For example, we went out to dinner for my birthday and had ended our last two doses with just DMSA to "sop up" any free floating mercury. It was only 2 hours from our last DMSA, but about 5 hours from the last
ALA. At first, he was great at dinner, then suddenly, it was like a switch
flipped on him, he started itching like CRAZY, everywhere (legs, arms, face, ears, head
swatting), he started turning around in his seat to trace the outlines of the
chair rungs, he was whacking the chair sides with his elbows over and over,
rubbing his wrists on the table, swatting his head like crazy (this is one we
had constantly before biomedicine), and he was a ball of emotions, couldn't
handle ANY changes to his expectations (finding pine nuts in his salad threw him
over the edge). He just couldn't sit still and relax, his anxiety level seemed
through the roof! Oh and the energy, after dinner, we went out to walk around
outside and he was loud and running and running, so not like him!! He had a
hard time going to sleep also.
- then the day after ending the round, the random giggles continued, but
he is more level-headed emotionally so far.
- his first two BMs of the day so far have been one very very pale and floating
one followed by a very loose and slightly darker colored one. Both had a lot of
undigested foods in them. (Sorry if that is TMI!)

So I am researching and asking tons of questions to doctors and fellow moms who are going through this. I can't decide, if we should stick it out for another round (Lord help me, if we do) or if we should back off with the ALA for now and just continue with the DMSA until we get his body burden down more (leaning more this direction). I have been told that, if we up his yeast protocol and give doses of vit C and magnesium with each chelation dose, we might be able to help the side effects. We just haven't decided yet. Any great ideas?

Shake the sickies out

Tis' the season for the sickies. Grayson was always that kid who never got sick, that is, until he started preschool, ha ha ha. I was warned that when they start school for the first time, everything that goes around, comes home! He has been sick three times since the start of the school year, so we are averaging about one illness per month. Anytime we are dealing with a virus, we end up with regression in his SPD symptoms in a bad way! Viral die-off causes an overgrowth in yeast, and this makes him much more sensitive to his sensory aversions and his need for input becomes greater. So a typical day for us includes a lot of swatting at his head, ears and face, increase in bumping, crashing and touching, clothing bothers him, blankets are never on right, the coat is on wrong, shoes are too tight, the sun is too bright, pajamas bother the armpits, the fork doesn't work, the chair is pushed in unevenly, get the picture? When there is viral die-off and an increase in yeast, the two best natural remedies are grapefruit seed extract (GSE) and olive leaf extract (OLE), however, he is slightly sensitive to both, so we must administer each of them along with a No Phenol to reduce a possible reaction.

Oh, and just for the record, viruses are not living things, they are particles made of proteins and DNA so technically, they don't really "die-off", this term refers to what is happening when you are trying to get rid of a virus. Here again, enzymes come to the rescue (they are powerhouses). A virus is surrounded by a protective protein which is digested by our friend the protease enzyme! Once that coating is stripped away, the virus is unprotected and vulnerable to antivirals (OLE to the rescue)!

Grayson's latest virus is croup, which amazingly is an influenza virus (diphtherial) and can actually be caused by coming in contact with someone who has just had the measles or flu vaccination! Ironically, the Hib vaccine is supposed to protect against this very virus, which he has had. Vaccinations do not make our kids bulletproof.

Sorry to cut this short, but I am needed to help unveil our HUGE Christmas tree, let the festivities begin....