This is a very odd thing that I never quite understood. Both of my boys have always had a wet dog smell to their hair whenever it was wet. You know that nice clean smell you have after the shower, the smell of whatever yummy shampoo you use? My kids never had that, instead they smelled like Roofus after his quarterly bath in the backyard during the summer months. Not pretty! And VERY obvious.
I noticed after Gavin's last two baths and Grayson's bath last night, that neither of them had that smell! Since I don't really know what caused it in the first place, I certainly don't know for sure what resolved it, but I could take a guess and chalk it up to the Low Oxalate Diet. That assumption is just based on sheer timing though. If it were related to chelation, I would think that Grayson would have responded to it before Gavin, since he is on round 45 and Gavin is only on round 20. I guess it's possible that it could be coincidence, but the one thing that was changed for both of them at the same time, is the dietary change to reduce oxalates in their diet. I have heard other biomedical moms suggest that it was related to yeast overgrowth and I know that we have not defeated that battle yet. It is suggested, however, that dogs smell funky when there are fungal or bacterial infections present, so I guess that is a possibility. We will see, so far with two baths, Gavin has been free of that odor, I will check them again with their next baths. Here's to hoping it's gone for good, whatever it was, because I love that clean baby smell!
Showing posts with label yeast overgrowth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yeast overgrowth. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Round one - Success!
We got through round one with flying colors and if it's any indication of how Grayson will be after chelation is done....(doin' the happy dance)!! He was amazing during the round, calm, well behaved, happy, patient, he was showing signs of very complex thoughts, what more could the parents of a three year old ask for? Maybe if he could just put his toys away without being asked....ok, maybe that is asking too much still, so anyways...
This is a cute little story showing some of the things we experienced while on round. We took him out to lunch (with his own foods, of course) but he read the kid's menu anyway and wanted a side of sliced apples with his lunch. He couldn't wait to order it himself and practically blurted it out while flapping the menu at the waitress before she was done introducing herself. He enjoyed his lunch and apples, chatting along with us throughout lunch like a mini-man. After lunch, he grabbed the survey questionnaire, which we have never explained to him by the way, and promptly said while looking at the card, "I want to say thank you to her, do you have a pen? How do you write thank you?" Dave and I looked at each other with our jaws dropped, very obviously having to digest what he just said. We spelled the words, he very neatly wrote even sized letters on the lines and then circled all the "3"s "because he is three!", ha ha ha. Of course, we had to explain to her why she only got a rating of all threes, but she was thrilled with her little survey card from Grayson and he was thrilled with the smile it resulted in from her.
Our weekend was full of little tidbits like this. He was flourishing, intelligent beyond his years! He was also very tired by the end of each day though and for two of the three nights, he told US when he was ready to go up to bed, the last day it was 6:30pm! He slept like a rock between doses and woke up at 8am every day, fully rested and rearing to go, dressed before he came into our room and smiling ear to ear! I had read over and over again to be prepared for the yeast monsters to increase with chelation, but amazingly, they weren't out of control during chelation, it's now, afterwards, that I feel like it's slightly out of control I don't know why that would be. Unfortunately, with the highs that we experienced during the "on" days, come the dreaded days that follow stopping the round....redistribution days. During the round mercury gets flowing out of the body with the aid of the DMSA (it's like an usher, pulling the mercury ions with it, on it's way through the body and out through the urine). The key to dosing is to keep the DMSA actively in the bloodstream (hence the every 4 hour dosing schedule day and night), as soon as that stops, everything that was moving also stops and you guessed it, needs to go somewhere. So the loose mercury will find body tissue to bind with and then you experience the down days of chelation which for some, can be like mercury poisoning all over again. The first day wasn't as bad as I expected, however, day two and three afterwards have been no fun. The yeast is out of control, he is feisty beyond words, he is showing signs of sensory dysfunction all over again (probably the overgrowth of yeast) and I can't seem to dose enough Biotin, OoO and No Phenol to get it completely under control. I can even see that he WANTS so badly to control his emotions, he tries to, he starts to talk with a high pitched wavering squeal that sounds like he is holding back the tears, trying to keep his cool and then he looses it and the anger of his lack of control lets lose. He crashes and smashes things, before running out of the room in tears. It's been a while since he has had these experiences on a regular basis, so I know it must baffle him as much as it does us. So it's on to more reading for me, but overall, I give this process the big thumbs up!!
This is a cute little story showing some of the things we experienced while on round. We took him out to lunch (with his own foods, of course) but he read the kid's menu anyway and wanted a side of sliced apples with his lunch. He couldn't wait to order it himself and practically blurted it out while flapping the menu at the waitress before she was done introducing herself. He enjoyed his lunch and apples, chatting along with us throughout lunch like a mini-man. After lunch, he grabbed the survey questionnaire, which we have never explained to him by the way, and promptly said while looking at the card, "I want to say thank you to her, do you have a pen? How do you write thank you?" Dave and I looked at each other with our jaws dropped, very obviously having to digest what he just said. We spelled the words, he very neatly wrote even sized letters on the lines and then circled all the "3"s "because he is three!", ha ha ha. Of course, we had to explain to her why she only got a rating of all threes, but she was thrilled with her little survey card from Grayson and he was thrilled with the smile it resulted in from her.
Our weekend was full of little tidbits like this. He was flourishing, intelligent beyond his years! He was also very tired by the end of each day though and for two of the three nights, he told US when he was ready to go up to bed, the last day it was 6:30pm! He slept like a rock between doses and woke up at 8am every day, fully rested and rearing to go, dressed before he came into our room and smiling ear to ear! I had read over and over again to be prepared for the yeast monsters to increase with chelation, but amazingly, they weren't out of control during chelation, it's now, afterwards, that I feel like it's slightly out of control I don't know why that would be. Unfortunately, with the highs that we experienced during the "on" days, come the dreaded days that follow stopping the round....redistribution days. During the round mercury gets flowing out of the body with the aid of the DMSA (it's like an usher, pulling the mercury ions with it, on it's way through the body and out through the urine). The key to dosing is to keep the DMSA actively in the bloodstream (hence the every 4 hour dosing schedule day and night), as soon as that stops, everything that was moving also stops and you guessed it, needs to go somewhere. So the loose mercury will find body tissue to bind with and then you experience the down days of chelation which for some, can be like mercury poisoning all over again. The first day wasn't as bad as I expected, however, day two and three afterwards have been no fun. The yeast is out of control, he is feisty beyond words, he is showing signs of sensory dysfunction all over again (probably the overgrowth of yeast) and I can't seem to dose enough Biotin, OoO and No Phenol to get it completely under control. I can even see that he WANTS so badly to control his emotions, he tries to, he starts to talk with a high pitched wavering squeal that sounds like he is holding back the tears, trying to keep his cool and then he looses it and the anger of his lack of control lets lose. He crashes and smashes things, before running out of the room in tears. It's been a while since he has had these experiences on a regular basis, so I know it must baffle him as much as it does us. So it's on to more reading for me, but overall, I give this process the big thumbs up!!
Friday, March 6, 2009
When does the guessing end?
It's been a while since I have posted last. We have been trying to figure some things out, going back to basics, so to speak. We started noticing that Grayson's yeast was getting so out of hand, we just couldn't even keep up with the doses of biotin, he was stimming constantly and the emotions, ohhh the emotions!! So we decided to go on a supplement break. And wow, it has done wonders for us! We are getting a much needed break from the constant dosing (every three hours) of supplements and amazingly, he is doing much better without them! There could be a few reasons for this, it could be that by strictly adhering to the diet, we are seeing the results of gut healing or it could be that something in his supplement regimen was causing yeast flare ups, which is more likely the case. When we first started the diet, we saw magnificent strides in him, but they plateaued, then when we added certain supplements and probiotics, he continued to improve, then while we were gearing up for chelation, the sudden downward spiral recently. So for now, we are sticking with some basics, we have increased the probiotics to twice a day (morning and at bedtime) and when I see signs of yeast, I am giving him a No Phenol, biotin and magnesium which is necessary for the body to be able to absorb the higher amounts of biotin effectively. The only problem is that the additional magnesium is causing loose stool...it's always something. Unfortunately, by seeing these signs of yeast still, with almost no supplements in his diet to cause flare ups, only reinforces that we are doing the right thing. In the meantime, the strides we are seeing are thorough and complex speech, a much calmer overall personality, happy beyond belief, fewer fluctuations in the emotions, almost no tantrums and outbursts, he is listening well, he is patient and agreeable in many ways. We even had an infraction which involved wheat, lemon, egg, and butter and he didn't skip a beat!! Granted, we loaded him up on enzymes and gave him a bath saturated with epsom salts and baking soda to soak up the toxins, and he has done great!! I have commented on more than a few occasions that when he is like this, he is the PERFECT child!! Knowing that this is possible makes me just want to get through all of this. Unfortunately, that is going to involve supplements that cause more yeast, in order to begin chelation safely, which also causes increased yeast. It just comes with the territory, but now I will reintroduce his supplements one at a time and wait a good week on each one, to watch his reactions and adjust doses as well as the yeast protocol. It looks like we will be putting chelation off just a bit until we get his daily routine in order.
Monday, January 5, 2009
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...
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...
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