Hand sanitizer - make your own!

The fall is coming and with the swine flu scare on the horizon, I want to be prepared with a hand cleaner for the go that isn't dangerous. In all of my research I have, at minimum, determined that I don't even want to touch Purell ever again! So if you are concerned about the resistance to bacteria caused by hand sanitizers like Purell, try this one out. I found a recipe that works great, is nice going on, and doesn't smell bad.

Start your natural hand sanitizer by choosing a container. This recipe will work in plastic squeeze bottles, or mini spray bottles. I also have a great source for amber bottles that are best for anything containing essence oil and of course they don't leach chemicals! If you prefer plastic, just remember to look for a BPA and plathlet free bottle.

Here is the link for the site I buy our bottles from - http://www.specialtybottle.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=2

They also carry HDPE plastic bottles (like the kind your milk comes in) - http://www.specialtybottle.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=24

Use the following recipe---
2 parts aloe gel (NOT juice)
1 part distilled water (NOT tap)
1 part grain alcohol-vodka (NOT isopropyl, we used Ciroc grape-distilled vodka to avoid the grain-allergen issues)
4-5 drops essential oil of choice (NOT fragrance oils). Hint: tea tree is a great antibacterial and one of the best essential oils to add to a hand sanitizer recipe. I also added a few drops of oil of oregano which is an anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-microbial...among SO many other things.

Essential oils, to date, have not been shown to allow microbes to develop resistance.

Mix all ingredients in glass bowl (preferably) with a plastic spoon. I don't use metal dishes or utensils because of potential reactions with the essential oils. Pour your hand sanitizer into your containers. You can add less water if you prefer a thicker product.

This is the link where I got it - http://www.ehow.com/how_2223499_natural-antibacterial-hand-sanitizer.html

RECIPE - a staple in our house - pancakes

With a year of GFCF (among many other "frees") under our belt, I have had a LOT of time to experiment with pancakes! Pancakes are a favorite and with the limited breakfast options we have, we NEED them and they must be healthy, hearty and easy to make. The other great use for pancakes in a gluten free diet is to replace bread for sandwiches. Other than muffins and cookies, it's the only bread-like substance in Grayson's diet.

We have tried all of the gluten free flours out there in pancakes and our favorite, by far, is teff. Teff is native to Northern Africa, but is now grown in the US primarily in Idaho. If you are culturally savvy you will probably know that it is the primary ingredient used for injera bread which is served as your utensil with Ethiopian or Eritrean food. It has a bit of a nutty bitterness to it when used alone, somewhat like a sourdough bread. There are also three types of teff, white, brown and red. The red is more nutritious and less bitter but the white is used more often and is the choice for injera bread. I use Bob's Red Mill red teff.

The low down on teff is that it packs more protein than wheat, has a high concentration of nutrients like calcium, thiamin and iron and is very high in fiber. The iron from teff is easily absorbed by the body, calcium (387mg) in one cup of cooked teff is about 40% of the USDA recommended daily allowance, and has twice as much iron as wheat and barley! Teff is an energy enhancing grain which makes it favorable for athletes.

Fun facts about teff - It is one of the smallest grains in the world measuring only 1/32 of an inch in size, in fact, it's name is derived from the Amharic "teffa" which translates to "lost", as in - it can be lost if dropped! ( Amharic is a Semitic language spoken in North Central Ethiopia) 150 teff grains are equal in size to one wheat kernel. 3000 grains weigh only 1 gram. Teff is used to make home brewed alcohol, is grown in Ethiopia as forage for cattle and has been used in adobe construction. Sounds like a Jack of all trades to me although I will stick with the pancake route.

Ah yes, pancakes, that is the point of this post, isn't it? So here is the recipe I have been experimenting with and have finally come to my ideal gluten, casein, egg, soy, rice-free pancake.

1 1/2 C teff flour
1/4 C quinoa flakes
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 C milk sub (I use hemp, but chocolate almond is really tasty too!)
3 tbsp oil
2 tsp xylitol

Mix it all up and drop it on a hot griddle. These are hardy and dark. We love the chocolate almond milk, but I know that some people avoid almond milk for either nut or soy sensitivities. The quinoa flakes don't change the flavor like quinoa flour does in higher quantities, it just adds some bulk to the recipe, because teff alone can be too flaky and flimsy for pancakes.

These are not very sweet, which makes them ideal as a bread substitute so adding more sweetness might be preferred by some people. So here are some great variations to this recipe. If you are adding these things into the pancake, blending is the key, because anything too chunky makes the pancake not cook through well. These could also be drizzled on top.

-blended zucchini (or any veggies)
-blended berries in or on top of the pancakes
-blended apples with cinnamon
-blended banana and chopped nuts
-organic blended pumpkin and cinnamon

I make double batches, separate them with wax paper and store them in the freezer double-bagged in freezer bags. Reheating is a snap in the toaster! They are great when you need to be on the road too, just hand a pancake (or two or four if it's my child) to junior and go.

Amazing video about autism

This video covers it all and in such a thorough fashion! Dr. Masson is a Harvard-trained pediatrician with extensive knowledge of the causes and biomedical treatment of autism. Her practice is focused on autism and the biomedical approach to treating it. She also has a video on the prevention of autism, during pregnancy. Of course, for us, it's too late for that.

http://vegsource.com/articles2/media_leila2.htm

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!

Chelation - round 8 - added supplements to capsules

I am so glad we stuck with the ALA. When we first added it to the DMSA, I was terrified by the results, the incredible increase in stimming and negative behaviors, but we stuck it out, used it again in smaller quantities for two more rounds and now he is doing fine on it. The last round was a little rocky, emotional, but not nearly as bad as the first ALA round. It could be that we have also been using prescription meds for the yeast and bacteria which chelation will ultimately flare up. So other than being utterly exhausted with the round the clock waking, this round is going so smoothly! He is on his last day of chelation today and we are seeing some emotional outbursts, but up to this point, he has been wonderful! NO stimming at all, no sensory seeking, and even when he gets emotional, he is recovering himself pretty well! I might be able to credit his level behaviors to the fact that I added his calming supplements into each dose of chelators. When I split his capsules, I also added an additional 250mg of vit C, vit B, 100mg of Milk Thistle, 180mg magnesium and a 1/4 of a capsule of ACE daily. The C and B help with the stress ont he body, Milk Thistle supports his liver, the magnesium is calming and necessary for the absorption of many other nutrients and the ACE addresses the adrenals which are often fatigued during chelation. So needless to say, I will continue this method of dosing going forward.

Seeing the WOWs, but what did it?

We are seeing AMAZING changes and we are even starting to see some consistency, things were all over the place before. I just can't put my finger on which was the major "wow-factor" or if it was a combination of things. Here is what we have done recently, and in this order:

1-Started Flagyl and Diflucan (based on yeast and bacteria markers in Organic Acid Test), also started SeriPhos for anxiety.

2-Added artichoke extract to the milk thistle we were already using to add more liver support (trying to address his whole body itchiness with either anxiety and/or liver stress as the cause)

3-Added OLE daily (200mg)

4-Started Nystatin once a day

5-A gland that has been raised on the side of his neck since he was a year old (and I mean VISIBLY raised) has gone down significantly, some days it's not even palpable! This is major.

6-Increased buffered Vit C to about 1000-1200mg a day to help with irritability (we had reduced it for oxalate issues and found him to become increasingly more irritable without the high levels of C)

7-Noticed his tongue was spotted and almost coated looking and pimples on rear (probably related to the die off from gut bug meds)

8-Stopped giving calcium (suspecting hypocalcemia), as a rial, just giving 360mg buffered mag oxide instead

9-Increased Nettle tea (about 1/2 cup a day) for calcium and possible allergies (we had used this before in smaller quantities)

10-Stopped first ten day course of Flagyl and Diflucan

11-Added 1/4cap of ACE (Adrenal Cortex Extract) for possible adrenal fatigue (we started seeing major changes about here, literally immediately)

12-Increased Milk Thistle by at least 200mg per day for itching, seems to have helped, but itching is still there throughout the day (still can't quite figure this out, but may be related to toxic release)

13-BMs have FINALLY gone from a very loose, strange consistency and foul smelling to NORMAL and not smelly, still undigested materials in them though (nuts, buckwheat groats and sunflower seeds seem to remain undigested)

14-OMG, as I was writing this, I noticed a crazy rash all over his upper torso! It looks like chicken pox! They are evenly spaced little pimples, he said they don't itch. They go from his collarbone and back of the neck to his mid-torso, they are not on his arms, legs or face....We just started the OLE 11 days ago (it is a top rated antiviral) and strangely, that coincides with when we saw the gland go down! The gland originally popped up right after his 12 month vaccinations, it came with what looked like a mild case of the chicken pox then too! But it also coincides with when we started the Nystatin, so it could also be from die-off of gut bugs. We haven't given him a bath, put any lotions or anything new on him either.

The point we are at now....verbal stims are almost non-existant except when he seems to need some OoO (3 drops), Biotin (20mg) and 1 No Fenol for yeast, we give this 2-3 times a day, we haven't had any meltdowns in DAYS, the anger is gone, the anxiety is non-existant, he is silly and talkative, almost hyper, but more appropriate kid stuff and he is listening well when we ask him to calm down, defiance has subsided. He must be feeling good. He goes to bed around 8pm and wakes no earlier than 8 or 8:30am, even 9-9:30am some days (and this is a child who used to wake a 5:45 before chelation!!). He is still itching, but now I can't tell if it's habit, a stim, yeast, related to allergies (he has no other signs of environmental allergies), or just plain die-off side effects. Between cleaning out the liver, killing off the gut bugs and chelating metals, he has a lot that could be coming from his pores. This is the first time in almost a year that we have had consistent days like this. We will be going onto another course of Flagyl and Diflucan. Once we go off the Flagyl, we will retest with another OAT (Organic Acid Test) which our DAN! might have actually gotten covered by insurance!!! WOO HOOOOOO!! (happy dance)

These have been the biggest WOWS we have had. In fact, yesterday we had a play date with two boys we haven't seen in ages, he was FABULOUS the whole time, playing nicely, sharing (wow), laughing. The play date we had before this last one was one disaster after another, he hit the boy, he cried, he lost his temper, screamed and had no patience the whole time, grabbed toys left and right, but this was just a few days into his meds so I am sure we were dealing with die-off.

Way of life and death...of BUGS!

So today I was one of the lucky homeowners to spot an ant in my house, IN IT, where they DON'T BELONG!! Eeeeeew!! First it was one, then another....and another, this one was bold enough to steal a morsel of food from my kitchen, which actually isn't that hard to accomplish with two young children. I managed to find a handful of them coming from the front half of the house, which makes sense, because that is the part of the house that is at ground level, the back is at the second story. As you know, having a chemical sensitive child means I couldn't just run and grab some ant spray to get the suckers. I stood there thinking, "Now what?" This isn't in the biomedical manual!! Ok, so thinking along the terms of natural the first natural volitile thing I could come up with was VINEGAR!! I ran for the bottle, poured some into a squeeze bottle and went around soaking every crack and crevise on that side of the house, all the while big-toe-squashing the little buggers I found along the way. They don't die easily either so I finally got smart enough to soak a paper towel with the vinegar and use that. I sprayed outside along the house too. At least vinegar is a natural cleaner too, so I killed two bugs with one stone...hardy har har.

In a matter of 30 min, I managed to douse my house in vinegar, but I am proud to say there wasn't a pesky bug in sight for most of the day and it was squeaky clean to boot. Every now and then I would find a straggler roaming the middle of the room. Apparantly, what the vinegar does (which I didn't know before I soaked my house with it) is it masks their trail. They leave a trail that allows them to get back to their home, so when you get rid of that, they literally get confused! So I went on the hunt for more natural bug remedies and found these little tid bits:

Ants
* Vinegar can be used to destroy ant trails.
Without clear trails, the ants will get confused and may stay outside for a while. You can use it diluted with water or straight. And, of course, vinegar is also a great household homemade cleaner, so not only do you get rid of the ants, you get some cleaning done too.

* Cinnamon and black pepper are both increasingly being used in garden and
indoor insect control. You can try dusting the outdoor nests with either of these spices.
Cinnamon is more beneficial as a natural barrier to stop them from coming in -- it's most effective when you find the source of where the ants are coming in.

* Add borax to sugar.
Many people believe that you should use a 50-50 concentration, however, ultimately the goal is to have the ants bring borax back to their nests. Starting with a lower concentration such as 5% or 10% borax to sugar and gradually increasing it to 40%-50% will allow the ants to have more time to bring more back. The mixture should be placed where you see the ants or on the ant trails.

* Baby powder or talcum powder is not appreciated by these bugs. The theory is if you dust the ants and the trail, they stop coming.

* Liquid soap diluted with water is an easy way to wipe out your pests while
not harming your people. When used outside as a spray, you'll want to dilute the soap (such as Dr. Bronner's Organic Castile Soap) -- roughly 1 or 2 tablespoons per quart of water to kill the pests but not your plants.

* Bay leaves,
cloves, and cayenne pepper have long been used for ant control. Try putting one of these at their entry point, and in drawers, shelves, etc., where the ants are going, to prevent them from coming in.

* Peppermint can be sprayed around your home's perimeter and at ant entry
points. This will deter them from coming inside. More resources: SimpleGiftsFarm.com, Sugar Ant Hotel from Care2.

Fruit flies
* Clean up any ripe fruit droppings and take out the trash (or if you are a green superstar, your compost!) nightly for a few days -- fruit flies lay their eggs in overripe fruit.

* Apple cider vinegar is a great natural way to get rid of fruit flies. Pour some into a glass, and place a paper funnel over the container. Fruit flies love the smell and will fly into the glass, but will not find their way back out the funnel (for 4 of 5 fruit flies...).

* Leave a glass of cheap wine (apparently, fruit flies particularly like chardonnay) out. Mix a bit of detergent in it. The flies will sip on it and die shortly thereafter.

* Make your own fly paper by boiling water, sugar, and corn syrup together. Spread the mixture on brown paper grocery bags and wait for the flies to stick.

* Suck up flies through the back of an old hair dryer. The flies will go in the hot back end of the dryer and fry.

* Basil deters fruit flies. Mix some basil oil with water and spray your kitchen.

Wasps
* Make a trap from an old soda bottle to catch wasps. Using a 2-liter soda bottle, cut off the top 1/3 of the way down. Flip the top so that the bottle neck is facing down into the rest of the bottle. Tape or staple the bottle neck to the outside of the bottom piece so that it fits tight. Fill the bottle part way with soda or fruit juice. You could even line the top of the bottle with jam to help attract the wasps. Wasps will enter the bottle but will not be
able to get out. Clean and refill the trap daily or as needed.

* Remove the nest. If you find a hanging nest, wait until the wasps are less active (namely, at night). Carefully approach the nest. Put a cloth or plastic trash bag entirely over the next and quickly tie it off at the top. Remove the nest from wherever it is hanging, then submerge the bag under water and weigh it down with a rock.
More resources: EarthEasy, Get Rid of Things.

Slugs
Slugs can be a huge pest in any garden. They're fond of eating plants, shrubs, and mosses, much to any gardener's chagrin.

* Fill small bowls with stale beer and place the bowls strategically in areas
of the garden where the slugs are most active. Slugs apparently like stale beer, so they climb in to drink and they meet their maker (they drown in the liquid).

* Other eco-friendly slug-fighting tactics include liquids that work similarly such as grape juice or a tea made from yeast, honey, and water. More resources: Mother Earth's Garden

And I found this post on a message board thread, makes you really want to think twice about using Equal (HATE that stuff):

"Aspartame is great for killing small ants if they are in your house... We dumped
a few packets of Equal in the corner of our kitchen and the next morning had a
little sad pile of dead ants. Makes you think twice about dumping the stuff in
your coffee, for sure....

It's funny I read that aspartame used as an ant killer was an "urban myth" or
something before we tried it, but in my own little experiment it sure worked.
Makes you wonder who is really controlling what we read."

My mother has always said, "Necessity is the mother of invention" - it sure is!