Time for a new face? Who am I really?

I have a small confession to make, I have been contemplating starting a new blog.  One that reflects my new being.  There is just no easy way to say this, so I will just say it.  I am no longer the mom you read about in these entries behind me.  I am still a fuss about food, that will never change.  I am evolving though.  It's as if I entered my chrysalis stage and am awaiting my wings.  I feel renewed in such a way that our future never looked brighter.

Autism?  A distant memory.

Even PANDAS is only visible in my rear view mirror now.  It isn't gone, but it isn't here either. 

The evolution I have been part of is almost mind-blowing.  I wouldn't believe any of it, even if I were reading it in a memoir only 6 months ago.  It would appear like a character in a fictional novel, someone else's life, certainly not mine.  How incredibly wild it was to wake up one day and realize this IS me!  This WAS me all along, how did I not know sooner??

Well, you are probably thoroughly intrigued by now, lol.  I may lose readers here, but I hope to gain others, in fact, what I hope most is to retain all of my current readers and gain others, so we can all merge into this realm together.  What I am referring to is energy medicine.

This means something different to each person who participates or practices energy medicine.  To me, it simply means being totally in tune with my gut feelings.  Even writing this is hard for me, because I have spent years squashing the real me, without even realizing it.  I may sound "crazy".  I know I am not though, because I am living the ultimate....the results of accepting it.  More importantly, so are my kids!

Over the past year or two, as I have been helping parents trust their gut instincts to guide them in healing their children, one thing became very clear....I just know things.  I have been asked so many times, "How did you know to....?"  I repeatedly heard myself saying, "I don't know, I just know".  

What I have finally learned about myself during an insightful transformation is that I am in the early stages of uncovering my potential as a clairsentient.  Meaning, I have a gift of "knowing".  I am not a fan of labels, so I don't even like labeling myself with this somewhat intriguing label, haha.  It does, however, provide some form of description though, and it provided me with a description of something I realized I could relate to.  I have always been an extreme empath, to the point of embarrassment, because I can't always control it.  It isn't cool to cry in front of someone, because I have taken on their emotions....even when they haven't shared them with me!  This is one of the reasons I had shut it off previously.  But it didn't leave me completely, in fact, it was the underlying force of all of my decisions for my children.  Clairsentience is one of the most overlooked psychic abilities and requires one to clear their own energies in order to become a clear channel.

There are two ways that clairsentience works.

1. Clairsentience works by allowing an intuitive to receive signals from the spirit realm. A clairsentient will be able to sense the messages, where as a clairvoyant will see the messages, and a clairaudient will hear the messages. The clairsentient will feel what a spirit is trying to say, and interpret the message by using their intuition.
2. The second way that clairsentience works, is by allowing an intuitive to understand the feelings of the people around them, (empathy). Clairsentients often use their abilities to share and heal the pain of others. By sensing what someone feels, a healing clairsentient will know exactly what remedies someone needs

When an event out of my control spiraled me into a situation requiring a lot of self-analysis, I saw this side of me that I never acknowledged.  I took some time to just be.  Something I never did, I was always researching, creating, fixing something or someone, and planning the next step.  For once, I just took time to BE!!  I didn't research, I didn't fix things, I wasn't onto the next best treatment or practitioner.  I just waited for communication from the universe.  It was in this calm that I found myself.  Suddenly, I got ME.  I mean, I really got who I am, who I have been all along.  Everything began to make sense, including what was going on with my kids.  And how interesting to find out (after the fact) that my solar plexus chakra which was blocked and needed some attention, as I began going through this transformation, is the chakra that is most linked to clairsentience. 

I decided things were going to change.  And change, they have!  I am now using my intuition to guide our health decisions.  Not that this is very different from my past, although now I am doing it more consciously, with intent.  We use only homeopathy and soil based organisms.  Remedies are chosen based on intuition.  I also clear our energy regularly.  It's amazing what dealing with the chakras, meridians and aura can do for detox!!  I can't believe we survived biomed without this knowledge!  I see instant changes in us, when we acquire non-beneicial frequencies and likewise, when I remove them.  We have been able to move through high potency remedies with ease since participating in energy healing.  Our past was riddled with significant detox symptoms, something I thought just came with the territory.  How wrong I was!

What I find most important about metaphysical powers is that we all have them.  We are born intimately connected to the universe.  We can choose to shut them off or we can choose to actively embrace them.   None of what I have experienced is extraordinary, the only difference between myself and others is that I am now recognizing these events and learning to use them to my advantage.

In retrospect, this isn't really a new me, but merely the next progression of me.

So my whole point in this entry is that I would love to continue writing, but this is a new realm for me and I am not sure exactly how much I plan to share.  Like anything else though, it will come to me, when the time is right.  I hope you will find yourself wanting to follow along as I find my wings.  My new blog can be found at "You are what you...believe!"

Evolutionary conundrum

Evolution.

 "Biological evolution is defined as any genetic change in a population that is inherited over several generations. These changes may be small or large, noticeable or not so noticeable.  

In order for an event to be considered an instance of evolution, changes have to occur on the genetic level of a population and be passed on from one generation to the next.  

This means that the genes, or more specifically, the alleles in the population change and are passed on. These changes are noticed in the phenotypes (expressed physical traits that can be seen) of the population.  

A change on the genetic level of a population is defined as a small-scale change and is called microevolution.  

Biological evolution also includes the idea that all of life is connected and can be traced back to one common ancestor. This is called macroevolution."   -Regina Bailey

Have you ever thought about autism and autoimmune disease as a form of evolution?

Our external environment, stress hormones, our thought process, whether we exercise or not, what we eat and and inject into ourselves all determines evolutionary changes at a genetic level known as epigenetics.  This is the melting point between those who theorize that genetics are the cause and those who believe that the environment is the reason for this increased generation of autism and the like.  Epigenetics prove that it's both!

Our bodies evolve, they know how to heal, they WANT to heal.  The body is designed to eliminate toxins, but with the increase in toxins, the process isn't quite as simple as it once was and with these drastic changes comes something we refer to as "symptoms".  Symptoms...it's been drilled into our heads by doctors using medications that we don't want symptoms!!  Ick, a symptom?  Eliminate it!!  We don't like the changes we see, rightfully so, but does this mean it's all bad?

I'm not suggesting we should live with autism and autoimmune disease, not at all, in fact quite the contrary....if we can learn why we are seeing these things, perhaps we can find a more effective way of working with the body to heal.  It's easier to paddle with the current, isn't it?  I'm not getting anywhere by paddling against it, are you?

Let me give you a more specific example, one that most likely hits home for most of my readers.

I learned a little bit about the symbiotic relationship between bacteria and yeast long ago, in fact you will find this information in blog entries I have written in the past...how yeast flares to control bacterial overgrowth.  The body has created this balance for a very good reason.  The role of yeast in our body is to elevate in an attempt to manage the bacterial overgrowth. You will notice that, if you try to fight yeast without balancing the bacterial load, you experience the "symptoms" of a bacterial flare. Anyone who has even dealt with the fragile clostridia and yeast balance knows this quite intimately, unfortunately.

Let's bring this full circle.  Why is the bacteria on the rise?  I recently saw a holistic doctor speak of the important role bacteria plays in our body. Bacteria  actually protects our cells from toxins, which explains and validates the association between heavy metals/toxins and pathogen overgrowth. There is a fine-tuned balance, a magical dance between the two.  Light bulb moment!!  The more toxins, the more bacteria there will be, as it tries to manage the toxins. As bacteria increases, so does yeast.  We have SO much still to learn.

Using this simple model of what could be going on with this generation opens my eyes to the many possibilities of healing.

As you dig deeper into any "symptom" you or your child is experiencing, think about the role this symptom may play and rather than trying to find a way to eliminate it, see if you can find a place where it strategically fits into the big picture.  I bet it has a purpose!  Then pose this question to yourself and others, how can you encourage the body to find an easier path to that same place?

Homeopathy is one of many energy healing modalities and while I do plan to write a more specific blog about energy healing in the future, I thought I would lay the groundwork for why we need to begin viewing illness and healing in this light first.  Homeopathy embraces the natural evolution of the body.  We must unlearn our deep rooted allopathic lessons in order to fully respect and trust the abilities homeopathy offers us.  

Homeopathy and Epigenetics

From the link above

"...it is possible that what we are exposed to in our lifetime can affect our genetic expression. This is already well-known in areas such as cancer research, where certain cancer-controlling genes may be activated by specific toxins for example. But not only that, once the epigenetic switch is flipped and the genetic expression is changed it can be passed on in this altered state for many generations, up to 40 in current animal research."

Many cultures have followed the lead of nature, with some retaining these worldly lessons, including current-day nomads.  "We" have chosen to tame nature, to suit our needs.  This comes with a price that we will only learn the consequences of in coming generations, and I believe what we are experiencing now is just the tip of the iceberg.

Resources

• http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/Epigenetic-Influences-and-Disease-895
• http://biology.about.com/od/evolution/a/aa110207a.htm

Turn of events, my new "face"

You may have noticed that my blog has recently taken a dramatic turn from past entries.  I have always spent a lot of time reading and learning, but nothing has made more sense to us until we embraced homeopathy 100%.  Not just taking a remedy here and there, but truly embracing all it has to offer, believing in it, and learning from those who have created this fascinating ancient medicine.

The little-known facts that supplementation renders the body lazy while introducing new and potentially dangerous toxins, and that much of what we have done in the past has literally been aimed at suppressing symptoms, rather than providing true healing, have put me on a new path.  I will never again think in terms of eliminating symptoms, even with herbs.  I will never again consider ignoring the signs of degeneration and/or healing put in front of me by the body.

Our new journey stems from the deep understanding of where homeopathy and healing meet.  There is nothing more natural or more effective.  We have seen it on every level and most recently, our children have come off of EVERY supplement they have ever taken.  They no longer need anti-microbials (even natural) to keep their gut in check.  They no longer require digestive enzymes to digest their food.  Amazingly, homeopathy and SBOs (soil based organisms) have encouraged their own bodies to take over healing.  They are flourishing and they are growing (finally)!

I'm not suggesting my life is peachy every day, because detox is ugly, even when it's happening from a natural place within the body, and emotional detox can be even uglier than physical detox, but man oh man, the progress is permanent and it's complete! 

So as we move forward, my journal will take new shape, one of true healing from within.  If you are a loyal reader, you have probably seen everything we have been through.  If you are a new reader, you are have started in the right place.  Our past is a story, it's our story, but our future is riding on today.  Welcome to our new path.

The dangers of suppression

What is suppression and more importantly, what are the consequences of suppression?  Once you understand, really understand (and respect), the health consequences of symptom suppression, it will change your life.  Well, it should anyway.  It did mine!

Homeopathy has not only changed our lives physically and emotionally, but I am learning things that I have never learned from any other forms of healing in the past 5 years of biomed.  My research has unearthed information that should be shouted from megaphones everywhere, because without these little tidbits of knowledge, we are and will continue to harm our potential to remain healthy!!  We are literally sabotaging our own health!

Suppression.
The Webster Dictionary says to suppress is "to restrain from a usual course or action "

The "usual course of action" in this case would be symptoms, which in actuality, are the natural course of action being taken by our bodies to HEAL!  A symptom is bothersome to many, it prevents them from going to work, hanging with friends, feeling good, so we want it gone, but let's think about this for a brief moment.  Let's use the example of a burn.  When you burn your finger, it turns red and swells up.  What is your instinct...to run cold water over it and STOP the swelling, right?  Is this really the best course of action to take?  And what would happen, if you never ran that cold water over it?  Do you even know?  The swelling is called inflammation and inflammation is actually the way your body attempts to repair the damage that was done.  The human body is designed to heal itself!  By running cold water over it, you are literally stopping the body from doing what it needs to do!  So what should you do instead?  Believe it or not, you want to ENCOURAGE the direction the body is trying to take that damage, run very warm water over the burn!!  Not as hot as the original burn, but warm enough to be uncomfortable.  Guess what happens?  Nothing!  That's right, no blistering, no pain, although if the burn is bad enough (as was in one case when I grabbed a very hot ceramic pot and lifted it) you might have some mild residual signs left over, in my case, my burned skin was left a bit rough. Other than that, I had no blisters and no discoloring, it didn't even hurt!  

Or how about this scenario which I am SURE all of us have experienced.  FEVERS!  Why do we fear fevers so much?  A fever is the RIGHT action taken by the body when a foreign invader has taken hold.  Fever kills pathogens.  So the body knows what to do as soon as it encounters these bugs, it turns up the heat high enough to kill them!  Out of fear, most people immediately run for the fever reducers/pain relievers.  I bet you didn't know that fevers are self-limiting?!  The highest most fevers will go is 105-106 and once your body has reached this temperature, you are no longer at risk of a febrile seizure.  Fevers are misunderstood and the sales and marketing of fever reducers are aimed at fear.  The one piece of good advice I got from our worst pediatrician was to let fevers be, and that they ARE in fact self-limiting to about 105.  When you stop the fever or even just reduce it slightly, you are inhibiting the body from successfully fighting the pathogen.  So guess what happens?  It survives.  Common sense?  And don't even get me started on the topic of doctors who tell patients to use fever reducers in their kids pre-vaccination.  Good God, there is no more destructive advice than this!!  

So let's now think about a simple cold.  What happens, your body begins to purge from every orifice...not a pretty sight or feeling: snots, ear drainage, secretions galore.  Raise your hand, if you were ever guilty of taking something to eliminate this nastiness.  But again, let's think about what the body is trying to do.  It's eliminating the pathogen!!  Colds start in the nasal cavities and ears.  Mucus is designed to purge pathogens.  And common sense would say that when you stop this from happening....need I go on?  I don't want to sound like a broken record here, but really think about how ludicrous this even sounds when you think of it rationally!  Why hasn't anyone ever taught us to think about our health in this fashion?  Well, because it would hurt pharmaceutical sales, of course!

The examples of suppression are endless and we are often partaking in this dangerous act daily.  Putting creams on eczema, treating acne with topical gels, giving anti-inflammatory, pain relievers, DRUGS!!  All of these products are designed to make your life more comfortable, they do not get at the root of the problem, they don't cure anything, they only suppress.  Why do you have chronic inflammation Miss Fibromyialgia, what is causing those skin lesions Mr. Eczema....people, you are not only ignoring how your body communicates and heals, but you are downright fighting it!  Your body reacts and tries to heal itself and then you say, "Oh no you don't, I have work to go to work...I have a date to go on....etc!" and you do/use everything possible in your arsenal to eliminate the "symptoms".  Well you have just effectively eliminated healing too. 

We need to trust the body in doing it's job.  It won't have an overnight fix and you might feel yucky for a while, but when you stop the body from doing it's job, the consequences are great.  And maybe part of mother nature's magnificent design is to SLOW. YOU. DOWN.  You may not even realize that subsequent illnesses or symptoms are related to the act of suppressing other conditions, but I assure you, it is all related.  Your body is a fine tuned machine with all the equipment necessary to run optimally.  Your future health depends heavily on what you choose to do today!  I am not suggesting you shouldn't do anything at all when things run a muck, I am just saying that HOW you choose to deal with these imbalances is critical and either facilitates health progression or degeneration.

I also want to add that just because a product is "natural" doesn't mean it isn't suppressing a symptom and shutting down your body.  Anything that stops a symptom, rather than addressing it's cause directly, is suppressing the body from healing.  It's that simple.  I learned this the hard way and as we use homeopathy, which encourages natural healing, we are witnessing the host of suppression(s) we took part in, as we retrace old symptoms.  How completely and utterly eye opening.

So what are the consequences?  If you aren't addressing the reason the symptom arose in the first place and you are prohibiting the natural healing action designed by mother nature, what do you THINK is happening?  You are not only allowing illness to prevail, you are encouraging it on some level.  Sure, some minor things are superficial, but every time you eliminate the body from doing it's job, you are also reducing it's ability to learn how to respond next time, and the time after that and well, eventually, your body is going to learn to stop responding to illness.  It may take some serious research and experimenting to truly understand the underlying cause of symptoms.  It's typically not simple or cut and dry, but if you want to know more about the stages of natural detox and what they look like when they are suppressed, check out these incredible videos from Mary Coyle:

Video one

Video two

Our body is designed to detox illness, pathogens, and toxins.  When we hinder our innate healing abilities, things begin to shut down and where does this land us?  Cancer anyone?  Autism on the rise much?  Autoimmune disease is a PRIME example of suppression and inability to detoxify naturally.  HELLOOOOOO!!  This, my friends, is suppression at it's finest.  

Next time you have a headache, or inflammation, or a fever, or anything that is uncomfortable for that matter, stop and think, "what is my body trying to do?".  Don't reach for that over the counter toxin to stop your body from working.  If you love your life and your future health, just don't.  Tough it out, learn the signs of your body and do something to support it rather than tearing it down.  Think of what you have to gain from trusting your body!

Let's remember too that suppression doesn't occur only on a physical level.  We can suppress emotions and feelings which will ultimately wreak havoc on our psyche, as well.  If you can't release these emotions through discussion, consider other spiritual forms of emotional detox such as yoga, meditation, quite time for yourself or some other form of spiritual release.  Even kids can be guided to partake in these activities.  =)

Why now?

Why now?  Why didn't I find this path with homeopathy sooner?  Especially when homeopathy was the very FIRST therapy we tried with both myself and Grayson 6 years ago.

My best friend and I have discussed this at great length recently, because we wonder, could we have avoided all of the bumps in the road that lead us here?  Could we have healed ourselves and our children sooner?  Should this have been the first treatment we tried?  We unanimously agree, NO!!

We needed the path we were on.  We are who we are today, because of the path we have traveled.  We saw glimpses of who our children could be, and it drove us harder.  We learned about anatomy and physiology, because of the path we traveled.  Our diets are healthy, our environment is cleaned up, because of the research we did.  We researched and experimented and we came to incredible conclusions due to the roads we visited.  And most importantly, we met the people we needed to meet to find this path.  It wasn't put in front of us sooner for very valid reasons, we just weren't ready for it!  Every single day of our pasts have lead us to this very point in our lives.  I wouldn't change a thing. 

I am a dedicated researcher and a dedicated parent, no...that is an understatement, it might be more appropriate to define myself as anal retentive and controlling, and a little over zealous at times.  ; )  This is why it's even more undeniable that for the first time in our healing journey, we are in the right place.  I am ready and able to let go.  I am ready to hand the torch to someone else and jump on the waves.  I am ready to trust and look inside myself for guidance and confirmation that we are on the right path finally!  I'm ready, and so are they...

360 degrees of homeopathy

There are times in our lives when we have that little voice inside saying something doesn't feel right.  Do you follow that?  Or do you shove it deeper, using your brain rather than your instincts to rationalize your choices?  This little voice isn't far from the suppression of disease states.  Listen to it and you will heal, suppress it and well, you drive the disease in deeper.

We have to learn to trust our instincts more!

We have always felt like homeopathy has the potential to really get to the root of our health, regardless of what ails us.  It's been the one constant on our path, the one source of healing that we never abandoned, even through all of our biomedical choices.  But...we have never relied on it 100%.  Why?  It's clear to me now that we hadn't found the right practitioner for our children.  We had only used classical homeopathy, trusting in it's ability to make subtle changes that would perhaps cause long-term healing.   But the wow-factor was never part of classical homeopathy for us.  I have since learned that for the healthy people, classical homeopathy can be incredible, but our kids are so inundated with layers of toxins and familial illness that we can't reach the core of the person to treat classically.  Autism and autoimmune diseases are the result of an overflowing bucket of toxins and dangerous emotional states.  We need so much more than one classical remedy to heal us.

Ironically, it was our parasite journey that brought us full circle, back to homeopathy.  I had been increasingly disturbed by the recommended meds and found myself reaching for the homeopathic dilutions more and more.  I also felt like the boys' extreme reactions to either die off or the meds themselves encouraged me to seek out methods that would support the organs, remove blockages and detox the body more safely.  A diseased body houses pathogens, all kinds.  If we just keep chasing the bugs and we don't correct the immune system where it was damaged in the first place, we are chasing our tails, round and round.  I don't know about you, but I am ready to get off this merry go round!

We have made the break!!  We left biomed and have fully embraced homeopathy and boy does it feel right!  We researched methods we feel comfortable with and with each day of treatment, we had enough confidence to eventually remove everything other than SBOs (which have been significantly reduced to 2 capsules a day for the boys) and just a few basic minerals.  We couldn't be happier with the progress we are seeing.  I always thought these stories were only for those who wrote books, the rare lucky cases who hit their remedy just right.  I've been proven wrong and couldn't be more happy with our choice.  And this time, treatment isn't reserved just for the kids, I've jumped on board too.

If you have that little voice telling you something, don't ignore it, embrace it!

Tick testing update

I completely forgot to provide an update on the tick testing for Lyme, Ehrlichia and Babesia.  We chose to use Quest because it is covered by insurance, but we did confirm that they use DNA PCR testing, which is preferred.

I kept checking the mailbox with excitement to know, but anxiety to know....fearing the worst and hoping for the best.  The day it came, I couldn't wait to tear that envelope open, it was like I just had a feeling.  On all accounts, "not detected" was the result!!  Happy dance!!  It doesn't mean we are in the clear, testing can be wrong, so I will keep that in the back of my mind and will always consider this an open door to Lyme disease.

This whole experience did get me thinking more though.  When he was 12 months old, we went to visit my mother in Connecticut, it was right after having him vaccinated with 4 live viruses.  When he began having odd symptoms for a month afterwards, we thought it could be the vaccinations, especially considering all the other things we have been dealing with.  But now that I think back to the details, Lyme is still a possibility!  The week before things started, I recall seeing a large red spot, not quite like a "rash" per say, but a red circle, pretty large, on his head.  It resembled the very same rash as discussed in Lyme called erythema migrans.  I wish I thought back then to take a picture of it.  It was because of this rash and all the following symptoms that we saw for an entire month that a Western Blot was ordered as part of all of his testing, which came back negative.  Now, I am learning why this isn't necessarily true.  Timing of testing after the bite is specfic and the Western Blot has high false negatives.  The symptoms that phased in and out over a month were: swollen glands (one remains swollen still to this day, on the side of his neck), various full body rashes throughout the month, fever, he wouldn't bend one knee for a day, swelling around one eye, hives and an ear infection. These symptoms literally either overlapped or were one after the other and doctors kept telling me that they were coincidental circumstances.  I think not....and now, it's probably very possible he was bit by a tick.  We never saw one, but that doesn't mean anything and there are too many symptoms that fall into place for Lyme...and then after this was when things really started to fall apart for him.  The Lyme Induced Autism Foundation has been established for very good reason.  I even learned that over 90% of autistic patients that were tested properly, have Lyme Disease.  I would love to test him properly too, but we just can't afford it right now.  It's close to $1000 for proper testing with Igenex, one of the most reputable labs who specializes in Lyme testing with the most cutting-edge technology.  It is definitely something we will be doing in the future.

In the meantime, we will be using Stephen Harrod Buhner's protocol (from the book Healing Lyme) for treatment/prevention.  I also bought a homeopathic Lyme/co-infection nosode which I can't wait to get and use on everyone!  It has also been known to help treat those with the infection already.  We will be going to the Poconos and Maine this summer, both are filled with woodsy escapades.  I also researched the many essential oils that ward off specific buggers and made my own natural bug repellant in a natural base of aloe vera and witch hazel.  We are READY!!

GREAT video from Dr. Klinghardt on autism which he attributes to Lyme and mold.

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.

So, where are we?

It's so hard to say right now, I feel like we are at a transition of sorts.  We are still chelating, although it's on hold for the time being, while we try out Grayson's homeopathic constitutional remedy.   Once this remedy kicks in, we should be able to cut back on supplements and treatments, some would even go as far as to say that we wouldn't require chelation any longer, but I have a hard time thinking anything but chelation can remove metals from the brain.  Until I have hard and fast proof, I will just keep going with my gut on this one. I have been told that his sensitivity to yeast and bacteria should begin to decline as the remedy does it's thing!  Light at the end of the tunnel!!  Even with this high hope, I didn't expect to see some of the changes we have already witnessed in him, so early in the treatment process.

We initially started him on a low potency (30C) dose monthly, then moved it back to weekly and now we are working with LM potencies which can be dosed daily and should never be experimented with unless you are under the care of a homeopathic practitioner.  The very first thing we witnessed with the low potency dosing was a change in the way he came down a flight of stairs.  I know this seems odd, but with Sensory Processing Disorder, there are often motor skill delays.  One of the things he has always done is bring his second descending foot down to meet the first on the lower step, then he would repeat it so it look like this: right foot down, left foot meets right foot, right foot down, left foot meets right foot.  He would never lead with his left, nor would he alternate steps which, developmentally, should start to happen by 3 years of age.  We had given him the last of a sequence of doses one night and the very next morning, he flew down the flight of stairs alternating both feet the whole way and without holding on!!  I actually asked him to repeat it for his father to see!  In the past, I could ask him to do this, but he would hold the railing for stability and the left foot was very awkward going down, it was as if using it caused his center of gravity to falter.  I cannot believe the ease he flew down the stairs with!  These kind of things don't happen overnight. 

We also started to see an ability to cope with things that he previously couldn't cope with.  I think there is habit associated with his past frustrations, so he would begin to react the way he used to, then suddenly the coping mechanism would appear to kick in and he would change direction.  This is something that we still see vacillating, but I think these behaviors require some habit changes too.  He has been responding to certain stimuli in a particular way for years now, I imagine he would need to adjust his thinking to match his feelings.  Getting himself dressed (fine motor delays) has always been a battle.  He is now dressing himself completely, when he wakes for school, and coming downstairs to meet us fully dressed!

Sound sensitivities are another area of improvement.  We had a contractor at our house after his very first dose of his remedy and when he started using a nail gun in the next room, Grayson (again with habit) immediately raised both hands to put them over his ears, but he stopped mid-air, looked at me and said, "What is that?".  My explanation was enough for him to put his hands down and continue with what he was doing.  This is HUGE!  He also used to fear motorcycles and recently he heard one pass by while we were walking outside and instead of freakin out, again, he asked me, "What was THAT?", hands by his sides the entire time!  For the first time ever, he chose to listen to and acknowledge the sound rather than fearing it and going into defense mode. 

There has been an overall change in his attitude as well.  In the past, we had many fluctuations based on the condition of his gut.  If his bacteria or yeast were slightly elevated, he could go from happy Grayson to miserable and angry Grayson in a split second.  Even as tired as his new schedule is making him, he is still managing to keep his cool most of the time!  I still see moments of aggravation, but that can also be chalked up to how tired he is now that he is waking two hours earlier than usual, plus we are going to be experimenting with his dosing requirements for a few weeks.  It's not uncommon to see aggravations from a remedy when it is dosed too frequently.  Homeopathy is a game of trial and error, every case is unique, but once the right remedy, potency and dosing schedule is attained, it can literally cause miraculous changes, right before your eyes. And the best part is that these changes will continue to come as the body heals itself!

It is very interesting to have learned that although not so uncommon with mother and child, Grayson's remedy is the same as mine!  Our children tend to have not only genetic links, but there are energetic links to a mother's mood, especially while pregnant.  They tend to take on many of the mother's personality traits in the early years, making it very common for the two to share a remedy.  It solidifies matters that his birthday is a week before mine, we are both the astrological sign gemini and boy do we fit it!

I will continue to document our experiences with homeopathy.  If you haven't considered this path yet, read The Impossible Cure.  You will not only learn about homeopathy and how it works, but you will read a real life autism cure story, as well.  Information and memoir in one.