Life as you know it

When my sister told me about meeting a 7 year old little girl who "used to be" autistic before biomed, dietary changes and chelation, it got me thinking about how long this will go on for us.  She was in managed recovery, the parents still doing everything we do now.  So is there ever an end in sight or is this how it always will be, detoxing, preventing and removing since our kid's bodies can't do it themselves? 

The truth is, when you first learn that your child is on the spectrum, life as you know it, changes....forever.  So this change, it can either be discouraging and fearful, it can be riddled with wild tantrums, lack of affection, weird behaviors, repeated stims, tics, lack of sleep, etc.  OR, you can take control of life as you know it and yes, it may change forever, but with your new lifestyle comes a healthy calm child who makes eye contact, tells you they love you and loves hugs, a child who makes friends at school and has the desire for extra curricular activities, a child who doesn't need to be held down or treated differently everywhere they go.  THAT is worth every single lifestyle change involved in biomedicine. 

So, if you are battling the decision of whether to do biomedidicne or not.  Doesn't your child deserve a normal life?  Life as you know it is different regardless, and it always will be, wouldn't you prefer a happy healthy child?  Life as you know it, HAS changed.  It can be for the better.

How many hats do YOU wear?

Mothers across the globe have worn multiple hats for centuries, each culture holding it's own special and unique roles.  If you asked me ten years ago where I pictured myself in ten years, biomedical mother would have been the furthest words from my lips.

I always knew I wanted to be a stay at home mother, but this isn't exactly what I had in mind.  I expected to wear the hats of caregiver, lover, homemaker, peace keeper and role model, for sure, but my current list of "hats" far exceeds my wildest dreams.

My personal role as biomedical mother includes many hats of distinction that are often acquired by education, but I have earned mine the hard way, good old experience and old fashioned learning by reading.  To add to the list a mother typically carries, a biomedical mother is also an educator, spokes person, scientist, doctor, chef, nutritionist, pharmacist, homeopath, researcher, politician, frontline-man, chemist, master herbalist, psychologist, psychiatrist, writer (wink) and the list goes on!  We've been forced to break into the medical realm by necessity and it opens more doors than we even knew existed before our children were born.  We often learn more about ourselves in this process than we ever dreamed imaginable. 

I wear my hats with pride.  I'm a better person, because of them, not just in terms of being wise, but also because my own health was brought under scrutiny in the process of identifying our children's deficiencies.  I'd like to think I share the wealth too.  I look forward to guiding other parents who are new in their journeys.  Some just want a little direction and they hit the road running of their own accord, others prefer more hand holding and still others just bounce back to me occasionally looking for reassurance.

Thinking back to my first days of this journey, while I wish I had a person to hold my hand and walk me along the path I am on, I think I am also the kind of person who needs to feel the road under her, regardless of how bumpy it might be.  I believe that experience develops character and it solidifies my choices. 

I am who I am, because of where I have been.  My shoes may be a little big some days, but I walk in them proudly.

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!