The Spiritual Side

I am really excited about a few things today. Well, one of them is on-going, but whatever. It's all exciting.

First off, it's my birthday. And the baby was singing happy birthday to me! She said "happy birthday to mom happy birthday to mom". It was the cutest thing ever and just about made me melt. This is the same baby who didn't have even one word not that long ago. I am just so excited for all of the progress she's been making.

I also started taking a class from Tami. It's about energy healing and working with "awesome kids" which is what she calls kids with autism. It's about a month long, and I have to say even after only 3 days, it's been so helpful and wonderful. I also have an appointment with her tonight, and I am excited to talk about the muscle testing I have been doing and seeing if I am doing okay with it.

I have started meditation as well, and I think that is helping, too. I also am going to be taking a Reiki I class in February. I have so many plans for improving myself and helping my family heal. I am glad to have found this new path and new direction to take with my family.

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Well, it's now Saturday, and I started this post on Wednesday. Oops! Anyway...

I have noticed so many positive changes in myself since I have started all of this. I used to yell. A lot. And swear. A lot. I had a short fuse. And was short on patience. I am working on all of those aspects with the help of some intentions I set during this course and with the meditation. I firmly believe now that further healing for everyone has to start with me. I was so hyper-focused on Buzzy, that the baby and everyone else sort of fell to the wayside. I am now trying to make sure everyone is being cared for.

Obviously, I am (as we all are) a work in progress. I am not perfect. I will never be, but I am happier with who I am as a person now. And as we are going through this journey, I have noticed more energy and I even have started to sing along again to the radio, which is something I used to love to do, but hadn't felt like it in a long time.

I can't wait to see what the next week brings to us!

Quick Update

I just wanted to post a quick update. I am trying to minimize my time on the internet in general, which actually means I should have more time to devote to this blog. I want this as a decent record of what I've been doing, so perhaps I need to post on it more.

Here's what's going on supplement-wise: We stopped the hourly dosing (8 times a day) of worm killers. I felt it was time to stop. Call it intuition, whatever. We also were told by our energy healer (Tami) to stop the goldenseal a while back. So, we did. We have added GABA. I spoke with Tami tonight about Buzzy, and we stopped the chlorella. We kept the B-12 shots, the Barlean's fish oil, l-carnitine, and the folinic/l-methyl-folate pills. We are increasing vitamin D. And those are the only supplements he's on. Which, for a kid with autism, is like nothing. We will be adding Goleic in about a month or two. We are also doing homeopathic remedies - cinnamonum, clostridia, and borrelia. Also, we're continuing with Rudi and going through his clears. We started a clear tonight for the one dose of Zantac he took as an infant. Oh, I forgot! We're adding Lauricidin for him for detox.

Buzzy is continuing to do well. He has more speech and is more verbal at school. He's been off school for the past few weeks, but will be going back on Monday. He's still had some therapy almost daily, but that's it. He's got a nasty, which I am going to be clearing up with some thyme essential oil. That didn't go well tonight, because I put on too much. I will go easy on it tomorrow night. He's been drooling more, which Tami said was due to pesticides. Which makes sense - we started letting him eat some pairs my husband bought from his FFA. Which aren't organic. Ugh.

I asked about foods to avoid with the Buzz. We got tomatoes, lard (LOL, just rendered some a few weeks ago), phenols, and pesticides.

So, we are getting more interactive play with him and he really seems to enjoy art and craft type things. (I painted with the littles a few days ago, and they really enjoyed it.) He doesn't care about vents anymore. He's day potty trained. He can take off all of his clothes. He can pull his pants and underwear up and down. He can put his shirt on. His speech is still garbled, but if he slows down his enunciation is clearer. He is starting to sing - he sings "Twinkle Twinkle Little Start" and "I'm a Little Teapot". He is starting to play pretend with things, as well. He is spontaneously giving hugs and kisses. And he really loves his baby sister.

Speaking of baby, she is continuing to make progress and do really well. We have an appointment with Tami coming up for her. Her rashes are coming back, but we started a new clear tonight (it looks like her birth is the clear) and we haven't been good about spraying her with lavender. And we need to get her to take some thyme orally, but that hasn't been working out. So, we will see what's going on with her in a few days. She is starting to play pretend as well. She likes fingerpainting. She also (as long as she is half-naked) will pee on the potty all by herself. We just need to work on having her wear undies, and then we are on our way. That and getting her to poop on the potty. I am just so happy with her progress. She really is a spitfire, and usually such a delight.

Well, it's late and I need to get to bed. That's all I've got. This time.

Dodging a Bullet

I am not terribly sure anyone reads, this...so all the better for my crazy update. [First off - I believe in our energy healer. I am not going to offer caveats any longer like "I know this sounds crazy" and "I know some of this sounds weird..." It is what it is. I believe in it - I believe in her. I feel she has an amazing gift, and I am thrilled to know her and have her working to help my kids.]

I am reasonably sure I mentioned we started seeing an "energy healer" to help us guide our interventions.

Yesterday, I had an appointment (our first one) for the baby. Who will be 2 on Valentine's Day, but she's still my baby, so there.

She has a bizarre rash on her diaper region - they look like little pustules. And a spot of them that developed where she had gotten a scratch. So, those were definitely on my mind when I was talking with our healer. And her speech, in general. She's gotten so much better, but I just wanted to see what was going on.

And the things she told me left me speechless and in tears.

Our healer said the baby told her she "was supposed to have autism".

I felt my heart fall out of my chest at that moment. Everything I've suspected and feared and why I was so determined to have her see Buzzy's doctor - all of those things. THEY MATTERED. And not only that, they MADE A DIFFERENCE. All the things I've done differently - having her follow the GFCF diet, stopping her vaccinations, trying to do things differently for her...taking her to Buzzy's doctor. All of that...it made the difference.

The biggest thing - that our healer said "flipped the switch"...were the methyl B-12 shots. I knew they helped her speech. I knew they were amazing. I just didn't realize they were THAT amazing. I am so glad I tried them. They didn't really do much *wow* kind of stuff for Buzzy, but I am so glad we decided to do them. Our healer commented that our doctor was wonderful - and I am beginning to think maybe our doctor has a similar gift in terms of intuition and how to best heal kids. I see her on Monday. I am going to thank her, and I am probably going to cry. And I don't care.

Our healer also suggested some other simple things to do with the baby that will help her along. I am going to be omitting a few supplements, adding back another, and using some more essential oils.

Buzzy and I have our appointments tonight with our energy healer. I am looking forward to hearing what she has to share with us.

Oh, and that nasty rash? Parasite exit wounds. (Barf!) Spray them with lavender, and it will be all good. And, they look better already after only about 2 sprays today.

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday one of the other mom's in Buzzy's class asked if the kids should wear their Halloween costumes. The teachers said that would be great. I wondered if I would be able to get Buzzy in his Buzz Lightyear costume, and was kind of surprised the other moms didn't seem to think it was a big deal that their kids would willingly wear their costumes. (Hang tight with me, I am getting somewhere. And I promise there is a point to all of this.)

Anyhow, I was pleasantly surprised this morning when my early riser (7:15 or so) willingly put on his costume, head covering included. He pulled the head thing off not too long later, but I was expecting that to happen.

Anyhow, when we get there, there were plenty of kids in costume, just none in his class. Buzz even let me put his head thing back on him. Twice. And then I felt really sad for the other moms, whose kids' costumes were in a heap with their backpacks and whatnot. Autism really sucks.

I even channeled my "super mom" and made GFCF dye free treat bags for the kids in his class as well. I had a fruit rope in there, two cookies, and a bag of sour beans. I had enough for one extra bag - and that went to the baby. Alas, it looks like mom doesn't get a treat bag this year.

I am dying to try to get together with these other moms. Their kids are also GFCF. The boy in Buzzy's class had a birthday party we were invited to and I was so excited to go and get to know this mom, but then the boy got a fever and she cancelled the party. And said it would be rescheduled and she would let me know. Well, it's past the time she said it would be held at, so my guess is the cancellation is permanent. Maybe I should hold a small holiday party here for the kids in his class. They probably won't want to drive out all this way, but it's worth a shot, I guess. I would really like to talk to them and see if they are in any parent groups. I need to meet other autism moms. I will keep trying till I find someone in person!

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, and The Great

We have a little bit of everything going on here. So, I will do a summary of what has really been going on here - with no holding back.

About a month ago I set up an appointment with someone who does energy healing. I won't get too much into it. Suffice to say that I believe there are people who can do energy healings and I really don't care to hear anyone say otherwise. And I think we have found the real deal. I met her in person at Autism One and my TACA mentor uses her for her family, so that was good enough for me to start seeing her.

First off, she told me some things about my son that made me cry. Things about who he really was and who he would be if the autism wasn't in the way. And how he plans to make me proud of him. I also have her muscle test Buzzy for the various interventions we are doing. He thinks school is a bit boring and he thought there would be more fun there. Oops.

A summary - the parasite killer is of mild benefit, but the specific worm killer meds were detrimental. I believe that, because the few times I've started them, Buzzy just looks bad. His skin gets kind of grey and he looks a little sickly. So, I've kept the general protocol in place, since it was at least helpful a little. All of the supplements he is taking are beneficial, so we are keeping those in place. He is on chlorella, burbur, l-carnitine, vitamin D, Barlean's fish oil, sacc boulardii, Pro Culture Gold, and goldenseal. These are all approved by his doctor, as well. I am glad to know they are benefiting him.

On her recommendation, I have added Qi Gong massage. That one has been interesting. He is doing really well with it. I have been seeing some positive things, which I will be getting to later.

As for homeopathy, our Heilkunst provider only scores a 2 in terms of benefit (on a scale of 1 to 10). Bummer. But, the classical homeopathy (which I had gotten lazy with and kind of stopped doing) scored a 6. So, I brought that back right away. And we saw some good things right away. Buzzy had had a red ring around his anus (sign of yeast) and he was constantly scratching his butt. He also was waking up earlier and earlier. We tweaked his remedies (he is on candida, clostridia, and a new constitutional - cinnamonum) and the itching has stopped and the red ring is gone. That being said, one of the tools our Heilkunstler uses scored a 10 - so we will be using that tool to help us find remedies. The same tool that our classical homeopathy person uses, scores a 2 for him. Meaning we have to see both. Ha ha!

That being said - what our energy healer said is making sense. I haven't seen much improvement (not what I was expecting anyhow) from Heilkunst. I have seen good things from classical. So, we will keep following what she tells us beneficial.

She said the Son Rise Program would be a 10 for us as well. I will have her keep testing that for us. If it continues to test well for him, I guess I will be making a trip out east this summer for their training. Time to start saving up!

I also added another supplement - Neuroprotek.

So, I will go on to mention all of the positive things we have been seeing. Buzzy is more talkative. He is doing really well. He even tells me some of the things that happen at school - and they really did happen. It's been nothing short of amazing for me to hear. He has also been talking about going trick or treating. A year ago my heart was broken because he couldn't even say trick or treat and had no idea what Halloween was about. He has been asking for the past couple of days to go trick or treating. I know he doesn't understand the whole idea of "what do you want to be", but we will get there, I am sure. He is also asking to play with the other kids in his class. They aren't always receptive, but he is trying. So, they are going to be moving him to the general ed preschool for about 5 minutes to start with to get him some time to play with the kids there. We are very excited about this.

The ugly is that I have been feeding him chicken nuggets with gluten in them. Ugh. At least I found out! And he got a Dum Dum sucker today, and I ended up letting him eat it, because I was trying to make dinner and I couldn't tolerate a tantrum. So, yeah. That sucked because we are seeing some increase in aggressive behavior ("I want to pinch Mommy!" and "I want to hit Mommy!"). On the plus side, those are some pretty awesome sentences. I take what I can get.

So, in short...we are seeing some amazing gains and speech. That's the positive. The negative is that I am trying so many new things at once, I might not be able to attribute it to any one thing. My best guess is that it is a little of everything.

All I can say is that life looks a lot better for the Buzz than it did one year ago.

Glasses, EEG Results, and Detox

A lot has been going on here the last few weeks.

We have two appointments with neurologists. One in is Chicago - in February. I have heard good things about this doctor and that he won't make me feel like I'm an over-protective crazy mom and that we should get a 24 hour (AKA real) EEG no problems.

I also got a hard copy of Buzzy's EEG results. They were not completely normal. I don't know how to interpret them, but it appears there was a lot of activity in one part of his brain. And that there was abnormal activity at another point in a different part of his brain. And that there should have been additional follow-up. Wow. And this was in an EEG lasting less than 40 minutes. I know, silly me. When the doctor told me it would last an hour, I shouldn't have believed him. I am pretty angry that I feel like this doctor blew me off. I will not put this issue to rest until I get a 24 hour EEG that shows up clean. I keep getting a feeling. Sigh.

The other neurology appointment is in December - of 2014. In Arkansas.  Now that we have something coming down the pipeline sooner, I have no issues waiting a bit for this one. I am still sure I want to go this one as well, because he does so much more than just seizures. But, maybe something will change before then. I guess we will see.

We also took Buzzy to a developmental optometrist. He now has glasses. He was found to be far-sighted, so he was prescribed corrective lenses (that were also prisms). Also, one lens has a slight tint. I think they are helping him. He seems to be doing better when he is running - he seems to have better balance. The first day he wore them to therapy, his therapists said he got really close to them to look at them - almost as if he was seeing them for the first time.

We are still doing what we have been doing. Buzzy has been detoxing like crazy, it seems. He was wetting his pants at school for a few weeks, but all seems to have returned to normal. Mostly.

And since it's Friday night, I will return to trying to take care of the family.

Our weekend at the Real Help Now Conference

My husband and I this past weekend attended the Real Help Now Conference that is put on by TACA. Even though I consider myself pretty knowledgeable (despite being pretty new to the diagnosis), I learned a lot of things. It was a lot to take in, but it helped us know we are on the right track. Also, go to the TACA website. I linked it above. They are a FANTASTIC resource. And, while you're at it - request a mentor. I have a great mentor, and in a year or so, I am going to be applying to be a mentor. Give TACA some love, because they really, really are awesome.

Plus, I got a chance to see a number of doctors speak that are pretty much rock stars in the autism world. That was pretty awesome.

After watching many presentations the first thing was that we need to see Dr. Frye, because he is the be-all end-all of pediatric neurologists - and not just that, but ones that study autism. So, in short, I have never really put to rest the idea of seizures in Buzzy, because I don't feel he got the proper care. The EEG wasn't long enough. The doctor might have brushed off anything abnormal. We don't know whether he has cerebral folate antibodies. Still so many questions, and I want the answers. I can't stop listening to my gut and my intuition, so for my peace of mind, this is something we need to do.

There is a 15 month wait list.

I plan on getting in before 6 months are up. It's just a personal goal of mine - and that was something they talked about at the conference - how to get one of those cancellations and get seen sooner.

I also found that we are definitely seeing the right "local" doctor. We are on the right path. And, with enough time, we will heal Buzzy.

I think even more important than what I learned, is what my husband was able to learn. He has mostly learned everything through me - what I read and then what I told him. This was a good way for him to see how everything fit together and that maybe his wife wasn't crazy for wanting to do all of this stuff and wanting to see these doctors.

Clearly, the proof is in how Buzzy is doing, and he is doing a lot better. But, it was still nice to hear these doctors present, and what they're presenting are essentially the things we're doing.