Heal Autism Now

Blood test results

2009-12-22T09:10:00.001-08:00

Well, it turns out I was completelly wrong about Liam's zinc levels. It is actually low, so we have to increase his zinc intake by 20 mg again ( back to 60 mg/ day). Kevin's hemoglobin and hematocrite are low which means he is anemic! Kevin's blood count showed a lot of things that are low and high. I am still researching about it and some things I have no idea what they mean! We have an appointment with our DAN in January and I have written down about 500 questions for her.
their glutathione level is low even though I apply glutathione cream every night.

We finished Kevin's chelation course last week and sent out the stool for lab work, lets see what is going to show. I can tell that he is really talkative and pays attention to everything around him, is prompt to answer any question and is curious about things.

Liam is still going through chelation since we had to stop it for a month. His teacher said that he is doing very good in school and said that he is talking a lot.
We took him to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese and he participated very well, the girl from CEC that was there to tell them to clap hands, stomp their feet, say hapy birthday and he did not need me there to tell him to do things, he just listened to the girl and did it like all the other kids!!! I was so happy to see that. Of course I had to be there because they tried to feed him that delicious pizza twice! He was the only kid not eating, that breaks my heart, but it his for his good. People look at me like I am a bad mother for not feeding this kind of things to my kids. I don't care, my kids are doing great and that is all I need.

Melatonin Side Effects

2009-11-29T03:38:00.000-08:00

Melatonin Side Effects: "The most common side effect of melatonin is that the important natural hormones can interfere with user’s overall metabolic system. It can have effects on when you are hungry, how quickly or slowly you digest food, and your overall consumption and digestion. This varies by users and most users will likely experience no side effects associated with melatonin.
Others have reported that they experience a higher likelyhood of headaches and nausea. While these aren’t signficant complications, they are certainly bothersome and if you experience them you should stop taking melatonin and speak with a doctor about it. Along those same lines, some have experienced depression, dizziness and abdomen pain although these do not affect many people.
Some suffer from nightmares after taking melatonin. This can also develop into delusions and hallucinations if the effects are prolonged and very severe; again, common sense goes a long way here. If anything changes in your body after trying melatonin immediately stop usage and speak with a physician."

We have stopped with the melatonin and so far the kids are sleeping well, they still wake up early ( between 3 and 4 AM) but they are not giving us a hard time to fall asleep.

Swine Flu Vaccines

2009-11-29T03:19:00.001-08:00

Eating the Thanksgiving turkey

2009-11-27T08:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day. we were very excited because the kids were very aware of the holiday and Liam was specially excited about the Turkey. He was part of the whole cooking process and kept asking to eat some. When it was finally done he sat down and ate his Turkey and asked for more. It was a victory for us since he rejected any meat texture until now. Kevin also said he wanted some, but Kevin is no surprise to us, he enjoys eating and will eat well. He is so cute asking for more Thanksgiving Turkey. Kevin loved the baked sweet potatoes that I made, Liam didn't even wanted me to put it on his plate, but just to see him eat that turkey made my day.

Crazy days

2009-11-27T07:47:00.000-08:00

We are in the middle of chelating the kids with DMSA suppositories. Kevin haven't had any bad reaction(behavior wise) related to the chelator, he is having an eczema flare up and I have yet to investigate if this is related to the chelation. He is doing great in school and his reading skills are amazing. He is communicating with us very well and became more social. He calls everyone by name and is talking about his friends at home.
Liam got better in his communication skills but is having a really hard time dealing with a lot of things. He is having sensory issues, he is always asking for a hug or a big squeeze like he says or he will come to us and squeeze our arms. He had stopped walking like a bear with his hands on the floor and is back at it again. He screams for nothing and won't stop to listen to us when we talk to him, won't answer our questions and if the answer is no to something that he wants all hell breaks loose. He is nervous and even the sound of the blender bothers him. I talked to his DAN! and she said he could be sensitive to sulfur, she asked us to test him with a little bit of Epsom salt on his skin t see if he will get a rash. Last time I bathed him in Epsom salt (almost 2 years ago) he developed a rash that was very hot in some parts all over his body.
We increased ( with the doctors recommendation) the kids zinc supplementation to 60 mg a day and I started to think that this behavior change could be related to that since we are off the DMSA for Liam for a month and he did not get better. So I did some research on the subject and found that there is such a thing as zinc poisoning or zinc overdose and some of the side effects of that are depression and nervousness. See, it works 2 ways, zinc is great to help with brain function but when taken too much it will have the reverse effect. We went back to 40 mg a day and let's see what happens. Keeping our fingers crossed because it is very saddening to see him act that way again.

So many things happened....

2009-09-12T08:26:00.000-07:00

This was a crazy summer.
The kids did well in summer academy. I had a great time with Liam during the 3 weeks Kevin was still in school.
Kevin enjoyed his summer classes, he came home singing every day and Liam kept asking to go back to his teacher.
We had a very special visit, Kelly, my long time friend from Brazil. The kids had a great time with her.
Kevin is now completelly potty trained and talks and understands pretty much every thing we tell him.
Liam is communicating beautifully. He started Kindergarten and is very excited. His teacher reported that he had a great first week and will begin transitioning to Regular Ed. Kindergarten this week accompanied by an aid.
Kevin is attending 2 classes this year. He goes to a PEDD class in the morning and his Autism class in the afternoon.
I have afeeling they will have a great year in school.

What a scare!

2009-06-20T09:17:00.000-07:00

It is scare for any mother to see their kids get hurt. Now imagine our kids in the ASD getting hurt and not being able to tell us if it hurts, where they got hurt...
Kevin got a cut in the middle of the forehead and got 7 stitches: 2 internal and 5external. It was bad! he bled a lot and I was shaking like a bamboo! He seems to be fine, going for a follow-up on Tuesday to remove the stitches. He has fever, but the cut is healing well, it is probably a reaction to the tetanus booster shot they gave him ( without notifying me first!!!!) I was very aggravated when I read the paperwork later at home!

The recovery is near...

2009-05-25T05:15:00.000-07:00

Kevin is progressing beautifully! He is speaking in sentences like: "Liam give me the card." and "I want to go pee pee potty" It just makes me so happy to see that a recovery is not impossible and in fact it is really close. Kevin is only 3 1/2 and I am glad we started his intervention really early, even before he was diagnosed. We thought: well we had to do it for Liam and the statistics say that when the first born child becomes autistic there is a great chance that the sibling will become autistic as well. It took more than a year to see results with Kevin, but we did not give up. With Liam the results are seen right away.
We are on our third round of PCA-Rx and we have excellent results.
Now what we need to find is something natural to help Liam with his attention deficit. His DAN told us to increase zinc and my live encyclopedia (my great friend Valeria) told me to give him DMG, our Dr. said it is a good idea but to use the liquid one since it is absorbed faster.

Increasing their vocabulary with the TV

2009-05-01T05:42:00.000-07:00

Liam is trying to say longer sentences, other than just saying help or water please.
He knows there are more words to go in his sentences and he tries to find them. On the days he is focused I see that he learns a great deal of words from the TV. OK, experts say that kids should not watch more than 2 hours of TV a day, but here in our house my kids are actually learning from the big tube.
They learned to express feelings, Kevin loves to sing along to tunes in his favorite cartoons and even his favorite TV commercial (freecreditreport.com tell your friends, tell your dad, tell your mom...) Go figure!
After finding all his hidden eggs on Easter Sunday (empty of course, I did not buy gf/cf candy for that) Liam looked in his basket filled with animal shaped eggs and said: That is swell! I don't even use that word!
Our TV is always on when the kids are home, however, I am not encouraging anybody to keep their kids in front of the TV. Every child is unique so you have to find your kids interests and use in in their favor. Kevin loves flash cards and we use it to teach him sight words.
For Example: I read once that a mother wanted to teach her autistic son the alphabet, but every time she tried he would have a bad tantrum. She noticed that he liked to sit in front of her washing machine and see the clothes spin while washing and drying. So She wrote the letters on wash cloth, one for each letter and threw it in the washer,when it was done she asked for his help to put it in the dryer, but at the same time showing him what was on the wash cloth. It worked! He learned the alphabet, the numbers and even words. She used his self stimulatory behavior in his favor.
Find what they like and use for them.

Begining a new round of PCA-Rx

2009-04-17T04:32:00.000-07:00

WE decided with Dr. Megson to try something less invasive for our kids detoxification before trying chelation. We used PCA-Rx, after one month we got the kids tested and the amount of mercury expelled was very high. We just strted the second round. Let me explain what PCA-Rx does.

PCA-Rx uses the unique principle of "clathration", a poweful yet safe alternative to traditional chelation therapy.

A chelating substance is a chemical isolate that only binds to a toxin with a single reversible ionic bond at one receptor site. In It attempt to tow the toxin out of the system it is free to interact with anything it comes into contact with while in transit.

Clathration Therapy, is a unique form of natural, non-invasive chelation in which specially sequenced peptides seek out and encapsulate toxins in three dimensional cage-like inclusion(also known as a lattice structure or matrix) using three differnt types of irreversible bonds ( ionic, covalent and hydrogen). These bonds attach to and completely envelop the toxin, thus neutralizing it, which then prevents it from coming into contact with and reattaching to other tissues or organs as it is excreted from the body.

The clathration process gains access to the mitochondria of the cell where it gets to the heart of its detoxification action. Its pico-sized components bind to cell receptor sites with greater effectiveness than the heavy metal or other toxins, thereby releasing them from cell receptors. A companion molecule then clathrates the toxin, literally wrapping around and holding it until it is eliminated from the body through the stool, urine, skin and breath.

In addition to heavy metals, clathration pulls out toxos chemicals (Dioxins, MTBEs etc.) mycoplasmas( parasitic microorganisms), and anything that is unnatural to the body.

Clathration process does not attach to or remove any of the body's beneficial minerals, because those belonging in the body are solidly bound and shielded by their own natural enzymes. Heavy metals and toxins do not have natural enzymes to protect them.

Why do I pursue MEDICAL TREATMENT for my child's AUTISM?

2009-04-17T04:18:00.000-07:00

The biomedical approach is not "alternative medicine"; it's a science-based, molecular-biological approach to treatment. Everyone agrees that psychotropic drugs do not treat the problem - they simply reduce or eliminate some of the symptoms. Our aim, in contrast, is to address the underlying health problems.

The guiding principle is simple: remove what is causing harm, and add what is missing. Affected children often have an exaggerated response to toxins, foods and airborne allergens. It is well documented that they often lack varius nutrients, enzymes, anti-oxidants and essential fatty acids and they require methylation support.

Less commonly these health problems also occur in the non-autistic population; the medical approach that are typically used are the same.

" Whatever the root cause, autism affects a fundamental and critical part of metabolism. Calling it a developmental disorder is like calling a brain tumor a headache. Autism is merely one symptom of an underlying disease process that affects the immunological system, the gastrointestinal system, and the toxicological system, as well as the neurological system."
Dr. Bryan Jepson,Changing the course of Autism; A Scientific Approach for Parents and Physicians

I can't get it right! sorry!

2009-04-04T05:48:00.000-07:00

I could not put the link to the video here! Sorry! You can check it at www.cnn.com/larrykinglive the name for this video is debate over autism with Jenny Mcarthy and Jim Carrey

Jenny and Jim on Larry King Live.

2009-04-04T05:36:00.000-07:00

This is a video of Jenny and Jim on Larry King live on April 3rd. Now they ( show production) brought in three doctors that said nothing to support our fight, our biomedical treatment. Why didn't they invite Dr. Bock or any other DAN! Dr.? Because they don't want to go against the system? Maybe they think that just Jenny being there is enough to get people curious and go google biomedical treatment? These people need to speak freely!

Check the column to the right to see the link for the video.

I want beans!

2009-03-25T08:11:00.000-07:00

Kevin is a food lover! Unfortunatelly for now he is going to have to do it with very limited food choices. He loves black beans and he eats it plain, with his little fingers. He goes to the refrigerator opens the door and say beans. So I have been trying for a long time to get him to tell me "I want beans" to make him start using more words, rather than just grant his wishes with only want or beans. Every time he wanted it I made him say I want beans. My waiting is finally paid off! He comes to me now instead of going to the refrigerator and say : I want beans!
Now it is time to add two more words to his requests and those are Mommy and Daddy . It will be really nice to hear him calling us to ask for something.

Money: is it worth saving?

2009-03-25T07:53:00.000-07:00

I would say no when it comes to your child recovery. I can tell you by my own experience.
In a desperate atempt to save money and make the insurance pay for our kids medication, we talked to our regular pediatrician and She agreed to rewrite the prescriptions given by our DAN! Dr. Megson so we could use the compounding services Walgrens has to offer and that are covered by the insurance. So we started with Ketoconazole, the antifungal She prescribed for Liam. It is working nicely. The taste is terrible and one good thing about it is that the pharmacist told me that this medication cannot be flavoured. So we tried with bethanechol... What a nightmare! First I noticed that the texture of the medication was different from the ones I was getting at the compounding pharmacy, just like water, no color and mildly flavoured like marshmellow but still very bitter, the kids liked it and it was working beautifully. The one at Walgreens were thick, extra sweet and green. I gave to the kids 3 doses only, but it was enough to transform them into very agressive little kids. The tantrums came back, they started screaming for nothing and hitting each other and me! I realized that the meds could be the problem and stopped it right away. The next day they were a lot better.
I see that at this point, being so close to my kids so dreamed recovery I know I cannot make any experiments. It is no wonder why Dr. Megson wrote on the first prescription: " Please compound!"

Phenol overload

2009-03-10T14:11:00.000-07:00

We introduced two new foods in Kevin's diet, banana and orange juice. I noticed His behavior deteriorating and stopped with the banana after a few days, but he was and still is having terrible tantrums, screaming for ours straight at night and day. Developed a rash on his face on both cheeks and is now having a lot of sensory issues. It turns out that even being watered down the orange juice was too much for him. We are giving him no Phenol enzyme to help with this problem and his rash is practically gone after two days without the juice.

Multiple Sclerosis

2009-03-04T07:55:00.000-08:00

The Gluten-free/Casein-free diet is not only beneficial to those with Autism, ADD,ADHD and Asthma it is also recommended to the people that suffers from Multiple Sclerosis.

Eczema

2009-03-04T07:49:00.000-08:00

It is known that many kids in the Autism Spectrum Disorder are affected by Eczema which is dry, itchy irritated skin. One natural way to try to aleviate the symptoms is wash the skin with chamomille infusion.

Walking free

2009-02-27T04:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we took the kids to play at the mall, after a lot of running around we started walking and we let go of Liam's hands. To our surprise he did not take off, he walked ahead of us and always listening when told to wait. After walking we sat at the food court to feed the kids, Liam sat at the chair without being held and ate ( note that Liam does not eat by himself), when finished he stood up and stayed around the table playing with his toy, again without taking off.
We were so happy that little changes are happening, this would not be possible 6 months ago.
My kids are my heroes!

Ups and downs

2009-02-17T06:39:00.000-08:00

When we started the gf/cf diet with the kids we did not know exactly what to expect. One week after removing dairy and gluten from Liam he started making better eye contact and his therapist from the early intervention program started reporting great changes. But as it happens with every person that is going through a withdrawal, Liam had a very bad week after 2 weeks on the diet. He had fever, was extremely agitated, could not sleep and had terrible tantrums. I knew this could happen, I just didn't know how bad it would be.
We started reading books, doing Internet research and everything possible to learn more about the Biomedical treatment for Autism. That was when we found Karyn Seroussi's book, her story and her fight to get her son better. We went against the doctors who told us that we would have a child for the rest of our lives and that there was nothing to do other than therapies and love.
Now after almost 2 years after beginning treatment I have the joy of hearing my kids sing, play, talk to each other, call me mommy and as strange as it may sound it is a relief to hear them cry when they are hurt ( most autistic kids don't show signs of pain) and be able to tell me where it hurts.
Some days they interact better than others, talk more, but I know I have to be patient. The road to recovery can be really bumpy, it can send you up and down, but love, support and a very good sense of humor will get us there.

Everyday a new surprise!

2009-02-15T05:07:00.000-08:00

As I lay on the floor playing with Kevin I started asking him where his eyes were, I knew he could point to it but he surprised me saying eyes, nose, mouth, head and ears!

That is comming from an autistic boy who is 3 years old and didn't have a word until 5 months ago. He knows his words have the power to make me understand what he wants and he is using them more and more and trying to say it better every time. He is my super-hero!

Internet groups

2009-02-13T07:47:00.000-08:00

To me one of the most importants things is stay updated. One way I found to do that is participating in online groups, where we can find parents just like us sharing their experience. One great group I belong to is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mb12valtrex/

There are parents of fully recovered kids in the group and they have great knowledge of the DAN! Protocol and are always willing to help new parents

Leaky Gut

2009-02-13T07:34:00.000-08:00

Leaky Gut is is an excessively porous intestinal wall. A damaged gut wall allows large molecules to escape into the bloodstream, one way in which improperly digested peptides pass into the bloodstream and then cross the blood-brain barrier. If these peptides have opioid activity, neurological problems could result.

From The Heart

2009-02-13T07:16:00.000-08:00

I am trully sorry bloggers, parents and friends. When I started writing this blog I told myself that I would write everyday, but unfortunatelly I can't do that.
I said on my last post that the next would be about Leaky gut, a condition that affects most autistic kids and people that suffer from Celiac Disease. As I sit here staring at my keybord trying to find my words, all I can think of is how am I ging to do that? So I thought a little harder and something struck me. I am not a reporter and I am not a writer but I am a mother and all I want to do is help parents understand a little bit more about our kids's condition. One way I found was to write an easy to understand post, without the use of many complicated words ( I can leave that to the medical sites) and just write about my own experience. From now on I will let my heart do the talking...

More information

2009-02-05T13:14:00.001-08:00

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Gluten-free / Casein-free

2009-02-05T07:26:00.000-08:00

A dietary intervention is the first approach when starting the biomedical treatment.
As Dr. Paul Shattock found in his study a high percentage of people with autism appear to have elevated levels of substances with properties similar to those expected from opioid peptides reserchers presumed they resulted from the imcomplete break down of certain foods.

Proteins are long chains of amino acids. Normally, intestinal enzymes are responsible for digesting them, braking the bonds that connect the amino acids. It is believed that changes in DNA can result in specific enzymes being unable to do their work.
The enzymes have an active site into wich fits the protein it is designed to digest. If through genetic mutation an enzyme is altered, the protein no longer fits in its active site. This leaves amino acids bound to short chains called peptides. The most common proteins known to have the opioid effect when broken down into peptides are gluten and casein.

Next post will be about Leaky Gut. It will expalain better why it is beneficial to implement the gluten-free/casein-free diet.

2009-02-05T07:22:00.000-08:00

My kids are also taking bethanechol, but their reaction is not the same as the boy in the post below. Since starting treatment with Dr. Megson the boys got better in a lot of different ways. Of course it was overwhelming, we left the office with a load of new information and supplements to give, and I know that everything is working together.

2009-02-05T07:21:00.000-08:00

Another finding by Dr. Megson.
http://www.nldline.com/autism.htm

2009-02-05T07:17:00.000-08:00

Dr. Mary Megson is our sons DAN! Doctor. She is located in Richmond, Virginia.
This is one of her papers.

http://www.whale.to/v/megson.html

2009-02-05T06:27:00.000-08:00

To all parents searching for answers to a lot of questions after a diagnosis.

As a parent of two boys diagnosed with autism and on the path to recovery, I can share some of my knowledge, experience and give support and information to try to make the journey easier (yeah! like that is possible!!) And one thing that is really important is to have a sense of humor!

After almost two years after starting the biomedical aproach with my kids I have learned to laugh, cry, be mad, angry and have felt everything that comes with autism. Guilt? That too. But I also learned that it is not my fault.

I will try to post something new everyday and let you know what I am doing with my kids.

Autism recovery is possible!

See you on the next post.