Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Good video info.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrIM2hwrLoc

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Natural Bug Repellant

From a mom in one of my ASD groups.


1 part essential oil with 10-20 parts carrier oil or alcohol.

For a smaller batch, start with:
10-25 drops (total) essential oils
2 TBS carrier oil or alcohol

The essential oils that work well against mosquitoes are:
cinnamon oil
lemon eucalyptus
citronella

Safe carrier oils and alcohols include:
olive oil
sunflower
any other cooking oil
witch hazel

Mix it together. Use a solid colored spray bottle. You can rub or spray it onto skin or clothing. *Some oils can stain clothing.
This has to be reapplied after about an hour or after swimming or exercise.
Store in a dark bottle away from sunlight or heat.

Wyatt's Symptoms

•Not respond to their name by 12 months of age He has responded to his name since he was a baby. I can remember clearly when he was 8 months, but I know he responded before then.

•Not point at objects to show interest (point at an airplane flying over) by 14 months He started pointing when he was a baby too. I *know* he was pointing before his 1st birthday.
•Not play "pretend" games (pretend to "feed" a doll) by 18 months He has always been able to play pretend play. He uses objects correctly and uses them to pretend they are something else.
•Avoid eye contact and want to be alone He does have difficulty with eye contact although it can come and go. There are times he seems more stressed and will have less eye contact. He doesn't like to be alone all of the time,but prefers it when stressed and trying to carry out a pattern. He was a very independent baby and didn't need to be held a lot, but he did like to be held.
•Have trouble understanding other people's feelings or talking about their own feelings He has always been sensitive to people's feelings. When he was about 4, he started expressing how he was feeling with words, but before that he always showed different emotions. He has always tantrumed a lot and over the smallest things.
•Have delayed speech and language skills He has never had trouble with speech. In fact, he started talking earlier then both my other kids. Once he started talking, sentences came very quickly and there was never a regression period. The only thing I have noticed it now he has trouble with which in between words to use. IE: with is a word he doesn't know how to place. Otherwise his language skills are very good and he talks a lot and well. He does speak gibberish a lot now.
•Repeat words or phrases over and over (echolalia) He has never done this.
•Give unrelated answers to questions Sometimes.
•Get upset by minor changes Some days yes and some days no.
•Have obsessive interests This is the one he does have. He is obsessed with anything with wheels, although that bends a little because he recently went crazy over planes. These are what he plays with the most. He drives them around and crashes them and makes them talk to him, to us, and to each other. The one thing he has always done is have patterns. He has always separated toys to like kinds and he will line them up. He lines up anything that is alike and scattered. Food he eats, crayons, toys, shoes..although not always. He can allow things to be scattered and will often line them up so he can scatter them. He will also put a pile of something on one side of him and then slide or *drive* them to the other side and make a new pile until he has done that with all the objects. He will usually get pretty upset if you interrupt these patterns, but is usually pretty easy to redirect.
•Flap their hands, rock their body, or spin in circles He rocks himself to go to sleep. He used to seek out places to bang his head, but he doesn’t anymore most of the time. Now it’s just rolling back and forth on his bed and even that is not every night anymore. His body is always moving and sometimes he swings his arms and such over and over.
•Have unusual reactions to the way things sound, smell, taste, look, or feel He doesn’t like loud noises and he has a slight aversion to slimy/smooshy objects, but he can handle the noises if he is warned and he gets used to the feel of the objects quickly and will play with them. We have never had trouble with him not wanting to eat certain food, because of texture.
•Does not share interests with others He absolutely shares his interests and always has. Has always wanted to show us what he did because he is proud and engages people for conversation and play well.
•Only interacts to achieve a desired goal Not anymore then I typical kid, in my opinion. His main goal is to get people to play with him or talk to him.
•Has flat or inappropriate facial expressions Yes and overly dramatic faces..never flat faces though.
•Does not understand personal space boundaries This is a problem.
•Avoids or resists physical contact This comes and goes. Usually depends on how his day has gone and if he is stressed. Usually the likes affection.
•Is not comforted by others during distress He is comforted. Hugs and kisses usually make everything better.
•Reverses pronouns (e.g., says “me” instead of “I”) Not anymore
•Does not point or respond to pointing He has a hard time knowing where to look when someone else points at something, but he points exactly at what he is trying to show.
•Uses few or no gestures (e.g., does not wave goodbye) Started using gestures as a baby and still does all the time.
•Talks in a flat, robot-like, or sing-song voice Nope..never has.
•Does not understand jokes, sarcasm, or teasing The opposite, he is always making jokes and he laughs at jokes on tv and sometimes when someone else tells one.
•Lines up toys or other objects Yes
•Plays with toys the same way every time A lot of the time, but not always.
•Likes parts of objects (e.g., wheels) He is sometimes very fascinated with wheels and sometimes prefers the wheels over playing with the toy.
•Is very organized NO although he does shows signs of it sometimes, but not obsessively.
•Hyperactivity (very active) YES! He has always been very active. Never stops! He just started being able to sit still and watch a movie in the last year and even that is almost too long for him.
•Impulsivity (acting without thinking) Yes
•Short attention span Depends on what it is. He needs to be actively engaged in something he is interested in or his attention span is minutes. If he is interested, he could do that one thing for hours.
•Aggression Not more then a typical kid.
•Causing self injury Only when he was banging his head to sleep. He caused cuts on his ears and they would bleed. He does sometimes hit himself in the head when frustrated, but I have heard that can be normal. He doesn’t do it hard and it seems to be more for attention than hurting himself.
•Temper tantrums Yes
•Unusual eating and sleeping habits Just that he doesn’t sleep well, wakes often to sing, play, talk gibberish, laugh and the rocking. Gets very loud and wakes us.
•Unusual mood or emotional reactions Very dramatic
•Lack of fear or more fear than expected Depends. He doesn’t fear somethings that he probably should, but he does have a sense of danger. He will try to climb things at the park and get scared and want down.
 
Biggest issues as I see them are OCD, ADHD, and sensory.

Monday, September 6, 2010

My child was injured by a vaccine.

I know it in my heart and no one can tell me differently.

When Wyatt was a baby (maybe 2 months old), he began having tremors (possibly seizures since his whole body shook and stiffened).  Of course we took him to the ER and they told us that he was FINE and that this was NORMAL and he would grow out of it.  He had them until he was about 7 months.  I remember thinking how can this be happening and not hurting him in any way?

Years later and the old saying about hind sight..  DUH He had gotten the Hep-B vaccine maybe a day before this started!  Asshole doctors weren't going to even suggest that could happen.

Coincidence that our only child who has been vaccinated had this happen and now has Autism?  I think not.  I have to remind myself that feeling guilty over not knowing better is useless.  It won't change anything and how was I to know when no one talked about it back then?

I will never inject any of my children with that crap again.  Don't get me wrong. I don't think everyone should stop getting vaccinated.  Thinking that every human should be given all the same vaccines and same doses is just plain stupidity.  Why are we not making an uproar about this?  Would you like someone to try and put every one of us in one big group about another issue?  How about food?  Say the government decides we should all eat the exact same food, the exact same amount of food, and all at the exact same time.  Would that be ok with you?

This infuriates me, as it should everyone.

"A second area of concern is the VAERS reports involving hepatitis B vaccine administered with other vaccines (vaccine cocktails). Health officials are fond of dismissing those reports as being attributable to hepatitis B vaccine, because of the multiple other antigens present (almost as if they wanted to cloak hepatitis B vaccine reactions from scrutiny). Let’s avoid that controversy and focus on the extremely disturbing VAERS data of hepatitis B vaccine with other vaccines. These reports amount to only one third of total reports (7,275), but account for two thirds of total deaths (291). The median onset of those deaths was 2 days after vaccination -- displaying a clear temporal association. The median age of death was 0.5 years in this group. 50% of all hepatitis-B-vaccine-cocktail reports were serious (died, emergency room, hospitalized, disabled). I grouped convulsive reactions together from the hep-B-vaccine-cocktail data and found a deeply disturbing pattern. These were anything labeled convulsions, seizures or tremors in the VAERS hep-B-cocktail data. Of the 1189 such reports, fully 80% (950) were serious (died, ER, hospitalized, disabled) median age 0.5 years, median onset after vaccination 0 days (less than one day). Someone should do follow-up and find out what happened to those poor infants who suffered severe convulsions after a hepatitis B-multi-vaccine cocktail. In the personal reports I’ve taken of similar adverse reactions, the children were left brain damaged and developmentally disabled."

From: http://www.compleatmother.com/belkin_2.htm

This is what happened to my child and I take it personally when someone says, "It's for the greater good."

Thursday, August 26, 2010

It's Christmas in August!!

Ok it's *like* Christmas any way.  I finally got Wyatt's new enzymes and started it today at lunch!

I did a ton of research (like normal) and settled on TriEnza from Houston Enzymes.  I chose this one, because the company is highly recommended, the enzymes are excellent quality, and TriEnza covers everything you can think of. 

"TriEnza is the long-awaited enzyme product that combines the best of AFP-Peptizyde, Zyme Prime, and No-Fenol into one product!

Two (2) capsules or four (4) chewable tablets of TriEnza contain:
all the protease enzymes for protein digestion from AFP-Peptizyde
all the enzymes (except cellulase) from Zyme Prime
1/2 the enzymes from No-Fenol (xylanase) for certain fruits and vegetables high in phenols
now available in chewable tablet version with natural grape flavor

In addition, no fillers are added to the capsule version. *1 mg of MCT oil is added per capsule as an excipient to prevent the enzyme powder from becoming air-born if capsule is opened. The oil also insures correct encapsulation weights during manufacturing. MCT oil is derived from coconut oil. Cellulase enzyme was not added to this product so you don't have to worry about using TriEnza with time-released medications."

"TriEnza is free of gluten, casein, soy, rice, MSG, salicylates, sugars, yeast, animal derivatives, and artificial colors. No filler."

From: http://www.houston-enzymes.com/store/product.php?p=4&c=1

If you are new to enzymes, here is some info..

"What are enzymes?


Enzymes are proteins made by cells in our bodies. They are specialized proteins that do work, such as synthesizing chemicals and compounds, rearranging molecules, adding elements to compounds, and breaking down compounds. There are many types of enzymes, and each type does a specific function. For an enzyme to work, it must have access to its substrate, the material upon which an enzyme exerts an action. If no substrate is available to the enzyme, the enzyme performs no function. For example, an enzyme called catalase is present in our blood. Catalase converts hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen, which is why peroxide bubbles when it is placed on a wound. Since peroxide is not usually in our blood, catalase circulates within the blood, doing nothing until peroxide is introduced into the system. A substrate works as an "on-off" switch for its particular enzyme. Catalase will only be activated in the presence of peroxide and nothing else.

How do enzymes work?


Enzymes work as catalysts of biochemical reactions. A catalyst increases or accelerates the rate of a chemical reaction. The thousands of chemical reactions that occur in our body every second could not happen without enzymes to speed up these reactions. For example, a protein can be broken down into amino acids in the lab without the use of an enzyme, but to do so requires extreme temperatures, high pressure, and very strong acids; conditions not compatible with life. Even with these conditions, it requires hours to complete the reaction in the lab. With enzymes, in this case a mixture of proteases, the reaction can be completed within minutes in water at normal temperatures.

Another unique aspect of enzymes is that they are not changed during the reaction, that is, they facilitate the reaction without being destroyed or changed in the process. Because of this, one enzyme molecule could theoretically change an infinite amount of substrate if given an infinite amount of time. Increasing the amount of enzyme decreases the time required for completing the reaction. For example, one molecule of catalase could convert a whole bottle of peroxide to water and oxygen given enough time. If you double the number of catalase molecules, you decrease the time for converting the bottle of peroxide by half.

This is related to enzyme dosing in the following manner: Higher doses of enzyme will result in the reaction reaching the "finish point" faster. Since a meal resides in the stomach from 90 to 180 minutes, the enzymes have that amount of time to do the majority of their work before the food enters the small intestine, where peptides may be absorbed (no peptide absorption occurs in the stomach). Larger meals will require more enzyme to accomplish the task of food breakdown in a given amount of time. This is the applicable message concerning enzyme dosing; getting the proteins broken down in a specified period of time.

The nice thing about enzymes is that if the particular molecule they work on is not present, the enzyme does nothing. If you take the enzyme lactase, and lactose is not present, the lactase has no job and does nothing, except get passed on in the GI tract as food protein."

From: http://www.houston-enzymes.com/learn/faq.php

They have webinars here: http://www.houston-enzymes.com/learn/web-seminars/

Good stuff!  I am beyond excited to see how this helps Wyatt!

Autism sucks.

Life is crazy currently and I am spending all my free time online reading everything I can about Autism and everything that goes with it.  Here I go with the updates..

We have finally gone forward with the dreaded diet!  It is dreaded for a reason.  It gets easier AND harder as you go.  I know!  Crazy!  Currently Wyatt (and the rest of us when we are with him) is gluten(wheat, barley, rye), dairy, lactose, casein, soy, dye, artificial (and most of the time natural) flavor, preservative and basically junk free.  What does he eat, right?  He mostly eats fresh meat, fruits, and veggies that we season ourselves and try to make them taste decent.  He can also have potatoes, rice, and corn in moderation.  We may be removing corn too, but that is for another day.

We saw incredible improvement in the 1st week of this diet and the first 3 weeks were amazing!  His behavior was so much better and his speech exploded!  He had better eye contact and almost no *in another world* moments.  Slowly this started to decline bringing us to now and he is much worse then he was before we started the diet.  The one thing that has stuck around is his speech.  Long sentences, less gibberish, more words, bigger words, and he puts sentences together correctly most of the time.

From what I have learned, I believe this new horrible behavior is a yeast problem.  The saying, "Gonna get worse before it gets better." really applies here.  I am now looking into a good yeast protocol to fight this issue.  So far, he is taking a good multi vitamin/mineral, soy free cod liver oil, vitamin d, melatonin, Epsom salt baths, and a good probiotic.  I am starting digestive enzymes as soon as they come in the mail.  Looking at Biotin and GSE to fight the yeast.

We have had his hearing and eye sight checked and all looks good.  I stumbled across a DAN! doctor who is actually in our town and we have an appt. with him in a few days for a free consultation.  I really hope we can afford to see him as he is trained in the way I believe we need to *treat* Wyatt's symptoms.

Wyatt will be starting his 2nd (technically his 1st full year) of PreK in the second week of September.  We decided to send him back to the special needs class at the ESD.  Benefits are smaller class size, more teachers, teachers who are trained to help these kids, teachers who are supportive of our diet choices, and built in therapy for all his needs.  Wyatt is thrilled to go back and to ride the bus again!
I think this is the best decision whether we decide to do public school or home school for K-12.  That is also a whole other post.

In general, the last month has been hell.  Wyatt's behavior has been..indescribable.  He has not been the boy I know he really is under all this crappy crappy Autism.  On top of that, Addison is turning 3 and she adores her older brother SO much that she aspires every day to be E.X.A.C.T.L.Y. like him.

Lord help me...they have spent more time separated and in their rooms in the last month then outside playing like kids should be.  Breaks my heart, but it's the only way I have saved my sanity..

Sunday, July 11, 2010

It's an experiment!

When are people going to understand that it's one massive experiment that the medical world is using us for?  I'm talking about vaccines.  I just read another insert and I will move beyond the shocking ingredients for now..

"Adverse events reported during post-approval use of Tripedia vaccine include idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, SIDS,anaphylactic reaction, cellulitis, autism, convulsion/grand mal convulsion, encephalopathy, hypotonia, neuropathy, somnolenceand apnea. Events were included in this list because of the seriousness or frequency of reporting. Because these events arereported voluntarily from a population of uncertain size, it is not always possible to reliably estimate their frequencies or to establish a causal relationship to components of Tripedia vaccine."

http://www.novaccine.com/pdffiles/Tripedia_package_insert.pdf

Huh..it was reported enough that they felt they needed to include it in the insert...but there's still no link?

Wake up!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

GF/CF Info

"Gluten and gluten-like proteins are found in wheat and other grains, including oats, rye, barley, bulgar, durum, kamut and spelt, and foods made from those grains. They are also found in food starches, semolina, couscous, malt, some vinegars, soy sauce, flavorings, artificial colors and hydrolyzed vegetable proteins.

Casein is a protein found in milk and foods containing milk, such as cheese, butter, yogurt, ice cream, whey and even some brands of margarine. It also may be added to non-milk products such as soy cheese and hot dogs in the form of caseinate."

"According to one theory, some people with autism and PDD cannot properly digest gluten and casein, which form peptides, or substances that act like opiates in their bodies. The peptides then alter the person's behavior, perceptions, and responses to his environment. Some scientists now believe that peptides trigger an unusual immune system response in certain people. Research in the U.S. and Europe has found peptides in the urine of a significant number of children with autism. A doctor can order a urinary peptide test to see if proteins are being digested properly. "

"Foods that CAN be eaten on a gluten-free, casein-free diet include rice, quinoa, amaranth, potato, buckwheat flour, soy, corn, fruits, oil, vegetables, beans, tapioca, meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, teff, nuts, eggs, and sorghum, among others."

"Research into the GFCF diet continues. A study released in 2010 shows benefits for some kids with autism spectrum disorder. "Our results suggest that dietary intervention may positively affect developmental outcome for some children diagnosed with ASD," according to the study. It was published in Nutritional Neuroscience by a research group that included Paul Shattock and Dr. Paul Whiteley of ESPA Research. "Further studies are required to ascertain potential best- and non-responders to intervention." "

http://www.autismweb.com/diet.htm


"Proponents of the gluten-free diet say many children with autism have gastrointestinal difficulties that make it hard for them to digest certain grains properly. There are different possibilities for ways in which this could affect children with autism. The most studied theory is that eating gluten leads to high levels of protein by-products, called gluteomorphines, in some children with autism. These by-products may then affect behaviour like a drug would. Specifically, in these children, gluteomorphines could reduce their desire for social interaction, block pain messages, and increase confusion. If gluten is taken out of the diet, the idea is that this will reduce the level of gluteomorphines, and behaviour will improve as a result."

"One well-controlled study focused on children with autism who had abnormally high protein by-products in their urine, and therefore were more likely to be sensitive to casein and gluten. One group of these children was fed a strict casein- and gluten-free diet for 12 months. This group had significantly fewer autistic symptoms than the remaining children, who were not fed this diet. Another well-controlled study of casein- and gluten-free diets focused on children with autism regardless of the level of protein by-products in their urine. Overall, the study found no significant differences in behaviour between children on the elimination diet and children on regular diets, although individual parents reported behavioural improvements. This overall lack of effect in the second study could be because the elimination diet only lasted 6 weeks, or because the children were not pre-selected according to the level of protein by-products in their urine.

Regardless, in both cases, the tested diets were casein- and gluten-free, so it is not clear whether it was the elimination of casein, gluten, or both that resulted in any improvements. A third study that examined the effects of a gluten-free diet on the behaviour of children with autism did not compare children on the elimination diet with children not on the diet. Therefore, even though there were improvements seen in the behaviour of children on the diet, these may also have occurred over the 5 months of the study without the elimination diet."

http://www.autismcanada.org/glutenfree.htm

http://www.the-gluten-free-chef.com/gluten-free-diet-autism.html

http://www.paleocookbooks.com/?hop=cazza46

http://www.liveglutenfreely.com/?WT.mc_id=paid_search_300801_636119&WT.srch=1

http://www.brighttots.com/Autism_Diet/Gluten_Free_Casein_Free

http://blog.glutenfreeworks.com/category/autism-gluten-free-casein-free-diet/

http://www.newautismcure.com/tag/gluten/

List of foods containing gluten

http://www.the-gluten-free-chef.com/avoid-gluten.html

http://www.godairyfree.org/Food-to-Eat/Food-Label-Info/Dairy-Ingredient-List.html

http://www.ei-resource.org/treatment-options/treatment-information/gluten-free-and-casein-free-diet/

http://www.gfcfdiet.com/

http://www.gfcfdiet.com/NewpageDirectory6.htm

That's only the beginning..*SIGH*

GF/CF Adventure

Well, I have decided that we need to try the GF/CF Diet to see if helps Wyatt.  We have slowly been backing off of Casein..which is pretty easy.  Wyatt loves Almond milk and we love that it's so much better for all of us.  The rest is going to be much harder.  We admittedly eat a diet high in bread products and dairy.

I am determined that we are going to try this for at least 4 months.  After 4 months, if there is improvement then we will continue.  If not, then we will slowly add some of these things back in and see what happens.

I'm gonna post links to any info that I think is a good resource.  Maybe it'll help someone else.  I know how exhausting and overwhelming it can be to start from the beginning with no answers.

Let the research begin!

Friday, April 30, 2010

I seriously thought it would never happen.

Well not *never*, but at least not for a very very long time.  Makes it even better that it happened so unexpectedly!

Wyatt has been in underwear 100% of the time for 2 weeks now!!!!  I can not begin to express in words how HUGE that is!  He has been pee trained for years, but he refused (loudly) to ever poop in the potty.  It had gotten better.  He was in underwear most of the time, but he would ask for a diaper to poop.  One day, he asked for a diaper and I said "Nah, you really don't need a diaper anymore.  Why don't you just go on the potty like a big boy?"  Of course I had tried this many times before and it was a no go, so I didn't expect much.

Wyatt: "OK!!"  Runs to the potty..sits down..poops.  Just. Like. That.

We threw a freakin party!  He was SO proud of himself and really that is the best part.  He got to go pick out a new truck (which I had promised him 3 days before and he remembered even though I didn't think he would) and told everyone at the store why.  We then made him a sticker chart with 10 squares.  He gets a sticker for each time he poops and when they are all full, he will get a new car.  He is THRILLED by this and loves putting his stickers up.  In 2 weeks, he has filled all but 1 square and has only had 1 accident and even that was while he was sleeping.  When this chart is full, we will make a new one with 20 squares and then 30 and so on until it just becomes normal for him to use the potty.

What a RELIEF!

Friday, April 16, 2010

It's Autism.

We finally got our appointment for the evaluation and they sent us a packet to fill out and bring with us. I swear those weeks went by more slowly than usual.


Finally it's time and I think Dan and I were both pretty nervous, but I was also looking forward to having some kind of an answer. So, we are going through the mini evaluation process to see if there is an indication for a full evaluation and the lady is asking us tons of questions while Wyatt plays and she watches him. Then she decides there are signs and mentions Autism. My first reaction was..wait..what? Autism? We came here to discuss ADD..? She explains that he clearly shows signs of Autism and in her opinion he is on the spectrum. While we absorb this, she gets out her *kit* and asks Wyatt to do several different things. He happily did all of the things she asked the best he. He looked like he was having fun really. After that we discussed what she saw in him and what it all means. He is behind in small motor skills, social skills, life skills, and several other things. He is doing well in large motor skills and is border line with communication.

She suggests we try to get him into a PreK special needs class as soon as possible and set up a full evaluation to get a better idea of what is going on.

We get the next appt set up and get on the waiting list for a class. It was a long 2 months waiting for our appt. Finally a new lady comes to our house and we start the same routine. She asks us every question you can think of about Wyatt and observes him and then pulls out her stuff and interacts with him. It was very interesting to see his behaviors from someone else’s perspective. It's hard to be objective when it's been your normal since forever. So she left with the understanding that she believes he is on spectrum too. We were left with a whole lot of unanswered questions.

Shortly after that, a class opened up and we met with Wyatt's teacher. We all adore her. She is very positive, sweet, and patient. He started school and did great other than being pissed that we hadn't signed him up for bus yet. We fixed that quickly and he still loves going to school! He is in a very small class with 3 teachers, so he has a lot of attention and a lot of help.

We recently had a meeting with the lady that did his full evaluation and his teacher to discuss if we should officially diagnose him with Autism on the educational side of things. I don't think Dan and I were at all prepared for this meeting or to make this decision. I had been doing an enormous amount of research, but there is far too much information available and it is all very confusing. We were told that he is very borderline and it is possible that with continued help that he will *fall off the spectrum* as he gets older. At least educationally. We were also told that he would have all the same services available to him whether he was officially diagnosed as having Autism or not. Being naive, we figured what's the point of giving him the label if we can do all the same things with or without it? We chose to not give him the official diagnosis of Autism at this time. I think I may regret that decision now.

The hardest part is that no one is talking to us. We have no idea if he is receiving therapy at school or if his behaviors warrant therapy and what kind. We have no idea what we should be doing for him at home. We have no idea what information we find online or in books or hear from other people is a load of bullshit and what has a good base. It's like they said, Hey! Guess what!? We are going to totally rip your world apart and tell you your kid has a fairly serious illness that has no cure and we are going to dump you on your asses to figure it out all by yourselves! Oh and by the way, we have all this knowledge to help but we don't really care that much so we are going keep it to ourselves!

Pretty awesome right!? Thanks a ton!! Assholes.

So, we have been left with a trillion questions and one answer. Our smart, handsome, hilarious baby boy has Autism.

I am fed up, so I am turning to the one person that I trust in all of this. The only person that has showed they care at all. I am setting up a meeting with his teacher as soon as possible. Hopefully we can get a whole lot of the answers that we desperately need.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Vitamin D Theory of Autism

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/vit-D-theory-autism.shtml

Now I haven't had the chance to read through the whole thing yet, but it is defiantly very interesting! I don't know that I can get behind it "causing" Autism, but possibly something that contributes to some part of it.

Certainly, VitD is played down HUGELY in its importance for all of us. Most people just think of it as the sunshine vitamin since that is how it is portrayed. In reality it is incredibly important for our bodies to function properly and the recommended doses are way below what we actually need.

I'll have to look it up, but I think it is something like over 80% of us have levels that are too low! We have also been scared away from the sun, but that is truly our best way of getting VitD.

My entire family is taking a supplement of VitD. Usually it would just be in the winter months, but let's face it..we live in Oregon. It's almost constantly winter, so it'll be all the time.

Hopefully it helps all of us.

Our 1st baby

Wyatt was born at 37 weeks, because I had high blood pressure. I was in labor for 12 hours and he was born with no complications. It truly was a wonderful birth!

We figured we got lucky, because he started sleeping through the night when he was 3 weeks old and he was extremely independent. He loved to nurse, but mostly he wanted to play by himself. He started getting on his knees and rocking himself to sleep when he was 6 months old. He hit every single one of his milestones right on time and sometimes early. He walked well on his own at 10 months and started talking early..even saying small sentences. He has always had a little trouble getting some sounds, but you could understand most of what he said. He did the cutest things. His favorite games were to line toys up and take everything out of his toy box and then put it all back in one at a time.

We vaccinated Wyatt until it was time for his 1 year shots. I had been doing a lot of research and was just not ready to allow that at that time.

As he got older, I started to notice things were a little off. We weren't around many kids his age, so it came slowly. What continued to rock to sleep, but he began to seek out hard places. We didn't think much of it while he was in his crib since he couldn't hurt himself in there. He was very attached to his routine, and he still played in patterns.

I had been saying something was off for a long time, but everyone told me it was just Wyatt. I knew better. When he was 4 and still banging his head to sleep (sometimes causing himself to bleed), I told our dr that I wanted to get him evaluated for ADD/ADHD.

To be continued..

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Blog Under Construction..

I wanted a place where I could share our journey while figuring out what the diagnosis of Autism means for our family.

I will get this thing customized and hope to start sharing soon!