About
Eating and writing have been my two long-standing ways of coping with strong emotions. (Yes, I was that kid in junior high writing poetry about nuclear anihilation. I had my bomb shelter all planned out. It would be lined with #2 pencils. I was so disapointed when I learned that pencil lead wasn’t actually lead, and wouldn’t block radiation. Oh, wait- I digress!) These days, I’m trying to do more writing, and less emotional eating. 😉
This blog is about my journey raising a child with extra challenges, and the joys and sorrows of dreaming of and working toward a happy, fulfilled life for my children. I’m writing this blog to share my experiences-the trials and triumphs– and to sort out my feelings . I’ll share what I’m learning, and what’s working with my kids. It’s a chance for my friends and family to know my heart, and give me encouragement and support, when they may not know how else to help. Maybe, just maybe, my blog will increase compassion for children with special needs, and increase understanding of how to support their families.
A few of my favorite quotes are:
“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make” -Jane Goodall
“You rock a sobbing child without wondering if today’s world is passing you by, because you know you hold tomorrow tightly in your arms” –Neal A. Maxwell
holdingtomorrow 
Good Morning,
I came across your blog as I was quickly trying to search for a way to measure the level of progress that we have made with our daughter Ruth-Ann, she is 3.5 years old.
I m a bit desperate to find other moms who also do biomedical treatments with their daughters, your blog this morning was the first time that I heard that phrased that way.
I found your journey especially the progress points so similar to our it brought tears to my eyes. Ruth was a developmentally above average 1 year old and 2 yr old until a couple months after her second Bday we got her MMR vaccine. Then the night wakings began 5 wks approx after the vaccine, then the fits of rage almost like she was in a trance. Our regular dr said nothing was wrong, but she had forgotten all the words to her favorite bedtime stories that she previously knew by heart and wouldn’t participate in singing songs as we walked to the park which was extremely weird. We sang everynight on the way to the park. Yet another dr visit a cream for her yeasty arm pits and nothing else is wrong the dr claimed.
We took her to a naturopath. She was never diagnosed on the spectrum, I don’t understand what “group” we fit into; for her sake not ours/mine I want to do what works, what will help her. We went gluten casein free, started her on chelation (amazing grass brand plus chlorella blend) after finding severely high aluminum from the hair test. We started to see less screaming less fits and for the first time since before her vaccine she came up to me and hugged me. I cried. Then we started her on glutamine
We are about 10 months in now using a number of supplements and the last greatest improvement was when I started using coconut flour from scratch pancakes and reishi mushroom powder in her chocolate almond milk. The reishi was amazing it has Tcell modulating properties and improved her socialization with her little sister she could like think outside of herself for the first time.
Here’s my question should I push do get her diagnosed to see if she would have or did fall in the autism spectrum? If she gets even one cheerio of gluten she reverts? I found your blog because I was searching for moms who did the OATest. I want to do that one with Ruth to see how much healing we have done in her gut. She has done well on the glutmine but if she skips even one dose we go backwards. Help! Any advice. I don’t know any other moms who do what I do with Ruth and I don’t know what will work best for her since she was never diagnosed as autistic but using the DAN type diet with chelation glutine and othersupplements has made her function at a good level. In my mind I don’t understand why her verbal skills fall apart and she’s antisocial with fits of rage if we drop the ball at all. Thanks, Aimee ( just a mom giving 100% effort then digging deeper for an extra 25% to give)
Getting a diagnosis is such a personal decision. In the Canadian province where we live, diagnosis is pretty key in getting maximum therapy hours for speech, OT, etc. For us, it was very important for that reason, and to help people around us understand why she had severe delays, screaming fits, etc. Has your daughter had a speech eval, or fine and gross motor evaluations? So much of what therapy you can have covered depends on where you live, if/who you have for private insurance, and what regulations govern your locations early intervention services.
Our experience has been that treating the underlying health problems that accompany autism makes speech/OT much more fruitful. The OAT was really helpful in guiding what supplements to use, and, among other things, showed us that my daughter had a problem with endogenous oxalate production, something that never had crossed my mind. Our OAT was through Great Plain Lab, and was well worth the money spent.
My initial thought is that if you really notice a difference if your daughter misses a day of a supplement, that her body is still quite fragile, which just means that there is lots of room to help her her body detoxify and heal. The Specific Carbohydrate Diet has been really, hugely helpful for us. It is hard work, but you might want to consider it, as the clinical experience of Elaine Gottschal (one of it’s co-creators) was that it truly helps the gut heal.
I hope that helps!
Hi Aimee! I’m glad you found my blog! Your story does sound a lot like ours. We have seen amazing developmental gains through the biomedical treatments we’ve tried-I’m glad you’re seeing good things as well. Have you seen the ATEC- Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist? You can access it at: http://www.autism.com/index.php/ind_atec We use it to track our daughters improvements. It’s really useful!