An Interview With Dr. Bock

I saw this link on someone's page, and  am so glad that I did! It's a great interview and introduction for those wondering about Nathan's specialist, Dr. Kenneth Bock in New York. It is embeddded into The Autism Intensive's website, so I am unable to embed it here, so just click the link above.

Blessings,

Hillary

Trying a New, Old Thing

The bad news: We've had some regression. I've seen a back-step in his spatial planning, muscle tone, anxiety levels, and overall mental awareness.  

The good news: I can pretty much trace the 'Why'. 
I added back in the Ubiquinol that we had cut at his last appointment. I added back half of the dose that he was taking and I'm already seeing positive gains in his muscle tone and posture. 

As for the rest, it's back to that Hippocratic remedy; diet. As Dr. Goldberg states in his book, The Myth of Autism, often going gluten free isn't enough since grains in general can be so inflammatory. Thus, I had decided that going back to our Paleo ways was probably best. But I hated the thought. Even worse, he hated the thought!  To have that bit of dietary freedom retracted made him understandably bummed.

The even-better news: My friend had been encouraging me to study the Keto (short for Ketogenetic) lifestyle for my own auto-immune dysfunction, namely Insulin Resistance and Hypo-Thyroidism. The keto diet, which has been the recommended diet for epileptic patients since the 1920s, is not just very low carb, but very high fat-as in 80% of your diet coming from good fat, the rest from protein and veggies and very low carbs. The Atkins diet is a version of a keto-diet, but while it stresses 'net carbs' and high protein, the Keto emphasizes real foods (non-synthetic) and healing fats with as little total carbs as possible.  For a really good introduction on the lifestyle and nutritional science behind it, I highly recommend visiting mariamindbodyhealth.com and/or her book Keto-Adapted which is available as a paper book from bookstores or as an ebook from Amazon and B&N.  The more I read about the anti-inflammatory benefits of eating this way, I began to wonder if this would be great for N to combat his neuro inflammation. This was confirmed as I read further and saw how this diet is benefiting Alzheimers patients (N is on an Alzheimers med), and then confirmed finally by the section where she talks about the positive effects they are seeing with Spectrum kids being switched to this diet. 

The more I read, the more I saw the similarities between how we were eating at the very beginning of this journey back in 2012 and Keto. By combining Paleo and Candida diets, we were eating high protein and low carb. BUT, since the fat molecules carry the flavor, we were missing out on the good and tasty foods by not compensating for low carb with fats!  Another of Maria E's books,  The Art of Healthy Eating-Kids, is quickly becoming my newest cookbook handbook. Using the dairy substitutions, we are getting to eat cheesecakes, frozen treats called 'Fat Bombs' which range from chocolate peanut butter to lemon and so on, milkshakes, yummy waffles, etc. It's made it so much easier to get family buy-in and cooperation this time! As I write this, I'm finishing off a bowl of spiralized zucchini noodles sauteed in garlic, EVOO, and Romano cheese. Soooo good!

 After just 3 days, Nathan saw improvement!I didn't tell him exactly why we were eating this way other than to say that I think it would help him get off his meds eventually, and on day 3, he volunteered this testimonial, " You know Mom, sometimes my brain was starting to feel fuzzy, but the last few days I feel like I can control it better." Hallelujah!!! Thank you, Lord, for your guiding hand!

As for me, I felt crummy yesterday, and then realized that I was probably experiencing yeast die-off and sugar withdrawals. I pushed through, and today I feel great!

The final bad news: Now I have more groceries to purge again. This time it is all of the special starches and GF foods that we have bought. I will have to revamp my pantry, as well as go back to making pretty much EVERYHING from scratch. But it's all good, and that just means my priorities have been rearranged. If we all end up healthier, then who am I to complain?

As always, thank you again for your encouragement and support. I can't tell you how much it means on this bumpy road that we're on.

Blessings,
Hillary

Some of the BEST news!

I am crying happy tears right now! I just got off of the phone for our quarterly phone appointment with Dr. Bock. Guess what?! N is responding so well to treatment, that we are switching to 6 month appointments AND we don't have to travel to New York anymore!!!! We just have to have his labs done and a physical by his local pediatrician! I am so so happy, relieved, excited, thrilled, and grateful. This must be what 'exuberant' feels like! Hallelujah!  

Onwards and Upwards!

 

Made it up to the cabin!

What an exciting, momentous, heart-wrenching weekend this is for N's Momma! He is on his first campout withOUT Daddy! Not only that, it is a 2 niter, and it was a 2 mile/3.5 hr. hike up an icy mountain in freezing rain to get there! He packed a backpack up for the first time, and Dad said that he was such a trooper. He had problems with his grippers breaking off of his boots in the icy patches (apparently we need a serious upgrade for him in that department!), but he kept on a' trudgin. I am extremely thankful, proud, and worried about him!

My friend asked if I was concerned about any new knowledge he would come back with considering that he is surrounded by middle and high school guys. My answer? Oh yes; especially considering he is still so loveably naive and  his logic is very black and white. His Dad gets irritated when I make the comparison, but my sweet boy has a similar personality to the character of Forrest Gump. Or for those Eleanor Porter fans, he is my "Just David". He is so sweet and compassionate. While I do not want him to ever ever lose that, I realize that to survive this sinful world, he will need to become a bit more thick skinned and jaded. So, yes, I'm concerned, but yet, I feel like this could very well be the social skills boot camp that my boy needs.

He will be back home tonight, and I am anxious to hear all that has expired these past 3 days. What a difference 2 years of proper treatment makes! 
Thank you, Jesus!

Blessings,
Hillary

A Brief Summary of the Past Year

Since I have posted about N's rapid healing progress in a couple of NIDS/Bio-med forums I am in, I have received several requests for a summary of what his treatment was. In answer to that, I'm just posting it here so that I can 1) target multiple requests at once, and 2) continue to share what is working for us in the hopes it may work for other families! Below is a listing of what his sypmptoms were, followed by a list of the actual physical triggers, followed by his treatment plan under Dr. Bock. Again, I share this information with the aim that we can serve as a source of encouragment, hope, and possible answers to other families who have a member(s) on the 'A-List'.

Symptoms:

*Very delayed speech (echolalia only until about age 4) with very little receptive language.

*Hyper-sensitive hearing which led togeneral sensory defensiveness

*Hypo-senstitive touch (like he was wearing a snow suit all of the time)

*Very low muscle tone and easily fatigued

*Inflexibility in regards to daily activities and desires (extreme tantruming), as well as anxiety and hyper focusing on select topics.

*Unable to recognize social cueing

*Daily headaches (He didn't realize he had them until we made dietary changes while waiting for first Dr. appointment! Suddenly he was aware that this was not a typical feeling for everyone!)

*Spatial planning-not recognizing peoples' personal space, or his own in regards to bodily cavities. This led to him 'food stuffing' in his mouth, overeating in his stomach, and not recognizing a full bladder.

*Chronic ear infections from 0-2yrs (stopped once PE tubes were put in)

*Fine and gross motor incoordination

Physical ailments that were revealed from labwork in 2013:

*Sensitivity to gluten, dairy, corn, beef, and pork

*Not properly processing Salicylates

*Overactive amygdala (leading to more inflexibility, anxiety, and hyper-focus)

*Bacterial infection in his stomach (It is our opinion that this bacterial infection and the yeast overgrowth, listed below, are probably the two main causes of this whole mess. He was put on multiple rounds of antibiotics for his infant ear infections, and given oral steroids for severe croup. It was following these interventions that he started to fall behind in achieving milestones and exhibit behaviorial changes.)

*Yeast Overgrowth (Again, probably as a result of the oral steroids and antibiotics.)

*No traces of good E.Coli bacteria in his stomach

*Borderline hypo-thyroidism

*Bodily 'detox' and metabolic systems out of balance and not functioning properly to naturally rid body of environmental contaminants.

*According to the SPECT scan, he had a slight profusion in his brain (caused by the inflammation of inflamed immune tissues). It was a flat horizontal profusion that started in the frontal lobes above his eyebrows and extended back near his ears.

Treatments:

*Glutiathione NAC cream to help body in detoxing of environmental aggravants

(Important! He had to use a compounded cream instead of pills since Candida in the digestive tract can feed off of the pills!) He is also taking a Methyl B-12 nasal spray to help with this as well. The transdermal (a.k.a. 'shots') method is preferable, but we were unable to get those compounded up here, so we use the nasal spray instead.

*Magnesium Sulfate Cream to help with processing of salicylates. Also had to reduce the intake of artificial dyes, nuts, and coconut products which are high in salicylates. Initially he was taking daily epsom salt baths as well, but has phased these out.

*Various vitamin and mineral supplements that his labs showed a malabsorption of ,i.e. Vit. K, Vit. D, Acetyl L-Carnitine, Ubiquinol, Iodine, Omega 3, Taurine, etc. (due to his digestive tract infections).

*High powered probiotics to re-balance his gut cultures.

*Nystatin for the Candida overgrowth. After he was showed significant improvement with that, we switched to Candex and then off of the anti-fungals entirely.

*Biocidin for the bacterial infection.

*Mutaflor to replenish his good E.Coli

*Instead of using an SSRI to calm his overactive amygdala, we tried an oxytocin nasal spray. It has worked beautifully without any of the side affects of the SSRIs.

*Namenda to calm the neuro inflammation.

*Low does of Armour for thyroid.

So far, so great!

After his appointment last month, in which we reviewed his labs from August, we found that the stomach infection is gone! The yeast infection is gone! Thus, many of his supplements were reduced or eliminated after seeing levels that indicated his body was digesting and absorbing them properly. He is off of the Nystatin, Mutaflor, Biocidin, and reduced probiotics.

He tested clear for beef, pork, and corn!

His daily headaches were reduced once we started the anti-yeast regiment, and then fully went away once we had implemented the Namenda for the neuro inflammation!

His muscle tone since starting the Armour is improved greatly, and we have reduced that dosage!

His flushed ruddy skin tone has gone away. He now has a beautiful ivory comlexion.

He has increased focus, better motor control, and more is more aware of the people around him. His brain is finally healthy enough to be able to learn all of those social thinking skills that he needs to navigate society. 

We see that his metabolic and detox systems are improved but not fully healed. Since his yeast overgrowth is gone, we can now put him on NAC pills which we hope will give us better results than the cream in that area. He is still taking the Oxytocin and B-12 nasal spray until we see that those systems are healed.

He just feels better! He confided that he used to have stomach aches and have problems passing stools until recently. Just like with the headaches, he didn't realize that wasn't typical for everyone. He has felt those pains for so long that he didn't realize it was a problem until it went away and he felt so much better! Wow! That right realization right there makes all of the cost, travel, and medicine juggling worth it!! We will just keep plugging away at the other areas in need of further treatment, until his immune system is fully restored and he no longer needs medical intervention.

I am so thankful for N's progress. I pray that this will help others the way I have been helped in the bio-med blogosphere. If I had followed N's pediatrician's recommendations, he would be on amphetamines for daily headaches, unable to eat many of the foods he can now eat, and be in therapy forever. Now I foresee a much brighter and 'normal' future for him. In fact, he is now in Boy Scouts so that he can learn lifeskills to help him be a well-rounded man someday. Wow! Such progress in such a short time! Thank you, Lord!

NY Appt. 2014 Quick Update!

This is a super quick update since I hate typing on my phone. This morning was a fantastic appointment with excellent progress made! For my thumbs' sake, I'm just going to list it out as bullet points:

*Dr. Bock was extremely pleased with N's skin appearance and increased muscle tone. At last year's appt, my ruddy faced boy lounged like a noodle on the sofa. This year, my fair skinned son sat next to me at the desk facing the Dr.and actively participating in the discussion.

*Labs came back with better than expected results! While his metabolic/detoxification levels still came back slightly low (but still improved), his digestive and inflammation numbers were perfect! We will be removing many supplements and some meds because it appears that his stomach is finally healed and processing food properly! Hallelujah!

*Given the good test levels, N asked for a repeat tests for the beef, pork, and corn sensitivities. Dr. Bock agreed that it was in order, and sure enough, they all came back completely clear! WOOOO HOOOOOO!!! There was much rejoicing in the little room-especially as contrasted with last year when I was on the verge of frustrated sobbing! We will gradually reintroduce the foods alongside with gradually altering his meds. If all goes well, we may attempt to reintroduce gluten and casein.

*We will continue many of his meds as his immune system continues to rebalance and heal, but we are SO excited at the rapid progress being made! We give God all of the glory for this beautiful turn of events, and I give my deepest gratitude to those who have faithfully carried N to Him in prayer while speaking encouragement and wisdom over me. Thank you!

Blessings, 
Hillary and N

Brag Alert: Major Milestone!

Meet our new Boy Scout!

Cruddy phone pic, but you get the idea!

Two, or even one, year ago, this would not have been possible! Between the diversity of activities, the responsibilities, and the sensory overload, Boy Scouts was not something I would have considered as a healthy choice for N. 

But Now!!! He is so much healthier that he looks forward to the meetings! He memorized his oath, and various pledges in one week to earn his Basic Scout badge. Now he's beginning work on his next badge which requires him to build up to a 4 mile run. He is looking forward to camping out as well as all of the other skills he will be learning, and is in awe of the older Scouts around him that are working on their Eagle Scout badges.

We have decided that this is a perfect opportunity to observe the expected behavior for young men, and to practice those social skills we have been studying. Plus, it's motivating him to develop interests in other areas, areas that do not involve screens or power cords! (Yes!)

He signed himself up to sell popcorn for 2 hours in the foyer of the local department store on Saturday, and is eager to go door-to-door to peddle more. He is becoming increasingly self-sufficient and independent before my eyes. I am so excited for him as he begins to finally navigate this world that has bombarded and overwhelmed him for far too long!

In 3 weeks we head back to New York to visit Dr. Bock. We will find out the results of the labs from August, and hopefully see if we can go from an 'attacking' posture to one of 'healing' and restoration; namely in the area of reintroducing foods and reducing meds. I am hopeful because of the huge behavioral changes that I have witnessed this past year, but I know that we could still have a long road ahead before his immune system is fully healed. Regardless, I will praise the Lord for his blessings right now, and joyfully anticipate the bright future that lies ahead for my sweet N.

Blessings,
Hillary