Hi friends!
So I wanted to post our latest newsletter about the natural management of allergies from The Center for Holistic Healing. Click here to be directed to the newsletter. Also, you can go to the main email address to sign up for all future newsletters.
The latest here is that E's new constitutional remedy has been changed from Ignatia to Sulphur. Sulphur people tend to be very red and hot. Somehow I didn't put it together until Angelica changed his remedy that he indeed has become RED and HOT all the time! Red skin, red eyes, and OH BOY the hot flashes this kid can have! Anyway, the remedy has settled that and many other things down for him. He is at a bit of a plateau with his immune system, however. Angelica gently nudged me out of my comfort zone when she said "it's time to clear his MMR vaccine, let's do it!". Well, this is what I have been avoiding for a long time haha, but here we go! E suffered a major physical reaction from his MMR vaccine (full body measles-like rash and his highest-ever fever). Since then he suffered severe and chronic ear infections, he became aggressive and within 3 months he had full-blown PANS/PANDAS. So for the remainder of the mental symptoms we'd like to smooth out and for the poor kid's tendency to vomit and get very ill sometimes, we are going to be starting the MMR homeopathic remedy. As soon as school gets out haha, can I drag this out anymore? No really, he may go through a bit of a healing crisis with this one and I don't want him to miss anymore days of school. But I am thoroughly looking forward to this.
The latest with B is that I have recently started a small amount of quercetin (supplement) for his asthma and it has really taken the edge off during allergy season. Also, as of last night I bumped up his Medorrhinum up to the potency known as "CM". For those who are somewhat familiar with homeopathy, this is a VERY HIGH POTENCY for a remedy. The scale goes: 6c, 12c, 30c, 200c, 1M, 10M, 50M, CM, MM. It is a bit rare for a kid to need to go to such a high potency of a remedy but certainly not unheard of. Remember, B was very very ill when we started this whole process. He had chronic impetigo, chronic strep throat, chronic clostridia and yeast infections, horrible inflammatory bowel disease, SEVERE PANDAS, autism, severe speech apraxia, symptomatic Chiari 1 Malformation, severe eczema, hives, the list just goes on. Every single one of these things has disappeared. We are only left with mild speech apraxia and mild/moderate asthma. And as things have gone, I can see these things being a major "thing of the past" real soon.
Anyway, when I started Medorrhinum CM, i saw an almost immediate cognitive improvement, he grabbed his flashcards from his bedside and started listing off letters, letter sounds and even knew some words (he is in pre k). He was in a zone and I made very good use of it by helping him to absorb more knowledge from his flashcards. There's just nothing I don't love about homeopathy!!
In terms of my career development, well as of this week I am switching homeopathy schools, I will now be enrolled in the Caduceous Institute for Classical Homeopathy, based in California. I am joining some friends and colleagues at this school. Also, I have recently developed the skill of "distance energy testing" which allows me to better direct clients toward and away from the proper food selections for their children and will also help me in my homeopathy practice. This has been a major gain for our household because it has given me the ability to know EXACTLY which remedy to give my children, in exactly which potency, at exactly which time of day, and also allows me to know exactly when to increase the potency of their remedies (or when they need a new remedy altogether).
I hope all are well!
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Friday, February 15, 2013
Negative Ions, the Healing Power of Love :)
So we had an interesting development here at my house...we received our Energy Armor silicone wristbands yesterday in the mail (which emit healthy negative ions, which counteract positive ions from harmful electromagnetic frequencies and such...which we have a lot of around our house). I did quite a bit of research about these arm bands and spoke to a company representative. The reviews and the technology seemed promising but I wasn't sure what to expect. Would they work?
Well, it could be a coincidence, but honestly I have seen a change since we have put these on. First, E seemed to benefit right away with developing a very good mood, better than I have seen in awhile and today his mood was quite phenominal actually. B, well he came home in a very good mood today from school (lately he has been kind of whiny after school). As for myself, the verdict is still out. I was very tired when I put them on and if anything the wristband seemed to intensify that for me last night. But as today wore on, I developed a great amount of energy. Maybe there was a "healing crisis/herxheimer/die-off" reaction for me that we so often see with any healing modality. Only time will tell. For now I'm sold and we will all be sleeping/eating/showering/you name it with these things on:) Click here for more information about Energy Armor Wristbands.
In other news, we just finished our February newsletter at The Center for Holistic Healing. There is information about remedies for "heartbreak" and grief, a meditation for connecting to your child's heart chakra (I did that meditation before picking up the boys from school and really it did prepare and relax me for a time of day that is normally kind of stressful), and a couple articles about the importance of loving our children in order to heal them. I did a summary of "The Five Love Languages", by Gary Chapman in this newsletter. Click here to view the February newsletter!
Well, it could be a coincidence, but honestly I have seen a change since we have put these on. First, E seemed to benefit right away with developing a very good mood, better than I have seen in awhile and today his mood was quite phenominal actually. B, well he came home in a very good mood today from school (lately he has been kind of whiny after school). As for myself, the verdict is still out. I was very tired when I put them on and if anything the wristband seemed to intensify that for me last night. But as today wore on, I developed a great amount of energy. Maybe there was a "healing crisis/herxheimer/die-off" reaction for me that we so often see with any healing modality. Only time will tell. For now I'm sold and we will all be sleeping/eating/showering/you name it with these things on:) Click here for more information about Energy Armor Wristbands.
In other news, we just finished our February newsletter at The Center for Holistic Healing. There is information about remedies for "heartbreak" and grief, a meditation for connecting to your child's heart chakra (I did that meditation before picking up the boys from school and really it did prepare and relax me for a time of day that is normally kind of stressful), and a couple articles about the importance of loving our children in order to heal them. I did a summary of "The Five Love Languages", by Gary Chapman in this newsletter. Click here to view the February newsletter!
Sunday, February 10, 2013
A new look, a new purpose...
I hope that my readers enjoy the new look of my blog! I think the change is timely as we, as a family, have fully emerged from a dark place and are shifting our focus in life. I've also adopted a new purpose for my blog, and that is to raise awareness within Autism/PANDAS/special-need communities about the potential for healing and to post informative and inspirational information about health and healing.
I have a quick announcement and then I'll give a brief update about my boys (since it has been almost one year since I have done so)...
I am very excited to announce that I have found my passion in life, working as a Holistic Healthcare Consultant with the newly formed Center for Holistic Healing: ASD, PANS and Whole Family Health. I am working alongside (and studying under) Angelica Lemke, ND and January Slater (our homeopaths) and Beth Monterosso (my dear friend and colleague). I am available to consult with parents of special-needs children to help them navigate the world of alternative medicine (including dietary interventions, eliminating toxins from the environment and much more) for autism/pandas and other special needs. As always, however, I am still available via email for questions about my boys, our approach, homeopathy in general, etc. My email address and other contact info are located at the bottom of this post.
I am also enrolled in The School of Homeopathy in Devon, England to become a homeopath within the next couple of years.
As for my boys, things continue to improve each and every month! We have completed a few homeopathic "clears" with strep nosodes and several other nosodes (strep pneumonia a.k.a. "pneumococcinum", strep viridans, strep pyogenes, candida albicans and klebsiella pneumonia) and things are better than ever! With each clear we brought the potencies up to either 1M or 10M and then back down over a time period of several months. To give you an idea, B, who we were pretty sure would be held back a year or two in school, has now moved up to the top of his class (according to his teachers), loving school and making friends! He still struggles with mild/moderate speech apraxia but improves every month as we get glowing reports home from his speech therapist each week! He also still struggles with occassional asthma, but the level of severity decreases every month.
E continues to do just great! His chronic ear infections and asthma have completely disappeared.
For both boys, we have only had to use one one-week course of antibiotics for each child in the past 2 years. Their pandas symptoms are almost non-existant and we function as a relatively normal family! After completing the clears (myself included), we are all now back to taking our one constitutional remedy once or twice a day, which is allowing me to shift my focus back to general healthy eating and adding back several supporting supplements (only three at the moment...vitamin c, fermented cod liver oil/butter oil, and calcium). We are still gluten free, but we do use specific dairy products which are less inflammatory and allergenic. B's severe reactions to several other foods are dropping off one by one and he is finally excited to be expanding his diet!
As for our current constitutional remedies, my remedy has changed from ignatia amara to arsenicum metallicum, and B's has changed from thuja, to carcinosin to meddorhinum. Carcinosin (and the bacteria clears) is what brought about the most miraculous results in a very short amount of time for B. Meddorhinum has recently been prescribed to get him over the hump of lingering asthma and some lingering occassional episodes of angry outbursts (nothing like the rages of the past...the current outbursts consist of him screaming at someone and running to his room and locking the door and then returning with an apology or ability to go on with his day). E's remedy is still ignatia amara, but I can see on the horizon that it might be changed (downgraded, if you will).
My husband, too, is being treated homeopathically. His first remedy prescribed by a local homeopath was thuja, and his current remedy is phosphorus, prescribed via skype by Grant Bentley at the Victorian College of Classical Homeopathy in Australia. Despite a recent setback with a rather debilitating bout of kidney stones, my husband is doing very well.
I hope that each of you will continue to follow my blog! I do plan to give occassional updates about my boys, but mostly I'd like to keep everyone up-to-date on the latest in natural and homeopathic medicine, and also post inspirational articles from time-to-time (from our monthly newsletter and such).
My contact info:
email stephanieweeks@hhasd.com
website www.holistichealingasd.com
to schedule an appt. https://hhasd2.simplifyaccounts.com/index.html
The Light facebook page http://www.facebook.com/TheLightStephanieWeeks
personal facebook page http://www.facebook.com/stephanie.n.weeks
I have a quick announcement and then I'll give a brief update about my boys (since it has been almost one year since I have done so)...
I am very excited to announce that I have found my passion in life, working as a Holistic Healthcare Consultant with the newly formed Center for Holistic Healing: ASD, PANS and Whole Family Health. I am working alongside (and studying under) Angelica Lemke, ND and January Slater (our homeopaths) and Beth Monterosso (my dear friend and colleague). I am available to consult with parents of special-needs children to help them navigate the world of alternative medicine (including dietary interventions, eliminating toxins from the environment and much more) for autism/pandas and other special needs. As always, however, I am still available via email for questions about my boys, our approach, homeopathy in general, etc. My email address and other contact info are located at the bottom of this post.
I am also enrolled in The School of Homeopathy in Devon, England to become a homeopath within the next couple of years.
As for my boys, things continue to improve each and every month! We have completed a few homeopathic "clears" with strep nosodes and several other nosodes (strep pneumonia a.k.a. "pneumococcinum", strep viridans, strep pyogenes, candida albicans and klebsiella pneumonia) and things are better than ever! With each clear we brought the potencies up to either 1M or 10M and then back down over a time period of several months. To give you an idea, B, who we were pretty sure would be held back a year or two in school, has now moved up to the top of his class (according to his teachers), loving school and making friends! He still struggles with mild/moderate speech apraxia but improves every month as we get glowing reports home from his speech therapist each week! He also still struggles with occassional asthma, but the level of severity decreases every month.
E continues to do just great! His chronic ear infections and asthma have completely disappeared.
For both boys, we have only had to use one one-week course of antibiotics for each child in the past 2 years. Their pandas symptoms are almost non-existant and we function as a relatively normal family! After completing the clears (myself included), we are all now back to taking our one constitutional remedy once or twice a day, which is allowing me to shift my focus back to general healthy eating and adding back several supporting supplements (only three at the moment...vitamin c, fermented cod liver oil/butter oil, and calcium). We are still gluten free, but we do use specific dairy products which are less inflammatory and allergenic. B's severe reactions to several other foods are dropping off one by one and he is finally excited to be expanding his diet!
As for our current constitutional remedies, my remedy has changed from ignatia amara to arsenicum metallicum, and B's has changed from thuja, to carcinosin to meddorhinum. Carcinosin (and the bacteria clears) is what brought about the most miraculous results in a very short amount of time for B. Meddorhinum has recently been prescribed to get him over the hump of lingering asthma and some lingering occassional episodes of angry outbursts (nothing like the rages of the past...the current outbursts consist of him screaming at someone and running to his room and locking the door and then returning with an apology or ability to go on with his day). E's remedy is still ignatia amara, but I can see on the horizon that it might be changed (downgraded, if you will).
My husband, too, is being treated homeopathically. His first remedy prescribed by a local homeopath was thuja, and his current remedy is phosphorus, prescribed via skype by Grant Bentley at the Victorian College of Classical Homeopathy in Australia. Despite a recent setback with a rather debilitating bout of kidney stones, my husband is doing very well.
I hope that each of you will continue to follow my blog! I do plan to give occassional updates about my boys, but mostly I'd like to keep everyone up-to-date on the latest in natural and homeopathic medicine, and also post inspirational articles from time-to-time (from our monthly newsletter and such).
My contact info:
email stephanieweeks@hhasd.com
website www.holistichealingasd.com
to schedule an appt. https://hhasd2.simplifyaccounts.com/index.html
The Light facebook page http://www.facebook.com/TheLightStephanieWeeks
personal facebook page http://www.facebook.com/stephanie.n.weeks
Thursday, April 5, 2012
I'm back :)
Well, it's been 6 months since I last posted! It has been a busy 6 months. The boys had strep a few times since August. We had to use antibiotics for one of those infections b/c E also had a ruptured ear drum (my husband was afraid of hearing loss) and B had a concurrent infection with pneumonia one time. Outside of that, my boys have been antibiotic free for over a year and I have become a true expert in knocking out strep infections without antibiotics!
Now that life has become relatively normal again, I am gravitating away from the computer more and more. I am finding that I just want to leave "this life" behind and start anew. I am enjoying spending time with my boys, teaching them things that they should have learned when they were sick, etc. We do many activities on the weekends, we even go out of town.
We still have our issues, such as constipation and food allergies. And I can still tell when they have been exposed to strep. But I have mastered the use of the strep nosodes so I feel very secure about our future.
The next phase of healing for us will be clearing the MMR vaccine with an MMR remedy for E (MMR is what brought on pandas at the age of 20 months), and possibly a DTaP remedy for B, although I am a bit more interested in clearing the Lexapro that I took while pregnant and nursing with him.
Maybe I'll be back in a few months to update on our progress. And I do still hold out the hope that I can come back to this blog one day with the news that my sons are CURED of pandas (meaning, they can get a strep infection without pandas symptoms)!
Now that life has become relatively normal again, I am gravitating away from the computer more and more. I am finding that I just want to leave "this life" behind and start anew. I am enjoying spending time with my boys, teaching them things that they should have learned when they were sick, etc. We do many activities on the weekends, we even go out of town.
We still have our issues, such as constipation and food allergies. And I can still tell when they have been exposed to strep. But I have mastered the use of the strep nosodes so I feel very secure about our future.
The next phase of healing for us will be clearing the MMR vaccine with an MMR remedy for E (MMR is what brought on pandas at the age of 20 months), and possibly a DTaP remedy for B, although I am a bit more interested in clearing the Lexapro that I took while pregnant and nursing with him.
Maybe I'll be back in a few months to update on our progress. And I do still hold out the hope that I can come back to this blog one day with the news that my sons are CURED of pandas (meaning, they can get a strep infection without pandas symptoms)!
Monday, September 12, 2011
My own journey with homeopathy!
I don't normally give two updates in one day, but I happen to have the time today. There is always so much to post about it, it feels like I only get about 50% of it on my blog!
So back in March 2011 I started a remedy called Aurem Muriaticum Natronatum. This remedy made quite a difference in terms of being able to withstand stress, not so depressed and also made most signs of PMS disappear, including the very painful and heavy, clotty periods I would get. No more pain, no more clots, much lighter flow!
But something happened in July, and it stopped working.
I ran out of my "homeopathy friendly" toothpaste and started using my old toothpaste when my homeopath told me that she is not worried about "mint toothpaste". I didn't notice the correlation at the time, but my mental health started to plummet.
I blamed it on everything around me: the kids, the stress, PTSD, my husband. My homeopath was perplexed and didn't know what to make of it. She eluded to the thought that she might want to eventually change my remedy to Ignatia (b/c of the emotional lability). I thought back to my very first consult with Angelica Lemke, who told me that I need to take the same remedy as E: Ignatia.
So I had another consult with Angelica to make sure Ignatia was my remedy (all signs lead to a resounding YES), and the rest is history! I feel incredible and I am quickly cleaning up the "mess" of the last 5 years, I am more focused when it comes to making decisions for the boys and for my next career path. I am more stable in the face of stress. I am calm and happy and content. Wow! My face is clear, finally, and my restless leg syndrome and neck injury are still under control after switching from Aurem to Ignatia. I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO HEALTH PROBLEMS AND TONS OF ENERGY!
Ignatia is prompting me to take a good look at my life and "clean house" in many areas. Autism stole so much from us. Everything, really. Nothing about our lives has gone untouched, and most of it has been completely demolished. Homeopathy has given us so much, but now we have to take it and run with it and make something of what we have left. We have to rebuild from scratch.
There was one bump in the road recently that I want to mention b/c it was quite a learning experience. I stopped by the vitamin shoppe one day when I was feeling particularly tired and I picked up some methylcobamin (B12) "strips" that you put in your mouth and they dissolve on your tongue. I noticed that it tasted very much like a cough drop, the flavor was VERY strong. By the time I got home I had the energy boost I had been looking for, but I also had SO MUCH MORE LOL!
When I entered the house, E appeared to be suffering some pandas symptoms and I quickly went downhill with him. I was raising my voice, I was panicky...it wasn't pretty at all. Even E was like "what is WRONG with you?". I then went into the kitchen and sat on the floor and cried. I was surprised by my own reaction and didn't know what to make of it. I went ahead and gave myself (and E) a dose of Ignatia, which calmed us both down quite a bit.
I tried the B12 strip again the next day and the same reaction happened and I had to dose myself AGAIN with Ignatia! It later occurred to me that I should look at the ingredients of the strips, and there it was in black and white: Menthol. A known, potent, antidote to homeopathic remedies. In fact, many homeopaths will tell you to take some menthol if a patient has a bad reaction to a remedy, or they need to antidote one in order to start another. Wow, they aren't kidding! There I was hysterical on my kitchen floor.
To me, the picture of me on my kitchen floor is exactly what would be left of me right now after this journey with autism/pandas/chiari, etc. That is me, bare bones, without the assistance of Lexapro, 5HTP or Ignatia. A heap on the floor. How scary.
So, this experience prompted me to look at my toothpaste, finally, and there it was AGAIN! Menthol. I have been using mentholated toothpaste since July, which is exactly when Aurem stopped working. It makes me wonder if maybe I SHOULD still be taking Aurem. BUT, I am going to go ahead and stick to Ignatia, b/c I absolutely LOVE what it is doing for me right now!
And a note on how this journey has impacted my faith. In the years that my boys were "going under", I barely ever "spoke" to God. I was angry and confused, and I felt like God had abandoned us. I felt like God gave me more than I could handle, more than any human could handle. I felt like we were close to breaking and I wondered if God was going to let this family completely crack.
The day I started homeopathy is the day I started praying again. I guess I decided to acknowledge God's guidance in this process. I felt that God was leading me down a path that was going to bring us healing and I figured it might be a good idea to start "talking" with him again.
Watching my family heal has strengthened my faith. Homeopathy is such a mysterious, spiritual and effective form of medicine, how can I not see...or even feel TOUCHED BY, God/The Universe in this process! I am opening up my mind and heart to spiritual guidance. I find myself saying all the time "oh, I GET it now"!
Breaking the "cycle" was a little like an "addict" stopping an addiction. We went almost "cold turkey" without our meds, we took it one day at a time. Before long I realized that we were "surviving", which is more than I could say before homeopathy. After long, though, I knew we needed to do more than survive. God is still providing, a little more each day. He is showing me the way, lighting my path a little at a time. I am learning to walk by faith, which is how I make most of my decisions these days. We are starting to do more than survive. We are starting to experience joy...a little here...a little there. We are starting to "thrive".
Just as things snowballed in the wrong direction for 5 years, things are starting to snowball in the right direction. Life keeps getting better and better, more and more managable. There is still more to recover...finances, marriage, general discipline of the children, immune system in the face of strep. But the progress seems to move at a faster and faster pace as we go!
I have taken up yoga and meditation for myself. I am making doctor and dentist appts for myself. I have LUNCH each day! I am creating time to "pick up where I left off", so to speak. It feels good to rise up out of the ashes and create a better existance one day at a time...
So back in March 2011 I started a remedy called Aurem Muriaticum Natronatum. This remedy made quite a difference in terms of being able to withstand stress, not so depressed and also made most signs of PMS disappear, including the very painful and heavy, clotty periods I would get. No more pain, no more clots, much lighter flow!
But something happened in July, and it stopped working.
I ran out of my "homeopathy friendly" toothpaste and started using my old toothpaste when my homeopath told me that she is not worried about "mint toothpaste". I didn't notice the correlation at the time, but my mental health started to plummet.
I blamed it on everything around me: the kids, the stress, PTSD, my husband. My homeopath was perplexed and didn't know what to make of it. She eluded to the thought that she might want to eventually change my remedy to Ignatia (b/c of the emotional lability). I thought back to my very first consult with Angelica Lemke, who told me that I need to take the same remedy as E: Ignatia.
So I had another consult with Angelica to make sure Ignatia was my remedy (all signs lead to a resounding YES), and the rest is history! I feel incredible and I am quickly cleaning up the "mess" of the last 5 years, I am more focused when it comes to making decisions for the boys and for my next career path. I am more stable in the face of stress. I am calm and happy and content. Wow! My face is clear, finally, and my restless leg syndrome and neck injury are still under control after switching from Aurem to Ignatia. I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO HEALTH PROBLEMS AND TONS OF ENERGY!
Ignatia is prompting me to take a good look at my life and "clean house" in many areas. Autism stole so much from us. Everything, really. Nothing about our lives has gone untouched, and most of it has been completely demolished. Homeopathy has given us so much, but now we have to take it and run with it and make something of what we have left. We have to rebuild from scratch.
There was one bump in the road recently that I want to mention b/c it was quite a learning experience. I stopped by the vitamin shoppe one day when I was feeling particularly tired and I picked up some methylcobamin (B12) "strips" that you put in your mouth and they dissolve on your tongue. I noticed that it tasted very much like a cough drop, the flavor was VERY strong. By the time I got home I had the energy boost I had been looking for, but I also had SO MUCH MORE LOL!
When I entered the house, E appeared to be suffering some pandas symptoms and I quickly went downhill with him. I was raising my voice, I was panicky...it wasn't pretty at all. Even E was like "what is WRONG with you?". I then went into the kitchen and sat on the floor and cried. I was surprised by my own reaction and didn't know what to make of it. I went ahead and gave myself (and E) a dose of Ignatia, which calmed us both down quite a bit.
I tried the B12 strip again the next day and the same reaction happened and I had to dose myself AGAIN with Ignatia! It later occurred to me that I should look at the ingredients of the strips, and there it was in black and white: Menthol. A known, potent, antidote to homeopathic remedies. In fact, many homeopaths will tell you to take some menthol if a patient has a bad reaction to a remedy, or they need to antidote one in order to start another. Wow, they aren't kidding! There I was hysterical on my kitchen floor.
To me, the picture of me on my kitchen floor is exactly what would be left of me right now after this journey with autism/pandas/chiari, etc. That is me, bare bones, without the assistance of Lexapro, 5HTP or Ignatia. A heap on the floor. How scary.
So, this experience prompted me to look at my toothpaste, finally, and there it was AGAIN! Menthol. I have been using mentholated toothpaste since July, which is exactly when Aurem stopped working. It makes me wonder if maybe I SHOULD still be taking Aurem. BUT, I am going to go ahead and stick to Ignatia, b/c I absolutely LOVE what it is doing for me right now!
And a note on how this journey has impacted my faith. In the years that my boys were "going under", I barely ever "spoke" to God. I was angry and confused, and I felt like God had abandoned us. I felt like God gave me more than I could handle, more than any human could handle. I felt like we were close to breaking and I wondered if God was going to let this family completely crack.
The day I started homeopathy is the day I started praying again. I guess I decided to acknowledge God's guidance in this process. I felt that God was leading me down a path that was going to bring us healing and I figured it might be a good idea to start "talking" with him again.
Watching my family heal has strengthened my faith. Homeopathy is such a mysterious, spiritual and effective form of medicine, how can I not see...or even feel TOUCHED BY, God/The Universe in this process! I am opening up my mind and heart to spiritual guidance. I find myself saying all the time "oh, I GET it now"!
Breaking the "cycle" was a little like an "addict" stopping an addiction. We went almost "cold turkey" without our meds, we took it one day at a time. Before long I realized that we were "surviving", which is more than I could say before homeopathy. After long, though, I knew we needed to do more than survive. God is still providing, a little more each day. He is showing me the way, lighting my path a little at a time. I am learning to walk by faith, which is how I make most of my decisions these days. We are starting to do more than survive. We are starting to experience joy...a little here...a little there. We are starting to "thrive".
Just as things snowballed in the wrong direction for 5 years, things are starting to snowball in the right direction. Life keeps getting better and better, more and more managable. There is still more to recover...finances, marriage, general discipline of the children, immune system in the face of strep. But the progress seems to move at a faster and faster pace as we go!
I have taken up yoga and meditation for myself. I am making doctor and dentist appts for myself. I have LUNCH each day! I am creating time to "pick up where I left off", so to speak. It feels good to rise up out of the ashes and create a better existance one day at a time...
Camel's Milk
B and I are on day 5 of camel milk. The first thing I noticed for both of us, after only 2 tsp., was a dramatic increase in flatulence (sorry...I aim to give the full story LOL) and "tummy rumbling". Being that the camel milk is being ingested raw, not pasteurized, I would assume this is a die-off/herx/healing reaction as a result of the good bacteria in the milk.
I then noticed softer and more frequent BMs, which is a welcome relief for B.
After increasing B's intake of camel milk to 4 tsp., we started to get behaviors that correspond to a clostridia infection: angry outbursts, lack of focus and cooperation, some anxiety and refusing to eat meat. And then came the green poop...clostridia.
I am a bit confused b/c I didn't think we could have clostridia die-off if we didn't have clostridia to begin with, so I have been turning this around and around in my head, trying to figure out why/how this is happening.
I have come to several possible conclusions. One being that I killed off so much yeast with the MCTs in the coconut milk, that clostridia was starting to take hold in the gut before the camel milk came along. Another is that the camel milk is breaking up a biofilm in the gut where the clostridia has been residing all along.
Either way, I will be looking forward to the BM that has the black specs in it (indicating that bacteria is DYING instead of living). I am not giving B his remedy, Thuja, for clostridia behaviors b/c I don't want to interfere with whatever process the camel milk is working in his body. I have no idea if that line of thinking is accurate, maybe I SHOULD be dosing thuja to help the process along. But in this journey I have learned to follow my gut - first and foremost - and right now my gut is telling me to just let it play out.
I do, however, dose thuja when I see symptoms of pandas. Still working like a charm in that area. Thank God!
I don't have much of an update regarding E and camel milk. He is on day 3 and only on 2 oz per day at this point. I am noticing a bit more calm and concentration about him, but it's too soon to tell. E is doing so well in general, I would imagine any gains will be quite subtle.
Oh, I did have to stop the cultured coconut milk, by the way, b/c B was developing some majorly itchy skin and I was starting to wonder if it was an intolerance to the coconut. I will reintroduce it at a later time. For now, I'm gonna miss that stuff!
I then noticed softer and more frequent BMs, which is a welcome relief for B.
After increasing B's intake of camel milk to 4 tsp., we started to get behaviors that correspond to a clostridia infection: angry outbursts, lack of focus and cooperation, some anxiety and refusing to eat meat. And then came the green poop...clostridia.
I am a bit confused b/c I didn't think we could have clostridia die-off if we didn't have clostridia to begin with, so I have been turning this around and around in my head, trying to figure out why/how this is happening.
I have come to several possible conclusions. One being that I killed off so much yeast with the MCTs in the coconut milk, that clostridia was starting to take hold in the gut before the camel milk came along. Another is that the camel milk is breaking up a biofilm in the gut where the clostridia has been residing all along.
Either way, I will be looking forward to the BM that has the black specs in it (indicating that bacteria is DYING instead of living). I am not giving B his remedy, Thuja, for clostridia behaviors b/c I don't want to interfere with whatever process the camel milk is working in his body. I have no idea if that line of thinking is accurate, maybe I SHOULD be dosing thuja to help the process along. But in this journey I have learned to follow my gut - first and foremost - and right now my gut is telling me to just let it play out.
I do, however, dose thuja when I see symptoms of pandas. Still working like a charm in that area. Thank God!
I don't have much of an update regarding E and camel milk. He is on day 3 and only on 2 oz per day at this point. I am noticing a bit more calm and concentration about him, but it's too soon to tell. E is doing so well in general, I would imagine any gains will be quite subtle.
Oh, I did have to stop the cultured coconut milk, by the way, b/c B was developing some majorly itchy skin and I was starting to wonder if it was an intolerance to the coconut. I will reintroduce it at a later time. For now, I'm gonna miss that stuff!
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Cultured Coconut Milk
On a whim, I purchased cultured coconut milk at Whole Foods one day. It seemed like something that would benefit my boys' guts (the good bacteria, the calcium, the healthy fats). I started B on it already and have seen some undeniable gains from it!
The first day I started with 3 oz and he had some major die-off reactions in the form of a tantrum and five, yes FIVE, potty accidents that day. He does not ever have potty accidents! This, I assumed, was yeast die-off due to the cultures, but then I had a second thought.
I think the die-off was also from the medium-chain fatty acids, which in biomedical circles is known to kill off yeast (think caprylic acid or MCT oil, both derived from coconuts).
BUT, I think it may have been the MCTs in the coconut milk that were probably responsible for the undeniable gains (even his school commented on increased interaction and many more words - LOVE THAT!). But here are the gains that I noticed: suddenly able to ride his bike REALLY REALLY fast (which by the way, he couldn't even do at all before homeopathy), more clarity of words, and increased ability to move his bowels.
Why would MCTs do all that? Well B has hypotonia (low muscle tone), which he was born with. He also has been diagnosed with mitochondrial dysfunction, which is the cells' inability to utilize food for fuel efficiently. MCTs are notorious for mito dys b/c they are a readily available form of energy for the cells, hence giving the muscles more energy and "oomph". This would obviously affect his gross motor skills, but also helps his speech apraxia (which is tied to his hypotonia in an indirect way) and the ability for the muscles in his bowels to contract more efficiently.
The other gain, which I haven't seen in a long time, is formed, brown poop. 'Nuff said!
The first day I started with 3 oz and he had some major die-off reactions in the form of a tantrum and five, yes FIVE, potty accidents that day. He does not ever have potty accidents! This, I assumed, was yeast die-off due to the cultures, but then I had a second thought.
I think the die-off was also from the medium-chain fatty acids, which in biomedical circles is known to kill off yeast (think caprylic acid or MCT oil, both derived from coconuts).
BUT, I think it may have been the MCTs in the coconut milk that were probably responsible for the undeniable gains (even his school commented on increased interaction and many more words - LOVE THAT!). But here are the gains that I noticed: suddenly able to ride his bike REALLY REALLY fast (which by the way, he couldn't even do at all before homeopathy), more clarity of words, and increased ability to move his bowels.
Why would MCTs do all that? Well B has hypotonia (low muscle tone), which he was born with. He also has been diagnosed with mitochondrial dysfunction, which is the cells' inability to utilize food for fuel efficiently. MCTs are notorious for mito dys b/c they are a readily available form of energy for the cells, hence giving the muscles more energy and "oomph". This would obviously affect his gross motor skills, but also helps his speech apraxia (which is tied to his hypotonia in an indirect way) and the ability for the muscles in his bowels to contract more efficiently.
The other gain, which I haven't seen in a long time, is formed, brown poop. 'Nuff said!
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