Asperger’s, Tourette Syndrome, ADHD, OCD and Diabetes are no match for this determined mother!

Posted on 04/27/2013 by Christy

Please give a warm welcome to Em, an amazing mom in Omaha, NE who will stop at nothing to give her boys the healthiest life she can. I had the pleasure of meeting Em recently, and I’m thrilled that she was willing to share her story with all of you here! I’m sure many of you will relate to her journey…from realizing that her boys’ health was suffering…to struggling for answers…and then putting in the hard work (and finances) it takes to implement the natural solutions she believes in so strongly…

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ember Em writes…

“My life changed after the birth of my oldest son in November of 04′. Born with many issues, one of our struggles became something called MSPI (milk soy protein intolerance). Which, after all was said and done from surgeries to NG feeds (Nasal Gastric feeding tube) left a lot of stress and confusion in our home, where new parents had to maneuver through a new food world. All that being said, when he hit 2 years old, we were told he’d out grow his MSPI and to feed him regularly – Even though he failed a conventional milk challenge with pasteurized store bought milk, we were told to feed him normally and see. By the time he was 4 years old, he had been diagnosed as “Failure to Thrive” for his entire life, had a diagnosis of Functional Abdominal Pain and was just a few days away from being in the hospital. He had no energy, was lethargic really, dark circles under his eyes and only wanted to eat macaroni and cheese and ice cream!

It was during this time that my youngest was born and also diagnosed with MSPI! I breastfed the entire time with him. Though he was so sensitive I literally was allowed to eat less than 10 types of food the entire year. None of these foods came from a box or can – this should’ve been my first clue!

dathen Beside myself with worry over my oldest son, I was talking with a friend who jogged my memory of an article I’d read when he was first diagnosed. The article explained that we begin to crave the things we’re allergic to. So, I took to the internet to find what I could and recipes that I could use if I removed the milk from his diet again. This is around the time I stumbled upon the holistic online community at Completely Nourished. I found a few recipes and promptly removed the milk proteins from his diet. Within two days, he was asking for second helpings of food. I added liquid vitamins that were easily digestible for his tummy (all gluten-, casein-, preservative-free, etc.). Within one week, the dark circles under his eyes were gone, he’d put on 2 pounds and most of his personality changed!

Diagnosed with Asperger’s, Tourette Syndrome, ADHD, OCD, etc. I pretty much couldn’t think about his future – I knew what all of these diagnoses together meant. Well, just removing the gross processed milk proteins changed a majority of his issues! His tics were so bad that it would take him 5 minutes sometimes to finish a sentence because he’d tic, stop talking and have to start the sentence over. He was beating himself and had just expressed the desire to have coprolalia (This is what people think of when they think of TS). It was really bad. We removed just the milk and in 3 years, I have not seen his tics come anywhere near that degree anymore. Truth be told, now, when his tics are on a downswing, you wouldn’t even notice he has TS! To top that off, he went from 8 medications down to just 5!!

Jax So, I went back and read Christy’s story again. I followed a few of her recipes and started to slowly cut out all those additives in his food and his brother’s food. We’re still not 100% additive-free, but we’re probably 99% additive-free now. We also made sure that their food was organic whenever possible as well.

Flash forward 3 years and my son was again being tested for Celiac. So, standing there holding him down for yet another blood draw, I realized that rather than keep doing this, it made more sense to just go gluten-free for him. So, we went gluten-free, too. Within 4 days he had what one neurologist termed “withdrawal” symptoms! It was awful really but, by the next day, just like when he was removed from milk, he was almost the little boy I knew at 2 years old!

Which prompted me back to Christy’s story here, where I poured over anyting that I could get my hands on. Then I went went back and got my geek on. I researched for hours sometimes on the internet about foods, GMOs, preservatives, etc., After a little over 2 weeks now casein/gluten free, my oldest is being titrated down on the dosage of 2 of his medications with the hopes that he can get completely off of them! My youngest, who was diagnosed with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) in November of 2012, was originally put on ADHD meds during the day and awful Clonidine at night to help him sleep. Today, after just this short time off of gluten too, he’s now medication free! Unlike my oldest, who you wouldn’t even know had Asperger’s, you will notice my little guys eye contact problem and sometimes his communication issues, but, overall, his whole personality is different. He’s still a little wilder than the neighborhood kiddos, but nothing like he used to be.

On a side note, before I took them gluten-free and as preservative-free and additive-free as I could, I weighed almost 300lbs on the dot. I got whooping cough last year and couldn’t shake it. Went in a second time to the ER and had pneumonia. They sent me home with some antibiotics and strict instructions. Two days later, I got a call from my GP’s nurse. She told me that I was hands down diabetic, but that they needed to perform another test to be thorough. She read off my entire CBC to me and explained what all these numbers meant. While she did say that my illness would give some of these higher readings, it wouldn’t account for how high all of them were or why they were all out of control.

I found out that I had metabolic disorder, my adrenals were running on empty, etc. I sat there and realized that with two parents who had congestive heart failure, one of which had died at 61 years old from it…and my mother at 64 has already had numerous heart attacks, a stroke and 2 stents put in her heart…I had a choice to make!

As I sat there listening to my numbers being read off and listening to my children digging through their Legos in the other room. I realized that I could keep going the way I’d been going or I could die younger than my parents. So, I headed back to the Completely Nourished online community to find recipes and as much information as I could to get myself healthy enough to take care of my boys. To date, I’ve lost a tad over 40 pounds in 2 months! I have way more energy than I have had in years, and I’m emotionally happier and more together than I have been. My whole life has changed!

Had I not found Christy’s site or story here, I have no idea where we would be now. THANK YOU Christy! We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you! And, for anyone out there reading this…KNOW that diet DOES matter!”

One mom’s journey with recovering her son’s autism

Posted on 01/17/2013 by Christy

As a person who took my health into my own hands and recovered from a chronic illness that doctors believed I would suffer with for the rest of my life (i.e., Fibromyalgia), I am always interested to hear about others who have done (or are trying to) do the same for themselves. Obviously what works for one person is not necessarily what will work for others. But if spreading the word about these recoveries helps even one person, then it’s worth taking the time to do so.

Please read below to learn more from Channa Brennon about her journey to help her son recover from autism. As always, the content included here is intended for informational purposes only.

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The following was sent to us from our reader, Channa Brennon….

“I am always so glad to share my story with others, as I wish I had someone tell me in the beginning how powerful and dangerous the foods we put in our mouth can be. I learned the hard way as most of us do. My son at three and a half was like a ferrel wild animal. He was violent, couldn’t talk and would never sleep. He was in severe pain. He would wake up all night long screaming. He was diagnosed PPD NOS….which falls under the autism spectrum. This was not anything but relief for me as I knew something was wrong with my son and finally I had proof.

After I fed him anything his stomach would blow up like he had swallowed a basketball. His colon was paralyzed. It literally stopped working. He would only poop with enemas, and everything he pooped was the whole food pieces he had eaten. Nothing was digested.

Surprisingly, the doctors told me there was nothing to worry about. I knew better, and I searched and searched and prayed for answers. Finally I met a woman over the internet who told me about Andy Cutler chelation and diet. I leaned that my son’s gut was so inflammed that nothing could get digested. I learned about food allergies, and yes my son was allergic to almost every single food he ate, but I found out about a rotation diet and cutting out all the grains and any type of processed food. I also started chelation which I believe had a part in the autoimmune issues/food allergies my son had.

I got a delayed food allergy panel and tried to keep out the foods he was most allergic too. I also cut out all grains from his diet becuse grains are hard to digest . I found that in the begining, with so much damage in his gut, he did good on homemade veggie soups – this was all he ate for about a week until the inflammation went down. Some people might think it’s extreme, but if you think about the fact that my son was wasting away on all the high calorie food I was feeding him, I knew I had to try something different. I alternated this with bone broth soups. And, as he became better, I added in more variety of whole foods. His food was as “clean” as I could make it. That meant no flavoring and no processed foods of any kind. Just simple organic veggies and later on beans, fish, chicken and eggs.

My son has come so far from where we started. He can now eat grains. I buy North carolina rice and organic oats. I am working on learning how to make my own cultured sourdough bread. I also subscribe to the Eat Right for Your Blood Type philosophy, as my son and I are both blood type A and we do better on vegetarian fare. So I make lots of bean soups. I soak and sprout before I cook. We eat tofu that is non-GMO certified, and some chicken, fish and eggs. My son’s gut has healed to the point that he can eat goat yogurt that I buy from the whole foods store. It is my one and only processed food I buy for him and that is because they are one of the few clean company’s. Otherwise, everything he eats is from scratch. I never give in to processed things as my son can’t tolerate it. It seems in your mainstream grocery stores everything is made with GMO foods – corn syrup, sugar and soy.

Forward to today… my son is 75 percent recovered. With a clean diet as number one priority, I believe we will find complete recovery. If you would like to read more about my journey, my blog is http://www.healyourchild.wordpress.com/. Thank you so much for reading my story! Please share with anyone who may find it useful.”

MSG & Aspartame trick your brain and damage your health!

Posted on 09/28/2010 by Christy

This is a great video with very important implications for autism, obesity, mood disorders, migraines, lupus, fibromyalgia, behavior problems, etc. If you need help avoiding these additives, check out our natural cookbook and additive-free shopping guide!