At one point, our kids were taking handfuls of supplements at a time. It wasn't fun but remember, none of this treatment is for forever. My son takes no supplements or meds now except B12 (because he is vegan) and he has no depression.
The various diets, gfcf, SCD, and others were as helpful in telling us what we didn’t need to avoid as what was bothering him. So, try the diets without the burden that you will be on them forever. Your child will evolve and what he/she is doing now will not be what they will be doing 2 yrs from now – it will change a lot. Help them to understand that you are doing all this to help them and enlist their support. Let them know this is a team effort. (We had a family meeting that my husband and I planned ahead of time.) It makes a big difference when they know we are working for them and it gives them hope for change (like us).
One of the best products that we used was a supplement made by Melaleuca called
ProvexCV for high blood pressure made from grape seed extract. It is a strong anti-inflammatory and it greatly relieved John’s depression which we eventually learned was inflammation related. It takes 2 weeks for it to work, though. (It is about $30+shipping for a month’s supply; one has to be member of the company to buy from them.)
Also, go to the the website for the non-profit, Institute for Responsible Technology, and learn about GMOs from them. Even universities are endowed by Monsanto and their ilk now so it is very hard to figure out which studies are reliable anymore. Try to eat foods that are not sprayed with Round Up. It is a piece of the puzzle for our kids and for us.
Go to a conference. They really psyched me up and gave me hope. Autism One (on Memorial Day weekend) is the best and it is now cheap. (used to cost hundreds of $) You can share a room with others if you know of others that are going. I went every year for awhile and even brought my own food so I didn’t spend much. I never stood in line for coffee or rode on an elevator without striking up a conversation with others there. Someone told me, “You will learn as much from other parents here as from the speakers.” That was so true. If something was working for their child, I wanted to consider it.
I joined some yahoo groups that were very active in the biomedical treatments and I learned a TON from those folks.
Sometimes I just got worn out and mentally checked out for a few months. That is okay. We need to survive. Then I would go to a conference and come home with a few new ideas to try and enthusiasm to go at it again.
Our kids don’t have a mental problem. They are physically sick so their reflexes are not integrating like a normal kid. The biomedical helped John feel better and MNRI helped him get caught up cognitively by integrating his reflexes.
We are not completely done with the biomedical but we have come a long, long way. John is SO MUCH happier and more functional than he was and our goal is to make him able to go to school or hold a job by the time he is 30 (3 yrs.) and I think we will make it. It is good to have a goal.
I was the ‘point man’ and did all the reading and was willing to try almost ANYTHING. My husband is a little more cynical of the various protocols and that made him a bad choice to work on this. But he just supported whatever I wanted to try and that made us a good team. The point man has to be someone who can believe in miracles and not feel bad if you waste some $ and something doesn’t work. The point man needs to be someone who is a little tenacious and bold. We learned something each time we tried a supplement, foot bath, etc. and moved on.
I now look at the families that I know who never even tried the biomedical and I feel so sorry for them. Sure, it cost us money but having an adult child with autism is expensive, also. Plus, one of the benefits of what I learned over the years is that now our whole family is healthier than most. We know a lot of secrets to staying healthy.
sally
