Healing Allergies & Autism - Liver Support

 

Quick update on Jordan’s progress. It’s been a month and a half since the new doctor and his new supplements protocol was supposed to start. After being greatly discouraged because NONE of the supplements from the new doctor will enter beyond Jordan’s lips (and it’s two months between appointments), I went searching – on my own again. I came across a supplement called Liver Life.

Liver Life, it is made by BioRay. It is an herbal tincture and is designed to decongest the liver, allowing acids and toxins to drain from the body (opening Phase I and Phase II detoxification pathways). That’s why this is important to do before chelation. It’s not wise to start pulling metals out of the tissues until the body can efficiently eliminate them! BioRay claims Liver Life also helps to regulate the acid/alkaline balance in the body and decrease certain types of allergy reaction.

Jordan has been on it for 2 weeks now. After the 3rd day on it we saw some great improvements. He is more alert, understands more about what is going on around him, follows conversations some, is adding words to his vocabulary more, and in the last couple of days has started adding connecting words!  This is very exciting. When Jordan started on the prescription anti-fungals (he was only on them for a month before I discontinued them) he lost all his connecting words and they haven’t come back. He had been saying things like, “I fell down” or “Here you go, Mommy” as he handed me something, but since the prescription anti-fungals and subsequent regaining of the language he lost while on them, he now says things like, “fall bump head hurts” or “sitting truck” instead of “sitting on the truck.” It’s been 3 months since he’s been totally off anti-fungals and the connector words hadn’t come back. But in the last couple days, I’ve heard “on” “in” and “the”!!! He also has a new twinkle in his eye and has lost some of that sullen puppy dog look he’s had most of his life!  Exciting times here, hopeful with the possibilities for the new supplements. BioRay claims it is all natural. It appears to be effective, and Jordan can’t even taste it in his juice! We’ll see what the new doctor has to say about the new supplement I added next week when we consult – yikes.

Is It Autism? Diagnosing Autism vs. Food Allergies

Jordan’s issues became apparent when he was 3 weeks old and started vomiting, spitting up (reflux), screaming for 5 hours a day/ night, had rashes, diarrhea, green and mucousy bowel movements and was just plain miserable. We quickly discovered he had multiple food allergies and were able to determine what they were and eliminate them from my diet (he was nursing). The screaming stopped, the vomiting stopped, the reflux ceased. 

At one year old when he needed to start eating solid foods on his own - he had exclusively nursed up to this point – it became obvious he was allergic to all food (except a plain, baked sweet potato).  He reached normal developmental milestones like crawling and walking through about 13 or 14 months of age. But, by 18 months it was obvious he had a speech and developmental – cognitive, emotional and behavioral - delays (but allergies can do that). During this time I researched everything I could find on the causes of food allergies. We greened our house and environment as much as possible, removing toxins and changing our diet to organic whole foods as much as we could. 

It was when he was around 18 months that I learned the causes of allergies, asthma, autism, and ADD/ADHD are the same! So I started reading everything I could on the causes of autism, figuring, since the causes are the same and there is tons of information on autism, I’d read about the causes of autism and be able to help my son with his food allergies, since there isn’t much information specifically on the causes of allergies. The more I read on autism the freakier it got for me. Jordan’s physical symptoms matched that of many autistic kids: multiple food allergies, diarrhea and constipation, tantrums, fear, super sensitive hearing, yeast issues, leaky gut…could Jordan have autism? 

Socially he’s always connected with me, always looked in my eyes, desired to communicate. The one or two autistic kids I’d seen in my life before this were very severe (although I didn’t know that) and that’s what I thought autism was.  I knew something was wrong with Jordan, but was it autism? I struggled with how to tell people what was going on with him, especially in a brief sentence. So I started to say he had autistic-like problems.  He shared the same physical problems and symptoms as a huge number of autistic kids, but did that make it autism?   Well, no, it doesn’t. Autism is classified as a neurological disorder, not a physical disorder, so it’s diagnosed by cognitive, social, and behavioral symptoms, not by physical symptoms or issues. And that is where the two camps of autism are at war right now. One side believes autism is a neurological disorder, nothing can be done except some therapies to try to socialize and teach them. The other side believes autism is a physically-based disease that can be improved, reversed and even cured by addressing those underlying physical problems through biomedical treatments.

You can guess which camp I’m in! Because of Jordan’s extreme sensitivity to foods and other substances, I quickly learned that toxins affect him greatly. It’s easy to see and doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Even just the other day I put sunscreen on him – I knew better. I shouldn’t have. But, I was afraid he would get sunburnt being in water out in full sun for awhile. The only sunscreen available was full of chemicals. (I failed to prepare and have a less toxic one available). That night he was crying and wouldn’t fall asleep like he normally does and fussed for hours past his bedtime. With him, it is easy to see when his toxic burden is getting to great. His eyes swell, he gets lines under them, and he gets fussy and miserable. Forget swimming in a chlorinated pool. He can only handle so many toxins at once and with the amount we are surrounded with in our everyday lives, it’s no wonder the rate of autism is increasing at epidemic rates. Autism is an environmental illness due to the toxic burden put on our bodies and our kids are paying a heavy price.

So, does Jordan have autism?  I’ve never had him formally diagnosed,  I don’t see the point. But from the diagnostic tools I’ve been able to use online, he comes out as having pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD – NOS). It is a form of autism and is certainly on the autism spectrum of disorders. PDD-NOS encompasses a wide range and sometimes can be used as a “soft” diagnosis by practitioners who don’t have the heart to tell parents their child has autism. However, in Jordan’s case I would agree that it’s PDD-NOS. He doesn’t fit classic autism or Asperger’s. Some of his symptoms are severe, where other areas he seems unaffected. Some of the symptoms where he seems unaffected or nearly so are the defining characteristics of these other diagnoses. I still have a difficult time saying he has autism, or even PDD. I prefer to say he has some developmental delays, sensory issues, or food allergies depending on the situation. Even better, I say he has yeast overgrowth, leaky gut, malabsorption of nutrients, a malfunctioning and weak immune system, and heavy metal toxicity because that’s what the real issues are.

Here are a few statistics from Generation Rescue:

• Autism now impacts 1 in 150 children, up from 1 in 10,000 in the 1970s. That is an increase of 6,000%.
• 1 in 150 children have autism. 1 in 12 children have ADHD. 1 in 6 children have a learning disorder.
• Autism is an environmental illness caused by an overload of toxic metals, bacteria, viruses, and chronic inflammation.
•  Many children with autism share the same physical symptoms including gastrointestinal distress, food allergies, immune issues, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and sleep disturbances.
•  In the 1980s, the recommended vaccine schedule was 10 shots by age 6. Today, it is 36 shots.
• The U.S. gives more vaccines at an earlier age than any country in the world.
• Children with autism test for higher amounts of toxic metals in their system than their neurotypical peers.
• Typically, doctors do not tell parents about biomedical treatment. They find out about it from other parents and the web.  
•  There are more than 400 doctors in the US dedicated to treating children with autism biomedically.
• Biomedical treatment consists of diet changes and vitamin, mineral and other supplementation.
• Vaccines are not mandatory for school. It is a parent’s choice to decide what and when to vaccinate.

The Relationship Between Food Allergies & Autism

If a child is on the autism spectrum of disorders, they have food allergies. Period. The two go together. It doesn’t necessarily go the other way, obviously – the presence of allergies certainly doesn’t mean there is a developmental delay present. For general developmental delays, and even in some cases of Autism, the question is, “Do the allergies cause the developmental problem, or are the allergies just a co-existing problem?” In some cases, food allergies, or sensitivities, can cause the developmental delay. The body’s reaction to foods can so affect the child’s development, ability of the brain to function, and nervous system that it can actually cause the developmental delay.

However, in other cases, it may be a co-existing factor manifesting from the improperly operating (and overloaded) immune system and other underlying physical factors (toxic overload, yeast overgrowth, leaky gut, heavy metals, poorly functioning detoxification pathways) that are also causing the developmental delay and/or autism. Allergies stem from the same causes that autism, ADD/ADHD, and asthma stem from, so either way, the underlying factors are critical whether you want to heal from autism or only from allergies.

Although having food allergies or sensitivities is common in infants and their still very immature immune system easily gets overwhelmed, it is possible that as their immune system develops as they get older, they will “outgrow” the food allergy. However, taking every measure to support their immune system and not further overwhelm it with additional toxins is a very wise idea. A few common signs of food allergies/sensitivities, especially in babies, are reflux, projectile vomiting, crying for hours (colicy), raspy breathing, recurring ear infections, diarrhea and/or constipation, changes in poop color particularly to green, and eczema and rashes.

Something to be aware of – if you are finding your child has food allergies or sensitivities to many different things, be on the look out for developmental delays. It’s a sign that the child has many toxins in their system, aren’t clearing them out at an adequate rate, and their immune system is overloaded.  

So it’s kind of a, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” question. Do allergies cause developmental delay or is it part of the autism or delay itself? Either way, the food allergies cause great irritation to the body and interfere with brain development and function and will hinder any therapies or treatment toward the healing of autism or developmental delay if they are not discovered and dealt with.