The very short answer of how the break the cycle of developing more allergies and heal old allergies...heal the digestive system: the gut, the bugs (bacteria & yeast), the immune system (75% of the immune system is in the gut/intestines).
The Gut. It's very possible that there is an issue with leaky gut. Where "holes" in the intestinal wall allow large food particles into the blood, where the immune system sees them as invaders (virus, bacteria, or toxin)and attacks, because big things in the blood are virus, bacteria, or toxin, nutrients from food in the blood are suppose to be small. The immune system then says hey, remember that substance for next time and we can conquer it more quickly = allergy reaction the next time the food is eaten. An explanation on healing the gut is in the next section on Bugs.
The Bugs. We all have an inner ecosystem - good and bad bugs in our digestive system. It's not that some are really bad, we need them, we just need them IN BALANCE. Too many of one type becomes a bad bug and can cause lots of problems. The most common culprit: candida, or yeast. It is their job to eat large food particles so they don't get into the bloodstream. Lots of large food particles, means more and more yeast are needed, but in the course of doing their job, they can multiply out of control and actually grow into and through our intestinal wall and get into the bloodstream themselves, and into our other organs, etc when they should only be in our gut and in the right proportion to other bugs there. If this is the cause...digestive enzymes to help digest the food are needed to correct the original reason the yeast overgrew in the first place. Yeast can also overgrow because the good bacteria are killed off for some reason. Things like birth control pills, hormone imbalances, acne medication, and ANTIBIOTICS all can cause yeast to get out of control. (Antibiotics - Think about it "anti" "biotic" or "against life". I'm not saying antibiotics are bad, I'm just saying we need to be aware that they kill both bad AND good bacteria and if we must take antibiotics, to make sure we take probiotics as well to help recolonize our gut with good bacteria after being on antibiotics. Personally, I try to find all-natural antibiotics in the form of herbs, essential oils, and things that help our bodies fight the bugs (thereby strengthening the immune system long term) rather than go in and wipe them out with drugs (which used repeatedly, in the long run weakens the immune system because it gets no exercise or experience).
It can be tough at first, but in the long run it sure pays off. My boys used to catch every little thing going around, and Jordan would be sick and completely miserable for 2-3 weeks every time he caught something. Now that I've been using natural things and have been working to build his immune system (for him that meant keeping him away from other sick kids for about a year - when you're sick, it's hard to heal other chronic issues and strengthen the body & immune system). Last week and this week we've been around hacking coughing kids many times and neither of my boys have gotten sick! It's wonderful!! FYI: it also means limiting (or eliminating) sugar. Sugar significantly depresses the immune system for 5-6 hours after it is eaten.
If there is already an issue with yeast, due to partially digested food, antibiotic, or other medication use. Then it needs to be killed and brought back under control. There are many ways to do this. One of my favorites is by using enzymes and probiotics, another is a combination of anti-fungal herbs in a product by Pure Herbs called Can Sol. FYI: yeast feed on sugar and anything the body can readily turn to sugar: wheat, corn, pasta, potatos, dairy, maple syrup, etc. While combating yeast it may be necessary to seriously cut back (or completely eliminate) the intake of these foods for several weeks.
Once the yeast is controlled and the gut bacteria balanced, the gut will start to heal. There are things to help accelerate the healing of the gut as well. We've used L-glutamine, also knitbone or comfrey.
The Immune System. This is multifaceted and involved. To be completely honest I don't totally understand this area yet. What I do know is that immune system disregulation is epidemic today, with Th1 and Th2 responses being imbalanced. Th2 is overactive in many, many children (just think asthma & allergies). This means the immune system is always on high alert, fighting, everything. How did this flip happen? Well, it's not the only reason, but the most common answer for that is: vaccinations.
So, the immune system. That bring us back to the basis of recovery from many things (including: asthma, ADD, allergies, autism spectrum):
1)Stop putting bad things in
2)Put only the best things in as possible (food, body products, scents)
3)Get the bad stuff that is still in the body out.
For more information on this check out the pages about causes and treatment, toxicity, and nutrition.
While Working on the Gut, Bugs, and Immune System. If the child needs a greater variety of foods, the best thing I have found to help is called NAET or BioSET. However, the effectiveness of these techniques is very dependant on the skill and knowledge of the practitioner. Try to find one that others have had success through and who won't break your bank with a gazillion treatments.
After balancing the gut bacteria, immune system, and healing the gut, it may be necessary to do a treatment of NAET or BioSET for an existing allergy/sensitivity to clear it from the system and "reset" the immune system so that it no longer reacts.
UPDATE 3-10-12: On the flip side, once all those root causes are healed the allergies very well may just disappear one by one, that's what we are finding is happening for Jordan.
Showing posts with label candida. Show all posts
Showing posts with label candida. Show all posts
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Friday, May 8, 2009
Causes of Allergies & Autism
One of the most frustrating things about the disorders on the Autism
Spectrum (anything from ADD, asthma, allergies, sensory integration
disorder, pervasive developmental disorder, to severe autism) is that
most all medical information declares that there is no known cause. In
regards strictly to Autism, the medical community forcefully says that
it is not caused by vaccines (of course the research is paid for by
the pharmaceutical companies who want to sell millions of their
vaccines), they spend lots of money researching genetics, but all in
all, they say they do not know what causes it. Yes, genetics is a cause,
but only in about 5% of cases. Well, what about the other 95%? This 95%
is why the prevalence of it has exploded to epidemic proportions in
recent years. It’s the same reason why allergies and sensory disorders
are exploding too.
A few statistics on Autism:
Those are the currently published statistics, and some of those numbers, like the 1:150, are old. The ratio is dropping, and it’s dropping fast.
CAUSES
There are many causes. The contributing factors are different for each child (or at least the 95% of them that isn’t not genetic). But, they all come back to the same thing – toxic overload. Here are the pieces of Jordan’s puzzle that caused his allergies and PDD (pervasive developmental disorder). At least these are the pieces I’ve figured out so far, I could very well find out more in the future. In chronological order (not order of gravity of contribution to his problem).
Aluminum & Other Metals (heavy metal toxicity)
Before I knew I was pregnant, I was having horrible abdominal pain every evening and through the night. I figured out it was trapped gas and started taking antacids like crazy. Guess what? Most antacids contain aluminum. Guess what? I was pregnant with Jordan, less than 10 weeks along (but didn’t know it). The metals had free access to every developing cell of his body, including his brain. We’ve all heard about the dangers of lead poisoning, the scares of lead paint, etc. Same thing, aluminum and other metals just don’t get as much media attention.
Oh, and have you heard there's things like mercury and aluminum in vaccines (which he had day 1 of life)!
Yeast Overgrowth
During pregnancy I had several bouts with yeast infections. This indicated that I had poor gut bacteria and overgrowth of yeast, but I didn’t know that then and only treated the local yeast infection. During the birth process, the baby’s digestive tract is colonized with the gut bacteria from the mother. And, while breastfeeding the baby’s gut bacteria closely resembles the mother’s. Yeast overgrowthin the gut, unchecked, can lead to leaky gut syndrome. With holes in the gut, partially digested foods, proteins particularly (peptides), can enter the bloodstream. These peptides are not recognized by the immune system as food, but resemble foreign invaders such as bacteria or virus. The immune system attacks and you have food allergies. Also these peptides can reach the brain and act as opiates, contributing to some autistic symptoms – how would you act if you were high all the time? Allergies also cause inflammation throughout the body = lots of problems.
This one is huge. A MAJOR contributing causal factor!
Stress & Poor Nutrition
During the pregnancy we moved and were living with family and in-laws alternately. Very stressful, poor eating habits. Also, the birth of my first child involved some difficulties which resulted in 11 months before I could sit down without pain. To say the least, I was stressed about giving birth again. Stress = raised cortisol levels. Raised cortisol levels during pregnancy, especially the 3rd trimester, not good.
Hepatitis B Vaccine & Others
Day one of life Jordan had the hepatitis B vaccine. Guess what is in the hepatitis B vaccine? Aluminum! The known toxic dose of aluminum for a baby is 20 micrograms. The amount in the Hep B vaccine? 250 micrograms! At 2 months he was fully vaccinated with the recommended vaccines. The aluminum content? 1,875 micrograms! (from Dr. Robert Sears who gathered the data from the FDA’s data and web site). I know he has issues with other heavy metals too, it’s just not as obvious how he might have gotten them (although they are in the air, water, food, vaccines, etc) Heavy metals also cause yeast overgrowth problems and yeast actually bind onto the metals. So, until you get rid of the metals, you won’t completely get rid of the yeast problems. Metals also cause allergy problems. Also in vaccines: formaldehyde, antifreeze, arsenic. Obviously, not good things to put in a baby already struggling with so much junk in him. These early vaccines (Hep B on day 1 of life) can also cause an inflammed gut with a result similar to yeast overgrowth were proteins can cross into the blood, resulting in allergies. They also can overload the immune system creating an overactive Th2 response and underactive Th1 response.
This one is also HUGE, another major causal factor!
Environmental Toxins
We’re surrounded by toxins in our air, water, cleaners, personal care products, food (pesticides, metals, chemicals, excitotoxins), perfumes, air fresheners, etc. With all the other toxins in his body, his little system quickly became overwhelmed and couldn’t clean the junk out like most of us are able to and so it just kept accumulating, wrecking havoc with normal body and brain functions.
So far, those are the pieces of our puzzle. Maybe we’ll find more, maybe not. Everyone’s puzzle will be different. But I’m satisfied that I have a good enough grasp of the causes to know the target for healing.
A few statistics on Autism:
- 1 in 150 children in the US now have Autism
- 4:1 ratio of boys to girls
- 1 in 94 boys in the US have Autism
- Fastest growing developmental disability
- More children will be diagnosed with autism this year than cancer, diabetes, Down’s Syndrome and AIDS combined
- $100 Billion annual costs
- In 10 years the annual costs are projected at 200-400 billion.
- Cost of lifelong care can be reduced by 2/3rds with early intervention
- A family with a child with autism will fund 3 to 5 million dollars of services throughout the lifetime of the child
- Autism receives less than 5% of the research funding of most of the more prevalent childhood disorders
- Approximately 1 million individuals in the US have autism
Those are the currently published statistics, and some of those numbers, like the 1:150, are old. The ratio is dropping, and it’s dropping fast.
CAUSES
There are many causes. The contributing factors are different for each child (or at least the 95% of them that isn’t not genetic). But, they all come back to the same thing – toxic overload. Here are the pieces of Jordan’s puzzle that caused his allergies and PDD (pervasive developmental disorder). At least these are the pieces I’ve figured out so far, I could very well find out more in the future. In chronological order (not order of gravity of contribution to his problem).
Aluminum & Other Metals (heavy metal toxicity)
Before I knew I was pregnant, I was having horrible abdominal pain every evening and through the night. I figured out it was trapped gas and started taking antacids like crazy. Guess what? Most antacids contain aluminum. Guess what? I was pregnant with Jordan, less than 10 weeks along (but didn’t know it). The metals had free access to every developing cell of his body, including his brain. We’ve all heard about the dangers of lead poisoning, the scares of lead paint, etc. Same thing, aluminum and other metals just don’t get as much media attention.
Oh, and have you heard there's things like mercury and aluminum in vaccines (which he had day 1 of life)!
Yeast Overgrowth
During pregnancy I had several bouts with yeast infections. This indicated that I had poor gut bacteria and overgrowth of yeast, but I didn’t know that then and only treated the local yeast infection. During the birth process, the baby’s digestive tract is colonized with the gut bacteria from the mother. And, while breastfeeding the baby’s gut bacteria closely resembles the mother’s. Yeast overgrowthin the gut, unchecked, can lead to leaky gut syndrome. With holes in the gut, partially digested foods, proteins particularly (peptides), can enter the bloodstream. These peptides are not recognized by the immune system as food, but resemble foreign invaders such as bacteria or virus. The immune system attacks and you have food allergies. Also these peptides can reach the brain and act as opiates, contributing to some autistic symptoms – how would you act if you were high all the time? Allergies also cause inflammation throughout the body = lots of problems.
This one is huge. A MAJOR contributing causal factor!
Stress & Poor Nutrition
During the pregnancy we moved and were living with family and in-laws alternately. Very stressful, poor eating habits. Also, the birth of my first child involved some difficulties which resulted in 11 months before I could sit down without pain. To say the least, I was stressed about giving birth again. Stress = raised cortisol levels. Raised cortisol levels during pregnancy, especially the 3rd trimester, not good.
Hepatitis B Vaccine & Others
Day one of life Jordan had the hepatitis B vaccine. Guess what is in the hepatitis B vaccine? Aluminum! The known toxic dose of aluminum for a baby is 20 micrograms. The amount in the Hep B vaccine? 250 micrograms! At 2 months he was fully vaccinated with the recommended vaccines. The aluminum content? 1,875 micrograms! (from Dr. Robert Sears who gathered the data from the FDA’s data and web site). I know he has issues with other heavy metals too, it’s just not as obvious how he might have gotten them (although they are in the air, water, food, vaccines, etc) Heavy metals also cause yeast overgrowth problems and yeast actually bind onto the metals. So, until you get rid of the metals, you won’t completely get rid of the yeast problems. Metals also cause allergy problems. Also in vaccines: formaldehyde, antifreeze, arsenic. Obviously, not good things to put in a baby already struggling with so much junk in him. These early vaccines (Hep B on day 1 of life) can also cause an inflammed gut with a result similar to yeast overgrowth were proteins can cross into the blood, resulting in allergies. They also can overload the immune system creating an overactive Th2 response and underactive Th1 response.
This one is also HUGE, another major causal factor!
Environmental Toxins
We’re surrounded by toxins in our air, water, cleaners, personal care products, food (pesticides, metals, chemicals, excitotoxins), perfumes, air fresheners, etc. With all the other toxins in his body, his little system quickly became overwhelmed and couldn’t clean the junk out like most of us are able to and so it just kept accumulating, wrecking havoc with normal body and brain functions.
So far, those are the pieces of our puzzle. Maybe we’ll find more, maybe not. Everyone’s puzzle will be different. But I’m satisfied that I have a good enough grasp of the causes to know the target for healing.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Roadblock! Autism Treamtment and Allergy Shots
We have hit a roadblock in Jordan’s treatment and progress. Jordan’s
doctor first wants to treat his allergies then his toxicity issues,
including heavy metal toxicity. So we are starting with shots that are
suppose to reduce or eliminate his allergies (over the course of a
couple of years). For about 6 weeks we’ve been working on a treatment
protocol for Jordan to receive on of these shots - an LDA shot. That’s
Low Dose Antigen, an enzyme-potentiated allergen shot. In order to
receive it there is a protocol he has to meet for the 9 days before the
shot. It goes something like this. 9 days before – stop fish oil
supplement, start on prescription anti-fungal drug. The day before, the
day of and the day after the shot, stop ALL supplements and
prescriptions and all food or drink has to be cooked or boiled. Well,
we’ve made it through to day 8 or 9 a few times. Day 8 is the day before
the shot, day 9 is the day of the shot. Only to have him get a cough or
runny nose or diarrhea – all reasons that prevented him from getting
the shot.
After the last aborted attempt at the shot, I stopped Jordan’s anti-fungal medication to give him a break and started him on his fish oil supplement again. Guess what…that day he started talking MUCH more again. New words. I hadn’t heard a new word in over a month. Two, three, and four word combinations! I hadn’t heard those in a month either. Jonathan took notice too and we both marvelled at what we heard coming from Jordan’s mouth.
So, which is he responding to? The anti-fungal bothering him, or the fish oil helping him? I’m inclined to think it’s both. And it makes me really not want to keep him on these prescription anti-fungals. I spoke with his doctor, but didn’t receive a satisfactory answer. He said to try Diflucan at 1/2 a dose. The appointment before, he had said never to give him Diflucan again because it was giving him diarrhea…hmmm. It was very yeasty diarrhea so I hadn’t been real worried, I figured it was doing it’s job. So, maybe a 1/2 dose will do the trick. But I’m afraid that somehow it is affecting Jordan’s brain since it is affecting his speech so much.
I feel a bit confused and frustrated. I don’t understand why we have to do the allergy shots in order to detoxify him. I just know that is the order this doctor does it in #1 nutrition (we were already doing all of his suggestions when we started with him) #2 allergies controlled #3 detox and heavy metals. So, I’ve been back to pulling nearly all-nighters researching, and we have been thinking this over. Our decision – we are going to follow the doctor’s suggestion one more time and see what happens. For now I’m giving Jordan a little bit of a break from the prescriptions before we give it one more try. In the mean time, I’ve scheduled a consultation (a month from now) with yet another doctor – one in Pittsburgh who treats with natural anti-fungals, not prescription, doesn’t treat with allergy shots, and jumps on getting the toxicity out right away. I’m more comfortable with this new doctor’s treatment protocol and feel that he is more up-to-date on his research (quite a feat considering Dr. K is very cutting-edge). However, nothing is guaranteed, so I want to give Dr. K a valiant try before switching mid-stream. I know he is a very great doctor, one of the best, with a great success rate. But, if it isn’t working for Jordan…
That’s where we are. Keep praying!
After the last aborted attempt at the shot, I stopped Jordan’s anti-fungal medication to give him a break and started him on his fish oil supplement again. Guess what…that day he started talking MUCH more again. New words. I hadn’t heard a new word in over a month. Two, three, and four word combinations! I hadn’t heard those in a month either. Jonathan took notice too and we both marvelled at what we heard coming from Jordan’s mouth.
So, which is he responding to? The anti-fungal bothering him, or the fish oil helping him? I’m inclined to think it’s both. And it makes me really not want to keep him on these prescription anti-fungals. I spoke with his doctor, but didn’t receive a satisfactory answer. He said to try Diflucan at 1/2 a dose. The appointment before, he had said never to give him Diflucan again because it was giving him diarrhea…hmmm. It was very yeasty diarrhea so I hadn’t been real worried, I figured it was doing it’s job. So, maybe a 1/2 dose will do the trick. But I’m afraid that somehow it is affecting Jordan’s brain since it is affecting his speech so much.
I feel a bit confused and frustrated. I don’t understand why we have to do the allergy shots in order to detoxify him. I just know that is the order this doctor does it in #1 nutrition (we were already doing all of his suggestions when we started with him) #2 allergies controlled #3 detox and heavy metals. So, I’ve been back to pulling nearly all-nighters researching, and we have been thinking this over. Our decision – we are going to follow the doctor’s suggestion one more time and see what happens. For now I’m giving Jordan a little bit of a break from the prescriptions before we give it one more try. In the mean time, I’ve scheduled a consultation (a month from now) with yet another doctor – one in Pittsburgh who treats with natural anti-fungals, not prescription, doesn’t treat with allergy shots, and jumps on getting the toxicity out right away. I’m more comfortable with this new doctor’s treatment protocol and feel that he is more up-to-date on his research (quite a feat considering Dr. K is very cutting-edge). However, nothing is guaranteed, so I want to give Dr. K a valiant try before switching mid-stream. I know he is a very great doctor, one of the best, with a great success rate. But, if it isn’t working for Jordan…
That’s where we are. Keep praying!
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