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"Almost Autism" by Maria Rickert Hong?


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FWIW, I've read so much over the past year that I forget where I read things.  I think of Bock's book as the early days, LOL.  I have a lot of thoughts on these topics; there are still so many factors and too many unknowns but I'm more hopeful now than ever that I will get to the bottom of things for a couple of my kids.

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I don't remember Dr. Bock having any practical advice on SPD. I believe it is just mentioned as one of the signs of autism. Adding this to my list. This is an area of great interest to me, as it runs in my family.

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On second thought, I just bought it on Kindle. Looking at her ToC, there's a lot I/we are already doing and she touches on things that have been on my mind. One I was looking to try is sprouting my own legumes. Both my youngest and I seem to have a sensitivity and on the rare occasions that I do use them I buy organic canned. She touches on that.

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Skip my diatribe, because I'm saying it anyway.  Another tiring book by an unqualified mom who latches onto everything in hindsight.  I did all that.  Eat organic, low formaldehyde house, mercury out of my mouth and detoxed, away from the road (toxins), take stuff for candida (probiotics, garlic, careful with my diet, lots of yogurt), no vaccines, you name it.  Still apraxia, still SPD, still ASD.  I'm over it.  It's genes baby.  Maybe on somebody else it's their fault, but it's NOT MY FAULT.  

 

My FIL died thinking if it weren't for the pollutions of the world he wouldn't have died of cancer.  Like MAN people, can we not accept that things happen?  Yes candida is bad and people should clean up their diets.  Yes we should all do xyz and live with less toxins.  But it happens ANYWAY.  Because, like it or not, for at least some of the subtypes, it was genes.  And for all these chiros and antivaccine groups who sold me the line for x number of years that if I avoided those things my kid would NOT GET AUTISM, well frankly I just about spit on you.  Because that's part of why I didn't get more aggressive with what I was seeing, because i THOUGHT IT COULDN'T HAPPEN IF I DIDN'T DO THOSE THINGS.  Think about how screwy that is.  Because the inverse of "you caused it" is "don't do those things and your kid WON'T GET IT" which is WHAT they're pedaling.  It took meeting another mom with a non-vaxed dc on the spectrum to finally push me over and say yes, this could be happening anyway, that they were wrong.

 

Sigh.

 

I agree with total load theories.  I think that's why my ds isn't worse than he his, why he has a profile of aspie and a support level of 1, not 2 or 3.  And I'm cool with that.  No way in the WORLD I would change my tox free, organic, blah blah life just to see if maybe it was all a crock and unnecessary.  I know it's necessary for me, and therefore it happens to him.  But it couldn't stop it from happening, because it was in his genes.  From the foundation of time, this was the PLAN for his life, and I'm either on board with that, or I'm not, because I didn't make it happen.

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Well, none of the approaches look invasive to me, so well worth the try. We are ALL unqualified moms here yet we share our opinions and what we try with our kids, with others, every day ;)

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From the intro:

 

"For those of you who don’t know me, I am a Certified Holistic Health Counselor trained at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition as well as the Media Director for Epidemic Answers and our Canary Kids Project. My goal is to teach people how to become advocates for their own and their children’s health by educating them to think for themselves and continue to ask questions."

 

She also quotes Dr. Bock's book who does talk about the vaccine connection but does also mention mercury has been removed from vaccines and does not advocate avoiding vaccines.

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I read the preview of the book on Amazon, and the author described a sick child.  She should have had her concerns taken seriously.  If she has a way to help other sick children, I am in favor of that.  

 

From my reading of the preview though, I just cannot see anything of my son in it.  He is not a sick child, he does not have stomach distress, he does not have trouble sleeping, he does not have a limited diet.  

 

But just b/c that is the case for him, doesn't mean the biomedical approach isn't helping other children.

 

It makes me so sad to think that there are children who are in pain and distress and that it is not understood, and this may be the cause of their outward autistic behaviors.  

 

But I am confident that this is not my son's story.  I believe he suffered from an inability to communicate that left him very unhappy for a while until he was able to start therapy that taught him communication skills and taught me how to understand his communication.  

 

But I know some people in my town whose kids have been sick and who have improved with allergy-free diets and supplements.  But with talking to them, I am just more convinced my son does not have the same kind of problem, and I feel fortunate that he is a healthy child.  And they will be like, "no diarrea?  he sleeps through the night?" and not recommend their doctor to me anymore.  

 

We also had an incident last year (a long story) where I know he was in pain with a dental issue for about 2 weeks, and I am at peace with seeing how he acted when he was hurting, so I feel at peace he has not had pain that he has not been able to express to us before.  He is able to communicate that he is feeling pain now, and he can also tell us what kind of medicine flavor he would like if there is a choice..... he had the beginnings of a cold last week and told me that he would like grape medicine, and I got him some, but then he already was over his sore throat and I didn't give him any.  

 

I do know he had ear infections before he had tubes in his ears right when he turned 2, and I know that sometimes he was crying b/c of his ears hurting, and I am sorry for that, but it has been a long time ago now and I think I was quick to feel like it might be his ears and give him Tylenol.  I hope so at least.  I give myself the benefit of the doubt.  I was definitely doing the best I could.  

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I don't think healthy lifestyles can guarantee from from medical conditions because so much is genetic. But maybe there is a change that we can make that will improve my DD's functioning level.

I agree. Relieving undue stress caused from some underlying conditions can greatly help kids on the spectrum and I have seen it with both my kids. The diets have greatly helped me in many ways also. I don't see SPD as curable just as I don't see autism as curable. I do see symptoms improving while making certain health choices though, choices that don't cost much to implement or will negatively affect the child. That's my point of view anyway.

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I see it for other people, but my son is already in the position they are looking for.  

 

Plus ABA is clearly effective for him, and he is making good progress, and over a year, he makes quite a bit of progress, even if it is not noticeable day to day.  Looking back from last year when he was starting Kindergarten, to this year starting 1st grade, he has come a long way.  

 

He does not even have the same kind of sensory issues, or they have abated.  It is hard to say. 

 

He had two dentist appointments over the summer and did great with both of them, he gets his hair cut at Great Clips (nothing special but they are nice and give him a dum dum, and have toys to play with while he waits his turn).  I am sending him carrots and ranch dressing for his snack at school this year, and he is happy to have it.  

 

I don't even know what I would be trying to get with bio-medical.  

 

But I know people who have had improvement, they have just had their kids having problems that were solved.  

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Not all SPD kids are on the spectrum and not all spectrum kids have SPD. The profiles of kids on the spectrum vary greatly, which is why it is called a spectrum. I don't feel that anyone should try any form of therapy if they don't feel it fits their child. We are parents and we are human. We care for our kids and we try the best that we can for them, but that does not mean that we will always agree with each other's approach. I respect everyone's right to follow what best meets their family's goals and needs, just as I do for my own.

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I don't think healthy lifestyles can guarantee from from medical conditions because so much is genetic. But maybe there is a change that we can make that will improve my DD's functioning level.

I would totally believe this.  But what kind of changes do you want to make?  You're already doing some things with supplements for tone, right?  

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I have one who was quite sick and received great health and behavioral benefits from biomed, and I'm very glad we did it with him. The second was the beneficiary of what we learned from the first, and didn't have any of the toxic issues the first had.....but even so has 1.5 feet on the spectrum, which I now recognize as a family trait on my side. IMO what looks like one thing may be another and treatable, and sometimes what you see is truly a genetic temperament and there is nothing medical to treat. My belief is that two separate things get confused with each other. Not all spd issues, literal thinking and social challenges are the result of any imbalance, allergy or toxic load. Some are just part of a person's inborn temperament. But with the first, there were very clear sensory and communication issues that improved dramatically by getting rid of the brain fog, digestive pain and nutrition issues. We can't function at our best when we feel terrible.

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I read the book last year, it is a kitchen sink approach of diet, supplementation, chelation, etc. I don't think there is anything in the book that you can't find throughout the Internet. I found the book to be very repetitive and not very helpful honestly. I read it when my son only had a SPD label, although we know now he is autistic.

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Ok, just pulled out my notes from this book to refresh my memory. Here are some of her recommendations:

 

Heavy metal hair test from Doctor's Data website to test for heavy metals

 

Avoid vaccinations- she blames heavy metal toxins on them

 

Avoid fluoride

 

Have your home inspected for mold and hidden toxins

 

Diet heavy in bone broth, unrefined salt, magnesium citramate or glycinate and zinc, all organic diet

 

Use a naturopath or functional medicine doctor

 

Supplement super doses of vitamin d3

 

Elimate use of all plastics and Teflon, use stainless steel and glass

 

Cranioscacral therapy

 

Aquatic therapy, swimming, Taekwondo, head tilting exercises

 

Covd vision

 

Allergy testing and treatment

 

Neurodevelopmemtal movement therapy

 

No microwaves for reheating food

 

There is a lengthy section on recovering gut dysbiosis, gfcf, probiotics

 

Avoid common meds such as Benadryl, cortisone, Tylenol etc

 

Clean with all natural homemade products

 

No SLS or fragrance in body products

 

Magnetic clay detox

 

Hopefully this helps to see the gist of the book...I do have more of the same type homeopathic suggestions written in my notes from the book. I agree with what you all are saying as far as some of these lifestyle changes may improve daily life/functioning but for many of us they are not the root cause.

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Actually I have only just started reading it and the discussion on hypothyroidism is of particular interest to me. Of course many of you very likely know a lot more than I do but so far I have found certain things I didn't know about. I'll see in the end if it was worth the read ;)

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Crimson Wife, I didn't thank you for linking this. It is making certain things make sense that I did not know about. I will not be posting on this as I don't want any controversy created on my account but since our diagnosis is only about two years old there are still many pieces to the puzzle I am still looking to put together. It is why I read as much as I do.

 

Anyway, thanks again.

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Cricket, absolutely read and glean whatever you can! I was only sharing a general overview of what it covered because I'm fairly certain it is similar to the book Crimson had mentioned reading already.

 

Interestingly enough, I pushed our peds for some blood work yesterday due to what I saw as symptoms unrelated to ds' ASD but it looks like we might be dealing with hyperthyroidism, so maybe that is why the hypothyroidism info wasn't clicking with me. Either way, it never hurts to keep reading more as we try to sort out any little thing that might help our kids!

 

Crimson, my note on head tilting exercises simply says lift and drop head 6 sets of 8 counts....maybe cricket can elaborate when she reaches that point in the book because I'm not remembering clearly the point of that one.

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No worries WoolC! I have read Dr. Bock's book as well. Either I don't remember certain things from it or I am just noticing certain things now, two years after the diagnosis. There are certain things I want to look more into so while Googling I found a free book on PDF from back home that is a brief history on vaccines (brief being 140 pages). I downloaded it and will be reading that too when I get to it. I'm just weird that way. I go from question to question seeking answers and making my own connections. I do like that she says do your own research on certain topics. Anyway, just my own fixations coming out ;)

 

Make sure you find out if the hyperthyroidism is caused by Hashimoto's. Hashimoto's often starts as hyper and ends up as hypo as I recall. I am hypo (from Hashimoto's), my husband is hypo, and so is my entire family back home and some extended family. I was the second to be diagnosed after my aunt and was diagnosed over a decade before having my oldest. I'll be getting at least my oldest tested soon. It's why anything discussing the thyroid gets my attention.

 

Surely I can share :) Quoting from the book since it's just a brief mention.

 

"Do Head-Tilting Exercises

Head-tilting exercises are a great way for you to stimulate your child’s vestibular system, which, in a way, controls many of the other senses . To do this, have your child lie on the edge of a bed with his or her head hanging over the side; you can start with your child on his or her back, stomach or either side. Set a metronome to 60 beats per minute, then lift your child’s head up as far as it can go to a count of eight, keeping time with the beat. Do this for three sets on each side."

It's on pg. 200

 

Note: I'm on the tablet and do not have access to the quoting feature ;)

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Just saw your other thread :grouphug: Hope you get some answers soon! Also with TSH (what they test for thyroid) you need to check if they are going by the old school normal. I can't remember what the hyper end is but for hypo it used to be 5. Anything above 3 now is considered high by many endocrinologists so you have two sides on that one.

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What supplements are helpful for tone?

 

For us, Coenzyme Q10, acetyl-l-carnitine, B vitamins (found in Food Science of Vermont Behavior Balance DMG) and medium-chain amino acids found in coconut oil & coconut milk. Now that my little one can swallow pills, I'm considering switching the CoQ10 to ubiquinol since the latter is supposed to be more bioavailable.

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WoolC, I was pretty certain of the normal thyroid range but wanted to make sure I remembered correctly. High body temperature by the way may be a sign of hyper while low may be a sign of hypo.

 

Old normal TSH range:

 

0.5 - 5 (The low numbers for the hyper and higher for hypo)

 

New normal TSH range:

 

0.3 - 3

 

For proper testing of the thyroid you would need an endocrinologist. Keep in mind though that an endo will prescribe conventional meds. Then again, you can take the results and follow whatever path you feel is right. Both my husband and I are on Synthroid. My TSH has never been below 2.5 with my current dose except for recently (after we went GFCF) when I saw it go below two for the first time. My main reason for going on the diet and putting my boys on it was our family history with thyroid disfunction and mine confirmed to be from Hashimoto's

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I'm about half way through the book now and have found some interesting info with a strong dose of sensationalism. I have been reading the history of vaccines in the sense of the good they have done at helping combat and at times wipe out disease. So I am doing my own research in my own way, avoiding the sensationalistic sources, which has helped clarify certain questions I have had for a while. I haven't reached the second half yet where she discusses suggestions so we shall see how useful it turns out to be.

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