I REMEMBER WHEN…

Posted: March 26, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Annie's Recovery Story | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments »

ANNIE’S STORY – PART TWELVE OF TWELVE

You may be asking, “What’s point of Annie’s Story?”

One point I wanted to draw attention to is that significant progress past the age of five is possible. I have lived it with Annie.

Most of the recovery stories told in the autism community are about children who snapped out of it around age three from just a few interventions. While I am happy for those children and parents, I think there needs to be more discussion about gains made by children after age five. Their stories may not be as dramatic. Their improvements may come slower, but they do happen. In my opinion, hope should not be abandoned once our children reach a certain age. Those of us with older children need to share our successes, no matter how small, to keep each other going.

I also wanted to share a recovering story that had a lot of twists and turns, gains and losses, ups and downs. Our path has not been straight. I had to fail miserably many, many times in order to stumble upon the right combination of interventions to help my daughter. I pray that other parents can learn from my numerous mistakes and perhaps, have an easier journey.

Much to my dismay, Annie did not make significant gains due to one “magic pill” and she did not recover overnight like you often read about on the internet. The skills she has recovered are the culmination of a lot of interventions and four years of persistence.

While sequential homeopathy and craniosacral therapy had the most dramatic results for us, I believe many of the other things we did (and still do) have played a part in Annie’s progress. Just like lots of health assaults caused Annie to regress in the first place, I believe lots of treatments have helped her come back to us. To summarize, the combination of interventions that I feel have gotten Annie where she is today are:

  • Diet – GF/CF, eliminating allergy foods, rotation diet, paleo diet, organic, no processed foods
  • Supplements
  • MB12 shots
  • Mild Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT)
  • Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA)
  • OSR #1
  • Sequential Homeopathy
  • Craniosacral Therapy

We are no longer doing HBOT or OSR, however, Annie is still on all the rest of the items listed above.

The third and final reason I told this story is purely selfish. It was to have a written record of all we’ve been through as a family, how far we’ve come, and all that I have to thank God for. I certainly have days when I like to wallow in sadness, self-pity, and worry for the future. But when those days come, I am going to read the following to remind myself that I should not complain. Things are not perfect, but wow…they are so much better than they used to be.

I am thankful:

  • For every time my daughter is blabbering away about nothing (verbal stimming) because I remember when… she didn’t speak one word.
  • For every time my daughter leaves toys strewn all over my house because I remember when… she wouldn’t play with any toys at all.
  • For every morning when it takes my daughter a half hour to pick out an outfit that she will agree to wear to school because I remember when… she was so “out of it” that she didn’t even realize she was wearing clothes.
  • For every time she pesters me to buy her a million toys when we go to a store because I remember when… bringing her to a store resulted in a meltdown of epic proportions or she’d get so fixated on one toy that I couldn’t get her to move.
  • For every time my daughter interrupts me because I remember when… she wouldn’t acknowledge my existence and didn’t want to interact with me in any way.
  • For the little scraps of paper my daughter leaves all over my house because I remember when… she couldn’t write, draw, color or cut one thing.
  • For every time my daughter tries to play with another child, only to be rejected or made fun of, because I remember when… she isolated herself and stayed in her own little world.
  • For every time my daughter grabs my face, turns it towards her and says, “Look!” when she wants my attention because I remember when… all she did was stare at the ground.

If Annie had not regressed, I would have taken all of this for granted. I have come to realize Annie’s regression into autism is exactly what I needed to put life into perspective. Things that used to “rock my world” no longer cause me to blink an eye. I know what true pain and suffering is and I know true joy as well.

Daily, I realize I am present at a miracle and I will never get over being amazed by it.

I’ll keep you updated on Annie’s journey. And please let me know of any interventions that have worked for your child. I’d be nowhere on this journey without the advice of smart parents who are fighting every day to make their children’s lives better.

We were given these children for a reason. I think there are certain traits we share in common. Never giving up on our children is number one.

To conclude Annie’s story, I thought it would be fitting to provide a summary of her journey into and her journey (thus far) out of autism. Seeing her progression in one place, in my opinion, emphasizes how far Annie has come. If you are interested, please click the following link: http://www.healthinducedautism.com/annie-and-brody—then-and-now.html.

For parts 1-11 of Annie’s Story, http://ventography.wordpress.com/category/annies-story/

SIGNIFICANT GAINS PAST AGE FIVE ARE POSSIBLE

Posted: March 23, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Annie's Recovery Story | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments »

ANNIE’S STORY – PART ELEVEN OF TWELVE

Annie was now five years old and I had just come out of the worst depression of my life. I decided to try sequential homeopathy as a last-ditch effort to recover Annie. I wasn’t expecting it to work. I couldn’t handle getting my hopes up only to be crushed once again. I fully intended to give up on my quest to recover Annie if sequential homeopathy was another giant disappointment.

We started homeopathy while Leah was away for the summer. While she was gone, I had seen some amazing things. Most noteworthy, Annie was becoming conversational. Prior to homeopathy, Annie could speak in sentences, but only regarding things she cared about or wanted. There was no back and forth conversation… she was just blabbering. She couldn’t ask or answer any questions.

After two months of homeopathy, she was doing both. I could actually have a conversation with my daughter about her day, what she likes, what she doesn’t like, what she was thinking about… it was a dream come true. Also, Annie’s mood improved drastically. She seemed like the happy, smiley, care-free child she was prior to her regression.

My parents noticed the change. Her school noticed the change. Our neighbors noticed the change. But I didn’t want to tell Leah for two reasons. First, because I didn’t know if these changes would last. Second, because I knew Leah was the perfect person to tell me the truth. She would tell me if Annie really had changed because she hadn’t seen Annie in two months. Maybe everyone else was just trying to make me feel better.

Leah came home and we scheduled a time for the kids to play. I held my breath and didn’t say a word to Leah about the changes I had noticed in Annie. To my delight, Leah confirmed the exact same things I was seeing. I could tell by the look on her face and the tone of her voice, she was shocked and impressed. Annie even had a rudimentary conversation with her.

I was experiencing another “defining moment” with autism. I could feel that something was different this time… maybe this was actually going to work. I allowed myself to get my hopes up… just a little.

In another prayer session, craniosacral therapy popped into my head. I heard about craniosacral many years earlier, but had dismissed it immediately because it involves therapists laying their hands on the child in order to clear energy blockages. With Annie’s sensory issues, I figured my mom and I would have to hold her down while the therapists “did their thing.” I just wasn’t up for another “scream fest” so I decided not to pursue it. But now, because of homeopathy, her emotions were under better control. Maybe it was worth a try?

Our first craniosacral session was for two consecutive hours. I figured it was going to be a nightmare. I was blown away when Annie climbed right up on the massage table and cooperated with the therapists, without even making a peep of protest. For the first time since she regressed, I could see a look of relaxation and peace on Annie’s face. She loved it. In fact, when our two hours were up, that’s when Annie got upset… she didn’t want to leave. Luckily, we were there for treatments the entire week so we were able to get her to leave without too much of a scene.

After our week of treatments, we started noticing several changes. The most dramatic was that Annie’s sensory issues were drastically improved. She no longer covered her ears, she didn’t seem sensitive to light anymore, and she was no longer as picky about the clothing she wore.

Three months later, we went back for three more days of craniosacral treatments. Prior to the treatments, Annie could not write a thing, she hated drawing, and despised coloring. She was six years old at this point, so she should have been writing and enjoying arts and crafts. After the treatments, Annie came home and started drawing elaborate stick figure drawings that were very detailed. She even drew animals and scenes. All she wanted to do was draw. She was a drawing maniac for a week and then it happened… she started writing.

She wrote story after story. She probably had all these pent-up stories in her head that she was unable to express and now, she was thrilled that she could release them. Her handwriting was sloppy and hard to read and her drawings were not age-appropriate, but we couldn’t have cared less. We were thrilled that she actually liked drawing and writing!

Every month, we did more homeopathic “clears” where we gave her remedies to clear various traumas Annie had suffered during her life. Every month we saw more incredible gains.

After two years of steady monthly improvements with homeopathy: Annie’s OCD and anxiety went away, her verbal stimming became rare, she no longer got sick every other week, her coloring looked better (she looked healthier), the diarrhea went away, she told me she was no longer in pain, Annie was on target academically (except handwriting), she managed to make a few friends, and she was sleeping through the night (AMEN).

I can’t explain homeopathy as well as I’d like to. Most people in the USA think it is crazy or simply the “placebo effect.” However, it has actually been around longer than western medicine and is very common (accepted) in places like Europe. Homeopathy believes that “like cures like” (Sound familiar? Think vaccines.) and that the body has the ability to heal itself if that healing force is not suppressed (like it often is with autism).

All I can tell you is that sequential homeopathy and craniosacral resulted in giant improvements for my daughter. They are both energy therapies, so I believe they compliment each other and may have a synergistic effect. Will they work for your child? I wish I knew. That’s the frustrating thing about autism. As we all know, a one size fits all approach does not exist. However, I believe homeopathy and craniosacral therapy are safer than some of the other interventions out there and they likely won’t hurt your child. So maybe, they are worth a try.

You are now caught up to where Annie is today. She is, for the most part, a happy, well-adjusted 7-year-old.

Do I consider Annie fully recovered from autism? No. Not yet. But I have faith that she will be.

What is my definition of recovery? When Annie can attend a “regular” school (without a para or any other supports) and be indistinguishable from her neurotypical peers. I believe this goal will be achievable for Annie in the next 2-3 years. I’ll keep you posted as our story unfolds.

One more post to follow with my thoughts and takeaways from Annie’s story.

To be continued…

For parts 1 – 11 of Annie’s story, http://ventography.wordpress.com/category/annies-story/

For more about homeopathy, http://www.healthinducedautism.com/homeopathy.html

For more about craniosacral, http://www.healthinducedautism.com/craniosacral-osteopathic-manipulative-therapy.html

MOMMY MELTDOWN

Posted: March 19, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Annie's Recovery Story | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

ANNIE’S STORY – PART TEN OF TWELVE

“It’s always darkest before the dawn.”

Annie had just recovered from a debilitating case of hives when her fifth birthday rolled around. What should have been a joyous occasion for celebration, felt like a funeral to me. I could not stop myself from spiraling into another depression. I lashed out at everyone around me.

Being a goal-oriented person, I had set a deadline that Annie would be recovered by five. When we didn’t make the deadline, I fell apart. Instead of focusing on the positive gains she had made, all I could see was how far we still had to go. I contemplated taking care of Annie for the rest of my life and really questioned whether I had the strength to do it. Worse yet, what if I died? Who would take care of Annie then?

I was resentful. I felt like so much had been taken from me. I was jealous of my friends and family with neurotypical children. It was hard for me to even be around them.

Nobody could console me. I just wanted to be left alone.

I thought about giving up on Annie’s recovery. I was so tired – physically, mentally, and emotionally. I felt so alone. I wondered if it would be better to just accept my fate. Maybe the skeptics were right about autism recovery – I was just wasting my time and money.

This was my third “defining moment” with autism. I hit rock bottom. I stopped obsessively googling autism treatments. I stopped reading recovery stories. I stopped making doctor appointments. I stopped ordering new supplements. I stopped questioning my friends about what was working for their children.

I was still.

I knew I had to “get it together” because, after all, I’m a parent. I didn’t know what else to do, so I turned to prayer. I prayed my brains out for guidance from God.  I prayed like I had never prayed in my life. During one of my prayer times, I heard that voice in my head say,”What about homeopathy?”

I had stumbled upon homeopathy several years earlier in my research, but had dismissed it. Never the less, I went to my computer and googled autism and homeopathy. This time, I read about a completely different approach to homeopathy called sequential homeopathy.

I believe Annie regressed into autism because of a combination of many factors and therefore, I believe it will take a combination of lots of things to heal her. This is what sequential homeopathy believes too. Also, with sequential homeopathy, you work backwards throughout your child’s life to clear all of his/her various health assaults. You clear the most recent health assaults all the way back to assaults at birth. Every month, you are peeling away another layer and gently getting to the root of the problem. This is my very simplistic, “mom-ified” version of sequential homeopathy.

It made sense to me. I had come to believe that the reason Annie kept having mini regressions, as I tried to heal her biomedically, was because she would experience too much detox, too fast. Her fragile system could not handle so many toxins at once and then her behavior, academics, and language would suffer. Sequential homeopathy believes in supporting the major organs involved in detox and going very slowly so that this won’t be as likely to happen.

I made an appointment with a center renowned for its work with sequential homeopathy and autism. I told Leah that if this didn’t help Annie, I was going to throw in the towel. She would have to shoot for recovery without me.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much. I no longer had the energy to get my hopes up, only to be smashed to bits. Sequential homeopathy was my last resort.

To be continued…

For Parts 1 – 9 of Annie’s Story, http://ventography.wordpress.com/category/annies-story/

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 123 other followers