what does this mean?

February 26, 2002

IGF is Insulin-Like Growth Factor. IGF secretion

is stimulated HGH (human growth hormone). HGH is

released in a pulsatile fashion and has a very short half

life. Although you can get an HGH level from a blood

sample, it would be very hard to draw any conclusions

from any one sample. IGF has much more stable levels

in the blood than HGH. One reason to take IGF levels

is to make an inference about the adequacy of one's

HGH levels. Here is the male reference range

from the lab I used (Endocrine Sciences, California).

I don't know how applicable it is to the lab result

you have. There is a separate table for females that

I will not type in. Age 19-20 Range(ng/ml)

281-510 Mean 371 SD 76 Age 21-30 Range(ng/ml) 155-432

Mean 289 SD 73 Age 31-40 Range(ng/ml) 132-333 Mean

226 SD 62 Age 41-50 Range(ng/ml) 121-237 Mean 160

SD 42 Age 51-60 Range(ng/ml) 68-245 Mean 153 SD

48 Age 61-70 Range(ng/ml) 60-220 Mean 132 SD 34 Age

71-80 Range(ng/ml) 36-215 Mean 131 SD 46 If the

IGF level seems low, there is a follow-up test. IV

Arginine is introduced and blood is drawn at 30 minute

intervals. Growth hormone levels are measured in each blood

sample. The expected result is a substantial pulse in

growth hormone that returns to baseline over

time. Brad

February 27, 2002

" IGF is Insulin-Like Growth Factor " One

other tidbit here... IGF-1 is closely linked to

diabetes. In fact, the most common test for GH is a Glucose

Tolerance Test - exactly what they give you to test for

diabetes. Uncontrolled diabetes can wreak havoc with IGF-1

levels - usually elevating them. This condition is NOT

GOOD. Eleveated IGF-1 leads to Acromegaly (most often

caused by a brain tumor). In adolescents it causes

uncontrolled growth or giantism. In adults it leads to

enlargement of the heart, facial deformities, HYPOGONADISM,

and early death. The fact that yours is low means you

don't have Acromegaly, but I would want to find out the

implications from my physician - may be a blood sugar problem

developing.... Regards, K4

February 27, 2002

Thanks for the input. Additional responses and

digging have led me to consider that the numbers reported

back should be at least 2x what has been found. I

agree too high is not good and there is a familial

tendancy to diabetes, but my glucose fasting numbers are

consistantly in the low to normal range. In recent years I

have been leaning to a low carb diet. Intially I lost

some weight, but I think the low T may be a factor in

reversing that trend. Being at the low-end of the

IGF-1 scale makes me wonder. Is that a factor in the

osteopenia I have and the height loss? Will T alone reverse

the problem? Will HgH be need too? Any one

gone down this path? Regards, A

February 27, 2002

" Being at the low-end of the IGF-1 scale makes me

wonder. Is that a factor in the osteopenia I have and the

height loss? Will T alone reverse the problem? Will HgH

be need too? " Good question. That's why you

need input from an MD. Growth Hormone is extremely

important to a number of body processes, just like

Testosterone is. I would think a low concentration could cause

problems and is cause for

concern. Regards, K4

February 27, 2002

K4, Those are questions I hope to discuss with Doc Shippen next week. Was just

wondering if anyone had empirical or aneecdotal info. Cheers, A

October 4, 2002

In a message dated 10/4/02 1:04:28 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

fstatum@... writes:

> I just caught my kid eating part of the peel of a banana! Yuck!! He's done

> this before.....

> I thought one of you smart people on this list might know if there is some

> kind of hidden meaning to eating a banana skin! LOL

>

> -

>

--

I know my son eats the peel because (1) bananas are off limits and it's the

quickest

way to sneak a bite and (2) there's too much motor planning involved to peel

it.

Celia

May 22, 2003

Jennie -

Since I met your cute little more than once -and have

watched her play with others, when it comes to nonverbal play she

appears to be just like any other. I know she is also diagnosed

with some obsessive issues -but they didn't present enough to be

noticed during the time I was with her.

Are you only going by 's reasoning skills from these simple

verbal based tests -or from life. For example, if your front door

is locked when she is outside playing -does she look for another way

to get in? When the cookies are on top of a counter she can't

reach -does she push a chair over so that she can climb up? Did she

figure out how to work the DVD, CDC and VCR player -perhaps even before you?

When

she can't express herself -does she use nonverbal ways to get her

thoughts across? Can she beat you at tic tac toe (if you taught her

all the tricks first) How is she at playing chess or checkers or

other games like that? All of the above takes reasoning, and

without need for verbal output. It may be obvious to too -

perhaps however she is more comfortable taking the easy way out when

it comes to speech. (ask the mom to help isn't a wrong answer -and

it's a lot shorter and easier than explaining what a child can do to

help them get on the trampoline) Take to a trampoline and

see if you can " together " figure out how she can get up. Follow her

lead.

Since is apraxic -can you try nonverbal ways of asking her

the same questions. For example -draw a sun, a cloud and some birds

in the picture with the girl and the ice cream cone -perhaps even

draw drops of sweat coming from the girl's head who is holding the

cone too. There are games like " I spy " which as you know my boys

love to play. Make it a game. Say to - " I spy what is

making the girl sweat and the ice cream melt " Maybe first do it

once or twice with your son or your husband so she can see how the

game plays. Let her know she can either say the answer or point to

it -or both.

We sometimes look for longer answers -and even though our apraxic

children are doing much better today than many from years ago, it's

a long road. Long complex sentences/thoughts ...you are not just looking at

the long road -you are looking at the long road up the mountain for

that one!

Do you have any examples that don't involve Lindsey giving a verbal

response? Follow your gut Jennie -you know better than

anyone.

=====

May 23, 2003

, you gave me things to think about and I'm starting to understand

Lindsey a little better.

The reasoning test the speech pathologist gave Lindsey was " so Lindsey " the

verbal Lindsey. She is very talkative with the speech teacher because she is

extremely comfortable with her, she has worked with Lindsey's since she was 2

years old, maybe younger.

This does carry over into life. 2 very important thing I'll tell you in a

minute.. But she is very independent, if she wants cookie, she's going to find a

way to get that cookie! she's not particularly good at VCR's or games, but

she's pretty good at memory games and Go fish.

Now here are two things, that Lindsey does do and we just couldn't

understand, she is finally getting control over it. She laughs very

innapropriatly. if

someone gets hurt, she laughs. The more of a commotion they make, the harder

she laughs. She does not see the cause, just the effect. Heres an example. We

had a family member die so we were over there house giving support, another

close family member had to much to drink and got out of control. the person was

falling down, angry and was quite frightening to watch. Lindsey was laughing so

hard she could not stand. you would have thought she was watching a funny

show, the more he stumbled the harder she laughed. Another... My husband cut his

foot once, there was blood all over the kitchen floor, but she was laughing her

head off. he was making a scene and he is very dramatic anyway, she was

laughing hysterically.she did not see he was hurt, just the scene he was making.

if

you accidentally bump your head, trip, get stung by a bee, she laughs. last

year when the teacher would get angry at her and talk to her about it, or show

her the Red mark on her behavior sheet, she would laugh her head off. She has

done this for almost 7 years so I could go on and on.but you get the picture.

She also cries and gets upset easily. For an example, we watched a funny

show. Called see spot or something,(about a dog) it was hilarious but not to

her.

someone got thrown out of a window and she FELL APART. She cried and cried.

She did not see the reason, or the humor in it. It was a very funny movie.

She is finally getting control of the laughing and crying thing. She's

starting to understand, you don't laugh when someone's hurt.and she cries very

easily while watching TV,but not at the appropriate times. She now opens her

eyes

really wide and says she's being brave Lol!

Another biggie,is we have had a lot of behavior issues with her. She has been

written up at school, been in time out to many time to count, its not because

she's mad, upset but she has no reason why she wouldn't stop kicking a boy or

pinching someone. To her, she enjoyed the REACTION she was making the boy do.

not because she was necessary being a brat. She is really a VERY sweet girl.

but she gets in these moods, she will tear up her work or refuse to do

something. She can also be defiant. which is just defiant. when my sister and i

take

her to the park we hold are breaths because up until this year she has gotten

in trouble EVERY time! she would go by and hit a child, or so something to

make their parents mad at Lindsey. she is finally getting over this and growing

up.but we still get nervous Lol! some parents can be quite nasty.

She has had safety issues also. She would run from me all the time. The ADHD

meds are really helping now. she had no clue that she was about to run in a

busy street, only that she was running from me.

She once put our dog in the rabbits cage and laughed while the rabbit was

fending for his life. She LOVES our pets, but to her it was a show. I really

could go on and on....she would have been devastated if the rabbit actually

died.but at the time she's didn't see what could happen. The rabbit was

squealing so

loud, I ran out of the shower to see what that noise was. again you would

have thought she was watching comedy show.

According to the psychologist she has some autistic tendencies but she's not

autistic if that what some people are thinking. She had lots of cause and

effect goals for her, but I really didn't understands why. these were her only

goals, all socials and cause and effect. I guess there's so much that I didn't

want to see maybe? It just never clicked with me why she does the laughing and

other unusual things at times.she only see the effect!

And the OCD. ugh ugh ugh!!!!!!!! this is one of the things that really makes

me feel ill, you never know when its going to strike! Last school year she

had OCD AND TICS something awful and this January our private psychologist was

going to hospitalizes her. She see both my kids at least once a week more if

needed. At home is where she lets it all out. except for she did have several

weeks where she had a chair thing going on. She had to keep fixing chairs, In a

restaurant, a stranger could barely get up before she was trying to straighten

his chair. Or at Mcs or a park, instead of playing she would be

straightening every ones shoes, and if they moved a tad, she knew. At home it

was

flushing toilets, shutting and pressing on the doors,straighting the shoes and

saying she was sorry and more. She would say she was sorry a hundred times a day

and cry because I didn't say OK the right way, and if I accidentally said

aright instead of OK she would get hysterical. I have this on tape, remind me to

show you , it is heartbreaking.

She is only mildly OCDing at home right now. But like I said, you never know

when its going to come back like that.the OCD medication made her extremely

hyper and right now the Strattera is helping to calm her, so were satisfied.

Beside some of the things I mentioned she's just the sweetest happy go lucky

kid around. She appears like any other kid, except her speech. She has an

immature way about her which makes her all the more cuter and special. I feel

the

apraxia, the being made fun of, the stares, the questions by all the kids,

never focuses on her as a person, just her speech! she has NO friends in her

class, they do not treat her as another classmate, more like a 2 year old. they

always try informing me on something about her speech that day. whether the

teacher understood her or just a comment they felt like making about her speech.

Grrrrr. Her being misunderstood or not understood has caused so much anxiety

in her. She is not comfortable talking a lot and will stick with simple words

that she knows she can say OK, or whisper to me.

Lindsey wants attention by children, she would be their best friend if they

would give her attention. we recently met a Internet friend from England, her

child has apraxia too, she may even be on this list. i don't think they spoke a

word to each other but they hugged over and over and over. he was four but

they were connected some how.

makes me want to cry thinking about it, because she wants friends so bad, but

she insist no one like she, but she has an invisible fried she talks too so

she said its OK.

The laughing thing has ALWAYS been there, so that is just her. But with

everything said and done, she has come a long long way. Her scores are much

better

then last year and they will continue to get better, her speech has improved

drastically from last year, although the stammering is new. I am incredibly

proud of her.

This is probably way more then you wanted to hear, huh? Lol!

Jennie

May 23, 2003

Hey Jennie!

Well it does sound like does understand -she's

just not expressing all she knows. She's probably frustrated -and to have ADD

and

OCD and apraxia on top of that is perhaps why you are seeing what

you are.

What does Jennie's neurodevelopmental MD say about these behaviors?

If they don't know you should talk to them about this and find out.

Or -why not take Jennie to see the pediatric neurologist Dr. Baquero

or Dr. Tuchman since we've heard great things about both of them?

Inappropriate behavior as you know is another sign of ADHD

http://www.sengifted.org/lindadhd.htm -or it could be a sign of a

number of other conditions outside of OCD, and ADHD -even some that

seem highly unlikely for

http://www.davishealth.com/LaughterNoLaughingMatter.htm

http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/arule/3525/1329.html

Is at times empathetic to others when they are in pain or

crying? Can you give an example -or lots of them? What about G

movie humor like Shrek, Monster's Inc. or Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius?

Does she find movies like that funny?

Perhaps laughs at inappropriate times due to being nervous

or as a coping mechanism?

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/article/4197-5943.html

" Humor is the discovery of safety within fear, just like laughter,

humor's physical counterpoint, is relaxation within stress. "

http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/humor.html

" Parents need to accept that some humor shown by children will be

objectionable. These normative patterns of " sick " , " dirty " , or

aggressive jokes reflect the developmental concerns of children. The

humor content changes as the child grows becomes increasingly

socially responsible.

http://www.amphi.com/~psych/humor.html

Perhaps you can help to mold what finds humorous (and so at

the same time perhaps mold behavior?):

" Most parents think their child's sense of humor is all a matter of

chance, " said Franzini, who has researched humor for 10 years. " They

have no idea there are things they can do to help it along. "

http://advancement.sdsu.edu/marcomm/news/clips/Archive/Apr2002/040402

/040402laughing.html

" A lot of inappropriate behavior happens because children don't

understand what is expected. One way to check that the child

understands is to ask the child to repeat back what he or she

heard. "

http://www.extension.umn.edu/info-u/families/BE614.html

" Self control – why being able to control your emotions is

important, from inappropriate laughter to anger. This can also

extend to decision making, whereby they must learn to control and

stand by what they believe to be right and not be led by peer

pressure. "

http://www.partnershipforlearning.org/article.asp?ArticleID=1980

Always look outside the box. You could receive numerous reasons

depending on who you talk to or take to for what is behind

what you are seeing in -perhaps only one is

accurate... 'which one' then is the real question?

As 's Mom and Dad -you two are the best at researching to

know which " reasons " describes best. I would then again

share with 's neurodevelopmental MD what you are seeing -and

what you think may be causing it -if there is still a reason to ask

once you explore and try some of the suggestions above.

Let us know!

=====

May 25, 2003

Just another thought. Picture cards are an abstract venue as a means of

looking into comprehension. Your seven year old sounds as though she has not

completely moved from concrete to abstract thinking and many at this age have

not.

She probably has no real life experience with strong winds blowing umbrellas

backwards or perhaps she has no background knowledge of the sun melting her

ice cream cone.

Show her a card with an activity that she has experience with and she will

probably surprise you.

She has probably asked you for help in the past when needing to get off a

bench or reaching for something.

Those cards are not good measures of your child's receptive language skills

unless only those that are meaningful and relevant are used

May 26, 2003

> But why would the ZP +

> Zantac give better results? I didn't think ZP had anything to do

with

> casein. What am I missing?

>

> Totally confused,

> M

maybe a few things.

1) ZP is a broad spectrum enzyme for a variety of foods, including

having some protease in it which the peptizyde has.

2) dont know about zantac, but many of the stomach remedies like

that, do a similar job as if you were to eat a little baking soda...

which really does the same job as secretin does... infact, if you

read DeFelice's book on enzymes there is a section which

explains this much better... about secretin, and baking soda,

connection... and how ant-acids do a similar job...

3) there is sometimes a delayed reaction.

if this happened yesterday, it might be that the reaction is yet to

come.

4) having been on enzymes his gut is healing.

minna

June 28, 2007

> I saw the article as well and am cautiously optimistic that sometime

> soon, through all the recent research and attention to autism, that

> there will be a way to reverse the harm done to people on the

> spectrum. I am not sure if this is it, but it is encouraging that

> there are signs of positive things happening.

This is the same advertizing hype that has been used since time immemorial - for

example if you read all the aerospace magazines since the 1960's NASA is going

to have a

lunar base and a mars mission going in about 10 or 20 years. Should be ancient

history

by now if there was any reality to it.

I read this kind of thing as profoundly negative. The whole autism epidemic has

gotten to

the point where it is literally insane for a technical person who looks at the

evidence to

believe it is genetic, or that what the research community is doing is related

to causes.

Thus while the I M P O R T A N T D O C T O R S have been debating whether

playing video

games a lot is a mental illness, what they need to be doing is accepting that

being a

mainstream MD is a severe mental illness, and coming up with a treatment for it

so that

doctors start helping sick people who need help instead of preventing progress.

Andy

July 25, 2007

My son. dyspraxic (can talk) does this. I think they call it a neuro

processing? planning? or mapping delay. I am not good with labels but

you get the idea. The kid takes a roundabout way to get the

answer....almost a process of elimination approach. It takes longer,

thus is a delay. Whatever it is called my approach is to get rid of it

via diet, safe supplements and therapy and look into metals.

Craine wrote:

>The speech therapist continues to be puzzled by my son, but she seems

>to be leaning hardest toward " some type of apraxia. "

>

>Anyhoo... he did two things in therapy today that made her think that

>he might have two types of apraxia.

>1. We were playing with that pop-up toy that has a bunch of animals

>in a row that pop-up when you press different kinds of switches. Each

>pop-up pops up through a different colored door. So, the SLP had

>different colored plastic bears, corresponding with the door color.

> was supposed to put the bear on the top of the doors. He would

>match up the right colors, but he kept overshooting the toy and

>putting the bears behind the toy. It was like he couldn't get his

>hand to go where his mind was telling it to go... if that makes sense.

>2. It happened again when was doing a puzzle. would point

>to where the puzzle piece was supposed to go, but when it came down

>to putting the puzzle piece in its spot, he put it everywhere but the

>right place, like he was avoiding it.

>

>Does any of this sound like something you have experienced? What

>conditoin would cause this?

>

>Thanks,

>

>, 2.7

>

July 26, 2007

Oh, it has been the story of my son's life!

The eyes do not see where the body should go or the body does not go where the

eyes see? It is weird.

When Mark was little, I put him in badminton lessons (a disaster) and would play

with him myself to try to catch him up with the class. Sometimes he would

literaly bend down to pick up the fallen birdie but he would reach down in a

place a foot from where the birdie actually lay! He would look up, confused and

scan around looking for the bird in bewilderment.

That is when I really noticed it. He was not 'seeing' in the same way as

everyone else.

For him, it is a 'hyper-peripheral' vision issue. Now this is a double-edged

sword. The problem with hyper-peripheral vision is that a person may not be

able to 'see' the car-keys on the cluttered desk because their central vision is

weak. They cannot see the individual objects on the desk well but instead see

the entire room along with the desk which can create visual distraction. The

gift of 'hyper-peripheral vision' is that these kids are able to read at paces

which are 'eons' faster than everyone else in life. It has something to do with

the way some SPD kids' eyes catch the 'edges' of the words and thus can absorb

written materal much faster and more proficiently than others. This enables

them to become incredibly visual thinkers and lends itself to some extremely

exceptional qualities in life. (Makes them great chess players!) Mark is just

entering grade 7 and at the beginning of grade 6, tested out at the grade 11/12

levels in reading comprehension and word attack. They didn't even bother

testing this at the end of the year as he surpasses the tests that they have

available at the elementary school.

So.... do you remediate it? I think it depends upon the extent to which it is

impeding productive life. You must get it under reasonable control if this is

the case.

Mark has this gift and it enables him to think outside the box and 'see' things

which others often don't.

I think the consensus is that this is a gift worth having for him. Yet, after

we did the crawling, creeping, marching, skipping exercises; his eye body

connect was much much better and took away the 'disability' aspect of his

hand/eye/body coordination. We've done some visual exercises such as working

with pleoptics and had him wearing pinhole glasses 15 minutes a day while

watching TV for a few months and I haven't noticed his central vision being a

'problem' for him in a long while. Playing catch is also a good way to work

this as the eye must practice going from near-point vision to far-point vision

relatively quickly.

He remains a 'speed-reader'. So....? Perhaps you can have both!

Janice

[sPAM] [ ] What does this mean?

The speech therapist continues to be puzzled by my son, but she seems

to be leaning hardest toward " some type of apraxia. "

Anyhoo... he did two things in therapy today that made her think that

he might have two types of apraxia.

1. We were playing with that pop-up toy that has a bunch of animals

in a row that pop-up when you press different kinds of switches. Each

pop-up pops up through a different colored door. So, the SLP had

different colored plastic bears, corresponding with the door color.

was supposed to put the bear on the top of the doors. He would

match up the right colors, but he kept overshooting the toy and

putting the bears behind the toy. It was like he couldn't get his

hand to go where his mind was telling it to go... if that makes sense.

2. It happened again when was doing a puzzle. would point

to where the puzzle piece was supposed to go, but when it came down

to putting the puzzle piece in its spot, he put it everywhere but the

right place, like he was avoiding it.

Does any of this sound like something you have experienced? What

conditoin would cause this?

Thanks,

, 2.7

July 26, 2007

We never had that experience in a therapy or evaluation setting, but

in real life similar things happen here every day. For example, he

was helping me put the groceries on the conveyor belt the other day,

and when he got to the jars of baby food, I specifically told him to

be careful. He said, " OK Mommy! " , and then the second or third jar

landed on the floor. I still give him (all the kids) cups with lids

and a straw whenever possible, because will spill any open

cup eventually. I always chalk it up to the coordination issues, but

there definitely could be a visual element that we haven't addressed

yet.

Not really relevant, but it reminds me of my son when we first

started therapy. If you asked him what color something was, he would

say " yellow " most of the time. But if you asked him to eat the (fill

in color) M & M, he got it right every time. I think sometimes they

can't access the right information unless it's done differently. For

us, it was (and still is sometimes) speech. For your son, it might

also be a visual processing problem.

>

> The speech therapist continues to be puzzled by my son, but she

seems

> to be leaning hardest toward " some type of apraxia. "

>

> Anyhoo... he did two things in therapy today that made her think

that

> he might have two types of apraxia.

> 1. We were playing with that pop-up toy that has a bunch of animals

> in a row that pop-up when you press different kinds of switches.

Each

> pop-up pops up through a different colored door. So, the SLP had

> different colored plastic bears, corresponding with the door color.

> was supposed to put the bear on the top of the doors. He would

> match up the right colors, but he kept overshooting the toy and

> putting the bears behind the toy. It was like he couldn't get his

> hand to go where his mind was telling it to go... if that makes

sense.

> 2. It happened again when was doing a puzzle. would point

> to where the puzzle piece was supposed to go, but when it came down

> to putting the puzzle piece in its spot, he put it everywhere but

the

> right place, like he was avoiding it.

>

> Does any of this sound like something you have experienced? What

> conditoin would cause this?

>

> Thanks,

>

> , 2.7

>

June 4, 2009

You should do some ACV once in a while...??? Jay what is this ACV?

~Angie Milby~

June 4, 2009

ACV = Apple Cider Vinegar