New here - long intro (sorry)

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Hello,I just want to introduce myself and let you know about us :-)I'm 39, a stay-at-home-mom (now) to a 3.5 yr old boy and 5 yr old girl. My 5 yr old was recently dx'd as on the spectrum. She is high-functioning and therefore though we have suspected issues since she was 2 or 3, it took us this long to get a diagnosis. She would be called Asperger's but I guess that dx is going away? ;-)

My son started having seizures last April. He's only had 3, they are considered febrile, but they can come on as low as 99 degrees. He has a low body temp (~96.5-97) I just noticed yesterday when I was going over their vax records (not up-to-date, I space them out) that the first was two weeks after a DT shot (no pertussis) 

We have never experienced any known negative vax effects, but it just could have been something we never put together. I think my daughter has always been the way she is.My daughter's dx went like this... We noticed severe tantrums around 2. She had them before that but we just thought it was " terrible 2s " type stuff. She was having crazy meltdowns over things like putting the food from the grocery cart onto the scanner to check out. She couldn't *get* the whole " check-out " thing. Before this, the only red flags were toe-walking and sound sensitivity (I completely missed the " stimming " she was doing as a flag) If it had not been for my son growing up right behind her, I would have missed any of this as being strange. He is/was more " neuro-typical " so some of her " stuff " started making itself apparent.

At her 3 yr appt, the pediatrician asked about tantrums. I said they were bad. He said they should be curtailing and to " look into it. " I told him I planned on seeing the state eval people (FDLRS here in Florida) He said that if that didn't work out, he would refer me to an insurance-covered psychiatrist (psychologist? I don't know) and then to a not-covered-by-insurance developmental pediatrician. 

We saw FDLRS and they did not see a problem. They said she just needed work on holding her pencil and discipline. That was May 2008. We saw the psych. in July 2008, who gave us questionnaires to fill out and recommended pre-k for her so that she could get socialization and another adult's opinion for the questionnaires. So in Aug 2008, she began 2 days at pre-k (which a month later turned into 3 x week) Oct 2008, we had a follow-up appt with the psych. where she reviewed the questionnaires and concluded that my daughter was " basically normal " (even though she noticed all the physical signs) I joked to myself afterwards that she is basically normal but not completely normal ;-)

Dec 2008 we made an appt with the developmental pediatrician. January 2009 she was eval'd and dx with anxiety and SPD. She started attending pre-k 5 x week to help with her scheduling. We had her doing OT for the sensory issues in the Spring of 2009.

Dec 2009 I called the dev. ped. back and asked if we could have a follow-up, because some things were better and some not. Jan 2010 we had our follow-up eval with all the questionnaires plotted out... showing she was falling in the autistic range of values. The doctor did not want to give her an official dx yet because she is not in need of services (speech is fine, development normal, insurance already covered SPD OT) and does not need an IEP right now. I asked the doc if there was something we could do to get ahead of the game in case when K rolls around this fall, if we will need an IEP. So we had IQ testing done as well.

So that is where we are now - an official but unofficial " probably autistic " Asperger-type diagnosis.Since all of this has been going on, I haven't paid much attention to my son's development. :-( It has always seemed advanced and " normal. " Whatever that means, right? Well, now I have been noticing some things which i am just in-tune to due to having autism-red-flags on the brain ;-) My concerns with him are dangerous running away, mouthing everything, toe-walking. (In 2008 he was dx'd as allergic to wheat, soy, rice and egg... but then later after eliminating it he was cleared as not-allergic so we went back to allowing him to have those things) His speech and development seem typical but where my DD's hearing is over-sensitive and her touch is under-sensitive, it seems he is the opposite! He has a 24 hr EEG scheduled for next month to look into these seizures (his short EEG was " borderline " so she was taking a wait-and-see approach, and since he's had 2 seizures since then, we are moving ahead with testing.) When he is in the hospital, she is going to do " blood tests " which will include " a full work up " (not sure what that means) for the spectrum disorders. I guess that means genetic testing??

Last month, with the dx of my DD, I started looking into the different dietary changes we could do. As my New Years' resolutions, I wanted us to move towards more whole foods anyway, and it had nothing to do with autism, just wanting to get away from processed food and GMO.

That is about the same time I came upon the DAN! methyl-b12 treatments info and also the Specific Carb. Diet. My brother, as well as several others in my extended family, have celiac. So the " poor metylator " theory really made sense for our family.

So right now, I am supp-ing them with b12 and trying to give less grain products. I didn't want to throw out all the food, but gave away a lot. :-) We bought a couple grain-free cookbooks so that I could get this diet right and we don't fail. We also started CLO with A & D.

The b12 I had been giving them for two weeks was a sublingual spray, but cyano-b12 (because I didn't see the methyl-b12 at The Vitamin Shoppe) I tried to watch for negative side effects and with DD I noticed a little extra flapping for a few days but nothing else really. My son began escaping from pre-k during this 2 week period. It could have been a coincidence, I don't know. Over the past two weeks I have also been " making them " eat their meat (through bribery and threats LOL), and making more red meat. Yesterday I found the methyl-b12 drops at Vitamin Shoppe and this morning is the first time I gave it to them, 1mg.

My dd has been crashing and bumping into the couch more than usual (SPD thing) and the two of my kids have been spinning more than usual. But playing nicer than usual.Here is what I am looking to do first... Keep them on the mB12 & CLO and move to a Paleo Diet, with organic foods, and with almond flour used in any baked goods. I can't see doing each step of the SCD right now, my head is spinning with TMI from everything else I've been reading... so the best I can hope to do is just stop using processed foods and start cooking from scratch.

Thanks for reading and I hope to learn from you all.-- Toni