[Fwd: Re: Namenda for Apraxia? and physicians again]

[Guest guest]

I have not heard of Namenda for apraxia ... but have heard it used

sparingly in the autism community for children who's physical brain

condition warrant it - like my 14 year old nephew's. He began his DAN!

treatments with Dr. Bradstreet in Florida about 10 years ago. The

measles virus remained active in his body after his vaccine and damaged

his brain and myelin production...I remember at the time, after killing

the measles virus, which was a long and tedious procedure, he took a

medication used for Alzheimers patients to help slow down his brain

deterioration...at the time he had little to lose and was closely

monitored by his mom (an RN, by the way) and Dr Bradstreet. There are

some physical problems in common between the Alzheimers..the most common

involves demyleination. (FYI for - Dr. Bradstreet IS a very

compassionate, esperienced " M.D. " and medical researcher, and is very

active and reknown in the DAN! community worldwide.)

Most DAN! physicians DO tend to take a conservative, global approach to

all treatment plans, keeping in the forefront, that each person and his

problems are unique and that some trial and error are necessary to find

the correct balance of products -- that being said, everyone should

research all the pros and cons for advice from ANY medical professional

whether it be for prescription drugs, natural supplements, surgical

interventions - and interactions, long-term effects...don't blindly put

your trust in anyone to know what's best for you or for your child.

Feel free to question the doctor or other professional, compare notes

with other parents, Google.

DAN! Doctors " experimenting " is not really different that when we

" " parents " experiment " with a trial of Nordic

Natural ProEFA (Complete Omega), ProEPA, and now Vit E combinations.

For some kids it works, others it doesn't, for others it does create a

reaction but negative ones (i.e. undesireable side-effects). Some of us

have to add additional oils depending on our child's unique metabolic

needs, like CLO...or no fish oil at all...others have to find formulas

that do not contain ingredients which result in negative behaviors in

their children. Some of us have to add other supplements to help our

child assimilate better the essential fatty acids...it is not a black

and white, benign therapy for " some " . A good DAN! Doctor should have

a global working knowledge of many arenas and how all them

interrelate....if they don't, like with any other physician, switch to

someone with more gobal experience.

A REAL EXAMPLE of " mainstream experimenting " ...My nephew is currently

battling a strep infection for over a month now. His " mainstream "

PEDIATRICIAN, I've recently discovered, only did a quick strep A swab in

her office when he was first diagnosed. After one round of antibiotics

he still had the strep. She changed to another antibiotic for 10 more

days. Again, after that antibiotic a quick strep A throat swab showed

the strep STILL active. Throwing up her hands, she advised my sister

that she'd never had a patient NOT respond to antibiotics and that she

did not know what else to do since he seems to have a " antibiotic

resistent strep " !!! hmmm...a throat swab CULTURE maybe to see what

strain of strep it is?!? to know which antibiotic may be more effective

to battle it??? Uhhh, maybe prescribe PROBIOTICS to repopulate the

flora that the two powerful antibiotics killed in the past 3 weeks of

use?? Do a blood test for strep titres to get a baseline to know how

his body's antibodies are reacting to it??? Do a stool analysis to see

if the strep is also present in his intestines (already weakened by the

prior measles damage)???? None of the above! Instead, she made a

referral to an ENT with the intentions of scheduling a tonsilectomy to

" make the strep go away " since she was worried about possible heart

damage if the strep continued. This pediatrician " experimented " on my

nephew by trying 2 antibiotics that work for " most " but stopped short of

investigating WHY the antibiotics she " experimented " with did not work

and helping facilitate identifying what else may work to nip this in the

bud. So is she allowed to " experiment " because she has M.D. after

name? and other Physicians are not (and I am not talking about DAN!

Practioners who are not physcians...which everyone who has mentioned

being under the care of DAN! here on has been a DAN!

M.D. in some specialization)?

Thankfully, my sister (the RN) is moving ahead with the correct medical

tests via other channels to identify the strep impact and to get more

lab details (which is what the DAN! Doctor, NOT the pediatrician, would

have advised anyway as part of a global approach to an immune system

attack)and has an appt in just a couple of weeks with their DAN! to get

more help on his immune system issues.

In my opinion, my nephew's pediatrician is not too informed on how to

handle any illness out of the normal array of typical illnesses that

happen to " MOST " children...this slight curve of the strep not

responding to two typical antibiotics (the first of which he should

never have been given--amoxycillin), and she was stopped in her tracks

and suggested a surgery that would bring even more complications due to

his probable bad reactions to anesthesia because of his methylation

pathway issues. Does the lack of more global knowledge of the basics

on how to treat strep and what to do in the case of resistent to

treatment-strep mean that this doctor represents all pediatricians

therefore all pediatricians are as " incomplete " as she? I could never

permit myself to make such a generalization....while I don't think

highly of how she was unable to help my nephew, there are other very

good pediatricians out there who do take the time to research and stay

abreast of all the options and at least make the appropriate referrals

to specialists who can appropriately address the issues.

Where DAN!'s often become criticized is when they attempt to apply

identical protocols to all patients (cookie cutter

approach)...one-size-fits-all recommendations is NOT the philosophy of

the DAN! Movement at all. Kind of like a comment about fish that keeps

appearing of late " works for MOST " - works for " many " would probably be

more appropriate. Making generalized assumptions and criticisms about

one person in a group and then globally applying it to the entire

groupbased on one person is a bit unjust.

" Demonizing " or " attempting to demonize " is also not very becoming,

especially when no first-hand experience is involved (and you are

SO LUCKY not have had THE NEED to utilize the services of a DAN! DOCTOR

- trust me! Very very fortunate!) and little actual research on a

subject or person is done to investigate the " hear-say " one has heard

about a particular branch of medicine.

Even the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is now in discussions with

the Autism Research Institute/Defeat Autism Now! groups to improve

communication between the organizations on diagnosis and treatments for

autism! (from which apraxia and ADHD patients will also benefit): See

the AAP website for their news release issued yesterday and

coincidentally in time for World Autism Awareness Day -- which is today,

by the way:

http://aap.org/advocacy/releases/apr08autismday.htm for the AAP's

newsrelease

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