Tonight I want to share something quite individual to my children (to the best of my knowledge) and tough to measure or even keep track of, which is: health.
My youngest has had many seizures and 'zone-outs' since he was a newborn, he displayed signs of sleep apnea, severe allergic reactions to most chemicals and artificial ingredients, chronic silent ear infections, and so many other developmental challenges along the way. With each major seizure the size and shape of his head would increase. After a prolonged period of time without seizure activity his head would slowly work its way back down to proportionate. (or as much as a child of mine could come to an average size head!) The most troubling aspect of his health is his lower threshold for serious fevers. With warmer weather, we regulate his body temperature more than we ever would consider investing into his autism traits.
A brief summary of his traits are seeking dizziness, risk-taking behaviours, screaming, sleep disturbances and bolting. To break these things down even further, since he has been completely nonverbal for his life thus far, and unable to focus due to sleep deprivation, congestion and fever, or sensory overload... any caregiver he has had is well aware of his trademark spikes in 'autistic behaviour' and the contrast to his usual receptive, friendly, yet shy self.
With this being said, we have found a great deal of relief through homeopathic remedies for allergies, congestion, and cold/flu symptoms. Still relying on acetaminophen as an emergency fever buster. The most exciting change we have seen is when he gets a daily supplement of omega 3. He calms right down, except for his high energy personality. It is my goal to offer this to him in conjunction with diet changes. He is overly sensitive to the world around him, the omega 3 helps to calm this down, better sleep does as well. A significant contributor is store-bought grocery products such as bread and pizza, these have caused havoc and nightmares in our home, but his dependency is greater than I had expected so we have been slowly working towards completely homemade, natural, and healthy foods.
his brother on the other hand is an entirely different set of circumstances but complementary in respect to 'A's needs and behaviours. He has many food sensitivities, which have caused him a great deal of digestive problems and anxiety to do with eating in general. He has his preferred snacks, which have slowly been permitted to be prepared differently. Another issue that goes alongside all of this, is that he has IBS-C, undiagnosed but being treated by the pediatrician and pulled out of school due to his autism flare-ups linked to his digestive well-being. Essentially, when his diet is proper, and his body can adapt, his sensory issues, behaviours, and challenges dissipate dramatically. He evolves with each passage, literally. When he is stressed out, he regresses. He has a memory that is unbelievable, retains everything, and remembers events and moments from his toddler years.
We had followed doctor recommendations for years, with no success, I decided to start listening to the advice of 'D' more than his physician, and it turns out he had good reasons to complain about certain foods, as they were not helping him at all. The medications were not helping on their own, and were terribly hard to complement with diet and supplementation. Thus far, he is mostly GFCFSF. Not by trend, not by doctor recommendation, but simply through letting him eat anything he wanted for a time (he had to eat something!) and watched what happened. With dairy it was obvious as a toddler weening off infant formula, it caused the same intolerances he experienced while nursing. Store bought whole wheat and white breads are the most harmful I have found thus far.
Now he drinks sports drinks such as gatorade and powerade to keep hydrated as well its an accepted medium for medicines and supplements. We are experimenting with a small amount of aloe vera juice, a great deal of exercise, and probiotics kids supplements. He is doing better! We let him have light rye bread for his sandwiches, but are seeing a limit to how many he can have in a day. more than two small sandwiches and he is bloated and overwhelmed by everything around him.
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