I have started more detailed posts about how the kids are doing but I don't seem to be getting that done in a timely manner, and some things have been extra stressful so...this is what I can do! Things have been tough and I find that I don't make facebook posts or blog post when things are extra stressful. I can't seem to find perspective or flip the "glass is half empty" to the "glass is half full." In fact I see the glass as pretty much empty. Rather than complain too much when I have absolutely no business complaining I choose to just keep my mouth shut (or in this case, my fingers still;) Now that I am back to gaining a bit of perspective again I will write this update!
Beautiful: I cannot believe she will be 17 next month! We are moving forward with college planning and options. A fun stage of life and she is our guinea pig lol! We are also trying to figure out a car for her. Finally, she broke her finger in a basketball game last Saturday. She played 2 games with the broken finger. It is now in a splint and we will see when she can return to play.
Buddy: He prefers video games to most other activities:) Most of his time is spent sleeping, eating, doing school, and playing xbox. That pretty much sums up his life lol! He will probably be 6 foot by the time he turns 14. He is growing fast. When I look at video of him from just 18 months ago I can't believe how different his voice sounded and how short he used to be:)
Superman: He continues to be such a friendly young man who love to encourage people. He is so tender with his younger brother and prays fervently for those he cares about. He does an amazing job of memorizing scripture and understands spiritual things unusually well for an 8 year old. He really struggles with auditory information and math. That makes things tough but we keep trying to keep perspective with what really matters. We are very happy to be homeschooling and are solidly committed to continuing. However, we are also very pleased with our local school district and how they help as he spends time there every week. He has a best buddy and they hang out a lot at his house. It allows Superman to have time away from his siblings and his friend and that family are great for him.
Grace: I do not mean to sound like I am complaining so I hope that I don't come across that way. I want to communicate the realities of life, and I very much realize that it could be so incredibly much more difficult. The amount of time we spend constantly "on" dealing with "stuff" is exhausting. I think what is so wearying is that there is no ability to trust her. We must double check everything and watch constantly. She has to have a room by herself. Her room has had most things removed due to her ruining them or she can't keep them off of the floor. The things we find in there that should not be there is incredible to me. She can't even have a bed frame as she keeps hurting herself on it. She has mattresses on a trundle bed so we can wheel it away from the wall once a week and clean behind/under it. When we took the bed frame out I took a picture of what we found behind her bed as I was so shocked and wanted to remember it and tell her kids about it one day lol! The constant tattling, chattering, and verbal noise is so typical of ADHD due to the inability to filter/subvocalize but it is exhausting! Her back talk and arguing and hyperactive energy is constant. We try to stay on top of it but...it is, again, exhausting! She hurts herself (and others) almost every day with her inability to pay attention to her surroundings. Her behavior has been getting worse lately with only about 1 day a week that has been bearable without some big upheaval. In desperation we tried a new testing for neurotransmitters. I learned about the testing and the biochemistry a couple of years ago. I didn't know how to go about getting the testing done or if it would work if we did go through the process so did not move forward with it at that time. We tested her last week and when I got the results I was shocked. I cried. I was speechless. Every single area that we tested her in was significantly outside of normal levels. We started a change in meds and we hope that it makes a difference. She, too, receives great help from the local school and we are very happy that she is making steady progress.
Faith: Our princess continues to grow up. She continues to deserve the name Princess too! We have had our share of struggles with her lately as well. She is pretty good about flying under the radar while we are distracted with Grace. It seems that she is entering that "tween" stage. Grace has not emotionally/socially kept up with Faith so I think Faith flounders a bit without having a "friend."
JJ: He is eating better. He is learning to count and his colors. He is growing up! He is sleeping better. Most nights I can have him rocked to sleep by 10ish and he will sleep until between 3 and 5 before he crawls into bed with us to snuggle. We are doing a lot of work on his attitude (as with all of the kids) and he seems to be getting it. He must be getting in some molars lately as he has been a bit more grumpy and chewing a lot more. He has done so well with only getting the pacifier at bedtime (he doesn't take naps) but in the last couple of days has wanted to rock and chew on it a lot more. It is actually kind of nice to have a kid that I can "fix" their problem with just some snuggling, rocking, and a pacifier. It is simple compared to the issues of the other 5...
And finally...we check Superman and Faith's biological mother's facebook periodically (not too often as it makes me nauseated to read it). It appears that she has had another child...sigh... That is 6 kids in 8 years. Rose is only 13 months old! It has made me consider the cycle of all of this. I am tempted to fall into despair and disgust. I am terrified for the child's safety. So many emotions that I won't go into here as I haven't processed them enough yet. However, I keep hearing God asking me if I DO trust Him. I just got through all of the emotional process of trusting God with Rose, and now there is another one. How many more siblings are there from the dads much less how many more kids their mother will have? It is too overwhelming for me to think about too much. I need to focus on what I have control over (yet, as you can see from what I typed above I feel that I have no control over the kids in my own house either - and really I have no control lol!) and need to just keep pressing on with what God has given me and trust Him with the outcomes of all of it. I grieve over the depth of depravity in this world. I am so sad for the future of this child...and how every many more she has. I will continue to try to keep my focus vertical, as when we keep our focus on the cross the horizontal is easier to bear:)
As a family we are attempting to have everyone read through the Bible in one year. I help Grace but otherwise we are expecting that the kids will do the reading themselves and get in the habit of them reading it rather than us reading it to them. We are hoping they will take more ownership that way. It is a good way for my husband and I to stay accountable to our reading as well!
If you have been to Branson, MO I am sure you have heard about or taken in the Sight and Sound Theatre. We saw Joseph there last year. We bought all of the productions and have been enjoying watching them. They have been good platforms for discussions with the kids and it really has helped bring the stories more alive for the kids and has given me much to consider as well as they "flesh out" the story line adding content that is not in scripture but is interesting to ponder.
So many things to juggle on top of working full time hours. Trying to keep my eyes on Him and His priorities:)
Showing posts with label biochemistry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label biochemistry. Show all posts
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Friday, December 9, 2011
biochemistry and other random updates:)
Beautiful started Basketball for a home school team. Her first game was snowed out last night:( She spends a lot of time on my itouch texting friends, listening to music on her ipod, and in general being a teenager:)
Buddy is LOVING the snow. He takes Superman out for snowball fights and we went sledding last weekend. We are also enjoying playing board games:) He discovered Larry the Cable Guy on netflix. I had heard something negative about him in the past so never allowed it to be watched. However, watching a grown man with a voice like "Mater" is irresistibly hilarious lol!!
Superman is enjoying the snow too. He and Buddy spend hours and hours together building huge lego "bases" and making totally creative things.
Grace just had her second retest. Her numbers continue to improve and she was able to be taken off of 6 of the supplements. We have added one more to see if we can get increased focus and decreased hyperactivity. We have added back all foods (except meat) and for the most part are having good success. The foods like peanut butter and cheese that she is not supposed to have we are allowing in small quantities without any known adverse effects. We have always reduced sugar with the kids like juices due to cost and the adverse affects of sugar. However, I am now discovering that this practice has been bad. All of the kids have had low sugars (including myself!) and we are seeing improvement with adding juices and more fruits into the diet.
Faith's congestion is still present but not to the degree that it was. Her biochemistry numbers were significantly improved on her retest as well and one supplement was stopped. We are hopeful for increased healing of her body and for the breathing problems to be gone. She originally had high blood sugars, but once we properly hydrated her they are low too.
JJ has had the most improved symptoms and the least improved biochemistry on the retest - go figure! He slept through the night 5 nights in 1 week, then went 2 weeks very grumpy and not sleeping through the night again. In talking with a friend we figured out it was probably due to weaning him. So, I stopped that and...his is back to his cheerful self AND sleeping through the night! However...he is sick again. With the congestion he is still eating and has not spiked a high fever. So, despite being sick he does appear to be on a better trajectory than he went on all summer when the congestion would start. He is just the sweetest little kid!!! He drags out all of my lids, bowls, containers, food out of the cupboards and stacks them, or carries them around the house, or puts them in a box and pushes them around the house. Since starting the supplements and his appetite increasing his weight has gone up almost 2 lbs and he has grown almost 2 inches! That means that he can drag things out of high drawers, things closer to the center of the table, and can get his leg up to climb on things that are higher than he could 2 months ago lol!
I, too, have had low blood sugar. I am realizing now all of the long lasting implications of this. First, it makes me have headaches. When I have headaches I am grumpy (sadly true) and I eat more. I now weigh more than I ever have except when pregnant:( I have enjoyed a week of being headache free now that I am understanding the correlation between when and what I need to eat (increased juices and fruits) to stave off the headaches. Apparently once those blood sugars level off I should be able to lose some weight too as my metabolism will increase. Bonus! I keep getting told that my "numbers" indicate that I need more rest. Go figure...
I am mostly done with Christmas shopping. Beautiful is a little harder to shop for but she has kindly given us a list of wants:) Now to finish end of year tax preparation, paying bills, menu planning with all of the foods we can and cannot eat, home school, cleaning, work, projects, cleaning, Christmas program, basketball stuff, and have I mentioned cleaning? At the end of the day I mostly feel like I cleaned up messes all day.
I am considering a "good to have done" but not "urgent" task to complete this weekend. We'll see if I can make some progress on it or not:)
Buddy is LOVING the snow. He takes Superman out for snowball fights and we went sledding last weekend. We are also enjoying playing board games:) He discovered Larry the Cable Guy on netflix. I had heard something negative about him in the past so never allowed it to be watched. However, watching a grown man with a voice like "Mater" is irresistibly hilarious lol!!
Superman is enjoying the snow too. He and Buddy spend hours and hours together building huge lego "bases" and making totally creative things.
Grace just had her second retest. Her numbers continue to improve and she was able to be taken off of 6 of the supplements. We have added one more to see if we can get increased focus and decreased hyperactivity. We have added back all foods (except meat) and for the most part are having good success. The foods like peanut butter and cheese that she is not supposed to have we are allowing in small quantities without any known adverse effects. We have always reduced sugar with the kids like juices due to cost and the adverse affects of sugar. However, I am now discovering that this practice has been bad. All of the kids have had low sugars (including myself!) and we are seeing improvement with adding juices and more fruits into the diet.
Faith's congestion is still present but not to the degree that it was. Her biochemistry numbers were significantly improved on her retest as well and one supplement was stopped. We are hopeful for increased healing of her body and for the breathing problems to be gone. She originally had high blood sugars, but once we properly hydrated her they are low too.
JJ has had the most improved symptoms and the least improved biochemistry on the retest - go figure! He slept through the night 5 nights in 1 week, then went 2 weeks very grumpy and not sleeping through the night again. In talking with a friend we figured out it was probably due to weaning him. So, I stopped that and...his is back to his cheerful self AND sleeping through the night! However...he is sick again. With the congestion he is still eating and has not spiked a high fever. So, despite being sick he does appear to be on a better trajectory than he went on all summer when the congestion would start. He is just the sweetest little kid!!! He drags out all of my lids, bowls, containers, food out of the cupboards and stacks them, or carries them around the house, or puts them in a box and pushes them around the house. Since starting the supplements and his appetite increasing his weight has gone up almost 2 lbs and he has grown almost 2 inches! That means that he can drag things out of high drawers, things closer to the center of the table, and can get his leg up to climb on things that are higher than he could 2 months ago lol!
I, too, have had low blood sugar. I am realizing now all of the long lasting implications of this. First, it makes me have headaches. When I have headaches I am grumpy (sadly true) and I eat more. I now weigh more than I ever have except when pregnant:( I have enjoyed a week of being headache free now that I am understanding the correlation between when and what I need to eat (increased juices and fruits) to stave off the headaches. Apparently once those blood sugars level off I should be able to lose some weight too as my metabolism will increase. Bonus! I keep getting told that my "numbers" indicate that I need more rest. Go figure...
I am mostly done with Christmas shopping. Beautiful is a little harder to shop for but she has kindly given us a list of wants:) Now to finish end of year tax preparation, paying bills, menu planning with all of the foods we can and cannot eat, home school, cleaning, work, projects, cleaning, Christmas program, basketball stuff, and have I mentioned cleaning? At the end of the day I mostly feel like I cleaned up messes all day.
I am considering a "good to have done" but not "urgent" task to complete this weekend. We'll see if I can make some progress on it or not:)
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Grace's new journey: week 6/7
It has been over 2 weeks since my last update. It is hard to fit blogging in with everything else. Essentially we continue to have progress.
Grace: The good news: Her digestive issues have improved to the point that we have introduced dairy products again...with no symptoms! For the first time in her life having sour cream, ice cream, cream cheese, etc does not result in her running for the bathroom. It is exciting:) Her hyperactive behaviors are improving. She still requires much behavior management but she is essentially off of the Ritalin. We are noticing for the first time now, because of the lessening in her hyperactivity/impulsivity, how much her concentration/focus is affected. We always knew that she was unable to focus well, but now it is more apparent. It seems that now when we are attempting to discipline her behaviors she is less angry and more...possibly remorseful.
Faith: We are 2 weeks into the supplements with her. We have not noticed any improvement with her. We also stopped her allergy shots at the same time so that is compounding her issues right now. She is congested, coughing, and has a runny nose all of the time. We are waiting for the retest to see how she is doing. She has some other foundational issues to get cleared up so hopefully once those are better we will see some improvement in the congestion.
JJ: Along with Faith and Grace having head colds and coughs (Faith's is by far worse, it always is), JJ had a cough and congestion. Usually that is followed by a fever, refusing to eat, and weeks later we finally end up putting him on an antibiotic. However, this time within a few days his cough cleared up and while he is still congested in his head it is his "normal" rattle when breathing (he has never breathed totally quietly all the time). He only had one day that he decided to eat minimal foods. He is drinking and eating 2x as much as usual and has gained 1 lb in the past month! So, we are considering that he is significantly improving as well. And, as a bonus...he is sleeping better! He has slept 12 hours for the past 3 nights - 1 straight through and 2 only getting up once for a bottle then back to sleep. His appetite has probably tripled - and that is likely a factor in his sleeping better - since he is eating more at a meal:)
Myself: I have been waiting around "something" to feel different. I have wondered since my symptoms were less specific what/if I would notice anything. I was looking at a specific symptom set and didn't really think I noticed anything (like more energy, etc). I have had some improvement specific to my issues, but am probably the most surprised that I have less pain in my back. That, of course, is a very pleasant surprise as I have learned to just live with the chronic pain as it is MUCH better than it used to be but there is not a minute that goes by that I am not experiencing some level of discomfort.
Our menu has change dramatically. There is a lot of food we don't eat anymore and a LOT of foods we have added that we never considered before. Millet, grits, green drinks, almond milk, etc. I am learning to hid veggies in soups. Since the kids are on vegetarian diets we are more creative about meals - being a farmer's daughter and my husband is a hunter we have always been all about meat. But...we are learning. Yesterday I made fruit leather and today I made homemade yogurt. Yep...times are changing at our house lol! I am thankful for a friend's blog www.heavenlyhomemakers.com. When in doubt...I check it out!
.....
Grace: The good news: Her digestive issues have improved to the point that we have introduced dairy products again...with no symptoms! For the first time in her life having sour cream, ice cream, cream cheese, etc does not result in her running for the bathroom. It is exciting:) Her hyperactive behaviors are improving. She still requires much behavior management but she is essentially off of the Ritalin. We are noticing for the first time now, because of the lessening in her hyperactivity/impulsivity, how much her concentration/focus is affected. We always knew that she was unable to focus well, but now it is more apparent. It seems that now when we are attempting to discipline her behaviors she is less angry and more...possibly remorseful.
Faith: We are 2 weeks into the supplements with her. We have not noticed any improvement with her. We also stopped her allergy shots at the same time so that is compounding her issues right now. She is congested, coughing, and has a runny nose all of the time. We are waiting for the retest to see how she is doing. She has some other foundational issues to get cleared up so hopefully once those are better we will see some improvement in the congestion.
JJ: Along with Faith and Grace having head colds and coughs (Faith's is by far worse, it always is), JJ had a cough and congestion. Usually that is followed by a fever, refusing to eat, and weeks later we finally end up putting him on an antibiotic. However, this time within a few days his cough cleared up and while he is still congested in his head it is his "normal" rattle when breathing (he has never breathed totally quietly all the time). He only had one day that he decided to eat minimal foods. He is drinking and eating 2x as much as usual and has gained 1 lb in the past month! So, we are considering that he is significantly improving as well. And, as a bonus...he is sleeping better! He has slept 12 hours for the past 3 nights - 1 straight through and 2 only getting up once for a bottle then back to sleep. His appetite has probably tripled - and that is likely a factor in his sleeping better - since he is eating more at a meal:)
Myself: I have been waiting around "something" to feel different. I have wondered since my symptoms were less specific what/if I would notice anything. I was looking at a specific symptom set and didn't really think I noticed anything (like more energy, etc). I have had some improvement specific to my issues, but am probably the most surprised that I have less pain in my back. That, of course, is a very pleasant surprise as I have learned to just live with the chronic pain as it is MUCH better than it used to be but there is not a minute that goes by that I am not experiencing some level of discomfort.
Our menu has change dramatically. There is a lot of food we don't eat anymore and a LOT of foods we have added that we never considered before. Millet, grits, green drinks, almond milk, etc. I am learning to hid veggies in soups. Since the kids are on vegetarian diets we are more creative about meals - being a farmer's daughter and my husband is a hunter we have always been all about meat. But...we are learning. Yesterday I made fruit leather and today I made homemade yogurt. Yep...times are changing at our house lol! I am thankful for a friend's blog www.heavenlyhomemakers.com. When in doubt...I check it out!
.....
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
JJ, Faith, and I join the ranks...
Since we are seeing such promising progress with Grace, we decided that we would have JJ, Faith, and I tested as well to try to get us on track.
Faith has a lot of congestion issues and we have had to have her on the nebulizer a lot due to wheezing and lung issues. She was on allergy shots which we have decided to discontinue at this time. There were some labs of hers that were much worse than Grace's. For example, her sugars are very high as well as her salts. The biochemist said that if she were a 50 y/o woman she may be concerned about heart attack. So, we are now working to minimize sugars and salts and significantly increase fluids. She is also have supplements that are to help her allergy congestion. We'll see how it goes!
JJ also needs many more fluids. We already knew that since he does not like to eat or drink. We are going to need to be creative about how to get the couple of supplements into him, in particular because he is low in several minerals. Overall we are attempting to help him with some digestive enzymes and similar things to want to eat more, digest his food better, and hopefully gain wait and be less congested. The biochemist said that many times people think they are lactose intolerant due to congestion from dairy products, but it is really a calcium deficiency. So, we are adding liquid calcium to his diet and switching him from goat's milk to raw milk.
And, myself. I initially felt quite guilty about spending the money to get tested before the rest of the kids were tested and maintaining. But in talking about it with my husband we decided that I need the energy and mental focus to be able to parent and implement these changes well so I should go ahead now and do it. I was surprised that the labs showed things that I thought I just needed to live with, such as peri menopausal symptoms I've dealt with for 11 years. So, in addition to the fact that I have low blood sugar just like JJ and Grace, labs about my concentration/focus were also poor (I knew that too lol!) I also have toxic levels of Magnesium - probably due to the multivitamin that I take (she does not agree with multi-vitamins anyway). So - I am off of my multi-vitamin. She also had some options for my chronic pain issues and to help the inflammation/pain from my herniated disk. We'll see how that progresses.
So, all of us get to do some changes together. Other than that we all have different needs and need different foods/supplements. I'll get a daily calendar together to make sure everyone is getting what they need when they need it, figure out how to make the teas and other drinks to help get in the minerals/vitamins that we need, and look forward to our re-tests in a month to see our progress! I, in particular, am looking forward to less pain and more energy and focus:) It is much less overwhelming this time around even though we are adding 3 diet changes compared to 1. Hopefully in a month or 2 we will get the other 4 in the family tested and...then be super healthy lol!
Faith has a lot of congestion issues and we have had to have her on the nebulizer a lot due to wheezing and lung issues. She was on allergy shots which we have decided to discontinue at this time. There were some labs of hers that were much worse than Grace's. For example, her sugars are very high as well as her salts. The biochemist said that if she were a 50 y/o woman she may be concerned about heart attack. So, we are now working to minimize sugars and salts and significantly increase fluids. She is also have supplements that are to help her allergy congestion. We'll see how it goes!
JJ also needs many more fluids. We already knew that since he does not like to eat or drink. We are going to need to be creative about how to get the couple of supplements into him, in particular because he is low in several minerals. Overall we are attempting to help him with some digestive enzymes and similar things to want to eat more, digest his food better, and hopefully gain wait and be less congested. The biochemist said that many times people think they are lactose intolerant due to congestion from dairy products, but it is really a calcium deficiency. So, we are adding liquid calcium to his diet and switching him from goat's milk to raw milk.
And, myself. I initially felt quite guilty about spending the money to get tested before the rest of the kids were tested and maintaining. But in talking about it with my husband we decided that I need the energy and mental focus to be able to parent and implement these changes well so I should go ahead now and do it. I was surprised that the labs showed things that I thought I just needed to live with, such as peri menopausal symptoms I've dealt with for 11 years. So, in addition to the fact that I have low blood sugar just like JJ and Grace, labs about my concentration/focus were also poor (I knew that too lol!) I also have toxic levels of Magnesium - probably due to the multivitamin that I take (she does not agree with multi-vitamins anyway). So - I am off of my multi-vitamin. She also had some options for my chronic pain issues and to help the inflammation/pain from my herniated disk. We'll see how that progresses.
So, all of us get to do some changes together. Other than that we all have different needs and need different foods/supplements. I'll get a daily calendar together to make sure everyone is getting what they need when they need it, figure out how to make the teas and other drinks to help get in the minerals/vitamins that we need, and look forward to our re-tests in a month to see our progress! I, in particular, am looking forward to less pain and more energy and focus:) It is much less overwhelming this time around even though we are adding 3 diet changes compared to 1. Hopefully in a month or 2 we will get the other 4 in the family tested and...then be super healthy lol!
Grace's new journey: week 4
Yes, I skipped week 3...for any of you that were wondering:) We just got labs back from a retest on Grace. Many of the labs are significantly improved and the biochemist said that we are doing a great job to move her lab results that quickly. There are two areas that are moving more slowly but they are areas that tend to move slowly. We are still having problems getting...are you ready for this??? enough sugar into her. She is hypoglycemic. Apparently if blood sugars are too low then oxygen doesn't get to the brain properly and it affects concentration/thinking/etc. Who would have thought that a child with ADHD needs more sugar lol! So, we will be adding more juice to her diet. We are already able to back off one of the supplements. Her behavior is probably over all an 8 if we started at a 10, but we did have days where she was a 6. When we have a lot of excitement, fast paced routine, people, going places then she does much more poorly. We have opted that for now we will still do the Ritalin in those situations (I had to take her out of church on Sunday because she was not doing well - I haven't had to do that in a LONG time). We will make sure we give her Ritalin before church for awhile! She is still ornery especially when she doesn't think she is being watched...but part of that is being a strong willed 5 year old:) Overall, in the grand scheme of things, we are pleased with her progress thus far and believe it will only get better.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Grace's new journey: week 2
We continue the movement forward eating healthier food and hoping that Grace continues to do well. In the past 10 days we have only given her Ritalin once. We have learned that the supplements and the diet change have improved her behavior to the same place that the Ritalin had. Does that mean that she is optimally where we want her? No. But she wasn't optimal on the medicine either. We believe that she will continue to improve week by week. She is using her words more, pausing before acting more, concentrating on school work better, etc.
But then today happened. Last night her digestion problems came back. Today...back to the "old" behavior. Either we fed her something we should not have or there was a die off of something that needed to die off or...something. I had been wondering if she really was getting better or if I was imagining it as I wanted her to be better so badly...nope...I wasn't imagining it. Today was bad lol! That means she really IS getting better!
This tells us that her diet and digestion process really is the main culprit behind her behavior so we will forge ahead!! The next two days are big for us with picking up very special friends from the airport one day and the rest of the family shopping/playing while I attend a one day conference the other day. I hope this set-back is just for today...and I have faith that it is:)
But then today happened. Last night her digestion problems came back. Today...back to the "old" behavior. Either we fed her something we should not have or there was a die off of something that needed to die off or...something. I had been wondering if she really was getting better or if I was imagining it as I wanted her to be better so badly...nope...I wasn't imagining it. Today was bad lol! That means she really IS getting better!
This tells us that her diet and digestion process really is the main culprit behind her behavior so we will forge ahead!! The next two days are big for us with picking up very special friends from the airport one day and the rest of the family shopping/playing while I attend a one day conference the other day. I hope this set-back is just for today...and I have faith that it is:)
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Grace's new journey: week 1
Grace has now been on her new diet and supplements for 10 days. She takes 14 pills a day ranging from B6 to liver and kidney cleanses. She takes 2 different "drinks" 2 times a day each. She is absolutely a trooper about it. She drinks the "green drink" which is celery, spinach, asparagus, etc "juiced" up along with pineapple. She thinks that tastes fine. It is the Kidney Tea that she had a hard time with. I tried to give it to her warm with honey to flavor it but it was tough on her (I drank it too...nasty!). I tried it cold with pineapple juice and it is going great. I just want to add here that a dear friend blessed us with a juicer...it has made all the difference in making her drinks:) Thank you!!
So, how is her ADHD behavior? Well, after only 10 days I am surprised to say...noticeably improved! In fact, we are only giving her the ritalin about 1/2 of the time. Things we are noticing:
1) for the first time in her life she is not having diarrhea/loose stools. This may seem a bit gross but for a kid who apparently has never properly digested her food this is a "real" sign that her food is finally getting digested - and thereby actually used by her body! Yay!!
2) This morning she actually ASKED to play with something rather than just get it out and make a huge mess. For her to actually think far enough into the future to ask permission is big. This is happening several times a day.
3) While she used to get disregulated emotionally when upset about something spiraling into a major "incident," she will now actually use her words and say "that makes me feel left out" and allow herself to be comforted/redirected. She will come to us and ask for hugs and love rather than disregulate. This also means noticeably less bullying behavior. I almost can't believe she is the same kid!
4) She is not as famished as she used to be. She still eats plenty of food and we try to feed her at least 6 times a day. However, sometimes she says she is not hungry or won't eat as much. Again, this seems to mean that her body is finally using the food properly and is satiating her hunger.
5) She is much calmer than usual. She can still get worked up in certain situations, but overall if her energy level used to be a "10" she is averaging around an "8" in most situations.
6) I have found her playing for long periods of time, by herself...without wrecking anything! Her concentration and focus are clearly improved.
We hope to have her off of the ritalin completely within a month. We hope this trend continues and her body heals from the inside out rather than just a band aid approach. While I'm sure she will never be as calm as the other kids, we want to be everything that God has intended her to be. After all, if she were sedate she wouldn't be able to change the world...and we are sure God intends for her to be a world changer lol!
So, how is her ADHD behavior? Well, after only 10 days I am surprised to say...noticeably improved! In fact, we are only giving her the ritalin about 1/2 of the time. Things we are noticing:
1) for the first time in her life she is not having diarrhea/loose stools. This may seem a bit gross but for a kid who apparently has never properly digested her food this is a "real" sign that her food is finally getting digested - and thereby actually used by her body! Yay!!
2) This morning she actually ASKED to play with something rather than just get it out and make a huge mess. For her to actually think far enough into the future to ask permission is big. This is happening several times a day.
3) While she used to get disregulated emotionally when upset about something spiraling into a major "incident," she will now actually use her words and say "that makes me feel left out" and allow herself to be comforted/redirected. She will come to us and ask for hugs and love rather than disregulate. This also means noticeably less bullying behavior. I almost can't believe she is the same kid!
4) She is not as famished as she used to be. She still eats plenty of food and we try to feed her at least 6 times a day. However, sometimes she says she is not hungry or won't eat as much. Again, this seems to mean that her body is finally using the food properly and is satiating her hunger.
5) She is much calmer than usual. She can still get worked up in certain situations, but overall if her energy level used to be a "10" she is averaging around an "8" in most situations.
6) I have found her playing for long periods of time, by herself...without wrecking anything! Her concentration and focus are clearly improved.
We hope to have her off of the ritalin completely within a month. We hope this trend continues and her body heals from the inside out rather than just a band aid approach. While I'm sure she will never be as calm as the other kids, we want to be everything that God has intended her to be. After all, if she were sedate she wouldn't be able to change the world...and we are sure God intends for her to be a world changer lol!
Friday, September 23, 2011
Grace's new journey: Part 1
Our one-of-a-kind Grace has always had her own unique way of doing life. We have tried every traditional and non-traditional approach that we have known of to try to help her "feel more comfortable in her own skin." In June, you may recall, we discovered she has many food allergies. Since that time we have puzzled over "food allergies" and what is the cause of them thinking there has to be a fix beyond just eliminating the food. Furthermore, the conference I attended last week talked about the neurochemistry of placing a child on a stimulant and the permanent damage it can cause by pre-teen/teenhood. As we obviously want what is best for Grace, but also want the family to be able to feel safe and comfortable, we have remained open minded to options other than Ritalin.
In chatting with a good friend about this dilemma, she shared an interesting story. Her son has struggled with extreme eczema since birth. He is now 6 and she has tried every traditional and non-traditional approach she has known. In the process she has become quite the expert in food issues, digestion, how food affects eczema, etc. She recently had enlisted the assistance of a Biochemist who ran labs on her son and suggested some specific supplements based on the results of his specific biochemistry.
My husband and I were excited that after 6 weeks her son's eczema had completely cleared up for weeks - for the first time in his life! We wondered if this woman could also help Grace. I completed the 1 hour free phone consultation and we decided to move forward. We figured that even if it didn't work we needed to know that we have not left any stone unturned in our quest to help Grace.
We were dismayed and saddened (even more so than when we got the "allergy" results) to find out what the labs revealed about Grace's body. Grace apparently has significant issues with her kidney's and liver not processing toxins (which explains her frenzied behavior if she is toxic) , she is not digesting any food adequately (which explains her not gaining ANY weight in 18 months and ALWAYS being hungry and having chronic diarrhea), and several other issues such as her losing calcium, her potassium and Vit C being very low (she is always the first to get sick in our home), etc.
This information was consistent with what I learned about at the conference on how early stress and prenatal "stuff" affects the organs functioning, etc. To have this confirmed by someone totally not related to the conference via these labs seemed like confirmation that we are headed in the right direction to getting her some foundational help. However, we are very aware that this falls outside of "traditional" medicine and are moving forward skeptically optimistic.
The Biochemist suggested interventions of dietary changes and supplements. We are learning about food that I have not heard of before. I had to call my friend to ask her what Hominy is - since Grace is supposed to eat that 2 times a week. We have lots and lots of green leafy veggies in our house now - expanding our traditional 5 veggies that we normally eat lol! I learned how to make a "green drink" from spinach, celery, and pineapple juice. Sounds appetizing for a 5 year old, right ?!?!?! She has never liked meat and is now on a vegetarian diet - so she likes that a lot:) I am in the process of figuring out the "must eat every day, must eat 3x a week, etc" menu to make sure she is getting the balance of everything she needs.
The Biochemist is very skeptical about "food allergies" and suggests that once her body is able to digest/break down food properly that she will probably not have any negative reactions to food anymore. In fact, we have already reintroduced tomatoes with no adverse effects. The things that her body reacted to in the food allergy test were directly related to the things the Biochemist found were not working right in her body. We are still to keep her off of dairy (although she tolerates raw milk great!) until she is doing better though.
All in all, if nothing gets better with her behavior, we have introduced more healthy food into the house and I will grow my culinary skills:) Hominy, cooking with millet and a variety of grains other than just grinding whole wheat, making green drinks and home made almond milk will diversify our family:) At the moment I am trying to figure out how to get her to eat Asparagus 2x a week. And, if Grace could finally feel comfortable in her own skin...well...my husband and I are trying to wrap our minds around what that could look like...just imagine!!!!
Oh, and if anyone has a Juicer, or knows of someone who wants to sell a juicer, or knows of where to get one reasonably priced - we need one!
In chatting with a good friend about this dilemma, she shared an interesting story. Her son has struggled with extreme eczema since birth. He is now 6 and she has tried every traditional and non-traditional approach she has known. In the process she has become quite the expert in food issues, digestion, how food affects eczema, etc. She recently had enlisted the assistance of a Biochemist who ran labs on her son and suggested some specific supplements based on the results of his specific biochemistry.
My husband and I were excited that after 6 weeks her son's eczema had completely cleared up for weeks - for the first time in his life! We wondered if this woman could also help Grace. I completed the 1 hour free phone consultation and we decided to move forward. We figured that even if it didn't work we needed to know that we have not left any stone unturned in our quest to help Grace.
We were dismayed and saddened (even more so than when we got the "allergy" results) to find out what the labs revealed about Grace's body. Grace apparently has significant issues with her kidney's and liver not processing toxins (which explains her frenzied behavior if she is toxic) , she is not digesting any food adequately (which explains her not gaining ANY weight in 18 months and ALWAYS being hungry and having chronic diarrhea), and several other issues such as her losing calcium, her potassium and Vit C being very low (she is always the first to get sick in our home), etc.
This information was consistent with what I learned about at the conference on how early stress and prenatal "stuff" affects the organs functioning, etc. To have this confirmed by someone totally not related to the conference via these labs seemed like confirmation that we are headed in the right direction to getting her some foundational help. However, we are very aware that this falls outside of "traditional" medicine and are moving forward skeptically optimistic.
The Biochemist suggested interventions of dietary changes and supplements. We are learning about food that I have not heard of before. I had to call my friend to ask her what Hominy is - since Grace is supposed to eat that 2 times a week. We have lots and lots of green leafy veggies in our house now - expanding our traditional 5 veggies that we normally eat lol! I learned how to make a "green drink" from spinach, celery, and pineapple juice. Sounds appetizing for a 5 year old, right ?!?!?! She has never liked meat and is now on a vegetarian diet - so she likes that a lot:) I am in the process of figuring out the "must eat every day, must eat 3x a week, etc" menu to make sure she is getting the balance of everything she needs.
The Biochemist is very skeptical about "food allergies" and suggests that once her body is able to digest/break down food properly that she will probably not have any negative reactions to food anymore. In fact, we have already reintroduced tomatoes with no adverse effects. The things that her body reacted to in the food allergy test were directly related to the things the Biochemist found were not working right in her body. We are still to keep her off of dairy (although she tolerates raw milk great!) until she is doing better though.
All in all, if nothing gets better with her behavior, we have introduced more healthy food into the house and I will grow my culinary skills:) Hominy, cooking with millet and a variety of grains other than just grinding whole wheat, making green drinks and home made almond milk will diversify our family:) At the moment I am trying to figure out how to get her to eat Asparagus 2x a week. And, if Grace could finally feel comfortable in her own skin...well...my husband and I are trying to wrap our minds around what that could look like...just imagine!!!!
Oh, and if anyone has a Juicer, or knows of someone who wants to sell a juicer, or knows of where to get one reasonably priced - we need one!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)