Hopefully you have read parts I and II of my series, if not please go back and read them. My first attempt at pulling foods out of my son's picky diet was a total disaster. I must have spent $5,000 on food the first week trying to figure out what would work. My initial idea was to try and replace everything he ate with a corn and gluten free alternative. Hahahahaha!! Its kind of funny now that I think about it. Gluten/corn free bread, pasta, cookies, graham crackers, cheese crackers, chicken nuggets, pizza, fish sticks etc. It made me realize how terrible my son's diet had been and how little nutrients he was getting from his food. But I did what I set out to do and found gluten/corn free alternatives to the favorite foods he eats. I must say, he was pretty accepting once I got the correct brands that worked and tasted good!
The only issue is that I did not put his twin brother on this diet because I was afraid of more rejection. So there were times that Cole wanted to know why he couldn't eat what his brother was eating. It certainly wasn't fair at all and probably the wrong strategy completely but I explained the situation to Cole with full body diagrams and demonstrations. I wanted him to understand exactly what was going on in his body (or as much as a 5 years old could comprehend). I told him he was allergic to gluten and corn and that it gave him tummy aches and that we needed to heal his tummy and make it stronger. Cole was absolutely amazing with understanding and explaining his allergies to others! He became an active participant in his healing and I am forever thankful. However, there were still days where he was not happy with what he was eating and things got tense. My panic attacks at 2 am were still in full swing.
During this time, I also found out about an amino acid called N-Acetyl Cystiene. In high doses it cures people from acetaminophen poisoning by increasing the glutathione (a powerful detoxifier) in the body. I had learned that Yale was doing a study on the use of N-Acetyl Cystiene or NAC on children ages 7-17 that were diagnosed with TS. They were giving them 2400mgs a day (a much lower dosage than whats used to treat the acetaminophen poisoning). The study was just completed this past July and from what I have heard already, there have been positive results on tics. I ran out to my health supplement store and bought a bottle of NAC and immediately started giving this to Cole in conjunction with the diet changes.
I should also mention that Dr. Taz had us start on glutamine and a heavy duty probiotic (25 billion CFU multi specie). These 2 supplements were to add in good bacteria to his gut while also helping to repair the lining of his gut.
I will be honest, we thought we saw improvement quickly but that improvement was fleeting. Cole's screaming had calmed down a little but he was still yelping and doing like 15 other motor and vocal tics thousands of times a day. Thank goodness we joined a pool this summer. It was a wonderful outlet for Cole and his brother. They both learned how to swim and when Cole was in the water, some of the tics subsided. Some days were worse than others and the lifeguards were amazing and accepting and just loved both of my boys to pieces. Plus, there was a mushroom waterfall that was pretty loud so a lot of Cole's vocal tics were drowned out by the waterfall. The pool also had a tiki bar that opened at 4pm on weekdays and 11am on weekends and let me tell you, that was a life saver! Besides losing 15lbs and getting down to 95lbs from anxiety, all those pina coladas helped keep my weight up! I'm half joking......
You may be thinking that I am not an accepting Mom. Maybe I just should have said, OK this is my son now. I love him no matter what and I shouldn't try to change him. Well, of course!!! But if you knew in your heart that there was a way to help your child, wouldn't you do anything to find that way? Hell, I heard that medical marijuana was a promising antidote for tics. I was ready to fly out to CO, pick up a tincture and drive back to Atlanta!! Thankfully, some rational minded folks (including my loving husband) talked me out of this but I am telling you, I was checking airfare.
Plus, as I had mentioned in my previous posts, this was ALL NEW to me. Two months ago, I had a pretty neuro typical kid with the occasional tic that I chalked up to some anxiety. Common stuff that would work itself out, they told me. Now I had a VERY sensory stimulated child that could not focus, sit still, be quit or stop moving. His tics were so disruptive to everyday life that I really feared for his future. Most frightening were the tics that would eventually hurt him. The neck jerks, head punching, and screaming. Sooner or later he was going to pop a vocal chord or slip a disc in his neck and then "they" would force me to medicate him. I needed a solution quickly as time was running out to Kindergarten.
That is when we took the mother of all blood tests - the NutraEval. It cost $1,000 and was not covered by insurance. Actually, I really need to mention that none of Dr. Taz's tests or visits were covered by our insurance. So between the tests and food, I was dropping some serious dough on Cole. Looking back, I would do it all over again if I had to. That is how much I believe in the holistic approach.
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