Final Common Pathway
Stimming behaviors tend to result from a variety of causes.  I have removed rice from one child’s diet and all stimming stopped.  In another child, it was severe constipation, and in another, they were actually seizures!  So you can clearly see that it is important to consider that the repetitive behaviors you are seeing may be actually due to a problem that can be fixed, and multiple problems can lead to the same external behaviors (stimming in this case).

Let’s Look for Patterns – this is NOT a complete list, just a good place to start
•    In order to get clues about stimming behaviors, maybe we can discern when they escalate:
•    Before bowel movements – constipation
•    At school, when out shopping, with certain people or tasks– situational
•    After school – situational
•    After food – diet related
•    In the evening –  tiredness
•    When demands are being placed – anxiety
•    Random times throughout the day, without known cause, abruptly leaving – seizure
•    All the time, from waking to sleep: allergies, inflammation, infection (bowels, sinus, etc)
•    Any combination of above

Let’s Get this Started
The first step is addressing the bowels. The goal here is to have one to two daily bowel movements.  Constipation can be a very big problem for many of our children we see in the clinic.  You can read about my approach to constipation, as well as chronic diarrhea at www.mendingautism.com. You will need the support of a physician to obtain stool cultures to help diagnose and treat abnormal gut bugs (yeast, bacteria, and parasites).  If they are present, they must be eradicated if we hope to be successful with controlling stimming behaviors.

Don’t Forget about Diet!
Diet changes are up next.  I had a patient become super stimmy after eating some corn chips in my office.  I asked mom about this, and since he ate these throughout the day, she had not put 2 + 2 together until I pointed it out.  Corn was this child’s nemesis!  Really, it can be just about any food.  Once again, we may need the help of a physician to obtain a food allergy profile that may indeed give us clues as to which food or foods we need to remove.  If this is just not available, you can remove all gluten and dairy (100%!), corn, rice, citrus and REALLY lower the daily amount of sugar taken in…even natural “sugar”…consumption of sugar must really be limited.

At Home
The home environment may also be a source of behaviors in children  New carpets, furniture, paints, etc all can contribute to an environmental toxic overload, through off-gassing, which translates into stimming.  Allergies, such as house dust mite, mold, pets, cigarette smoke, etc can also contribute to stimming behaviors.  I recently had a child react very negatively to mom’s new car!  Anything “toxic” to these children can contribute to stimming, and don’t forget perfumes and hair sprays can be toxic to some of our children.
Electronic toys and TV can be great provokers of stimming behaviors.  It may be the end of a show and the TV credits are rolling, it may be the show itself, or any of the electronic toys with buttons or apps on the iPad.  The best remedy I have found to mitigate stimming behaviors induced by these sources is the REMOVAL of these toys.

Anxiety
Anxiety is another really big source for stimming behavior in children.  This cause is a little easier to figure out, as the behaviors tend to escalate in situations the child perceives as anxiety producing.  Anxiety can be a symptom of adrenal fatigue and the body’s inability to produce enough cortisol. Cortisol levels can be measured in the saliva and to see if this may indeed be contributing to your child’s anxiety.  There are natural approaches that can help with adrenal fatigue such as vitamin C and herbs such as Ashwagandha and valerian root extract.

Finally, there are some stimming behaviors that the children just prefer to do.  These stims may last many years, even into adulthood.  I like to see if we can contain, rather than “stop” these stims by directing when and where it might be more appropriate to stim, such as in one’s bedroom.  I met with one young man at Disney, and the trees were all lit up, he expressed that he would love to just rock and stim on the lights, but knew it was “inappropriate.”

Stimming behaviors in children on the autism spectrum are very common.  Many of these behaviors can be minimized if the underlying causes are addressed and corrected.  When excessive body motions are reduced, these children become more teachable and responsive to their interventions and therapies, and thus, autism improves dramatically.

In a recent article, Body Burden – The Pollution of Newborns (you can read the article here) the umbilical cord blood of 10 infants were tested.   Tests revealed a total of 287 chemicals in the group. The umbilical cord blood of these 10 children, collected by Red Cross after the cord was cut, harbored pesticides, consumer product ingredients, and wastes from burning coal, gasoline, and garbage.  Mercury was found in the cord blood too!  We live in a toxic environment and susceptible individuals can inadvertently be poisoned by one means or another, starting from the womb.

Why don’t these metals come out naturally?
We have natural pathways that are designed to clear toxic metals from our body.  We are all born with different capacities to accomplish this task.  Some of our population is more easily “poisoned” than others.  We know the very young and the very old are especially sensitive to poisonings and heavy metal exposures.  In these cases, heavy metals can accumulate faster than they can be removed.  When they do accumulate, they can poison enzyme systems that are necessary for normal metabolic function.  Then there is a cascade of multiple metabolic dysfunctions that result in the child not being able to live at his or her full potential.

How do we test for heavy metals?
The science of detection of heavy metals is evolving nicely, but we have a long way to go.  You see, when someone is exposed to heavy metals, the heavy metals are picked up by blood and transported quickly to the metal’s tissue of choice.  This is like being in a taxi cab, you want to get to your destination and get out of the cab.  Let’s take lead for example.  Lead prefers to be bound to bone tissue.  Thus when the body is exposed to lead, the blood stream transports it to bone, and the lead then deposits there.  That’s why when a parent tells me that “they” tested the blood for lead and it was negative, all that tells me, is that the “taxi” is empty, currently (which is good because it means there is no on-going lead exposure), but tells me NOTHING about what happened 3 months ago or longer. There could have been a significant lead exposure, but today’s test won’t tell you that.  One of the most sensitive tests available at most labs (like Lab Corp) is called a Porphyrin Profile.   How this measures the total body burden of heavy metals as well as potentially pointing to a single agent is beyond the scope of today’s discussion.  Suffice it to say that this test can be serially followed while doing chelation and you can actually watch the numbers improve.  Another test, though less sensitive but a lot more gratifying is the urine toxic metal challenge.  In this test, a pre-chelation urine is obtained and evaluated for several specific heavy metals, which are ascribed a value.  When a chelating agent is then given, a follow up urine is obtained and if one or more of the heavy metals  is increased, you can see quickly (they are usually bar graphs) what is coming out (i.e. lead or mercury) and “how much” more than without the chelator.  There are some other ways to follow heavy metals, and your practitioner will certainly be well versed in one or more of these laboratory studies.

The Chelators

Calcium disodium EDTA (the only form of EDTA that I use)
This is an amino acid that attracts lead, other heavy metals, and some minerals from the bloodstream and expels the toxic elements in the urine.  EDTA works to remove excess lead from the body, but is not specific to mercury or methyl mercury like DMSA or DMPS.  It can be taken orally, rectal suppository, or given IV (intravenous).

DMSA
This is a FDA approved drug can be used in children when lead toxicity is suspected, but can remove other heavy metals including mercury and arsenic.  It can be taken orally, transdermally, or given as a suppository.

DMPS (not FDA approved)
DMPS is given with the intent to remove mercury from the body. It can be given IV, intramuscularly, subcutaneously, transdermally, or by suppository.

The Procedure
Clinicians who include chelation therapy in their practice will have their “favorite” approach to both diagnosis and treatment and monitoring.  They will often prescribe additional supplements because it is common for certain minerals to be removed during the process.  Chelation can certainly be augmented with many different approaches, such as the addition of glutathione, vitamin B12, etc.

Clinical outcomes
Yes, I have seen everywhere from marked improvement to no improvement.  There are so many variables here: age of exposure (like in the womb, 1 day old, etc), amount of exposure, type of exposure (which metals/toxins), genetic ability to handle the exposure, route of exposure, and more.  Regardless of the specifics on the variables, we know that we are trying to eliminate, to the best of our ability and as safely as possible, heavy metals.  Two current obstacles remain in our way.  One is that many of the metals’ preferred sites to “land” is the fatty tissues of the body, including the brain.  Current chelators are water soluble and reaching into the fat can be very difficult.  The second obstacle is having the chelators cross the blood-brain barrier.  That is, actually getting the chelating agent into the brain to remove heavy metals there.  With that said, there is no denying that many children improve with chelation, somehow in some manner that we just may not fully understand.

Beware!
There are many companies producing products that claim they chelate.  I would like you to ask these four simple words, “HOW DO YOU KNOW?”  They will tell you how the water changes color, the EEG changes, etc, but how do you know what you are doing is actually chelating?  There needs to be some way to monitor what we are doing.  Chelation should really be done with an experienced physician!

Dad got a call on a Saturday morning for a new baby born in the hospital and he needed to go in to do a newborn exam.  Later that day he called and told me a young woman had given birth to a baby boy and wanted to give him up for adoption.  The big question was “are you interested?”  We had been discussing adoption and thought a little girl would be awesome to add to our family of 3 boys.  Little did we know that God had much different plans for our lives!   I said YES!  I didn’t get to meet you right away but was so excited about having a baby in the house.  We had talked to the other boys, then 10, 8 and 5 and asked what they thought.  They loved the idea… Mark thought he would have his own playmate like David and John had each other.

Well things don’t always turn out the way we planned.  God definitely blessed our house with you, Joshua!  I can’t imagine what our lives would be without you.  You brought a lot of change and trials but you also brought us joy, patience, self-growth and compassion.  Wow that list could go on and on.  Yes there have been many struggles, endless tears, and so many whys spoken but you Joshua outshine them all!  You have given so much to our family including our extended family, friends and in reality 1000s of families have been touched by your life.  I am thankful that your birth mom was strong enough to give birth to you and wanted a better life for you than she was going to be able to provide.

No, you won’t be getting your driver’s license today and I so wish you were.  We will continue to look for ways to improve your life and those of all the other children who are affected by autism.  I love sharing the drive to school with you each morning, listening to The Muppet Movie CD or Phineas and Ferb!  Celebrating your birthday at Disneyland will be awesome on Saturday.

Thank you Joshua for teaching our family so many lessons and giving us the courage to continue on each day looking for new solutions to health issues or figuring out what the future will look like for you.

Happy 16th Birthday Josh!  We love you!

Let’s start off with explaining what hyperbaric oxygen therapy is.  Hyperbaric means “increased pressure,” much like the increased pressure inside a soda can (at least until you pop the top and the pressure escapes).  Oxygen refers to the gas used.  So, what we are really talking about here is using oxygen as a therapeutic “drug” and giving it under pressure.

Now, going back to the soda can, the gas used here is Carbon Dioxide which, under pressure, will “dissolve” into the soda.  The sweet syrupy water was never intended to hold the carbon dioxide gas, but under mild pressure, it will, and we have the delightful little bubbles.  So, brown syrupy water, known as “cola” can have carbon dioxide gas dissolved into it under pressure.

With HBOT, we are placed into a chamber (sort of like a soda can!) and the pressure is very gently increased along with the administration of oxygen.  The oxygen, under this mild pressure, is then easily “dissolved” into the blood stream and there is a LOT more oxygen available for tissues with each and every beat of the heart – much more when compared to the oxygen available with just breathing.

Why would we even consider doing this in children with the diagnosis of autism?

Studies have shown that children with Autism may have decreased blood flow through the brain, and more specifically, the sides of the brain.  This can be shown on a SPECT scan (a very special CT scan).  Less blood flow through the brain can be equated with decreased oxygen flowing through the brain as well, since one of the major roles of blood flow is to deliver oxygen to tissues.  By increasing the amount of oxygen carried by the blood stream (more specifically, the plasma), the greater opportunity for oxygen deprived tissue to receive more oxygen.   Here’s what I commonly see in my clinic:

•    Improved sleep
•    Improved bowel function
•    Regulation of bowel movements
•    Improved immune functioning with a decrease in frequent infections
•    Improved expressive language
•    Improved receptive language
•    Improved fine and gross motor skills
•    Improved muscle tone and strength
•    Increased mental alertness
•    Increased calmness
•    Improved mood

How soon can we expect to see results, and how many of these treatments are needed?
The number of treatments varies on the severity of the symptoms, but you can usually figure on 40-120 treatments.  Results are generally seen within the first 40 treatments, but benefits, such as sleeping through the night can be seen within the first 10 treatments.

Are there any risks with HBOT?
Every medical intervention has risks associated with it.  Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is no exception.  Make sure you talk to your doctor before doing any HBOT treatments.

Seizure: There is a very small risk of seizure at pressures and amount of oxygen used for children on the autism spectrum.  Generally, the lower pressures and shorter treatment times (60 minutes versus 90 min or longer) make the risk of seizure in a hyperbaric environment incredibly small.

Ear pain and even trauma to the ear drum (tympanic membrane) and sinus discomfort:  it is very important to have a well-trained technician watch you and your child as you go under pressure.  It can get uncomfortable if you are not able to equalize the pressure across the ear drum.  This can be likened to coming down in an airplane, you have to be able to yawn, swallow, etc to equalize the pressures.  Fortunately, most children and their parents can “instinctively” learn how to accomplish this maneuver.

Eye changes: temporary changes that can result in near-sightedness.  HBOT can also accelerate cataract development.

Are there children who should NOT undergo hyperbaric treatments?
It would be very rare for a child to have any conditions that would result in him or her not being able to undergo this kind of therapy.  Your doctor will know of these particular risks and double check that both the child and the parent or the “diving partner” does not have any of these conditions.

Research has shown that Omega-3 fatty acids concentrate in the brain and are important for:
•    Cognition
•    Memory
•    Behavior

In fact, studies have demonstrated that supplementing with Omega-3 fatty acids may help with attention deficit/focus issues as well. Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) are essential lipids, often referred to as “Vitamin F” or “the good fats,” that are not manufactured by the body and are vital for optimum health and well being. As integral components of all cells, they help:
•    Maintain the fluidity of cell membranes
•    Maintain the stability of cell membranes
•    Protect the body from harmful substances such as bacteria and viruses.

EFAs must also be obtained through diet or supplementation with EFA-rich food oils.
Kartzinel Health™ Omega Oils represents a quantum leap in quality, purity and stability. This unique Omega 3, Omega 6 and Omega 9 oil is molecularly distilled to ensure purity and quality. Our raw material selection process is so rigorous that nearly 95% of all fish are unsuitable for use in KH Omega Oils. In addition, a proprietary antioxidant blend of rosemary, ascorbyl palmitate (Vitamin C), and natural tocopherols is used to preserve the quality of our fish oil so you have the purest, molecularly distilled, pharmaceutical-grade omegas and fish oil available anywhere.
All production of this oil is done in a state of the art cGMP approved manufacturing facility located on a beautiful fjord in Norway. Research has shown that the Omega-3′s, Alpha Linolenic Acid, EPA, DHA, Omega 6, and GLA are necessary for the healthy maintenance of:
•    The cardiovascular system
•    The nervous system
•    Skin health

Oleic Acid, an Omega-9, has also been shown to promote a healthy vascular system.
EFAs are the most important of all the fats and KH Omega Oils is one of the best sources of these Essential Fatty Acids and truly a key to good health and life, and another necessary member of the KH Daily Health Kit, greatly enhancing and supporting the other members (Enzymes, Natural Fiber, Probiotics, and Vitamins & Minerals).

Hypoallergenic
This specific formula contains NO artificial ingredients, preservatives, additives, stimulants, sugars, coloring, flavoring, wheat, dairy, gluten, casein, soy, corn, yeast, rice or nuts.

Premium Quality
All the ingredients in KH Omega Oils are of the highest quality, their benefits are numerous and they are formulated using Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) in our FDA Registered manufacturing facilities. They are manufactured with a process that does not require the use of lubricants or flow agents assuring the purity of KH Omega Oils and bypassing the need for any superfluous ingredients.

Hi. This is Dorangela  from Two Prince Bakery Theater. I’m here to bring you some fun Thanksgiving ideas for the gluten and casein free children in your life. The holidays can be difficult for parents who are trying to serve traditional meals such as Thanksgiving dinner, while not compromising food allergies and making the little ones happy as well. I have compiled a few of my favorite recipes that I think both you and your children will enjoy. All of these foods are gluten, casein, soy and egg free. These are sure to make your little ones happy without feeling like they can’t participate and still have some special Thanksgiving day treats!

Thanksgiving is a time to share with your family. By having a special table just for the kids they are able to be part of the celebration but with their own special kid friendly table and foods.

Digestive enzymes are required to break down foods that we ingest.  These enzymes are very specific for the foods they do break down.  For example, the proteins we consume must be broken down to their constituent components, the amino acids.  Once they are broken down, they can be used by the body.

Proteins are composed of linked amino acid chains, and when unlinked, can be absorbed by the small intestines into the blood stream where later, they are “re-linked” into new and different proteins our body requires.  The digestion of proteins starts in the stomach when they are exposed to stomach acid.  Further into the small intestines, enzymes start the process of disassembling the proteins into amino acids.

Many adults as well as children, due to certain health conditions, may produce sub optimal amounts of these digestive enzymes, specifically referred to as proteases, resulting in poor protein digestion.  It is the job of these proteases to break down protein into amino acids.  But this is not the whole picture.

Fats that are ingested also require very specific digestive enzymes to break fats (commonly referred to as lipids) into their basic building blocks which are called fatty acids.  Only fatty acids can be absorbed in the small intestine.  One could see that if fats are not sufficiently broken down, then one will pass a lot of fat into the large colon…mixed with the stool.  Digestive enzymes that are specific for breaking down fats are called lipase.

Carbohydrates to need to undergo digestion and require the presence of an enzyme call Amylase.  Amylase is able to break down complex carbohydrates into basic sugars which will then be absorbed by the small intestine.  If the consumption of carbohydrates exceeds the body’s ability to break them down, they too, will pass into the large colon and mix with the stool.

So what is the problem with carbohydrates, proteins, and fats entering the large colon?

The incomplete breakdown of the foods we eat can have significant and far reaching health implications that include:

•    abdominal pain
•    bloating
•    gas production
•    constipation
•    diarrhea

The symptoms and results of poor digestion I routinely see in my clinic include:
•    headaches
•    irritability
•    food sensitivities
•    bowel discomfort
•    foul breath
•    hyperactivity
•    short attention span
•    overgrowth of certain bacteria and yeast
•    And even aggression in children

In some cases, particularly significant losses of nutrients predispose the body to a medical condition known as Failure to Thrive.  In these cases, children cannot absorb enough calories to gain weight.  They generally have a growth chart where they are the same weight for many months, have thin extremities and usually have an irritable nature.  Digestive enzymes can certainly help with the break down of foods to make them more absorbable and thus, more able to be utilized by the body.

Supplemental broad spectrum (covers the most of the spectrum of digestion) digestive enzymes may actually support digestive health and restoration of the process of breaking down foods and the absorption of the smaller compounds.  At Kartzinel Health, we have created a digestive enzyme that combines the best proteases (protein digestive enzymes), lipases (fat digestive enzymes), and amylases (carbohydrate digestive enzymes).  But we did not stop there.  Since foods we eat are quite varied, we have added the following:

•    Peptizyme SP® enzymes hydrolyze (break down) difficult-to-digest proline-containing peptides
•    Alpha-Amylase and Beta-Amylase assist in the hydrolysis of carbohydrates and starches
•    Proteases help keep the intestines free of parasites, bacteria, yeast and protozoa
•    Proteases help break down proteins
•    Proteases are stable through the pH range of the digestive tract
•    Lipase works with the bile from the liver to break down fat
•    Lactase assists in the breakdown of lactose
•    Invertase and Maltase assist in the digestion of carbohydrates, beans and legumes
•    Invertase catalyzes (causes or accelerates) the hydrolysis of sucrose
•    Maltase catalyzes the hydrolysis of the disaccharide maltose
•    Maltase is equivalent to Alpha-Glucosidase in relieving gas, bloating and upset stomach
•    HemiSeb® (hemicellulase) assist in the breakdown of indigestible fiber
•    Hemicellulase catalyzes the hydrolysis of hemicellulose
•    Hemicellulase aids the digestion of the cell wall of Candida, helping the yeast die
•    Hemicellulase helps support the intestines reducing gas and bloat
•    Cellulase catalyzes the hydrolysis of cellulose
•    Bromelain aids digestion, helps reduce inflammation and helps digest protein
•    May be used for a GFCF diet to ensure complete breakdown of protein safely
•    100% Vegetarian and suitable for Vegans

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Premium Quality
All the ingredients in KH Enzymes are of the highest quality, their benefits are numerous and they are formulated using Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) in our FDA Registered manufacturing facilities. They are manufactured with a process that does not require the use of lubricants or flow agents assuring the purity of KH Enzymes and bypassing the need for any superfluous ingredients.

Some seizures can look so harmless such as a child just “spacing out” for 5-15 seconds, typically called an absence seizure, or a “drop” seizure where the child just flops his or her head or the child’s entire body just drops to the ground.  Other seizures can be associated with vomiting, tearing up, and even laughing.  For a complete list of the different types of seizure manifestations, please go to www.epilepsy.com.

The current theory is that seizures occur because there is increased electrical activity in a group of neurons.  If this is true, then if we can make it harder for these neurons to generate nonsense impulses, it would make sense that would cause fewer seizures to occur.  This process is called “raising the threshold,” that is, making it more difficult for nonsense electrical charges to occur.  The bottom line here is to make the neurons more stable and less apt to create nonsense signals.

In the process of evaluating a child with seizures, we need to cover our bases with:
History and physical
Consider genetic screening: Fragile X, Microarray, karotype, some suggest mitochondrial genetics
24 hour EEG
General Labs

Outside The Box Thinking
We may want to consider why these cells are so twitchy in the first place.  There are some theories that suggest exposure to inflammation, autoimmunity, immune dysregulation, and toxins may play a role in lowering the seizure threshold, thus making it easier for these cells to start the seizure process.
Anti-Epileptic Drugs (AEDs): It is beyond the scope of this blog to discuss each individual medicine.  This topic will really be covered in detail with your neurologist.  The goal of using medications like these is both to stop the seizure activity and to return the abnormal EEG to a normal EEG.

Dietary changes: There is strong evidence that a ketogenic diet can be helpful in controlling seizures.  This diet changes the primary energy source, forcing the body to burn fats instead of sugars and carbohydrates.  In the process of burning fats, ketones, chemical compounds released in this process, are liberated; thus the name ketogenic diet.  There is some clinical evidence that the ketogenic diet actually raises glutathione levels in the brain.  You can read more about this diet on www.atkinsforseizures.com.   This is one of the better diet plans I know of for children with seizures, but needs to be implemented with the help of a neurologist and dietician.

Gluten Sensitivity:  Some studies suggest immune system dysregulation may actually contribute to epilepsy.  Many children on the spectrum clearly improve with the removal of gluten anyway and the potential for possibly impacting seizure activity is a bonus.

Inflammation: Strong clinical evidence suggests that inflammation (activation of the innate immune system) results in lowering the seizure threshold.  Active anti-inflammatory measures should be undertaken in children with seizure disorder.  You can more about inflammation here.

Methylation:  This is a potential intervention that can increase glutathione levels in the brain.  There are studies that suggest increasing glutathione levels in the brain may increase the seizure threshold, making it harder to have a seizure.   You can read more about methylation here..

Interventions:  In the process of working with a neurologist, dietician, and your primary care provider, you ultimately are trying to control seizure breakthroughs in your child.  Below are some common interventions I find helpful in my clinic.

Magnesium: can be dosed 10mg/kg or 10mg per 2 pounds of body weight.  Any higher doses may need to have periodic blood tests to measure the blood level of magnesium.

Vitamin B6, in the form of P-5-P: we usually start at 50mg daily and depending on the age of the child, I can increase the dose up to 200mg per day.

Omega 3 fatty acids: There is some weak evidence that omega 3 fatty acids also increase the seizure threshold.  Though the mechanism is unknown, we do know that omega 3 fatty acids are anti-inflammatory. There is at least some evidence that anti-inflammation may be important in raising the seizure threshold.

Ibuprofen: this is an anti-inflammatory as well as an anti-pyretic (keeps the fever down).  It is especially useful in the beginning and during an illness since increases in body temperature and elevated temperatures in general can lower seizure thresholds in some children.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT): Children with traumatic brain injury or with a condition of the brain that seems to favor low levels of blood flow, demonstrated with a SPECT Scan or PET scan, may benefit from HBOT treatments.  The rationale is that brain cells that receive too little oxygen (hypoxic tissue) may be more unstable and thus, may have a lower seizure threshold.  By increasing the oxygen delivery to these hypoxic areas, the stabilization of these brain cells may increase the seizure threshold.

IVIG: IVIG could act on epilepsy by its broad immunomodulatory mechanism of action.

L-Carnosine: some studies have suggested that this supplement can have anti-epileptic properties.

Vitamin E: Researchers in Canada, in a very small study, demonstrated that seizures can be decreased with Vitamin E, in the form of  d-alpha-tocopherol acetate.  3 year olds and older can easily tolerate 400IU per day.
Rilutek (Riluzole):  can be used for anxiety and obsessive/compulsive disease and may be effective in decreasing seizures, especially when combined with some of the seizure medications.

Up to one third of my practice includes patients with autism who also have epilepsy.  It is one more disease process that has to be addressed and treated in these children.  Epilepsy is potentially life threatening and it must be taken very seriously.  It is important to involve an excellent neurologist not only help prevent further seizures, but improve overall brain health.

And that’s my approach to epilepsy.

When Joshua was around 5 and was just beginning to talk we did a lot of guessing about what he wanted, how he was feeling, and even what he was doing.  We noticed we were buying a lot bananas, not organic back then, and they kept disappearing off the counter.  With three other boys in the house you might not think that was very unusual except that none of the boys were eating the bananas.  We just could not figure it out.  One day Mark, our third son, was looking for a toy that he figured Josh had taken (a charming habit of Josh’s was to take a toy or action figure that caught his attention and hide it somewhere in his room).  As part of his investigation, Mark checked the awesome busy box that my dad had made for Josh.  This box is the kind of box every boy loves; it has all sorts of latches, doors, and even a secret compartment.  Mark stuck his hand into the secret compartment and pulled it out with a yell!  Inside of the secret compartment of the box were old, rotting banana peels from a lot of bananas!!  Poor Mark was so grossed out!  We could not help laughing, even back then.  This strange incident and Josh’s unusual desire for these bananas led us to discover that bananas may be sprayed with ethylene gas to induce ripening.  Some kids can have unusual reactions to the spray.  Our sweet little Josh was eating bananas and getting high off of them!  He was completely addicted.  Thankfully, that is no longer a problem, and now we get organic bananas for him to eat.

So much has changed over these years for both Josh and the world of autism.  We have pretty much tried every treatment, supplement, and therapy you can imagine on Joshua. We have even tried some things more than once.  Some of the therapies and treatments did not necessarily help Josh. We’ve certainly learned that treatments may not work for your child even ifthey might have really helped someone else.  No matter what, each year we continue to live our lives to the fullest.  As parents, we sometimes may deal with depression, anxiety, sadness and so many other emotions but we continue to love our children and enjoy the good times the best we can.   We continue to work to help Josh wherever he might need it and to make his life the best it can be.

A few months ago while we were still in the process of moving to our new office, I had the pleasure of bringing home all of our supplement business.  That meant finding a place for all of our stock to sit in our house.  I cleared off all of our bookshelves downstairs and boxed up the books that normally occupied the shelves and put them anywhere I could find room.  I also had 12 years worth of scrapbook albums that I made room for on a shelf outside of Josh’s room.  These albums pretty much cover our lives ever since Jerry and I were married.  I enjoy doing scrapbooking and it is good to remember the past.  One night we found Josh up in his room on his bed perusing album after album.  When we “caught” him, he started naming people and places that were in the albums!  He was really enjoying looking at them and seeing his brothers, grandparents, and himself when he was a baby.  There was pure joy on his face!  We might think of certain times as really tough for us, but for Josh these albums represented the special times in his life.  He couldn’t see the struggles that we might have been dealing with that year or the sadness we’ve gone through or how sick he was feeling back when we took the pictures.   He just sees good memories and people who love him and who he loves.

Since Josh’s diagnosis, we have had many things to cry and be angry about, but also to laugh and be joyous about.  I try to focus on the positive things even when it gets tough.  Today, try to find one thing that will make you smile or laugh.  I think you will be surprised at how many there are.