Recovery from Autism, ADHD, Asthma and Other Chronic Illnesses

Recovery from Autism, ADHD, Asthma and Other Chronic IllnessesI want to let you know what the Documenting Hope Project means to me:  hope.

By making this film in which we will document the potential recovery of 14 children from autism, ADHD, asthma, atopic dermatitis, mood disorders, juvenile RA and type 2 diabetes, I believe people will come to know what I do:  that recovery is possible.

If you know that recovery is possible, then you have hope.

In this film, we’ll be rigorously documenting the therapies, lab work, diets, healing modalities and biomedical approaches that are used in each child’s healing protocol.

I wish something like this had been around when my boys were younger.  Back then, it was enough for me to figure out finally that they had Sensory Processing Disorder, which I call “almost autism”.

It took loads of research on my end to understand that their developmental delays, hypotonia, asthma, allergies, eczema, failure to thrive, projectile vomiting and acid reflux were all related.

It took even more researching and networking to discover that recovery from autism is possible.  If kids can be recovered from autism, and Sensory Processing Disorder is like a subset of autism, then my boys could be recovered from SPD.

I discovered a hidden world of what’s called the “biomedical” approach to healing, which is what functional medicine is:  Getting to the root cause of a symptom, illness or disorder.

The problem was, and is, that most doctors just don’t know about this type of approach.  Thankfully, functional medicine doctors like Dr. Mark Hyman, Dr. Susan Blum and Dr. Frank Lipman are showing us that food is medicine and that toxicity, gut dysbiosis, hormonal imbalances and nutritional deficiencies are the ultimate causes of just about any kind of chronic disease or disorder.

Inflammation

What’s so important about inflammation?

Discover 12 Powerful Ways to Reduce Inflammation - small3Inflammation causes pain, swelling, heat, redness and loss of function. Left untreated, it can lead to bodily tissue destruction, fibrosis and necrosis. Remember, pain is a signal that something’s wrong.

Who has inflammation?

Inflammation is a root cause of many chronic illnesses such as autism, ADHD, allergies, asthma, eczema, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune diseases, heart disease, type II diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

Help!  How do I reduce it?

Sign up for this free report!  In it, I’ll show you many simple things you can do with the foods that you’re eating to reduce inflammation.  And when that happens, you may not have as much pain, stiffness and swelling.

 

I’M NOW OFFERING KLAIRE LABS PROBIOTICS AND PROTHERA SUPPLEMENTS

Klaire Labs probiotic_groupI’d like to let everyone know that I am now offering my clients world-class probiotics from Klaire Labs and supplements from their parent company, ProThera.

Klaire Labs’ probiotics are a known and trusted entity, especially in the autism-recovery world, and the application of their probiotics extends far beyond autism to those with allergies, asthma, ADHD, OCD, SPD and other autoimmune, digestive and neurological disorders.

The ProThera line includes minerals, vitamins, fatty acids and supplements designed to improve the function of the immune system, liver and adrenals, as well as antioxidants, amino acids and enzymes.  They even carry non-denatured whey protein!

To learn more about how I can help improve your symptoms of these conditions, you can read more about me here.

WHAT IS GUT DYSBIOSIS?

fungal myceliaGut dysbiosis — this topic is the motherlode.  It’s one of the two core (in my opinion) reasons for the explosion of chronic childhood illnesses we see today.

Gut Dysbiosis:  A Common Link Among the Epidemic of Children’s Chronic Illnesses

First, let’s discuss the numbers behind this epidemic:  How many kids did you know when you were growing up that had autism, ADHD, acid reflux, allergies, asthma, developmental delays and/or mental health issues?  [Read more…]

Acid Reflux Medication Dangers

Acid Reflux Medication DangersBelieve it or not, acid reflux medication dangers are real, and these medications do major harm to your body. Shocking, right?

It’s true.  All of those medications (Prevacid, Nexium, Zantac, Prilosec, omeprazole, even Tums) reduce stomach acid, which is what they are designed to do.

The problem is that acid reflux is actually caused by TOO LITTLE stomach acid, not too much.  Counter-intuitive, right?  So what happens when you have too little stomach acid?  For starters, you can’t properly digest food, leading to nutritional deficiencies, particularly magnesium, calcium and vitamin B12.

A magnesium deficiency is linked to:

  • Anxiety and panic attacks
  • Asthma
  • Blood clots
  • Bowel disease
  • Cystitis
  • Depression
  • Diabetes
  • Dysmenorrhea
  • Fatigue
  • Heart disease
  • Hypertension
  • Hypoglycemia
  • Inability to detoxify
  • Insomnia
  • Kidney disease
  • Liver disease
  • Migraines
  • Musculoskeletal conditions
  • Nerve problems
  • Premenstrual syndrome
  • Osteoporosis
  • Raynaud’s Syndrome
  • Tooth decay

A calcium deficiency is linked to:

  • Delayed development
  • Dermatitis
  • Lethargy
  • Mental confusion
  • Muscle cramps
  • Numbness or tingling of the fingers
  • Osteoporosis
  • Poor appetite
  • Rickets
  • Skeletal malformations

A vitamin B12 deficiency is linked to multiple neurological disorders, including

  • Abnormal reflexes
  • Anemia
  • Anorexia
  • Apathy
  • Ataxia
  • Balance problems
  • Dementia
  • Depression
  • Developmental delay or regression
  • Difficulty walking
  • Dizziness
  • Failure to thrive
  • Fatigue
  • Forgetfulness, memory loss
  • Generalized weakness
  • Hallucinations
  • Hypotonia
  • Impotence
  • Involuntary movements
  • Irritability
  • Language delay
  • Lower IQ
  • Macrocytosis (enlarged red-blood cells)
  • Mania
  • Mental retardation
  • Numbness or tingling
  • Pallor
  • Paranoia
  • Personality changes
  • Poor head growth
  • Poor motor skills
  • Poor socialization
  • Poor weight gain
  • Psychosis
  • Restless legs
  • Seizures
  • Shortness of breath
  • Speech problems
  • Tremor
  • Unsteady or abnormal gait
  • Urinary or fecal incontinence
  • Violent behavior
  • Visual disturbances
  • Weakness

Not only do acid reducers cause nutritional deficiencies, but they also take away an important component of our immune system.  Stomach acid is used to kill nasty bugs, viruses, parasites and bacteria.  Without enough stomach acid, guess what happens?  That’s right – infection.

By prescribing proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs), doctors are putting their patients at a higher risk for infections like pneumonia and gastroenteritis, as well as getting more colds and stomach bugs.

In addition, by taking acid-reflux drugs, you’re more likely to get sick more often because your immune system can’t fight off these offenders.  It also makes the rest of the gastrointestinal tract susceptible to bacterial overgrowth.

Is it worth taking acid-reflux medication?  I don’t think so, and I can tell you that, as a mom, I was furious at the doctors who prescribed them to my boys for their acid reflux after I found out how truly dangerous these drugs are.

 

C SECTIONS AND BABY FORMULA

infant formulaYet another study shows that C sections and feeding your baby formula instead of breastmilk can change your baby’s gut flora for the worse, leading to gut dysbiosis.

The study’s lead author, Meghan Azad, says that, “Infants born by cesarean delivery are at increased risk of asthma, obesity and type 1 diabetes, whereas breastfeeding is variably protective against these and other disorders.”

I would go further and explain to you that many neurological disorders (autism, PDD-NOS, ADHD, Sensory Processing Disorder, Lyme, depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, multiple sclerosis, etc.), digestive disorders (acid reflux, colic, colitis, Crohn’s, celiac, etc.) and/or autoimmune diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, lupus, etc.) have gut dysbiosis as a core, underlying future.

 

METHYLATION: THE HIDDEN LINK AMONG ALCOHOLISM, AUTISM, CANCER AND MORE

diseaseMethylation is a subject that keeps coming up again and again for my sons and myself.  It’s one of those all-encompassing issues like toxicity or gut dysbiosis because so many diseases and conditions are linked, directly or indirectly, to it or rather, a lack of it.

What is methylation?  It’s the chemical process of donating a methyl group (CH3) to a molecule or compound.  This doesn’t sound like much, but this little group is very important to how our bodies function, as I’m finding out.

It not only helps with energy production and builds immune cells and neurotransmitters, but it also processes hormones, detoxifies our bodies, puts protective myelin sheath on our nerves, and can be responsible for epigenetic gene regulation.

Because of its association with all of these essential processes, an inability to methylate is linked to a whole host of diseases and conditions.  Methylation defects are linked to: [Read more…]

ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICITY AND AUTISM

Pollution of environmentHave you ever wondered WHY there’s such an epidemic of autism these days?  Why is the rate now 1 in 50, when it was only 1 in 10,000 a couple of decades ago?

Not only that, but WHY are there also epidemics of developmental delays, learning disabilities, ADHD, allergies, asthma, mood disorders, sensory processing disorder, OCD, Lyme disease, autoimmune diseases and ear infections?

One of the reasons, confirmed yet again, is that environmental toxicity plays a role.  Epidemiologist Irva Hertz-Picciotto’s research says that a mom’s proximity to car pollution raises her risk of having an autistic child.

Dr. Phillip Landrigan and his team at the Mount Sinai Children’s Environmental Health Center have been saying much the same thing about the detrimental effects of certain toxins such as lead, mercury and flame retardants on the neurodevelopment of children.

My friend and colleague from Epidemic Answers, Beth Lambert, has written an excellent book about the multi-factorial causes of these epidemics.  In her book, “A Compromised Generation“, she has written about the perfect storm of causes, including environmental toxicity, leading to these epidemics.

Have you looked into how toxicity might be related to your or your child’s chronic illnesses?

 

PREGNANCY AND ANTIBIOTICS

It’s a bad idea to take antibiotics during pregnancy.  Children whose mothers took antibiotics during pregnancy are more likely to develop asthma, as well as autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, dyslexia, arthritis, allergies, depression, bipolar disorder, eczema, kidney problems, schizophrenia, acid reflux, colic and autoimmune disorders.  Read more…

SOURCE:  Dr. Joseph Mercola

 

 

LOW LEVELS OF PESTICIDES DAMAGE THE BRAIN

Here’s another reason to eat organic food and stop spraying your lawn:  even low levels of organophosphate pesticides cause brain damage.  Exposure is linked to a decline in memory and slower processing speed.  Read more…

SOURCE:  Science Daily