Almost Autism:Recovery for Kids, Support & Community for Moms
Gut 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.
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…]
Believe 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:
A calcium deficiency is linked to:
A vitamin B12 deficiency is linked to multiple neurological disorders, including
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.
My sons have had eczema their whole lives. It has ranged from cradle cap (did you know that was a form of eczema?) to itchy bumps in the creases of the knees and elbows to full-blown bloody red rashes on the arms and legs.
Pediatricians, as usual (sorry!), were useless in treating eczema. Their standard advice was to “put a little cortisone cream on it”. I did try that a few times at first with my older son, but I quickly grew worried about the effects of it on his already-poor immune system. [Read more…]
Yet 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 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…]
Have 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?
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
Gut dysbiosis is an imbalance of good vs. bad bacteria, yeast and other pathogens in your intestines. This is important because most of our immune system is located in our gastrointestinal tract, as most pathogens enter our bodies through our mouths.
Gut dysbiosis can cause lowered dopamine and lowered serotonin, as well as an inability to remember something in the short term, because most neurotransmitters are made in the intestines.
It can also cause leaky gut (intestinal permeability) which means that waste products that should be pooped out are not and are instead leaking out and causing an immune response.
Gut dysbiosis also causes nutritional deficiencies and can lower thyroid function, as well as cause lowered excretion of waste through the kidneys.
In addition, it causes increased ghrelin and lowered leptin, making you feel hungrier than you should, thereby contributing to weight gain.
Toxins produced by gut pathogens impairs your liver’s ability to detoxify, and because they are stressors, your adrenal glands will produce more cortisol, leading to fatigue and an inability to handle stress.
Gut dysbiosis causes inflammation and oxidative stress, as well as damage mitochondria, thereby increasing fatigue and lowering glutathione, the body’s powerful antioxidant.
Here’s a great article about the connection between depression and inflammation. “Depression (and anxiety) are associated with multiple markers of inflammation in the body, though a source for inflammation is often not apparent.
Mere exposure to psychological stress can cause elevations in pro-inflammatory cytokines, and the ability of stress to drive inflammation is increased in depressed individuals.” Read more…
SOURCE: Evolutionary Psychiatry
I was shocked to find out that my high-school friend Roger Long had Young-Onset Parkinson’s. We’re not THAT old!
But I was super-happy to discover that his Parkinson’s is in remission because of his thinking outside the box.
Not only that, but Roger climbed to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro a few months ago without being on any medication! [Read more…]
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