Glutathione

I have a confession to make. When I go in with my son to his DAN! doctor, and the doctor starts talking about the methylation cycle, he gets a blank stare from me. That is not because I don't have a basic understanding of what the methylation cycle is. Basically, it is the body's system of detoxifying. (I know, grossly simplified.) The body uses chemicals to do this job, and when those chemicals are not available in normal levels, that helps cause many of the problems we see with autism. His doctor used to pull out a chart, thinking it would help me to understand how the lack of this chemical effected this or that part of the cycle... however, after dragging my then toddler with moderate autism to to office and waiting with him, I was exhausted, and my comprehension levels were not...so...high.

It is now high time for me to study on my own to learn more about the methylation cycle, especially now that we are using glutathione cream to help that cycle work.

The cream comes in two parts. One is the actual glutathione. The other cream is a "reactor." Dispense the dose of glutathione cream, add an equal part of the reactor cream, mix and apply. We have done this twice a day for afew months now.

I was at first concerned about the cost of adding yet another new thing to "The Supplements". After a trial, my husband and I consulted over what we thought about continuing the cream with the expense and all. He said, "He has actually been greeting me when I walk in from work." That image became our mental "marker" for the raised awareness we have seen in our child. The greetings, conversations, it is all more than worth it.

Photography

My little guy has always liked taking pictures, particularly lately. I have decided that he is old enough now to use the camera (besides the one on my phone) with supervision. (Warranty that covers him dropping it makes me feel better about that, too!)

Mostly he takes pictures of items he finds around, like his toys and video game cases. Sometimes he takes pictures of me and his brother. Here is a pic he took on a recent outing. I am so proud of him for this one! (No, I actually did NOT touch this one up... this is how I downloaded it. It really is that good.)

Birthday Dessert Pizza

For Eli 's birthday this year, we did something alittle different and made a dessert pizza with raspberry jam for a topping. It turned out quite well! We also served hummus with Lay's potato chips and a vegetable tray.

Eli's Birthday Pizza
Gluten free, casien free, corn free, soy free, sugar free, and it is yummy!

1 1/2 cups tapioca starch
1 1/2 cups potato starch
3 teaspoons guar gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon potato flour
3 teaspoons corn-free baking powder

Combine the above ingredients.
Add:

1/4 cup honey
6 tablespoons softened Spectrum Shortening
3 eggs
3/4 cup rice milk

Beat by hand or by electric beater until well mixed and there are no clumps. Grease and use white rice flour to lightly flour large pizza pan. Dump the very sticky dough in the middle of the pan. Spread dough out on pan with the back of a wet spoon. The trick to this recipe is taking the time to spread it out round and evenly and to continue wetting the spoon or perhaps using a very light dusting of white rice fhour when things start getting really sticky.

Bake in preheated oven, 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

Remove and spread one whole 10 oz. jar of Smucker's Simply Fruit Raspberry Jam evenly over the top of the pizza.

Place in the oven and bake another 10-15 minutes until done.

The Dentist and Sensory Issues

Our afternoon was spent at the dentist office.At his previous cleaning visit, my son saw the tools on the tray and he told them which ones they were NOT allowed to put in his mouth. Today he was getting cavities filled and was given prescriptions meant to give a sedative affect in order for his work to be done. (I really drug my feet on the sedative drugs... I just hate giving him prescriptions and things.) He was also given the laughing gas stuff. We were there for quite some time before he calmed down somewhat. (After I suggested they put the heavy vest on him that us usually used for the x-rays.) The dentist somehow got one little filling done, and that was it. He never was sedated enough for the work to get finished.

The heavy x-ray vest helped calm him down because the extra input feels good to his slightly malfunctioning nervous system. ("oh, I can feel where I am because of this extra weight on me. I don't have to constantly wiggle to be able to tell where my body is in space right now.") He has a weighted vest that was handed down to him. He wore it to school one day. His mainstreaming teacher said it was the best day that he ever had in her class! Once the special ed teacher saw it, however, she told me that to protect the school they needed a behavior plan written by the OT in order to use it. The vest went home, and he has not gotten to take it back since because said OT is so spread out among schools that said plan has not been written. Poor kid.

Why does my child need fillings anyway? I sometimes wonder that, but as the dental hygienist today so kindly reminded me that brushing and flossing are important. In spite of my efforts, for years it has been difficult to get a toothbrush in his mouth. I often had to get new toothbrushes when he was 5 and under, because he would bite down on them so hard when I was trying to brush his teeth, they would get ruined. (Trying to brush is teeth was just a scene, of course.)

What this whole thing boils down to is some serious sensory issues. I have for sure heard of worse, and my son has been worse off in the past where those are concerned. Often people with autism have sensory issues, and they are not all the same. My son has always been sensitive with his hearing. Even now he sometimes runs from the room when his baby brother cries. Of course he is super sensitive with his mouth. When the one filling was finished, the dentist was speaking to me and my son just fell right to sleep. He had no response to a little pinch I gave his ankle. We thought perhaps we could do some more work, but when they started going at his mouth again, he woke right up again. Poo, now we have to take him to a special pediatric dentist and have him completely sedated just to fill some cavities.

Autism Awareness Month and GFC

I am so excited for April to come this year. Ever since we have found special diet and medical helps for our son, we have enjoyed sharing with others in hopes that they will take the information and encouragement, run with it, and gain some recovery for their own children. April is my big chance to have my biggest sharing audience to date... I have written a short version of our story for The Gluten Free Consumer. Some of our readers have children with autism, and all of them know someone who has autism, so I am so excited for this opportunity. Those who order during this month not only get a great publication for a year, but they also get to have a portion of the sale donated to the Autism Research Institute's Million Dollar Puzzle Piece Challenge. For those who order during April, their April issue will come with a paper puzzle piece from ARI as a token for their donation.

Here is a sneak preview. Awww.... Doesn't my little one look sweet? This is my son at age 3, with alittle marker on his nose, so cute!
I also included one of my son's favorite recipes at the end of the article. I am looking forward to hearing feedback on it from our readers.

Happy Spring! I pulled out the flip-flops today. That makes me so happy!

Don't forget to check us out at www.GFConsumer.com!

My Valentine

Eli's expressions of love are often not verbal. Over the last two years, we have had more hugs that he has initiated, but it does not occur to him to verbally express love often. I am always pleased with a hug or kiss on the cheek at bedtime when I tell him how much I love him and say goodnight. On a very rare occasion, "I love you, too, Mom." Most often the "I love you's" come in the form of notes, which I treasure. This time, around Valentine's Day, he had me come into the living room to show me a surprise. He wrote me a love note out of his building blocks.

B12

     For about three years now, I have been sneaking up to my son's room at night and sticking him with a needle. For most of that time I have just hated doing it. Now it is so routine, I get more upset when I can't do it, like if we accidentally run out, or if he isn't asleep enough to stay still enough, even after the numbing cream. The reason being that he is doing so very well, and changing the therapy routine can really throw things off. No B12 can mean emotional melt downs the next day. It can mean climbing under desks at school.
    I describe our routine to others as "B12 by injection." The pharmacy that I order it from calls it methylcobal. Every month I spend about $35 dollars on it, and I have it delivered to our door, because the pharmacy we get it from is over an hour away. It comes in a small Styrofoam cooler, which is still really big for how tiny the little bottle is. The bottle is about 1 inch tall. I always have to remember to order syringes, because once I forgot, and I found out that Rite-Aid will not sell them to me. Duh.
   I have to keep on a schedule with giving it to him. Every third night, about 20 minutes after bedtime, he is usually in a deep enough sleep that I can put a tiny circle of numbing cream on the injection site and he won't roll over on it. I then go downstairs and set a timer for 20 minutes. At the end of the 20 minutes, I draw the dose up myself, because it is cheaper than getting the syringes pre-filled. I go up to his room, wipe off the numbing cream, and administer the injection just how his doctor's nurse taught me. He does not even know that I do this. If any of you were wondering if I was crazy, why yes, yes I am. I stick my son with needles in the dark.