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I have a 9 year old autistic boy who on his first visit complained of chronic painful constipation as well as other symptoms commonly associated with autism. His abdomen was clearly bloated. He came to me after having previously been to various D.A.N. doctors including one with a very positive reputation. I asked the mom who wanted to pursue Hemispheric Integration Therapy if he had been worked up biomedically and if his issues had been addressed. She told me “Oh yes, I can bring in all his old lab work, he has no biomedical issues”. She said she provided me a list of the supplements he was taking. Finally, about 4 weeks later, after repeatedly asking for his lab work ( which she continuously said she forget to bring) I asked ” Are you sure he doesn’t have yeast?” That day the 9 year old , still in diapers, was constipated, bloated and screaming from the pain. She responded ” Oh yeah, he has yeast.” I asked ” Are you giving him anything for it?”. She said ” I was but I got tired of giving it to him”. Incidentally, she always came in handing the child a cookie. For those of you that don’t know, yeast love sugar. I then asked her what supplements he was taking at present. She responded that he wasn’t taking anything now. ” Then what was that list of supplements you wrote down on your intake sheet on his first day” I asked. “Oh, those are things he has taken in the past but he isn’t taking anything now” she said. FRUSTRATION!! We gave him some saccharomyces boulardii and he started feeling better by Monday. We also ordered some appropriate test to assess the child and be able to monitor his progress. I often say that Hemispheric Integration Therapy is like an exercise program for the brain. Before you begin an exercise program, you would want to make sure you did not have any serious health issues and make sure you eat enough protein to rebuild the muscles. Yeast and dysbiosis are what I call negative factors that should be addressed if you want to get the most out of the H.I.T. I think we will be stricter about bringing records prior to starting treatment. Every child I treat is an ambassador for H.I.T and this office. I want to make sure that they all make the most progress that they can. This treatment approach is a great one but it is not a miracle.
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Whenever I find something interesting or that can give you an inside perspective, I like to share it. This is a web by a parent who has experience with both hyperbaric and stem cells. I can usually handle most of the HBOT questions even though it is not something we do at our office. Stem cells and all the ins and outs relating to autism is something I really dont know much about. Here is a parent who chronicles his journey. I think this is worth the read even if you are not considering stem cells www.recoveringMatthew.blogspot.com I found him while checking out the Jenny McCarthy site.
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I think I have heard it so often that it seems to be pervasive, no pun intended. A parent says ”If I could only know what he or she is thinking, just for a moment, maybe I could find peace”. So, when I find a good description of what someone on the spectrum feels, like written by a person who is actually on the spectrum, I think it is worth noting and sharing. http://www.autisable.com/708704103/self-awareness/
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In my opinion, the gluten free diet is brutal but it seems everyday it is getting easier with all the new sites and recipes.
http://tried-and-truecookingwithheidi.blogspot.com/2009/07/bodacious-sugar-free-gluten-free.html
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To my delight, one of our moms came in this week and said that her 12 year old had recognized some words for the first time. Apparently, she was scrolling down the DVR in order to watch one of her shows. As she did this the child said “Barney” and she said “we are not watching Barney.” Then he said “Dora” and she said “no we are not watching Dora.” She then figured out that he was recognizing the words on the screen. So she pointed to them and he read them. “I almost cried” she said. Appparently, he has been at the pre reading stage for 3 years. This child is very low functioning. Since he started Hemispheric Integration Therapy with me about 3 months ago his speech therapist and O.T. have been impressed with his progress ( it all works together.)This is what makes treating these children better than anythng I have ever done.The kids and the moms are amazing.
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Last week we had our support group meeting here in Tampa. I am so amazed and impressed with the store house of knowledge that some of our parents have regarding this broad and life encompassing subject that is the autism spectrum community. This subject is immense. I spend my time where I feel it is best allocated reading diligently about neurology or functional medicine. I have a family. I have a practice. Yet I still try to read at least an hour a night and more on the weekends. Yes, some people say I am a bit nerdy or boring because of this. For this reason I am so thankful to these parents that are really expert in subjects like I.E.P.s, home schooling, the law and legislative process and advocating for their children. Just listening to them share and help other parents is like having a private tutor on this subject. Thanks to all those who help, share and educate me and others.
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We recently had a mom who took her child in for allergy testing. The child is a low functioning autistic boy. She wanted to see if there was anything relating to food etc. that she should be avoiding in order to help her child progress. The child had standard allergy testing with all the little needle sticks in his back. After the testing, this child who had been making substantial progress with his hemispheric integration treatment (H.I.T), regressed back to almost the way he was on his first visit. He had more vocalizations and just overall regressed in many ways. The testing was negative and should then theoretically have had no affect on the child. The allergist was aware of the regression as he had noticed the child’s overall improvement since beginning the hemispheric integration treatment several weeks prior to the testing. He stated that he had notced the same type of regression reaction in some other children. He was going to talk to some colleagues about doing a study regarding this reaction. Most importantly for all of you is that he said there is a way to get allergy testing through a blood draw. By using a blood draw test as opposed to a needle stick test no foreign substances would be introduced into the patient’s body and therefore this regression could be avoided. I hope that this is the type of information that will be helpful to my bloggers and I hope to share with the community in addition to my knowledge of Hemispheric Interation Therapy, functional medicine and biomedical interventions. There are hundreds of stories like this out there that we can share and possibly help someone else somwhere else in the world. Please post. Please share. Please help.
