Have you ever fainted or had an operation? You know that fuzzy sort of other worldly feeling you get as you come round, like the world is one step removed? Well thats kinda how I feel most of the time. Thoughts I used to be able to process relatively quickly, settle like mud in muddy water, and each new thought throws it all up again.

Recently I have had several streams of thought, which culminated last night in a credit card bing that cost me just shy of £400, so a big thank you to the NHS, who let autistic people and their families down every second and every day. So, let me list my thoughts.

1. My friend with the boy who is 3 and fighting to get her sons gut issues investigated properly, finally got to see the gastro specialist and a dietician. They decided not to do any test, but instead put him on brown rice etc to firm up his pooh, because poor child has never had a normal pooh in his life and according to his mum they stink like the devil. To take him off the gluten free diet etc and do all those things that go against all the literature out there that actually helps them. Within 2 days the eczema on her little boys face was weeping on his cheeks and she had to use steroid cream. She left with the feeling they both thought she was a wacko.

2. I watched a presentation listing how autistic adults are doing, and its not good. Suicide, death from being restrained in custody, generally falling apart under the nose of the social services etc.

3.While what I have done for Ed had certainly helped, he is no where near being any where like normal, he will be 8 soon, and I just have that shadow in my mind that to much time has passed and at this rate - God only knows what his fate is. I hit a mighty age this year, and my ability to physically cope with him are not going to improve, quite the opposite. What sort of mess am I leaving my other sons when I die? (and I am not being morbid here, thats just a reality)

4. Heavy metal poisoning just keeps coming up. My dentist I am sure has given me mercury poisoning which I in turn passed to Ed. Its the key stone to his toxic biology. There is no one in this country who will chelate autistic children for metals. The strain that this process put on the body, needs medical monitoring of their liver and kidney function to make sure they can cope with the extra biological burden. Do I just bugger it and do it my self, do the pros outweigh the cons? I am sure that until I resolve this issue, Ed will remain the same.

5. Toxin body build up, like living your life in a house never opening the doors or window, breathing in the same old stale air, is a bit like the cells in your body. Inflammation reduces the ability of the cell to remove waste, leading to a build up of toxins which set off a cascade of unfortunate biological events which lead to more toxins and more inflammation. So I have to detox a child who is very uncooperative, won't swallow anything, after having an aqua-detox - now hits a high C NOOOOOOOO!!! if you mention washing his feet. Can't see him sitting in a sauna, or lying on a bio-mat. What to do.

6. I went to a funeral last week, the father of my sister in law died. My life is so screwed up that I actually had a great day with Ed at the childminders all day, and me out with my family. How messed up is that. I realised how screwed up my relationships are, everything revolves round Ed.

7. My brothers comment when I forwarded a product that might help his wife with ME, as the more I look at it, the more the triggers for autism are triggering a myriad of modern day illness. None of which are being treated properly, my son just got autism, you might get Parkinson's or cancer, or diabetes, or some other disease. "Doctors are all pill pushers and scab pullers."

8. My sons comment on what did I do all day when they weren't there. Well, even when Ed isn't there, my time is still taken up with washing all his pants, he can go through easily 6 pairs a day plus trousers. Then there internet searching for techniques, products, protocols and anything that will help him. Yesterday I got up from the computer and my whole body ached I had sat down all day searching, cross referencing.

So I resolved to find a practitioner and get help - bugger the cost. Only, it isn't that easy. After a week of looking, and seeing what was on offer and the cost, again, I thought bugger that. You can probably tell from the amount of times I have used that word that my mood isn't that of sunshine. There is nothing here in this country that I can turn to for help. Yet, in the news today, we have a death of a wee baby from a contaminated drip with 15 others critically ill. A few months ago, the figure for death from diabetes misdiagnosis and treatment last year almost hit 100,000. So not only is our health service not helping, its harming. What do I do, where do I go for help?

So, thats where the £400 comes in. It isn't as effective and quick as a medical chelation, but I found a natural product that as a bonus comes with 10 amino-acids, that appears to be effective at removing and escorting heavy metals from the body. Now that critically important because the last thing you want to do is more it around. I found a pro-bioitc thats coated so it reaches the intestines alive, and its a high enough count to do some good with various strains. I found an amazing magnesium spray to again aid in detox, and also provide enough magnesium to actually help the body (nearly all the enzyme functions of the body need magnesium to function) and as a spray, it means that I can be assured that its actually been absorbed as opposed to just going down the plug hole. I found a fantastic mineral product with this that and the other, to much good stuff to list. I found an amazing B vitamin patch to help with detox and cognitive function, a glutathiamin patch to help detox, a melatoine patch to help him sleep and give his adrenal glands a chance to recover (lord they must be shrivelled up like little raisins) a fantastic mix of cold pressed oil stored finally in a glass container designed to protect it from light, that will help nourish and detox Ed by reducing the inflammation in his cells so that they can finally start working right, and again its got all sort of amino-acids plus a load of vitamins and minerals, and some amazing plankton product that is just full of goodness and trace this and that to really make sure that he is topped off with what he needs, so he can get rid of what he doesn't. And I am racking my brain because I am sure I missed something. Anyway, all I need now is an action plan to put it all in practice because obviously you cant start everything off at the same time. At least the patches will be held up in customs for a few days as they have to come from canada.

And so friend, while I have an anger that seethes about the lack of care from those who are paid to care, and an anger about the Governments who allow us to be poisoned, and I really mean poisoned by untested chemicals and filthy air and water, with foods devoid of nutritional content, an aggressive vaccination plan into little bodies unable to cope with it, I am actually quite excited about the next few months. I bought in a big enough supply to really give this a good go. Now if you are thinking that I have lost it with the poisoning bit, lets just talk GMO real quick. You will be told that they are the solution to world hunger. Actually, they have just been created to be resistant to pesticides, and the crop yield is actually lower than normal crops and, they need more water than normal plants and so are susceptible to drought. Dow chemicals at the moment is asking Obama to pass a law which will allow them to spray crops with Agent Orange (remember that nice chemical they used in Vietnam and the deformities that babies in that country are still being born with) because the round up ready crops, yes they really are spraying our food with round up, are failing because the weeds have become resistant. So just as bacteria are becoming resistant, the weeds are to, and these are super weeds! Breast feeding mothers in the states are now passing through their milk high levels of pesticides. I forget the study that revealed that sad fact, but you can look it up yourself. And I kind of feel like banging my head against something hard, because surely, this is a world gone mad with the tail wagging the dog? Ed may be crazy, but at least unlike our world leaders, he isn't wicked crazy. Rant over. XX

Edward meets Omar - our dog!

To coin a phrase, yesterday was the best of days and the worst of days.

At 10.30, we all met Omar. Omar is a 2 year old golden lab and he is going to be our dog. My big boys were to cool for school about it and reacted in the normal 21st century way by posting it on snap-chat and face book, Edward clung to me like a bush baby and nearly broke my neck, and Richard, who had been against us getting a dog till we are rich enough to "live on a farm" (i.e. never!) just went all soppy over him. What a lovely dog, we all just fell in love with him. Ed eventually gathered enough courage for a stroke and with words of "Dog!Dog!Dog!' I think he was happy to see him.

So the day started out really well, after Omar left I took Ed up to school and all seemed well till he came home. I seem to remember describing him all hot and sweaty from all the screaming earlier in the history of this blog. Well, yesterday, you heard him before you saw him. He screamed and tantrumed till teatime, when he happily ate a chicken fajita. Was on again off again till we drove Richard over to Prestwood for a well deserved night out. I stopped in at my friend Bernie's for a quick cup of tea so Ed could see her chickens and maybe calm down a bit. That was great for me and him, but we got home all miserable again, and even hoovering up all the dog hairs only kept him happy for a limited time. He was happy on the drive to pick up Daddy, but back home again his screaming lasted till almost midnight. I can only think that he couldn't cope with the change to his normal day, getting to school at dinnertime, and then leaving after such a short day really upset his apple cart. I fell in bed at 1am thinking OMG!

This morning he was fine, tired but fine. And in the quite of the house going over the day in my head, I thought to myself, that's how he was almost everyday. Yesterday just reminded me of how bad it was. You know you do all these treatments and supplements, and you try this and that and because he isn't "normal" you can think that all you have done hasn't really made a difference. But yesterday really showed what a difference it has made for him and us. My family, bless them, are so supportive of my efforts, and recently the slow pace of progress has got me down. But yesterday in its awfulness showed how far we have come. I normally meet up with some friends on a Friday at Costa, but this Friday because of all the little ones they have, we meet at a coffee shop just opened in Kings church. One of the ladies hasn't come along for a while, she has celiac disease along with a few other allergies, her husband is allergic to dogs and they have passed these allergies along to their children. Her son has the same restricted sort of life that Ed has, along with being tired all the time, its difficult for him to go out because of all his allergies, her other children aren't so bad. Her story is a little like mine in as much as there is not really anything the medical profession can do or offer. But she managed to make this Friday, she came up to me and grabbed my arm and said, I've started to do NAET with him! She told me how his face had just lit up at the thought that someone could help him, and take away his pain without having to swallow lots of pills or stab him with needles. Her little girl was there with her arm full of pinpricks where they had tried and failed to take blood to test her for celiac. She kept coming up and saying "my arm hurts mummy." My brave friend has gone ahead with this whack-a-doodle sounding therapy out of desperation for something to help, my advice, and her watching hours on you tube of mothers saying how it has helped them. Her husband thinks she has lost it. Little does he know that when she has healed their children, herself and her mother (who has had an allergic reaction and rejected a hip replacement) he is next to be treated for dogs, so they to can finally have a dog in their family, like our Omar. XX

inflamation

The other day I picked up my address book to call someone, as opposed to using my mobile with all its stored numbers, and out of my address book fell a small 3" square piece of paper. Its laughable now, but this was one of the first pieces of research that I did when I finally hit that wall of realising that if Ed was going to get better I was going to have to do it myself. On that piece of paper was written in red:

defeatautismnow.com
Dimethylglycine (DMG) (food supplement)
+B6 + Magnesium
Elderberry-tablets

In black I had also put B15 and TMG

I had sort of gone off tangent with my research for Ed, and although he has made progress, was stuck in what I was doing for him and had in the back of my mind visions of him going off as a young adult into full time care, I will be 50 this year and looking after a bouncy unpredictable autistic boy who is getting bigger and stronger everyday - well, its tough sometimes!

Anyhow, back to that bit of paper. I never really did anything with the DMG thing, so back to the Internet and once more I got sucked into the DMG v's TMG thing. You see, to heal yourself you need to look at your bodies functions, right at cellular level, and for a layman, its a minefield - no wonder so few parents attempt it. Lets face it, so few Doctors do! This small scrap of paper was the first thing I had noted down, I had no idea that I would fill up piles of A4 on this and that, and how that turns to that, but only if this is present .... Argggh!!! Mine field. The other week, I went to a treating autism coffee morning, and it was really depressing all the things that they had tried and still their kids were severely autistic. But you see, we have to play medical detectives, each child being different. And until the whole puzzle is solved and addressed, in order, change wont happen. That's why I eventually read the book I mention a little latter on. You see, I can't slip into being content where Ed is, he can't have a future where he ends up in a home, I need to build on what has helped and find solutions for things that are still an issue. I know its an American term, but I need to become - Crazy mom!

So anyway, in my quest, I came across some really funky stuff. I came across a therapy called environmental enrichment, which looks totally awesome. It takes about 10 minutes morning and night using household things, and you enrich their senses with smells, textures, tastes, temperature etc, and apparently this creates new neural pathways and helps with left - right brain processing. So, after the summer holidays, that's where we are going. Also, I came across a great company in the states that produces high quality supplements in patches, because getting Ed to actually swallow any pill is about where we are trying to get a man on mars. He is responding slowly with the B patches, the day after, he is noticeably more verbal, and the other night he sat in his room saying "oh no" in all the right places in the book "Going on a Bear Hunt."

So whats that all got to do with inflammation! Well, I finally picked up a book I've been putting off reading. Its a smallish book, but it has the same sort of paper inside as the bible if you know what I mean, nearly 500 pages of medical stuff in tiny print which made it look like a heavy read, and I just wasn't ready to hear what it had to say. The book is called "Healing the new childhood epidemics - Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies"By Kenneth Bock MD. I reached out to it because I need help plain and simple, some of the medical and technical stuff, I just don't know where best to start. Our bodies are complex interactive systems, one thing affects the other and you have to treat the root cause for healing or your just tinkering with the symptoms. I am nearly halfway through and so excited that I just had to pen a few words.

Even to my untrained eye, the same things crop up again when looking into autism. Diabetes, cancer, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, allergies, rheumatoid arthritis being just a few. At the very heart of all physical maladies, there seems to be one over riding issue and its inflammation, and it wasn't till reading this book that I came back to it, I had got so lost in everything.

You know I used to think that inflammation was just a bit of swelling, nothing to bad. But actually, to understand inflammation you need to picture your cells. So, imagine a circle within a circle. Your cell had two wall, one that keeps the inside in, i.e., all your mitochondrial which makes ATP (your energy) and one outside that keeps the outside out and has little receptors on it so that your hormones can tell that cell what to do next. Both this walls are made of bio-layers of lipid fats, and when healthy you have "cellular fluidity" i.e., things that need to get in do and things that need to get out can. Each cell has different receptors on it depending on the cell function, but they all have receptors for thyroid and Vit D. So just to be clear, those receptors will only recognise the element that they are specific to, like a jigsaw. However, when the cell becomes inflamed, the cell wall becomes hard and damaged, and the receptors stop working so well. If you have heard of insulin resistance, it means that the cell wall receptors for insulin are not working so well. So the conventional treatment is to give you more insulin, throwing more in the hope that some will stick. This happens to all our hormone receptors, our vitamin receptors, our mineral receptors etc. Inside on that second wall, same thing, only now the waste from all the ATP production can't get out, and a bit like a car in a garage with the door shut, things start getting toxic. As this happens, your whole bodies ability to detox gets compromised as your glutathione production slowly shuts down. This amazing compound is the foundation of health, and so you have a slow decline in your bodies function and basically everything goes tits up. Your particular lifestyle and genetics will be responsible for how it manifest. Eds is autism. To address any health problem you have to have a detox, but a detox at a cellular level which isn't easily achieved by over the counter things, and you have to remove toxic and inflammatory items from your life.

So, when you read that certain foods are inflammatory, a big red light should go on. Grains, dairy and vegetable fats are all inflammatory. Yes, all those veg oils and sunflower seed oils we swapped to instead of butter, lard, are actually really bad for you. And by butter and lard of course I mean fat from A2 outdoor pasture raised animals. So, this was a quick off the top of my head intro to my good fat bad fat post that I promise to fully research and back up and have ready for you by the end of next week. In the meantime, why not treat yourself and load up your veggies with melted butter and some nice sea salt and really taste the difference!

Now that I have renewed enthusiasm, and am learning more things I didn't previously know, I have renewed hope that I can make a real and lasting difference in my sons life, and via him, anyone else who is crazy or desperate enough to listen. XX

Party time autistic style!

Last year I heard a talk by an non-verbal autistic man. He introduced himself as being non verbal by nature, but he had been told that what he had to say was of interest, and so was happy to share. I am so glad he did, one of the things he said was a typical greeting between 2 autistic people would be to totally ignore each other. That meant that they were each totally comfortable with the other being there. They felt no need for small talk, or any of our social routines. If they weren't comfortable that's when the bad behaviour would come in.

So because of various Edward related issues, we were a bit late to the party. I am so glad we went, because out of the 15 invites, Harry only had 2 friends turn up. They had 3 replies and 1 no show. I am sure this was more of an issue for his parents, because Harry happily played completely independent of his 2 friends, and his friends did the same. They must have only just put the sand out because it still had the moist quality it has straight out of the bag, and Harry was quick to scatter it all over the garden. Edward found the trampoline, and the other boy (how awful - I have forgotten his name!) never left the side of his parents. Harry had a little sister who had a friend over, and she was just as sweet as can be. The parents all spent the afternoon apologising for their children, and the children just did what ever they wanted in their own orbit, other than the sister and friend who played fairy princess. I was so proud that Ed sat and ate some tea while the others ignored it. Over tea and cake we discussed their eating habits, and they were both on the beige diet. I didn't get all alternative on them, because I am beginning to see how unusual I am that I think I can change it. Anyway, Ed ate his tea and then disappeared upstairs and found the hoover. Harry kept taking me by the arm to show me that he wanted me to sweep up all the scattered sand, which I did, and he immediately scattered it again, and then I had to sweep more up and it went on like that till Ed found me walking funny. I knew immediately he needed the toilet which had a lock up high so Harry couldn't flood the bathroom - again, otherwise he would have gone by himself. When we got in I found that Ed had done a pooh in his pants, so thank God for clay because at least it wasn't a runny smelly mess. And so that was our party, 3 apologetic parents, 3 unconnected boys, 2 fairy princesses and 1 pair of pooh pants wrapped up in my handbag. And you know what, I had a great time. Sometimes it helps to see the cards other parents have been dealt, and its always nice to get out and do something normal with him.

But you know the 12 invites that hadn't replied have been eating at me. I just can't figure it out, why would you not even reply? The other family at the party lived in the same village that Ed goes to for his holiday play scheme, and I can tell you those ladies have saved my life many a time. They were unaware that there was even a scheme that would take their boys, and it reminded me of the meeting that I went to where I was the only parent who turned up, 1 parent, 3 professionals. It was there I found out about the play-scheme to include disabled children. As I told them about it they all made up excuses why not to send their children, that they were to difficult etc. And I can't figure it out. And then in the news recently there was that tragic family where the mother has been charged with 3 counts of murder on her disabled children. And I think what it is is that we are drowning not waving. That families with disabled children are so stressed, that the least bit of movement out of their comfort and routine is so stressful that they can't cope. And so their homes become their world, and everything shrinks down to just getting through the day. That I can understand because I was there not so long ago. When your ship sinks you have the choice to sink or swim. The woman who killed her children sank, the families behind closed doors are swimming, and I couldn't face either so I made it to a life-raft. With Gods blessing we will make it to the Island.

So how did I do it? I made the decision to make a change, and I am not alone. Last week I went to a treating autism coffee morning. I thought that it would be full of helpful advice, but most of the ladies were still battling with their children's condition. I had come across a couple of supplements that looked interesting, and this one lady had tried them all and none had worked. It hadn't put her off keep trying. I drove home quite down, can I really do this? And then it occurred to me that while her child may not be a-typical now because of her interventions, she is probably better than she was. Ed is still quite bonkers, but the madness has gone, the self harm has gone, and in his good moments he is a happy, funny little boy, and that is something he was not before. Small steps, small changes in the end will add up to big changes. In the meantime, my heart goes out to that poor mother who saw no other way out other than to end her childrens' lives. Because, truly, until you have walked in her footsteps you can't judge, and for all my brave talk, I would perhaps have done the same thing put in the same situation. XXX

Edward makes a friend

One of the hardest things about being a parent of an ASD child is that they are so isolated. With an a-typical child, you normally get invites to birthday parties, play dates, invitations to tea, you know the sort of thing. With an ASD child what you get is nothing. A few years ago, at a meeting for parents with a disabled child, I turned up and was the only parent to 4 professionals all there to help and inform. At this particular meeting, one of the ladies there was from the council, and the point I made above is the one I made to her. Eds whole world was school and home, nothing else, except the odd visit to family. From that, I was put in touch with an after school play scheme, that the lady from the council had just commissioned, that included children with special needs, (thats where he is at the moment). I also shook the tree and Action for children fell out, so Ed has a group he goes to every other Saturday morning, and a one to one respite carer comes every other Sunday to take him out for four hours. So I have done my best to try and broaden his social horizons. But I still wanted more for him.

Just before they broke up for the easter holidays, in his book bag I got this note. It says:

"Hello,

This is an invitation for our son Harrisons 8th birthday party. This year we decided to invite his classmates and friends from school to our house to enjoy party games, dancing, something to eat and hopefully if nice weather to play in the garden.

Due to his ASD he doesn't get to enjoy many play dates with school friends and the fact that the school generally has the children dropped off its difficult to know them and you the parent of his friends. As such your are invited to stay on the day to facilitate a fun time and to ensure your child is comfortable in their surroundings.

We hope you can join us."

You know sometimes you just get wrapped up in yourself and your immediate surroundings, and it kind of made me shed a wee tear that here was another woman going through exactly what I am, and to see it outside of yourself it really brings home how sad ASD can be. Of course I immediately called her, and on the day, we are both going to sit down with our diaries and bash out some play dates together (fingers crossed they get on) so that is a nice little social gathering on the horizon, and it made me really happy.

And then the other Sunday, something else happened that REALLY, REALLY made me happy and cry at the same time. Lauren who takes out Ed on a Sunday had just come back with him from Odds farm. Its a play-farm that I bought two annual tickets for. Apparently he had be playing in the sandpit with out his shoes and socks, and just got up and ran off. Lauren quickly got his shoes and socks and as she turned to run after him, found him hugging a mans legs. The man asked Lauren nicely if Ed had any issues, and she said he was ASD. By this time the mans son had come up to see what weirdo was hanging on his Dad. The man told his son that Ed was like xxx's son. "Oh," says the boy, holding out his hand, "Come on Edward" and they both ran off and played hand in hand. The family must have been meeting friends because more children came on the scene, Lauren heard the boy say "He's like xxx's boy.'' "Oh,'' Say the other children, and just like that they all understood and adapted for my wee weird boy. Both Lauren and I stood crying in my kitchen for the big step that Ed had taken and for the kindness of strangers.

Buoyed by this leap forward, I took him to the park during a play session the local church was running. Edward helped lots of children down the slide and then followed up by two knees in the kidneys as he came down while the other children were still on the slide, and them got stuck up a play-frame that I had to fireman lift him off. I came home feeling like 100!

But at least there are big steps forward happening, and if it happens once it can happen again. At the moment he is a lot more calm, and the ladies from the play scheme have all commented on how much better he has been emotionally and socially.

I had thought that I had cut back on his intervention treatments, but actually I have him on quite a bit. He gets about 5 grammes of benzonite edible clay which has settled his tummy, He has a B12 + 10 other B vitamins patch, he has 2 grammes of VitaminC, a multi-mineral, iodine, Kefir Water, magnesium oil rub and coconut oil rub after school, we are still doing our NAET, and last but not least we have a session of reflexology every other sunday, which he absolutely loves.

Will let you know how the party goes. XXX

Horizons 'living with autism'

Well I can only apologise for not posting earlier. Over 3 months and not a peep from me, and I had promised to talk about good fats bad fats before Christmas! Well, I am sorry, but I hope you all had a great time over the holiday period.

Life here has continued, slowly things ease up. I have Ed at a place where I am happy that slow improvements are occurring and within myself have reached a place of understanding of this condition. You may have already guessed that its not the understanding that all the paid professionals have. I have just watched last nights horizon on living with autism, and feel the need to speak. Combined this with meeting another new mother of an autistic boy at her wits end about to put him on Ritalin, and talking with a couple of mums at the horizon sports club for disabled children in Wycombe, and a new post was forming.

So how and where do I start, because I am at total logger heads with the states version of things. But unlike the states version of things, my theory answers all the question they are still pondering and will never answer because their whole starting point is wrong. Its a pretty bold statement I know, coming from stay at home mum who got her degree in colouring in! (graphic design to those in the know.) But sometimes the cleverest people can be the most blinkered, or plain stupid.

Albert Einstein famously said "You can not solve a problem from the same mindset that created it." So when the opening statement on the horizon program contains the words, its a condition for life, you have to have the understanding these professional aren't looking for a 'cure',  the idea that it can be changed hasn't entered their heads, when they talk about genetics and brains being different, they are already set in a mindset that the cutting edge of science has already disproved. Epigenetics has proven that according to your mindset or environmental factors you can switch on and off your genetic makeup. Outside of the autism context of this blog I hope that anyone reading this has a little WOW! go off in them, because it means that you can be whatever you choose to be, you are not fettered by your genetic material, which also means on a side note that everything you hear about, obesity, diabetes, cancer etc is wrong. This mindset is a bit like a little islander, no idea of anything off the island, and not even imagining that there is anything else out there. I thought the program was excellent in trying to portray the difficulties our autistic communities have but they only scratched the surface because it followed the very narrow special interest of the professor involved. Not a soul talked about any sensory issues, or the co-morbid physical issues to mention just two. Its like me thinking the whole world is my little town of Amersham.

There are two main points that I would like to give a different slant to. On the brain scans, the autistic children had very low brain oxygen levels. Hyperbaric oxygen treatment is one of the bio-medical intervention that has a level of success in my alternative world. Oxygen is a funny thing that is overlooked all the time. If you know anyone with cancer for instance I can tell you their bodies are deficient in oxygen. A nobel peace prize was handed out for the discovery years ago that when cells can no longer find enough oxygen to survive they turn to sugar and start fermenting it, this is when a cell turns cancerous. (So why isn't there a cure for cancer yet?) This is why exercise is so good for you, when you exercise your body make new blood pathways in your body to increase your oxygen levels, and oxygen is death to unhelpful viruses, bacteria and fungi. In our modern world of sitting on our bums inside, our oxygen levels are pretty low, we don't even breath properly using only our top half of our lungs. This leaves our bodies uncleansed to a large part of the co2 that we exhale including any toxic gases given off by our modern interiors which are almost hermetically sealed with double glazing and insulation. A quick google search on breathing techniques will show you all sorts of breathing exercises that can help with a whole range of conditions that would amaze you. Why autistic children have this is, is probably due to a genetic disposition triggered by an environmental cause.

The second point I would raise is the different levels of autism amongst the sexes, with boys making up 4:1 in the autistic community. And this comes back in my mind to the fact that autism is a neurological disorder brought about by a toxic body environment. I don't know this for a fact, this is just my logical conclusion, but I believe it comes down to girls being genetically better predisposed to detox than boys, because in latter life they will have the double burden of detoxing the waste from not only their own bodies, but of their unborn children.

We have various detox pathways in our bodies, breathing is one of them. Yesterday the news was full of the Mediterranean diet, and how we should eat not 5, but 7 pieces of fruit and veg to stay healthy. Its almost like they have no memory of history. Our diet just pre-second world war and post second world war, which was almost devoid of fresh fruits and veg, and full of bread and dripping produced a very healthy generation, which totally contradicts the health advice today. So perhaps the mediterranean diet is something else altogether, and heres my thoughts, perhaps its because its nice and warm and sunny, and people spend more time in the fresh air and sunshine, oxygenating their bodies and making lots of lovely Vitamin D (a vitamin whose role in the body has really not been acknowledged).

Another is the sulpha pathway which is why the allium family is so good for you, they are very high in sulphur (again - in the mediterranean diet). Iodine is the master detoxer, which is perhaps why the people of Japan are noted for their good health, they eat lots of seaweed. They also eat lots of fermented foods which produce lots of lovely bacteria. Did you know that bacteria or lovely, or are you one of the millions in the western world waging war on them with your anti-bac this and that? Well, bacteria cell in your body outnumber your body cells 3:1, they actually produce all sorts of necessary things for you, just off the top of my head Vitamin K and Vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 if injected in non-verbal autistic children gets them talking, its vital for healthy brain function, all the B Vitamins are. If you have followed the advice of the health service today, you will be deficient in this vital vitamin. Brain Fog is one of its least side affects. At worst you get pernicious anaemia or to top that you could be diagnosed with MS! And actually its a B12 deficiency masked by fortified cereals using the cheap synthetic variety of Cobalamin. When they do blood test this show up and they think you aren't deficient because its masking the fact that actually you are deficient in methylcobalamin, which is the only form your body can actually use. You find it in whole free-range eggs, outdoor reared cows full fat milk and butter, etc so you can see if your trying to be healthy according to the government guidelines your deficient in it, especially if your vegetarian. Anyway, that all for another day and another post because I am going off piste here!

There are other pathways that our bodies use to detox, and all of them work on building blocks scarce in our modern eating habits, combine that with modern faming practices that our leaving our foods almost devoid of nutritional content, throw in the mind boggling fact that according to a study reported in the lancet in 2006, there are '85,000 different chemical which have been released into our environment (by that I mean food, clothing, paint, plastics etc) which we have little or no idea of their impact on our health.' and you have a recipe for disaster. This explains all the weird differences, the imbalance between the sexes, the sheer variety of different ways autism presents itself, why some children have a 'descent' into autism and why and how, those children with parents pig headed enough not to believe the genetic lie, can reclaim their children and lose their diagnosis. It also explains the explosion our modern day health issues. It also explains why your more likely to have an autistic child the older you are, because you have as an adult a much higher toxic burden to stew your baby in.

So anyway, I was talking to these mums as I said yesterday. One of them had a child with a very rare form of cerebral palsy, her mum said it was a genetic condition. I didn't tell her, but actually its because she didn't have enough folic acid (one of the B vitamins) during the early part of her pregnancy when her babies nerves were first forming. The second has a boy with autism who also has heart complications, he was born with bits missing from his heart and had needed surgery when he was a tiny wee boy. Now I am sure that the medical profession puts it down to genetics, but what if his mother was deficient in Iodine? If you remember my Iodine article there is proof that an iodine defeceint mother is more likely to have and autistic child, couple that with iodine playing a major role in apoptosis (programmed cell death) which occurs in the developing foetus more than at any other time of life, and you can see how perhaps his bodies blue print got a bit messed up.

So where does my Eds problems come from? Well, I was an ancient 42 when I conceived him, I had had some major mercury filling fiddled about with, I suffered from migraines and on my dear Drs advice carried on taking paracetamol during my pregnancy, I got as big as a whale and stayed indoors because I couldn't walk properly (which meant I didn't get any sunshine or fresh air), and we had re-done our house a few years ago with all new paint and carpet giving off god knows what gases etc. Add that to the fact that on my husbands side I think we have poor genetic detoxing, and that I had been following the healthy diet with lots of vegetable oils (which are toxic) and no animal fat and I think thats the recipes that made my Ed. The good news is, that once you know how you got somewhere, you can retrace your steps. So I am trying to detox my boy at the moment whilst introducing a dose of transdermal B12+ 10 other B Vits into him. I forgot to say, that B12, as its a product of bacteria in your gut, doesn't do very well through the digestive system, so pills wont cut it. Really you need to have it sublingual (under your tongue) transdermal ( through your skin) or via injections.

So in homage to the title of this post, I would love it if they ran a sister program, 'living without autism' where they aired those families who didn't settle and took on this disorder and won! But that would bring down the house of cards built on the 'genetic life time condition' lie. Whilst I accept that perhaps I might not be ever able to fully recover my boy, because who really knows what the future hold for us, I have already vastly improved the quality of his life and will strive to continue doing it till he is either better or I am dead!

Again Mum, I apologise for the mental red pen anyone has had reading this correcting my spelling and grammar, and the lack of facts figures and dates backing up what I said, but I really don't have time to do anymore or even read this through to see if it makes sense because tonight I am having a life with some friends coming over - and at the moment they have nothing to eat! So, I hope this all makes sense and you find my mad musing interesting. XXX

grabby

There I was, my eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and I could see the glimmer of light ahead in the dank tunnel I had got stuck in, as I fought my way ahead, the light grew brighter slowly but surely. Hope grew, dreams were dreamt. Then, there he was, like a ghastly potter. I was 10 seconds too late. Pooh all over the floor, in his pants, he was picking it up and trying to put it in the toilet. As I tried to wipe him down so he wouldn't spread it all the way upstairs to the bathroom, he stepped in it all. JOY! The perfect end to the perfect weekend. By all accounts he had pulled hair at his Saturday club. Then we had a treatment booked, in an attempt to rid him of the rash that appears round his mouth when he eats coloured things, like tomatoes or fish fingers, ketchup. Got that sorted, he was reasonably happy. Bounced till midnight, why did I allow myself to run out of melatonin?

Sunday. The lovely Lauren came to take him out for his fortnightly session. What a session she had at the play farm. He had the goat by the neck and cuddled it for quite a long time, then gave it a lick. She had been worried about the outcome, because both of them were capable of biting the other, but it ended with Ed licking the goat. Several Christmas trees had also felt his wrath, and some chap watching him eat his fish fingers, had a handful of peas thrown at him. In soft play, Ed also managed to climb out of the top through a hole in the net, which thankfully, didn't end badly. I think next time I'll send them somewhere else, Lauren said that wherever they were, she noticed a member of staff watching them! I guess that having let the pigs, the sheep, the goats out, strangled a rabbit, and poked a sheep in the eye - you get a reputation! Once home, his boots were full of sand, which mingled nicely with the sugar he ate straight out of the jar (new one). So Sunday ended with a gritty floor, gritty bed, gritty door handles, the pooh on the floor, and jumping till midnight.

'Grabby' That's the comment from our Monday school / home book. 'He has been very grabby.' Dear reader, that means that with lightning speed and no warning, he'll reach out and pull your hair, or snatch  / scratch something. Monday, we had uncontrollable tears, the front door was a target again, as were the computers and TV. He finally fell asleep at midnight, having had his bottom smacked from jumping on his bed and keep coming downstairs. This left us both feeling - not great. This morning however, he went off happy again. Here's hoping to a good day.

Why share this? This is how everyday used to be. This is what most of the families living with autism go through, all the time. And while I am glad that weekend is over, I am sure that there are more of them out there waiting for me. But, and here is the big but (no pun intended) those sort of days are slowly becoming less, and the actions I have taken are paying off in our calm happy days. So, if you are a carer of an autistic child and you recognised anything of this in your life. If you haven't already, take action, read up and find a place to start. And start to make your difference now, clean up their diet and their environment, find a treatment that works for you and a therapist you like and trust. And you'll find that even at the end of your worst day, instead of being on your knees in despair, you'll be on your knees in gratitude that your reality has changed and it isn't like this all the time. You know, that would work for any problem. Albert Einstein said "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results." So if you don't like your life, change it, trust me - things CAN get better! And the sh**ty weekend I have just had proves that. X

PS Love you Lauren xx

what about mum?

Think back to a really busy time in your life, where literally you were in a whirl. When you look back, do you see it with a different perspective, see things in a different light to how you felt they appeared at the time? Well, I kind feel like I am just coming out of my whirl.

Yesterday, Eds school had organised a tasting of a new menu for dinner time. Due to budget constraints, the dinner ladies who have faithfully served our children their lunches over the history of the school, will serve their last Christmas dinner in a few weeks time. The food will now be from a central provider coming hot from a 'hub' school. Of course with the digestive issues that most special children have, I wanted to go along and make sure that they weren't being served - well - crap!
So mid-day finds me shooting off up the motor way to this tasting and question session. The school secretary of the hosting school greeting me with kind perplexity. After about 5 minutes enquiry she informed me very nicely, that I was at the wrong school! They were the hub provider, but, for some reason the tasting session was in Marlowe, another 20 mins down the road. How had I so grossly misunderstood that school letter? Well, I am just recognising quite how high my stress levels are/have been.

A few weeks ago, one of my darling brothers married his long time girlfriend. We set off about 8 in the morning for a noon wedding. Even though I was 'having the day off' (because Lauren had very kindly agreed to look after Ed till we got back the following day), and I was spending time with all my family - who I adore, my black mood (which had settled on me with the stress of getting out of the house) didn't lift till my darling sister appeared at the reception in the same dress as me. Long story short, for some reason we thought it would be a good idea, but she had changed her mind. But, seeing her in that dress,  I just laughed and laughed and had the best of times imaginable. On the drive home, I was going over why had I been so miserable in the morning. This along with lots of other 'little things' has really made me question myself. So there I was, at the wrong place right time. 'Bugger it', thinks I.  On the drive home, the mud settles and I realise that for a few weeks now, Ed has just been amazing compared to his normal self. I can see just how stressed I really have been, but when your right in the middle of it, you just put your best foot forward and get on with it. Over the past few weeks as home life has been less mad, my adrenaline has obviously stopped pumping. I feel like a bear in autumn. just want to eat chocolate and hibernate. I thought about my role in the family, dragging everyone through the day, and thought 'hang on a minute - what about me?' So I had a bath and washed my hair, which may not sound like a big deal, but honest - I can't remember the last time I did that.

You may be thinking what are you saying liz? Well, to those who deal with the families of disabled children, be kind. Just because you told us, doesn't mean we remember. We need constant reminders, clear directions and instructions to cut through our fog. And for my readers, from now on, I intend to publish informative pieces. Because I have been told it helps to back up my finding (as they are generally contrary to everything we are told) it takes up quite a bit of time. So, from January onwards, I intend to publish just once a month. To catalogue the important nuggets that have brought me to the point where I can actually see Ed behave normally - sometimes (and hopefully more often in the future). What about me? I have finally committed to become a certified NAET practitioner. This monday I started on the diploma course which will take me there. I will no longer be so emotionally involved in the outcome of my family -  horse to water and all that! Will still drag them through the day, but have my eyes on the prize of fulfilling my life as opposed to others.

As I have been writing this, Ed has come home. My lovely escort who does such a great job of getting my wee boy to school and home again, told me that the teachers had asked him to tell me that Ed has been great all week. That just goes to prove to me what I had already concluded. My whirl is on the final rinse and spin. The child that had brought me to the very brink, is now slowly becoming a source of joy. He came in happy as a sand boy, changed into his PJ's by himself, is eating his raisins and apples, having dug the Room on the broom DVD of the shelf, and is watching it like any other normal child. As I have less stress from him, its becoming obvious how much I am out of whack, back to the ben and holly analogy of the sun and stars, Ed being the sun of all stress and calming down, all the other ones are becoming visible. Living with 3 boys and a husband, it sometimes feels like I have 4 disable sons. Well, rock on tommy, I am ready to face whatever comes. To all those families still in the bunker battling daily life, take heart. Face your problems full on with faith in your ability to win and you will.

Now, I promise to post next week one about fats just in time for christmas. So, when your pouring your double cream over your clotted cream, and smothering everything in yummy butter, you can feel like your feeding your family a wholesome diet - instead of clogging their arteries! That's just a hint of what to expect. X

labels

This Wednesday I went to the monthly Space meeting, it's a self help group for careers/parents/anyone interested, of disabled persons. I have to confess that I don't really like going there, they come from a different place to me, although I am not dissing them, the service they provide it's great if that's what you want. Now that sounds terrible - what I mean is, they listen and understand, and then give you hints to deal with whatever situation your in, so that's great, it's also where it ends. But where I differ, is the why? and what to do about that. They are all coping with their situations and God I admire them for that because you see, I can't spend my life just coping, and that's what has sent me on the mission to find out the why? you see, when you know that, sort that out, then your situation is changed - does that make sense? Anyhow, they have a great resource of books, so I turn up and borrow them.

So, I had borrowed a book just before the summer, and needed to return it, and on the day I turned up, they were doing a show and tell, where anyone confident enough told their story. By the end of it, I felt so sorry for these women ( where are the men?) just as I had at the early bird session I attended at the beginning when Ed was newly diagnosed. None of their children were in special schools, and all their woes were from lack of understanding from school - and lack of their understanding that schools just aren't geared for their children. Their children weren't half as mad as Ed, they didn't have half the problems I have, yet, I felt sorry for them. Ed is 'bad' enough to warrant a place at a special school where he gets all the understanding and support the state can provide, their children slipped through the cracks, and ended up at schools where they are causing havoc in the classroom and then bringing that home - but are just about coping with the academic burden. So, this Wednesday, this lady plain out asks for help. Her son has just moved up to secondary school, sounds like a nightmare, has put two children in hospital, she and her daughter are scared of him, he barley sleeps and is in a constant state of agitation, yet all the professionals have nothing to offer - except pharmaceutical products. And she isn't willing to give them to him!! So here is her dilemma, there is obviously something wrong with her boy, but until she knows what it is, she has nowhere to start to help him, and she has no idea where to turn for help because she has no idea what it is that needs help, a vicious cycle if ever there was one.

When Ed was two and a half, he started pre-school at the same sweet place I had sent Tom. He was a nightmare to leave, the staff had to peel him off me. He rarely settled, I remember turning up an hour early. I was going to have a walk, but when I drove into the playground, he was stood by the door, just looking out for when I arrived. There was also a time, he got the key and let himself out, thankfully, another mum found him and brought him back inside! He played with the toys in an inappropriate way, was unengaged with the staff and children, was completely non-verbal (except for no and mum) and it was obvious that all was not well in his garden. It wasn't till he was just gone four that we had a diagnosis, though looking back it was as plain as the nose on my face. It wasn't till I said to the paediatrician "Do you think that he could be autistic" that she replied 'Well if it looks like it and smells like it, then it probably is" and that was that, diagnosed and rubber stamped and all the services that he had needed from the get go were in play. Now sure, that word brought me to my knees, or rather the 'its genetic, he'll be like that for the rest of his life did,' and I spent the following months weeping on the sofa - but! It gave me answers. When he melted down at the playground I could say to the disapproving faces 'Sorry, he is autistic' and those faces changed to understanding. I could do the same in the supermarket and so on. The label also, when I was ready to stare it full in the face, gave me a place to start. Any weird behaviour he had like toe walking, went into google 'autism and toe walking' and so on, till I reached that place where I finally feel like I KNOW what happened, what is happening to him and what I can DO to reverse it - which is what I have done. And while he is still as mad as a box of frogs, he is a million miles away from the poor little thing he was. And every now and then, I am getting little glimpse. You know this week, we haven't had an angry front door slam, the telly slam, he hasn't hit anyone, and last night - please God don't jinx this - he slept right the way through and woke up in his bed - happy.

There seems to be this 'thing' that labels are bad, but you know sometimes, labels are good. As long as the label isn't written in permanent marker pen, they can be really helpful for all of us. x

2 rashes and an allergic reaction

A week ago on Friday, Richard came in with his usual bags of Friday rubbish (that we all look forward to) and whilst scoffing away on all the yummy things he bought (none of which can be classed as food) I noticed Ed had developed a nasty red rash round his mouth and cheek. It was still raised red and hot when he went to bed, so in the morning I managed to book a slot with Ann the NAET lady. In the morning the rash had gone down thankfully, and in Anns office I listed all the rubbish he had been eating prior. 'Sounds like MSG allergy' so she tested him and sure enough, he showed a week muscle response in contact with her MSG sample. That day was a 'lets not wear any clothes day' for Ed, so he lay there being treated in his pants and vest. As soon as the MSG sample came in contact with him, his entire body burst out in goose bumps, it was an obvious reaction. He lay there and was treated like a little angle, and sang all the way back home.

The following Friday, none of the crap he ate caused him any bother at all. On Saturday, after Saturday club, in him came. Went straight to the fridge and climbed up the inside shelves to get at the cheese and chowed down on great lumps of cheese and cranberry and kefir water. Well, blow me down if the very same rash didn't appear. Thankfully, Ann had a half hour that was un-booked, so off we went for another treatment. This time, I had an idea of what it was and took samples of the three suspects. It was obviously the cheese, weak muscle response to my cheese sample and strong for the cranberry and kefir. Ann thought it was probably the cultures and moulds they use to make cheese, I said 'But you already treated him for moulds!' but apparently there are loads of them and cheese has a separate list of them. So he lay there and was treated like a little angle again, this time in clothes so no idea if he went all goosey, and happy all the way home.

Well the past week has been reasonable, nothing out of our ordinary. On Sunday, I got the day off to spend it with my niece on her 21st. To add to the days delight, I got to drive down to Wiltshire with my lovely sister, and my Mum and Dad were there too, what could be better. We had a great day together, and I was so glad to get the time off to spend it with my loved ones without the constant distraction of my ginger ninja. However, when I got home (and here dear reader Ed should have been in bed - albeit bouncing) all the lights were blazing. In I go and find a very cross Richard complaining about the products I buy. To cut a long story short, my husband (bless him) takes no notice at all with the interventions I have with Ed. He has no clue what we do, because in his down time, he shuts the door and its him, a Carlsberg and catch up TV or Rome Total War. Instead of Epsom Salts and lavender oil, he poured in about half a bottle of imperial leather citrus burst shower gel, and Ed looked like his body was covered in bubble wrap he was so bumpy. Thankfully, he was in a good mood, and apart from trying to remove his skin, was fine. I had some cream for nettle rashes and stings, so I rubbed that all over him and eventually gone midnight the little fella managed to fall asleep - sorry to all his teacher for that Monday morning! Well, the following day when I clean out the bath, there are still bubbles in the bottom of the bath, and where there was water remaining in his toys, bubbles! No wonder he had such a reaction - so, no prizes for guessing where we are going this weekend!

Here my point is you need to be on alert all the time. You need to know what they are eating and drinking and rubbing up against, and you need to be alert to any change in their mental or physical state. As the list grows of things that he has been treated for, it is getting easier to see the things he reacts to, so at the moment it looks like he is more allergic than he was before. However, before we started this process, its a bit like daylight. During the day, the bright light of the sun blocks out everything else, but once it's night time, the light of the stars are visible - they have been there all the time. (Thank you Ben and Holly for that analogy) So now all the major players have been eliminated, all their little friends are visible playing havoc with my boy. I have them in my sights x

A dog for Edward

A few weeks ago, Richards Uncle came to stay for a night. With him he bought 'Clooney" - named so because he is so gorgeous - a working cocker spaniel. Well, you should have seen Ed. Imagine the most excited boy in the world x 1000 and you are about there. "dog! dog! dog!' Poor Clooney was pestered to within an inch of his life, and what a lovely dog, not once did he do anything other than get up and try and get away.

In the morning, Ed woke up in our bed instantly in a bad mood. He sat up, made his 'I am in a really bad mood' noise, was about to kick off when he stopped himself, 'dog!' says he, and down he goes in the best of moods. Here a little glimmer of light shone in his mothers life, because for over a year now, I have been on the waiting list to get on the waiting list for a dog from Dogs for the disabled. A wonderful charity that trains dogs for disabled children and children with autism. In two weeks time, I was almost at the top of the list, which meant a visit from them with a dog, to see how a much bang for their buck they could get placing a dog with us. Clooney showed us at least, there would be a lot of bang! Finally, after a full day of pestering, when Ed trod on his tail, the dog finally growled at him, and Ed kept a better distance.

So when the happy day came for the people from Dogs for the disabled to assess us, it was lovely again to see how Ed reacted. Well, I was told that it could take 6 weeks for them to make up their mind whether they thought one of their dogs would help us, but yesterday, after just a few of weeks, I got a letter saying we had been accepted onto the waiting list - Yeah!! So now, I am just waiting to be 'matched' to a dog, what an amazing difference it will make to our lives, I just can't wait. Through out the assessment, things happened and things were said that I kept apologising for, "Don't worry Mrs Oke, we have seen it all" "Don't worry Mrs Oke, we have heard it all" they were so nice. Finally it came to questions from me.
"We all dress up in fancy dress on Christmas day, as its your dog, would you mind if I dressed the dog up to?"- the pair of them looked at each other,
"We haven't heard that one before!" Oh, how I laughed, but the good news is, as the dog will already be used to wearing a jacket, I would be allowed to dress it up, but just for Christmas.

What will this dog mean for us? Well, as I said, it comes with a jacket. I hold it on the lead, and Ed holds onto a handle on the dogs jacket, so it feels like he is walking it, but in case he runs off (a behaviour know as bolting) there is a belt round his waist that clips to the dog. As the dog has been trained, it means it has the same right of way as a blind dog, so I would be able to take it anywhere, with Ed. This means, that if they find a dog they think matches us, our whole lives are about to make a quantum leap in possibilities. And, as its a rather large dog, (because it needs to put up with a bouncy autistic child), it means I will have no excuse but to walk it and walk off my big belly that has appeared along with my third son.

So all in all, things in our mad household are moving forward. Since I started Ed on the Iodine, he has started coming out with more words ( only at school ) and is slightly more calm. His business end has improved also with the introduction of the kefir water, and touch wood, we haven't touch cloth for a while. The other night as I was rubbing him with coconut oil after his bath, I really looked at him, and noticed fully how has he changed. A year ago, I started him on NAET, at that time he had alopecia (loosing his hair from stress) was pulling his hair out as well, I think from pain, was so skinny you could see his kidneys (not really but you know what I mean) scratched himself till he bled, had dry eczema skin, could s**t through the eye of needle and then would spread it, would bang his head against the floor, would scream and shout randomly, would hardly eat anything, and would bounce all night long if given the chance. Now, most of that has changed. He has thick, glossy hair, beautiful soft skin, has even grown a wee tummy to match his mum, the head banging which is most distressing has stopped, his bum whilst still a work in progress is so much better, and now by about 10-11pm he is all bounced out. He is still as mad as a hatter, but his physical condition gives me hope that as that improves, his brain will start to clear as well, which hopefully, with the new words he is coming out with at school, is already happening. As I have said in previous posts, it has been noted by his short break workers, that he is the only autistic child improving - the others just add more layers to their onion. So to all those warrior mums out there, who have swallowed the party line that they will be like that forever, take heart. It doesn't need to be that way, even if we can't recover them completely from the fog of autism, we can make improvements in their lives and our own x

ABA

Sorry I haven't written for a while, been living my life! The good news is that the lady a mutual friend mentioned (its in an earlier post) who has a wee boy newly diagnosed -  got in touch, and from now on she will be know as 'my new friend'. So I have been quite busy with my new friend who I just think is amazing. She used to work in a special school, so she recognised the signs and managed to get her son diagnosed at two and a half. She instantly set about doing what she could, and put him on a GAPS diet,  and has also managed to bully her GP into action to do some tests on him so she knows where to target her attention. Its been about 4 months since his diagnosis and her interventions, and on re-meeting her Psychologist, this professional said that she was doubting her diagnosis the change in him was so great! I put this in just to illustrate how important early diagnosis and intervention is, as opposed to our NHS policy of "lets leave it as long as possible in case they grow out of it so we don't have to spend any money." This wee lad has - as most ASD children have - bowel problems. She described a particularly nasty pooh to me, saying her Dr's response was that this was normal for her son if thats what was normal for him. I mention this, because our ASD children seem to get the rough end of the stick. Things go for them that wouldn't otherwise go for anyone else. What comes out of the backside of most of our kids is not normal and points to part of their problem, but because this condition is so little understood, it seems like professionals like to sweep these things aside to concentrate on areas that they do know about ( though I doubt they know much at all). This brings me to my topic today of ABA, applied behavioural analysis.

My sister asked me to write my opinion on a programme the BBC ran this week. I had come across ABA in my search to help Ed, but to be honest, it was so labour intensive and didn't seem to answer the question why he was like he was, that I never took it up. But recently I heard a couple of things that made me feel better about this, the first was from our new head at Eds special school. I took him some literature that the charity Treating Autism had produced, and some of my own ideas! I got such a nice feeling from this man, he is really knowledgeable, forward thinking and kind. As we chatted, before I could mention ABA - he brought it up and dismissed it. His reason were basically the brutality of it. The other thing I heard about it was from a talk given by a man with ASD, who referred to it as torture, and the two things combined made me feel ok that my natural laziness hadn't pursued it further. But you know, none of that prepared me for the programme.

My first thoughts were, why are they rewarding them with such rubbish (sweets), and why are they feeding them such rubbish, a burger and fries isn't food! If these children have bad eating habits, why don't they do something useful and introduce them to the joys of real nutritious food, because these children are like the carrot tops you can put in a dish of water - they will only grow so much before they die. The fact that they have such problems with food point to part of the problem. Given a zinc supplement, the sensitivity in the mouth settles down to a point where they are happy to eat. It all brought me back to breaking Eds beige diet, and zinc was one of the things I gave him. Why didn't they  try addressing the why, before pushing forward with the ABA agenda.

I can feel a rant coming on, so do forgive my writing. There was a Swedish couple with their teenage son who they had treated with ABA. He appeared quite normal, you would never have thought that he was anything other than an atypical child. When shown the footage of him receiving his ABA training, with him in tears and the trainer just keeping on till he complied, the boy couldn't watch and asked for it to stop. He said he couldn't remember any of it, and his family and trainer used this to justify what they had done. They had the result they wanted and the boy couldn't remember any of it - but you know, I kind of think that he could, it was more the fact he decided to not remember it than it was forgotten. Watching the children on the end of ABA, the thought really went through my mind that for any other child this would be child abuse. Bullying of the worse kind. An adult in power, and with trust, bullying a younger powerless person. All with the best intent, although you would have to be a special kind of person to do it - I couldn't. And that brings me to another point, the type of person that this therapy attracts to practice it, is there any test they go through to make sure that they aren't sadists because I would think that if you were that way inclined, this would be a top job for you.

There is ample medical evidence to show that ASD children undergo a ton of stress at a cellular level, and that this is part of the vicious cycle that needs breaking in order to re balance their damaged biology. ABA just looks like something that piles on the stress. Head banging is a common feature with ASD children, there again is plenty of evidence that head banging comes from actual pain, seizures are common in ASD, but because a lot of them do it - the 'professional' see it as normal. For any other group of people it would be investigated as a symptom and treated, however for our children its ignored and seen by ABA as unpleasant for us to look at, and so one of the things it seeks to stop like the stims that our ASD children have. These stims are funny physical things they do, like jumping on the spot, hand flapping, spinning - weird odd behaviours that make them look really strange. ABA completely misses the point that our children don't do anything for without a reason. This are self calming measures our children have discovered for themselves to make themselves feel better. There seems to be lot of information out there backing the idea that some people with ASD have no idea of themselves in space, that their senses are out of whack. The hand flapping or what ever movement they make gives them an indication of where their body actually is, so stopping it doesn't make sense. ABA just seemed to mask behaviour, I see behaviour as a clue to what is going on. ABA demands that children look at the 'therapist' - research indicates that some ASD children senses are so overloaded that they can't look and hear at the same time - hence they don't look at you in order to hear you, or they look at you and read your lips because they can't hear you if you get my drift. My heart just bled for the parent and the children. The parents are doing the best they can, they just want their children to be normal and happy - no one who hasn't lived with an ASD child has the right to judge them, and those of us that do know they are just doing the best they can. I watched this program and thought that it typified our western approach to health. Completely ignoring the fact that underlying ASD is the fact that western medicine and industry has poisoned our children, that their little bodies need nourishing with nutrients and love. Not the love that wants something out of the deal, but unconditional accepting love. That they need to be rid of whats causing their systems to malfunction, and rid of the stress of trying to be something they can't be (something which is relevant to all of us.)

You know I have been treating Ed with pro-biotics and iodine, well the other week I put back in earth. Yes, medical clay, I give him about a teaspoon a day hidden in his cranberry juice. Yesterday, he came in so happy from school, he went straight to his pepper pig computer and played with it without stripping off his school uniform for at least an hour. I gave him some organic grapes (organic because grapes are one of the dirty dozen, and grapes because of the reversatol in the skins) which he ate - first time in a long time! He sang, he laughed, he played with hoover - what ever makes him happy, he ate his dinner, we went for a drive, he wanted a bowl of porridge which he had before his bath and up he went happy. This morning he woke happy, ate a bit of ham for breakfast, and whilst we were waiting for his taxi he was playing with his pepper pig ABC thing. It took me a bit to notice, but pepper kept saying 'look for the letter C as in candy cat' at that point the child is supposed to push the button with the C on it ( and the picture of candy cat) and Ed kept getting it right! Pepper would ask for another letter and Ed would get it right again - even if the thing was upside down. I know its not splitting the atom, but its a sign that Ed is in there, fully functioning and fully present. Its our job to help tear down the biological barriers to him being fully himself, and not our job to make him what we want him to be. To sum up ABA I will quote from my new friend 'Its brutal - but it works.' As far as I am concerned, anything that's brutal and involves children isn't right, and anything that is brutal that involves vulnerable children is wrong. I think that in the future we will look back on ABA a bit like the electric shock treatment given out for depression, as something to be ashamed of, but like I said earlier, don't judge the parents who don't know any better. Judge our professional - who should. x

can't live with him - can't live without him

Recently, Ed has been a joy. Much, much harder work than a neuro typical child, but for him a joy. The other day I mentioned it to my mum, inside cursing myself incase I jinx it (I am sure that child is psychic) and sure enough, yesterday he flew in a rage from the school taxi. The front door had to be open, all the appliances had to be unplug, books had to be thrown out the door, and he keep going in to Tom and hitting him, in the end I just had to put him in his room. Its amazing how your emotions can turn on a dime. When he is like that, God I wish I hadn't had him! Hate perhaps is too strong a word but my feeling are instantly on that spectrum.

Anyway, he came down a few minutes latter a little calmer and I jumped in the eye of the hurricane and did a bit of hoovering whist playing Mr Men on the Virgin+. Ahhhh! Calm. Latter that night whilst getting his bath ready, I went in his room and found his mattress on the floor. I knew I needed to make his bed because he had brought his duvet down and had the hoover tucked under it in the kitchen and had been loving it for the past hour. On putting his mattress back on the bed I found a very small patch of vomit - great. Maybe though that's why he was so upset, perhaps he had car sickness, or maybe his anger just made him sick - at any rate it needed cleaning and his bed needed changing. So I changed it from the spotty duvet to the green one with dinosaurs on it. And here I come to the reason for this particular post. On getting him out of the bath and on his bed to dry him and give him his coconut rub down, he saw the new duvet and his facial expression just melted my heart. His face was so open, so joyous. His little mouth was open in wonder and his little gappy teeth were showing (lost his two bottom teeth recently) imagine the happiest child in the world with the most open, innocent, angelic face and you come close. He got in bed so happy, and I lay down to read with him. And as I looked at him I thought what other 7 year old would have been so happy for so little, and I was just so overwhelmed with love for him that I think I am becoming bi-polar. x

this is what has gone wrong with wheat

As a mother starting out with bio-medical interventions one of the first things you come across is keep clear of gluten (wheat et al) and casein (milk), and unless you've just landed from some far flung planet, you must have heard the obesity and diabetic problems sweeping the 'modern' world.  Today I want to show you how they are linked through the consumption of a new breed of 'super' wheat.

It all started in Mexico 1942, when a man called Norman Borlaug started working with the Rockefeller foundation pioneering technical assistant program in Mexico. Borlaug was the chief scientist in charge of wheat production. He intensively crossbred wheat and produced a new high yield dwarf variety. By 1963, Mexico had become the net exporter of wheat, and between 1965 to 1970, wheat yields nearly doubled in India and Pakistan. This wheat was created to prevent catastrophic mass starvation, and in 1970, he was rewarded for his services to humanity with the Noble prize. He is know as 'The father of the green revolution' and 'The man who saved a billion lives.' Now to be fair to him, he was charged with creating a high yield plant, this he did. But I don't think that it occurred to him at the time, that this plant produces grain which is quite toxic to human health. Now there are two problems. First, its not good for us at all, and secondly and very quickly - its the main wheat crop grown around the world. Its a plant highly dependant on fertilisers and pesticides ( many derived from oil) and because its the main wheat crop, a total failure of the wheat crop is possible. This would in an ironic twist, lead again to mass starvation.

So why is it so bad for us? Well its a three fold whammy. It now contains very high levels of a starch called AmylopectinA - this is the starch that makes our modern breads so light and fluffy. However, just two slices of wholemeal bread (not even the white stuff most of us eat) will raise your blood sugar more than amount 2 desert spoons of sugar (english) or 2 table spoons of sugar (USA)!! This high glycemic food makes you store fat round your belly, triggers inflammation (that means screwing up your bodies cells) gives you a fatty liver and starts the process of becoming diabetic. In the USA, 1 in 3 medicare dollars is apparently spent on diabetes. So basically it makes us fat.

It has many more chromosomes than more ancient varieties, which code for new odd proteins (because they are new to our digestive and biological systems).  When digested they produce shorter proteins polypeptides called exorphins, which are like the endorphins you get from a runners high. They bind to the opioid receptors in your brain giving you a high and making you addicted just like a heroin addict. They get absorbed directly in the blood, and cross the brain / blood barrier. They are called 'Gluteomorphins,' and that is why you want to binge on cakes, biscuits, bread etc and not on say - carrots. So basically its addictive, making you want to eat more of it than you would normally, which again, makes us fat.

Dwarf wheat also has a different gluten peptide know as glia-a9. Gluten is what makes it sticky, and this type of gluten is what most people react negatively to, i.e. celiacs. Whilst celiacs have obvious symptom, most of us will react negatively, but in a hidden way, like inflammation. So it makes us feel ill with symptoms of unknown cause.

Now if if you do your own reading on this subject these are the main three topics about what is wrong with this new variety, but there is another area that needs mentioning and that is phytic acid. Phytic acid is the principle storage system for phosphorus in most plants - particularly the bran portion of grains, nuts and seeds. It inhibits enzymes we need to ingest food, including pepsin which helps break down protein (with out this you can develop little white fatty spots on the skin) and amylase needed to break down sugar (which we have already discussed is much higher in this variety and is a third way it makes us fat). Another problem is its structure. The phosphorus is held tight in phytic acid molecule, which looks a bit like a 6 armed snowflake. Now phytic acid is a serious issue for our health because as well as holding on tight to phosphorus, its arms hang on to other minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc etc, making them all unavailable to the body.  Because of this it has been named an anti-nutrient. Perhaps one of the reasons why this is such an issue with dwarf wheat is because it has depleted levels of minerals compared to its older varieties. We know this because since 1843, agronomists at Rotherstead Research Station in Herefordshire, England, have been conducting experiments over the last 2 centuries with multiply wheat cultivates. Experimenting with different crop rotations, fertilisers and farming techniques, all the while tracking the change in the mineral content of both grain and soil. Between 1843 to the mid 1960's, the mineral content including zinc, copper, magnesium, and iron remained constant. But after that (when planting the dwarf variety) they began to drop - as a point of interest, the mineral level in the soil actually went up slightly. The reason they think is that the dwarf variety has a much shorter root systems meaning that its uptake of nutrient is less, which, if you continue along that line, also means that it is more vulnerable to dry conditions -  and we have another possible cause for total crop failure. While nutrient levels have dropped in the new grain, phytic acid levels have remained constant. I didn't read it anywhere, but joining the dots together, this means more areas in the phytic snowflake not already containing minerals are empty, giving it the ability to suck it up more minerals from your body. Research has suggested that we absorb approximately 20% more zinc and 60% more magnesium when phytic acid absent. A traditional method of dealing with phytic acid is 'soaking' or fermenting. Both these methods are used in the making of traditional sourdough bread, which shouldn't be confused with soda-bread. When it comes to bread though, there are other issues like the speed with which a loaf is made. No time for the gluten to break down in the natural process and the over use of bakers yeast, some of which is genetically modified - but that is another sad story for another time.

Now zinc and magnesium are very interesting minerals particularly for autism, and whilst they deserve a whole page each, lets just summarise. Zinc aids the saliva protein 'gustin' which has a major role in the sensation of taste. Any body got a picky eater? Its also important for cognitive function as it helps protect neurotransmitters. I have read also that it plays a role in our auditory sense, children who are hyper-sensitive to noise cope much better with zinc supplements. Magnesium plays the opposite role to calcium in the body. Calcium causes the muscle to contract, magnesium helps it relax. Magnesium deficiencies can result in disruptive behaviours like restlessness, body rocking, teeth grinding, hiccups, noise sensitivity, poor attention span, poor concentration, irritability and aggression to name a few more important ones. When magnesium levels are low, calcium starts to play mischief in our bodies. Leaching out from where it should be and lodging in places it shouldn't. When it lodges in our joints its called arthritis. It can cause bone spurs, cancer, kidney stones, hardening the arteries, hardening the heart chambers, and those concerned with their looks - wrinkled skin. Dr Carolyn Dean says "Magnesium permits calcium to enter a nerve cell to allow electrical transmission along the nerves to and from the brain. Even our thought, via the brains nervous system, are dependant on magnesium." So you can see how important these minerals are for our children.

To sum it up, the wheat we eat today is not the long stalked Einkorn wheat of our fathers, so beautifully described in one of Americas anthems as 'amber waves of corn'.

There is a saying with autism that genetics are the gun that the environment loads, so dwarf wheat is just one of the bullets.

Now if I was more computer savvy, I could pop back in and put a post-script on the article about paracetamol. Forgive me for sticking it here. I forgot to put this in. There seems to be an argument about the results regarding the ratio of autism in France. They also used paracetamol with vaccines but have lower rates than the USA. Again, this is my own conclusion, but your typical french diet is high in onions and garlic and other sulphur rich foods. Knowing the French, they also have a strong tradition for food with flavour as opposed to long shelf life, and tend to buy their fruit and veg fresh from markets, which presumably would have higher vitamin and mineral contents. Having a diet high in sulphur I think it fair to assume that the process of sulfation works pretty well for them, so their bodies don't need to resort to the cytochrome P450 pathway to eliminate the toxin, which is perhaps the nuts and bolts of why the allium family is so good for us - but I am not a scientist so what do I know. Again, this information is presented for information only, I am just a mum trying to find my way out of the autism maze, and hoping as I do to help others. x

acetaminophen, the link to autism and asthma

There was a point during WW1 that our soldiers were ordered to walk towards the enemy line, despite being shot at with machine guns, history tells us this is what they did. I remember learning the fact and wondering how they could have been so stupid, but you see they were told to do it and they did. It was only afterward, after the deaths of millions that tactics changed. How often have we been told to do something and done it?

When my mum was pregnant with Steve, she had awful morning sickness, she toyed with the idea of taking a wonderful new drug that stopped morning sickness, but my dad said, no, let nature take its course. That wonderful new drug was called - Thalidomide.

When I was pregnant with Ed, I suffered with terrible migraines. I had them before I fell pregnant and the only thing that helped was Migraleve. I took the pack to the Dr to ask if it was safe to take during pregnancy, he looked at he pack and checked it up in his big book of medical facts and gave it the OK.
 My dad said, maybe its best not to take it while your pregnant, I said I had to because I couldn't cope with the pain. Should have been stronger and listened to my dad. Read this yesterday, spent quite a bit of time in tears of remorse, I am putting it in bold because people of the world need to take note.

    'It appears that the marked increase in the rate of autism throughout much of the world may be largely mediated by the marked increase in the use of acetaminophen in genetically and or metabolically susceptible children and perhaps the use of acetaminophen by pregnant women.'
     Dr William Shaw

Now you may be looking at that and thinking thank god I didn't take that, but you see they don't sell it under that name. In the USA its called Tylenol, paracetamol in Europe.

OK, so what does he mean by genetically or metabolically susceptible children? Well we all have various biochemical pathways in our bodies that help remove toxins. Imagine that it's like your waste bin and the rubbish collection. Not all waste bins though are the same size, in this group of children they have little tiny waste bins and the bin men don't come weekly. Imagine this in your house, you produce the same amount of waste, have half the bin size ( or less) and the bin men come fortnightly, or monthly or worse - how much waste would you accumulate. Well imagine now the slow toxic buildup inside your body doing the same thing with your metabolic waste, that's what happens inside these children. And that's without all the man made toxins! Now this is just my theory, but those children grow up generally quite normally till the toxins start to overload their system (every year more and more man made chemicals are released into the environment and ingested or absorbed, be they in your food, your clothes, your personal care products etc) and as they get older the toxic overload manifest itself as Parkinson, Alzheimer etc, like my late father-in-law. These biochemical pathways include Sulfation and Methylation and when they are working correctly they keep you heathy.  Now the picture Dr Shaw paints is very interesting because it includes intestinal bacteria, and I can't tell you how much better Ed has been this week. All I am doing at the moment is giving him about a glass a day of homemade kefir water, Iodine, and Epsom Salt baths.

Back to Dr Shaw and his findings. There can't be many people who haven't heard of a possible link to autism and vaccines, particularly the MMR. Well, Dr Shaw looked at the autism rate in Cuba which was 0.00168 as compared with the Center for Disease Control data published march 30 in the USA at a whopping rate of 1.13 (a 23% increase on the previous study in 2006) In Cuba, the vaccination rate is 99%, more that the take up in the USA of 85%, and by the age of 6, each Cuban child has received 34 shots. The major difference is in Cuba they NEVER give acetaminophen with vaccinations. The cuban medical establishment sees fever as a normal and beneficial side effect of vaccinations, proving that the immune system is working. They do not medicate unless the fever is above 104F or has lasted longer that 2 days. I have tried to bullet point the cascade effect of acetaminophen (aka paracetamol) that Dr Shaw has identified in these genetically/metabolically susceptible children (ie, tiny waste bin, long collection time.)

1 - Because sulfation is often defective in autistic children, they can't detoxify it, it therefore becomes toxic.
2 - This leads to a clostridia bacteria overgrowth. This particular bacteria causes an over production of brain dopamine and reduced brain norepinephrine.
3 - To much dopamine = obsessive, compulsive behaviour.
4 - To little norepinephrine leads to reduced exploratory behaviour.
5 - Because they can't use the sulfation process to get rid of the acetaminophen, their body uses another pathway called cytochrome P450.
6 - Use of the cytochrome P450 pathway leads to an excessive production of N-Acetyl-p-benzoquinoneimine (NAPQI) which is a toxic metabolite.
7 - NAPQI depletes glutathione which again reduces the bodies ability to detoxify a host of toxic chemicals from the bodies environment.
8 - In addition, NAPQI creates oxidative stress which leads to protein, lipid and nucleic acid damage from free radicals. It also increases the rate of damage to mitochondrial and nuclear DNA.
9 - NAPQI production has been found to increase in humans at recommended dosage of acetaminophen, and would be expected to be higher in people with diminished sulfation capacity.

Lets fill in some details and I will try to go through the subjects by their numbers above, because it a tricky interwoven cascade of events a bit like a 3D game of chess, and has ramifications outside of those concerned just with autism.

1 - Sulfation is the pathway that helps rid the body of a group of  potentially harmful chemicals known as Phenols. Phenols can be found in highly coloured fruit and veg, like plums, apples , bananas, chocolate etc. The phenols are attracted to the sulfation process like a magnet, but if there is a deficiency of sulfate in the blood stream, instead they build up. A build up of phenolic compounds can interfere with neurotransmitter functions. Dr Warring (School of Bio-Sceince University Birmingham) found that autistic children have 15% of the normal level of sulfate compared to neuro typical children.  Whilst not the prime cause for autism, certainly they are responsible for much of the dysregulation of the biological and physiological process. The Feingold Diet exclude phenols from the diet and can be very useful for autistic, and dyslexic people. However, I took the view that rather than excluding what is an otherwise healthy food, I needed to try and fix the problem. You can aid the sulfation pathway by Epsom Salt baths (yes, granny knew best) or by rubbing in magnesium sulfate cream. Interestingly, a side effect of a phenol problem is headaches and migraines, so looks like I need to sort myself out.

2 - Clostridium. Dr Shaw thinks that clostridium difficile is responsible for the production of HPHPA (its long medical name is so long I will just use the abbreviation) which is a tyrosine derivative. Tyrosine is an amino acid and is the raw material for the production of neurotransmitters "I suspect that this product might be very important in altering key bio-chemical pathways for neurotransmitters in the brain." Patients with values of HPHPA greater than 500 mmol/mol creatinine, almost always have sever neurological, psychiatric or gastrointestinal disorders such as autism, sever depression, psychotic behaviour, schizophrenia, muscle paralysis, colitis and sometime a combination of them. He was interested in HPHPA because, "Structurally its related to the neurotransmitter dopamine and norepinephrin. (To cut a long story short), the possibility of the formation of false neurotransmitters from the abnormal microbial products of phenylalanie, such as 3-hydroxphenylalancie and 2-hydroxyphenylalanine. both these isomes of tyrosine that would form false neurotransmitters when transported into the neurons."

HPHPA is an abnormal phenylalanine metabolite produced by gastrointestinal bacteria of the clostridia species, it produces spores which are completely resistant to drugs. Once the bacteria has been killed by anti-biotics, it re-colonises by its spores. The only way to prevent this re-colonisation is to 're-seed' with good intestinal bacteria, the one particularly mentioned was L acidophilus - perhaps this is why Ed is doing so well, Kefir water is basically a drink of good intestinal bacteria.

On an interesting side note. Richard Jaeckle Md, a psychiatrist and allergist in texas has successfully treated a number of psychotic patients using anti-fungal therapy, "Patients with psychotic behaviours may well have a gastrointestinal overgrowth of both year and clostridia.'

6 - Cytochrome P450 pathway. These enzymes play a crucial role in detoxifying xenobiotics. Xenobiotics are chemical compounds found in an organism but which is not normally produced or expected to be present in it. Compounds such as  drugs, pesticides or carcinogens. Interestingly, fluoride is xenobiotic.

Glyphosate (the active ingredient in Round Up, the worlds most popular herbicide) inhibits cytochrome P450. Interference with cytochrome 450 disrupts the biosynthesis of amino acids by the 'good' intestinal bacteria, as well as impairing the sulfate transport - so glyphosates are a major player in our modern diseases of gastro-intestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer, Alzheimer and Parkinsons.

7 - Glutathione is a major player in the detox system methylation. It is a series of very important bio-chemical reaction in the body responsible for overall good health. It is so important that I intended it be an article all on its own, if your interest is aroused, look it up.

8 - Oxidative stress and lipid damage. Each and every cell in your body has 2 layers of lipid fats making up the cell membrane. When toxins come in and attach to the cell membrane they cause the membrane to inflame. This causes another cascade of unfortunate events because now the cell has a decreased cellular fluidity, ie, nutrients can't get in and waste produced by the mitochondrial (your energy source) can't get out. This is the actual meaning of inflammation, when they tell you for instance that white bread is inflammatory, that's what they mean. The hormone receptor sites on the cell stop working and so the cell stops hearing what the body wants it to do. In the case of diabetes for instance, doesn't matter how much insulin is floating around if it can't attach to the cell wall, the cell can't use it. This is another big subject that I was going to cover individually, because one of the toxins that your cells don't like funnily enough is vegetable oil. Your cells actually prefer grass-fed butter, and other fats that you have been told are bad for you. If you want to investigate this yourself a really easy way is to youtube Dr Dan Pompa, who makes a complicated subject easy to understand, and he is quite easy on the eye too!

Now remember, all of this is just the reaction to the painkiller, haven't even mentioned what the vaccine does to your body. All that on top of dealing with whatever they just injected you with! So there you have it, I am sorry again for mis-spellings, poor grammar, etc. I haven't read this through as Ed is due home any moment. I present this information not as Doctor or scientist, but as a mother whose life and family has been blighted by autism. And so far, none of the 'professionals' have managed to help me at all. What has helped is my own "quackery"(ie. natural interventions like NAET, epsom salts, vitamins, minerals etc) and other like minded, blighted mums.

On a side note, Dr John McBride (a paediatric pulmonologist at Akron childrens hospital ohio) was stunned by the link between asthma and acetaminophen.
"The more acetaminophen somebody takes, the more likely it is that they have asthma. Also, theres an incredible consistency. Everybody around the world who's looked for this association has been able to find it."

Now I know there was a story in the British press a while ago about this link, which has been dismissed by the NHS. But I can't help feeling that the whole truth hasn't come out. I remember giving Ed Medised, 7 years ago, you could give it  to children from 3 months onwards. Now, its for children 6 years and up! How much has really changed since they handed out thalidomide? That was something with a concrete physical manifestation. How long will it be before someone joins the dots and tells us what causing autism - or have they just done it?

Anyone really interested hop over to www.greatplainslaboratory.com and sign up for a free webinar from Dr William Shaw PhD himself, 30th October 2013

Love to the world x