Week 4 and 5 DTaP Clearing- CEASE Therapy Update- Still on 12c!!!

Time has slipped by and I forgot to give an update. Last week, because of Noah's continued aggravations, we decided to go straight to the reaction protocol with the 12c. This week we have been able to dose Noah on Monday and Thursday with the 12c. We still have seen some aggravations... mainly irritability, noise sensitivity and ear/nose drainage.

Now onto the gains we have been seeing: 

1) More words, talking, babbling. This has definitely picked up since starting the clearing. He is constantly using words, and trying to talk and babbling regularly where we never heard babbling before.

2) Eye contact has been amazing. This has faltered over the months but it is back and very strong. No hesitation at all.

3) Gross motor coordination has improved. He seems to just be moving better since the clearing started. Going up stairs, climbing, we have definitely seen an improvement.

Our plan for next week is to dose Noah one time with the 30c... I will post next week on how that dose goes and any aggravations and gains we may see.

Week 3 DTaP Clearing- CEASE Therapy Update

I wanted to give everyone a quick update on the DTaP clearing. Noah was dosed again with 12c on Monday and once again we saw many aggravations: irritability, crying at the drop of a dime, stimming (vocal and visual), an increase in rituals, itching/picking at scabs and a return of facial tics. All from 12c!

We ended up only dosing Noah 1x this week. Our homeopath had advised us to do the dilution protocol to help him push through the issues, however he began to improve so much she told us to hold off until we see how he does next week, when we will dose him again with 12c. If he struggles with next week's dose we will go ahead and try the dilution protocol.

I am not sure if I have seen gains during this level of clearing. He does appear to be more connected to us and willing to give eye contact which has been awesome. One new thing that happened this week was that Noah walked up our staircase correctly and with ease and without any assistance or prompting. We were shocked when we witnessed it-- it came out of nowhere! I am not sure that is related to the clearing but it was so nice to see.

I will continue to post regular updates as we move through this DTaP clearing and work towards recovery and health for little Noah.

Week 2 DTaP Clearing- CEASE Therapy Update

We dosed Noah this week with a prep dose of 12c DTaP on Monday afternoon. We did not see a reaction with last week's small dose, however this week within hours of giving this dose he had a mild fever and was pretty miserable and not feeling well. He continues to be more emotional than usual this week and last night his insomnia which we have been struggling since his birth returned. During our two month break from clearings Noah had started to sleep like a baby. This was one aggravation I was not excited about it. I just knew that we would suffer through more nights of insomnia once clearings resumed. He woke up last night and just cried and cried and cried. I tried everything I could think of--- rescue remedy, calms forte, teething tablets... nothing seemed to calm him. He also began to itch a scab constantly. It isn't a new scab, it is healing and does not look infected or inflamed. I feel that his anxiety was causing him to pick at it. Today he was scratching his skin constantly.

Our homeopath wants us to wait to dose Noah again with 12c. We are going to give his body a break and resume next week. In the meantime, we are going to give him one of his constitutional remedies, kali sulph and kali phos, and put him in an epsom salt bath to help calm this aggravation. 

I will give you guys another update as we continue on this journey of clearing DTaP and using CEASE therapy to recover our son.

Week 1 DTaP Clearing- CEASE Therapy Update

We are finally back and have started the dreaded DTaP clearing. Noah was dosed on Monday and Thursday with a prep dose of 30x. And I was expecting the worst as we had a reaction immediately to the 30x of Hep B. And I waited and waited and nothing eventful. I know that this is just the very beginning and there will probably be reactions to come down the way. The only difference I saw was that Noah was more emotional than usual. He would have little breakdowns randomly throughout the day for no apparent reason.

Noah continues to do great. After the first month of our break he started doing so much better and I see him develop more and more each week. A few nights ago as we were heading to bed Noah kept asking for a cookie--- "cookie". When we told him no and explained that it was time for bed he then said "cookie please". Still we did not give him a cookie so he tried even harder and said "I want a cookie please". And if that wasn't amazing enough, he then said "I want a cookie and then night night." This little boy was bargaining with us! I just could not believe a short while ago he wasn't even talking and now we are seeing so many wonderful gains. I am just so thankful.

As we start this next clearing I will make sure to post weekly updates giving everyone the details of aggravations and gains from the DTaP. I am excited and nervous for this next chapter in our journey.

Quick CEASE Update and visiting DAN! Doctor

So our 3 week break from CEASE has turned into a 2 month break. Life happens and it has impacted our CEASE plans. From work changes to sicknesses, to a sprained neck last week I have not had the energy to commit to CEASE. Thankfully, I am feeling much better and I am gearing up to start the DTaP clearing with Noah next week. We have all of the remedies and we are starting back his vitamin C this week. I will keep everyone posted on how our first week back goes.

Today was an amazing day! We all took the day off today and went to Richmond VA to see a well known DAN! doctor. Before our doctor's appointment I decided I wanted to try and schedule a haircut for Noah at a children's salon in Richmond I had heard great things about. I was prepared for possible issues with the haircut because he has had such a problem with sensory issues around his head. He hates washing his hair, brushing his hair and has freaked out when I have tried to cut his hair. Well today he did AMAZING. No issues AT ALL! I was stunned! He sat in a little red jeep, watching a Barney video and eating cookies and could have cared less that his hair was getting cut! I am so thrilled about this!!!! And he looks like a clean cut little man.

Then we went to the DAN! doctor appt. The reason I wanted Noah to meet with this doctor was so that  testing could be done. Don't get me wrong, I am very pleased with CEASE and homeopathy but I would love to know what is going on internally in Noah's body--- does he have bad bacteria and yeast in his gut? Don't know... does he have high levels of metal in his body? no clue.... is he allergic to any foods? Or deficient in vitamins and minerals? So, that is my main reasoning. Once I learn what is going on I hope that homeopathy will continue to address some of these issues. One thing the DAN! doctor said during our 2 hour meeting floored me and was so encouraging- She said "I believe you guys are going to pull him out of this." She feels that recovery is a great possibility for Noah. She said he will only "get better and better" with the proper interventions. So that was so good to hear. I already felt it in my heart but having confirmation was so encouraging.

So that is a quick update on how things have been. I am nervous about the next clearing but very excited to see what is in store for Noah. He is just blossoming right now and I know with more time and healing we will see great things.

Mission: Self Care

I think the topic of self care is so important for anyone. Any mother out there knows that life changes when you have children. And if you happen to be a mother who has a child with a disability, like autism, well the idea of self care can at times feel non existent. It least, in my case that is how it has been.

I have been challenging myself these last few months to care about me. To really understand that I deserve to feel good, to be happy, to do things that aren't autism related. I can honestly say that I feel like I am a shell of my former self. I don't even recognize the face looking at me in the mirror. I have gone to battle and my body, my energy shows it. I don't want autism to destroy me... I don't want autism to win.

And it is this simple:

Happy and healthy mother= Happy Noah

Happy and healthy wife= Happy husband

I deserve to be happy and healthy. I am an important piece to the puzzle of my son's recovery.

So, what have I been doing to change this?

Well, it has been baby steps. About 4 months ago I was treated by our homeopath for depression, anxiety and hormonal problems. I can honestly say this alone helped me tremendously.

I also have been on a mission to reduce our toxin exposure (see previous post). I went on a detox and boy did I detox! We are utilizing respite and going out as a couple more. I am reaching out to friends and mother's in the autism and CEASE therapy community. I feel so much better knowing I have people who can relate to what we are going through. I am starting to exercise again on a regular basis. I am rejoining the world of the living in a way. Grief and depression took me over for a while but I am coming out of it now.

I hope this post encourages others to put themselves back on their "to do" list. We are important.

Our "Wish List" for the DTaP Clearing and a Few Updates on Noah

I am so thankful that we are finally moving past the bad weeks we had with Noah. I still am not sure what caused the issues we saw (vomiting, loss of appetite, intense stimming, a weird rash on his back, increase in sensory issues etc). Was it due to the Hep B clear we just wrapped up? Was it a virus? Regression? A mix of all? What I find to be the most interesting is that Noah appeared much worse (behavior, sickness) during our break than any time during the Hep B clearing. It got to the point where I was considering asking the homeopath to let us continue on with Hep B. I really do believe we will need to revisit this clearing again in the future.

He has not vomited since this past Tuesday. I started to notice that he would vomit when drinking his almond milk, specifically when I would add his daily vitamin c supplement to it. He has never had a problem with his vitamin c... he has been taking 500 mg a day for the last few months... but I googled the symptoms of too much vitamin c and in addition to the diarrhea I had heard about, vomiting and nausea can also result from too much vitamin c. I stopped the vitamin c and have not seen any more vomiting. I hope to start it back in a few weeks gradually. But for now I am giving his stomach a break.

His "food jag" seems to have resolved for the most part as well. His occupational therapist told me that a food jag is when a child limits his foods to only 1 or 2 foods. Noah was always a picky eater, he eats about 10 foods... I noticed over the last 4 weeks that he started refusing his bananas, yogurt, apple sauce, cereal, even his favorite chocolate pudding! Yikes. It freaked me out. Especially when I heard his little tummy growling and yet he still refused almost all foods. At one point I was lucky if he ate oatmeal in the morning and a cookie for the day.  Our OT gave me some direction on how to deal with it. The KEY was to make sure we were always changing the foods he did eat--- for example, every day in his oatmeal, I changed the time I fed it to him, the bowl I used... I would add different fruits in it each day to change the flavor... I would add almond butter, peaches, apple sauce and slices of banana. It did seem to work because within two weeks he was reintroducing other foods back into his diet.

We also have finally found a multivitamin that Noah tolerates. It is from The Honest Company and it is a powder that can easily be mixed in drinks and foods. So now I can at least know he is getting a supplement to help offset the lack of fruits and vegetables in his diet. And the best part is that the supplement is safe without any harmful ingredients, which is not the case for many children's vitamins.

Another HUGE development for Noah is that he has stopped using a bottle!!!!! SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS ONE!!!!!!!! We were able to discontinue the bottle use during his vomiting and he hasn't requested it. In other news, we just purchased a little boy doll for Noah hoping that he would connect to it better than the boy baby doll he has. It is cute, with crazy hair, and looks a lot like Noah. Noah loves his boy doll. He smiles lovingly at it, calls it "a boy", and just the other day he started moving his arm up and down and saying "Hi" and "bye". He also has given it hugs and kisses. So cute!

OUR WISH LIST FOR the DTaP Clear:

We still have a few more weeks before we start another clearing (we got an extension from our homeopath!). We will tackle the DTaP next. Here are the areas that I pray are healed with this clearing:

1) Eye contact- Noah goes through periods of amazing eye contact and then it stops. This is a hard one for me. Who knew eye contact was so important!? When he won't look at me I feel disconnected from him and I realize how much he is missing out on by not looking at people. I pray his eye contact improves during this next clearing.

2) Sensory issues-- this is a big one for Noah. Grooming and eating are big issues that we struggle with, all related to sensory overload. Brushing his hair, brushing his teeth, cutting his nails, bathing, washing his hair, eating are all impacted by this sensory processing disorder. I pray that this clearing helps these issues as well.

3) Developmental delay and speech- Noah still struggles to communicate... he is doing great with labeling and repeating what he hears but he struggles with using language to communicate. Echolalia is emerging. If I ask him a questions he will repeat back to me the last word. He still struggles to understand what people are saying to him. He also does not have much imaginative play.

4) Rituals/OCD behaviors--  this has emerged over the last 6 months and it is becoming a pretty big problem. Every song Noah hears he has elaborate rituals that he does to the music. A stranger may not notice him even doing it but I have realized that as soon as we get to a certain point in the song Noah will go to a certain area of the room, touch a chair and then move to another area and touch his toe to a spot on the area rug. He flips out when I disrupt this ritual. He also is turning in circles and doing side eyes throughout the house on a regular basis.

5) Insomnia- I pray that with this next clearing we will see some change with his sleep problems. During the Hep B it was a constant issue for us. I know this is a big area that needs healing-- he did not sleep for the first 15 months of his life. I pray that his insomnia resolves and he begins to sleep through the night.

I know this is a big list and may seem unrealistic to those reading. I just know that with God ANYTHING is possible. I am praying for miracles, for healing. I am trusting that the Lord will continue to direct our steps and lead us to the best interventions for Noah. I know in my heart that CEASE therapy is one of those interventions. I am certain if we continue on we will continue to see more healing and recovery.