Cow's Milk and Shredded Wheat

We have a new favorite in the house, real Shredded Wheat cereal.  My son tried some with cow milk while at a hotel.  It was my husband's doing, not mine as I would have waited on the milk until we were home in case things didn't go so well. Checking my blog, it was May 2011 when my son last tried cow's milk which resulted in a bad stomach ache.  This time he did great!  Funny though, how I've gotten use to the coconut milk myself, has anyone tried the So Delicious Mint Chocolate holiday edition coconut milk?  The name says it all, yum!

Stupid Cats!

An old problem reared it's ugly head this past weekend.  We were at a house with 4 cats for an early Christmas gathering.  My kid held his own for 4 hours.  When we left I thought his eyes were looking a little red, but then he fell asleep for the night.  When he woke up Monday he looked like Rocky Balboa after fighting Apollo Creed.  Had to ice him down before going to school and use some allergy eye drops.  This might be one of those allergies that just has to be managed with avoidance.

Another Win

Earlier this year my son had a bad reaction to a homemade smoothie I made consisting of whey, banana, and an Indian probiotic milk called lassi that is like a thinned out yogurt.  Usually I buy keifr which is almost identical in ingridents, but on this one occassion the store was out of kefir so I grabbed the lassi instead. Both the kefir and lassi are cultured milk, but very slilghtly in the cultures.  My son begged to try the smoothie (which I drink post-workout), and after a couple of sips he was having an allergic reaction--hives and vomitting.  Technically this could have called for an epi pen since there were 2 body reactions, but his breathing was okay and a benedryl took care of him.

After that incident he treated via NAET for the lassi and whey.  Today as I was making my Saturday post-workout shake, this time with kefir and whey, there he was again asking to try the smoothie.  He had a few sips and we waited.  And waited.  And waited.  And nothing.

So either it was clearly the lassi (which had all but one different culture), or between the NAET and the NMT, and his maturing system, his body is no longer viewing these as threats.  Either way, we'll take it.

NMT just might be working

When we started NMT the practioner said she expect the process to take 6-10 treatments.  After the six treatement I was having a really hard time determining if it was working at all.  My son wasn't having any issues, so I just kept saying that he seems stable.  The one issue that he was having from time-to-time was that after eating processed food for multiple days in a row the back of his thighs would breakout with an eczema rash.  We could control this with diet, but it would flare when we ate out a lot.  I kept telling the NMT nurse that I expect that I'd know NMT was working if these spots cleared up.  Well after the 7th treatment the spots cleared (we had been out of town and ate out 5 days in a row.)  That was over a week ago.  And then with the Pizza Hut meal, I thoroughly expected the rash to return.  But nothing on the back of his legs.  He does still has a small spot on the inside of his knee, but that's it.  Between NAET and NMT we have watched him heal from his head on down.

Con Artist

My Little Con Artist.  Today he had a half day of school, and grandma picked him up for a fun filled afternoon.  The original plan was for them to come back to our house, eat lunch which I had prepared, and then go to the movies.  But when grandma arrived at school my son was dead set on going out to lunch--Pizza Hut to be exact.  Grandma was convinced that I had told him they were going out to eat, which wasn't the case.  Pizza Hut is a place we have not ventured out to yet, even though my son won a free pizza from his book reading club at school.  I just wasn't sure how he'd do there with the extra greasy pizza and breaksticks, but he's been begging us to go for 2-weeks.

So the little con artist swindled Grandma out of a small pizza and breadsticks.  Come to think of it, I bet he even got a soda pop out of it.  I'll have to ask him in the morning.  As Grandma was telling me this story, I asked my son who was sitting right there if he had ever eaten Pizza Hut before.  The look on Grandma's face was priceless, she hadn't considered that he shouldn't be eating it.  Hours have since gone by and he seems absolutely fine.  No unusual itching, skin irritation, or belly aches.  He just might have gotten away this scotfree.

New Changes

I keep meaning to write about the normal, everyday products that my son has been using.  About 6 months ago I started using regular laundry detergent, All Free & Clear.  He had been using a plant based powder for a number of years while we tried to figure out what was causing all his skin irritation.  He's also gone back to using some regular Ivory soap, no more specialty emu oil bars.  Most recently he's switched to Colgate toothpaste, even though I know that Tom's is better for him he prefers the minty taste of Colgate.  Those three changes alone are big money savers.

There are some things that we'll never switch away from as our new knowledge has proved too valuable.  We'll always shop for better organic meats & other foods when possible, we'll stay away from canned good and go with fresh or frozen (cans are lined with BPA unless you pay extra for Eden brand), we'll stick to using white vinegar for cleaning and as a substitute for laundry detergent (along with a few drops of eucalyptus oil), I'll always make my own chicken broths from organic chickens, we'll stay away from soy and other genetically engineered food, and we'll continue to supplement with probiotics, fish oil, and vitamin D.  Oh yeah, there will never be another vaccine to enter my son's body (per waiver of multiple MDs.)

Halloween 2012 a Success

Halloween 2012 proved to be a huge success for my TMNT (that's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle for those that were like 'Huh?!')  We had 3 Halloween events and 1 Fall Harvest party at school (they do that instead of the traditional Halloween thing.) From the onset of these food allergies we've always made a deal with my son that he can go trick-or-treating, but he's not allowed to eat any candy while out and he has to turn all of his candy in for a trip to the toy store.  This has worked out well, and he prefers the toy hands down to any candy.  Three years ago I did let him try a Hershey's kiss, only to end up in hives.  This year he was allowed to keep some candy that which included Twizzlers, Starbursts, Skittles, LifeSavers, and Now & Laters as he does fine with all of them.  It's really weird though to watch his mannerisms with candy though.  For instance with Skittles, he will take a plastic container and pour them in, and ask how many he can eat.  I ask him how many does he want and he'll usually say 'three', and then I tell him go ahead.  He'll then proceed to put a lid on the bowl and be done with them.  I on the other hand would have eaten the whole bag and never stop to ask permission for another one. 

He did ask if he could try a KitKat, and he was absolutely fine with it.  I was thrilled and wanted to run out and buy him a whole bag.  But then I had to do the obssessed mom thing and take a closer look at the ingredients:

KIT KAT Milk Chocolate
Ingredient sSUGAR; WHEAT FLOUR; NONFAT MILK; COCOA BUTTER; CHOCOLATE; PALM KERNEL OIL; LACTOSE (MILK); MILK FAT; CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: SOY LECITHIN; PGPR, EMULSIFIER; YEAST ; VANILLIN, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR; SALT; SODIUM BICARBONATE

What's this 'PGPR' that I've never seen or heard of before?  Turns out that PGPR stands for Polyglycerol polyricinoleate, which is used by chocolate makers to reduce cost and according to Wikipedia, Hershey started using PGPR in 2006 to replace/reduce cocoa butter (you know, the stuff that makes chocolate healthy.)  So altough I'm thrilled he could eat a KitKat, they won't become a staple in our house.

NMT

With our NAET practitioner out of town, and the introduction to NMT, we decided to give NMT a try due to the success that my neighbor and her child has had with NMT.  My son has now had 3 NMT treatments.  The sessions are much longer than what we've experienced with NAET, lasting an hour although the concepts are similiar to some extent.  NMT is energy work (like NAET), and it's trying to reprogram the body (like NAET), but it looks and treats whole systems of the body, unlike NAET that deals with indivdual allergens.  The first treatment my son received was for body balancing, and the next two worked on his immune system and infectious agents. 

My husband decided to give NMT a try, also, and he's since had two treatments.  His first treatment dealt with the immune system, which occurred on the same day as my son's immune system treatment.  My son went first, and while in the waiting room my son's nose started to run uncontrollably which was out of the blue because he didn't have any issues up until that point.  Then my husband finished up his treatment and comes out saying that during his session his nose started running, and he had a lot of drainage in the back of of throat.  Strange coincidence I'd say.  Part of me wanted to think that there must have been something in the environment causing this, but we've seen these types of reactions with NAET.  After both my husband's NMT treatments, he's spent the next few days nausiated, extremely fatigued, alot of coughing, and aggrevated asthma.  This is what's known as a healing crisis, this is a natural process the body takes when it's trying to heal and balance itself.  My son doesn't seem to expereince such dramatic symptoms, aside from drainage.

Is it helping?  I'm not sure at this stage, but my son seems extremely stable right now.  He looks great, is using his daily asthma med minimally, is eating regular store bought bread, and just overall doing well.  Not to mention that he's putting weight on and has grown a bit taller.  What else can I really ask for?  My husband was on a business trip this week and said he had no issues with asthma what-so-ever, after spending last weekend down and out following his NMT treatment.

Our NMT practioner spent 30 years as an ICU nurse before getting into energy medicine.  She started with NAET, and her words to me were "I wish you would have found NMT sooner, it's so much faster and more effective than NAET."  She estimates that we'll need 6-10 treatements instead of the many, many NAET treatments we've gone through.  Time will tell.

Human DNA in Vaccines Linked to Autism?

There's a recent article in the Journal of Immunotoxicology titled "Theoretical aspects of autism: Causes--A review." The author is Helen Ratajczak, a former senior scientist at a pharmaceutical firm, who when interviewed by CBS news here stated "that for years while working in the pharmaceutical industry, she was restricted as to what she was allowed to publish. "I'm retired now," she told CBS News. "I can write what I want." "  Ms. Ratajczak went back to 1943 when autism was first documented and reviewed all the theories of its cause.  She also looked at human DNA being used in vaccines, which started after Thimersol was removed from most of them.  She found an increase in autism incidences corresponding with the introduction of human DNA. 

What I find amazing is that the doctor brought into counter the findings, Dr. Storm from Penn who sits on the Institute for Medicine's vaccine safety board, states that he's unware of any human DNA in vaccines.  But goes on to say that "Even if human DNA were then found in vaccines, it does not mean that they cause autism." Ratajczak agrees that nobody has proven DNA causes autism; but argues nobody has shown the opposite, and scientifically, the case is still open."

Here is another link to a story on the same article:  http://www.examiner.com/article/former-senior-scientist-at-pharmaceutical-firm-says-vaccines-could-cause-autism?cid=rss

Relief Found with Alternative Medicine

This nicely written blog entry is so similar to my own son's experience with food allergies and alternative treatments that I could have written it myself.  Check out this link and the comment section for a more indepth look:  http://gnowfglins.com/2010/10/05/our-experience-with-curing-food-allergy/#

What Hasn't the Kid Eaten Lately?

What hasn't the kid eaten lately, that should be the real question.  He had two birthday parties over this past weekend, and he pretty much chowed down on the same things all the other kids were indulging in.  He had lots of pizza, lots of cake--even the same grocery store brand that he reacted to back in April!, soda pop, Superman ice cream (loaded with a lot of terrible crap), multiple ring pop suckers, numerous days of pancakes, and regular restaurant bacon and sausage.  Can you say SUGAR HIGH?  That was about the extent of any reaction, he was ultra hyper and talkative, but other than that no reaction and no medication required.  Funny how today I was talking with my co-worker who has an autistic daughter and she was saying how pop makes her otherwise shy and introverted kid so talkative.  Something about the sugar...

The Debate About Flu Shots

Curious about the origins of the flu, what the 'H' and 'N' stand for, or ever wonder why researchers miss thier influenza tartget from time-to-time?  Check out this article:  The Debate About Flu Shots


The rising furor over the influenza vaccine differs from the controversy over most other vaccines because the central argument is not over the risk but rather if it works at all. Defenders insist that widespread vaccination will confer a herd immunity to the general population, protecting the weakest among us, who might actually succumb to influenza if exposed. They say that manufacturing an influenza vaccine year after year keeps the factories primed for the dreaded day a more virulent strain threatens a true pandemic, like the one that killed hundreds of thousands of Americans in 1918. But skeptics label such benefits hypothetical at best, and argue that even the smallest risk or side effect is unacceptable...



The Debate About Flu Shots

NMT: Neuromodulation Technique

NMT:  Neuromodulation Technique--Anyone out there ever try it?  What's been your experience?  My neighbor was considering NAET for her daughters horrendous ragweed allergy when she stumbled upon NMT.  NMT seems to share some similairities with NAET, but there is no avoidance period and multiple allergens can be treated at the same time.  After having 3 treatments this child is no longer on any allergy medication at all and is doing great, which says alot as this has been a helluva ragweed season in our area.

There's only one NMT pracitioner is my area, and she is also an RN.  When she entered the world of alternative medicine (after many years in a hospital setting) she started with NAET.  I spoke with her at great length today, and she told me the results are much faster with NMT and has had great success with ANA allergies. I really want to get through this peanut allergy which we have yet to attempt with NAET.  I'm going to spend the next few days further researching NMT and determine if this is a course we want to try.

Could Vitamin D Help You Avoid the Flu? - Articles - LifeTime WeightLoss

Could Vitamin D Help You Avoid the Flu? - Articles - LifeTime WeightLoss

More of a mainstream article addressing the need for optimal vitamin D levels to keep the immune system at peak performance. Excerpts from the article,  "Vitamin D triggers the body to make its own antibiotics called antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). These AMPs have been shown to inactivate the flu virus...Although it’s a northern climate country, Norway maintains the highest levels of vitamin D in Europe due to the population’s high levels of year-round fish consumption. There is also little rise in flu outbreaks in Norway compared with other European countries like Great Britain...[from] researchers who published an article in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition:

"Increasing serum 25(OH)D levels is the most cost-effective way to reduce global mortality rates, as the cost of vitamin D is very low and there are few adverse effects from oral intake and/or frequent moderate UVB irradiance with sufficient body surface area exposed.”

My family takes 2,000 IUs of D3 per person each day and we're all around 60-70 ng/ml, which is in the optimal range.

Eggs, Cigarettes, and More Nutrition Confusion - Articles - LifeTime WeightLoss

Are egg yolks really as dangerous as cigarettes?  Can you really believe all the hype?  This article takes a deeper look at the "study" and shows why it's important to do a little digging past the headlines.
Eggs, Cigarettes, and More Nutrition Confusion - Articles - LifeTime WeightLoss

More Insight into Food Ingredients

Check out this YAHOO! article titled "8 Ingredients You Never Want to See on Your Nutrition Label"

It appears to be an article taken out of Men's Health magazine.  It's nice to see some of this go mainstream, as it makes me feel a little less crazy in my everyday quest to avoid food additives and preservatives.  It would be so much easier if the food we ate was viewed differently by the public. For instance, shouldn't "organic" food be the normal everyday stuff "aka conventional", and the other food be referred as "chemically laced food."  If we called it what it was, it would be a make it much less appealing, don'tcha think?

This article covers BHA, parabens, nitrates, carmel coloring, and a handful of others.  Although the most digusting might very well be a natural ingredient known as castoreum.  Apparently, according to the article "this is one of the many nebulous “natural ingredients” used to flavor food. Though it isn’t harmful, it is unsettling. Castoreum is a substance made from beavers’ castor sacs, or anal scent glands. These glands produce potent secretions that help the animals mark their territory in the wild. In the food industry, however, 1,000 pounds of the unsavory ingredient are used annually to imbue foods—usually vanilla or raspberry flavored—with a distinctive, musky flavor.  You’ll find it in: Potentially any food containing 'natural ingredients.'"

Medical Update

My son had a check up with his allergist today to get our ducks in a row before school starts.  We always have to fill out a scorecard on the asthma symptoms, and today he scored 100% perfect. The doctor wants us to back off of the Flovent, down to one puff in the am and one in the pm.  I know we tried backing off a year ago, but I can't recall at what amount and frequency.  I'm still not convinced that this is the best time of year to try this seeing how school is starting up and heading into the prime virus season.  He also did a breathing test, which was a first for him.  The results were normal.   The doctor did comment that my kid needs to gain some weight and started trying to help me come up with food ideas.  Believe me doc, our world revolves around food and my kid has been eating like a champ.  He can put away a pizza like no tomorrow, but for the most part he eats healthy--lots of veggies, fruit, meat--and never things like soda, Cheetos, or Twinkies.  Bottom line is that we're not big people (my husband graduated highschool at 130 pounds!)  Other than that, we had a couple of medication forms filled out (the ones we keep in his emergency pack), and we were good to go.

We left the allergist's office and headed to the NAET office.  For the last few weeks we've been working on a combination of various hormones and enzymes.  It's been nice since there is nothing to avoid during the treatement timeframe.  We still have yet to get to nuts, but hopefully soon . . .

More DQ news!

We made another stop at DQ yesterday, and this time my son requested to try chocolate & vanilla twist ice cream.  He LOVED it, says it's the best in the world--way better than just vanilla.  Even better, he did great---no allergic reaction of any kind.

Another First--DQ!

I had the pleasure of witnessing another first for my 6-1/4 year old.  After 75 months of being alive on this planet, he was able to enjoy his first vanilla ice cream cone from Dairy Queen.  This was not planned, however, as we had anticipated him ordering a slush.  So when he made it to the front of the line and was told, "Sorry, the slush machine is broken today" my heart sank.  I wrestled with the idea of just leaving, which would be like literally taking candy from a baby.  As I stood there and stared at the menu I knew I couldn't guarantee that anything else would be safe.  So with his emergency pack in hand, I proceeded to order him a vanilla ice cream cone.  I asked for a list of ingredients, which they pointed me to their 'list of allergens.'  It's a start to know that my order has dairy, wheat, and soy but not the same as knowing exactly what goes into making the product.

As I handed my son his first DQ ice cream I tried to bury my anxiety.  He took a small bite, and then another.  No reaction.  As he continued to reassure me that he was doing fine and there was no strange reaction with his lips, mouth, throat, or stomach I was able to relax.  My focus then moved to teaching him how to eat an ice cream cone so it doesn't drip everywhere.  He proceeded to eat the entire cone, heck he may have even ate the paper wrapper that they put around the cone. It was a good day.

I was able to snap this one picture of his cone experience.  My first reaction was,'not the best picture.'  Followed immediately with, "This is the best picture in the world!  Look what he's holding, look what he's eating, look what he's indulging in!"

An Award?

Imagine my amazement when I was contacted by www.healthline.com and informed that my blog has won an award for "Best Skin Disorder Blogs."  That's fabulous and completely unexpected, but the most touching part of it all is the wonderful write up they provided on my blog--it literally brought me to tears:

Extinguishing Eczema

Extinguishing Eczema doesn’t seem like such a challenge when Eczema Mom is in the picture. This beautiful tale of hope, healing, and health follows a loving parent on her journey to care for her young son. Plagued by eczema, food allergies, and asthma, this is one child whose life has truly depended on the goodness of his mother.

Whether this lovely blogger knows it or not, each post she contributes to this fabulous blog convinces readers that eczema is manageable and that life is beautiful not because of the condition of our skin, but because of the condition of our love and relationships.

I'm really touched by such a heartfelt review.  I know my blog is not the fanciest, nor the best written, but I'm thrilled that my love for my son and determination to provide him the best life possible has shone through, and through this journey I may have even been able to help a few others. Thanks healthline.com for the kind write-up.

Baked Milk

An interesting study  from The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology that was referenced by The Allergist Mom as she prepared for her son's baked milk challenge.  The study was conducted on 100 children concludes that the majority (75%) of children with milk allergy tolerate heated milk.

Chemical Cuisine

The title says it all.  "Chemical Cuisine", that's what the majority of our food supply has become.  And if the food doesn't have artificial this and that in it, then it's either lace with hormones, antibiotics, or genetically modified.  I saw the other day that scientists are working on GMO apples.  The good news is the apples won't turn brown *sigh*

It's an uphill battle when one has allergies or sensitivities to food additives.  My son has been in heaven eating various wheat products these days:  boxes of crackers, pita bread, buns, croissants.  But only when they have minimal ingredients like the ones I can find at Trader Joe's.  The oyster crackers there basically are made of wheat, salt , baking soda, and one or two other ingredients.  He can also eat the Rudi's hotdog and hamburger buns just fine, check out the simplicity of the ingredients: 

Organic whole wheat flour, water,organic wheat bran, organic brown sugar, organic wheat gluten, yeast, organic high oleic sunflower and/or safflower oil, organic vinegar, sea salt, organic oat flour, organic molasses, organic barley malt, cultured organic whole wheat starch, ascorbic acid, natural enzymes

Compare that to a Wendy's bun that causes hives and itching for my son:
Enriched Flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, niacin, iron, folic acid), Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Vegetable Oil (contains one or more of the following: soybean, cottonseed, canola), Yeast, Salt, Wheat Gluten, Contains 2% or less of the following: Dough Conditioners (contains one or more of the following: sodium stearoyl lactylate, calcium stearoyl-2-lactylate, ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide, mono and diglycerides, DATEM, enzymes), Yeast Nutrients (may contain one or more of the following: monocalcium phosphate, calcium sulfate, calcium carbonate, ammonium sulfate), Turmeric, Paprika, Annatto, Natural Flavor, Calcium Silicate, Calcium Propionate (preservative). CONTAINS: WHEAT.

Trying to figure out what each of these chemicals are is a daunting task, but I found a wonderful website that lays it all out, or at least a large portion of it.  Check out http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm

My son use to react to 'sodium acid pyrophosphate' that I was able to identify through a process of elimination.  After having a NAET treatment for that, he's done just fine to the point he eats Trader Joe waffles with that ingredient in them every morning.  Before the NAET treatment he would get the same hives and itching from the waffles that he experiences with the Wendy's buns. 

So the detective work continues, trying to figure out which of these chemicals are the culprit . . .

Sunscreen Update

Sorry to be MIA for over a month.  My son has improved so much over the last year that I'm to the point where eczema and food allergies and asthma are not so top of mind and I don't have as much to write about (it's a good thing!) It's a nice place to be and it's wonderful to let go a bit and allow him to enjoy life without such a mother hen overseeing his every move.  Ok, ok, I'm sure I still do that, it's just not as extreme. 

Exciting news on the sunscreen front . . .he's no longer breakng out in hives to a brand we've had trouble with in the past.  After the extreme hive reaction to Neutrogena Sensitive a few years back I made the switch to a brand called Badger which gets the highest ratings from EWG (love that site!)  I really love that sunscreen, but it is a bit tacky and my son has never been a fan of it because it doesn't rub in completely.  Over the last week we re-tried the Neutrogena, and viola--no reaction.  We also tried Aveeno Baby that is a combo of zinc and titanium dioxide, and he really likes that one.  I'm still want to find a safer sunscreen without so many chemicals, but until then it's good to know we're on the right track.

I have a list of NAET updates that I need to get around to posting, more on that later . . .

Acupuncture & Lung Study

This study was recently highlighted in Reuters which summarized the results of COPD patients utilizing acupunture. What I found interesting is that "the benefits seen with the alternative treatment were on par with, or better than, what's been shown for conventional drugs and exercises used to treat the disease..."  "We don't know if this is going to extend life, but the study suggests it improves quality of life," said Dr. George Lewith, from the University of Southampton in England.  "If I had enough money and I was the patient, I would give acupuncture a try."

There were two groups, one who received actual acupunture treatments and the other that received fake treatments where the needle didn't pierce the skin.

Paraphrasing from the article:
In the real acupuncture group, shortness of breath was initially rated at 5.5 out of 10 after walking. After 12 weeks of treatment, that fell to 1.9. The average distance those patients were able to walk in six minutes also improved, from about 370 meters to 440 meters.


In the comparison group, breathlessness scores held steady -- at 4.2 before treatment and 4.6 after -- and there was no improvement in patients' walk distance.

"In a disease like COPD, we need to expand our thinking and come up with varying strategies to improve quality of life and relieve breathlessness," said Dr. Ravi Kalhan, head of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine's asthma and COPD program in Chicago.


Some patients respond better to conventional medications than others, he said -- and it's promising that people in the new study seemed to benefit from acupuncture over and above the effect of those drugs.

...for people who can spare the cost, the researchers agreed there's nothing stopping them from trying out the alternative therapy.
"For me, as long as the therapy is safe and someone wants to try it and it might help and won't hurt, I absolutely encourage it," Kalhan, who wasn't involved in the new study, told Reuters Health.

The full study can be found on JAMA.

Just Because

As I was putting my son to bed this evening, he asked me to rub his back for him until he fell asleep.  This is not an unusual request, but tonight it struck me how different things are these days from the past few years as I felt his smooth, baby-like skin.  We were both commenting on how smooth his skin is, and we kept trying to find spots that were even smoother . . .the tip of his nose, his belly, his back, his cheek.  This was missing when he was an infant and toddler, I envied children with "baby-skin" as my son always felt like sandpaper, not to mention the rashes, flaking, and staph infections.  As I marvel at his progress, I almost forgot how for years his privates were so itchy that he would dig until they bled and scabbed over.  It was so painful watching him suffer and hear him beg for relief; if he could have torn it off he would have.  I worried that he would be permantely scarred both physically and mentally. It dawned on me this evening that it has been a good portion of a year since his privates have itched.

There were nights when I would be up for most of the night holding his hands while he slept to prevent him from doing further damage to himself.  One night in particular I rubbed his face for seven hours so he could rest.  This went on for several months, and I felt as if I aged twenty years. It's all a distant memory now, I just hope he forgets completely one day.

He begs for a baby brother or sister, but I know I have all I can handle.  I've been blessed that he's a loving, empathetic, and bright child.  But I've given all of my energy to healing him, and know I don't have it in me to start all over again.  What if he's my healthy one?  That thought scares me to death.  I hope he doesn't resent being an only child.  And if he does, he'll understand once he has a child of his own just how hard his mom worked at keeping him healthy.  Since I've become a mom I have often wondered if my mom loves me as much as I love my son.  I know the answer is 'yes', but it's hard to understand until you have a child of your own.  Which leads me to my favorite quote: “Making the decision to have a child - it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ” Elizabeth Stone

6 Years Old!

Happy Birthday to my big kid, we now have a six year old!!  It's been a fun-filled week of birthday parties for my kiddo, 3 parties to be exact.  And they all involved LOTS of pizza and cake. He's had pizza from 3 different places this week including Chuck-E-Cheese and the bolwing alley, and the good news is that he's done GREAT! No itch and no hives, just the way we like it.  He's also had a few different cakes, check this one out from a local bakery:

It's a traditonal cake, not gluten-free.  He was in heaven to say the least!

He also had a school field trip to a local farm where he played in the hay and fed baby animals.  I drove separately in case we needed to high-tale it out of there, but amazingly he did fabulous. Even the teacher took a benedryl before heading out.

As for NAET, we're still going.  We've recently continued working on lungs, and last week he treated for 'spleen' which numerous organs showed weak to (which typically it's just his kidneys that test weak.)  We did come across one food that gave him some problems, and that was an organic Soneyfield strawberry go-gurt yogurt squeezer.  Soon after eating it he said it felt like "rocks in his throat" which was then followed by a stomach ache.  Looking at the ingredients it's hard to pinpoint which one it could be; it's possible it's a combination of some sort.  The odd thing is that he does fine with plain Greek yogurt, he eats it most days with honey added.  Greek yogurt has a higher milk protein, so it must be another ingredient in the squeezer that's the culprit.

All-in-all, he's made amazing strides since 2009.  It's awesome to watch him enjoy himself and to enjoy food again.

uKnow Peanut Allergy Test

Phadia announces first-ever commercial availability of peanut allergen component tests


uKnow Peanut Test™, a new, more precise peanut allergy test, provides physicians and patients molecular level clarity to aid in the diagnosis and help assess the risk of allergic reaction to peanut


Phadia announces first-ever commercial availability of peanut allergen component tests - Phadia - Setting the Standard - Phadia.com

My allergist has been talking about this for the past few months, as it was recenlty made available in the US.  The issue right now is cost, it's not currently covered by insurance.  Apparently it's been used in Europe for sometime.  The test isolates the specific proteins, 'Ara', which peanuts have 8 Ara I believe.  Allergies to certain Ara are harmless, while other Ara are deadly.  With this test the idea is to know how dangerous your peanut allergy really is, and if it's necessary to avoid them.

Good News, Bad News

We headed South for spring break and enjoyed some fun in the sun.  My almost six year old decided it was time to swim without floaties, and spent about four hours each day swimming which proved to build up quite the appetite each evening.  One night he ate six slices of pizza, and neither we nor the waitstaff could believe our eyes as he scarfed it down.  We were pretty laxed on this trip, letting him eat most anything he wanted within reason and we also weren't very stringent on taking the daily dose of Flovent for asthma control.  The doctor has told us in the past that it's ok to take a break and see how things go.

The good news is that the eczema has been non-existant, and while we were on our trip there were no bouts of asthma.  However the bad news is that after we arrived home he was wheezing within an hour.  The house had been closed up for a week and the air seemed a bit heavy, which my husband made mention of, too.  Then three days later while at a birthday party he ate the frosting off a store bought cupcake that had a zillion bad ingredients in it, and I noticed him scratching followed by wheezing.  A dose of benedryl cleared him up.

We'll get back into our routine of making sure he gets at least one dose of Flovent a day.  I also snagged a cupcake to go so we'll try a NAET treatment for that as well.  He did do a treatment recently for 'muscous membranes.' I know he's so very relieved that the itching has subsided, but I'd much rather have the asthma vanish forever.  Nothing is scarier than watching your child struggle to breathe.

Is Aluminum a Culprit?

I've often wondered if Aluminum in vaccines was a culprit of my son's hyper-sensitive immune system. It's a known neurotoxin that is used as an adjuvant in vaccines to trigger an immune response to make the vaccine effective.  The problem is that sometimes that response goes into over-drive and doesn't shut off, which is what the medical doctors suspect is what happened in my son's case.  This Age of Autism article interviews Dr. Chris Shaw who along with Lucija Tomljenovic published a study on this very topic in the August 2011 Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry titled, "Do aluminum vaccine adjuvants contribute to the rising prevalence of autism?"

In conclusion the study stated that: "Aluminum has all the necessary biochemical properties to induce neurological and immune disorders; and (iii) autism is a multisystem disorder characterized by dysfunctional immunity and impaired brain function.  Because the current safety data for Al exposure in infants and children is unsatisfactory and because this demographic represents those who may be most at risk for complications following vaccination, a more rigorous evaluation of Al adjuvant safety than what has been provided to date seems warranted."

M.I.A.

I've been M.I.A. for the last couple of weeks, mostly because I've taken on a huge professional endeavor that is occupying all my time.  But on the occassion I get the urge to blog, I find that I just don't have that much to say.  I mean, everything is going well and my kid is healthy and happy.  That should be a major headline in itself!  When I look back at how far we have come even from 6 months ago, it amazes me.  I still can't believe that it was only one year ago that my son had his first bite of an oat granola bar after treating for oats which use to cause severe hives. The blog has allowed me to put things into prespective.  For instance, I keep thinking to myself that he's been doing great since this fall, and lo and behold my timeline indicates that is when he went through the vaccine treatments.

As of late, we have continued to work on his lungs.  He's been on one puff of his Flovent 44 since January (reduced from 2) and is doing great. He's completed NAET treatments such as lungs & cold, lungs & heat & humidity, lungs & stress, and sinuses.  He's also gone down to one NAET treatment per week instead of two.

What I really find amazing is that so far this school year (knock on wood!) he has missed only 1 day due to illness, and that was back in October, I think.  Not sure what the usual stats are for kindergarten, but when I compare him to my sister's "healthy" kids who have been on multiple doses of antibiotics this winter, he's doing great.

The one down fall of becoming so healthy is that I now find he's not eating quite as healthy as I would like.  My husband is routinely making him grilled cheese on wheat bread with butter, and my son has eaten his fair share of St. Pat's decorated sugar cookies as of late.  Don't get me wrong, no kid in their right mind would want to visit us for the tastey food and treats we keep in our cupboards, but it is nice to be able to relax a bit around food and have it be a more enjoyable experience.

Parenting is an Enormous Responsibility

There's a recent news story of a young girl being given 4 vaccinations by a school nurse, all without consent. The mother claims that "she even signed a document indicating never to administer medical treatment to her daughter."  The article goes on to state that the girl came down with a full body rash. 

The first thing that went through my head is that I have to have a talk with my son about what to do if anyone ever tries to give him a shot. His life depends on it, vaccinating him is like playing with fire and I unfortunately have the medical records and doctor waivers to prove it, and so does his school but apparently these things slip through the cracks from time-to-time. So not only do we have to have the "Stranger Danger" conversation, we also have to talk about what happens if the nice nurse tries to give you a shot without mommy there. Wow, was I naive going into this parenting thing.  The decisions and responsibilities are enormous.  One of my favorite quotes is, "   “Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body"--Elizabeth Stone.
http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/detroit/mother-angry-after-daughter-vaccinated-without-her-permission

I was asked in the comment section of one of the postings to list the food items that my kid as able to eat prior to NAET.  Here's my response:

"That's easy.  For 7 months it was basically water, meat, and white rice.  We had to take out everything because almost everything was causing a reaction--honey, egg, oats, tomatoes, citrus, peas, chick peas, corn, dairy, soy, wheat, broccoli, celery, nuts, blueberries are the ones that come to mind.  During those 7 months we slowly added things back like apples, carrots, and green beans that we were certain he was okay with.  He's now eating everyting on the list aside from nuts which we haven't approached with NAET.  He also refuses to drink "cow milk" as he calls it, but does eat yogurt daily and has had baked goods with milk."

I have previously posted his RAST IgE results pre and post NAET that show the dramatic reduction in everything aside from the egg.  At the time of his last RAST he was still having issues with egg (although reduced), but has since undergone a handful of addtional combination egg treatments and is now able to eat them.

Dr. Mom?

I got the chance to expand on my doctor mom skills this week. My son came down with some goop in his eye, more than likely pink eye. On a the few occassions that he or I have had this issue, I've resorted to the Simalison Pink Eye Drops which work like a charm--even faster than any prescription antibiotic eye drop I've ever used.  (Being a longtime contact user, I must admit I used to wear them far past their useful life and would end up with eye infections.  That was many years ago, I've since wised up and take them out nightly now!)  Anyways, after the prompt recovery my son made I said to my husband, "We should have been doctors."  Which he replied, "No, because if we were, our son would still be a medical mystery with no answers."  Given our past experience with the so-called "experts", I'd have to agree.  What this journey has taught me is that when it comes to your health, you have to be your own best advocate and seek answers.  And once you discover certain truths and information, it's nearly impossible to put your head back in the sand no matter how much easier that would be.

Enjoying Life & Food!

Enjoying life, and food!  That's what my child has been doing these days.  We had a family birthday that led to a weekend of food, family, and friends.  Friday we had dinner at a Japanese steakhouse, hibatchi style.  I was hesistant to bring my son for the fear of an allergic reaction, but when I broke it down he's been eating most everything as of late so we decided to give it a try.  He had chicken & vegetables with teriaki sauce,  white rice, and some soup.  As a precaution, I had his food cooked in back in a separate pan.  However during the hibatchi entertainment, the chef proceed to fling fried rice at my kid,which is made with butter/margarine, soy sauce, and egg.  Needless to say, he enjoyed the flavorful food immensely!  And he even shared in some birthday ice cream--all without one sign of a reaction.

The next night we enjoyed pizza, breaksticks, store bought cake, and vanilla ice cream (made with egg.)  What a joy to watch him eat and mingle with his little buddies without being singled out.  And the best part is that he is healthy!

Published NAET Study

There is a study published in the October/November 2011 issue of Integrative Medicine—A Clinician’s Journal comparing two groups of 30 autistic kids, ages 2.5 to 10 years, all in special education classrooms. One group received NAET treatments for a year and the other did not, so it wasn't actually a blind study (it would be hard to fake a treatment.) Both groups were allowed to continue their other therapies.

Twenty-six of the 30 NAET kids completed the year of treatment. Twenty-three of those were able to return to regular school classes with their non-autistic peers after one year of treatment (that's an astounding 88.5% of the once labeled 'autistic' kids being introduced to regular classrooms.  You may recall how I wrote of my pediatrician's expereince with NAET, he had 60 of 63 autistic children under going NAET that were being mainstreamed--95%.)  Meanwhile all of the 30 children in the untreated control group continued to need special education.

“We found that NAET is an effective, safe and simple treatment for children with allergy-related autism,” said Jacob Teitelbaum, MD, head author. “In human terms, NAET can provide profound and dramatic benefits, giving children with autism and their families their lives back.”

The Vaccine Battle

I had typed up a response to something a friend posted on Facebook, but in the end I really didn't have the energy to battle it out all day so I decided not to hit the submit button and to just post on here.  A friend had posted a link to 'Proof Vaccines Didn't Save Us'.  Of course she had to know that she'd face some backlash, but she was also getting some support as well.  I was going to share the following with her, but in the end it was just best to get it on paper and hit delete, that was until my husband said, "You should put that on your blog."  Great idea, so here it goes:

"I unfortunately have had the opportunity to witness first hand a violent reaction to a vaccine. It’s not a situation I chose, but none-the-less one that has forced me to research to make my own educated decisions instead of blindly following the doctor’s advice as I had initially done. My doctor didn’t believe vaccines caused injury until she witness my son’s 12-day anaphylatic response to a DTaP. From that point forward she wasn’t willing to continue vaccinating him. Our allergist has also agreed, and stated that “as a society we’ve basically eradicated diseases such as chicken pox, mumps, and measles but have created a whole slew of new ailments like asthma, allergies, and autism.” That statement has always stood out to me because he’s implying that these current epidemics are a result of vaccines. I have since been given 2 medical opinions and waivers from MDs stating that my child is not to receive any further vaccinations due to adverse reaction. From my standpoint, if vaccines really do work then let the rest of the population get them to continue to protect my child. But I am so grateful that our state still allows people to make a decision that’s in the best interest for their child because it’s clear that vaccines are not right for everyone. The scary part is that so many pediatricians do not know what is actually in the vaccines, that they just accept the general blanket statement that everyone should be vaccinated as guidelines put forth by the medical community that is heavily backed by the pharmaceutical companies who are making and profiting from the vaccines. ‘The Vaccine Book’ by Dr. Sears does a nice job going through each vaccine pamphlet and identifying the adjuvants, then weighing the risks of the disease verses that of the vaccine. He’s actually pro-vaccine, but believes it should be done with caution.


According to the federal government’s own data, vaccine injury is real. That’s why they created the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System that has paid out over $2 billion dollars in tax payer dollars to vaccine injured victims. Their own site states that VAERS receives around 30,000 reports annually, with 13% classified as serious (e.g., associated with disability, hospitalization, life-threatening illness or death) (CDC VAERS Master Search Tool, April 2, 2008). Since 1990, VAERS has received over 200,000 reports…http://vaers.hhs.gov/about/index"

Lungs Continued

As we continue to work on my son's lungs, yesterday he did a combination treatment for a vial labeled 'Bronchus' and the emotion 'Fear.'  NAET is weird enough, and then you throw the emotions in . . .Anyways, if you want to talk about weird or coincidental about 15 minutes after leaving the office my son had excruciating pain in the lower portion of his right rib cage.  He was crying and holding his side asking to be carried.  That lasted for about a half an hour.  In addition his right eyelid turned bright red and the skin appeared irritated.  This is the same eyelid that use to be our telltale sign of an allergy encounter, except this time he hadn't eaten anything.  We haven't seen that eyelid sign in many months.  The eyelid subsided at the same time the rib pain did.  Was it the treatment or just perfect timing?  We may never know, but my husband and I just looked at each other an shook our heads.

Hershey Kisses Revisited

One thing I've encountered more times than I can count is how everyone likes to give kids candy.  They do it as a nice gesture, to be the good guy, and to appease kids.  Nothing wrong with that, I suppose, as I know I've done it myself.  But nine times out of ten they offer candy without asking the parent's permission, and through the years I have consistently been put on the spot to be the bad guy whether it's at the grocery store, the hair salon, the pharmacy (recall when the pharmicist offered my kid peanuts of all things!), etc.  Around the holidays, it's even more prevalent.  This past Christmas a friend made gift bags with Hershey kisses in them.  In October 2009 I had made the mistake of giving my son a Hershey kiss, as I wrote about it here.  Two years have passed and about 135 NAET treatments later, and after a lot of begging from my kid, I thought we'd try it again.  Afterall, the ingredients are pretty minor in comparison to most candy--containing sweet or semi-sweet chocolate, cocoa butter, sugar, milk, vanillin, milk, nonfat milk and soya lecithin,  (and I'm sure there's potential for cross contaimination with their other lines of kisses.)  After eating one he said his lip was itching and had a small hive on his face, even though he's treated for each ingredient individually.  I home treated him for the kiss, had the doctor test him which she said he passed, and he tried another one.  This time without any issue what so ever.  Sometimes the combination treatment is necessary for reasons beyond me.  I'm just glad he's able to enjoy the little things in life again.

Birthday Cake!

You can't even imagine my delight in watching my son devour 2 pieces of real birthday cake!  We're talking straight from the bakery white cake with raspberry filling and white buttercream frosting.  He loved every bite of it!  Everyone stood there in amazement as we had never seen someone eat cake like that, it was gone in seconds.  And if there would have been anything left on the plate to lick, I'm sure he would have licked it clean!  Of course the best part of it all is that there was absolutely no reaction of any kind.

Am I going to miss making my gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, soy-free, food coloring-free cakes?  Absolutely not!!

Peanut Allergy

The first article I read today was on the little 7-year old girl who passed away last week after a friend gave her a peanut to eat on the school playground.  Her body went into cardiac arrest after ingesting the nut.  My heart breaks for her and her family.  I literally have a pit in my stomach.  I read that just after sending my son to school today and instantly wanted to go get him and bring him back home to keep him safe.  It is so very scary.  I know he knows, but what if someone offered him a peanut M&M or some other enciting looking peanut-laced candy?  These thoughts are terrifying to me.  I'm going to talk to his NAET doc tomorrow about proceeding on to nuts.  From what I've read, some NAET practitioners do not treat nuts but mine does and has had a lot of success with anaphylactic kids and nuts.  The thought still scares me, but if it could be safe for him to be around them that would be so comforting--like our egg experience with the accidental ingestion and everything turned out okay.

Technical Issue

Just an fyi . . .There appears to be an issue with the latest Windows updates put out and blogger, the comment section is freezing up while using Internet Explorer . . .Firefox and Safari are fine.

Question About Lungs

I seem to be having some technical issues with my last post.  There was a comment left on the "Lungs" post which the computer is not letting me reply to, so I'll address it here.  The question was if NAET has helped the asthma? Here's what I can tell you, in 2008 when my son was 2 years-old we had 6 straight months of rushing to urgent care/ER for uncontrolled asthma attacks.  I then sought the help of an naturalpathic doctor (ND) as we weren't getting anywhere with traditional MDs. With the introduction of various supplements the asthma subsided but would still rear it's head with colds and viruses.  At the age of 3 1/2 we started NAET, vitamin D, fish oil, and probitics and there was a huge difference in my son.  He no longer would get asthma at the sign of a cold, and for the first time his body was able to handle a cold with productive coughs and not asthma.  Last year he hit his inhaler a total of 4 times.  His allergist was so impressed that he wanted us to take him off the Flovent since the dosage was already very low.  We trialed that in August, but within a few days he had some wheezing.  With school starting we decided to try again later.  We do go days without the inhaler, but I'm still hesistant to go off it all together.

My husband is a lifetime asthmatic and has been working on his lungs, too, with NAET.  I've noticed a big difference in him as of late, but need more time before I'm ready to claim any sort of victory.

Lungs

Hubby took himself and the boy to NAET today after a couple weeks off.  Our goal is to get our son off his asthma meds altogether.  He currently takes 1-2 puffs of Flovent 44 per day.  They each worked on their lungs, hubby treated for lungs and sinuses while the boy treated for lungs and stress.  Afterwards, they enjoyed lunch for the first time together at Chipolte and my son did great with his chicken taco!!  And he enjoyed every bite :)

Road Trip Complete

We just wrapped up our road trip, and what a great time was had.  The best part was watching my kid enjoy life and food!  As I reported previously, he's been enjoying so many new foods and he really didn't let up the entire trip.  Great news is that there was no eczema or scratching! We tried out a couple different pizza joints and he was fine, both with & without pepperoni.  He had more waffles.  And the most recent item was bread.  Real bread.  He had a turkey sandwhich on a slice of whole wheat and he said it, "Totally Rocked."  He's put on 2 pounds in about two weeks--one of these days he'll reach 40 pounds.  Tomorrow it's back to NAET!

Is it a milk allergy or a reaction to bacteria?

I was reading this article on raw milk, and a line stood out at me:
"...bacteria killed by pasteurization are not removed, so their dead carcasses remain in the milk to ignite immune reactions in those who ingest them, which is one major cause of milk allergies. It isn't really an allergy to the milk itself, but to the organic cell fragments it contains." 

I've never thought of it like that before, just always assume it was an allergy to the milk protein.  Then again, if milk is pasteurized then the protein is likely killed off. 

We haven't jumped on the raw milk wagon, partly because we've grown accustomed to using coconut milk (although I realize it does not have any protein.)  The other reason is that I grew up working on a dairy farm, and after seeing those conditions I would not consume raw milk from those cows!  First you wipe their bags with a soapy rag to remove the manure, then apply the milker, sometimes they'd have mastitis and would require injection of antibiotics right up into the teat.  So you can see what that wouldn't be an appealing image.  But as the article points out, commercial dairy farms are much different from cows providing raw milk.