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.