Yesterday I received 2 books in the mail that have possibly changed my life, and hopefully Mykaya's. My amazing friend, Megan (love you girl!!) sent me 2 of Jenny McCarthy's books. As you guys might know, Jenny's son is autistic and she has been a huge advocate for awareness and also non-traditional therapies and such. I have read about 2/3 of the first book, Mother Warriors, and am just blown away.
First of all, we are all hearing about the whole "do vaccines cause autism or not", and there are sooo many perspectives on this and not a whole lot of research to support it. I personally do not feel that the vaccines themselves can cause autism, I feel that it may be the irresponsibleness (is that a word?) of administering the vaccines that can hurt some children. For instance, kids should not have so many shots at the same time, so young, when they're sick, or are immuno-suppressed. They also should not be given shots that contain Thimerasol (mercury). I now ask each time the girls get a shot just to be sure. Being a young uneducated mom, I held down both my girls for the minimum vaccines required (they did not get the chickenpox vaccine until they turned 5 and have never received a flu shot) but Laney's were given in a more spread out manner than were Mykaya's. Neither child was ever vaccinated when she was sick, but they both received 33 shots just like most babies. The interesting thing about that is in 1983, the vaccine schedule was so different. I found a comparison between then and now here. Interesting. Just my 2 cents.
I also am very interested in the naturopathic manner that she has chosen to help "heal" Evan. I have always been intrigued in homeopathy and follow most beliefs of homeopathy without even knowing it. For example, I hardly EVER take medicine, nor do I give my kids medicine. I feel that it's important to find out and treat what is going on within my body before I will treat the symptoms, and allow my body to heal itself without intervention. I always just thought I was afraid of medicine, which I guess I am. I am a very healthy person, and so are both my girls. With the exception of Mykaya's aspergers, both of them are in excellent physical health. Laney was diagnosed with mild asthma around age 2, but hardly ever needs any breathing treatments (once a year if that). We eat a well-balanced diet and both kids appreciate a wide variety of foods. We do not have white bread in our house ever-I'm not even sure my kids know it exists. If Mykaya could, she would eat plain white rice for every meal! We do grapes, apples, strawberries and oranges for snacks, we try to do whole-grain whenever possible, and no sugary drinks or soda here! Laney's favorite drink is cranberry juice while Mykaya prefers water to anything else.
Because of what I have already learned and researched about this method of biomedical treatment, I would love to implement some of these things into Mykaya's plan of treatment. After discussing things with Jeremy, we've decided we will probably start with the GF/CF (gluten-free and casein free) diet. Funny thing is, Mykaya already kind of keeps herself off of almost all dairy on her own-she refuses to drink milk, she doesn't like cheese and won't even eat yogurt. Really the only stretch here will be not cooking with dairy and making sure we don't have ice cream in the house (which is a rarity anyway). Sherbet only :) The gluten-free is gonna be the hard part! I am going to switch our meal plan to the gluten-free so that will be a huge help. We are also blessed to have a wonderful school that has a dietician on staff to help with dietary restrictions. But even their normal menu is pretty darn nutritious compared to a lot of schools! Check it out here with the nutritional analysis here.
Lastly, I want a consultation with a naturopathic doctor. We have a couple here in Bismarck, but I think I've chosen this one. Since insurance does not cover these costs, I will be very careful about what we get into with her. I definitely want her tested for pyroluria as she has some of the symptoms, and several other deficiencies that I think she may have.
After reading this book and researching natural medicine a bit, I have a whole new vocabulary! I feel like a whole world is opened up that I didn't even know existed. Of course, I approach everything with a healthy amount of skepticism, so am not looking for a magic cure-all. If some of her symptoms can be alleviated, why not give it a try. One of the huge life lessons I have learned from all of this is flexibility and openmindedness. I am looking into things I would have never thought of looking into. I can't be closed-minded about anything, and I have to keep my own feelings and anxieties about certain things out of this. I will still trust my instincts but I can't let my adult jadedness stop something that could really help my daughter. It's been a hard lesson but a necessary one. I look forward to keeping you all informed!
With love,
The Schulz's
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