This is the final part of my interview series with Dr. Julie Buckley, author of Healing Our Autistic Children. (Click to read Part 1 and Part 2 of the series.) I want to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Buckley for writing about and presenting on this topic in a way that has profoundly changed my perspective and approach to life. I hope that you will enjoy and take something powerful away from this interview series. LAW: Part 2 of your book is dedicated to guiding parents through biomedical treatments with their child’s doctor; please share a little bit about the standard steps to biomedical recovery. JB: The hard part about autism is that there is little that is “standard” about the approach we use. It is a highly individualized process – each child is unique in their genes, in their environmental exposures over the course of their short lives, and in the manifestations of the disease process. It takes a careful eye observing, and careful ears listening to a parent to find a starting point for working toward recovery.
So along our journey here we have discussed how antibiotics play a role in poor health, yeast for example is what we most recently went over. You can catch that blog from a few months ago to refresh yourself or read for the first time. As a biomedical doctor I can tell you there is a reason for antibiotics, they have their time and place. Unfortunately, their time and place is too often in the wrong hands. Once we get children healthy again, having addressed the dysbiosis and inflammation its imperative we refrain from using antibiotics if at all possible.
A new study conducted by researchers at Arizona State University and the University of Texas Houston provides new insights regarding treatment for epileptic seizures and seizure-like brain activity in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders. It is estimated that 25-35% of all individuals with ASD will eventually experience full-scale seizures. For this reason, this study examined 20 traditional treatments, 25 non-traditional/alternative treatments, and both the effects and side-effects of the treatments to help guide physicians as they treat individuals with ASD and seizure activity.
A few weeks ago I did part 1 of this blog to bring awareness to parents with special needs children and the importance of getting guidance. So, lets dive in and answer these questions so you can get started tomorrow.
Does the type of testing matter?
Each doctor has a toolbox of testing they do and all are not equal, neither is the interpretation of the results. I will touch on this more next month but in the mean time find someone that treats and sees children with special needs and make sure they have the knowledge in functional medicine (treating the core issues) to treat your child.
Many of us have used melatonin to try and capture that elusive good night sleep. Often, our sleep pattern has been interrupted because of carrying for our child who can not sleep through a single night. Many parents find over the counter melatonin to be a welcome solution to help their child go to sleep. However, when you doctors and friends have recommended melatonin as a solution and it doesn't work you start to ask yourself why. The following article sheds light on this challenge.
It is Autism Awareness month and it makes me think most about those parents and families that are without guidance on their journey. In a blink of an eye your life changes and your child is diagnosed, this overwhelms every family and most all have little guidance. The maze of the internet becomes the constant as you search online for hope. Some parents get the care they need and others spend 10 years following dead ends. It is my mission to see parents get ALL their options for treatment. I cannot count the number of parents that have cried in frustration and in joy.
Mika points out some changes to look out for as your child grows up. She covers issues including behavior changes, the effects of hormones, sleep disturbances, physical changes, relaxation techniques, supplements/medications, and exercise.
(Continuation from part 2 ).
We both fell asleep, though I awoke several times due to the strange design of the tricked-out pull-out futon, a genius design which caused the top third of the bed to be a few inches higher than the rest of the bed. Luckily, Isabella slept through the night.
As I mentioned, Isabella was referred to a sleep center for an overnight sleep study.
The plan was this: Isabella and I would spend the night while a team of sleep specialists from around the world recorded every neural impulse from Isabella and fed them into a supercomputer which would crunch the data and spit out a cure, preferably in the form of a sugar-coated one-time-use pill. Or something like that.
Here’s how it went down.
Last night Sam came cruising around the corner of our bathroom on Luke's Big Wheel with a race car driver's helmet on and full face shield in place. Sam noticed Luke had put on underwear before putting on his PJs. (Sam is 7 years old & has Asperger's and Luke is 3 1/2 years old & neurotypical...in case we haven't met, this is important to know) Yes, I did say Big Wheel and shower at the same time. We have Big Wheels and tricycles inside our house and the boys seem to dig it.
