CuringAutismBlog

I took Shannon, age 20, to a local DAN! doctor yesterday. Shannon has Asperger's, but her case is much milder than her brother's. However, she still is unable to figure out what other people are thinking, most of the time.

I was wondering whether the DAN! doctor, Amy Davis, would try to start us on a rigid protocol. If that were the case, she would put Shannon on a gluten-free, casein-free diet and then prescribe some supplements.

What actually happened is that Dr. Davis was very pleased with the work our chiropractor has done in using muscle testing to identify Shannon's difficulties, for example with digesting fats. Dr. Davis offered to do a standard battery of medical tests on Shannon, which is of course costly, but also said she was willing to work without the test results, basing decision-making on a computer program instead. So I opted for that, being on a budget.

The computer was hooked up to some items that measured the resistance Shannon's body offered as a slight current was run through it, based on a reference database or on the presence of a particular supplement on the sensor shelf. The basic idea is the same as the chiropractor's applied kinesiology, measuring the body's reaction to particular supplements or additives. But in this case, the computer has a reference database, and so a wide variety of foods and supplements can be tested quickly.

Dr. Davis did not put Shannon on a gluten-free, casein-free diet, but was able to confirm the chiropractor's findings that Shannon is lactose-intolerant but can eat some casein, as in cheese, and also has an intolerance to wheat. However, when taking Omega-Zymes, the whole wheat sensitivity was neutralized. (White wheat flour was still bad for her, even with the enzymes.) Shannon was very happy not to have to go on a restrictive diet.

We are going to add in a number of supplements, five days apart, intended to get Shannon's methylation cycle working (it is blocked).

The oddest thing about this whole computer program was that Dr. Davis used it to test for certain gene mutations, the same that Dr. Amy Yasko's genetic analysis looks for. Based on the computer's findings as interpreted by Dr. Davis, Shannon has many of the same methylation cycle mutations that Mike does. But as far as the most severe one, the CBS, she has a milder form-- a mutation inherited from just one parent, not both (as Mike has).

In short, I was very happy that Dr. Davis was able to take us where we are and move us further down the road.

As far as mercury chelation goes, she said to go ahead with ALA chelation. We'll hold off on the stronger DMSA chelation until Shannon's methylation cycle has gotten going.

As for Mike's methylation cycle, I think it is not getting moving because of his CBS mutation. Oh well. At least Mike has been pretty easy to get along with for the past few days. I am VERY happy about that!

Mike is back from a successful two weeks at camp. It worked out well for him and for us, to get a break. But since he got back, he has been very oppositional. But I think that may be waning now. Perhaps he has just been trying the fences, since there are a lot more restrictions here, particularly in regards to what he is allowed to eat.

The chiropractor found him very compliant yesterday. So I am hopeful that he has not turned into Mr. No after all.

Now it is time to switch his SSRI medication. I am not looking forward to this.

Mike is at camp for two weeks. This is the end of the first week. Before he left, he was driving us nuts with grouchiness, criticizing and general negativity. I think it was because I had increased his methyl B-12, at Yasko's suggestion. Well, I dropped the extra B-12, and then I dropped all the B-12 just before sending him to camp.

He reports that he is doing fine. I hope so!!

I am hoping to talk him into the gluten-free, casein-free diet when he gets back. Before he left he was in no mood to cooperate.

Meanwhile I have made an appointment to take Shannon, age 20, to a new Defeat Autism Now! (DAN) doctor in a western suburb of St. Louis, Dr. Amy Davis. I know we are sort of following parts of the DAN protocol, but Shannon hasn't had any testing. Her disability is camouflaged--she seems to function very normally. But actually she has no idea what other people are thinking. So she is very solitary. I really pray that she could be healed from this. She is doing the gluten-free, casein-free diet and finding it helps remove brain fog.

I sent a urine toxic elements test to Amy Yasko--had bought it last year. She looked it over and his supplements and suggested increasing his methyl B-12 dosage greatly. This is to get the methylation cycle revved up for detox.

So I doubled his methyl B-12 dosage, which is a small one, just 1000 mcg or 1 gram. On 2 grams he became very cranky and argumentative. This lasted a week. Finally I backed off. I was hoping he would "get used to it," but he didn't. I am thinking the methylation cycle is producing too much ammonia because of his CBS mutations, discussed much earlier in this blog.

So, the detox will have to be done some other way. In fact we are doing Round 3 of our Andrew Hall Cutler chelation starting this morning. I am thinking I need to do this every weekend instead of just every second or third weekend. It is going to take forever otherwise. I am not looking forward to being awake every three hours at night, every weekend. But oh, well. At least, the last time I did it I was finally able to sleep the last night of the chelation. (I wonder if the chelator, alpha lipoic acid, tends to keep me awake somehow.) I have decided to drop the chelation for myself but continue it for the kids if the insomnia continues. After all, I don't have symptoms of mercury poisoning, although the first chelation did show that I must have mercury issues.