I knew this "asking for" conversation had to come from somewhere, so I went through the latest Caillou episodes he's been watching on the iPod. We have a match!
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Conversations with Josh
Josh likes to practice his conversations while going to the bathroom. He is very chatty, asks me questions (over and over and over again) and wants me to ask him back so he can answer too. Here's his latest:
I knew this "asking for" conversation had to come from somewhere, so I went through the latest Caillou episodes he's been watching on the iPod. We have a match!
I knew this "asking for" conversation had to come from somewhere, so I went through the latest Caillou episodes he's been watching on the iPod. We have a match!
Monday, April 25, 2011
Taking a turn onto a new path
We are taking a turn on our path. Josh has had leg rashes for YEARS! It's different than eczema. It starts under the skin, sometimes making some large circular patches that are raised, sometimes like hives, sometimes raised and red. It is most bothersome to him at night and at its worst, he seems to just itch from head to toe. It makes me very sad to see him miserable, especially when it gets to be for hours in the middle of the night.
I have been chasing the cause of this. The first thought is always allergies and when we figured out all his food allergies a few years ago, the eczema issues he had cleared up. Most medical professionals we work with say it is an immune response. I have logged everything in his life trying to find the cause, tried allergy medications, pants and lotion when he goes outside, nightly baths, we keep his food on a rotation schedule with strict monitoring of new food introductions. One of the people we work with for him suggested we take the dog out of the house for a month, clean it top to bottom and see if that was the culprit. The skin on his face is beautifully smooth, he doesn't have itchy eyes, sneezing, or a clear runny nose. No improvement on several months of Zyrtec last year.
All that to say, I am convinced that his skin issues occur when his gut is out of balance: yeast or dysbiotic bacteria. Yeast in his digestive system was the first big battle we fought and when we changed his diet protocol January of last year, he cleared up after several weeks and started sleeping through the night. In June of last year, it came back along with the night waking. Let me repeat, he has NOT slept all night since last June!!! His stool labs have been showing dysbiotic bacteria. We have treated with targeted antibiotics, he clears up, gets in a MUCH better mood, less OCD, his skin clears and sleep improves. Once we're off the medications, it all comes back again and seems worse than before. We had tried some of the natural remedies with the antibiotics and continued afterward, like caprylic acid and grapefruit seed extract but they were not strong enough.
I decided this isn't working. There has to be another way to treat bacteria. I think probiotics are one key. With the SCD diet protocol we were using, he was limited to two probiotics (l. acidophilis and s. boulardi and he didn't tolerate the s. boulardi), so we gave him l. acidophilis for 8 weeks on and 8 weeks off. His labs showed NO presence of it in his gut, so all we have him was just being beaten by the bad. I talked with his nutritionist and she agreed for us to move him off of this diet protocol from a probiotic perspective. We have started a broad-spectrum probiotic to help re-build the good bacteria in his gut. Second, I have read a lot about Culturelle, which is a high-potency lactobacillus GG that targets clostridia. I added that in as well. I ran out of it last week and went two days without - definite difference almost immediately!!!
Third, I took Josh to the local naturopath. He is the first person I have worked with for Josh who looked at his legs and said this was likely a gut imbalance! He have us homeopathic remedies to target bacteria, viruses and parasites in his digestive tract in addition to a remedy to help repair his liver which is weak. After we get these issues under control, we'll work on some other systems in his body that are weak. The naturopath also went through all the supplements we give Josh and didn't see issues with any of them, as most are vitamins and minerals to help with his deficiencies.
Whenever clearing yeast or bacteria, we see bad before the good. 3 days into it, Josh started bedwetting which is exactly what happened when we changed his diet for yeast last year. It is UNBELIEVABLE how much can come out of him! We took him to the bathroom right before bed, he wet at midnight AND went a ton on the potty and wet again at 4 AM. Similar story for about three nights. His legs are starting to clear up and his itching is improving. Some obsessions are disappearing (changing shirts 10 times a day, changing the time on clocks, CDs), but his obsession with fans is still around and driving me nuts at times.
I am optimistic! This is worth a try and I am hoping this path leads helps us to leap to the next level with Josh. When I bargain with God, I tell him I can handle him being different and having challenges, but I cannot handle him being miserable and extremely angry. I link that to his gut and I pray we can figure this piece of the puzzle out for him.
I have been chasing the cause of this. The first thought is always allergies and when we figured out all his food allergies a few years ago, the eczema issues he had cleared up. Most medical professionals we work with say it is an immune response. I have logged everything in his life trying to find the cause, tried allergy medications, pants and lotion when he goes outside, nightly baths, we keep his food on a rotation schedule with strict monitoring of new food introductions. One of the people we work with for him suggested we take the dog out of the house for a month, clean it top to bottom and see if that was the culprit. The skin on his face is beautifully smooth, he doesn't have itchy eyes, sneezing, or a clear runny nose. No improvement on several months of Zyrtec last year.
All that to say, I am convinced that his skin issues occur when his gut is out of balance: yeast or dysbiotic bacteria. Yeast in his digestive system was the first big battle we fought and when we changed his diet protocol January of last year, he cleared up after several weeks and started sleeping through the night. In June of last year, it came back along with the night waking. Let me repeat, he has NOT slept all night since last June!!! His stool labs have been showing dysbiotic bacteria. We have treated with targeted antibiotics, he clears up, gets in a MUCH better mood, less OCD, his skin clears and sleep improves. Once we're off the medications, it all comes back again and seems worse than before. We had tried some of the natural remedies with the antibiotics and continued afterward, like caprylic acid and grapefruit seed extract but they were not strong enough.
I decided this isn't working. There has to be another way to treat bacteria. I think probiotics are one key. With the SCD diet protocol we were using, he was limited to two probiotics (l. acidophilis and s. boulardi and he didn't tolerate the s. boulardi), so we gave him l. acidophilis for 8 weeks on and 8 weeks off. His labs showed NO presence of it in his gut, so all we have him was just being beaten by the bad. I talked with his nutritionist and she agreed for us to move him off of this diet protocol from a probiotic perspective. We have started a broad-spectrum probiotic to help re-build the good bacteria in his gut. Second, I have read a lot about Culturelle, which is a high-potency lactobacillus GG that targets clostridia. I added that in as well. I ran out of it last week and went two days without - definite difference almost immediately!!!
Third, I took Josh to the local naturopath. He is the first person I have worked with for Josh who looked at his legs and said this was likely a gut imbalance! He have us homeopathic remedies to target bacteria, viruses and parasites in his digestive tract in addition to a remedy to help repair his liver which is weak. After we get these issues under control, we'll work on some other systems in his body that are weak. The naturopath also went through all the supplements we give Josh and didn't see issues with any of them, as most are vitamins and minerals to help with his deficiencies.
Whenever clearing yeast or bacteria, we see bad before the good. 3 days into it, Josh started bedwetting which is exactly what happened when we changed his diet for yeast last year. It is UNBELIEVABLE how much can come out of him! We took him to the bathroom right before bed, he wet at midnight AND went a ton on the potty and wet again at 4 AM. Similar story for about three nights. His legs are starting to clear up and his itching is improving. Some obsessions are disappearing (changing shirts 10 times a day, changing the time on clocks, CDs), but his obsession with fans is still around and driving me nuts at times.
I am optimistic! This is worth a try and I am hoping this path leads helps us to leap to the next level with Josh. When I bargain with God, I tell him I can handle him being different and having challenges, but I cannot handle him being miserable and extremely angry. I link that to his gut and I pray we can figure this piece of the puzzle out for him.
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