Back in the Swing of Spring

It's been so beautiful lately that I've forgotten to update on my blog! Caleb's been very even-keeled, and thus has made life infinitely easier. He still has his moments of mood issues, but they are no where near as severe as a year ago. We occasionally do Melatonin at night if mood slips, and it picks it up considerably. Otherwise, I just do a general gummy vitamin every day, and give a well-balanced diet (not even necessarily gluten free anymore). We are looking forward to summertime as a family which is Caleb's favorite time of year.

I included a pic of Caleb coloring Easter Eggs this year. He thoroughly enjoyed coloring all of his eggs blue (his latest favorite color)! He understands the calendar so well now, and anticipates upcoming events, like Easter. After every event, he'll tell me what's next, like: "Easter's over, next is Bumpa and Joel's birthday." Thank you Lord for the little improvements!

Methy B-12 (mb12) Shots are still Necessary for Us!

I wanted to post about the trend I'm seeing in Caleb, to see if others are experiencing this as well. It seems that about every 3 or 4 days, Caleb's mood starts to head south...meaning he starts getting obstinate and "tantrumy". This seems to be my cue for another mb12 injection. Then, after the injection at night, the next day is WONDERFUL! He is happy as a lark! I definitely think that both yeast, and mb12 are critical for us in handling obstinacy and bad mood. Also...probably a positive of the mb12....many people have been commenting on Caleb's increased vocabulary and speech. He still struggles with answering questions, but otherwise, he can generally say most of what he wants...in sentence form! I know mb12 is touted to help speech, but I wanted to show that I truly think it's a critical part of mood control as well.

School Update--September

Hooray for more great days! Just talked to Caleb's teacher yesterday (of his autism class), and she talked how they see him as the "highest in the class". They see what I see...that he's smart! She said, "I see some behaviors, but I don't think they're a big deal". Whereas, our local school district views little behaviors as major problems. Just so happy with this new setup thus far!

Caleb's mood is doing great! We've stumbled upon something that's been working for him. Last time we went to the DAN doctor, he suggested that yeast was most likely still the culprit and that it was something called "biofilm" (where the yeast secretes it's own mucus to protect itself & thus is hard to kill). I researched a bit on biofilm, and the protocol for it. It sounds like first higher doses of Magnesium (such as oxypowder) or Vitamin C to get the kid to have a BM. Then a protease enzyme (such as mucostop) to get rid of the mucous, then a bunch of herbs known to kill yeast. Well...I didn't have all of these things, but I started with vitamin C and magnesium, then added in several proteases (later in the day) , then gave a 2 to 3 cap dose of a yeast herb blend (at bedtime). I did this for about a week. Now, we just maintain with 2 chewable vitamin C, and 2 caps of yeast herbs both in the morning before school. Voila! It works at maintaining his mood. It obviously WAS the yeast after all. It just needed a bit of a different tactic! No more screaming/screeching, and no more bad mood! Hooray!