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Hello. First, a brief introduction: my son will be five this month. He has not been diagnosed with autism; however, he has some expressive language delay, severe motor delay, and sensory integration issues. He has been on the GFCF diet for about a year following an anaphylactic episode. We have supplemented with fish oil for almost three years, and he has made gains following listening therapy and brushing. He sees a speech and occupational therapists twice a week. Recently, we took him to see a DAN doctor in our area. He suggested that we supplement with increased fish oil, enzymes, and MB12. When we began the increased fish oil, we saw immediate gains. He began to reminisce about things that happened years ago. We then began the enzymes. He also made gains. His speech was smoother and more conversational and he was working on his balance (practicing standing on one leg), but he began to show signs of an allergic reaction. The skin behind his knees looked like it did before we started the GFCF diet, and then his legs became covered with similar raised, red, scaly skin. It was the worst I have ever seen it, and my son was miserable. At the time, I thought the eczema might just be related to yeast die-off. But it persisted, unimproved, for well over a month. During that time, we also implemented the MB12 shots. The most notable, positive effects have been that he is sleeping through the night and his mouth and tongue have come alive. After beginning the MB12 shots, I decided that the eczema was out of control, and we tried removing the enzymes to see if his legs would clear up. They are, but he is now very low energy and is regressing in potty training and losing his recent verbal gains. Please help….is it a bad sign that he is low energy with the MB12? I have read about hyper activity as a side effect, but not low arousal. He had low arousal before beginning the GFCF diet, but has not been in a year. Could the enzymes have been causing an allergic reaction and helping with yeast at the same time? Any other thoughts or suggestions? It is painful to see him go backwards. Any help would be tremendously appreciated. THANK YOU! I suggest you call the DAN doctor today and see what he suggests Good luck The first thing I'd do is call your DAN and see what he suggests. Is it at all possible that there's something else going on, like seasonal allergies, viruses, anything? I don't know that much about mB12 or enzymes - haven't tried the enzymes yet, and when we tried the shots DS was a non-responder. There's another board that's all biomed you might want to try asking on: www.autismweb.com/forum/. I hope you get some answers soon - I know how frustrating all this can be! Thanks. I definitely think viruses or seasonal allergies are always possible, but he has not shown any other symptoms. No runny nose, sneezing, or coughing. Figuring out the causation between supplements and all of the positive and negative reactions is an incredibly daunting task, and I guess that is what is making me crazy. Can you stop everything for a while and then start back up? See if he gets back to baseline?I have heard of children having reactions to an ingredient in the digestive enzymes. Which ones do you have him on? Definatley talk to your DAN, but consider switching the enzymes since that was when the reaction first occurred. The low energy and issues w/ potty might have something to do w/ the digestive enzymes being removed from the diet, especially since you saw gains. Digestive enzymes play such an improtant role in healing the gut. They help break down the foods completely so the body can absorb the nurtients. They also help deal w/ the yeat and bacterial issues. www.enzymestuff.com has some great information. Is your child on probiotics? Which one? The enzymes we were giving him are from Theramedix and are called "Children's DGT." His DAN said that there were certain enzymes some people had bad reactions to and to remove them, but he did not have a suggestion for a replacement. This particular enzyme had some probiotics in it, but we have never supplemented seperately. He has been reliably potty trained for over a year, and now suddenly doesn't seem to get notification that he needs to urinate. I thought it may be related to increased sensitivity in the bladder? If his tounge is more sensitive, maybe his bladder is as well, and he doesn't know how to read the new feelings? Because there have been some good reactions to the b-12, I am a little worried about stopping it before we know what the long term benefits may be...how long does it usually take for kids to get used to the increased sensitivities? But on the other hand, maybe it was the enzymes that were really helping him. Before we started the b-12, the enzymes seemed to improve his focus (he began to pay attention to the TV for the first time), and he was paying attention to his penis, which had also gone nearly unnoticed until recently. So, both the b-12 and the enzymes seemed to cause an increased awareness, but something, either lack of enzymes or the b-12 is causing decreased arousal. I tried to get answers from the DAN...he seems to treat "these kids" as a group and is not very good at looking at individual reactions. So, we are taking a wait and see approach. Thanks again for your thoughts. It is comforting and helpful to hear from people that have gone through this. I forgot one other bizarre side effect that has now gone away since we stopped the enzymes: my son started lining up his toys. He had never done that before. Is it possible that the enzymes could have started to release toxins that had been built up? An update: my son did have a virus, and the low arousal seems directly related to that. All of the other symptoms are still mysterious to me. I guess that is why wait and see makes some sense....Thanks again! |
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