Back to OT

Elise had her first OT session today with the therapist we had before she turned 3. It was wonderful to see her again and get Elise started with the help she's desperately needed for the last 8 months when she's received no OT. The therapist noted that we were starting from square 1 again based on what she saw today, but I'm hopeful that Elise will quickly soar back to where she was before she had to go without OT. She noted evidence of motor planning issues today and that definitely agrees with the speech apraxia issue we're facing. Elise is really such a sick, healthy-looking, little girl.

I'm working hard on putting together the puzzle of what is happening with Elise. Obviously, she's autistic. I want to understand the why so that I can put the puzzle pieces together to help her best. I've been forced to address my own health recently and am very soon going to have my gallbladder removed. Sounds unrelated, but I'm actually considering that this could potentially be a piece of the puzzle. My health began noticably deteriorating when I was pregnant with the twins. That was when I first started experiencing the pain that is now identified as gallbladder disease. It's also when I developed periodontal disease, in spite of the fact that I was having my teeth cleaned every 3 months and was the most fastidious I've ever been in my life about keeping my teeth brushed and flossed well. It's always seemed weird to me, but I've brushed it aside because I've been dealing with one child or another's illnesses for the past nearly 4 years. When we moved to the house, I broke out in hives. It was miserable because it was also record highs where we live - and that means 110+. It seems like the day we moved here is the day my health really began sliding. My mouth was full of silver amalgams and I particularly enjoyed partaking in fresh lime/lemonade from our lime/lemon tree in the backyard. I've since discovered that lime & lemon and teeth cleanings would have leached the heavy metals from my mouth throughout my body. Autism symptoms are very similar to mecury/lead toxicity symptoms in children. Take that plus the made in China toys, the flu shots (they still have mercury) and God knows what else, it's a recipe for disaster in Elise. Just a far-fetched, un-scientific theory, but it's one I feel I need to examine closer. Call it mother's intuition.

Anyway, in researching gallbladder disease theories, I stumbled upon thyroid issues. I've gained 20 pounds in the year since Elise's diagnosis. I do eat too much, so I'm not looking for an excuse, but it does seem excessive. I mean, I don't think I eat that much! That made me look into thyroid. From there I saw so many unexplained things like infertility, excessive sweating, unable to handle cold, fatigue. It was weird to see and makes me wonder if there's something (obviously mild) there for me. How strange is this, we moved to this house and the dog developed hypothyroidism, I developed more symptoms for it and B had signs of it, enough that it warranted a visit to a pediatric endocrinologist. The factor that totally doesn't fit is that all the kids are growing really well. This is why anyone I brought this up to would think I'm crazy and not test further, but for some reason it nags at me and has for a long time. For this reason and many more, I want to move out of our home and start fresh.

I bought two books today to help educate myself about autism and the biomedical approach. I can't wait to dive into them and see what I can do to help ourselves. I'm really not anti-conventional medicine. It's just that conventional medicine offers me very little in regards to healing Elise and that is just unacceptable to me.