(Spartan’s recovery story was originally on another website that recently shut down, so we decided to post it here.)
What I have to say right now is you have choices with regard to treating today’s autism. What I want to express is my own personal raw sentiments on how I believe today’s autism has a huge medical component and we as mothers can treat it.
I worked in medicine before autism entered my life, ten plus years. I don’t base my treatments for my son on the opinion of an actor, the American Academy of Pediatrics, or anyone else. No, I went with my gut. My son was not born with autism. He regressed horribly after his shots at 15 months old. There, I said it, that controversial phrase: “after his shots.” After diagnosis, my husband and I were heartbroken, scared, and pretty much in a fog.
Spartan’s son before biomedical treatments
One really horrible afternoon I was screaming, “Please JUST talk to me, please!” because my son was just sitting at the kitchen table flapping his hands and staring into space. My husband literally picked me up off the floor and said, “We can continue to feel sorry for ourselves and depressed or get our son real help. Do you know anyone from your past work in the medical field? And the light bulb went off … I remembered Dr. Kenneth Bock who worked across the bridge when I worked in Kingston. He had a book Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma and Allergies and had successfully helped parents over the years.
The naval hospital physician wasn’t really on board with my suggestions of B12 supplementation and diet change. So, until we could get off Okinawa to San Diego, we took matters in our own hands. We changed his diet and added fish oils. I am grateful for the support of my friends from afar from New York, my husband and his fellow marines, the people I did Crossfit with, and the local nationals I was friends with in Okinawa, Japan who taught me the benefits of local nutritious food and green tea.
The last two years were about getting my son back with the help of one of the most preeminent pediatricians in this country. If you’re out there reading this, Doctor, I want to say “thank you.” Thank you for treating me with respect and honesty, and validating me with the full, comprehensive blood work and other test you ran on my son after you saw him in your office flapping his hands, posturing from horrific gut pain, and being completely non-verbal.
After we got my son’s comprehensive results, I discovered my son had gut damage, mitochondrial issues, high viral load, low white-cell count, was deficient in vitamin D3 and all basic minerals. Now I had answers and an action plan to treat him. A far cry from our experience with the previous physician who sat across from my 18-month-old son and stated, “Mrs. O’Neil, accept your new normal. Your son was born this way.”
Of course we had those who didn’t believe in what we were doing. My mother-in-law judged me and called me crazy, I had friends who worked in the special education field who were telling me to just accept that he was born this way, get him more therapy, and don’t be one of those “Crazy Moms.” I just didn’t listen. It was my son that mattered at the end of the day.
Once I met with his new doctor I just knew I was doing the right thing. At that point we were five months into diet change (gluten/casein free, etc.), and my son’s digestion, temperament and frequency of hand flapping changed. We jumped in full throttle then. Methyl b12 was added to the mix, and my son turned to me and said “I love you, Mom” not long after. I did not put my son in traditional therapies for one year during treatment to see what was working. As we targeted each ailment we found on blood work and other tests, he came back to me more and more.
This journey has been an emotionally hard, but worthy one. I faced a good bit of adversity in the beginning. I felt vindicated this year as I sat across from the IEP team and my son was released from services. I even received an apology from one therapist who doubted my methods at my son’s initial evaluation two years ago.
I am not rich or famous. I am just a marine sergeant’s wife who really researched and went against the mainstream in regards to treatment. It has given me a new perspective on life in general. My husband has been my rock through this, even though he was deployed and I was handling all of it, along with taking care of a brand-new baby. As I sat and watched my son on the playground yesterday, I thought, “Not one person here knows what we have been through the past two years.” And, after I set up a play date with another mother for next week, I vowed to myself to help as many mothers I could by sharing our story.
Now, my son lost his diagnosis after two years of biomedical treatment. Does this work for every child? Not necessarily. Is it worth trying? Absolutely! I didn’t write this today to start a debate or make it seem like I am judging anyone’s recent choices in how they are treating their child’s autism. I am doing this so, as parents, you realize there is more than one way to treat this disorder and why not try? I am a firm believer in “heal the body and the brain will follow” and work cohesively with the traditional therapies that are most often times given as the only path for treatment. I just want you to think. Start in small steps and know that mothers like myself are here for you every step of the way. Like my husband said to me in the beginning of this journey in true marine fashion, “We will get our son back because there is no ‘can’t’ in this family.”
Where to find information about biomedical treatments and other info:
Talk About Curing Autism (TACA)
Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism ADHD, Asthma and Allergies, Kenneth Bock, MD
The Autism Book, by Robert Sears, MD
A compilation of 96 research studies and papers linking vaccines and autism
Nourishing Hope, by Julie Matthews and nourishinghope.com
~ Spartan
For more by Spartan, click here.
Thank you Spartan ( Mom) for sharing your story with us. It does make a big difference when you are being open hearted and have intention to help others with your personal experience. I lived in Fayetteville, NC and never got a chance and was not lucky enough to meet a good, honest,dedicated to his/her job pediatrician who could hear me out or at least would try to help me get out of the” hole” of autism with my child. I learn as I go, but it still kills me that Im struggling to do much more for my kid, because of a language barrier and sometimes I have to face ignorance and snobbish behavior towards us. My last experience with civilian pediatrician from Cape Fear Pediatrics clinic was horrible, she prescribed me Amoxicillin 400mg/5ml and diagnosed my kid with ear infection, even though I said that my child’s previous ear infection had resistancy to this med plus he had bad genital rash and his symtomps got worsen after 2 days. She sent to me her nurse who told me that the previous Amoxicillin 400mg/5ml was different from newly prescribed Amoxicillin 400mg/5ml..
It was so irrisponsible and insulting from their side.
Bee! Thank you so much for replying !!! There are so many different alternative treatments for ear infections … Upper cervical chiropractic adjustment , muellin garlic ear drops etc … Also look into researching penacillin injections for such infections … Less gut permeability than oral !! I am very familiar with the Cape Fear region due to the fact I lived in Wilmington for years … I have many contacts so please let me know if you need further resources whenever you are now !!! Big hugs to you mama !
Thank you for your support and understanding, Ma’am. It means a lot to me. Im in Monterey CA, trying to do my best in finding a good pediatrician for my daughter, who would be very familiar with Autism and non- traditional medicine. I need to do a bunch of tests, such as biomedical test, for my daughter, and will not vaccinate her untill all recommended tests will be done. I dont care if “they” will have to let my daughter go from her IEP next summer. I think Im done with poisoning my kid with all those shots out there. the bad thing in here -CA is that Vaccination becoming a mandatory. It will cause me more troubles in future.
If I may ask you about help,could you please suggest or guide me with any useful information about my concerns. Thank you very much. VR Bee.
First of all thanx for giving so nice information with example.This will definitely help to childrens who are prone to autism.
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Yay Mama! I’m doing the same thing - sharing the story of what worked for us in managing our daughter’s autism. I did a TEDx talk summarizing our story. http://unblindmymind.org So eye opening to have a different perspective, which is why I named our nonprofit - Unblind My Mind. I was completely blind to how many toxins we expose ourselves and children to.
Hi. Thank you for sharing your story. My son also was not born with autism. But at the age of 2 was lost. He too has mitochondrial issues and gut issues. Apraxia. He is now 15 still nonverbal for the most part. I will never give up trying but boy it’s hard when the years keep going by. How did you treat the gut and mitochondrial issues? We have been doing biomed for this lots of supplements. But no real outstanding changes.
Can you please share some advice with me?
Thank you,
Kim
Your story is very similar to mine. I recovered my son, Aidan, as well. He was diagnosed with autism at 2 1/2 years old. We changed his diet to SCD and then GAPS, added in supplements and removed chemicals. It was a long, very hard road. But now he is now a very happy and social 8 year old boy. Biomedical intervention will recover every child but it can help all of them in some way and recover some as well. It is certainly worth the try. Thank you for sharing your story and getting it out there.
I think Jennifer missed a “not” in there. It won’t recover every child, but it does help virtually all of them to feel more comfortable if the right therapies are chosen. You do have to be careful, though, and treat your individual child. Many children get regressions from the very same things that help other children enormously. Research whatever intervention you’re planning for quite a while and watch your child’s response carefully.
Wow. Super encouraging for sure. My daughter has ocd and boughts of it can get very severe. She is 10 and it is starting to effect school, friends, etc. I have always been very convinced that food can cure anything. Been trying eliminating different foods for some time and have figured out sugar and artificial colorings have a strong effect on her. But her ocd is still there. We are under homeopathic remedy right now, but does anyone have any recommendations for ocd? I know there has to be an underlying cause and I’m not willing to just “let” her deal with this for the rest of her life. Kuddos to u mama for never giving up. I really needed to read this right now as I am at my wits end it feels like…. But I know that I WILL find a way to make it better for her. Naturally.
Google PANDAS and PANS. Often the underlying cause of OCD is an autoimmune type reaction. Andy Cutler also gives some supplement suggestions for OCD: http://onibasu.com/archives/am/195792.html
Anisha!
Dr. Robert Sears in Capistrano Beach helped me recover my son, I tried to copy and paste his info but it will not let me ! He also wrote The Autism Book on Amazon! Do not give up !! Also look up Generation Rescue grants and TACA.. Please keep me updated ! Many practioners in San Diego can help you , along with chiropractic care please look up my dear friend Steve Tullius in San Diego - his office is on Riverdale Street he will support you in this journey . Homeopathy is also a great thing to try Alan Freestone can skype with you from the UK and very affordable !!!
Thank you all for commenting on my sons story ! Keep the truth coming .
Jo in response to your comment my son was diagnosed ” correctly ” as well by one of the top Pediatricians in this Country and by a neurologist .
I support you in your thinking that it’s just part of you , but it has been proven over and over again Treating the underlying systematic issues , greatly improves quality of life . My best to you !
The Thinking Moms are my heroes and as well as Lisa Ackerman and TACA do so much to help our kids. My son recovered from autism and now I’m on a mission to save as many as I can! Here is the link to the Amazon listing of my book that tell his recovery story. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0996103902 called I Know You’re In There: winning our war against autism. If you click on the “Look Inside” above the cover of the book, you can read the first few chapters. Make sure you check out the “Forward” written by Ryan.
Our autism nightmare began before Ryan was officially diagnosed. Even though the “experts” said my son would need to be institutionalized, they were wrong. Ryan is now an engineer at a major aerospace company. He is happy and has friends. Anyone who meets him would never know he was once severely affected. This is the same kid who was in the third percentile for speech when he entered kindergarten and had to be taught how to smile.
I recently did this interview on Autism Live. Shannon Penrod and Nancy Alspaugh-Jackson are changing the autism paradigm in a big way. Here is the segment I was on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YQtL5_3O06E
I want all kids to have the kind of life my son now has. Please know I’m here to help you any way I can.
I loved your story! Is there any way you could share the name of your pediatrician? I live in San Diego and it would help so much. My son was diagnosed with autism last year and we have been in a fog since…..
Beautiful story! You have always had my full support. xoxo. An encouraging word to a mom or dad or grandparent reading this: No matter where you are on the healing journey with your child - whether it’s just starting out, or you’ve been working on it for 8 years, and you still feel like you’re only halfway there, never give up hope. Just keep going. There was recently a 22 year old who recovered in one of my support groups. If you feel like you are rowing and rowing and not getting anywhere, reach out to more people. Try new things. It’s worth it.
Wow- thank you for sharing your journey!
Amazing and very inspiring! Thank you for your story and for continuing to be a beacon of hope and trail blazer for Mom’s like me who are just starting on the journey to recovery!
People need to know they can treat auto immune disease the same way. First step, not giving in to traditional medicine. Second, address your diet!
You are a courageous woman - who is willing to go to any lengths to help a child born withOUT autism. Food is medicine & you have shared your experience, which allows others to know there is HOPE … Thank you for your truth . . .
Thanks for sharing you personal struggles
Thank you so much for sharing your story! This is exactly how movements for change happen in the lives of individuals. It is terrific that you not only have the background in the medical field and realize the necessity of backtracking symptoms but too that you had the means to be your son’s best advocate! Many folks , as i’m sure you are aware, don’t and, don’t Understand basics of nutrition or where to go for help. You’re story can take them to that end, or close to it, point and ease their confusion and offer courage. For this, Thank you! I haven’t any children in my immediate family with this diagnosis. I am a grandmother and 52 and am always wanting to support these factors for my grand’s, but cannot always be there.. so, I at least try to be informed and forearmed in case these issues begin to arise. Thank you! And, May your Beautiful Son Continue to Thrive!
I have wept through this post. This was just about our exact story! We completely dismissed the “he was born with it” and treated him as if he had a severe infection and we won! He still has issues that we now put on good ‘ol fashioned “strong willed” but after we cleared his autism, we were faced with ADD and now that’s gone too….
A diagnosis at 2 1/2 and he’s now 6! And you but the nail on the head- those of us who were able to get out (by the grace of God & everything else), we do look at folks around us at school & playgrounds and know they have no idea the dark pit we crawled out of. It’s a bizarre feeling to say the least.
How I wish any and every treatment would work on every single precious child. I always say, ” Do as much as you can, as quick as you can, for as long as you can.”
From someone who has (and was correctly diagnosed) as ADD, it doesn’t go away. It is a brain misfire. It is managed not cured, I am a 44 year old University graduate, ADD does not define me, it is just part of me.
We started recovery later, due to a pediatrician who just kept assuring us boys talk later. She never could or would address WHY he lost the 5-6 words he had right after his 12 month shots. Recovery took longer, but today, my son is a High School Honor Roll student and one of the starting pitchers on his HS Baseball Team as a Sophomore. He is a typical teen and will be getting his driver’s license in a few weeks. He dreams range from being an Astrophysicist to a MLB Pitcher! Both are POSSIBLE.
Never give up. Healing is a journey.