Detox diet - Blogging our journey

[KevinInMA]

Another day of improvements again. Still don't know whether it's a) the normal course of things the lack of goats milk or c) the Flonaise.

Nice quiet night. Some sniffling. Still not fully committed to that being a tic. Sometimes he's producing something, or at least sounding like he is when he sniffles.

 

On another note- just as expected, H E L L week has begun. The week where everyone else gets to have candy except my kid.

Tonight the coach was giving out candy at the end of gym practice and he couldn't have any. The other kids were asking him why and he interprets that as they were teasing him. A similar thing happened at school today.

 

So we're pulling out the big guns early. Originally we planned on surprising him on Sunday by letting him pick out whatever he wanted at Toys R Us for $50 but we decided to tell him about that tonight. We also armed him with a good response to any taunting he might get. "I'm doing it for my health but I'm also trading candy this year for $50 in toys! Top that!"

 

Hope that works, at least for this week. He's handling this all so well considering how hard it is.

Edited October 26, 2010 by KevinInMA

[Chemar]

glad to hear things are going well Kevin

 

btw, if any candy allowed again, dont forget The Natural Candy Store (All The Fun, Without The Funny Stuff! is their Motto )

http://www.naturalcandystore.com/

[KevinInMA]

Cheri, THANK YOU! This is going to be awesome as soon as he can have any sweetener at all. I mean, I'm not loading him up on chocolate and pops but when he's in that social setting it would really help.

 

I'm bookmarking that site.

[KevinInMA]

Another very good day. Minimal everything except sniffling and I'm still not convinced it's not environmental.

 

Breakfast was cereal today. In case I never mentioned this, if I'm not giving him goats milk with his cereal (which I'm not anymore) I mix coconut milk (thick) with rice milk (thin) and he never even notices.

 

Lunch was turkey on millet.

 

Snacks were carrots, Terra Taro sticks, and right now he's eating coconut flakes. Just coconut flakes.

 

Dinner was meatloaf again but this time I included millet breadcrumbs. Asparagus and brown rice were sides. The meatloaf was fantastic.

 

 

Thea made him some pear jam. More like pear butter. Very runny and she said it doesn't taste like much. I just picked it up. Wonder what it tastes like.

 

We'll see!!

[patty]

There are also natural candies at WholeFoods & Trader Joes.

 

I know it is difficult to be singled out from fun treats. I have been there w/my son.

 

Pat

[KevinInMA]

I just noticed that even though this new diet is very expensive, over the past week or so it has become very much manageable. Not a piece of cake by any stretch, but I no longer worry about what to give him or whether or not he's going to make it through. The initial mass purchase of various items (some of which he wouldn't eat) was the biggest money dump. Maintenance purchases are so much less.

The bottom line- like in other aspects of life- is that it gets easier.

 

Oh, and so far this morning I've seen nothing from him. I mean, it's early, but so far... nothing.

[KevinInMA]

Well. The improvements continue. Nothing big to report. Everything continues to get better, even the finger thing and the sniffle. Were suPposed to be getting a frost tonight so that should help with any environmental allergens that are affecting him. I stopped the flonaise yesterday so we'll see about that.

 

He started eating rice cakes. Sometimes plain, sometimes with cashew butter. His appreciation for bland foods is surprising.

 

Tonight I'm finally making him the Orgran corn/rice pasta I bought on the first day. He'll have that with goat butter and maybe some simple seasoning. Hope it's good!

[KevinInMA]

Well.... The day has come. The day he dreaded most all month.

It started off uneventful. Had a sleepover last night.

By the way- he really liked the butter and pasta last night.

But then not too longer after waking up he started coughing a LITTLE more than he has in recent days. I wonder if it was from having too much better last night with the pasta. I mean, if a goat milk by the glass caused it to return last time then there must be a threshold. Maybe he started to breach it last night.

So his cough remained until early afternoon and then pretty much disappeared.

 

Now this you'll like (have I posted this already?)-

We gave him the option. We could go trick or treating (we always go with friends) for candy and he could give it all away, we could skip it all together, OR he could trick or treat and in lieu of candy he could ask for donations for his 4th grade drama club.

 

He picked the last option. We rehearsed what he would say: "Hi. I can't have candy this year because I'm on a special diet so I'm collecting donations for my 4th grade drama club. I'd appreciate any donation so we can put on our production of WIlly Wonka but you don't have to if you don't want to."

That last part really is the hook. Telling people they don't have to puts them at east a little.

 

Well, it started off a little rocky. He was very uncomfortable but he wanted to press on. Then he started getting into a rhythm and really getting excited about it. A couple people immediately thought it was UNICEF.

Then he started to cry a little. He missed the candy. We told him he could stop or switch to candy. We're already so proud of him we definitely wouldn't be disappointed if he stopped. He did enough.

He said he wanted to continue and finished up the whole neighborhood with $35. If it wasn't so darn cold out we would have gone to the next neighborhood and made a killing.

 

He continues to surprise us and make us so proud with all of this. I really hope it works out in the long run... He deserves a win for all he's doing.

[KevinInMA]

Wax, meet wane. Some tics are back... Eye rolling during homework today. Some finger movements. Coughing was more than I like this morning but trailed off.

 

 

Come on......

 

Breakfast was scrambled eggs.

Lunch was cashew butter sandwich and rice cakes.

 

Dinner last night.... Turkey fingers and corn/rice pasta.

New snack yesterday- Honeydew Melon.

This was starting to show up before the melon, though....

 

 

 

One thing I've noticed a lot is that he doesn't seem to blink much when he's focusing on something. I'll look at him for a long time and force myself to not blink as long as I can and he still won't have blinked.....

Edited November 2, 2010 by KevinInMA

[Cj60]

Kevin, just wanted to mention that if dairy is an issue, I'd avoid it completely (butter included). We've been using a healthy substitute that my son likes just as much as butter (can't remember the name right now but it's even in the grocery store, so it's not a hard-to-find specialty product).

 

I'm not sure the concept of threshold is always relevant. If I start with a suspicion and then get an indication that there might be something to it, I take no further risks.

 

Congratulations on the successful Halloween outing!

 

Chris

[KevinInMA]

I'm going to stick with my other inkling for now that some of this is caused by some sort of seasonal allergy. I don't want to eliminate butter just yet. We've had frost for the last two days so hopefully that will begin to lessen the leaf mold issues and other environmental allergens.

 

It looks like I didn't mention it earlier this week but on Monday we had an inspection for mold using a certified mold dog. It was a cool thing to do. The inspector was great and very thorough and as it turns out, my 20 year old house is only the 3rd in his 5 years in business to be certified mold free. NONE.

 

My brother had him out a week earlier and the dog found spot after spot from rugs to walls to windows. Me, none. That was $400 well spent just for peace of mind alone.

 

Moving on- I just realized today that this process has rekindled my love of cooking. I used to cook ALL the time. We even remodeled our kitchen in such a way that attracted the local paper to do a before and after on the project.

Then my daughter was born and I got very tired very quickly from chasing her around all day. I'm sure you can all relate.

 

Now, by force, I'm back in the kitchen all the time and I'm pretty happy about it.

 

Tonight, dinner is bacon chicken. Haven't had it in a few weeks and Brandon loves it.

 

He's SUPPOSED to find out tomorrow what part he got in the school play. He's hoping for Charlie (and the chocolate factory).

 

Also, on a more academic note- he has been bringing home A after A on quizzes and tests this past month so, on top of the little wins, we're seeing some BIG wins too!

[Chemar]

so encouraging to see your update Kevin

[KevinInMA]

Well, I was wondering how long it would take us to screw up a little.

Tonight he went to a friends house. I sent him with chicken fingers, some Terra chips, and corn on the cob.

What did I forget? Thats right. Butter for the corn. He ended up having it with regular butter.

When he got home he realized it and was pretty scared/upset. Took a while to reassure him that he'd be fine.

 

The rest of the night went just fine. No serious tics at all. As he was resting at the end of the night he started coughing. Not sure if it's related. I think he was just tired.

Anyway, tomorrow is a new moon so if the theory is true he should be TOTALLY fine tomorrow.

[KevinInMA]

Well, head colds have been running through this house for over a week now. My wife started us off. She was miserable all last week. I got it two days ago. I use a neti 3x a day when I feel a cold coming on. Mine is not anywhere near as bad as she was. Hopefully the neti is fighting it off or cleaning it away.

 

Today Brandon started to tic more. Mostly the eye roll and cough. Tonight he showed a low-grade fever. Did someone mention that an increase in tic activity is generally a precursor to sickness?

 

I tried getting him to use the neti. There was NO way he was going for that as soon as the water started running into his nose. I tried!

 

Hoping the tics are just from the cold....

[mommyfor4]

Well, head colds have been running through this house for over a week now. My wife started us off. She was miserable all last week. I got it two days ago. I use a neti 3x a day when I feel a cold coming on. Mine is not anywhere near as bad as she was. Hopefully the neti is fighting it off or cleaning it away.

 

Today Brandon started to tic more. Mostly the eye roll and cough. Tonight he showed a low-grade fever. Did someone mention that an increase in tic activity is generally a precursor to sickness?

 

I tried getting him to use the neti. There was NO way he was going for that as soon as the water started running into his nose. I tried!

 

Hoping the tics are just from the cold....

 

Hey Kevin, Yes I had mentioned that our ds generally has increased tics prior to symptom onset and during illness. Our ds is also increasing as cold is ravaging our house as well. Same situation. Tic increase, now mild fever...definately nightly epsom baths for him and extra Vitamin D, C etc.

Can't believe your son even got that far with the neti...noooooooo way our ds would let us put water in his nose...will do saline mist though....as a last resort Hope it all mellows post viral. Take care.

 

Megan