Continued Improvement

[momcap]

Since my last positive update didn't totally jinx things, I'm posting another positive update. DS(turned 8 this week!) is continuing to heal with integrative treatment for lyme, bartonella and babesia. This week was rough, with lots of agitation, followed by a couple of aggressive days. These are all things we used to deal with on a daily basis. But yesterday he broke through again, and is having good days again! It's like his cycle has sped up. Now his symptoms ramp up for a week, with a small blow up, followed by several good days. This is way better than before, when we could have DAYS of full-out raging, hopefully followed by 1 or 2 good days before things started ramping back up. We are seeing those good days more and more often with less bad days inbetween! Here are the specific changes we have noted so far:

 

* significantly reduced OCD

* verbal tics 100% gone

* severe germaphobia is almost completely gone!!!

* his therapist noted that he made a friend in the waiting room for the first time (she's been seeing him for 4 years!), and that his 1 on 1 communications are drastically improved, as well as his ability to focus and complete tasks

* his teacher & principal note that he is engaged in the classroom with no work refusals at all (he missed 88 days of school last year due to behaviour problems, and when he did go it was only for 2 hours in the mornings)

* he now likes one of the toddlers I babysit, and tolerates or ignores the other one instead of getting angry when I'm babysitting

* He has friends! He goes over to a friend's house after school 1 or 2 nights a week. (I couldn't have imagined this a few months ago)

* He let us cut his hair with clippers (would have gone into hysterics before)

* He is showering and bathing regularly because HE wants to, not because I make him

* Huge reduction in defiance, I would now say he is strong-willed rather than defiant and that's a big difference

* Realizes when he's wrong and actually says sorry!

* able to think again - can do math again and is catching up on his academics

* likes going to church now (hated it before) and can tolerate "church clothes"

* feels cold now (used to wear shorts all winter)

* can't overeat anymore - his brain is getting the message that he's full

And my favourite:

* HE'S SMILING! I'm seeing that smile more and more. He even smiled for a picture this week!

 

I know the PANDAS / lyme debates got ugly at times, but if it wasn't for the persistance of you lyme moms I never would have found out we all have lyme. My child is healing and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart!

[philamom]

Yeah!!!!

[NancyD]

FANTASTIC news!!! :-)

[SSS]

Thank you for posting such a detailed post- can relate to a lot of it. Need the hope :-)

Good job Mom on all your very hard work---

[KaraM]

Awesome news! Thanks for sharing.

 

I'm curious about the eating comment. Can you tel me more about that (now thankfully past) behavior??

 

 

 

Thanks,

Kara

[momcap]

Awesome news! Thanks for sharing.

 

I'm curious about the eating comment. Can you tel me more about that (now thankfully past) behavior??

 

 

 

Thanks,

Kara

 

Sure! He used to be able to eat incredible amounts of food. This has always been the case. I recall when he was 9 months old he would eat a whole banana, and then polish off an entire box of Kraft dinner and still cry for more. At 18 months he would out-eat me at the Pizza Hut buffet. When he started school I would pack 2 lunch bags full and he would still come home complaining he was hungry. He always ate 3-4 times more than other kids his age. I think his thyroid must have been off because he's never been overweight. He's at the top end for weight, but he is in the 95th %ile for height too, so the doc says that's normal. Thyroid testing came back normal. IDK. Now when he tries to eat a crazy amount of food he feels sick. I keep telling him this is normal, and finally his body is working properly. I don't know if it's purely thyroid, or if his brain is just getting the message from his stomach now. I've wondered about a disconnect between his brain and body for all of his senses. When he was a toddler he couldn't feel pain for 2 years. That one was really scary. When he was 4 he couldn't smell for a year, then his sense of smell came back on overdrive and he was constantly overwhelmed. For a long time he listened to everything full-blast, complaining he couldn't hear, even though hearing tests came back normal too. His sense of taste changes from time to time and he no longer likes his favourite things and complains that everything tastes different. So I don't really know what is going on with the eating thing. I just know that he is eating normal portions now, and feels sick if he tries to eat a huge amount like before.

[ksole]

Great to see the progress ! I know what you are going thru, we have been treating for lyme induced autism and my son will be 3 1/2 and we are month 9 of antibiotics and prior to that I did naturals for 3 months with great success. Last week my son let me trim his nails ! I do still cut his hair when he is asleep

Good luck !

[JuliaFaith]

Wow - impressed with your son's progress. Hoping for continuing recovery and positive results! Thank you for sharing your good news.

[smartyjones]

DS(turned 8 this week!) is continuing to heal with integrative treatment for lyme, bartonella and babesia.

 

 

 

WOW -- that's fabulous -- almost any one of those things you list by themselves would be great progress -- but all together!!!

would you share what you are doing as integrative treatment? thanks.

[momcap]

 

 

WOW -- that's fabulous -- almost any one of those things you list by themselves would be great progress -- but all together!!!

would you share what you are doing as integrative treatment? thanks.

 

Sure! He's on a pretty aggressive antibiotic schedule - although we're only part way into it and are still adding 2 more antibiotics. Our LLMD also says we will be changing antibiotics later on too. He's being treated for yeast with nystatin and we're adding in diflucan this week because he keeps having yeast symptoms - (itchy bum, itchy skin, bladder problems, moody, hyper).

 

By "integrative" I guess I mean all the supplements. Here's all the supplements he takes so far:

 

JuicePlus - nutritional supplement

Omega 3

Antioxidants - right now we're using Zambroza drink but he hates it so we'll have to switch

Probiotics 100 billion (avoiding streptococcus thermophilus, just in case)

S. boulardii - good yeast

Vitamin D (his blood tests showed deficiency)

Detox - liver, bowel, urinary, enviro, lymph (all products from nature's sunshine)

Artemisinin (for babesia)

 

He's already taking 30 pills a day, and will be increasing as we add new things. It's a LOT, and requires a schedule to keep antibiotics away from probiotics, nystatin away from yeast, etc. It's pretty rough, but so far it seems to be working wonders.