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Getting an Autism Diagnosis
First we got a Pediatrician Referral for an Autism Treatment Evaluation. There isn’t a provider offering this local, so we were referred to our neighboring state NC (about an hour and 10 min drive). The Olsen Huff Center, is part of the Mission Children’s Hospital in Asheville, NC. It usually takes a couple of months to get these appointments scheduled. It’s not a fast process.
Normally this process wouldn’t have been such a hassle but our insurance company counldn’t negotioate with Mission Children’s Hospital. So between our first evaluation and the physiologist meeting, we had to start over.
This time we went with a local resource that handled 6+ year olds, recommended by our insurance, Dr. Roth. But after our fist and second meeting, I found that he was not the right kind of doctor to really evaluate behavioral concerns, but more neurological (took over 2-3 months). He was somewhat reluctant to give a diagnosis due to Rye’s the intellectual delay. He had never seen anyone non-verbal is my understanding. In concern, I went ahead and went with a second opinion, we went through Cherokee Health Systems (took 3-4weeks total). I highly recommend them, they were local (ETSU Physicians Building) and perfect to handle Rye’s testing. They had testing that allowed him to show his developmental levels, he wasn’t frustrated, he was able to show them both his capabilities and his limitations. The good news is, we ended up with 2 Doctors in agreement with Autism Spectrum Disorder within one week. That put my mind at ease, that it was evident to others and not just satisfaction of getting the diagnosis I requested.
God led me through it, to lead me to it!
I feel a calling to share this information, I pray if you stumbled across this post, it was divine and by no accident. When you think of Autism, you generally don’t think of recovery. But I’m here to share hope I am learning from other families, to show you why I feel God led me to this journey in this season of our lives. At this time, my story is sharing what we are doing. Prayerfully, like other families I hope to soon share Rye’s Autism Recovery Story, until then this post will remain ongoing as the story unfolds.
Yesterday, Rye had his first Autism Evaluation. Most people would not be excited about an Autism Diagnosis. I am a little odd but my faith in God allows me different perspectives than most. Our experience was wonderful with Susan Forman, MD. (Mission Children’s Health) What a blessing to have someone with such love in her heart for kiddos like mine. Yesterday, after her evaluation, she reported that based on Rye’s developmental history and my responses to his behavior on the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale (GARS) that he is consistent with a diagnosis of Autism. We will be proceeding with a scheduled Objective Testing, the waiting list is pretty long. My appointment was made today with Dr. Love for March 2018 – 7 months out! She recommends Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA). The ABA can be obtained early, if the insurance will accept her case recommendation, but may require the Objective Testing for payment approval.
Now, let me explain why I am not distressed by this diagnosis, instead I am joyful and full of praise and hope! I see God’s plan unfolding in our lives and for that I am ever thankful. I know God brought me to a journey in my own life, so that I unknowingly became prepared to make the journey necessary for my son (both sons)! My story starts with my son primarily diagnosed with Down Syndrome at birth, many of the books I read mentioned that speech is often delayed till the age of 7, which Rye is fastly aged past. I had accepted the developmental delays and speech delays as part of Down Syndrome and hadn’t questioned it, since we were seeing improvement and an interest in speech I wasn’t too concerned.
You see God sent me an awesome friend and mentor, Sabrina, that offered me some motherly advice from her own experiences with Dual Diagnosis. She suggested that I have Rye tested for a dual-diagnosis of Autism to get him the help he needed (Down Syndrome alone doesn’t qualify him for much benefits). She shared that the delays we were having weren’t typical in most of the kids she knows with Down Syndrome at Rye’s age. I am blessed that she brought this to my attention, because it gave me new light on a what could be a dim situation. I want to add that I was never in denial that Rye may have had Autism, I had shared that with many and considered it. I honestly thought one of the professionals we had seen over the years or on a regular basis would have said, ya know… it might be good to have Rye checked for Autism. Since that hadn’t happened and I just hadn’t thought of benefits to seek that diagnosis out, I had not yet felt the need to pursue it. Honestly, before my health changes, I don’t think I could have processed all of this the same way. I am thankful for this Journey… God lead me through it, to lead me to it.
Recognizing Autism
For me, it was very hard to recognize Autism (only to speculate the possibility), most cases of Autism I knew of spoke of children with a vocabulary and very age appropriate milestones, that regressed quickly, lost speech, eye contact and any desire for socialization. You see Rye never really developed a full vocabulary (but was at 20+ words before 5 yr old vaccines), he was just starting to make those sounds clearly and they faded away. He has always been very socially friendly for his capabilities, hugging, smiling at people, trying to get their attention with sounds or tapping. But as I look back and run across my resources like photos and home videos of Rye, I find notes that I wrote his new milestones down… my evidence begins to add up that more than once he fell into areas of regression in developmental delay, most especially between 2013-2015 near those final vaccinations.
For example this post on my former blog, June 10, 2014, you can see that although speech never fully developed, we were farther along than we are now. That proves his regression. By dates, that post was at the age of 4. I didn’t get his 5 yr School Shots for Kindergarten by the recommended schedule (those homeschoolers…), he got them 11/6/2015. That meant he got them at almost 5.5 years old. From what I know now, I don’t find that a coincidence that delay came after 2015. In 2013, I have notes of him saying Ready, Set, Go in speech. Matter of fact the speech teacher that did that with him so much, was the speech teacher from Early Intervention, prior to 3 years of age. June 26, 2015 my old blog had a post with at least 20 words that Rye said or repeated. It wasn’t an obvious regression, that I could put my finger on, it was a fade. I just know that now we are still working on these words. I mean he never lost a couple of them cookie (ooh-eee) or Cade (ade). He just quit saying them, then it seemed for a while we were starting over, prompting for those same old words he once knew.
Here are some other gains and regressions worth mentioning. In 2014, I found a blog post that he jumped clearing both feet off the ground. This hurts my heart, because we just had to relearn that at 7. More blog posts, May 2014, April 2014, Oct 2013 (just before his 3rd Birthday) of him speaking. A post dated, Dec 7, 2015 shows my comments that he had began appropriately playing with a truck as a new milestone, just at the end of Summer 2017 I was making that same claim AGAIN, with appropriate sound. Another milestone lost and regained was cleaning off the table on his own after finishing his meal, you can see that here 2 years ago.
How my story relates
My personal testimony, I have found healing and renewed health. I had a remarkable side effect, I had a weight loss of 25+ pounds. I am almost back to the size I was in highschool with a similar metabolism. Let me be clear, I wasn’t dieting, I was lifestyle changing for my future! I have regained my life through these changes and learned so much. What I learned mostly was the way it felt when these factors were overtaking my body. I now can personally say, I know and understand the benefits of removing the Inflammation and Heavy Metals, but it wasn’t without sacrifice and determination. Folks let me be blunt, this wasn’t the easy way out. First came prayer, I wanted answers. Then a decision for dedication to that decision as if my life depended on it, cause really it did! This same thing is applying to my son now. God moves and I see his movement in this to guide me.
You see, what God had brought me through in needing to change my own health, led me to a path of hope when it came to Autism. A path I didn’t even realize, I would soon be taking. While I was making changes and doing research I began learning alot about heavy metal poisoning. Stop! I know you probably want to jump this post right now, I pray that you will please just hear me out and have an open mind and heart to what I am about to say. Actually, I ask you to pray right now with me, “Lord if this is for me to consider please speak to my heart on this matter, that I will be open minded and led to the path you would have me go! -AMEN.” I will cover Heavy Metals more, toward the end of this post.
I experienced Heavy Metal Toxicity on top of the overall preexisting Body Inflammation and it was impacting my health, and the ability to live the life I expected to be living. This has turned my 40’s around for the better. The inflammation was making it hard for me to get through each day, damaging my body and I was struggling to be the person, wife and mom I wanted to be.
The Heavy Metal Toxicity came in to play when I had 4 amalgam (was supposed to be 5 but forgot one) fillings removed last summer (I didn’t know about biologic dentistry). Over the next couple months, I developed stronger than ever reactions to foods with MSG or high natural glutamate levels -like tomatos. With much prayer led research, I found Frequent Low Dose Chelation, by the late Andrew Cutler. As I continued research, I was led to information and studies of vaccine damage followed by Fight Autism and Win. This is what led me to the term “Autism Recovery”. I have read lots of family accounts of Reversal of Diagnosis of Autism, some of which I link to here, so you may read for yourself. And honestly if these families have done it, I want that for my child bad enough that I will do what it takes.
It’s pretty obvious in human nature that when we feel our best, we tend to be in a good mood. When we don’t feel our best, it affects how we act: we can tend to be less productive, short-tempered and grumpy. I have read some helpful information, like this link between behavior and the gut.
So first lets deal with Inflammation, cause you can start that immediately.
Since you can start this immediately, I believe the food restrictions I made and the immune system boosting changes were significant in this change for me personally. The positive changes I saw in myself, were also reflected when we put Rye on Coco-Biotics. The positive results we got from the routine of adding coco-biotics was great in itself. This is simply a fermented kefir recipe for coconut water. If you want to follow the improvements gained when we began this regimen with Rye – Click Here!
Candida is a big factor in behavior also, learn more about that here.
Now let’s talk about Chelation of Heavy Metals
This may take a little bit of preparation, it requests that you begin a supplementation 2 
weeks prior to starting. This includes the safe removal of Amalgam dental work. Also, if like me you have a recent exposure to Mercury (Amalgam) you have to wait 3 months from point of exposure to begin ALA, but DMSA is explained available to start sooner. Frequent Low Dose Chelation – devleoped by the late Andrew Cutler (ACC) is the specific chelation I am using NOW. This is not the same thing I did at first. But this is the new plan for myself in 3 months after my final amalgam removal. But the chelation, I did prepared me to understand this process. Every thing you take has a half-life, which is the basis for this chelation.
Half-Life is defined by the medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com as “The time required for half the quantity of a drug or other substance deposited in a living organism to be metabolized or eliminated by normal biological processes. Also called biological half-life.”
The half-life of the chelators was observed and low doses were given in the frequency before the half-life began, preventing the dangerous constant redistribution of the metals throughout the body. In example: You can take Tylenol every 4 hours, which means it’s half-life may begin at 1-4 hours and that may differ for every individual.
In learning this concept, I believe that the original methods I used may have helped with some heavy metal removal, but I don’t believe they were the safest and most effective way of removing the heavy metals. I believe the protocols I used in my first detox unknowingly allowed for dangerous redistribution, although I can’t say I experienced anything that seemed extreme as side effects, that may not be the case for everyone -Many do! That is why I fully support the Andrew Cutler Chelation Methods of Frequent Low Dose Chelation and what I am going to use with my sons is based from ACC. What I am starting with my kids is from the book:
Fight Autism and Win (Second Click to Buy the Book!Edition)
Bisomedical Therapies that Actually Work! , by Jan Martin and Tressie Taylor, otherwise referred to as FAW!
How did my kids get exposed to Heavy Metals?
That’s a great question! Our environment is full of toxins, many are from our water, household products, and food contain heavy metals and we don’t know it. For example: Essential Oils are from plants and if they are not USDA Certified Organic, they may contain toxins and metals from their environments. Foods and water may also contain these, right from your homegrown garden soil. Our bodies have a way to help process things that are breathed, absorbed or eaten, most of that begins with the gut.
Did you know, if you have ever vaccinated your child… you have unknowingly injected heavy metals like Mercury (aka. Thimerosal) and Aluminum intra-cellularly (if that is a word), right into the arms of your child. If that sounds stupid or scary to you, you may be interested to follow this post and watch the videos to learn for yourself how much Mercury and Aluminum are injected in the many childhood vaccinations, by the age of 12-18 months alone. I know as a child I was always told Mercury in Thermometers was very dangerous!!! Well did you know Thimerisol in vaccines even in trace amounts is a form of Mercury.
Please don’t discard this valuable information, vaccines may have contributed to your child having Autism. When your child starts school, you are told they have to have their school shots for 5 year old to start school. I share this for awareness that vaccines aren’t required to get a public education in most states and to help those of you that want the truth about vaccines contents. All this info and more is shared in the next 2 posts (1 and 2), I have shared resources about the fact that there is no testing on the effects of combining all the vaccinations in the schedule, just how much Mercury and Aluminium so that you can become informed.
To tell you the truth, there are no studies that show that vaccines in pregnancy are safe for the baby. In fact, due to fear of the forewarned risk bye the medical professionals I was seeing led me to have not one but 2 flu shots while I was pregnant with Rye. I got the H1-N1 Influenza Shot 10/30/09 just a month before finding out I was 2 months pregnant at the recommendation of the pediatrician because my first child was less than 6 months old and coming up on flu season. The second one I got was 9/24/10… just 4 days before he was born at the recommendation of the Gynecologists. While he was envitro he received double vaccination, and if I go back to our peds records (which I haven’t had time to check yet), I would find he got a flu shot or flu nasal mist. That would make 3 flu vaccinations before he was 6 months old. I regret that I did that out of fear alone… I reread the vaccine paper work, it states Thimerisol plainly was in the vaccine, that was after the Health Department assured me that was removed from my sons vaccines just a year prior when I went investigating. But I only had one-sided resources, which is why I feel the need to share.
Follow Rye’s Progress
I mentioned before, I already had learned things I planned to put into action before knowing a diagnosis of Autism for my son, well both my boys. I also plan to do these things for myself. I offer many resources and support groups to help you in this journey. Follow Here!!!!!
If you suffer from ALLERGIES, ASTHMA, AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES, AMYLOTROPHIC LATERAL SCHLEROSIS, ANKYLOSING SPONDYLITIS, MYASTHENIA GRAVIS, PARKINSON’S DISEASE, ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE, SCHIZOPHRENIA SPECTRUM DISORDERS, BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER, ANXIETY, PANIC ATTACKS, ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER, LEARNING DISABILITIES, ENDOCRINE PROBLEMS, DEPRESSION, OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER, MANIC DEPRESSIVE DISORDER, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS, JUVENILE ARTHRITIS, LUPUS ERYTHROMATOSUS, MULTIPLE CHEMICAL SENSITIVITIES, ENVIRONMENTAL ILLNESS, CHRONIC FATIGUE, FIBROMYALGIA, SCIATICA, GASTRITIS, IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME COLITIS CROHN’S DISEASE, SLEEP DISORDERS, ANOREXIA NERVOSA, BULIMIA, YEAST SYNDROME or other life limiting problems you may want to look into the controversy surrounding Mercury from dental fillings and other sources in Amalgam Illness Diagnosis and Treatment by Andrew Hall Cutler PhD PE. This book can be found in the linked post.
Transformed With Purpose 
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