Connecting the Dots...

This past Summer, waiting for horseback riding to begin...

Oh, boy, where to begin?

I’ve put so much of my thought process into this blog and it doesn’t cease to amaze me how I happen to be in analysis mode continuously.  Even at an unconscious level, I am always thinking about how Dante is doing and why he is feeling this way today.  It is constant, unstoppable.  Doesn’t that pretty much happen to all parents of children with autism?

And there are so many variables!  It is overwhelming!

So I will back up to mid-Summer and tell you about the dots I have recently connected...

Some months back I was catching up with my dear friend Lucy, who has worked so hard on her son’s awesome recovery.  Lucy knows everyone and everything that has ever been invented to help children with autism.  She is the source.  Anyway at some point during our conversation she mentioned Kombucha, which is a fermented drink, and I asked her about that and she told me about the GAPs diet.  She then paused and said that, given Dante’s history of gastrointestinal issues, maybe I should consider the GAPs diet for him.  I had read about the diet before, but decided to give it a second look.

The book to read if you want to learn about GAPS is GAPS Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD, a neurologist and neurosurgeon.  In the chapter on Epilepsy, the doctor discusses the different diets used for seizures, including the Ketogenic, the Modified Atkins Diet for Seizures and the Low Glycemic Index Treatment.  I would like to share some quotes from her book on this topic (the underlined part was marked by me):

It is still considered to be a mystery how the ketogenic diet works.  The initial assumption that it is the ketone bodies that reduce the seizure activity proved to be wrong, as the level of ketones does not correlate with an anticonvulsant effect.  It appears that ketone bodies are just used by the brain as an energy source while the body is dealing with the real cause of the seizures.  In my opinion, what unites all these diets is the low carbohydrate content, in particular the exclusion of heavy starchy complex carbohydrates.  The GAPS diet does the same:  all starch and complex carbohydrates are removed…carbohydrates, particularly starch and refined sugars, feed pathogens in the body:  in the gut and everywhere else.  By severely restricting carbohydrates in the diet the activity of pathogens in the body is also severely restricted. 

From the beginning of its existence, the “side effect” of GAPS Nutritional Protocol in many of my patients was the disappearance of fits, seizures, tics, spasms, and involuntary movements, whether truly epileptic or not….My clinical experience has led me to a simple conclusion:  the majority of epileptic seizures are the result of two factors, which work in combination: 

1.  Damaged gut wall…lets in a plethora of very toxic substances that reach the brain and trigger seizures…

2.  Nutritional deficiencies…

This book is the first to connect for me the gastrointestinal issues Dante has always had and his seizures.  We have been on the Modified Atkins Diet for Seizures for over a year and his seizures had stopped, only to return eight months later.  What are we missing?

After reading this book I introduced into Dante’s diet the liquid from Sauerkraut – as a probiotic that goes deep into his gut, and re-introduced bone broth at every meal – as a way to multiply the good bacteria consistently.  I call that the “good armies” or the “Resistance” against the bad bacteria.  I also wondered if there were neurologists out there who would be able to advise me directly on Dante’s diet and its relationship with his seizures.

I found such a doctor, a neurologist, who gave me a lot of information on how to feed Dante to heal his brain.  Among multiple things, the doctor recommended water enemas, and to use several after a BM to clean out the intestine.  If I found anything suspicious, anything that looked like a worm, I should email a photo for the doctor to evaluate. 

During our second appointment, among other things, the doctor recommended I buy a product called Biofilm Defense.  What is interesting is what I found when I went to purchase Biofilm Defense in Amazon.  On that same page Amazon alleges that Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought…and right below that is the book Healing the Symptoms Known as Autism, by Kerri Rivera.

Yet another book about Autism? I thought.  Until I began reading the customer reviews.  Almost all the reviews are from parents who have followed the protocol in this book and achieved remarkable and measured improvement in their kids with Autism.  Even young adults had improved dramatically.  Young Adults.  Even kids with seizures!  That’s unheard of.  I just haven’t heard of any other approach that delivers this level of results.  But what else had me convinced?  Well, again this book continues to connect the dots between the gut and Dante’s seizures.  Here’s a quote from the book:

I have talked to many different professionals about seizures and in turn have heard just as many different opinions on why this happens.  Many doctors are unsure, while some simply don’t express their opinions.  Some say it is a virus in the brain or heavy metals, inflammation, or pathogens/parasites.  In a presentation by Andreas Kalcker, he stated that high levels of ammonia in the body can cause seizures and the high levels of ammonia in the body come from parasites.

The book includes a parasite protocol which is highly effective for seizures.  This book also discusses all the other autism characteristics that it addresses, which I won’t go into now.  The author uses the ATEC score to determine if a child can be considered “recovered”.  An ATEC score less than 10 means the child is not considered autistic.  Kerri Rivera has recorded 103 kids (up to today) who have achieved an ATEC score below 10 following this protocol.  Dante, my friends, has an ATEC score of 99.  We have some work to do.

So far I knew about the importance of diet, then I learned that the pathogens in the body could be causing the seizures, then I learned that those pathogens could actually be parasites inside my son – giving off ammonia which is what causes the seizures.  To make a long story short, I began following this protocol gently with Dante several weeks ago and we are already finding worms in his stool! 

Today he said “Dadda” when he saw his dad for the first time.  And when offered his new remedy, which he did not want to take, he said, “All gone!”.  Words that we hadn’t heard for so long are returning – and staying.  The difference between a protocol and a good protocol is how fast it can heal and how sustained the healing is.  The beauty in this one is how many so called “non-responders” have responded to it.  Those are the most difficult cases to heal. The clinical experiences following Kerri Rivera’s protocol show evidence of both fast and sustained healing.  I couldn’t believe it when I read the stories.  We will see how it goes for Dante.

So late Friday I’m returning to my desk at work and my phone rings.  I did not recognize the phone number.  I answered and was so surprised to hear the neurologist I mentioned at the beginning of this post.  A doctor calling to follow up on Dante?  I’m not used to that at all!  I was very pleasantly surprised.  The doctor asked about Dante and I said I had gotten worms out of him.  Worms!?  How did you do that?  I sent the doctor the worm pictures and Roundworm as well as others were confirmed.  Through the pictures the doctor realized that I had found and was following Kerri Rivera’s protocol.  I had not mentioned this protocol to the doctor as I felt I was “cheating” the doctor’s direction.  To my surprise, once I was “caught” using the protocol, all the doctor said was:  “God Bless You”.  The doctor was so happy for me.  The doctor had wanted for me to find this protocol but could not recommend it as it is not part of the acceptable medical practice. 

I feel I got the most unexpected confirmation that we are on the right track.  I will post more later about how it is going.  Meanwhile, I highly recommend you get this book.  It will very probably help someone you love.

You may find more information here:

• The CDAutism website
• This YouTube video  Curing autism with MMS (Master Mineral Solution)
• The phenomenal CDAutism Facebook group