I have two daughters ages 13 and 10. My second daughter, Terrie*, has many labels including PDD-NOS (which is now an autism spectrum disorder), hypotonia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, and Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD). She has come a long way in the nine years that we have been working on her physical and behavioral issues.
One thing I did differently with my second child than my first was that I allowed a routine medical intervention while pregnant. My doctor said that she was giving this to all her patients now, and there’s no risk. That’s it – no warning about the mercury or aluminum, no questions about whether I was allergic to eggs.
Terrie developed a heart arrhythmia in utero shortly thereafter and was born four weeks early. She was then given routine pediatric medical interventions on schedule, even though she weighed less than six pounds and was slightly jaundiced at birth.
Acid Reflux and Developmental Delays
Around two months of age, she developed what the doctors thought was irritable bowel syndrome. At every feeding, she would throw her hands back and kick and scream in pain. I googled her symptoms and found it was GERD (reflux), and the doctors put her on Zantac.
Terrie missed all her milestones from the six months of age onwards, which was shocking to us as we’d seen her roll over and smile and grab things from a very early age (before six months). Around the 10-12 month point when she still wasn’t sitting up, I insisted that the pediatrician refer us to a neurologist, even though he thought Terrie was just a “late bloomer”. The neurologist took an MRI but couldn’t tell us if the differences in Terrie’s brain were causing her issues or not.
And so the parade of doctors and therapists began – early intervention (speech, physical, and occupational therapy); neurodevelopmental pediatricians, and so much more. We saw a neurodevelopmental pediatrician who tested her with standard cognition tests, and, of course, she failed with flying colors because they all involved motor skills and speech.
PDD-NOS Diagnosis
Eventually around the age of three, Terrie got the PDD-NOS diagnosis. I’m sure most parents who have heard that news know how I felt at that moment.
Terrie started walking finally around age two. By age three, she had entered preschool, and thanks to methyl B12 injections, her language had come in, although she talked about what she wanted to talk about more than having conversations.
Since that point, we have tried the following therapies, remedies, and activities:
- Chiropractic
- Craniosacral therapy
- Speech therapy
- Physical therapy
- Occupational therapy
- Hippotherapy
- Listening therapies
- Feldenkrais
- Homeopathy
- Acupuncture
- Hyperbaric oxygen therapy
- Various supplements and herbs
- Natural chelation/detox
- Zeolites
- Sauna detox
- Various healing diets such as gluten-free/dairy-free (GF/CF) and sugar-free
- ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis)
PDD-NOS Healing in Progress
It could be timing, but right now our combination of a home ABA program combined with a good school program, homeopathy and an organic sugar-free GF/CF diet has really been working. My daughter is not recovered, but has so much language and really great cognition, and makes slow steady progress with her motor skill issues.
We’ve also changed the way we live drastically. We eat mostly organic food and have our own garden. We stick to whole foods, and avoid processed. Yes, it’s much more work to make everything from scratch, but we’re healthier because of our food changes.
We use all green cleaners now, relying heavily on vinegar. We use natural bug sprays when outdoors. We don’t spray our lawn or our plants with pesticides, herbicides or fungicides. We have thrown out all the pharmaceuticals from our cabinets, relying on homeopathy and herbs to treat our issues.
*Name has been changed
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