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We Each Have Two Brains
That's right. Our GI tract is literally, a brain unto itself, made up of more nerve cells than in our entire central nervous system. Our intestinal tract contains neurons, neurotransmitters,, and messenger proteins, all of which can become affected by metal toxicity.
Our central nervous system (the one we're taught about in school) and the enteric nervous system (ENS or gut-brain) are so closely related that they actually develop at the same time during fetal development. It is only later on that they divide to form the separate systems.
We all know what some of the consequences can be to a poorly functioning central nervous system. There are also consequences to a poorly functioning enteric nervous system or GI tract, and the consequences are not confined to intestinal issues. Put simply, since the ENS makes use of neurotransmitters such as seratonin and dopamine just as the CNS does. Therefore, one's brain function can be affected by an imbalanced GI tract.
 Once you become aware of just how important your gut-brain is, you will nourish your body in the best way possible. Once I got my gut functioning properly, I found that my symptoms of depression disappeared. My body simply wasn't absorbing the necessary nutrients in my diet because I had what is termed "leaky gut syndrome."
Leaky gut syndrome is when food proteins literally "leak" through perforations in the intestinal wall and enter the bloodstream. This caused a problem for both Kate and myself. It caused a problem for me because I was not able to absorb necessary nutrients from food. I had difficulty maintaining weight. And the worst part of this was that literally everything I ate passed directly through my breastmilk to Kate, namely, wheat and gluten. So while I strived to give my daughter the best possible start in life by nursing her, my tainted breastmilk actually did some harm.
A short disclaimer: I am pro-breastfeeding. The benefits of breastmilk are too numerous to list. However, there were times when I really thought about switching to formula (before I knew of Kate's wheat allergy) and I researched (a little) about it. What I found was striking: There are no formulas made that do not contain one of the following: wheat, gluten, soy, or corn derivatives. All of these are high on the list of allergens. So, I continued to breastfeed Kate and when I discovered that there was a way for me to first heal myself, and in turn, heal my daughter, I had hope.
Leaky gut syndrome made perfect sense to me. I had had intestinal issues all of my life beginning from the moment I was born. I actually had intestinal surgery at birth and had been diagnosed with diverticulitis and irritable bowel syndrome in my adulthood.
When I began to research this topic in earnest, story after story came back about ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) kids and how gut issues and food intolerances is a common denominator among them. In fact, many cannot tolerate wheat/gluten and casein (the protein found in dairy products.)
Little by little I learned. And put into practice what I thought might help Kate.
Digestive Enzymes
Kate and I began our gut healing journey by using digestive enzymes. (Did you know that the pineapple contains bromelain, a digestive enzyme?) It does, and it tastes good too!
We discovered digestive enzymes through a chiropractor who worked with Kate for a short time. This doctor adjusted her once, but mostly tested foods through Applied Kinesiology or muscle testing. Kate had just started solid foods and I had yet to find a dietary cause for her "allergy eyes" or her sleeplessness.
We brought Kate to this chiropractor in the hopes that we'd find that her sleeplessness was related to a chiropractic issue. Of course, it wasn't, and the muscle testing was not reliable, but I'll be forever grateful to this practicioner for handing me that first jar of enzymes and telling me how to use them. I took them home and set off on another field of research.
What I found was that digestive enzymes are a staple in many homes where there are ASD kids. I learned that enzymes could not only do the obvious, help digest food, but that there are many different types and different uses for each.
This is Karen Defelice's site and is the authoritative site on digestive enzymes. Defelice is the author of Enzymes for Autism and Other Neurological Conditions and Enzymes for Digestive Health and Nutritional Wealth two books that are a must-read if you are at all interested in helping your, or a loved one's gut function in tip top shape.
I have to admit that while I was learning about all of these things that mercury toxic kids had in common, I kept coming up with "Autism" and "Autism Spectrum Disorders" over and over and over. It scared me. So much so that I purposefully did not by Defelice's book with "autism" in the title, and opted instead for the other one.
Did I ever have a lot to learn!
Today my entire family uses digestive enzymes. We have three different types and use them for different things. I attribute a large part of my "healing" to the use of enzymes both with meals and between meals.
Kate's reflux improved significantly as soon as we started using them as well. I hope that you will take the time to educate yourself about this fascinating subject.
The digestive enzymes that we began using was a good start, but not quite enough to do the entire job. What I was looking for was a way to pinpoint what Kate was reacting to and to heal my leaky gut in the meantime.
I found that I was able to do both of these things by following this diet.
Again, the more research I did and the more I learned, the more signs pointed to ASD. Turns out, there are lots of ASD kids following this diet and getting good results. If it worked for them, I thought, it'll work for us, and I set off to follow this diet with what they call "fanatical adherence."
Basically, this diet was designed for people with celiac disease, a disease caused by wheat/gluten intolerance. There are many other benefits to this diet beside eliminating wheat and gluten for those who cannot tolerate it. It can also heal one's leaky gut as it did for me.
I am incredibly grateful to my friend Jane S. whom I met in one of my mother's chat forums for leading me to this information. Finding this "diet" completely changed my view on nutrition and certainly taught me about gut health.
Disclaimer: This is not a "diet." Meaning, it is not designed to help one lose weight. I feel the need to say that here since so many people associate the word "diet" with weight loss. Yes, it's a diet in that there is a protocol to follow, but it's not designed for anything other than intestinal health.
A Trip to the Allergist
Ironically, about 5 weeks after we began following the SCD, we brought Kate to the only pediatric allergist we could find. He flat out and boldly told me that he didn't think he'd find anything (from test results) but that he'd go ahead and test her anyway. He said we had a healthy, happy baby on our hands.
Part of that was true. We did have a happy baby. By this time Kate was ten months old, and while she continued in her pattern of sleeplessness, she was, for the most part, a happy girl. My husband and I often marveled at this fact.
I knew that Kate's allergic symptoms were from food. I just couldn't pinpoint the culprit despite the hours I spent studying my detailed food logs.
We opted to do the R.A.S.T. test for Kate because we did not want to subject her to numerous needle pricks. The RAST was one blood draw. Quick. Relatively easy.
A little over a week later, and on a Saturday afternoon, the allergist called us on the telephone. The results were in. Kate was "highly" allergic to wheat/gluten. The allergist advised us to give up products containing these things immediately.
Fortunately, we had been following the Specific Carbohydrate Diet for almost six weeks at that point and so we had a jump start on being wheat/gluten free.
Incidentally, it took another solid two weeks for the dark circles, red bumps, and puffiness to disappear around Kate's eyes.
As soon as the wheat and gluten was out of Kate's system, she steadily improved.
Here's some of what we noticed right away:
- No more "allergic eyes."
- Her "checked out" look was gone.
- No more stimming behaviors.
- Less aggression.
We had hope once more!
Ninety Percent of the Immune System Function is Linked to the Gut
Once we discovered how vital the enteric nervous system is, we began to formulate a plan for Kate. We were already on the SC diet and I had begun adding supplements to her diet, including cod liver oil, vitamin C in the form of sodium ascorbate, bioflavanoids, and selenium. She was also taking a multvitamin and I had started using transdermal epsom salt cream on her at night.
Again, Kate fit the typical profile of a mercury toxic kid. Most children with metal toxicity have abnormal nutritional profiles. It is not uncommon for them to be deficient in many important vitamins and minerals including zinc, copper and the B vitamins.
It was roughly around this time that I found a lab that would test Kate's hair for metal toxicity without an order from a doctor. Of course, the results came back showing exactly what we thought they'd show. She was high in mercury, bismuth, aluminum and titanium.
Her essential elements profile showed the she was very low in calcium, magnesium, and a few others and much too high in things like boron and molybdenum. Basically, her nutritional profile was all over the map.
I cried when my suspicions were confirmed and I put the test results away in a folder and didn't think about them again until a few months later. I guess I needed to "stick my head in the sand" so to speak and take a breather. Looking back, I don't really know why I did that. Perhaps I was in denial.
Kate didn't let the issue go though, and also around this time (10-12 months old) she began refluxing again and this time also throwing up with a vengeance.
Yeast
Where there are metals, there is yeast. Kate was no exception. She had an overgrowth of yeast in her intestinal tract.Yeast can wreak all kinds of havoc on the immune system, the brain and the gut. Yeast is one of the bacteria in the gut that you don't want. When yeast overgrowth occurs, it can cause behavioral disturbances, sleep disturbances and more. Getting the yeast under control is key in helping these children find, and maintain health. It is important to maintain the proper balance of bacteria in the gut.
Chlorine Affects Gut Flora
My first daughter began swim lessons through the Safe Start swim program when she was only 7 months old. She is now an excellent and avid swimmer. Safe Start is an infant survival program and since we live in Florida and are surrounded by water, we know that this is an important skill for our girls to have.
Kate began her swim lessons when she was almost a year old. It was at this time that her sleep became worse (and it had gotten slightly better, with 3 hour sleep stretches some nights.) Not only did her sleep take another turn for the worse, but her refluxing began again and now she'd throw up. Most of the time she'd throw up an hour or two after swimming. Her instructors watched her, I kept track of how often and I again, began to research.
What I found was another lightbulb moment for me. Chlorine kills off beneficial gut flora. Aha! Of course. Needless to say, Kate did not finish her 4 weeks of swim lessons and I began giving her probiotics right away.
Now, I use dechlorination tablets in our bathtub every time the girls bathe. Chlorine is a toxic substance and can cause other problems besides just killing off gut flora.
Just last week I spoke with Kate's DAN! doctor about the possibility of her starting Safe Start this year. Interestingly, there are some things I can do for her to combat not only the chlorine, but the metals in the piping, etc. His suggestions:
magnesium or zinc cream applied transdermally about 15 minutes before swimming. We can also switch Kate's zinc supplement to the a.m. instead of giving it to her at night.
Kate and her sister will start swim lessons sometime in the next month or two and I'll keep a close check on how this works.
Probiotics are key for gut healing. They replenish the good bacteria in the gut and help it function properly. There are all kinds of different strains and a large part of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet's success comes from its 24 hour yogurt. People who follow the SCD make their own yogurt which contains the easy to digest, and most beneficial strains of probiotics.
I did make the yogurt and ate some myself and fed some to my oldest daughter. I was not giving Kate any yogurt at this point because I was worried about the dairy. (Even though the proteins are no longer in the same form once the milk is made into yogurt.) Still, I was reluctant. When she did begin eating it, she ate is sporadically so it was difficult for me to get probiotics into her on a daily basis.
Again, after much research, I found a brand and a strain that I thought would benefit her the most and spoke with the owner of the company who agreed. These probiotics have helped Kate immensely. She stopped refluxing, and stopped throwing up. I know this is because she was away from the chlorine, but the probiotics undoubtedly have restored her beneficial gut flora.
 A Note About Pharmaceutical Drugs
In the early days, we kept going back to our pediatrician to ask him about Kate's sleeplessness. He would smile at us and basically dismiss it as an "issue" because Kate fell into a "normal" percentile on the growth charts. It was me who asked if he thought perhaps her sleeplessness was related to her
reflux, and while he thought it wasn't, he sent us home with a prescription for metoclopram (Reglan.)
This drug, originally marketed for people with schizophrenia, is now marketed to increase intestinal motility. If you, or a love one is taken this drug, I implore you to look into it further. Reglan crosses the blood-brain barrier and can cause all kinds of problems and there are many lawsuits filed against the makers of this dangerous drug.
I instinctively knew not to give Kate this drug, but I was desperate. Our whole family was desperate. We were desperately searching for something to help Kate, and were desperate for sleep ourselves. While I never gave her the prescribed dose, I did give her some. She was seven months old. I didn't know that Reglan can actually cause sleeplessness, insomnia and restlessness and this is what it did to Kate. At this juncture, Kate didn't sleep at all. She'd lie down at night next to me but had difficulty keeping her eyes closed. I could tell by her breathing, even when her eyes were closed, that she wasn't asleep.
Finally, one weekend, out of sheer terror for our daughter's well being, we called our pediatrician on a Saturday. He was away for two weeks. We went to a local walk in clinic. The intake nurse we saw, immediately said, "She's on Reglan isn't she,?" even before I had a chance to get to that part of the paperwork. This wonderful woman proceeded to tell me personal stories of the ill effects she's witnessed as a result of this drug.
We tried two different drugs after this; zantac and cimetedine. We did not try either of them for long. Finally, my husband and I decided one day to throw them all in the trash. And that's what we did. Luckily, after this pharmaceutical drug fiasco, I found the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.
A Final Note About Nutrition
I toyed with the idea of including a page entirely devoted to nutrition. Why didn't I? First, because the subject, again, is a vast one and secondly, because the nutrition I am interested in relates to the immune system.
Now that we know the immune system is directly linked to the gut, you've got all the information you need now to make better choices about what you put into yours, or your child's body. The right foods can have incredible healing power.
It is unfortunate, that you won't learn about nutrition and how it relates to immune function in school. You won't get a nutrition 101 course at your newborn's well baby visit, in fact, nutrition is rarely mentioned at all.
HELP US EDUCATE
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