Multivitamin Forte

I once, had tried giving Jaden the Klaire Labs Multivitamin Forte and he rejected it with so much struggles and tears that I gave up trying.

This time, I am adamant to keep to my 2012 resolution and be a warrior mom and boy, he actually took it in without throwing a great fuss like before. *touch wood, hoping I am not jinxing it by saying it out loud*

To know what it tastes like and why Jaden rejects it with such great struggle, I need to try it myself to know the reason why and yes, it does taste bitter but most good stuff are bitter aren't they?

Well, this time I stuffed the capsule powder into his beloved sweet mangoes, oranges and even tried it with his soy yoghurt mixed with maple syrup to even out the bitterness. 

Although there are a few rejections every single time I bring the thing to his face, he will eventually open his mouth and eats it.

This multivitamin forte is the third item that I had introduce to him and I have been seeing some loose mushy stools. Almost similar to diarrhea but this is not the watery type. Just mushy mustard colour and he also have some well formed ones, just that it is now more to mustard coloured ones compared to his previous black, sticky hard stools that were hard to come out when he pushes. Now, its satisfactory but I am keeping my eyes open as I don't like it when his stool is in a mushy diarrhea form.

Tomorrow, I shall start on his antifungal again. Gonna be on a two weeks course again and hope that his concentration comes back again, or be a lot lot more aware than what he is now.

What I noticed that after taking his B6, he has turned a little more hyper and his stimming behaviors are back. He is starting to spin his cars, so I try to keep them out from sight, a few times I caught him walking on toes. OH NO! but that was only a few times so I am trying to observe longer just to hope those are one time cases. He also, is getting a little obsessive about things so that is a no good sign too. He sometimes do get lost in a daze, the faraway look yet he is still aware of other things and showing me other positive behaviors.

Just today, there was a display of fireworks outside my balcony, and he was actually appreciating the fireworks. We have brought him out to see fireworks before and that just went unnoticed. Today, he asked for more when it ended. He was excited and happy to see the display going off!

Then, now when his diaper is full, and he comes to me and put my hands on his diaper. As if he is trying to tell me that it is time to change his diaper and that he is feeling uncomfortable and he wants a bath YET when after he poos, he still don't show me signs of being uncomfortable. Only once, he ran to me after he pooed because he was feeling very uncomfortable and itchy due to a rash that happened. I did not notice any more of these uncomfortable signs anymore.

Is this the doing of the B6? Cant be, could it? Shall shoot his DAN doctor an email after his 14 days on difuclan. 

Updates

It has been 10 months since Jaden started his ABA program and boy, I become a prouder parent each time, every week, every month.

Jaden has been showing good progress so far, sometimes still lost in a daze but overall, he is doing well and it puts a smile on my face everytime he puts what he learn into practice.

He had never really shown an interest in wanting to play with toys and voila! now, he can even initiate and choose the toys he wants to play and plays it with a lot of patience.

Jaden is so much more aware of his surrounding and things that are going on. He is actually quite observant as he picks up whatever he sees, imitation. He tends to imitate after a while observing.

Although we (Jaden and us) did not get to achieve a breakthrough in the verbal sector, he is much more vocal now, letting us know what he likes and what he does not by of course, if he likes a thing, he would give you a million dollar smile and if he does not agree or ain't liking what he sees in front of him, he will whine and whine and closes his eyes. As if if he can't see the things, its not there to him.

Jaden's level of understanding is also much more better. He is showing higher compliance, obeying instructions although there are times when his mood is cranky then we shall just see a screaming monster. 

I tend not to allow him to get on with his ill-mannerism. Afterall I want him to learn that he would not get the things he want by showing negative behavior. I am one parent that really can't stand naughty boys, be it a special needs child or neurotypical child. Children learn fast when it comes to bad behavior and its our duty as parents to ensure that they don't go down that road. Some people do tell me that I should not use the cane on him but well, being Asian, being me, on how I was brought up, I believe that the method works. At least it shows better results than the West where children answer back at their parents,giving smartypant answers. You might say, it allows creative thinking but sorry, I ain't liking creative thinking that way. 

Since he has been showing positive results, his ABA supervisor gave the green light to move on into other programs.

We are now going to try to teach him how to blow because one may not know it but blowing, sucking, chewing helps with his oral muscle and that might just be our little needle (key) in the haystack to help open the door to Jaden being verbal. 

Other than ABA, his DAN doctors are also pushing up more supplements like vitamin B6, MB12 shots and chelation to see if that would help with the coming of speech too. I am so afraid to hear that he might be diagnosed with Oral Apraxia, which I hope its not.. I pray hes just a late talker.. 

So how does he communicate with us, you would ask. How do we know what he wants / wants to do and all. Well, its easy to tell since we are his parents. Now I understand why my parents say even before I move, they would know what I am up to next. Jaden will physically let us know where he wants to go and what he wants to do. 

Its a long tedious journey and be it how long, as long as he is my son, I shall walk on with him down this road. 

Back to Step One

Most of the supplements that I acquired beginning of Jaden's biomed journey is nearing their expiry or have either been finished.

Therefore, I truthfully told Dr Erwin Kay that in truth, Jaden has not been taking his supplements the way he should and that the only thing that I am doing for Jaden is keeping him to his GFCF diet although I do slack here and there too, even in that area. :(

So, this trip down to Dr Erwin Kay, I was given another round of basic supplements and maybe more for Jaden and now I am back to step one.

Its been two days since Jaden took this first supplement from the lot, the Digestive Enzymes and I have been seeing some good poop. Yea, I can tell what good and bad poop my son is pushing out from his ass and for the past few months, his poo has been irregular. Maybe every two days once to three days once but that too, only one or two in hard form, blackish or well, you can even tell what he ate the last two three days so that is actually a NO GOOD SIGN from Jaden's medical situation.

What we like to see is well formed big ones, those you would deem satisfying. UUrrgghh right? Well, a mom got to go through all these.. can't be all squirmish eh? but if you ask me about the smell, I would tell you the answer straightaway. They all smell like shit! Smelly or not, they are still shit! Funny how his DAN doctors keep asking if they were smelly.. but I do understand what they mean. 

So after two days on Digestive Enzymes and seeing positive results, I started on the B6 capsule, once a day -to be given in the morning only as it might caused him either hyperactiveness or vivid dreams (disturbed sleep) but so far, the thing that I observed after giving him that is that he became rather down-looking, not interested in fooling around like usual, the usual laughter and all that and what his therapist said is that he was just not laughing as what he usually will do when they piggyback him or play his favourite things. He was just looking all calm and sometimes, showing signs of being sleepy.

I never knew that we need so much vitamins in us in order to function healthy. Vitamin B6 is very much needed by Jaden to progress on to the next stage and what does the vitamin B6 do to him? Well, you can read it here. Of course, we do not only rely on the supplements he take to make his body's need suffice but also with fruits, veges and meat that provides the same benefits. 

Shall see how it goes tonight, if the B6 will affect his sleep and one more time tomorrow to see if he reacts the same to the supplement. If its all good by tomorrow then I shall be introducing the next supplement on Thursday. Don't know which one yet though. LOL Maybe the probiotics Factor 6, the one with the 100+ billion strains of the good tummy bacteria. 

We are going to head on to MB12 shots and chelation to help see if it would help in the speech sector as Jaden is showing signs of progress in other matters but speech so we are all hoping that that will come even if it means slowly but before that, well, I have got lots to do for him and also another round of antifungal and then the chelation journey.

Selfish

I have not been updating this blog for quite some time as I sort of, kind of gave up after a few tries and cried of rejection from Jaden when it comes to taking his supplements. 

The endless fights, tears from both ends and the non-supportive rattlings made me stop what I started a year ago.

This is, a very very selfish part on my side.

Jaden, who has no idea what he is going through right now, has only me and Mr to help him get on the road to recovery and me, just because I did not want to make my hands dirty, stopped feeding him supplements for quite some time and that, I really really hate myself deep down inside.

I am his mother, the one that is supposed to be helping him yet I am not.. but well, I have made my 2012 resolution and that is the one and only resolution I am making for the year 2012 until 2013 comes along and that is, to be the warrior mom I never was and to help Jaden fight this together even if it means bucket of tears from both end.

GFCF Tomato Carbonara Pasta

Looking at how Jaden's GFCF food menu did not have much of a variety for months, I tried out a recipe I found on the GFCF Lady's blog and well, it turned out to be a hit with Jaden. OK, not exactly a hit but the taste was there, neither bland or too salty so I consider it a success.

There are a few recipes on GFCF Lady's website that I know I will definitely try in the near future. In fact, I think I am going to try at least 2 or 3 a week for Jaden. Kesian, he has to eat nearly the same food every day. No harm done to me anyway, it will just help better my cooking skills .. i hope!

I did not follow the recipe exactly but tweaked it to what I have in my kitchen.

I guess its a deed of paying it forward, so I shall paste my recipe and instructions on how to cook this dish. Simple, fuss free to the max.

Ingredients

• 6 Organic Tomatoes
• 1 or 2 Red Onion
• 5 pieces of garlic (skin peeled and mashed a bit) 
• Minced garlic (to fry with the minced beef)
• half a pack of the chopped basil leaves
• Minced beef (you can also use bacon)
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of xylitol ( sugar )
• a big sprinkle of sea salt (sprinkle to your common sense on how much its needed to make the sauce tasteful)
• 3/4 pack of gluten free pasta (spaghetti / fettuccini)
• Italian herb

Recipe

1. While you are preparing the ingredients, bring the water in the pot to boil to cook the pasta.
2. Make sure the water is boiling hot, put in a teaspoon of salt or whatever that is reasonable enough to make the pasta tasteful.
3. Add the pasta -cook accordingly to the time instructed.
4. Cut the tomatoes and onion into quarter and throw them into the blender together with the mashed garlic and chopped basil leaves.
5. Pour olive oil into the blender, not too much and sprinkle a generous amount of sea salt and blend.
6. Next, drizzle a little olive oil into the pot and fry the minced garlic till it nearly turns brown.
7. Put in the minced beef, sprinkle salt, black pepper and italian herb and fry them till its cooked.
8. Next, pour the blended sauce into the pot and bring it to a boil (medium heat)
9. Put a teaspoon of xylitol into the sauce and taste to see if its a nice combination of saltyness and sweetness. Not too sweet of course. If not salty enough, add a bit more salt.
10. Once the pasta is cooked, pour away the water and pour in the cooked sauce.
11. Toss the pasta so that it will be coated in the sauce evenly.
12. Let the pot of pasta cook over the fire for a little longer while you toss from time to time.
13. Now you are ready to serve.

Sounds simple, no frills right? I appreciate simple recipes like these, for I am really a noob when it comes to cooking so ingredients and recipes require a bit more thinking just doesn't work for me.

Do share with me if you decide to try this recipe out. :)

Hiatus

I have not been updating quite as often as I thought. Such procrastination from my side.

I have already been down to Singapore  trips to consult with Dr Erwin Kay and a lot more of supplements have been prescribed but me, being the worrisome mother held back quite long on certain supplements.

Sometime back late March till early April, we noticed that Jaden was stimming back again and his OCD-like behavior in opening and closing of cabinet doors got to us. Dr Erwin then prescribed another round of antifungal (drug-based) Nizoral and Bactrim which Jaden is supposed to go on a 10 day course but after asking around other parents, I decided to wait for a while and see if Jaden will improve without those meds. Instead, I cut down on certain foods or put in less of whatever I use to cook.

True enough, his stimming and OCD-like went away in about a month on his own, and that, put my heart at ease for a while as I was so worried that the drug-based antifungal might affect his liver.

And then before that, when I was down in January earlier on, Jaden was given the green light to start his AC protocol chelation but me, such a procrastinator, did not manage to start chelating him even after getting back the urine test kits (before and after to test for metals and minerals).

So now, this trip, last weekend I informed Dr Erwin about Jaden's status -in ABA, normal days and how he fare on his basic routine supplements. Seems like Jaden is showing much more awareness in terms of emotions and learning skills although he still has his temper right left and center.

He seemed to be eager to imitate his father but attempting to do the flying kiss action and also trying to drink from a bottle (coke bottle kinda bottle). He seems to think whatever his father does is fun but not all the time.

Jaden also seemed to be attracted to newspapers, namecards, namelist - practically anything with small alphabets, numbers and objects which he likes to compare and observe. He is still non-verbal until now but making more attempts in talking in his own language -displaying his happiness and of course, displeasure.

Jaden fell sick about three weeks ago and he shed a few kgs off during the sick period. It was rather nasty as I have not seen him fall sick like this before. It comes and go and it came back, with runny nose and cough. I was so afraid that he might get a sore throat that was as bad as me so I made him drink lots and lots of water.

So for now, we will continue with the chelation protocol but this time round, it would be the Calcium Disodium EDTA suppository form. As most parents would have read up about how two kids in United States of America has fallen victim to the wrong EDTA prescribed, I double checked and understood that I have to feed him more calcium-mag as well as when the body is chelating out the metals, they also chelate out certain good minerals so it is very important to double up his supplements.

To kick things off, I will probably introduce TMG, OSR and milk thistle to the supplement list, followed by calcium-magnesium then the chelation which I hope to start at least by next week Monday.

Since I came back from Singapore, 18th June, after an overnight trip there and also paying a visit to fellow mummy Anna in Singapore, sharing experiences and she showing me how her VABA therapy is done for her son, it sure was one eye opener. She is really doing great, the way she diligently updates her son's therapy tools, being strict on every organic and gfcfsf meals. I bow my head in respect as I think I failed in some areas.

Jaden was feeling all moody and tired all the time too eversince my trip. It was as if he has not recovered fully and would sleep till really late into the afternoon. He looked so sad that I decided enough was enough, time to ask experienced parents out there for some advice and quickly, putting their advice into action. True enough, by nightime and the next day, Jaden showed some positive results. No longer feeling lethargic although he would still nap for about 3 hours but at least he seems much more cheerful, back to his smiley cheeky self.

So what was the trick to all of that from my side when Jaden is feeling all down, tired, no mood to do anything or deal with anyone -its pumping him with more fruits, probiotics (2 caps of Therbiotic Complete and Detox / twice daily and 2 S.Boulardii at night once a day), double up on zinc, instead of 2 caps daily, i turned it into 4 caps daily, his digestive enzymes and interfase, I gave him two DE intead of one each time and 2 caps of interfase too, so it brings it up to 3 times a day, meaning 12caps a day and of course, his normal routine Taurine, Chromium Picolinate, Prothera Methyfolate and cod liver oil. Some parents have advised to give more cod liver oil but I think a spoon a day at the moment is sufficient enough.

It was more to basically more fruits too and water and sitting with him, comforting him. Well, he was so sticky to me that it was really surprising to see him reject his father. Nobody could understand why but he never let me out of his sight and stuck really close to me at all times.

Now that he is feeling better and back to his normal self, guess its time I put my procastination behind, start typing out a whole new list of supplement list and arranging supp feeding time for Jaden. 

Home-based ABA

We knew we had to send Jaden for therapies but what therapies? 

Searching around blogs, autism websites, asking around parents who have experiences in these and finally trying to sort which therapy suits Jaden best.

Finally, after giving in some consideration, Mr and I decided to do ABA first for Jaden.

We were actually torn between RDI and ABA but I wanted something more solid, something much more strict that he can stick to a schedule instead of relying on me to be the 'therapist' in the RDI therapy.

Intan Miranti from ANDI Initiative came over to the house and gave us her point of view in ABA therapy. She was really  great help. She gave us her point of view as a mother and also as a therapist. She, of course was open-minded to whom we will hire in the end and even gave me some contacts for me to call and talk to, just to let me understand which therapy schedule would suit both Jaden and I best.

Intan even gave us a rough breakdown of how much home-based would cost compared to the centre-based pricing I got from the Internet and calls made. She explained to us the pros and cons and boy, these therapies don't come cheap. Really really not cheap. One month of the therapy can costs somehow  more than my annual private school fees back in my days.Centre-based? Well, one of the centre's one month fees costs as much as today's private school annual fee. Yes! That is how expensive these treatments are to have these children recover.

When we decided to go ahead with ABA, Intan truthfully told me she was not sure if she could take my case up, because she had other things running too from her organization. She recommended me another well-known supervisor, Carmen.

I was so grateful when Carmen agreed to take my case up. She has already taken on about 40 families, and to be able to slot me in was heaven-sent. Partly was also due to where I was staying. I practically stay 10 minutes away from her. 

Carmen, too came over to the house to evaluate Jaden and told us her plans for Jaden. Then she set out to find us suitable therapists whom she thinks will be able to handle Jaden and after months of me hoping to get Jaden started on therapy, my prayers were answered. Carmen smsed me in the middle of February and told me she found me two therapists for Jaden and a meeting was set up. That was possibly what made my whole Chinese New Year seems hopeful and happier.

Fast forward, today in the morning and early afternoon, was Jaden's first ABA class with his two therapists.

We were actually expecting some cries, resistance but *touch wood* it all went smoothly and the only resistance we got was he did not want class to end! 

Well, this is another step forward taken, another new beginning and I pray that more positivity will follow along.