A Long Awaited Update Part Two…. (Miasms Round Two)

Hello everyone!

So where was I?  Oh yes, Carcinosin.

After a tumultuous winter of healing (think literally – “The winter of my discontent”) we seemed to turn a corner after Adam’s CoRE treatment in April 2013.  We started his second round Carcinosin clear in the beginning of May.  I was braced for the worst because his first Carcinosin clear witnessed some of the worst tantum behaviour we had ever seen.  Luckily it wasn’t too bad.  In fact it was much easier than the Ring Worm and Medorrhinum clears we had just completed. 

CARCINOSIN HEALING REACTION:

• Dry patchy rash on upper bum cheeks (just below small of back).  Two circles on each side.
• A few days after his last remedy he fell asleep on the couch with Jon around 5:30PM.  Jon put him to bed at 7:30PM and he slept the whole night through.
• Started peeing outside (I don’t know if this behaviour is necessarily related to his healing reaction but I thought I’d put it down anyway).
• About a week after finishing his remedies, Adam developed the sniffles, a mild cough and his itchy bum at bedtime returned (after disappeared for a few weeks).  These symptoms continued for a week or so.
• Expressing lots of sadness. 
• Meltdowns.  Adam was having a hard time coping with his sister’s sniffles and the ticking sound coming from the oven.  He also had a pretty major meltdown at a hotel when he accompanied his dad out-of-town one weekend.  When he returned home he was very sad, crying and wanted momma cuddles.  I cuddled him and he kept repeating “I’m sorry” over and over.  ???  
• Pimple like bump on penis.
• Hyperactive body spasms (like shivers).
• Talking jibberish (increased echolalia)
• Tripping/falling a lot.  At one point he was wearing 5 bandaids.
• Started relying on headphones to drown out noises (i.e. ticking in the oven, ticking in his room, etc.).  He was even sleeping in them.

POST CARCINOSIN GAINS:

• Language bloomed again.  Speaking in multiple sentences with proper use of me, my, I, you, your.
• Very social with his cousins.  Made his cousin laugh by pretend sneezing.  During one get together, he even tattled on his cousin for something he was doing.  Funny how I would count that as a gain but it seemed like such a regular kid thing to do!  🙂
• Potty trained himself!!!!  Yes you read that CORRECTLY.  His teachers realized that his pull-ups were staying dry at school so they asked us to start sending him to school in underpants.   There were a few accidents along the way and he’s still wearing pull-ups at night but this was a HUGE milestone for us.  🙂
• Much calmer and even-tempered than the prior Medorrhinum clear.
• School IPRC (Individual Placement and Review Committee) Meeting went exceedingly well.  There were a lot of positive comments from Adam’s teacher.  She told us that Adam was reading at a grade one level (he was pre-K at the time).  She also remarked on his amazing sense of humour and ability to detect sarcasm.  These traits are not very common amongst kids with ASD (who tend to interpret things literally).

In the beginning of June, Adam started his next clear – Syphilinum.  Again, we were pleasantly pleased by the milder healing reaction.

SYPHILINUM HEALING REACTION:

• Pimply rash on bum
• Started waking up early (between 5:30 – 6:30AM).  He would get angry and tantrum when I eventually woke up and met him downstairs.  He was probably upset because it wasn’t following the regular morning routine.
• A week after starting his clear he fell asleep on the couch at 7:30PM and slept through the night.
• Many mild tantrums.  He is able to turn his mood around more quickly though.  During one 2 minute time-out, he even counted backwards from 60 twice!  Mr. Smarty Pants.
• Still upset over oven “ticking” sounds.
• Itchy bum returned after being gone for a month or so. 
• Still relying heavily on headphones to drown out noise.

POST SYPHILINUM GAINS:

• Increased ability to reason.  One day I caught Adam outside building an “Angry Bird tower” out of bricks against the wall of back shed.  He picked up a small boulder (aka his “Angry bird”) and hurled it at the bricks to try and topple it over.  I ran out of the house to stop him and he started getting upset with me.  I explained to him how the brick could break the siding and showed him a spot where the siding was already damaged.  Something clicked with him and he calmed down right away.  “How about I throw my angry bird toys instead?”  I told him that was a GREAT idea so I followed him inside the house and he picked out a few plastic birds.  On his way back outside he turned to me and said “OK, I will try it.  Here goes!”  🙂
• Increased social behaviour.  Adam went to the park with his sister and dad.  When the neighbour girl showed up Adam said “Hi!  My name’s Adam and this is my friend Emersyn.”  Then he pointed to Jon and said “This is my boy lady friend – Daddy!”
• During one family outing to a restaurant, Adam opted NOT to play with the iPad (say WHAT?) and instead practiced math addition equations with a crayon on the brown paper table-cloth.  1+1= 2, 2+2=4, etc.  
• Learned to ride a bike!!  Adam never showed any interest in pedalling a bike but Jon bought him one and was able to talk him into trying (didn’t I mention that you could reason with him now?!?)  He wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea but he went along with it “OK dad, I will try it.”  He ended up doing great and can now pedal and steer all by himself!  He enjoys it too!

At the end of June (and the end of Adam’s Syphilinum clear), I gave birth to Jack.  I knew it would be difficult for Adam to adjust to having a baby in the house and THIS time, my mommy hunches proved correct.  For the first couple weeks, Adam would get very upset every time the baby cried.  I felt pressure to keep the peace as much as possible so I would race to pick up the baby and nurse him the second he got fussy.  Whenever Jack cried for longer than a few seconds, Adam would come and watch him from safe distance even though we tried to direct him to the quiet of his room.  You could visibly see the anxiety rise on his face and he would eventually make an explosion sound “Kapooooowwwwww!!!” as if he was describing what was happening in his brain at that exact moment.  At this point he would lose control and either storm off to his bedroom and repeatedly slam his door (he eventually broke the door stop) or he would laugh maniacally at the baby.  Eventually it escalated into him picking up a toy and throwing it at the baby (luckily he had POOR aim).  I’m not going to lie.  It was worrisome.  Some days I was on my own with all three kids and Adam was upstairs slamming doors over and over while I was stuck on a couch nursing a new-born.  In my heart I was torn over which child needed me most and I agonized over the thought that Adam no longer felt safe and happy in his home. 

The first month the baby was home, Jon took Adam and sister out as much as possible.  I was glad that they were able to get out of the house and enjoy the summer but eventually, Adam started to alienate me and the baby from EVERY outing – “Just me, dad and Emersyn!  Not mom and Jack.”  As the weeks went by though, Adam started to tolerate small periods of crying.  At first, he tried to make sense of the crying “Is Jack hungry?  Did he poop in his pants?”  Once he understood that there was a purpose to it, his anxiety started to dissolve.  By the end of summer, Adam was comfortable at home again.

But I digress…

Let’s get back to the miasms. 

Adam started his last clear for Lyme near the end of July.

LYME HEALING REACTION:

• Exagerated blinking
• Sore ear at bedtime (put a bandaid over his ear)
• Circular rash on upper right bum cheek.
• Started walking into our neighbour’s house/garage.  *Sigh*  We now have a fence gate.  And lock.
• About a week after starting the clear, Adam had three days of exploding bowel movements.  The stools were soft, dark brown and so big they were exploding out the sides of his pull-ups.  Prior to each BM, Adam complained of a sore tummy.
• Mild tantrums
• Some mild itchy bum

POST LYME GAINS:

• Remorsefulness.  This is the first time that I really noticed Adam being consistently remorseful after every meltdown.  A year ago, he used to very spiteful to the point of even saying “Nope! Not sorry!” at the mere mention of apologizing.  Then during the epic tantrums we were experiencing back in January and February, we could get Adam to say sorry but it was always prompted by us as a means of ending a timeout.  The first apology that really stands out in memory was delivered over the phone.  Adam was spending a few nights at grandma’s house with his sister (to give Jack and I a break at home).  Earlier in the day, I had stopped by the visit the kids and Adam was very angry that Jack and I were there (this was during the period where Adam was segregating Jack and I from the rest of the family).  He stormed off to a bedroom and wouldn’t visit with me the whole time I was there and then he wouldn’t let me give him a kiss when I left.  Later that night, the kids called me before bedtime.  After speaking with Emersyn first Adam took the phone and said “Sorry for being rude, mom.”  Totally unprompted.  His OWN words.  I was literally stunned!!  At first I thought his grandma told him to say it but when I spoke with her the next day she said she just as surprised as I was!  Especially his choice of the word “rude” since neither her nor I used that word to describe his behaviour from the following day.  To this day, Adam consistently apologizes for his angry outbursts.
• No longer relies on his headphones to drown out sound.  I actually think the headphones were making him even MORE sensitive to sound.  It’s a bit like taking off sunglasses in the sunlight.

So that takes us to the end of Adam’s second round of miasms.  He started a third round of miasms in September but I don’t think I will format my posts the same way going further.  I’ll just give general updates on how he’s doing, which – spoiler alert- is FANTASTIC by the way!!!  We’re seeing a lot of social gains this past month which I’ll save for the next post.

Ahhhh….feels good to get this done.  OK, got a hungry baby to feed.

Goodnight my loves.

 

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