So we visited the chiropractic doc on Monday. No big surprise, she is having us take him completely gluten and dairy free! She explained a bunch of stuff that I can't explain but basically it boils down the fact that a thyroid doesn't function all by itself. It is only one piece of an entire system, and all of the signs are pointing to his system being all messed up.
It has been a hard week for me because I have been a cooking fool! There is a lot that goes into cooking when you are gluten and dairy free! And it is expensive. I'm buying almost no pre-prepared foods. I'm making it all from scratch using replacements like Almond Flour and Coconut oil, and grapeseed oil. I have 2 awesome cookbooks, The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook and the Spunky Coconut. So far everything has been great. And best of all, he is actually eating all of it! I never expected that!
On a different note, sort of....we had a meeting at his school yesterday as things are not going well. Turns out the Intuniv all by itself is NOT helping him focus at all. AND...I discovered that I had made a mistake and the doc had wanted me to give him the Intuniv IN ADDITION to the Focalin. So I have begrudgenly made the decision to put him back on the Focalin.
The goal is to get somewhere healthy with this diet. In the meantime, he has to be able to survive at school and that is not happening in ANY way right now!
Wish us luck!
Friday, January 22, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Our latest
Hi everyone,
Sorry I have been absent. This has been a hard school year, for all of us. My son is having a really hard time with 7th grade. And though I don't think we made the wrong choice sending him to the Montessori school, it is obvious they are really struggling with him.
We have changed his medication. He is still taking the Depakote, but we took him off the Focalin XR and the doc put him on Intuniv. It is a newly FDA approved non stimulant specifically for ADHD. It is basically a time release version of Tenex, for those that know what that it.
There have been some good benefits of the med switch. He is eating quite a bit. He is sleeping better, with more quality I think. I'm not sure it's any better or worse in terms of school though. His motivation is still crap, and his focus is complicated. Which brings me to the last update....
On a mother's hunch, I took him to an endocrinologist last fall. Tried to explain to him that for his entire life, I have always felt like there is just a more complicated health picture for my son than anyone has cared to look into. For example:
1. Despite the medication, or inspite of the medications, I haven't felt like his eating and growth have been normal.
2. We know he has been diagnosed with learning disabilities, but he just seems too foggy and confused. He can do grade level work, but not well. If it was just a learning disability, I think it should look and feel differently than it does. It's hard to explain.
So, the doc agreed to do some blood tests but I could tell he thought I was crazy. Well two tests later, we have discovered that his TSH, thyroid stimulating hormone, is high! There is something going on!
Now I am struggling with the idea of the traditional doctor. We are supposed to see him in Feb and I know that he will take a very traditional approach to this. And tradition has always proven ineffective for my son.
So I contacted another doctor that we see on Monday. She is actually a chiropractor of all things. But this is her specialty, figuring out what the body is doing to itself beyond what traditional medicine might say.
I just hope that if she thinks we have some real stuff to treat here that it can be done without taking forever. He might not survive 7th grade if we don't get help soon!
Sorry I have been absent. This has been a hard school year, for all of us. My son is having a really hard time with 7th grade. And though I don't think we made the wrong choice sending him to the Montessori school, it is obvious they are really struggling with him.
We have changed his medication. He is still taking the Depakote, but we took him off the Focalin XR and the doc put him on Intuniv. It is a newly FDA approved non stimulant specifically for ADHD. It is basically a time release version of Tenex, for those that know what that it.
There have been some good benefits of the med switch. He is eating quite a bit. He is sleeping better, with more quality I think. I'm not sure it's any better or worse in terms of school though. His motivation is still crap, and his focus is complicated. Which brings me to the last update....
On a mother's hunch, I took him to an endocrinologist last fall. Tried to explain to him that for his entire life, I have always felt like there is just a more complicated health picture for my son than anyone has cared to look into. For example:
1. Despite the medication, or inspite of the medications, I haven't felt like his eating and growth have been normal.
2. We know he has been diagnosed with learning disabilities, but he just seems too foggy and confused. He can do grade level work, but not well. If it was just a learning disability, I think it should look and feel differently than it does. It's hard to explain.
So, the doc agreed to do some blood tests but I could tell he thought I was crazy. Well two tests later, we have discovered that his TSH, thyroid stimulating hormone, is high! There is something going on!
Now I am struggling with the idea of the traditional doctor. We are supposed to see him in Feb and I know that he will take a very traditional approach to this. And tradition has always proven ineffective for my son.
So I contacted another doctor that we see on Monday. She is actually a chiropractor of all things. But this is her specialty, figuring out what the body is doing to itself beyond what traditional medicine might say.
I just hope that if she thinks we have some real stuff to treat here that it can be done without taking forever. He might not survive 7th grade if we don't get help soon!
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