Food as Medicine

I have been grappling with Liberty's symptoms again.  We are still dealing with yeast, can you believe that?  Three years now and it's basically because I did not understand anything about it and no one else did either. I thought you take antifungals, limit sugar and you're done.  But that is not true.   He was put on Diflucan for 5 straight months and as soon as he was taken off, the yeast returned.  His doctor at the time did not do any testing for oxalates which are the byproducts of yeast and content of certain foods.

My new DAN/neurologist performed an OAT test (organic acids test) that showed high arabinose, a byproduct of Candida along with very high oxalates.  Oxalic acid is also a byproduct of yeast.  Oxalates are the things that cause kidney stones.  They are not good to have.  They can circulate through the blood through a leaky gut and cause irritability.  Oxalates can rob calcium from the body.  Great Plains Labs where we get our OAT done has a whole printout on the role of oxalates in autistic symptoms.  So, to get the oxalates down, we were given a list of foods high in oxalates.  But it is not just food that can cause it; as I said it can come from chronic fungal overgrowth. Couple that with inadequate probiotic intake and you have a recipe for misery and ill health.  A stool test my son took at the same time showed he had ZERO Lactobacillus, a friendly probiotic needed for digestion, in his GI tract.

Here is a little bit about oxalates I copied from a great naturopathic website: A significant number of children on the autism spectrum have excessive urine oxalate levels. It is theorized that these oxalate crystals can accumulate in and damage body organs, including the gut, brain, skin, heart, tendons, kidneys, bones, and eyes. Oxalates are also known to bind with heavy metals, forming complexes that may be deposited in body tissues.  Symptoms of oxalate damage include digestive pain, toe walking, eye poking, skin lesions, urinary pain or frequency, bed wetting, and sandy stools.

Lib has had sandy stools, the bed wetting, and I have seen some eye poking, occasionally.  I have seen crying and posturing that looks like his abdomen hurts.  Fungal overgrowth also can cause constipation. 

Last night, I began reading a book I was given at least a year ago.  It is written by a nutritionist and it has some recipes in the back, but I did not pay it much attention.  My track record with dietitians and nutritionists is not very good.  Most of the ones I am familiar with in my own life only focused on calories and not quality of foods.  Judy Converse's book is called Special Needs Kids Eat Right.  And let me tell you, Liberty's problems are all right there on the page.   I cried, thinking that I needed her years ago when this whole damned thing began.  My son stopped eating after all of the vaccinations he was given at 13 months of age.   Lack of nutrition is not good for a developing brain.  I did not know what to do at the time.  Pediatricians were no help here, and they still aren't.  We have one we go to only when I need someone to look in Lib's ears or swab his throat.  Anything I bring up he just brushes away conveniently as "an autism thing."  It feels bad to be swept aside from their radar because they don't know what to do. 

In her book, Judy Converse says that one of the reasons we see supplements work for a little while and then see behaviors and reactions crop up even though they are on the very supplements in which their lab work says they are deficient, is because their guts are not working to begin with.  If there is still dysbiosis, all of the supplements in the world will be of no help.  Some kids have bacterial overgrowth (usually Clostridia or Klebsiella) along with the fungal invasion.  She says that nutrition through food is the key.   Natural antifungals and antibacterials, low oxalate foods, offending allergens, all of that needs to be identified and dealt with first AND to make sure kids are getting adequate nutrition from the food they do eat in the form of enough calories from quality food.

Did I mention that Judy recovered her own child using her knowledge of nutrition?  Her article below is eye-opening.  The things she went through with doctors and the absurd things said to her, well, we can all relate to as parents of children with special needs.  I urge you to read her article below.

I can say that my son's diet is so limited I am sure he is not getting adequate nutrition.  I have focused so long on being careful he is gluten and casein free, even though his allergy tests all came back NEGATIVE, and he does not have a lot he likes to eat anymore.  Many of the gluten-free products are full of fructose and MSG in its many forms (natural flavors, maltodextrin, yeast extract to name a few).    I have no one here monitoring his weight or looking at a growth chart or any of these things.  And, he is so picky.  I know it is a vicious cycle because if I could get a handle on the dysbiosis and get some good nutrition in him, his appetite would increase as his picky behaviors reduce.  I know she is right because I saw this happen for a limited time on prescription antifungals.  But the problem with those, long-term anyway, is that they can make the yeast return with a vengeance when they are stopped and you have to monitor liver function tests.  My son's liver just does not need to be taxed anymore than it already is.  There are plenty of natural antifungals out there to use.

I have begun Liberty on Candex and am adding in natural antifungals like Oregon grape, olive leaf extract, garlic, lomatium, etc.  I will update on the blog how he is doing.  It is trial and error as I find a rhythm with this. Oh, how I wish Judy lived in my town! 

I am thinking of ordering this cookbook when I get some more money.  Another wonderful blogger friend sent me the link to it.

The article by Judy Converse can be read at the link below.  I am going to be looking more and more at my son's diet in the coming days.  I hope this post helps someone because I finally figured out, we cannot just patch our kids up with supplements, and, even though we think our food is depleted nutritionally because of our environment, it STILL is the best medicine as my father always told me.  He should know.  He's a very heathy almost 93-year-old!

Judy Converse's post at Age of Autism

Judy's website