This is a testimony about my daughter, Mia, and her health.
I have been a physical therapist for 13 years, a healthcare provider.
I feel that it is my moral and ethical duty to send this story to you.
My daughter Mia has been on antibiotics, on and off since November 2010 for frequent ear infections. Recently, she was on four different antibiotics for approximately 5 1/2 weeks straight, (maybe more).
During this time she began to regress continually. She started tuning us out, not looking when we called her name, even shouted her name.
We would position ourselves right in front of her, and she would look "right through us." She began to keep to herself, not playing much with her brother or the children in her nursery school class. She wouldn't allow us to change her diaper or clothing without a fit/tantrum, or fight. She stopped going up and down stairs sitting on her rear and throwing a tantrum until we carried her down. She even refused to walk on grass. When I put her on it, or even if she walked near it, she would drop to her rear end and throw an inconsolable tantrum. Prior to this she was an excellent sleeper and would sleep the entire night through without awakening. She began, however, awakening repeatedly in the night crying and was unable to be consoled. On Wednesday, June 1, 2011, we went into her room to get her ready, and she was GONE - not physically, but our kid was like a robot/zombie, looking "right through us" not responding to questions appropriately. She just answered us only in "pre-recorded" phrases and lines from her favorite TV shows, or even utilizing phrases my wife, Dina, and I had used in the past in the exact same fashion (tone, pitch, etc...). The phrases used were totally not appropriate to the questions asked.
For example: "Good morning. How are you, Mia?"
Mia's response was, "What color is the grass? The grass is green. Yes, very good."
"How are you Mia?"
"Hi, I'm Molly; I'm Gill; I'm Geo, etc," the intro from one of her favorite shows, Bubble Guppies.
We carried her down the stairs to the living room where we have a small ball pit in which our kids enjoy playing. We were horrified when we observed her lining up balls in a row and throwing a tantrum if we moved one of the balls out of line.
I also have a nephew who is autistic. I know many people with autistic children. I did an entire pediatric internship and know what autism looks like and my daughter was spiraling into autism!
Dina and I watched in complete horror as she regressed day to day. We couldn't sleep for days, and we knew what we were seeing and couldn't stop it.
By luck, chance, serendipity or the grace of God, through a physical therapy colleague, I was put in contact with Paul Cimins of Autism Radio.
Paul has an autistic son, and has been extremely active in the autism community. He is up on all of the mainstream treatments as well as many of the not-so-mainstream treatments based on theoretical causes of autism.
Paul first tried to calm me down as I was totally beside myself wondering what was ahead for our family. He then asked me about the history, what had happened, etc.
After hearing about her repeated antibiotic usage, especially the most recent 5 1/2 week stretch, he said, "Your daughter is probably full of yeast."
Paul went on to explain that one of the theories about the causes of autism is prolonged antibiotic use.
The antibiotics kill the bad bacteria along with the good which help to break down food, clear the system of toxins, etc.
When these good bacteria are killed off, it throws everything into disarray. Food is not digested properly, and yeast begins to grow wild in the body. The stomach/gut feeds the brain, and all of these harmful things go to the brain.
A change comes:
We were hopeless watching our child regress and spiral into autism so we took a desperate leap of faith on Paul's recommendations. He suggested that we begin giving our daughter Saia Children's Acidophilus supplement (good bacteria found in yogurt) 2 times a day in conjunction with a gluten and dairy free diet.
We did this immediately and saw positive changes the next day which have continued. Her attention increased, and she began to negotiate stairs again. She stopped fighting us during changing time; her eye contact has drastically increased; she slowly began to stand on grass, and now has begun to run on the grass barefoot (huge sensory gain)! Her robotic speaking has almost completely stopped; she hasn't lined anything up. She sleeps the entire night without awakening. She answers appropriately and is a completely different kid than on June 1. Even her nursery school teachers have noticed the significant improvements.
I truly believe in my heart of hearts that Paul's regimen stopped and reversed Mia's downward spiral into Autism. I believe that if more parents were able to identify the early signs and implement this regimen, many children would be saved.
I figured I would send this to you, Paul, as I am going to let as many people know. I thank God for how my situation is turning out, and it would be simply unethical and wrong for me not to attempt to tell this story.
Promising future:
Mia received an early intervention evaluation recently. While they did find her to have some sensory and language expression issues, they were able to say that she is NOT autistic.
The child that they saw today was a completely different child than she was on June 1. My feeling and hypothesis is that my daughter was beginning to spiral downward into Autism, and while many parents are forced to just sit back and watch this happen, by the grace of God, I was put in contact with Paul Cimins, not a doctor, but a caring and knowledgeable father of an Autistic child who was not afraid to look and think "outside the box" for potential causes of autism. Paul was able to pull from the stories he has heard and the doctors to whom he has spoken, identify a probable cause of what was happening to my daughter and work a miracle.
Note:
You can Google autism, yeast & autism, antibiotics to find countless articles, blogs, etc. about this theory, and it will explain it in better detail than I can.
Better yet, contact Paul Cimins (paul@autismradio.org). He can make you more aware and knowledgeable than I can. While I am a healthcare provider, I deal primarily in out-patient orthopedics. Pediatrics and neurology are not my forte.
If you have any questions of me or would like to follow up, please feel free to contact me through the Autism Radio "Contact Us" link on the left.
Chris Ford
Editor: Timothy D. Nagle