Does autism need cured or not?

I will finish the last part in the natural treatment for Tuberous Sclerosis, but I felt it was important given the time of year that I write this article. It is April, and April is Autism Awareness Month. Though most talk about finding a cure, there are those--sometimes mothers but often adults themselves who have autism, that argue that autism is simply a difference in the way one views the world, and to argue that it is a disease is like arguing that being Jewish needs cured--it is prejudiced, and is an effort to get rid of anyone different than ourselves.

I have read a few articles over the last few years from adults with autism, arguing that very thing--that to try to take away autism is to take away a piece of their personality, and that they don't need or want to be cured. The most recent article I've read on this subject can be found here: April is the Worst Month.

I recommend reading her article to understand this point of view, where they are coming from. Her argument is certainly valid. After all, she has grown up with, and still has, autism. Surely she is in a strong place from which to speak about it.

But, I would argue the issue is not so black and white. For many parents, their children getting an autism "diagnosis" has been helpful in that it has gotten them the help they need to be able to more easily function in the world, or gotten their parents the help they need to better understand their children and enter their world. The unfortunate thing about an autism diagnosis, however, is that autism is not "one thing". It is a spectrum, and it can look very different from one person to the next. There is a common phrase, "When you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism."

People will point to highly functioning people with autism or who were believed to have autism, like Albert Einstein or Temple Grandin. It is absolutely true that autism does NOT equal ignorance, inability to think or anything of the sort. There is indeed a lot of misunderstanding surrounding autism, and society as a whole needs to work harder to understand the world of those living with autism or raising a child with autism. The author makes many valid points.

I have two children. My five year old son has sensory processing disorder that can be managed fairly well with diet--but if he were to eat a standard American diet, he would be a very different, very agitated, very stressed child. He is very smart, and he talked very early. I recently learned that he memorized my cell phone number after hearing me repeat it *once* in passing. He is 5. I can barely remember phone numbers now. He remembers so many things, years later, that I cannot comprehend how he does so. When his SPD is not as well controlled, he can hear things I can't hear, smell things I don't smell (much akin to the nose of a pregnant woman or dog!), and visually pick up on things I don't notice. His brain is on hyperdrive, and one could certainly find pros to having such a condition. However, I considered it a case of disease--dis-ease--because he was not at ease with himself or the world. He suffered by the simplest things that could not be avoided, and not just people judging him or my discipline measures or seemingly lack thereof. He was scared and terrified by the sun, by flushing toilets, by hairbrushes and water and wind. At three years old he had to be put under and had fillings in all his molars because he refused for months on end to brush his teeth because it tickled too much, and if i were to force him you'd think i was cutting off his arms. It was literally torture for him. These were not issues of him not being understood by those around him, or me wishing he were "like everyone else". I had some of the same characteristics as a child (and was just considered by everyone to be whiny), so I understand somewhat where he was coming from. But my baby was suffering. When he was 2 years old, he accidentally had a bite of pudding. I already knew he reacted negatively to cow's milk so he never got it, but this time he had one bite. He had been playing calmly in his bedroom, and out of the blue, with no one else around, he started screaming hysterically. I went in the room, and he would not make eye contact with me, he began hugging himself and rocking back and forth screaming. I tried to run to him and hold him, and he pulled away like my hand was acid. He ran to his *metal* closet doors and began banging his head into them and he did this for probably twenty minutes before he sat back down in the middle of the floor and began crying some more. I finally realized what was happening, told him I loved him and I would be in the other room and waited for him to calm down. He eventually fell asleep in the middle of the living room floor. This was very uncharacteristic for him. But, he had always been gluten free (I've been for 10 years), he had been dairy free his entire life as well. (and both of my children are not vaccinated for other reasons than fear of autism...that is another story for another time...). The one bite of pudding turned him into another person entirely. Any time he eats certain foods or eats too many carbs or fake foods, he very clearly shows behaviors of someone on the spectrum, and he very much seems to be in a state of dis-ease. He is suffering. It is not just about helping people understand him. The sun will not shine less brightly because my son's eyes cannot handle the light.

My daughter is three. She has a genetic tumor disease called Tuberous Sclerosis Complex, and as a result of the tumors in her brain, she has medically refractory epilepsy. She is developmentally delayed and has been very slow to speak. Because Tuberous Sclerosis is the leading genetic cause of both epilepsy and autism, she has regularly been evaluated to see if she is developing or has autism. Thus far, she has not been given a diagnosis, but lately I've seen certain behaviors very characteristic of the condition despite her being very social, very interactive, and has great eye contact. These behaviors pop up most when she is stressed by situations beyond mine or anyone else's control and it makes it hard for her to function in public places even if said places were as understanding and accommodating as possible.

I do not want my children to unnecessarily suffer. Period. It has nothing to do with wanting them to be like everyone else, or me not wanting inconvenienced by their differences. Not everyone feels as though they suffer with autism, and if they are happy with how they are, people should be understanding and respectful of that. There are certain talents and gifts that people with autism can offer the world that we should honor, ones the rest of us simply do not possess. Art, revolutionary thought in science and math, work with animals...just to name a few. But for those who are suffering....who are getting concussions and bloody faces from slamming their faces into hard surfaces to try to make the sensory overload stop...please don't say they are fine just as they are, because you are fine as you are. That is not understanding. There are also others with severe autism who have found a way for their voices to be heard, and they have made it quite clear that they wish they did not have the symptoms that come with autism.

And last, I should add that research has shown that autism is not simply a unique way of seeing with and interacting with ones'  world. It is often linked with very real disease in the gut and the immune system. Those with severe autism often struggle with both diarrhea and constipation, eczema, allergies, getting sick more often than others, and measurable vitamin deficiencies. These are the very definition of disease, and no amount of understanding their world will make those problems go away or be less problematic.

Natural Treatment for Tuberous Sclerosis Complex and Epilepsy, Part 2

First off my apologies for taking weeks and weeks longer than I had intended in writing this post. We have had some personal family crises, and we are preparing to start testing to see if our daughter is a tuber resection (epilepsy surgery) candidate.

If you have not read part 1 in this series, I highly recommend doing so, as some of what I write will be explained in greater detail there and I will probably reference back to it at various points.

Also, as a reminder: I want to point out that I am not a doctor, just an overanalytical mother of a child with Tuberous Sclerosis that has had a fair amount of success at treating TSC naturally (in some cases only with natural medicines, other times they are used in conjunction with prescription drugs).  I will share our personal experiences and scientific research/studies where appropriate. If you or a loved one has TSC or you suspect it, I highly recommend contacting your nearest Tuberous Sclerosis Clinic, where there are medical specialists who are experienced in the latest advancements in treating TSC. And if you suspect your child is having infantile spasms, see a pediatric neurologist immediately, and take video of the episodes!

Today I will begin to address natural treatments for epilepsy itself, and will finish the epilepsy topic in Part 3 (the post just got wayyyy too long!). Part 3 will address vitamin and mineral supplementation and chiropractic/CST, as well as some ways we have treated other problems associated with epilepsy (speech delay, behavioral issues, sleep issues, etc). 

Audrey at 16 months old during a 24 hour video EEG

  
EPILEPSY

There are few things scarier than watching your baby seize, yet for many dealing with TSC, this is one of the first symptoms that presents itself, often in the form of infantile spasms which are notoriously hard to treat and brain damaging. This is also where I began my search for natural treatments for TSC. Even those who don't consider themselves "hippie" "crunchy/granola" "natural"or "alternative" like myself, often find themselves seeking out alternative treatments in epilepsy because quite frankly, western medicine isn't doing that good of a job at it. One third of those with epilepsy have medically refractory epilepsy--epilepsy that cannot be controlled with prescription anti-epileptic medication (AED). Of the two thirds that do find seizure relief from prescription drugs, the side effects are often hard to tolerate. 

Just a small sampling of the side effects our daughter has experienced from various AED's or combinations of them (most of these are acknowledged by the FDA/drug companies. These are just the side effects we've personally dealt with, though the list of common side effects in general would be far, far longer): immune suppression, extreme weight gain, extreme appetite suppression, recurrent ear infections, insomnia, extreme irritability, inhibiting her body's ability to sweat leading to bloody heat rash and overheating, vomiting, permanent peripheral vision loss, low muscle tone, speech delay, developmental delay/inhibiting cognitive ability, and drug rash.

Thankfully we have been able to keep many of the side effects at bay through natural treatment, and others have found seizure relief through natural treatment alone. There are many different types of natural treatment for epilepsy, but as stated before I will only address those we have personal experience with. For a more thorough explanation of the many and various options for natural epilepsy treatment, I recommend the book Complementary and Alternative Therapies For Epilepsy. The book is very expensive but I recommend it because 1) i have read it cover to cover and learned a LOT from it, and 2) It is edited by Dr Orrin Devinsky, director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at NYU and one of the neurologists at NYU's TSC Clinic. He is one of the top neurologists in his field and comes highly recommended by friends who have taken their children to him. I should also add that though I have not read it, it seems that the editors of the aforementioned book have come out with a similar (cheaper) book...I do not know if it is the same book/newer edition, or a new work altogether but because it is half the price and edited by the same people, it may be worth checking out first. I recommended the first book simply because i have read it and can vouch for it. Now, on to treatments...

DIET

In a society where there is a "pill for every ill", this may be perhaps the most difficult treatment to administer, but I absolutely believe that the proper diet can *cure* epilepsy in many people, and reduce seizure load in most others. 

The ketogenic diet is the most widely accepted and studied diet treatment for epilepsy, and arguably the most extreme. Usually the diet is first started in the hospital by a dietician/nutritionist trained in the ketogenic diet. It is, essentially, controlled starvation. Since ancient times, fasting was used as a means of treating epilepsy, as it was noted that when the patient fasted, seizures subsided. However, a person eventually must eat. The ketogenic diet drastically limits carbohydrates, contains the bare minimum amount of protein and water, and has large amounts of fat. This causes the body to burn fat for energy instead of glucose (sugar), which produces ketone bodies. It is believed that an elevated level of ketones in the blood (ketosis) leads to seizure prevention. The ketogenic diet is primarily used with small children, though there is some success with adults, too. Because of how difficult it is to administer (every bite of food must be weighed/measured/journaled...every calorie counted), it is usually used in cases of severe epilepsy where drugs fail. 

We have never used the ketogenic diet with Audrey. I do know it works. There are many parents who swear by it. But, I wanted to try other avenues first, I felt the diet was too extreme and unhealthy, and after researching I believe it is not just the ketone bodies associated with this diet that prevent epilepsy; it is only one piece of the puzzle.

Recent studies have shown that less severe forms of a low-carb diet, such as a modified Atkins diet or Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) can be as successful at preventing seizures as the ketogenic diet is. However these diets are more easily administered and do not require a hospital stay or doctor supervision. (Though if you do start one of these diets, I would still let your doctor know.)

The diet we have had the most success with, and what makes the most sense to me, is the GAPS Diet (Gut and Psychology Syndrome Diet). It was created by a doctor who adapted the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. She realized that the health of the intestines and our digestive tract is directly connected to one's overall neurological health. I have friends that have cured their children's autism with this diet, I have cured my son's Sensory Processing Disorder (he does not have TSC) with this diet, and this diet reduced our daughter's seizure load and helped her mood. I highly recommend getting the book and reading it, even if you choose not to do this diet at this time, because of the understanding you will glean from of it of how diet impacts our brain functioning and immunity. If you choose to do the diet, this E-book was very helpful to me on how to implement the diet (gives a 30 day menu and how to introduce the diet to picky children/toddlers), as getting started is the hardest part.

There are a few similarities between all of these diets, including the ketogenic diet, that I wanted to address--components of all of these that have shown to reduce seizure load.

1) They are all low-carb. This really is essential. The body does not need the amount of carbohydrates that we've been led to believe are essential for proper health, and the *type* of carbohydrate is also important. At the simplest level, sugar "hypes" up the brain...any mother of a small child after Halloween can attest to that fact. With epilepsy, the goal is to calm the brain down, not speed it up. Secondly, a low-carb diet will necessarily be largely gluten-free. Modern wheat has been so genetically modified and hybridized that it hardly resembles the wheat that our grandparents and great grandparents ate. It is no longer a healthy food. For anyone. This article explains very well what has happened to modern American wheat, and why it is bad for you--even "organic whole wheat"...because the problem is not just in its processing or the chemicals used on it, but in the very breeding of the plant. With regard to epilepsy the important thing to note is that modern wheat has a much higher level of gluten in it than ancient wheat did, or even non-Monsanto wheat in other parts of the world. Wheat from Italy, for instance, contains 10% gluten whereas ANY you will get here contains 60% gluten (even organic).  Gluten is a protein found in grains that is mostly composed of glutamic acid, an excitory neurotransmitter. It hypes the brain up, which for most neurobehavioral disorders and epilepsy, is a *bad* thing. Even the prescription drug Sabril, which is so effective at treating infantile spasms when other drugs fail, works by increasing GABA (an inhibitory neurotransmitter) which has the opposite effect of glutamic acid. The key to many of these treatments is finding the proper balance between excitory and inhibitory neurotransmitters. The last important note about a low-carb diet is that it will help to restore proper balance in the gut. Bad bacteria and candida (yeast) feed off of sugar. They then produce toxins that attack the brain. On the flip side, good bacteria (which are destroyed by vaccines, prescription drugs, and antibiotics, among other things) produce neurotransmitters (like seratonin) that help the brain stay on an even keel.

2) They are all relatively high in fat. We have been taught to believe fat is bad, that fat causes high cholesterol, heart disease, etc. This simply is not true. The truth is that too much cholesterol in your blood stream can lead to atherosclerosis and heart attack, but it is not the eating of fat that leads to it. Cholesterol is needed for the proper functioning of the body (and brain). Cholesterol acts to heal broken cells and tissues...like a band-aid of sorts. The cells and tissues become broken when inflammation attacks them. Cholesterol travels to where it is needed. Inflammation occurs for a number of reasons. One of the causes of chronic inflammation in the body is a diet too high in refined carbohydrates. This article explains in more detail how this works. Basically, too much cholesterol in the blood is a symptom of another problem (inflammation). It is not the problem itself. Interestingly enough, inflammation leads to increased seizure load. It is why ACTH (a steroid that reduces inflammation) is one of the two primary treatments for infantile spasms. Further, there are many fatty acids that are needed for proper brain functioning. The brain is primarily made up of fat, and without a healthy amount of fat--even natural saturated fats--the brain cannot work properly. Part of the GAPS diet described above involves eating lots of vegetables that are cooked in palm or coconut oil, which are high in saturated fat (avoid *hydrogenated* "frankenfats" though). We cook primarily with coconut oil. Coconut oil also contains lauric and caprylic acids which have strong antifungal properties, helpful in fighting candida (yeast) overgrowth which can affect seizure frequency. There are more benefits to coconut oil I will mention later.

So, to reiterate, diet is one of the best ways at controlling epilepsy for numerous reasons. You want to increase healthy (natural) fats and decrease carbs, especially refined carbs and wheat. In general it will also be beneficial to eat foods that are high in antioxidants (fruits and veggies), as seizures (AND antiepileptic drugs, for that matter) cause oxidative stress to the brain which inhibits cognitive function. I'll address this in more detail in the "supplements" section.

HERBS

There is a fair amount of overlap between diet and herbs, since herbs are plants and essentially "food". For instance, many cultures the world over use turmeric in their cooking every single day. Still, it is used medicinally as well. For the purposes of this article, I will consider herbs to be plant material that is used solely as medicine. 

Throughout history people have used herbs to treat epilepsy and other neurological disorders. Most of these herbs have a mild to moderate sedative effect. Some also have an anti-inflammatory effect. Here is a list of herbs that have been used to treat epilepsy:

• Valerian Root
• Passionflower
• Chamomile (milder effect than the 2 listed above)
• Lavender
• Linden flowers
• Scullcap
• Kava
• Marijuana*

*Several states allow for the medicinal use of marijuana, but the law is tricky since it is still federally prohibited, and each state has different regulations. We've not used it with Audrey primarily out of fear of the government stepping in and doing something ridiculous like taking her away from us, but I believe the evidence is overwhelming as to the medicinal benefits of marijuana. And the argument of it "making you high" is a silly one when people are talking about intractible epilepsy, since there are many FDA approved pharmaceutical AED's that have a very strong negative cognitive effect. When my daughter first started clonazepam, for instance, she was so stoned from it she could not stand on her own two feet without falling over, for three days. Clonazepam is also more addictive than marijuana.
Because Audrey has been on so many prescription anti-epileptic drugs, I have been leery to use herbs for fear of interaction. For instance, valerian is used to treat epilepsy, but in conjunction with Rx AED's, the sedative effect could be far stronger than desired. It is similar to how patients are warned not to take alcohol while on prescription epilepsy medication. Lavender and chamomile have a milder action on the CNS than valerian, passionflower and linden flowers, for example, so I have given Audrey chamomile tea, and we use lavender in nearly everything. I am planning to grow a medicinal herb garden this year, and valerian and passionflower are on my list of plants I will add to my garden, but that is because i am *hoping* to be able to get Audrey off of Sabril after her brain surgery, and then continue to use natural treatments as a preventative. 

There are other herbs used to treat epilepsy than the ones I listed; those are just the ones I've read the most about. As mentioned in the first part of this series, please also be careful using any herbs if you are taking any drugs that have blood thinning properties. Many of the most healing plants also have mild blood thinning properties. 

Herbs are natural and have fewer unwanted side effects than prescription drugs, but they ARE strong, can be dangerous if not used properly (if you are pregnant or nursing be very careful that none of the herbs you are using are contraindicated...some herbs that are fine for the general population can cause miscarriage in pregnant women), and can interact with prescription drugs, so use them with caution.

Before I go on to essential oils, a note about turmeric. In the first part of this series I wrote about the anti-tumor properties of turmeric's active ingredient, curcumin. I also wanted to mention here that turmeric has been studied in India and was found to have such strong antioxidant properties that it reduced the negative cognitive side effects of certain anti-epileptic drugs, improving learning and memory. Since it is also highly anti-inflammatory, it could theoretically help with epilepsy itself by reducing inflammation in the brain.  Other studies have been conducted that show this to be true.

ESSENTIAL OILS

I wrote more in the previous post about how essential oils work, so I will simply list the essential oils that can help with epilepsy, and the ones that absolutely should NOT be used for any reason if you have epilepsy. We regularly use lavender and frankincense essential oil; I was using clary sage but ran out. I need to buy more!

BENEFICIAL OILS

• Clary Sage
• Lavender
• Chamomile
• Frankincense
• Bergamot (if you put bergamot on your skin and it hits sunlight, it becomes phototoxic, so be sure to cover up any skin that is treated with this oil if you go outside)

OILS TO AVOID-- CAN CAUSE SEIZURES

• Rosemary
• Fennel
• Sage
• Hyssop
• Nutmeg
• Thuja
•  Spike Lavender (not to be confused with Lavender)
• Camphor
• Tansy
• Wormwood

I also wanted to mention that essential oils are *highly concentrated* and from all the research I have done, I have not found anything that states that the HERBS rosemary, fennel, and sage will cause seizures. You would probably have to eat a ridiculously large amount of the herb for it to have the same effect as the essential oil, so here i am referring to those herbs' essential oils, not the whole herbs themselves. (Someone please comment if you have any evidence to the contrary.)

Hopefully some of this information is helpful to you. I look forward to writing part 3, since we have had the most success with vitamin and mineral supplementation and chiropractic/craniosacral therapy. The results were pretty impressive!

Until then, Blessings!

My latest DIY adventures

If you read my last post on natural treatments for TSC, I do intend to continue that series soon; still trying to collect all my information and have time to write it all down. :-)

But, in the meantime I wanted to share my latest creations. With cold and flu season upon us, I made a batch of elderberry syrup, as it is far cheaper to buy your own than to buy Sambucol from the health food store. I used the recipe found at Frugally Sustainable. It tastes pretty good too! I didn't include echinacea, as some recipes do, since the kids will be using it primarily and it seems there is some debate as to the safety of using echinacea with very small children. Since I've not researched it enough to feel safe using it regularly, I left it out. The honey I used in the recipe was raw, but not local. Since i'm not using it for allergy treatment, I didn't mind that too much.

My other creation is a face cream made from beeswax, red clover and calendula-infused olive oil, water, and lavender and frankincense essential oil. I will probably talk about this one again in the TSC treatments series, since it is for my little one with TSC. Red clover has been shown to have antitumor properties and has been shown to shrink fibromas through blocking angiogenesis. Calendula is soothing and healing to the skin. And, red clover does not smell nearly as strong as turmeric or frankincense which have similar antitumor properties. I'm still in the experiment phase but i am hoping to see her angiofibromas (red bumpy vascular tumors on the face associated with Tuberous Sclerosis) shrink as we use this cream. I plan to take before/during/after photos and post them later. I am just glad the cream actually came together, because my first try was a total flop. Creating creams or emulsifying oil and water (such as when making mayonnaise) is a tricky process and is really easy to screw it up. But, this time it worked, and I am so excited! After i made the cream I added in a few drops of lavender essential oil and frankincense essential oil.

If interested in making your own facial creams, here are two tutorials with slightly different processes.

Herbal Cream Recipe
Fabulous Face Cream or Lotion

To make my cream, first I made the infused oil. In the future I would probably use coconut or jojoba oil or a combination of the two, because I'm not super fond of the olive oil smell for a face cream. There are a few ways to make an infused oil. It seems the most common and best way is to use the same method as when making sun tea: put bulk herbs in a large jar, cover the herbs with oil to the top, screw on the lid, and set it in the sun. And wait. Some say wait two weeks; others say six weeks. I suppose it depends on time of year and the amount of sun you get. Then strain out the herbs. Considering the time of year, my oil wasn't getting very warm outside, so i used this method, which is faster, yet still doesn't get the oil too hot like the stove would. Once my oil was ready, i warmed two cups of the oil in a double boiler with 2 oz of beeswax until all the beeswax was melted. I then poured the oil-wax mixture into the food processor and let it cool five minutes. I then turned on the food processor and slowly and steadily added about 3/4 cup of room temperature water to the oil-wax mixture while the processor was running. Once it looks like everything is incorporated and it looks like a lotion, stop (don't process it too long). I then used a spoon to mix in a few drops of lavender and frankincense essential oil.

I got my herbs from a local store, Herbally Grounded. You can also buy bulk herbs and all the other supplies you would need to make the cream or the syrup at Mountain Rose Herbs.

I will write more when we've had the chance to use the cream and the elderberry syrup and see how they work!

Blessings...

Natural Treatment for Tuberous Sclerosis Complex and Epilepsy, Part 1

 The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest her or his patients in the care of the human frame, in a proper diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.- Thomas Edison 

My inspiration for writing this. Audrey is 3, has a TSC 2 4-letter duplication, countless brain tumors, 2 heart tumors, retinal tumors, and various skin manifestations. We were told she would be unable to walk, talk, smile, or make eye contact, and that she would most certainly have autism. None of their predictions have been correct.

What is TSC?

Tuberous Sclerosis Complex is a genetic tumor disorder that affects 1 in 6000 people in the United States. It is caused by a mutation to one of two long genes that are meant to suppress tumor growth. These are labeled "TSC 1" and "TSC 2". Those with a TSC 2 mutation tend to have a more severe form of the disease. It is the leading genetic cause of autism, and it is one of the main causes of infantile spasms, a rare brain-damaging type of seizure that usually first starts in infants between 3 and 6 months. TSC can affect the brain, skin, heart, kidney, eyes, lungs, and rarely other organs, such as the liver. 

I had never heard of this disease, even though it is as common as Lou Gehrig's Disease, nor had I ever heard of infantile spasms, until three years ago, when my 3 month old baby girl was diagnosed.

One of the problems with the disease is that it is is a dominant genetic disorder, meaning only one parent needs to have the disease to pass it on. If the parent passes it on, they too have the disease, but may not know they have it, because of variable expressivity. A parent and child can have the exact same genetic mutation, whereas the parent may only have a few birthmarks or other small tumors that are not noticed or causing any harm. Yet the child can have a severe case with brain and heart tumors at birth, often developing skin, kidney, eye, and lung tumors down the road. Someone can also have TSC from a spontaneous genetic mutation during development.

 Why write this?

There are several reasons I wanted to write this article. First, I tend to be of the philosophy (backed up by our own experience and reading I have done) that allopathic (western/pharmaceutical) medicine is best used when treating acute conditions: heart attacks, stroke, broken bones, and other injuries...emergencies that need handled *right now*. They treat symptoms, not causes, but sometimes the symptom needs tending to immediately. However, allopathic medicine does very little to properly treat chronic illness, because it is treating symptoms, not finding a cure for the cause of those symptoms. I have always treated my family with natural medicines when available and appropriate and we have remained healthier and healed faster than those treating the same illnesses with western prescription drugs. I believe God has given us countless healing medicines in the world around us, that often work better than that which man creates. The body is inherently self-healing. The way to bring about true health is to provide an environment in which the body is able to do its work and not sabotage its efforts.

The second reason i wanted to write this article is because even in allopathic medicine, there  are very few drugs that either work to treat TSC and the other illnesses associated with it (like drug-resistant epilepsy), or that don't have very severe side-effects. When I began researching for natural treatments for TSC and epilepsy when our daughter was diagnosed three years ago, almost nothing came up in my searches. The information that is there is sprinkled in bits and pieces in forums and hard to substantiate.

I want to point out that I am not a doctor, just an overanalytical mother of a child with Tuberous Sclerosis that has had a fair amount of success at treating TSC naturally (in some cases only with natural medicines, other times they are used in conjunction with prescription drugs).  I will share our personal experiences and scientific research/studies where appropriate. If you or a loved one has TSC or you suspect it, I highly recommend contacting your nearest Tuberous Sclerosis Clinic, where there are medical specialists who are experienced in the latest advancements in treating TSC. And if you suspect your child is having infantile spasms, see a pediatric neurologist immediately, and take video of the episodes!

Types of natural treatment

There are many other types of alternative treatments beyond what is listed here, such as TCM (traditonal Chinese medicine), acupuncture, ayurveda (used primarily in India), homeopathy (not to be confused with naturopathy). But since I know very little about those and do not have much experience with them in regard to TSC, I won't be addressing them. These are simply the types of natural treatment I know something about or have personally had success with. I will go into more detail about each later as they are used to help various organ systems or symptoms of TSC.

- Diet. Proper diet is crucial in treating any chronic illness--even a genetic one. As I mentioned previously, two people can have the exact same genetic mutation and have very different expressions of the same gene. Much study has been done lately regarding genotype, phenotype (the outward expression of the gene) and epigenetics. In short, just because something is written on one's genes doesn't *guarantee* certain expressions of that gene will happen. Our environment can and does affect our genes and how our bodies respond to them.

-Herbs. Plants have been used for medicinal purposes since ancient times, and are even used to create many prescription drugs today. (Atropine is from Belladonna; Sudafed from Ephedra; though not truly a plant, but a fungus, Penicillin comes from the Penicillium mold; and pain killers such as codeine and morphine come from the Opium Poppy.) Countless other plants have been used traditionally the world over and in modern naturopathy to treat nearly every illness known to man. In fact, the medicinal properties in plants are so strong, that if used improperly they can interact with prescription drugs or other plants, they can cause horrible side effects of their own, or can kill a person. However, with any medicine, it can be healing and life-saving when taken properly and with caution. *Please consult a medical doctor or naturopath before taking any herbal supplements if you are taking any prescription drugs. Some of the most healing herbs tend to have mild blood-thinning properties. For the average person this is not a problem, but if you or your child is taking a blood thinning drug or certain steroids (like ACTH for seizures) it could be very dangerous. Other sedative herbs such as valerian are generally regarded as safe in proper doses for the general population but for those already taking anti-epileptic drugs, the combination could be dangerous. If you plan to use herbs, i recommend buying a book such as this one which contains information on the proper use and side effects of the most common herbs. One of the best places, in my opinion, to buy bulk herbs (and learn about them) is at Mountain Rose Herbs.com.

- Essential Oils. Essential oils are highly concentrated distillates from plants, containing some of the most powerful healing parts of the plant in a very small package. Essential oils can be used in aromatherapy (particularly when treating the brain; one of the fastest and most affective ways to cross the blood/brain barrier is through inhalation), sometimes they can be ingested (though make sure you only have 100% pure food grade and that the particular oil is safe for internal use), or applied to skin to be absorbed into the bloodstream. I have been casually researching and using essential oils for a few years now and am just beginning to understand how they work and are made, so be sure to get a book on aromatherapy or find someone who is trained in it. One of the benefits of essential oils is that they are very powerful, yet less likely than herbs to interact with prescription drugs. More on this later, but some essential oils that are safe for the general populace *can and will cause seizures* in those with epilepsy. If you have epilepsy, you should never use those oils. I will provide a list of oils to avoid when I address natural treatment of epilepsy. High quality essential oils can be purchased from Mountain Rose Herbs (see above), NaturesGift.com, sunrosearomatics.com, or aromaticsinternational.com. If you search for essential oils on the internet, almost all the information that comes up is from one of two companies (I don't need to list them; it is easy to figure out.) I used to use the oils of one of those companies. After more research into how exactly essential oils are made and what makes a good quality essential oil, I will no longer use oils of either company due to inaccurate data they provide on their products and what I believe to be shady (at best) marketing practices, not to mention their oils are ridiculously overpriced. For instance: companies that claim their oils are "Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade (CPTG)" are using a clever marketing scheme, because they have created the companies that certify their own products; they certify themselves. Some will say "the government" certifies them, but the FDA is not at all involved in the testing or certifying of essential oils. There are also not "grades" of essential oils, just ways in which they are distilled (steam distillation, CO2 extraction, cold pressed, etc.) and different ones have different benefits depending on the need. An oil should say that it is 100% pure essential oil, meaning there is no alcohol added to it, or other oils. For instance, some much cheaper versions of frankincense found at Whole Foods contain essential oils of frankincense bark (not resin), and it is diluted with jojoba oil. While probably still therapeutic and beneficial, it is not true frankincense essential oil. Just read your labels. You can also test the purity of an oil by putting a drop on a piece of paper and waiting for it to evaporate. Once it does, if there is a ring, it is not a pure essential oil (since essential oils are not technically oils at all, but a true oil would leave a ring, as would alcohol.)

- Vitamins and Minerals. Due to our American diets and conventional farming practices that have pulled much of the nutrient content from our soils, many Americans are deficient in certain vitamins and minerals that affect one's immunity and particularly one's brain function. This is particularly important when dealing with many of the symptoms of TSC brain tumors: epilepsy, autism, other neuro-behavioral disorders, cognition, development, neuralgia, and sleep. The benefit of taking vitamin and mineral supplements is that assuming one takes the proper dosage, there are virtually no side-effects and they are unlikely to interact with prescription medicines, since they are required components for survival and typically found in food.

- Probiotics. Probiotics refer to the beneficial bacteria lining the intestines of all humans. Without them we would cease to live. They compose a large part of our immune system, and they contribute to not only healthy digestion and absorption, but also a healthy brain. Certain vitamins and minerals are produced by these bacteria, and many of these bacteria produce GABA, one of the primary inhibitory neurotransmitters, important in controlling epilepsy and hyperactivity. For young infants, we had drastic improvement in colic symptoms (as in, they disappeared) with Klaire Labs Therbiotic Infant Formula Powder. One dose is 1/4 tsp. To give to our 2 month old, we mixed the dose with expressed breastmilk and then administered with a syringe. She never complained. For adults (we also give it to our children, though some recommend halving the dose), we like Nature's Way Primadophilus Optima. When choosing a probiotic, the key is to find one with both bifido- and lacto- species (i.e. l. acidophilus, b. bifidum), as they do slightly different things. The more species, the better, the more CFU's (colony forming units), the better...at least 1 billion CFU's per dose, though we always used much larger doses. The infant probiotic contained 10 billion CFU's per dose, and nature's way contains 35 billion CFU's. If you take a strong probiotic and start feeling like you have the flu shortly after, this is most likely a die-off reaction. You can cut down on the dose until the symptoms disappear and slowly build up to the target dose. When "bad" bacteria and yeasts die, they release toxins that in large enough doses can make you feel sick. It's rarely dangerous but you can feel horrible. Just something to keep in mind. If this happens it just means you *really* needed the probiotic!

-Fish Oil. There is a lot of debate as to the benefit and safety of fish oil and which brand or type is best, but we do know that Cod Liver Oil, Krill Oil and similar oils are very high in omega-3 fatty acids, which are believed to be critical in proper brain functioning, among other things. We have just started giving Cod Liver Oil to our daughter this week, but there are lots of parents that swear by it for treating epilepsy, autism, and behavior, which is important to many dealing with TSC. One highly recommended brand of Cod Liver Oil is by Nordic Naturals. As we are just starting this, if any of you reading have had any success treating neuro-behavioral issues with cod liver oil, i'd love to hear your stories!

- Chiropractic. A good chiropractor does not just "crack your back." Chiropractic works from the understanding that everything that happens in our body happens as a result of messages among neurons between the parts of the body and the brain. The brain tells the immune system to act in a certain way, nerves pass messages between the brain and organs on how they should function. If there is a blockage, pinched nerve, etc among one of these neural pathways, the message cannot get through, and it can create disease. A good chiropractor can help with any illness through properly adjusting the spine and sutures of the skull, as well as the extremeties depending on the condition. Though technically a separate form of treatment, I will include craniosacral therapy (CST) in this treatment, since many chiropractors are trained in CST (our chiropractor had used CST on our daughter with much success, more on that later.) For a local and international list of chiropractors who are trained to treat infants and children, go here.

Specific therapies for TSC and its symptoms

This is certainly not an exhaustive list of the TSC symptoms/manifestations or of the possible natural treatments for them. I am hoping that others will read this and add other things in the comments that they have had success with. Again, I am primarily focusing on the TSC manifestations we have dealt with to date, and the treatments we have used for them.

TUMOR GROWTH

Technically speaking to "cure" Tuberous Sclerosis Complex would involve being able to change one's genes. Theoretically this is possible but no one has found out how yet with this illness, so in the meantime, everything is dealing with symptoms. However, something can be both a symptom and a cause. Tumors would be the primary example of that with TSC. Tumors are not the disease; they are the symptom of the disease. However, the tumors can be the *cause* of other manifestations of TSC, such as epilepsy, breathing difficulty in the lungs, heartbeat irregularities, etc. If one can find a way to shrink the tumors *or* prevent future tumors from growing, many of the problems associated with TSC could presumably be avoided.  There are *many* plants that have been shown to have anti-tumor properties, so regarding tumor growth the first place to look would be with herbs and their derivatives (essential oils, etc). 

Scientists have done much research on three plants in particular, regarding their anti-tumor properties:
- Turmeric (Curcuma Longa) 
- Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) 
- Frankincense (Boswellia) .... there are many species in this genus, all are therapeutic

The primary active ingredient in turmeric is curcumin. It has been shown in studies to prevent cancer and tumor growth by preventing angiogenesis (the production of blood vessels) within abnormal tissue, and by encouraging apoptosis (the programmed death) of abnormal cells. It is also highly anti-inflammatory and is a strong antioxidant. One very interesting study actually performed a "knock-out" of the TSC 2 gene (making the TSC 2 gene, which inhibits tumor growth, unable to function...in essence, causing TSC in a lab). Afterwards, they found that curcumin still worked as an mTOR inhibitor in this "TSC" environment. mTOR inhibitors prevent tumors, among other things. Afinitor is a pharmaceutical drug first used as an immune suppressant for organ transplants, that has recently been FDA approved for the treatment of many symptoms of TSC. It has been shown to shrink established TSC tumors in the brain, face, and kidneys. This study shows that curcumin did the same thing in a lab, likely without the nasty immune- suppressing side effects of other mTOR inhibitor drugs. One can supplement with turmeric by cooking with it, though some children may not want to eat curried food every day. There are various brands that carry curcumin and turmeric in supplement form, however it tends to have low bioavailability on its own (not well absorbed/used by the body). There are scientists who believe this is because curcumin needs to be bound with fats in order to be properly absorbed. So, in fact, cooking with it is one of the best ways to reap its benefits, but it is hard to quantify how much one receives each day if used in this manner. Researchers at UCLA discovered that there was better bioavailability of curcumin if bound with a fat, and so a few manufacturers now offer a version of curcumin that is created based off UCLA's research. NutriVene Curcumin LongVida is one such brand. If cooking with it, it is also believed that black pepper can help with the absorption of curcumin. We have recently started using NutriVene's brand of curcumin, and before that, just cooked a lot of curry. :-) As we are simply using it at home with various other natural treatments simulataneously, I cannot use our daughter as proof that it works, but I find the current scientific evidence compelling, so we continue to offer it to her. We also use it for its neuro-protective properties, which I'll address in the epilepsy section.

Red Clover
Red Clover is high in isoflavones, which act like estrogen in the body, and it is high in various vitamins and minerals. Some studies have suggested that red clover can be used to treat breast cancer and other forms of cancer, yet because of its high phytoestrogen content, others worry about its safety. Most herbalists would argue that the other active constituents in red clover would help prevent negative side effects of estrogen use alone, and that the whole herb is better than the sum of its parts. The reason I list this here is because it is also believed by herbalists to help heal skin irritations, psoriasis, eczema, diaper rash, etc, and for this reason could be used topically to at least calm the inflammation and irritation of angiofibromas, if not also shrink the tumors themselves. I have read on various herbal websites and in an herbal textbook of red clover being used to treat fibromas, but I cannot find any scientific evidence that addresses this one way or another. I am currently making red clover and calendula-infused oil with which to make a face cream for my daughter to treat her early angiofibromas.  I figure it will smell better than using topical frankincense essential oil on her face. I will take photos along the way to see if there is any change, realizing she is also taking curcumin and frankincense :-) Definitely not proper scientific method of "only one variable"...But I am far more interested in treating my daughter than doing experiments. This brings me to...

Frankincense
Frankincense has been used medicinally since before the time of Christ, and is currently used medicinally and in religious ritual in many parts of the world. It is the hardened sap of the Boswellia tree, found in some of the hottest, harshest parts of India, middle east, and north africa. The resin can be chewed, smoked, used as incense; or one can make a decoction (boil in water) or use the essential oil. For a while we were using frankincense essential oil topically on Audrey's angiofibromas, and they disappeared! Completely! They were this way for almost a year, and are just now starting to come back. I stopped using it, as i thought it made her smell like an old woman's attic. :-) Various scientific studies have been done on boswellic acid, one of the active constituents in frankincense. They have found that it causes apoptosis and halts angiogenesis in abnormal tissues. Other studies showed epigenetic effects in cancer cells. Frankincense has a long list of health benefits that we are only beginning to scientifically understand. It is also used for treating pain. One important note is that while my daughter is proof in my mind that frankincense essential oil has beneficial effects in tumor reduction, it cannot physically contain boswellic acid unless they are somehow added back in after the fact. Frankincense essential oil is almost always produced through steam distillation. Essential oil is comprised of the volatile components of frankincense...that is, the most fragile, lightweight elements. Boswellic acid is a triterpine, and is simply too heavy to rise in the steam during the steam distillation process, to be collected with the essential oil. I am sure there are other active anti-tumor constituents in frankincense, but if you are specifically looking to try boswellic acid, you will have to look elsewhere. There are boswellic acid tablets available from various companies, and the actual resin is available for sale online (in India and north Africa it is chewed like gum). 

Hopefully some of this information is helpful. Considering the amount of information, I will be splitting this article up into at least three parts. Soon I will write part 2, regarding natural treatments for epilepsy (most of which we have tried). Epilepsy seems to be one of the earliest and most devastating symptoms of Tuberous Sclerosis, and hardest to properly treat. Please check back sometime this week for part 2 on Epilepsy, and if you have any comments or any alternative therapies you've tried yourself particularly for halting tumor growth, please share!
 

The Naturally "Dr." Mom Guide to Family Wellness

Last night, our two year old was discharged from the hospital after having a CT scan and MRI of her brain. It was a long 30 hours while we were there, but Audrey's no stranger to the hospital so it wasn't scary. She had just been having non-stop debilitating headaches for the last two weeks that were only getting worse, so I felt they needed checked out (due to a genetic disease, her brain is also full of benign tumors that have the potential to grow, so I wasn't just running to the ER for a simple headache).

Whenever there is a health problem in the family (often having to do with Audrey and new symptoms of the Tuberous Sclerosis), I often get friends and family saying how they're in awe of how "in tune" I am with my kids and when something is wrong, how dedicated I am to finding an answer or cure. People have said how shocked they are that often I correctly "diagnose" the problem with my kids before a doctor does. I hear what an "amazing" mom I am, which is kind of weird because nearly every mom I know would, I think, be the same way given the same set of circumstances. I think most parents want to do, give, be anything that their child needs. But over my almost- five years of parenting two kiddos, one of whom is special needs (I'm still a newbie but we've been through a LOT), I have found that some moms just don't take the initiative to have a family that is truly healthy. And I don't think it has ANYTHING to do with love, will, desire, or that they're any less amazing. Like anything else, I think some people just need the tools and information. Some of the items in my toolbox are a natural part of my personality...other things I've learned in our journey with Audrey as we were, in essence, thrown into the deep end of the pool and told to learn to swim.

So, I absolutely am by no means a doctor (my highest level of education is a B.A. in Biblical (ancient) Greek and Hebrew), but, to quote Jenny McCarthy, I definitely feel like I've just about gotten my Ph.D in Google Research.

I had intended to talk about this in a chapter of the book I'm writing about our journey with Audrey, but I think it is important enough I want to share it now. So here is my advice, for what it is worth, on having a healthy family.

1. Preventative care comes first. 

I'm not talking well baby visits and vaccines here. I won't get into the vaccine debate on here, but suffice it to say I'm against them for a variety of reasons, but the primary one being I just don't think it is the best way to grow immunity in a human being. I'm talking, begin to understand nutrition. Not just calories. But what good fats are. What they do in your body. What a healthy diet looks like. Stay away from processed foods. Find blogs on cheap, easy, home cooked meals. Shop the perimeter at the grocery store. Understand the ecosystem that is the human body and what happens when it gets out of balance. If you begin to learn about the human body, you won't be as likely to get tossed around by every new diet "fad"...but will better be able to critically evaluate for yourself if a certain thing is right for your family. Hippocrates, considered the "Father of Medicine", said

"Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food."

God has created your body not as a system of disease, but one that is able to self-heal, provided we nurture it and give it the tools it needs to self-heal. For Christians, Scripture teaches that the body is a temple of the Spirit of God. Treat it that way.

Another part of preventative medicine is exercise. But I believe good food comes first. You can't run a marathon if you're eating nothing but potato chips and diet coke all day every day.

Food is not just nutrition and calories. It directly affects cognition, behavior, mood, energy levels, immunity, etc. This is particularly noticeable in children. Because a child's frontal cortex--the area of impulse control--isn't fully developed until age 25, children are much more affected in their  behavior by food than adults are. Artificial colors, flavors, MSG, sugar overload, genetically modified food, and OFTENTIMES gluten (wheat protein) and casein (cow's milk protein) all act as neurotoxins. And the small intestine has more neuroreceptors in it than anywhere else in the body, besides the brain itself.

2. Always ask WHY.

Think like a detective. Western medicine is very good at treating symptoms, but except in cases of acute illness (broken bones, heart attacks, etc) very very bad at providing a CURE. Get back to the root cause of whatever the problem is, if at all possible. There is a commercial on TV that talks about getting at the "cause" of a stuffy nose--inflammation. But that is not (I would do my philosophy professors proud here) the FIRST CAUSE. What is causing the inflammation? Do i feel this way after eating a certain food? After I pet the cat? When I first wake up in the morning? When I get stressed? It may help to keep a food journal or a daily activities journal to see when the symptoms flair up the worst, and go from there. The body does not just stop working effectively for no reason. There is always a reason. Sometimes we may never know the reason, but we should seek it out when we can. Taking a pill should almost always be a short term solution while you try to play detective and find the cause so you can root it out and deal with it. Otherwise we will all find ourselves at younger and younger ages on a cocktail of prescription drugs...and some of those drugs being to deal with the side-effects produced by other drugs. You don't want to go down that rabbit hole. It's very hard to get out of it.

3. Understand what you can treat at home, and what you cannot.

This is a delicate balance at times. The more research you do, the more empowered you become to realize that there is actually a LOT you can cure without a pill...through diet changes, spine alignments at the chiropractor, exercise, stress relieving techniques, or herbal supplements. It really does make you feel good when you realize you cured your child's ear infection in one day with your own breastmilk or with garlic oil and didn't have to go to the doctor, PAY for a doctor visit, and put your child on a round of antibiotics that then leaves them open to more infection, as it kills off not just the bad bacteria, but the good stuff that creates part of our immune system. But sometimes when we begin to learn these things, our priorities shift. My goal used to be to cure everything at home, so I could say I didn't "NEED" some silly doctor. Then I had a special needs daughter, and I would have been stupid to not put her on some really strong prescription drugs that I absolutely hated, and she has a whole TEAM of medical doctors treating her. Pretty much every "ologist" there is. Now, my goal is not to be smarter than the M.D. or to be able to say I'm entirely self sufficient in every way and need no one, but rather, my goal is simply to have a healthy family. A big part of that is taking care of things at home, but I've learned that sometimes, some things are out of my range of abilities and i need help. We are social creatures that need to live in community, and sometimes there's nothing wrong with asking for help...even from a doctor. :-) Which brings me to my next point.

4. VERY carefully choose your family's health care practitioners.

We have seen SO many doctors I honestly could not list them all here, and the list is even longer when you include hospitals, nurses, chiropractors, etc. I have learned that there is no "noble" profession, only noble people or not so noble people. There are doctors who abuse their power and do not listen to their patients. There are too many doctors who think they're God. And there are nurses with absolutely no bedside manner and you wonder why they chose this profession. But there are wonderful nurses who work their butts off and get puked on and continue to smile. They advocate for you to the doctors and people at hospitals who make policy. And there are good doctors. Great doctors. People who want to HELP people. There are certain qualities that a good health care practitioner has, in my opinion.
          a. They listen, more than they talk. They can't prescribe a good cure if they don't know the full story. If they aren't willing to sit and listen to you, find a new doctor who is. This also means you need to be more patient in the waiting room, because if the doctor is willing to sit and listen, that means that not all the appointments will fit neatly into the schedule, and he may get behind. Audrey's first neurologist listened intently to everything I said, and also asked how we were doing, after the blow of her diagnosis. But I often waited in the waiting room two hours. Sometimes longer. That is a more extreme example..he really was slow in everything they did, including walking to the bathroom, but i digress...
           b. They don't talk down to you like you're ignorant. A good doctor can explain something to you without all the "doctor-ese" and medical lingo, without treating you like you're a moron. If you ever feel stupid leaving a doctor's office, or insulted...find a new doctor. I know we all love to watch House, but in real life if i had a doc like that I'd punch him.
           c. A good doctor is also a teacher. A good doctor knows that if you don't take responsibility for your own health or your children's health, no amount of pills is really going to do all that much good. When I was learning about Audrey's illness, her doctors took time to go through her MRI's and ultrasounds and point out to me what exactly was going on, explain to me how it happened, and prepare me for what I could expect in the future. You should feel empowered, or at least a little smarter, when you leave the doctor's office...like you learned something. If you didn't...you may want to consider a new doctor.
           d. A good doctor is HOPEFUL. I know they see sick people all day long, but a really good doctor can look past that and see a brighter tomorrow. This is especially important when a major disease is diagnosed. No one wants a doctor who tells you, after a cancer diagnosis, that you are definitely going to die in six months. First of all, it is depressing, and secondly, no doctor can know that.  They cannot tell the future, only look at statistics and past experiences. But your situation is unique and need not be like anyone else's.  When Audrey was first diagnosed at four months old with Tuberous Sclerosis and infantile spasms (a brain damaging hard to control seizure type), several doctors told us she would stop smiling, get autism, and be mentally retarded. She would never walk, never do anything. She is two, and despite uncontrolled epilepsy, she smiles all the time, she is quite the character, she runs, she climbs, she does not have autism, she is social, and she understands. Her only delay is in verbal speech.

5. Be willing to say "No."

If a doctor offers a diagnosis, or prescribes a certain medication to deal with said diagnosis, and you have issues with it for whatever reason, DO NOT be afraid to question the doctor, not give the medicine, get a second opinion, etc. Doctors are not Gods. They are not all knowing, or all seeing, or always correct. If they were, they would not need malpractice insurance. With regard to your children, you know them better than any doctor does. Here I will speak to my friends with kids with epilepsy for a moment--if a doctor has your child on an AED and the side effects are worse than the cure, insist on a different medication or lowering the dose. This was really hard for me to do in the beginning because I was petrified of going "against doctor's orders" and her condition getting worse. But every time i blew off my intuition I regretted it. I will mention that more in my next point. It also reiterated what I mentioned about finding a good doctor who is willing to listen to your concerns and is willing to offer alternatives. There have also been times I've taken Audrey to a doctor because I needed a diagnosis, but then treated it at home with other methods. (see again on knowing what you can treat at home and what you can't.) For example, we found Audrey had chronic ear infections that were causing her to have hearing loss, and they wanted to do tubes in the ears. Instead i first took her to the chiropractor who aligned her neck such that the fluid could drain properly, and now no ear infections, and no surgery required! But first she needed to see an ear/nose/throat doctor to get a diagnosis.

6. Learn about natural treatments, and keep your Dr. Mom bag handy. 

Check out this book for a starting point.

In addition to healthy foods and chiropractic care, I would recommend keeping coconut oil, amber, garlic, apple cider vinegar, certain essential oils, probiotics, baking soda, and Vitamin D handy in your mom bag. And do some research on what all these things can cure. You'll be amazed. Also, if you're nursing....breastmilk gets rid of pink eye, sinus infections, diaper rash, and heals cuts. Also consider, next time you're sick, doing a quick google search for natural cures for whatever the illness is. I cured my own case of shingles that was quickly covering my entire body, in three days with B12 and Lysine. In addition to the above, if you have kids I would keep on hand a stethoscope (cheap on Amazon) and more importantly, an otoscope. It is so much easier to be able to see at home if your baby has an ear infection than to wonder until it gets bad, or take your baby to the doctor every month to see if they have one. And if you're pregnant, a fetoscope can tell you not only your baby's heartrate (and hear your baby's heart anytime you want, once you reach 20 weeks), but your baby's position, and where the placenta is located. 


7. Above all else, always listen to your gut.

The Holy Spirit, Mama Intuition, your gut...(i think the first two are separate, as I'm not God... but intertwined) LISTEN TO IT. We've been trained in our society (I think largely because society is run by western-minded men) to ignore intuition, to look only at what you can see and have PROOF of. But intuition is not just some new agey idea. It is the right brain, and like any other muscle, you have to practice using it to be able to hear it effectively. Practice using your intuition. Even self-defense coaches say that too many women are mugged, raped, robbed, etc because they get a certain feeling that something isn't right about a situation (hairs stand on the back of your neck, etc), but they brush it off as them just being silly hyper emotional women...only to find out too late that their intuition was trying to tell them something. Will there be times you take your child to the doctor thinking something is really wrong, only to find out there's not? Probably. Will you feel silly and like you overreacted? Maybe. But you'll feel a whole lot worse if you DON'T take your child when something IS really wrong and it could've been corrected if just addressed sooner.

So there ya have it, my best advice on how to take control of your family's health and wellness. Hope it helps someone, for whatever it's worth. :-)

Finally, I start the cloth diaper series....

...I've been meaning to write since I started this blog. But, I've held off. For something that should be as simple as what to put on baby's bum, there is a RIDICULOUS amount of information out there on cloth diapers. And how to wash them. And how to store them. And which kind is best.

My children are 4 1/2 and 2 1/2 years old. The older one potty trained completely right at three years old. My daughter is still in diapers. I began cloth diapering my oldest when he was 2 months old, and my daughter from birth.

Last year, nearly everyone I knew got pregnant and had a baby, and I got a lot of emails asking about cloth diapers. I spent a lot of time sharing what I had learned and repeating myself over, and over...and before another wave of babies comes through my circle of friends, I want to share this series on what I've learned about cloth diapering in the last almost-5 years, and I will try to make it as simple as possible. But before I get into the styles of cloth diapers, the differences between them, etc, I wanted to write a post on the differences between cloth vs. disposable, and what you can reasonably expect from cloth diapering, should you choose it.

I won't spend a ton of time on why people choose to cloth diaper, but rather just a short list of a few of the most common reasons:

• Cost/the economy (on average the cost of disposables over the diapering period is between $2000- $3000...and you get none of that money back...just thrown in the trash, whereas cloth can be as cheap as a few hundred dollars over the diapering period, to as much as $1000 depending on the style and brand, but much of that money you get back by selling them after the child is done with them)
• The environment
• Health reasons (Dioxin, a chemical found in disposables is a known carcinogen)
• They're so STINKIN CUTE!

Now on to what you can reasonably expect from cloth diapering. Some cloth diapering friends and I had a good laugh the other day, about how common it is for people who cloth diaper to "fudge the truth" a little bit about how easy and carefree cloth diapering is. The truth is, sometimes cloth is SO much easier than disposables. Other times, it can be a royal pain. I feel it is only fair to pull back the curtain and let potential future cloth diaperers know how things REALLY are cloth diapering a baby.

In the early days, when the baby is small, particularly if the baby is breastfed, cloth diapering really honestly is a breeze. First of all, the elastic in the diaper or cover is stronger than in disposables, so you have far fewer newborn poop blow-outs. Which means fewer clothing changes mid-day, and fewer of those awful bright yellow stains up the back of your favorite outfit for your baby (or stains on YOUR favorite shirt, from wearing your baby during said blow-out, as has happened to me). The diapers don't stink too badly (if baby is breastfed), and they are easy to clean. The poop is so runny you don't even need to rinse them first. (Honest!) It all just dissolves and leaves with the wash water. So when they're small, the diapers work better than disposables, they're cuter, they're cheaper in the long run, and I would argue they're even better to deal with post-diaper change than disposables, because you just throw them in the wash with no hand rinsing and you're done...they're not sitting in a Diaper Genie collecting funk and you don't have to take it outside to the trash. You also don't run out of diapers in the middle of the night, like has happened to me during short stints when I've used disposables. (Even if all your cloth diapers are all dirty, nearly anything can be made into a diaper in a pinch.)

When your sweet baby gets a little older though...things start to change. The honeymoon is over. You begin to wonder why the diapers are starting to stink so badly after he pees. You wonder what to do now with REALLY nasty poops with solid food in them that you clearly cannot put in your washer without it screaming in revolt. Suddenly you have to worry about either pre-dunking diapers in the toilet (isn't that the nightmare everyone has about cloth diapers and why so many choose not to?), or buying a diaper sprayer which costs more money and is only slightly less gross. And stripping diapers. And why do my diapers suddenly smell so bad even when they're washed? And why are they leaking all of the sudden? And why, after stripping them, am I having the same problem again a few weeks later? What's the best detergent? What's the best wash routine? It gets maddening!

And then one day you find yourself with a pail full of dirty cloth diapers that stink so bad of ammonia they could burn your nose hairs, and some of them have poop crusted on so bad from days of you avoiding rinsing them out, and it becomes very tempting to just throw the whole gosh-darned thing in the trash...all several hundred dollars worth of it...and go buy some Huggies. (Confession time: I've done this more than once, and so have a few of my friends.)

I have tried nearly every detergent, I've tried numerous wash routines, and I've used every kind of cloth diaper in an effort to avoid all the above listed problems with cloth diapering an older baby. And my detective cap has come out a few times wondering why this is such a huge problem now-days with cloth diapering an older baby, when ALL babies were cloth diapered throughout human history until the late 1970's. What gives?

And this is where I say we expect WAY too much out of cloth diapers. First, we expect them to be the washable version of a disposable. We expect them to hold a gallon of liquid without smelling and without leaking. Numerous studies have found that due to the super-absorbing chemicals in disposable diapers, people are changing their babies' diapers less and less often...we're a busy people after all and don't have time to change diapers every time they're wet. No matter how gross and unhealthy this is, we don't smell it with disposables because they contain chlorine that masks the smell.

So, in our effort to make the "washable disposable"...the diapers are made with elastic...and 8 to 10 layers of fabric sewn together...and synthetic fabrics like microfiber and Zorb that hold 7 times their weight in liquid, but don't rinse out as well in the wash. And because we're busy, they sit in a dry diaper pail for two to three days before we wash them. (okay...or SEVEN) During this time, the urea breaks down into ammonia, which is the nasty smell that burns your nose hairs. Add to it that most washers are now HE--using precious little water (I don't even think they get normal clothes clean, let alone diapers containing human waste), and detergents now have more and more additives, fragrances, softeners, and citrus oils....It's just a recipe for disaster no matter how you slice it.

Fifty years ago, cloth diapering was a different ball game than it is now. Diapers were made of 100% cotton, and most were flat diapers that were only one layer thick (the fold and pin kind). there were no HE washers, detergents had fewer additives, and cloth diapers were washed EVERY.DAY. They also changed diapers more often, and potty trained their children at a MUCH earlier age than we tend to do now. (And there is no evidence that the children were psychologically scarred because they were potty trained completely by two years old, either.) I suppose the fact that they were in cloth that didn't absorb as much, and that they changed more often, also led to a baby who was ready sooner to be potty trained. Why go on the potty when I've been trained for two or three years to go in my pants, and the diaper leaves me feeling dry even after I go?

The Solution?

Wool Soaker (cover) I made from a thrift store sweater

Well, I would suggest the most obvious solution is to use flat diapers with wool covers. Wool covers are the most bulletproof cover out there, they're ADORABLE, and they don't stink of ammonia when they're wet. I will address wool in more detail in another blog entry.

People get scared of flat diapers and pins because we've been trained to think they're difficult and antiquated. But really they're not at all difficult to use, they're trimmer than some other cloth diapers (fits better under jeans, etc), they're the cheapest option, and they fit from birth to potty training. I would also suggest washing more often. Like, daily. And don't use an HE washer. Diapers need WATER running through them to truly get clean. Flat diapers can get clean in an HE better than other diapers can because it's only one layer thick, but still, when it comes to diapers, the more water in the wash the better. We could all also use a little bit of SLOWING DOWN. Perhaps if we don't have time to change our babies' diapers  more often, we've got too much going on and should reprioritize.  Our pastor just did a sermon series on this very topic. Here's a funny video about being unhurried that my husband made for the series.

REALISTICALLY SPEAKING....
I know few people who cloth diaper are going to give up their HE washer and their all-in-one diapers. So, my advice for keeping the ammonia funk to a minimum is:

1) If you have an HE washer, there are a few things you can do to get more water flushing through your wash cycle with the cloth diapers only. If you have an HE top loader, you might have a setting that allows for more water. On my mom's, this is the "bulky" setting for pillows and such. It will fill the water to the top like a standard washer. If you have a front loader HE, you may have this same wash option, or you can pour extra hot water through the opening where detergent goes. You can also "trick" your washer into thinking there is more to wash than there is by adding a soaking wet towel to the wash load. The extra weight of the wet towel will make the washer "think" there is a larger wash load, and add more water accordingly.
2) Part-time EC (elimination communication, also known as infant potty learning). It is not a new concept and is still the default in most of Africa and China. I will post about it in more detail in a future post. Few people will EC full-time, but doing it occasionally isn't difficult, will cut down on the number of dirty diapers, and will make it easier to potty train your child completely down the road. Again, more detail on how to do this later. But if you're itching to learn more, you can google "Elimination Communication" and find lots  of good articles and books.
3) Change diapers more often.
4) Either rinse the diapers (including wet ones) immediately, use a wet pail to store them in, or wash them daily. The more time diapers have to just sit, the more time the urea has to break down into ammonia. And poopy diapers are MUCH easier to rinse out if you do it immediately after the diaper change.
5) Use a good detergent that rinses clean or make your own.
6) If you've part time EC'd your baby from birth and made an effort to potty train them sooner, this doesnt' become as much of an issue, but when they do get older and have big grown up man poops in their diaper...these really are awesome. Disposable, flushable diaper liners catch the poo, then you just throw it in the toilet. 

Cloth diapering doesn't need to be a nightmare. In fact, it can be a lot of fun. Maybe our expectations are just a little too high.

More later on types of cloth diapers, EC, detergents, and wash routines. Stay tuned!