Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Ashtma and Allergies

I know without a doubt God led me to read this book by Dr. Kenneth Bock called Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma and Allergies. I "just happened" to stumble upon it at the library and it caught my attention not only because Elijah has classic symptoms of ADHD, but also because he suffers from both allergies and asthma as well. I checked it out and read it as if it were a best selling Nicholas Sparks novel...I couldn't put it down. A few weeks later, a friend handed me her copy of the book and said, "Here is the book I think you should read," and it was this book! My learning curve has been huge in this area and I will not do it justice in this blog but rather introduce you to a few key concepts.  In short, he takes a step back and looks at healing these disorders from diagnosing underlying medical problems that could be causing these symptoms. In his practice, he will test for everything from undiagnosed allergies to thyroid function to heavy metal toxicity based on the individual. That is the key. The individual. In a world where doctors just don't have the time to sit and evaluate an individual, he takes time to connect all the pieces of the puzzle. Then, based on the rest results, he will recommend a personalized healing program for each child. He has a four tier approach: 1. Nutrition and diet 2. Supplementations (vitamins, probiotics, etc.) 3. Detoxification 4. Medication. Notice the medication is last. Unlike some naturalists, he is not against medication, even stimulant medication like Ritalin, he just feels that they are over prescribed and sometimes used as a bandaid for an underlying problem. Interwoven throughout the medical information are success stories of children in his practice. He recognizes that not all problems can be healed in this way. While many of the children he see have severe, even life threatening disorders, many seek him because of his more holistic approach. I cried several times reading the book, but especially when I read about "Loukas." Reading about Loukas was like reading a description of Elijah. He was six years old, had dark circles under his eyes, history of food allergies in the family, asthma, pale skin, irritable, and small for his age. In addition, he had all the classic features of the inattentive type of ADHD. Dr. Bock says of Loukas, "...he was probably on the road Ritalin. If that happened, though, it would be a disaster. The last thing he needed was a stimulant that would mask the physical exhaustion that was already destroying him. There was nothing wrong with this kids brain, that couldn't be remedied by restoring the health of his body." He goes on to describe the plan for Loukas and how he, in one year, gained 50 percent of his body weight. How he no longer had asthma issues, was more focused and calm and that the dark circles under his eyes were replaced by nice pink cheeks.  I stopped, took a deep breath, and prayed. "Lord, help me to know if there are underlying problems for Elijah." Immediately, I became more strict about his known egg and peanut allergy. While, I don't allow him to have peanuts at all,  I've been relaxed about eggs in pancakes or other baked goods because the allergist said that he could have eggs if they were baked at a high enough temperature to kill the egg protein. Most other people that I know that have an egg allergy avoid them even in baked goods. If there is one thing I learned from the book that I didn't know, it is how much allergies can affect the body in ways that can't be outwardly seen. I always thought, "No Hives, no problem." Luckily, I have for a while been using flax seed as a substitute for eggs in some recipes for health reasons, so he can still have his pancakes, just with flax seed instead of eggs. The next step, of course, was finding a good multi-vitamin. That is easier said than done for someone who needs to avoid fruit flavoring. I finally found a children's chewable vitamin from Freeda vitamins that is carob flavored. Elijah says they taste like Smartees, which is a good thing! In addition, I have recently been trying to increase his protein, especially as breakfast, but that is also easier said than done for someone who can't have eggs or peanut butter and won't eat legumes. Adding a little ricotta cheese to pancakes and pecans to chocolate chip cookies has been a start. Finally, I know what things that ask the Dr. about on my next well child visit in June. I hope that they will take seriously some of my concerns and do some testing...perhaps a complete blood panel, urinalysis, and thyroid test. As I told a friend of mine, I am still in the stage of trusting my pediatrician since we have only been here for 2 years. So far, my concerns have been related to allergies and asthma issues. We have seen some great improvements following Feingold, but, that may just be the first step in helping Elijah be as healthy, calm, and focused as he can be. We shall see.