I became severely stressed when I began taking care of my two boys without any help because that’s when my older son’s sensory issues and “fight, fright or flight” issues really kicked in. [Read more…]
May 16, 2013
ADRENAL FATIGUE
May 6, 2013
HOW MY SON’S SENSORY PROCESSING DISORDER CAUSED MY SEVERE HEALTH DECLINE
Having a son with a developmental delay was very hard on me. He didn’t walk until he was 20 months old.
This was extremely hard for me because he didn’t walk until 3 weeks before his little brother was born, and I was having to carry him everywhere.
I suppose the bright side is that he didn’t weigh a whole lot, given that he was also a failure-to-thrive baby. [Read more…]
April 15, 2013
Antidepressant Side Effects
A few years ago, when I was going through an extremely stressful time with my older son’s worsening Sensory Processing Disorder, I became very irritable and cranky. I also developed middle-of-the night insomnia, where I would lie wake for 2-3 hours at a time in the middle of the night.
I went to my gynecologist, who was my primary care doctor at the time, and he put me on Zoloft, an antidepressant. It definitely helped with the irritability but it, and the Ambien he gave me, did nothing for my insomnia.
I wasn’t crazy about taking pharmaceuticals. Antidepressants come with many possible annoying and/or dangerous side effects, about which Harvard Medical School published an article: “What Are the Real Risks of Antidepressants?” Possible antidepressant side effects are:
- Insomnia
- Skin rashes
- Headaches
- Joint and muscle pain
- Stomach upset
- Nausea
- Diarrhea
- Reduced blood-clotting capacity
- Stomach bleeding, especially if taking NSAIDs (aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen)
- Uterine bleeding, especially if taking NSAIDs (aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen)
- Tics
- Muscle spasms
- Repetitive muscle movements
- Parkinsonism (rigid and trembling limbs, a shuffling gait, loss of fine motor control)
- Compulsive restlessness
- Anxiety (ironic given that antidepressants are often given to people with anxiety)
- Low libido or performance
- Discontinuation symptoms
- Self-destructive thoughts
- Suicide
My search continued because I was also experiencing a whole host of other health issues: shingles, uterine fibroids, ovarian cysts, irregular cycles, bronchitis and constant, lingering colds and sinus infections.
Given my own issues and those of my son, I researched the gut-brain connection, especially to find out what effects digestive issues, which my sons had had since birth, had on Sensory Processing Disorder. The gut is called “the second brain”; most neurotransmitters used in the brain are made in the gut.
This concept was popularized by Dr. Michael Gershon in “The Second Brain: A Groundbreaking New Understanding of Nervous Disorders of the Stomach and Intestine“.
Digestive issues can also create nutritional deficiencies, many of which can contribute to the initial conditions that an antidepressant was prescribed for in the first place.
Given that neurotransmitters are made in the gut, it stood to reason that working on digestive issues would help all of us, and it did. I began to sleep through the night without taking medication, my sons’ sensory issues improved (as did their acid reflux), and I was no longer a cranky mommy.
March 22, 2013
Acid Reflux Medication Dangers
Believe it or not, acid reflux medication dangers are real, and these medications do major harm to your body. Shocking, right?
It’s true. All of those medications (Prevacid, Nexium, Zantac, Prilosec, omeprazole, even Tums) reduce stomach acid, which is what they are designed to do.
The problem is that acid reflux is actually caused by TOO LITTLE stomach acid, not too much. Counter-intuitive, right? So what happens when you have too little stomach acid? For starters, you can’t properly digest food, leading to nutritional deficiencies, particularly magnesium, calcium and vitamin B12.
A magnesium deficiency is linked to:
- Anxiety and panic attacks
- Asthma
- Blood clots
- Bowel disease
- Cystitis
- Depression
- Diabetes
- Dysmenorrhea
- Fatigue
- Heart disease
- Hypertension
- Hypoglycemia
- Inability to detoxify
- Insomnia
- Kidney disease
- Liver disease
- Migraines
- Musculoskeletal conditions
- Nerve problems
- Premenstrual syndrome
- Osteoporosis
- Raynaud’s Syndrome
- Tooth decay
A calcium deficiency is linked to:
- Delayed development
- Dermatitis
- Lethargy
- Mental confusion
- Muscle cramps
- Numbness or tingling of the fingers
- Osteoporosis
- Poor appetite
- Rickets
- Skeletal malformations
A vitamin B12 deficiency is linked to multiple neurological disorders, including
- Abnormal reflexes
- Anemia
- Anorexia
- Apathy
- Ataxia
- Balance problems
- Dementia
- Depression
- Developmental delay or regression
- Difficulty walking
- Dizziness
- Failure to thrive
- Fatigue
- Forgetfulness, memory loss
- Generalized weakness
- Hallucinations
- Hypotonia
- Impotence
- Involuntary movements
- Irritability
- Language delay
- Lower IQ
- Macrocytosis (enlarged red-blood cells)
- Mania
- Mental retardation
- Numbness or tingling
- Pallor
- Paranoia
- Personality changes
- Poor head growth
- Poor motor skills
- Poor socialization
- Poor weight gain
- Psychosis
- Restless legs
- Seizures
- Shortness of breath
- Speech problems
- Tremor
- Unsteady or abnormal gait
- Urinary or fecal incontinence
- Violent behavior
- Visual disturbances
- Weakness
Not only do acid reducers cause nutritional deficiencies, but they also take away an important component of our immune system. Stomach acid is used to kill nasty bugs, viruses, parasites and bacteria. Without enough stomach acid, guess what happens? That’s right – infection.
By prescribing proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs), doctors are putting their patients at a higher risk for infections like pneumonia and gastroenteritis, as well as getting more colds and stomach bugs.
In addition, by taking acid-reflux drugs, you’re more likely to get sick more often because your immune system can’t fight off these offenders. It also makes the rest of the gastrointestinal tract susceptible to bacterial overgrowth.
Is it worth taking acid-reflux medication? I don’t think so, and I can tell you that, as a mom, I was furious at the doctors who prescribed them to my boys for their acid reflux after I found out how truly dangerous these drugs are.
January 29, 2013
THE “R” WORD
recover button
You may or may not know my personal recovery story.
I have recovered my 2 sons, now ages 6 and 8, from sensory processing disorder (SPD), asthma and acid reflux with a biomedical approach, which means correcting nutritional and hormonal deficiencies, removing toxicities and correcting gut dysbiosis.
I’m still working on failure to thrive, mitochondrial dysfunction and hypothyroidism. In addition, they both had developmental delays, and my older son had severe hypotonia as a baby.
I have recovered from immune dysregulation, in which I had shingles twice, the worst case of poison-ivy ever, bronchitis (which I’d never had before), constant sinus infections and constant colds that would last 3-4 weeks at a time. [Read more…]
November 14, 2012
MOLD CAUSES MANY HEALTH PROBLEMS
In the wake of hurricanes and floods, mold remediation will be at the top of the list of many people’s cleanup efforts. Exposure to mold can cause significant health problems, both acute and long-term.
SOURCE: Dr. Joseph Mercola
November 11, 2012
THE EFFECTS OF GOOD ADRENAL HEALTH
Restoring your adrenal health can improve your mood, metabolism, and immune function. “Common warning signs to look out for include:
- Weight gain
- Fatigue
- Changes in mood
- Gut disorders
- Low sex drive or irregularity in menstrual cycle”
SOURCE: The Body Ecology Diet
November 11, 2012
HOW MY SON’S SENSORY PROCESSING DISORDER LED TO MY SEVERE HEALTH DECLINE
Having a son with a developmental delay was very hard on me. He didn’t walk until he was 20 months old. This was extremely hard for me because he didn’t walk until 3 weeks before his little brother was born, and I was having to carry him everywhere.
I suppose the bright side is that he didn’t weigh a whole lot, given that he was also a failure-to-thrive baby.
His sensory processing disorder turned him into a barnacle. I felt as if he were permanently physically attached to me. It wasn’t so bad when he was younger, but after his brother was born, it was extremely difficult to deal with two small, crying children at the same time, who both wanted to be picked up and held at the same time.
And then when our nanny left to have her own baby when my older son had just turned 3, his sensory processing and anxiety went full tilt. He was used to having someone always there immediately to meet his needs; now he had to share me with his baby brother. [Read more…]
