The goal of biomedical treatment is to optimize health in order to minimize inflammation, prevent disruptive behaviors, enable normal development, and allow the traditional therapies to take hold. This is the story of one of our parents who became a believer after getting rid of the offending nutritional fare.

After our son was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, I spent about two weeks in a very dark place. As soon as I stopped feeling sorry for myself, I knew I needed to try to be as strong as I could so that I could help our son. About six weeks after our first visit with Dr. Udell, we received all of the test results for food sensitivities. My son had been a great eater (this is a story for another time) until we found out he was highly allergic to peanuts; then, after experiencing anaphylaxis at 17 months due to eggs, food became a MUCH bigger problem. He had pneumonia for the first time in February 2012, which was frightening. We were told that he suffered from Reactive Airways Disease and that he would be sick for quite a few years. I had such a difficult time just accepting this news, so I researched solutions. He was on a regimen of Singular, Xoponex, and Pulmicort in the nebulizer and, if it got severe enough, oral steroids. Our son was always ill. Sick so much that people did not believe us. This year, my son was on steroids (either oral or inhaled) from October until March, but he was still not better. One of the fill-in pediatricians proclaimed, “He is on too much medicine to be this sick!”

This past March, after our follow-up appointment for biomedical treatment, we started our son on a high dose probiotic and Diflucan. At that visit, we received a long list of items for our son not to eat. My husband and I decided to dive head first into this and get rid of his beloved bananas and Lorna Doones (cookies). I was skeptical about the food changes because any time you hear the word autism, GF /CF diets are soon to follow. I am not sure if the food, the probiotic or the Diflucan changed our son but something did and he has not had any more respiratory issues. I am not a Dr. but as we noticed our son changing with all of the new protocols, he became a healthy 3 and a half year old little boy. No steroids for 7 weeks and counting.

Back to my son’s food issues. He never got back to eating fish and chicken, as he did in his infancy. He eats a lot of pouches from Earth’s Best or Plum Organics. He drinks a smoothie in the morning but, since we had to change to rice milk, we provide Silk protein drink and soy yogurt. I went to my local health food stores (the big box ones are so expensive) and found Annie’s Gluten Free Bunnies, Crunch-master cinnamon sugar crackers, Enjoy Life sugar cookies and Home Free little sugar cookies. We had to bribe him with toys to get him to try new foods, but it worked. Now, we have a few items to take when we go out, so he can feel like a normal kid.

Quick tips for giant food changes. Talk to your local health food stores and see if they can order selected products for in-store purchase. Often, they will offer a discount if you order a case or more. Check out Amazonmom.com (it’s free) where you could get discounts on baby and kids items, make sure to sign up for their ‘subscriptions and save’ programs. The pouches from Plum Organics are $1.79 at Babies R Us and they are shipped to me for $12.46 per dozen, a savings of $9.02. The Enjoy Life cookies list for $4.69 a box, but through Amazon they are $2.84. Not everything is cheaper at Amazon, but with the expense of a GF/CF/egg/nut etc. diet, every little bit helps.

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      www.childdev.org
      Pediatric Special Needs Medicine
      Functional and Integrative Children’s Care

       
      Address – Brian D. Udell MD
      6974 Griffin Road
      Davie, FL 33314
      Phone- 954-873-8413
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