Category Archives: Medical information

Neuroplasticity and Healing Brain Issues

Why There is Hope for Healing:

The body heals itself, to the most optimum health possible. Optimum health is very individualized.  It is the individual ability for the body to be the very healthiest it can be.  And health is defined by the body’s ability to work exactly as it is supposed to:  where every cell, tissue, organ, and organ system is receiving and processing proper, needed nutrients in order to work, and is detoxifying on a regular basis, of things it doesn’t need, in order for it to work properly.  So the culprit for optimum health is lack of the good stuff the body requires, and too much of the bad stuff the body doesn’t need.  That’s the basics of all wellness and all healing, put in its simplest form.  When it comes to Autism, here are some common threads: accumulation of toxic materials in brain and/or nervous system; lack of specific brain-building nutrients, inability for body to absorb needed nutrients, and society’s wrongful way of trying to address outward Autism behaviors.  Our society has historically tried to eliminate or reduce typically Autistic outward behavior, such as repetitive motions or speech, which is the exact opposite of what it takes to change the way the brain needs to rewire, to achieve healing.

Brain NeuroPlasticity:  The Best News Ever!

Science has discovered that the brain never stops working at making new connections!  For our entire lives, neural pathways are built…whether they build towards better brain function or worse brain function, is entirely up to the individual, and the input being given to and received by the brain.

Positive neural connections are built by:
Positive experiences of all kinds, including, but not limited to:
Relational interactions
Mental thoughts
Affirmations
Music
Appropriate Physical Touch
Color Therapy
Aromatherapy
Hydrotherapy
Spiritual Faith and Prayer

As Part of the Body, Wellness for the Brain Requires:

Specific brain-building foods, including fresh, clean and filtered water, as well as nourishing, uplifting and positive music, relationships, entertainment, school, work and home environments, a solid and positive spiritual faith based on truth, and positive mental and emotional states of mind (which ultimately flow out of what an individual is exposed to positively or negatively, AND how an individual processes things…which by the way, is changeable, due to Neuroplasticity throughout life, no matter the diagnosis).

What the body DOESN’T need is toxicity, in terms of not only man made toxic ingredients found in foods, cosmetics, body care, cleaning, laundry care, and any man made product surrounding you, but also the toxicity of negative music and entertainment, toxic relationships, school, work and home environment, or toxic spiritual beliefs, as well as negative mental and emotional states of mind.  Most, if not all Autistic children deal with heavy metal toxicity and/or other chemical toxicity that has settled in the brain.  All of these are obstacles to building positive neurological networks in the brain!

Therefore, ultimately, the only thing that stands in the way of anyone’s optimum health  is either the lack of what the body needs to get the job done, and/ or the overabundance of toxicity that the body doesn’t need. So lifestyle, which includes your relationships, what you eat, your exercise/movement level, your stress levels (how you choose to deal with these stressors/whether you are taking in and absorbing that stress, or letting it go), how much you sleep and quality of that sleep, and even what you think about, how you process what happens to you, what you focus on, the music you listen to, and the things you choose to watch, as well as your spiritual faith…EVERYTHING that you think, do, apply, breathe in, hear/listen to, eat and drink and believe…EVERYTHING, brings you either closer to your optimum health, or takes you farther away from it!

Again, I cannot stress this enough:  For every person, optimum health is different, but it is about being the healthiest possible, and developing to the fullest potential possible for that person.  With Autism in particular (but honesty, this applies to EVERYTHING), it is most important to be diligent in both nutritional/nourishing excellence and in continuing detoxification!  Remembering that the whole person is body, mind and spirit, and we need nourishment in all three, as well as detoxification in all three!  These three parts cannot be separated.  So suffering in one area will cause suffering of all areas.  The mental, emotional and spiritual portions will be discussed in more detail on separate blog articles.

Optimal health will show in reduction of symptoms and increased overall wellness of ANY health issue, no matter what it is, and that includes ASD.  Nourishing the body, and detoxifying it can have astounding outcomes!

ASD in Our Family

Image result for autism spectrum

OUR AUTISM STORY…

Please note, to make it easiest for you, I have listed ALL natural resources that have helped our son, on the “Resources” link, listed in the banner, so as not to interrupt the impact of this story for you. 

We have four gorgeous and truly outstanding children.  Each child is completely different, and unique.  As of this writing, they range in age from 21 down to 11.  Two of our children are more reserved, two are more outgoing.  We’ve home schooled all of them until this year, when we were forced to look at other educational possibilities for our youngest, while we had to deal with a crisis for the child with ASD.  Hopefully our story will impact others, and will help avoid or significantly reduce the pain and suffering that too many go through.

IMMUNIZATIONS, the CDC and ASD
Though this may not be part of your story, we know for a fact that our child was injured through vaccines.  Period.  After countless hours of research and connecting the dots (because you as a parent will ALWAYS find better solutions, by your focus and intention than a doctor would be able to…you care more, and it is your child’s life!), we have come to the conclusion that while Autism may have different pathways, ultimately, the way to support the brain to make the best of its ability to change, is the same!  We are sharing our story, in the hopes that your family won’t have to suffer as ours has, and/or in the hopes that there will be several take-aways for you, that will make all the difference to your child and family!

While I don’t discount other factors that may have played into ending up with ASD for our child, including those that may not be understood or known about yet, I know that immunizations played a BIG part in our child’s neurodevelopmental disability.  When a baby receives immunizations, and immediately develops a super high fever of 105° F, and the fever stays that way continuously for close to or around two weeks, non-stop (all documented)…and when it happens every single time he is immunized, not only is there a correlation, there is direct impact.  If you go back to the CDC’s explanation of what ASD is:  “…a neurodevelopmental disability…”, and you realize that a tiny baby had these huge fevers for long periods of time,then you can connect the dots that this was certainly detrimental for brain development and function, because at high fevers, neural pathways are damaged!

THE FOLLOWING SECTION IS ALL ABOUT VACCINES, AND HOW THEY IMPACTED OUR SON’S BRAIN, BEING PART OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF ASD, FOR HIM.  IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN LEARNING OR KNOWING MORE ABOUT THAT PART, PLEASE SKIP DOWN TO “CONTINUING OUR STORY”.

At the direction of our Pediatrician, we sadly used Tylenol (lowers glutathione leves, which are required for proper detoxification of offending elements or toxicities in the body) and Motrin constantly, to help keep the fever down, and also sadly received spinal taps (it has been normal procedure to give babies spinal taps, to check for meningitis…consider carefully, and decide if that is a procedure you feel is necessary, based on evidence).  Our child was even held overnight at the hospital, only to find that “there is nothing wrong”…but they were the ones that were oh so very wrong!

We later found out that the CDC also states that if a patient shows adverse reactions to immunizations AT ANY TIME, they should never again be given ANY, and doctors’ office should be filing a CDC report showing such adverse reactions (which include high fevers, but are not limited to that).  Not only did our pediatrician not tell us this, (they actively pushed us to continue immunizations), however, the clinic NEVER filed any papers with CDC…I wonder how many patients haven’t been properly directed in this?  Thousands?  Tens of Thousands?  Hundreds of Thousands?  Were YOU?

No wonder we don’t have accurate information about vaccines!!  PLEASE DO YOUR RESEARCH!  FOR SOME INDIVIDUALS, IMMUNIZATIONS ARE NOT OK!  Watch for any of these reactions in your child, after vaccination:  high fevers, blank stares, convulsions, seizures, regression in ANY milestones (Were they able to walk, yet lost it? Could they talk, then regressed? Were they correctly identifying and pointing to things, then unable? Did they stop smiling? Did they stop sleeping? Did they start raging? Did they show strange confusion, or sensory needs they did not have before?  Did they stop looking at your face and eyes?  Did they change personality?  Did they have crying fits, that wouldn’t stop?)  If there is absolutely ANYTHING that is off in any way, STOP IMMUNIZING IMMEDIATELY , and start helping your child’s neurological system detox and rebuild!!

Before I go on, please consider a few very important truths:  up until the 1980’s, children were vaccinated against very few things…currently, babies are scheduled to receive over 70 different vaccines, by the age of 14!!  REALLY????

I am an extremely healthy 50 year old, who only had 7 vaccinations in my entire life! Those who are pushing for a mandated 70+ vaccination schedule have only received between 1 and 12 vaccines IN THEIR ENTIRE LIVES!  YOUR children are being required to receive OVER 60, before they are 4 years old, and most of them being injected into tiny babies, as combinations!!  What about the ingredients to these vaccines?  E. Coli, Formaldehyde, Aluminum and Mercury (both heavy metals, known to be toxic to the nervous system), and aborted fetal tissue, are all still listed as ingredients!!  Want to know why they are compressing that huge amount into babies?  Not because they need it, ( such as for the sexually transmitted hepatitis disease, which requires a boost after 7 years anyway), and not because that’s the best timing for THEIR health AT ALL, but rather, because they know that once a child is in school, as long as the child is healthy, parents don’t tend to bring the child in.  WOW!  Just WOW!  Our immune systems can safely take care of natural exposures (I had the mumps, and now am forever immune to exposure…when immunized, it actually does not necessarily mean one is immune to developing that disease).  I’ve had the measles…rarely are there dangerous outcomes…not so rarely are the side effects of the vaccines, though!  BTW, vaccinations are implicated in countless degenerative disease processes, including cancer, MS, Parkinson’s, Dementia, Mental Illness, and Autoimmune Diseases!  Vaccines are able to impact the body for the rest of our lives!

CONTINUING OUR ASD STORY…

Our child actually received a brain injury as a baby and young child, due to the very high fevers brought on by the immunizations.  Your story may be different.  Your child may have had something else happen, or you may not be clear or believe that anything had happened, but there is a genesis, or a start to any neuro-developmental disability.  ASD and other neurological issues don’t just happen!  While there is always a reason, there is no fault-finding necessary!  I find comfort in knowing two things:  there was a genesis or a beginning or reason for it, ( even if it is just labeled as “genetic”), and neuroplasticity is able to completely change brain function to levels that are astounding!  That was our hope, and it has paid off in a BIG way!  I hope it brings hope to YOU!  Please know, it is a process, it has many ups and downs, and it will take an unknown amount of time, as every individual and case is different.

Other Possible Causes for ASD
So, while it may have been high fevers, or metal toxicity (most if not all ASD patients show high levels of heavy metals in the brain), or chemical toxicity,  (immunizations have been shown to be causal factors in both metal and chemical toxicity loads) or nutritional deficiencies or health problems before or at conception, or a harsh environment, or a long family history of nutritionally depleted individuals, or trauma to the mom and/or dad, during, or even before conception (did you know our bodies carry trauma and emotional pain in our every cell, unless purposefully addressed and dealt with?), or nervous system issues caused by a virus, bacteria or parasite (many brain function issues and misdiagnoses of mental, emotional and brain issues turn out to be a microbe of some kind!), it ultimately doesn’t matter.  It may be one or more of those as part of the story for you or your child.  I hope you find encouragement in the fact that the brain can and will rewire itself constantly and continuously, and over time that can make a significant difference, all based on what you do or don’t do!  As humans we want to know HOW something came to be, mostly to try to prevent it, but in many cases, we may not have initial answers as to why or what happened, and we may never know.  Knowing the reason of how ASD came about isn’t necessary:  making use of the neuroplastic ability of the brain, will have positive impact on the landscape of the brain, and the mind!  Come back here after reading our entire story, and check out what Dr. Caroline Leaf’s lifelong Neuroscientific studies have revealed HERE!    Back to our story…

CONTINUING OUR ASD STORY
While our other three children quickly progressed through all their milestones, one not only started lagging behind, that child also started displaying some of the more observable outward signs of ASD…losing interest in pointing at things somewhere between the age of 1 and 4 years old, flapping arms, holding ears closed at what most people would consider very little noise stimulation (child never had a problem with that in the beginning), became very sensitive to all kinds of stimuli, including clothing, lighting, and sounds, as well as touch.  He stopped holding eye contact, and even personality changed from a child who was happily jumping onto public stages, to someone who didn’t want to be front and center at all, beginning to display fear of being around others, and seemingly irrational fears about things in life. 

At the age of four, after the last set of immunizations, our family remembers one situation in particular, when no one could convince our child that his shadow wasn’t out to get him.  It was heartbreaking!  He was screaming, trying to get away from it.  This was not normal!  He also started to display extremely obsessive behaviors, being unable to tear himself away from certain tasks, or repetitive behaviors.  In short, there was a turning point for this child, and as a Holistic Healthcare Practitioner, I knew that the quicker I got on intentionally supporting his brain, mental,  and emotional health, the better it would go.  Meanwhile, the Pediatrician only requested some speech and occupational therapy, between 18 months and 3 years old, but would not diagnose ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), even with the numerous symptoms and repeated requests by us to please look further into it, so our son did not start receiving needed and helpful therapy at the young age he should have.  If you KNOW something isn’t right, do whatever it takes to get your child the help he or she needs…even if it means changing doctors.  I wish I had…

SOME ANSWERS FOR BETTER BRAIN FUNCTION
Thankfully, God in His grace had already shown our family the absolute best nutritional support system available, through Juice Plus+.  Our son received it as a tiny baby through the breastmilk, and as soon as he had a few teeth, he started receiving it through the tasty chewables.  Dense nutritional support is key for ASD!  The brain MUST have dense nutrients on a daily basis, in order to make the best use of neuroplastic opportunities! You may have noticed people with ASD and other neurological issues have a taste and craving for colorless, processed, fatty and sugary things (can’t really call them “foods”), over the needed whole foods that grow from the ground.  Their diets tend to be very limited.  Yet that is one of the very important things that MUST change, in order for the brain to heal!  JP+ provides the dense nutrients that support brain rewiring!

The next wave of grace came in the form of specifically branded essential oils (Trust me, just like a Yugo is NOTHING like a Mercedes car, essential oils run the spectrum from not helpful at all, to magical in how they work).  There are specific ones that help oxygenate the brain, increase good circulation, and allow the body to better build neural pathways.  We found those in 2010.  To say they had an impact on our child’s brain health is an understatement…it was HUGE!  We saw changes right away, especially in area of relaxation and response.  Real supplements and essential oils should NEVER be purchased over Amazon, as sellers are fully able to open and reseal products, and legitimate companies will never honor product guarantees when purchased through Amazon, by a third party seller.  Clean, therapeutic, high quality products are essential and key to optimal brain health.  Our child was displaying such high functioning, that doctors continued to be unwilling to diagnose ASD, and even family friends had a hard time being able to see the atypical processing issues he had.

SOME WARNINGS ABOUT ASD AND MENTAL HEALTH
Towards the end of 2016, God took us on a journey we were not planning for…a perfect storm that would cause further neurological damage:  the biochemical chain reactions of raging hormones in puberty, alongside with everything else that started going down at once.  Beware, if your child has been diagnosed with ASD, when hormones start raging, it can cause severe changes! 

Raging hormones can cause a nervous breakdown in teens and pre-teens even if they have normal brain function! 

Add ASD issues, which in his case included high activity resulting in low BMI, the tendency of obsessiveness in connection with negative thoughts aimed at self and others, and a sudden and significant craving for sugar intake, alongside overstimulation of the brain and lack of sleep, causing distress to the mind (unbeknownst to us, and uncertain for how long, as child apparently would lay in bed still, yet not sleep), caused further neurological damage, resulting in a nervous breakdown.

Additionally, our family had inadvertently participated in and added to his personal pain prior to the breakdown, because we just didn’t understand in what ways ASD was still causing him to struggle in his mind and with his own behavior.  (Remember, he was displaying extremely high function).  All the negativity had started in his mind, through his ASD processing issues, and ultimately built up extreme levels of anxiety.  Along with everything else, and lack of sleep (stemming from anxiety levels), it was more than the  mind could take…and you know what?  It’s far more common than we are EVER told!!  “Happens all the time”, and “We see this daily”, were just a few comments from hospital staff, when we ended up at the ER!  (I now get calls and texts routinely, asking for resources for a teen or pre-teen, who is experiencing a nervous breakdown.  Our hearts are broken!)

So while we were feeling frustrated, and exasperated, and sometimes that came out in how we spoke, we also thought that we were helping by trying to teach him proper actions/reactions, etc…unfortunately, us not checking our frustrations, caused him to  internalize that as feeling less than, or not good enough, or not able, and it only added to his mental anguish.  (I share that in the hopes that you make sure to do differently.)

At that same time, we had started him on some well-meaning occupational brain therapy, which ended up not being what he needed at all.  It further confused the neurological workings of his brain…we later learned that since the brain is constantly building neurological pathways, based on what our thoughts are, our child had been inadvertently building toxic, negative pathways, through the way he was processing events.  What he heard, and saw, and the negative conclusions he came up with (in his case, due to ASD, but ASD not a requisite to allowing negative thoughts to reign wildly), caused negative pathways to form, along with too much brain stimulation, hormonal influx, and previously listed situations caused a build-up of great anxiety, which then also resulted in severe lack of sleep, and BOOM!

Nothing can prepare a family for this, and no amount of detail can express the pain and horror of walking through this terrible time…NOTHING!  Nothing.  Those of you who already have, or are walking through it know EXACTLY what I’m talking about, even though there are individual differences to each case.  Desperation might sum up the rollercoaster of feelings, but it doesn’t give you even a glimpse of the chaos and pain we all endured…and what you yourself may have or may be experiencing right now.  Can I just say, our hearts go out to you, because we do truly understand what you are going through. It’s exhausting, it’s painful, and it is indescribable.  If your child has not yet hit puberty, please keep reading, as I hope to spare you what we had to walk through.  There are signs!  And you can circumvent this!

Right before our child’s nervous breakdown, God allowed us to learn about Dr. Caroline Leaf, a neuroscientist who travels the country and world to share these simple truths that all parents need to know:  toxic thoughts grow toxic neural pathways in the brain, and it is these pathways that change behavior and thinking, but it is the negative thinking that builds the negative pathways!  Learn from us!  Don’t let your child go down that road!!  ASD complicates matters, due to how the brain is wired, and the fact that heavy metals are usually present, making it next to impossible to think or do differently!

We didn’t know what exactly was going on in his mind, or what he was thinking, but we suspected that something was happening that wasn’t positive.  No amount of asking was giving us the picture…we just felt it.  But because our child was also receiving occupational brain therapy, we thought that may have had something to do with it.  His processing started to visibly deteriorate.  He started doing something called “word salad”, and started displaying manic, repetitive movements, which really scared us.  The Psychiatrist labeled that Bi-Polar.  We saw it better aligned symptomatically with Reactive Attachment Disorder.  But regardless, we were beside ourselves!  At that time, we did not know how our super quiet, happy, non-confrontational child ended up riding this rollercoaster.  Now we also know that ANY neurological or psychiatric diagnosis is just a label that really doesn’t mean anything except the outward expression of mental anguish and emotional pain…and that ANY label can be changed or gotten rid of.

At the time, we were scared, exasperated, exhausted (we couldn’t sleep well ourselves), and the stress caused numerous other physical, mental and emotional issues for the entire family.  We were unable to concentrate, focus, or recall things.  We lost entire days, forgot what we would say or do, and couldn’t memorize anything at all.  Our emotions would well up suddenly, and we didn’t seem to be able to help ourselves.

We absolutely hoped and believed that God would redeem all the horribleness we had been walking through, especially starting with 2016.  With our whole hearts, we believed there would be full and complete healing, but that didn’t reduce the pain and anguish of walking through this.  We were about to take a deeper journey with God than what we could imagine as possible.  The day to day still often brought agony and sorrow that seemed to hang over us like a heavy blanket:  we felt like we were suffocating. 

While natural resources certainly helped, (Goodness only knows what this situation would have been like, had we not already been doing the really great home therapies) we didn’t fully realize the additional challenges we would be facing, due to hormonal influx during puberty, alongside all the other previously stated issues.  We didn’t realize the implications, until it was too late to specifically address it naturally.  Natural means are great to support good function, and increase proper function, but there is a point of no return, that when not addressed early enough, cannot stop the eventual breakdown.  Therefore, one of the warnings is this:  be consistent and persistent in addressing all health and wellness issues, BEFORE they develop into something that is beyond the ability to take care of them by natural means!

As he was headed to the obvious final destination of a mental breakdown, even believing there would be full healing, didn’t give us a date of when all of this would turn around and be over.  Of course, we wanted that to be yesterday…we wanted it not to be happening at all, but he had reached a point that all my holistic knowledge couldn’t address.  It was also a point evident that doctors, with all their expertise and training, know next to nothing, about the brain and mind:  this includes psychiatrists trained in the current Western style of medical education.  We didn’t know WHEN things would change…and that was just awful!

We were all walking through unprecedented pain…hell, really.  Although we knew deep down, that all of what our child was experiencing had answers, and that the neurological issues and damage could be undone, the mental health “experts” did not agree, and frankly, that was a huge disconnect (and super unhelpful), which easily could give way to fear, and for periods of time, it did!  This really could’ve been a different story, had we known to watch out for and diligently address his processing issues, and all the other issues listed earlier…especially hormonal influx!  So, please, please, learn from us!  (And medications do NOT address the underlying problems, so they will NEVER heal an anguished mind or painful emotions or traumas.)

EVERYONE BECOMES MENTALLY ILL AT SOME POINT
Before we go further, please understand this:  we ALL either have been, are, or will be mentally ill (or better expressed as mentally dis-ordered) at some point in our lives, (and even multiple times in our lives) because mental illness (or a mental dis-order) can be as simple as this:  focusing on ANYTHING NEGATIVE long enough.  Period.  Now, hear me on this:  ASD is NOT mental illness, it is a processing disorder, caused by some toxicity, which the body is unable to get rid of on its own.  HOWEVER, when the processing disorder causes thinking that is not positive or builds up, then it is causing thinking that is negative, and tears down.  This is even true of non-verbal individuals, because it is all in the thinking and processing.  But it is also that much harder for those who are non-verbal as well.  Having said that, please RUN, don’t walk, to find ways to change negative thought patterns!  We attempted ABA therapy.  And although the therapist was out of this world awesome, and the only reason our son received therapy that helped him in any way (not because of how the therapy is applied, but rather because of the personal connection this amazing therapist made with our son, on the whole I would have to say that ABA therapy is usually a hindrance to individuals with ASD. But dont take my word for it, please see information from Asperger Experts, a company run entirely by Asperger adults, to see what they have to say about ABA and why it isn’t helpful at all, to individuals on the Autism spectrum.   Neurobiofeedback can be indispensable to change the course of thinking in unproductive ways!!  A truly great Psychologist, or counselor, trained in the latest therapies for Autism (only if these therapies are audited by and given stamp of approval by individuals WITH Autism), can also be tremendously helpful!  There are also other things that can help professionally.  And do note, I am NOT saying only everyone with ASD develops mental illness when thinking negatively…

ALL OF US, you, me, your family, your friends, EVERYONE develops mental illness, whenever we focus on and obsess about anything negative, and/or whenever we encounter deep emotional pain, trauma, abuse, or we don’t get enough rest, or proper nutrients for the body, or whenever we are exposed to a number of toxins, or when we have managed to pick up any of a number of viruses, bacteria or parasites, which affect the nervous system.  Mental illness can last for just a few minutes, days, weeks, months or years, based on how we address the nervous system issues.  I say the following with all the love I possibly can:  To say that we do not walk through mental illness at some point, or multiple points throughout our lives, is to be dishonest, unaware, or in denial.  We need to think of mental health along the same lines as physical health, for that is factual.  There is healing, and no matter the label, there can be FULL recovery.

So, if you focus on something negative long enough, you WILL develop one or more of the following labels:  anxiety, depression, wrongful body image (Anorexia, Bulimia, over-eating/under-eating), Bi-polar Disorder, Schizophrenia, Mania, OCD, ODD, Suicidal tendencies, etc…)  There are nutritional deficiencies as well as any of a number of other deficiencies, that will also cause mental illness.  For more in-depth instruction and information on how negative thinking impacts mental health (which absolutely everyone MUST KNOW), please go to:  Dr. Leaf’s YouTube videos here .  Be ready to take some serious notes!!  It was the only thing that gave us the first glimmer of hope!

We had a wonderful child going through a very tough time, and as much as we never wanted to even consider any kind of medication, we were not able to find something that could calm his body and mind down enough to the point it had gotten to, in order to allow for natural recovery to take place…we didn’t catch it in time, and with the severe lack of sleep (which we didn’t realize was happening, because he apparently just lay in bed all night long, without getting up), natural resources were not able to address these issues.  I remember sobbing without being able to stop, and praying for God to show me what to do, and how to do it.

If I can be completely honest, I had moments of locking myself up in my car, and screaming at God, at the top of my lungs! (Hoping the neighbors wouldn’t hear)  Moments that felt like total despair, and times of total ugly crying as I heard God reaching out to me in song, and via other people’s prayers, and their willingness to help.  We were scared out of our own minds, and it took friends, God’s Word, and each other, to keep getting on the right train of thought and belief…Believing not in what was being witnessed, but in what is truth and possible!

God also brought several amazing things into our lives during that time:  A medical team of mental health professionals at Arlington Hospital; A truly caring and loving psychologist (Thank you, Dr. Vincent Ramos); The support and prayer of countless friends; A church leadership who loved us dearly (Thank you, Arapaho Road Baptist Church); Our family, who prayerfully stuck together, and walked through hell on earth (Thank you, Bemonts!); An amazing Neurologist (Thank you, Dr. Jonathan Walker); An uncommonly knowledgeable Neuroscientist, who has been fighting the good fight of truth in neurological repair and the destructive practices of current psychiatric thinking (Thank you, Dr. Caroline Leaf).  Close friends that went through or were willing to keep loving us and supporting us (Thank you, Alicia, Janell, Misa, Tama, and others).  A phenomenal ABA therapist, only because of her personal love and connection to our son, not due to methods of ABA (Thank you, Ms. Katie!), and a Dance Studio, with amazing owners and teachers, who continued to love our son through this terrible time (Thank you, RDA, Ms. Carol Ann, and Ms. Tiffany!)  We probably would’ve given up, had we not had God’s truth that we could stand on, even when things don’t seem great or even remotely good at all.  A support group of deep friends who did their very best to be there for us.  And God’s fabulous creation of plants, for our health and healing.  For it was because of and with all these pieces of information, therapy, and love, that allowed us to understand that God’s promises are ALWAYS true, and there is healing at every point.

Throughout history, the world has operated on wrongful theories, until after much fighting and sacrificing, finally truth was acknowledged and acted upon by enough people, that the wrongful thinking was able to be changed.  Conventional medicine is the worst in this area!  They seem to want to continue operating on old information, even in the sight of obviously correct new information.  Just a small example:  The conventional medical community was unwilling to wash their hands, between patients (even between birthing babies, and dealing with dead cadavers), because they REFUSED to believe that good hygiene had anything to do with illness or contamination…to the point that the first medical doctor to be a proponent of this idea was laughed out of his position, was completely discredited by entire organization, and became mentally ill!  Walking through mental illness is not different than having to walk through physical illness.  And you don’t have to wait for slowness of society to act NOW, and reap great benefits from more correct application of truth.  Your mind and your loved one’s mind can become disorganized at any time…becoming mindful is all about learning and applying to take every thought captive to Christ, and not allowing the enemy to gain a foothold in the mind.  For those of you who are not Christ-followers, simply put, you need to reign in your mind, and not dwell on pain or negativity of any kind, or your thinking patterns will start deteriorating.

MEDICINE AS LAST RESORT, BUT NEEDED
We never thought we’d go the medical route, but we were simply unable to handle what was happening.  We had to get our child well by allowing his mind to rest, and retrain his mind to think differently, in order for him to heal.  Conventional medicine and caring healthcare professionals could provide emergent care, afterwards we could provide the retraining.  We needed to rest ourselves, in order to keep going.  It was needed, but it was heartbreaking and we were just wrecked!  We had already taken him to the ER on a previous occasion, and were close to doing so on several other occasions, but our hearts were wrestling with that decision.  In the end, we were too exhausted, and at the end of our own means.  It was time to do what we knew we needed to do, as much as we were torn about doing it.  He was away from us for one week… the longest week of our lives.  Dreaded, but needed.  Anyone walking through this, hang in!!

Be forewarned, there are very few mental healthcare providers, including counselors for ASD, period, and even fewer who believe any kind of real healing or reversal of issues is possible.  So seek before you really need it, and don’t listen to anyone who says that long-term medication is the only answer!  Counseling in particular, is a need throughout life, not just as a last resort.  Medication can be helpful in an emergency or acute situation, but it does nothing to heal the mind or emotions…in fact, it gets in the way of the brain being able to rebuild healthy connections, long term.

OH, BUT GOD DOES REDEEM GREATLY!!

Our family makes very big changes.  We implement a completely different way of communicating with our child, and responding to him.  I give up my home office space, so he can have a much needed personal space, and it can reduce any obsessive thinking.  I ask our communities of church, school and friends to send him encouraging notes, and to be extra kind to him.  THAT was HUGE!!  We cannot express our gratitude well enough to our church body, and to our dance teacher (Thank you, Ms. Tiffany) and dance students at Rowlett Dance Academy…what those notes of healing did for our child is impossible to explain.

We continued on his Neurotherapy sessions, to train the brain to lower anxiety and toxic stress levels. We are very intentional in the use of good nutritional support systems, as well as the use of emotional and mental support through essential oils.  We do positive affirmations and daily devotional readings out of “Start Your Day Right”, and “End Your Day Right”, with Joyce Meyers.  We eat foods that build the brain (see “Anti-inflammatory Foods” blog entry). We do EVOX therapy, which helps reframe emotional perceptions, and allow to think through things in a different way. (I purchased that technology, and offer it to others in the DFW area as well).

We are purposeful in daily detoxification, and we consider every input our child receives with great care.  If it isn’t positive in nature, he does not watch it, listen to it, or participate with it.  To the best of my ability, I stay alert and aware of his communication with others, and provide insight and a way to think of things in positive light. He goes to bed by 9:15pm every day and sleeps a good long time.  He sets his own sleepy time essential oils diffuser in his room every night, and takes specific nutritional supplementation to facilitate neural reconnection and reconstruction.  We are seeking EMDR therapy, and have friends sowing into his heart and mind about his value and his importance (seems to be heard more if it doesn’t come from mom and dad).  We work with him to set goals to get back to doing things he enjoys, or start new adventures, that he may be actively looking forward to the future.  We look for ways to reaffirm him and his great value, and we help him consider things from different angles.  We have learned to celebrate every little victory, in a super, over the top kind of way…this has been extremely helpful to him!  Whatever it is that will grow positive neural pathways, we are there, and boy, is it paying off!!  We are doing everything I mention on the blog titled “Top Brain and Mental Health Resources”

We are praising God for His goodness, even through all the pain, and give Glory to Him above all!  We would’ve given up, and felt complete hopelessness, without believing in God’s promises for us.  He allowed us to find, learn about, understand, and implement the many resources, to be part of amazing communities of love and care, and to find caring counselors and healthcare providers.  He gave us hope, and guidance, and sent us encouragement at our lowest times.  He brought us the most amazing people for our son’s every need.  He exposed us to the right information, and the right products that would make a difference.  He has allowed us to grow a community of caring friends, and I cannot even recount the number of people who have and continue to sow into our lives.

From the beginning of the downturn in 2016 to now, there has been such a dramatic change, that I can only attribute it to all things working synergistically together, and allowing that neuroplasticity to go into full gear. I personally give glory to God for all of it.

It has not been, and continues not to be easy.  On too many occasions, we have been at the end of our rope, cried hopelessly, and felt completely lost and alone…we were not…you are not!  We were just focusing on the wrong things.  Every time we focused on the problem, or the pain, it magnified it to the point of desperation.  God has been teaching us to trust Him, and to walk by faith towards healing and positive changes.  It takes action, it takes decisions, it takes resolve to forget what is before your eyes, and believe what can be.

We’ve been doing that enough such that accumulated changes are being noticed by everyone around us.  The changes have been so dramatic, in fact, that the outcome of the ARD meeting in May was no longer applicable in August!  In May he showed several and severe challenges in learning and was scheduled to be pulled from most mainstream classes.  By August, new ARD meeting showed regular class attendance throughout the day, with only limited pulls for tutoring and additional help in English class only, and only for quizzes and tests in Math class.  SERIOUSLY!!  WOW!

Update:  03/2019
Astounding!  The obsessively focused discussions have come way down.  He is able to have good, logical and flowing conversations!  He is making friends!  He is sharing deeply from his heart, and is even sharing what he has been thinking about, and how he sees things.  He is showing abilities to consider and understand different perspectives!  His eye contact is at 80%.  He talks about goals and plans for the future.  He is willing to step out on faith for social gatherings!  (What the What???)  He is considering input and direction, without instantly dismissing.  He is able to calm himself down very quickly.  He recognizes anxiety, depression and negative thinking, and is working at changing the direction of those paths!  He is displaying boldness, by being willing to be in the same space with people who have hurt him deeply.  He shows willingness to forgive.  He is getting idioms, expressions, sarcasm, and hyperbole.  He is starting to enjoy and share good jokes.  He is willing to apologize.

OVERVIEW:
WHERE CHILD STARTED

While I cannot possibly list every issue that our child was dealing with, here are highlights:
* Typical ASD symptoms, including lack of social skills, flapping of arms (which went away with nutritional support), inability to get sarcasm, jokes, or inferences; hard to make connections with others, lack of interest in social situations (yet hurting and wanting friends), sensory issues (which significantly diminished with dry brushing and other home therapies), and lack of neurological connectedness when requests were being made (directions were not being heard, understood, or processed correctly).  All of above since very young (after 2 year old vaccines); Extreme or irrational fears (noticed at 4 years old).
* Negative, anxiety producing thoughts start springing up. (2014)
* Putting self down in thought, ascribing others’ actions as unkind, unloving or neglectful towards him. (2014)
* Sadness at not being able to “get” social cues (2015)
* Loss of main friendship circle caused severe emotional distress (Towards end of 2016)
* Occupational brain therapy confuses thinking ability. (Towards end of 2016)
* Stopped being able to write properly February 2017
* Speaking non-stop without syntax or context (word salad:  recalling all facts in mind, in jumbled manner) May
* Unable to stop moving (labeled as “manic”) May
* Expressing constant and unrelenting physical lack of well-being, specifically hurting in throat area, and stomach…no physical reasons for such, therefore all emotional/anxiety May
* Unable to think (blank mind, blank look, and constant tiredness/wanting to sleep, brought on by medication prescribed at first counseling, alongside wrongful diagnosis…medication only stayed on for 2 months total)
* Suddenly being drawn to consumption of massive amounts of sugar
* Oppositional to anything that was said. June 2017
* Wanting to isolate. August 2017
* Full scale raging, and screaming out emotional pain and what he’d been negatively thinking about for the last two to three years. October 2017
* Building up of anxiety over many things. November 2017
* Stops sleeping properly, gets very little rest. November 2017
* Completely stops sleeping. Sometime in January 2018
* Experiences Nervous Breakdown, End January 2018
* Does not speak through all of February 2018

Inventory of strides made since February 2018:
* Able to calm his own mind, tries to help others through emotional upset or anxiety
* Has logical, meaningful conversations
* Is understanding sarcasm, hyperbole, and other figures of speech
* Able to learn and apply information
* Not only reads well, but comprehends, can contemplate and discuss at deeper levels
* Aware of and working on trying to understand others’ point of view.
* Showing great empathy, and wanting to find answers for others’ pain and problems.
* Able to draw geometric shapes as well as other conceptual art
* Able to write at only two grade levels below where should, and improving daily.
* Learning to understand abstract thoughts and ideas.
* Experiencing positive thoughts and feelings:  wanting to correct his own (and others’) negative thinking mindfully.
* Enjoying jokes
* Asking for and attending social situations, even where he does not know anyone…AND NOT WANTING/REQUIRING ME THERE!!
* Self-regulating sugar intake
* No physical symptoms of throat or stomach pain (when it shows itself, he helps himself get rid of anxiety).
* Enjoying deep, restorative sleep.

In a dis-ordered, or neurally disconnected mind and brain, the above was impossible for him to do. As we have been faithfully, consistently, and patiently working on things, we have seen miraculous changes!  Sometimes I still have moments of wanting to beat my own head against the wall, when I forget that it’s a process, and that meaningful connections take time to rebuild.  But I get back up, and work on not giving up and continuing all the amazing therapies needed for continued developing those changes.  I know there will come a day when doctors will even question the ASD diagnosis.  But for now, I’ll take the responses of shock and amazement at how far our son has come in even such a short period of time!

Our child is able to process things emotionally, without going overboard more often than not, and we’ve learned how to manage our environment so that it is helpful and conducive to continuing building positive connections which will be life-giving to him.  He has much lower symptoms of ADHD.  Absolutely ZERO issues with negative/destructive to self thinking, NO reactive disorder, or oppositional defiance.  ADD issues down to less than half.  And add that to all the changes above, the differences are like night and day!

It is worth to put the effort into helping build brain function.  It is a process, and sometimes it feels like the changes are not happening fast enough, when you are in the thick of life.  But it is worth to hang in, and it is imperative to find and use the brands and purchase channels that assure purity and stability of products, as you choose your helpful therapies, as well as providers that not only know what they are doing, but care and go beyond minimum required.  It is absolutely necessary to find the therapies that work for your and/or your child, because it really does make that much of a difference!

To start with, don’t get overwhelmed!  Check out the “Recommended” tab, if you want to see some of the things we recommend.  If you want to see specifics of what we used, and did, check out the “Top Brain and Mental Health Resources”.  Those are the products and therapies we used, which allowed for our child’s optimum brain function and improvement over time.  I worked long and hard to exactly list and catalogue what we used, so that you can easily follow, if you wish.  Those are the things that allowed our child to experience such great brain improvement over time…for some of you it will take a shorter time, for others longer…but be patient, catalogue current state of being for you and/or your child, and what all you are incorporating, take inventory of differences every time you see them, and over time, adjust if necessary!  I’m excited for your journey, for I know that there are great strides ahead for your child and your family!  Don’t give up!  Worth it!!

To God be the Glory, Amen!

**Please note:  everyone’s optimum brain function looks different, and depends on many variables, including, but not limited to: How long someone has been on medication, and how that medication may have impacted the brain; How disciplined one is with therapies and use of necessary nutrients and other helps; How disciplined and willing to change diet and things that have not been helpful so far; How disciplined and willing one is in limiting and removing negative emotional and mental input; How patient and loving in tone, voice and body language, as well as how inclusive and caring the family environment is, including how organized or cluttered the home is (clutter dis-integrates orderly thinking); How willing and able family is in intentionally building up the person needing the help.  How consistent the positive input, including positive affirmations, are being done.  And if you are not yet a Christ follower, please know this process will be infinitely harder.  There is nothing that can replace being lifted up by the creator of everything, when your whole world is crumbling all around you, and you are literally unable to find peace in yourself or anything else.  So I do hope that you at least start exploring the love of Christ, and what it could mean to you not only for eternity, but also for the here and now.  However, no matter where you or a loved one finds themselves at this very moment, the hope lies in the truth that the brain can and will rewire itself, given moment by moment input.

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OUR AUTISM STORY…

Please note, to make it easiest for you, I have listed ALL natural resources that have helped our son, on the “Resources” link, listed in the banner, so as not to interrupt the impact of this story for you. 

We have four gorgeous and truly outstanding children.  Each child is completely different, and unique.  As of this writing, they range in age from 21 down to 11.  Two of our children are more reserved, two are more outgoing.  We’ve home schooled all of them until this year, when we were forced to look at other educational possibilities for our youngest, while we had to deal with a crisis for the child with ASD.  Hopefully our story will impact others, and will help avoid or significantly reduce the pain and suffering that too many go through.

IMMUNIZATIONS, the CDC and ASD
Though this may not be part of your story, we know for a fact that our child was injured through vaccines.  Period.  After countless hours of research and connecting the dots (because you as a parent will ALWAYS find better solutions, by your focus and intention than a doctor would be able to…you care more, and it is your child’s life!), we have come to the conclusion that while Autism may have different pathways, ultimately, the way to support the brain to make the best of its ability to change, is the same!  We are sharing our story, in the hopes that your family won’t have to suffer as ours has, and/or in the hopes that there will be several take-aways for you, that will make all the difference to your child and family!

While I don’t discount other factors that may have played into ending up with ASD for our child, including those that may not be understood or known about yet, I know that immunizations played a BIG part in our child’s neurodevelopmental disability.  When a baby receives immunizations, and immediately develops a super high fever of 105° F, and the fever stays that way continuously for close to or around two weeks, non-stop (all documented)…and when it happens every single time he is immunized, not only is there a correlation, there is direct impact.  If you go back to the CDC’s explanation of what ASD is:  “…a neurodevelopmental disability…”, and you realize that a tiny baby had these huge fevers for long periods of time,then you can connect the dots that this was certainly detrimental for brain development and function, because at high fevers, neural pathways are damaged!

THE FOLLOWING SECTION IS ALL ABOUT VACCINES, AND HOW THEY IMPACTED OUR SON’S BRAIN, BEING PART OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF ASD, FOR HIM.  IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN LEARNING OR KNOWING MORE ABOUT THAT PART, PLEASE SKIP DOWN TO “CONTINUING OUR STORY”.

At the direction of our Pediatrician, we sadly used Tylenol (lowers glutathione leves, which are required for proper detoxification of offending elements or toxicities in the body) and Motrin constantly, to help keep the fever down, and also sadly received spinal taps (it has been normal procedure to give babies spinal taps, to check for meningitis…consider carefully, and decide if that is a procedure you feel is necessary, based on evidence).  Our child was even held overnight at the hospital, only to find that “there is nothing wrong”…but they were the ones that were oh so very wrong!

We later found out that the CDC also states that if a patient shows adverse reactions to immunizations AT ANY TIME, they should never again be given ANY, and doctors’ office should be filing a CDC report showing such adverse reactions (which include high fevers, but are not limited to that).  Not only did our pediatrician not tell us this, (they actively pushed us to continue immunizations), however, the clinic NEVER filed any papers with CDC…I wonder how many patients haven’t been properly directed in this?  Thousands?  Tens of Thousands?  Hundreds of Thousands?  Were YOU?

No wonder we don’t have accurate information about vaccines!!  PLEASE DO YOUR RESEARCH!  FOR SOME INDIVIDUALS, IMMUNIZATIONS ARE NOT OK!  Watch for any of these reactions in your child, after vaccination:  high fevers, blank stares, convulsions, seizures, regression in ANY milestones (Were they able to walk, yet lost it? Could they talk, then regressed? Were they correctly identifying and pointing to things, then unable? Did they stop smiling? Did they stop sleeping? Did they start raging? Did they show strange confusion, or sensory needs they did not have before?  Did they stop looking at your face and eyes?  Did they change personality?  Did they have crying fits, that wouldn’t stop?)  If there is absolutely ANYTHING that is off in any way, STOP IMMUNIZING IMMEDIATELY , and start helping your child’s neurological system detox and rebuild!!

Before I go on, please consider a few very important truths:  up until the 1980’s, children were vaccinated against very few things…currently, babies are scheduled to receive over 70 different vaccines, by the age of 14!!  REALLY????

I am an extremely healthy 50 year old, who only had 7 vaccinations in my entire life! Those who are pushing for a mandated 70+ vaccination schedule have only received between 1 and 12 vaccines IN THEIR ENTIRE LIVES!  YOUR children are being required to receive OVER 60, before they are 4 years old, and most of them being injected into tiny babies, as combinations!!  What about the ingredients to these vaccines?  E. Coli, Formaldehyde, Aluminum and Mercury (both heavy metals, known to be toxic to the nervous system), and aborted fetal tissue, are all still listed as ingredients!!  Want to know why they are compressing that huge amount into babies?  Not because they need it, ( such as for the sexually transmitted hepatitis disease, which requires a boost after 7 years anyway), and not because that’s the best timing for THEIR health AT ALL, but rather, because they know that once a child is in school, as long as the child is healthy, parents don’t tend to bring the child in.  WOW!  Just WOW!  Our immune systems can safely take care of natural exposures (I had the mumps, and now am forever immune to exposure…when immunized, it actually does not necessarily mean one is immune to developing that disease).  I’ve had the measles…rarely are there dangerous outcomes…not so rarely are the side effects of the vaccines, though!  BTW, vaccinations are implicated in countless degenerative disease processes, including cancer, MS, Parkinson’s, Dementia, Mental Illness, and Autoimmune Diseases!  Vaccines are able to impact the body for the rest of our lives!

CONTINUING OUR ASD STORY…

Our child actually received a brain injury as a baby and young child, due to the very high fevers brought on by the immunizations.  Your story may be different.  Your child may have had something else happen, or you may not be clear or believe that anything had happened, but there is a genesis, or a start to any neuro-developmental disability.  ASD and other neurological issues don’t just happen!  While there is always a reason, there is no fault-finding necessary!  I find comfort in knowing two things:  there was a genesis or a beginning or reason for it, ( even if it is just labeled as “genetic”), and neuroplasticity is able to completely change brain function to levels that are astounding!  That was our hope, and it has paid off in a BIG way!  I hope it brings hope to YOU!  Please know, it is a process, it has many ups and downs, and it will take an unknown amount of time, as every individual and case is different.

Other Possible Causes for ASD
So, while it may have been high fevers, or metal toxicity (most if not all ASD patients show high levels of heavy metals in the brain), or chemical toxicity,  (immunizations have been shown to be causal factors in both metal and chemical toxicity loads) or nutritional deficiencies or health problems before or at conception, or a harsh environment, or a long family history of nutritionally depleted individuals, or trauma to the mom and/or dad, during, or even before conception (did you know our bodies carry trauma and emotional pain in our every cell, unless purposefully addressed and dealt with?), or nervous system issues caused by a virus, bacteria or parasite (many brain function issues and misdiagnoses of mental, emotional and brain issues turn out to be a microbe of some kind!), it ultimately doesn’t matter.  It may be one or more of those as part of the story for you or your child.  I hope you find encouragement in the fact that the brain can and will rewire itself constantly and continuously, and over time that can make a significant difference, all based on what you do or don’t do!  As humans we want to know HOW something came to be, mostly to try to prevent it, but in many cases, we may not have initial answers as to why or what happened, and we may never know.  Knowing the reason of how ASD came about isn’t necessary:  making use of the neuroplastic ability of the brain, will have positive impact on the landscape of the brain, and the mind!  Come back here after reading our entire story, and check out what Dr. Caroline Leaf’s lifelong Neuroscientific studies have revealed HERE!    Back to our story…

CONTINUING OUR ASD STORY
While our other three children quickly progressed through all their milestones, one not only started lagging behind, that child also started displaying some of the more observable outward signs of ASD…losing interest in pointing at things somewhere between the age of 1 and 4 years old, flapping arms, holding ears closed at what most people would consider very little noise stimulation (child never had a problem with that in the beginning), became very sensitive to all kinds of stimuli, including clothing, lighting, and sounds, as well as touch.  He stopped holding eye contact, and even personality changed from a child who was happily jumping onto public stages, to someone who didn’t want to be front and center at all, beginning to display fear of being around others, and seemingly irrational fears about things in life. 

At the age of four, after the last set of immunizations, our family remembers one situation in particular, when no one could convince our child that his shadow wasn’t out to get him.  It was heartbreaking!  He was screaming, trying to get away from it.  This was not normal!  He also started to display extremely obsessive behaviors, being unable to tear himself away from certain tasks, or repetitive behaviors.  In short, there was a turning point for this child, and as a Holistic Healthcare Practitioner, I knew that the quicker I got on intentionally supporting his brain, mental,  and emotional health, the better it would go.  Meanwhile, the Pediatrician only requested some speech and occupational therapy, between 18 months and 3 years old, but would not diagnose ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), even with the numerous symptoms and repeated requests by us to please look further into it, so our son did not start receiving needed and helpful therapy at the young age he should have.  If you KNOW something isn’t right, do whatever it takes to get your child the help he or she needs…even if it means changing doctors.  I wish I had…

SOME ANSWERS FOR BETTER BRAIN FUNCTION
Thankfully, God in His grace had already shown our family the absolute best nutritional support system available, through Juice Plus+.  Our son received it as a tiny baby through the breastmilk, and as soon as he had a few teeth, he started receiving it through the tasty chewables.  Dense nutritional support is key for ASD!  The brain MUST have dense nutrients on a daily basis, in order to make the best use of neuroplastic opportunities! You may have noticed people with ASD and other neurological issues have a taste and craving for colorless, processed, fatty and sugary things (can’t really call them “foods”), over the needed whole foods that grow from the ground.  Their diets tend to be very limited.  Yet that is one of the very important things that MUST change, in order for the brain to heal!  JP+ provides the dense nutrients that support brain rewiring!

The next wave of grace came in the form of specifically branded essential oils (Trust me, just like a Yugo is NOTHING like a Mercedes car, essential oils run the spectrum from not helpful at all, to magical in how they work).  There are specific ones that help oxygenate the brain, increase good circulation, and allow the body to better build neural pathways.  We found those in 2010.  To say they had an impact on our child’s brain health is an understatement…it was HUGE!  We saw changes right away, especially in area of relaxation and response.  Real supplements and essential oils should NEVER be purchased over Amazon, as sellers are fully able to open and reseal products, and legitimate companies will never honor product guarantees when purchased through Amazon, by a third party seller.  Clean, therapeutic, high quality products are essential and key to optimal brain health.  Our child was displaying such high functioning, that doctors continued to be unwilling to diagnose ASD, and even family friends had a hard time being able to see the atypical processing issues he had.

SOME WARNINGS ABOUT ASD AND MENTAL HEALTH
Towards the end of 2016, God took us on a journey we were not planning for…a perfect storm that would cause further neurological damage:  the biochemical chain reactions of raging hormones in puberty, alongside with everything else that started going down at once.  Beware, if your child has been diagnosed with ASD, when hormones start raging, it can cause severe changes! 

Raging hormones can cause a nervous breakdown in teens and pre-teens even if they have normal brain function! 

Add ASD issues, which in his case included high activity resulting in low BMI, the tendency of obsessiveness in connection with negative thoughts aimed at self and others, and a sudden and significant craving for sugar intake, alongside overstimulation of the brain and lack of sleep, causing distress to the mind (unbeknownst to us, and uncertain for how long, as child apparently would lay in bed still, yet not sleep), caused further neurological damage, resulting in a nervous breakdown.

Additionally, our family had inadvertently participated in and added to his personal pain prior to the breakdown, because we just didn’t understand in what ways ASD was still causing him to struggle in his mind and with his own behavior.  (Remember, he was displaying extremely high function).  All the negativity had started in his mind, through his ASD processing issues, and ultimately built up extreme levels of anxiety.  Along with everything else, and lack of sleep (stemming from anxiety levels), it was more than the  mind could take…and you know what?  It’s far more common than we are EVER told!!  “Happens all the time”, and “We see this daily”, were just a few comments from hospital staff, when we ended up at the ER!  (I now get calls and texts routinely, asking for resources for a teen or pre-teen, who is experiencing a nervous breakdown.  Our hearts are broken!)

So while we were feeling frustrated, and exasperated, and sometimes that came out in how we spoke, we also thought that we were helping by trying to teach him proper actions/reactions, etc…unfortunately, us not checking our frustrations, caused him to  internalize that as feeling less than, or not good enough, or not able, and it only added to his mental anguish.  (I share that in the hopes that you make sure to do differently.)

At that same time, we had started him on some well-meaning occupational brain therapy, which ended up not being what he needed at all.  It further confused the neurological workings of his brain…we later learned that since the brain is constantly building neurological pathways, based on what our thoughts are, our child had been inadvertently building toxic, negative pathways, through the way he was processing events.  What he heard, and saw, and the negative conclusions he came up with (in his case, due to ASD, but ASD not a requisite to allowing negative thoughts to reign wildly), caused negative pathways to form, along with too much brain stimulation, hormonal influx, and previously listed situations caused a build-up of great anxiety, which then also resulted in severe lack of sleep, and BOOM!

Nothing can prepare a family for this, and no amount of detail can express the pain and horror of walking through this terrible time…NOTHING!  Nothing.  Those of you who already have, or are walking through it know EXACTLY what I’m talking about, even though there are individual differences to each case.  Desperation might sum up the rollercoaster of feelings, but it doesn’t give you even a glimpse of the chaos and pain we all endured…and what you yourself may have or may be experiencing right now.  Can I just say, our hearts go out to you, because we do truly understand what you are going through. It’s exhausting, it’s painful, and it is indescribable.  If your child has not yet hit puberty, please keep reading, as I hope to spare you what we had to walk through.  There are signs!  And you can circumvent this!

Right before our child’s nervous breakdown, God allowed us to learn about Dr. Caroline Leaf, a neuroscientist who travels the country and world to share these simple truths that all parents need to know:  toxic thoughts grow toxic neural pathways in the brain, and it is these pathways that change behavior and thinking, but it is the negative thinking that builds the negative pathways!  Learn from us!  Don’t let your child go down that road!!  ASD complicates matters, due to how the brain is wired, and the fact that heavy metals are usually present, making it next to impossible to think or do differently!

We didn’t know what exactly was going on in his mind, or what he was thinking, but we suspected that something was happening that wasn’t positive.  No amount of asking was giving us the picture…we just felt it.  But because our child was also receiving occupational brain therapy, we thought that may have had something to do with it.  His processing started to visibly deteriorate.  He started doing something called “word salad”, and started displaying manic, repetitive movements, which really scared us.  The Psychiatrist labeled that Bi-Polar.  We saw it better aligned symptomatically with Reactive Attachment Disorder.  But regardless, we were beside ourselves!  At that time, we did not know how our super quiet, happy, non-confrontational child ended up riding this rollercoaster.  Now we also know that ANY neurological or psychiatric diagnosis is just a label that really doesn’t mean anything except the outward expression of mental anguish and emotional pain…and that ANY label can be changed or gotten rid of.

At the time, we were scared, exasperated, exhausted (we couldn’t sleep well ourselves), and the stress caused numerous other physical, mental and emotional issues for the entire family.  We were unable to concentrate, focus, or recall things.  We lost entire days, forgot what we would say or do, and couldn’t memorize anything at all.  Our emotions would well up suddenly, and we didn’t seem to be able to help ourselves.

We absolutely hoped and believed that God would redeem all the horribleness we had been walking through, especially starting with 2016.  With our whole hearts, we believed there would be full and complete healing, but that didn’t reduce the pain and anguish of walking through this.  We were about to take a deeper journey with God than what we could imagine as possible.  The day to day still often brought agony and sorrow that seemed to hang over us like a heavy blanket:  we felt like we were suffocating. 

While natural resources certainly helped, (Goodness only knows what this situation would have been like, had we not already been doing the really great home therapies) we didn’t fully realize the additional challenges we would be facing, due to hormonal influx during puberty, alongside all the other previously stated issues.  We didn’t realize the implications, until it was too late to specifically address it naturally.  Natural means are great to support good function, and increase proper function, but there is a point of no return, that when not addressed early enough, cannot stop the eventual breakdown.  Therefore, one of the warnings is this:  be consistent and persistent in addressing all health and wellness issues, BEFORE they develop into something that is beyond the ability to take care of them by natural means!

As he was headed to the obvious final destination of a mental breakdown, even believing there would be full healing, didn’t give us a date of when all of this would turn around and be over.  Of course, we wanted that to be yesterday…we wanted it not to be happening at all, but he had reached a point that all my holistic knowledge couldn’t address.  It was also a point evident that doctors, with all their expertise and training, know next to nothing, about the brain and mind:  this includes psychiatrists trained in the current Western style of medical education.  We didn’t know WHEN things would change…and that was just awful!

We were all walking through unprecedented pain…hell, really.  Although we knew deep down, that all of what our child was experiencing had answers, and that the neurological issues and damage could be undone, the mental health “experts” did not agree, and frankly, that was a huge disconnect (and super unhelpful), which easily could give way to fear, and for periods of time, it did!  This really could’ve been a different story, had we known to watch out for and diligently address his processing issues, and all the other issues listed earlier…especially hormonal influx!  So, please, please, learn from us!  (And medications do NOT address the underlying problems, so they will NEVER heal an anguished mind or painful emotions or traumas.)

EVERYONE BECOMES MENTALLY ILL AT SOME POINT
Before we go further, please understand this:  we ALL either have been, are, or will be mentally ill (or better expressed as mentally dis-ordered) at some point in our lives, (and even multiple times in our lives) because mental illness (or a mental dis-order) can be as simple as this:  focusing on ANYTHING NEGATIVE long enough.  Period.  Now, hear me on this:  ASD is NOT mental illness, it is a processing disorder, caused by some toxicity, which the body is unable to get rid of on its own.  HOWEVER, when the processing disorder causes thinking that is not positive or builds up, then it is causing thinking that is negative, and tears down.  This is even true of non-verbal individuals, because it is all in the thinking and processing.  But it is also that much harder for those who are non-verbal as well.  Having said that, please RUN, don’t walk, to find ways to change negative thought patterns!  We attempted ABA therapy.  And although the therapist was out of this world awesome, and the only reason our son received therapy that helped him in any way (not because of how the therapy is applied, but rather because of the personal connection this amazing therapist made with our son, on the whole I would have to say that ABA therapy is usually a hindrance to individuals with ASD. But dont take my word for it, please see information from Asperger Experts, a company run entirely by Asperger adults, to see what they have to say about ABA and why it isn’t helpful at all, to individuals on the Autism spectrum.   Neurobiofeedback can be indispensable to change the course of thinking in unproductive ways!!  A truly great Psychologist, or counselor, trained in the latest therapies for Autism (only if these therapies are audited by and given stamp of approval by individuals WITH Autism), can also be tremendously helpful!  There are also other things that can help professionally.  And do note, I am NOT saying only everyone with ASD develops mental illness when thinking negatively…

ALL OF US, you, me, your family, your friends, EVERYONE develops mental illness, whenever we focus on and obsess about anything negative, and/or whenever we encounter deep emotional pain, trauma, abuse, or we don’t get enough rest, or proper nutrients for the body, or whenever we are exposed to a number of toxins, or when we have managed to pick up any of a number of viruses, bacteria or parasites, which affect the nervous system.  Mental illness can last for just a few minutes, days, weeks, months or years, based on how we address the nervous system issues.  I say the following with all the love I possibly can:  To say that we do not walk through mental illness at some point, or multiple points throughout our lives, is to be dishonest, unaware, or in denial.  We need to think of mental health along the same lines as physical health, for that is factual.  There is healing, and no matter the label, there can be FULL recovery.

So, if you focus on something negative long enough, you WILL develop one or more of the following labels:  anxiety, depression, wrongful body image (Anorexia, Bulimia, over-eating/under-eating), Bi-polar Disorder, Schizophrenia, Mania, OCD, ODD, Suicidal tendencies, etc…)  There are nutritional deficiencies as well as any of a number of other deficiencies, that will also cause mental illness.  For more in-depth instruction and information on how negative thinking impacts mental health (which absolutely everyone MUST KNOW), please go to:  Dr. Leaf’s YouTube videos here .  Be ready to take some serious notes!!  It was the only thing that gave us the first glimmer of hope!

We had a wonderful child going through a very tough time, and as much as we never wanted to even consider any kind of medication, we were not able to find something that could calm his body and mind down enough to the point it had gotten to, in order to allow for natural recovery to take place…we didn’t catch it in time, and with the severe lack of sleep (which we didn’t realize was happening, because he apparently just lay in bed all night long, without getting up), natural resources were not able to address these issues.  I remember sobbing without being able to stop, and praying for God to show me what to do, and how to do it.

If I can be completely honest, I had moments of locking myself up in my car, and screaming at God, at the top of my lungs! (Hoping the neighbors wouldn’t hear)  Moments that felt like total despair, and times of total ugly crying as I heard God reaching out to me in song, and via other people’s prayers, and their willingness to help.  We were scared out of our own minds, and it took friends, God’s Word, and each other, to keep getting on the right train of thought and belief…Believing not in what was being witnessed, but in what is truth and possible!

God also brought several amazing things into our lives during that time:  A medical team of mental health professionals at Arlington Hospital; A truly caring and loving psychologist (Thank you, Dr. Vincent Ramos); The support and prayer of countless friends; A church leadership who loved us dearly (Thank you, Arapaho Road Baptist Church); Our family, who prayerfully stuck together, and walked through hell on earth (Thank you, Bemonts!); An amazing Neurologist (Thank you, Dr. Jonathan Walker); An uncommonly knowledgeable Neuroscientist, who has been fighting the good fight of truth in neurological repair and the destructive practices of current psychiatric thinking (Thank you, Dr. Caroline Leaf).  Close friends that went through or were willing to keep loving us and supporting us (Thank you, Alicia, Janell, Misa, Tama, and others).  A phenomenal ABA therapist, only because of her personal love and connection to our son, not due to methods of ABA (Thank you, Ms. Katie!), and a Dance Studio, with amazing owners and teachers, who continued to love our son through this terrible time (Thank you, RDA, Ms. Carol Ann, and Ms. Tiffany!)  We probably would’ve given up, had we not had God’s truth that we could stand on, even when things don’t seem great or even remotely good at all.  A support group of deep friends who did their very best to be there for us.  And God’s fabulous creation of plants, for our health and healing.  For it was because of and with all these pieces of information, therapy, and love, that allowed us to understand that God’s promises are ALWAYS true, and there is healing at every point.

Throughout history, the world has operated on wrongful theories, until after much fighting and sacrificing, finally truth was acknowledged and acted upon by enough people, that the wrongful thinking was able to be changed.  Conventional medicine is the worst in this area!  They seem to want to continue operating on old information, even in the sight of obviously correct new information.  Just a small example:  The conventional medical community was unwilling to wash their hands, between patients (even between birthing babies, and dealing with dead cadavers), because they REFUSED to believe that good hygiene had anything to do with illness or contamination…to the point that the first medical doctor to be a proponent of this idea was laughed out of his position, was completely discredited by entire organization, and became mentally ill!  Walking through mental illness is not different than having to walk through physical illness.  And you don’t have to wait for slowness of society to act NOW, and reap great benefits from more correct application of truth.  Your mind and your loved one’s mind can become disorganized at any time…becoming mindful is all about learning and applying to take every thought captive to Christ, and not allowing the enemy to gain a foothold in the mind.  For those of you who are not Christ-followers, simply put, you need to reign in your mind, and not dwell on pain or negativity of any kind, or your thinking patterns will start deteriorating.

MEDICINE AS LAST RESORT, BUT NEEDED
We never thought we’d go the medical route, but we were simply unable to handle what was happening.  We had to get our child well by allowing his mind to rest, and retrain his mind to think differently, in order for him to heal.  Conventional medicine and caring healthcare professionals could provide emergent care, afterwards we could provide the retraining.  We needed to rest ourselves, in order to keep going.  It was needed, but it was heartbreaking and we were just wrecked!  We had already taken him to the ER on a previous occasion, and were close to doing so on several other occasions, but our hearts were wrestling with that decision.  In the end, we were too exhausted, and at the end of our own means.  It was time to do what we knew we needed to do, as much as we were torn about doing it.  He was away from us for one week… the longest week of our lives.  Dreaded, but needed.  Anyone walking through this, hang in!!

Be forewarned, there are very few mental healthcare providers, including counselors for ASD, period, and even fewer who believe any kind of real healing or reversal of issues is possible.  So seek before you really need it, and don’t listen to anyone who says that long-term medication is the only answer!  Counseling in particular, is a need throughout life, not just as a last resort.  Medication can be helpful in an emergency or acute situation, but it does nothing to heal the mind or emotions…in fact, it gets in the way of the brain being able to rebuild healthy connections, long term.

OH, BUT GOD DOES REDEEM GREATLY!!

Our family makes very big changes.  We implement a completely different way of communicating with our child, and responding to him.  I give up my home office space, so he can have a much needed personal space, and it can reduce any obsessive thinking.  I ask our communities of church, school and friends to send him encouraging notes, and to be extra kind to him.  THAT was HUGE!!  We cannot express our gratitude well enough to our church body, and to our dance teacher (Thank you, Ms. Tiffany) and dance students at Rowlett Dance Academy…what those notes of healing did for our child is impossible to explain.

We continued on his Neurotherapy sessions, to train the brain to lower anxiety and toxic stress levels. We are very intentional in the use of good nutritional support systems, as well as the use of emotional and mental support through essential oils.  We do positive affirmations and daily devotional readings out of “Start Your Day Right”, and “End Your Day Right”, with Joyce Meyers.  We eat foods that build the brain (see “Anti-inflammatory Foods” blog entry). We do EVOX therapy, which helps reframe emotional perceptions, and allow to think through things in a different way. (I purchased that technology, and offer it to others in the DFW area as well).

We are purposeful in daily detoxification, and we consider every input our child receives with great care.  If it isn’t positive in nature, he does not watch it, listen to it, or participate with it.  To the best of my ability, I stay alert and aware of his communication with others, and provide insight and a way to think of things in positive light. He goes to bed by 9:15pm every day and sleeps a good long time.  He sets his own sleepy time essential oils diffuser in his room every night, and takes specific nutritional supplementation to facilitate neural reconnection and reconstruction.  We are seeking EMDR therapy, and have friends sowing into his heart and mind about his value and his importance (seems to be heard more if it doesn’t come from mom and dad).  We work with him to set goals to get back to doing things he enjoys, or start new adventures, that he may be actively looking forward to the future.  We look for ways to reaffirm him and his great value, and we help him consider things from different angles.  We have learned to celebrate every little victory, in a super, over the top kind of way…this has been extremely helpful to him!  Whatever it is that will grow positive neural pathways, we are there, and boy, is it paying off!!  We are doing everything I mention on the blog titled “Top Brain and Mental Health Resources”

We are praising God for His goodness, even through all the pain, and give Glory to Him above all!  We would’ve given up, and felt complete hopelessness, without believing in God’s promises for us.  He allowed us to find, learn about, understand, and implement the many resources, to be part of amazing communities of love and care, and to find caring counselors and healthcare providers.  He gave us hope, and guidance, and sent us encouragement at our lowest times.  He brought us the most amazing people for our son’s every need.  He exposed us to the right information, and the right products that would make a difference.  He has allowed us to grow a community of caring friends, and I cannot even recount the number of people who have and continue to sow into our lives.

From the beginning of the downturn in 2016 to now, there has been such a dramatic change, that I can only attribute it to all things working synergistically together, and allowing that neuroplasticity to go into full gear. I personally give glory to God for all of it.

It has not been, and continues not to be easy.  On too many occasions, we have been at the end of our rope, cried hopelessly, and felt completely lost and alone…we were not…you are not!  We were just focusing on the wrong things.  Every time we focused on the problem, or the pain, it magnified it to the point of desperation.  God has been teaching us to trust Him, and to walk by faith towards healing and positive changes.  It takes action, it takes decisions, it takes resolve to forget what is before your eyes, and believe what can be.

We’ve been doing that enough such that accumulated changes are being noticed by everyone around us.  The changes have been so dramatic, in fact, that the outcome of the ARD meeting in May was no longer applicable in August!  In May he showed several and severe challenges in learning and was scheduled to be pulled from most mainstream classes.  By August, new ARD meeting showed regular class attendance throughout the day, with only limited pulls for tutoring and additional help in English class only, and only for quizzes and tests in Math class.  SERIOUSLY!!  WOW!

Update:  03/2019
Astounding!  The obsessively focused discussions have come way down.  He is able to have good, logical and flowing conversations!  He is making friends!  He is sharing deeply from his heart, and is even sharing what he has been thinking about, and how he sees things.  He is showing abilities to consider and understand different perspectives!  His eye contact is at 80%.  He talks about goals and plans for the future.  He is willing to step out on faith for social gatherings!  (What the What???)  He is considering input and direction, without instantly dismissing.  He is able to calm himself down very quickly.  He recognizes anxiety, depression and negative thinking, and is working at changing the direction of those paths!  He is displaying boldness, by being willing to be in the same space with people who have hurt him deeply.  He shows willingness to forgive.  He is getting idioms, expressions, sarcasm, and hyperbole.  He is starting to enjoy and share good jokes.  He is willing to apologize.

OVERVIEW:
WHERE CHILD STARTED

While I cannot possibly list every issue that our child was dealing with, here are highlights:
* Typical ASD symptoms, including lack of social skills, flapping of arms (which went away with nutritional support), inability to get sarcasm, jokes, or inferences; hard to make connections with others, lack of interest in social situations (yet hurting and wanting friends), sensory issues (which significantly diminished with dry brushing and other home therapies), and lack of neurological connectedness when requests were being made (directions were not being heard, understood, or processed correctly).  All of above since very young (after 2 year old vaccines); Extreme or irrational fears (noticed at 4 years old).
* Negative, anxiety producing thoughts start springing up. (2014)
* Putting self down in thought, ascribing others’ actions as unkind, unloving or neglectful towards him. (2014)
* Sadness at not being able to “get” social cues (2015)
* Loss of main friendship circle caused severe emotional distress (Towards end of 2016)
* Occupational brain therapy confuses thinking ability. (Towards end of 2016)
* Stopped being able to write properly February 2017
* Speaking non-stop without syntax or context (word salad:  recalling all facts in mind, in jumbled manner) May
* Unable to stop moving (labeled as “manic”) May
* Expressing constant and unrelenting physical lack of well-being, specifically hurting in throat area, and stomach…no physical reasons for such, therefore all emotional/anxiety May
* Unable to think (blank mind, blank look, and constant tiredness/wanting to sleep, brought on by medication prescribed at first counseling, alongside wrongful diagnosis…medication only stayed on for 2 months total)
* Suddenly being drawn to consumption of massive amounts of sugar
* Oppositional to anything that was said. June 2017
* Wanting to isolate. August 2017
* Full scale raging, and screaming out emotional pain and what he’d been negatively thinking about for the last two to three years. October 2017
* Building up of anxiety over many things. November 2017
* Stops sleeping properly, gets very little rest. November 2017
* Completely stops sleeping. Sometime in January 2018
* Experiences Nervous Breakdown, End January 2018
* Does not speak through all of February 2018

Inventory of strides made since February 2018:
* Able to calm his own mind, tries to help others through emotional upset or anxiety
* Has logical, meaningful conversations
* Is understanding sarcasm, hyperbole, and other figures of speech
* Able to learn and apply information
* Not only reads well, but comprehends, can contemplate and discuss at deeper levels
* Aware of and working on trying to understand others’ point of view.
* Showing great empathy, and wanting to find answers for others’ pain and problems.
* Able to draw geometric shapes as well as other conceptual art
* Able to write at only two grade levels below where should, and improving daily.
* Learning to understand abstract thoughts and ideas.
* Experiencing positive thoughts and feelings:  wanting to correct his own (and others’) negative thinking mindfully.
* Enjoying jokes
* Asking for and attending social situations, even where he does not know anyone…AND NOT WANTING/REQUIRING ME THERE!!
* Self-regulating sugar intake
* No physical symptoms of throat or stomach pain (when it shows itself, he helps himself get rid of anxiety).
* Enjoying deep, restorative sleep.

In a dis-ordered, or neurally disconnected mind and brain, the above was impossible for him to do. As we have been faithfully, consistently, and patiently working on things, we have seen miraculous changes!  Sometimes I still have moments of wanting to beat my own head against the wall, when I forget that it’s a process, and that meaningful connections take time to rebuild.  But I get back up, and work on not giving up and continuing all the amazing therapies needed for continued developing those changes.  I know there will come a day when doctors will even question the ASD diagnosis.  But for now, I’ll take the responses of shock and amazement at how far our son has come in even such a short period of time!

Our child is able to process things emotionally, without going overboard more often than not, and we’ve learned how to manage our environment so that it is helpful and conducive to continuing building positive connections which will be life-giving to him.  He has much lower symptoms of ADHD.  Absolutely ZERO issues with negative/destructive to self thinking, NO reactive disorder, or oppositional defiance.  ADD issues down to less than half.  And add that to all the changes above, the differences are like night and day!

It is worth to put the effort into helping build brain function.  It is a process, and sometimes it feels like the changes are not happening fast enough, when you are in the thick of life.  But it is worth to hang in, and it is imperative to find and use the brands and purchase channels that assure purity and stability of products, as you choose your helpful therapies, as well as providers that not only know what they are doing, but care and go beyond minimum required.  It is absolutely necessary to find the therapies that work for your and/or your child, because it really does make that much of a difference!

To start with, don’t get overwhelmed!  Check out the “Recommended” tab, if you want to see some of the things we recommend.  If you want to see specifics of what we used, and did, check out the “Top Brain and Mental Health Resources”.  Those are the products and therapies we used, which allowed for our child’s optimum brain function and improvement over time.  I worked long and hard to exactly list and catalogue what we used, so that you can easily follow, if you wish.  Those are the things that allowed our child to experience such great brain improvement over time…for some of you it will take a shorter time, for others longer…but be patient, catalogue current state of being for you and/or your child, and what all you are incorporating, take inventory of differences every time you see them, and over time, adjust if necessary!  I’m excited for your journey, for I know that there are great strides ahead for your child and your family!  Don’t give up!  Worth it!!

To God be the Glory, Amen!

**Please note:  everyone’s optimum brain function looks different, and depends on many variables, including, but not limited to: How long someone has been on medication, and how that medication may have impacted the brain; How disciplined one is with therapies and use of necessary nutrients and other helps; How disciplined and willing to change diet and things that have not been helpful so far; How disciplined and willing one is in limiting and removing negative emotional and mental input; How patient and loving in tone, voice and body language, as well as how inclusive and caring the family environment is, including how organized or cluttered the home is (clutter dis-integrates orderly thinking); How willing and able family is in intentionally building up the person needing the help.  How consistent the positive input, including positive affirmations, are being done.  And if you are not yet a Christ follower, please know this process will be infinitely harder.  There is nothing that can replace being lifted up by the creator of everything, when your whole world is crumbling all around you, and you are literally unable to find peace in yourself or anything else.  So I do hope that you at least start exploring the love of Christ, and what it could mean to you not only for eternity, but also for the here and now.  However, no matter where you or a loved one finds themselves at this very moment, the hope lies in the truth that the brain can and will rewire itself, given moment by moment input.

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OUR AUTISM STORY…

Please note, to make it easiest for you, I have listed ALL natural resources that have helped our son, on the “Resources” link, listed in the banner, so as not to interrupt the impact of this story for you. 

We have four gorgeous and truly outstanding children.  Each child is completely different, and unique.  As of this writing, they range in age from 21 down to 11.  Two of our children are more reserved, two are more outgoing.  We’ve home schooled all of them until this year, when we were forced to look at other educational possibilities for our youngest, while we had to deal with a crisis for the child with ASD.  Hopefully our story will impact others, and will help avoid or significantly reduce the pain and suffering that too many go through.

IMMUNIZATIONS, the CDC and ASD
Though this may not be part of your story, we know for a fact that our child was injured through vaccines.  Period.  After countless hours of research and connecting the dots (because you as a parent will ALWAYS find better solutions, by your focus and intention than a doctor would be able to…you care more, and it is your child’s life!), we have come to the conclusion that while Autism may have different pathways, ultimately, the way to support the brain to make the best of its ability to change, is the same!  We are sharing our story, in the hopes that your family won’t have to suffer as ours has, and/or in the hopes that there will be several take-aways for you, that will make all the difference to your child and family!

While I don’t discount other factors that may have played into ending up with ASD for our child, including those that may not be understood or known about yet, I know that immunizations played a BIG part in our child’s neurodevelopmental disability.  When a baby receives immunizations, and immediately develops a super high fever of 105° F, and the fever stays that way continuously for close to or around two weeks, non-stop (all documented)…and when it happens every single time he is immunized, not only is there a correlation, there is direct impact.  If you go back to the CDC’s explanation of what ASD is:  “…a neurodevelopmental disability…”, and you realize that a tiny baby had these huge fevers for long periods of time,then you can connect the dots that this was certainly detrimental for brain development and function, because at high fevers, neural pathways are damaged!

THE FOLLOWING SECTION IS ALL ABOUT VACCINES, AND HOW THEY IMPACTED OUR SON’S BRAIN, BEING PART OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF ASD, FOR HIM.  IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN LEARNING OR KNOWING MORE ABOUT THAT PART, PLEASE SKIP DOWN TO “CONTINUING OUR STORY”.

At the direction of our Pediatrician, we sadly used Tylenol (lowers glutathione leves, which are required for proper detoxification of offending elements or toxicities in the body) and Motrin constantly, to help keep the fever down, and also sadly received spinal taps (it has been normal procedure to give babies spinal taps, to check for meningitis…consider carefully, and decide if that is a procedure you feel is necessary, based on evidence).  Our child was even held overnight at the hospital, only to find that “there is nothing wrong”…but they were the ones that were oh so very wrong!

We later found out that the CDC also states that if a patient shows adverse reactions to immunizations AT ANY TIME, they should never again be given ANY, and doctors’ office should be filing a CDC report showing such adverse reactions (which include high fevers, but are not limited to that).  Not only did our pediatrician not tell us this, (they actively pushed us to continue immunizations), however, the clinic NEVER filed any papers with CDC…I wonder how many patients haven’t been properly directed in this?  Thousands?  Tens of Thousands?  Hundreds of Thousands?  Were YOU?

No wonder we don’t have accurate information about vaccines!!  PLEASE DO YOUR RESEARCH!  FOR SOME INDIVIDUALS, IMMUNIZATIONS ARE NOT OK!  Watch for any of these reactions in your child, after vaccination:  high fevers, blank stares, convulsions, seizures, regression in ANY milestones (Were they able to walk, yet lost it? Could they talk, then regressed? Were they correctly identifying and pointing to things, then unable? Did they stop smiling? Did they stop sleeping? Did they start raging? Did they show strange confusion, or sensory needs they did not have before?  Did they stop looking at your face and eyes?  Did they change personality?  Did they have crying fits, that wouldn’t stop?)  If there is absolutely ANYTHING that is off in any way, STOP IMMUNIZING IMMEDIATELY , and start helping your child’s neurological system detox and rebuild!!

Before I go on, please consider a few very important truths:  up until the 1980’s, children were vaccinated against very few things…currently, babies are scheduled to receive over 70 different vaccines, by the age of 14!!  REALLY????

I am an extremely healthy 50 year old, who only had 7 vaccinations in my entire life! Those who are pushing for a mandated 70+ vaccination schedule have only received between 1 and 12 vaccines IN THEIR ENTIRE LIVES!  YOUR children are being required to receive OVER 60, before they are 4 years old, and most of them being injected into tiny babies, as combinations!!  What about the ingredients to these vaccines?  E. Coli, Formaldehyde, Aluminum and Mercury (both heavy metals, known to be toxic to the nervous system), and aborted fetal tissue, are all still listed as ingredients!!  Want to know why they are compressing that huge amount into babies?  Not because they need it, ( such as for the sexually transmitted hepatitis disease, which requires a boost after 7 years anyway), and not because that’s the best timing for THEIR health AT ALL, but rather, because they know that once a child is in school, as long as the child is healthy, parents don’t tend to bring the child in.  WOW!  Just WOW!  Our immune systems can safely take care of natural exposures (I had the mumps, and now am forever immune to exposure…when immunized, it actually does not necessarily mean one is immune to developing that disease).  I’ve had the measles…rarely are there dangerous outcomes…not so rarely are the side effects of the vaccines, though!  BTW, vaccinations are implicated in countless degenerative disease processes, including cancer, MS, Parkinson’s, Dementia, Mental Illness, and Autoimmune Diseases!  Vaccines are able to impact the body for the rest of our lives!

CONTINUING OUR ASD STORY…

Our child actually received a brain injury as a baby and young child, due to the very high fevers brought on by the immunizations.  Your story may be different.  Your child may have had something else happen, or you may not be clear or believe that anything had happened, but there is a genesis, or a start to any neuro-developmental disability.  ASD and other neurological issues don’t just happen!  While there is always a reason, there is no fault-finding necessary!  I find comfort in knowing two things:  there was a genesis or a beginning or reason for it, ( even if it is just labeled as “genetic”), and neuroplasticity is able to completely change brain function to levels that are astounding!  That was our hope, and it has paid off in a BIG way!  I hope it brings hope to YOU!  Please know, it is a process, it has many ups and downs, and it will take an unknown amount of time, as every individual and case is different.

Other Possible Causes for ASD
So, while it may have been high fevers, or metal toxicity (most if not all ASD patients show high levels of heavy metals in the brain), or chemical toxicity,  (immunizations have been shown to be causal factors in both metal and chemical toxicity loads) or nutritional deficiencies or health problems before or at conception, or a harsh environment, or a long family history of nutritionally depleted individuals, or trauma to the mom and/or dad, during, or even before conception (did you know our bodies carry trauma and emotional pain in our every cell, unless purposefully addressed and dealt with?), or nervous system issues caused by a virus, bacteria or parasite (many brain function issues and misdiagnoses of mental, emotional and brain issues turn out to be a microbe of some kind!), it ultimately doesn’t matter.  It may be one or more of those as part of the story for you or your child.  I hope you find encouragement in the fact that the brain can and will rewire itself constantly and continuously, and over time that can make a significant difference, all based on what you do or don’t do!  As humans we want to know HOW something came to be, mostly to try to prevent it, but in many cases, we may not have initial answers as to why or what happened, and we may never know.  Knowing the reason of how ASD came about isn’t necessary:  making use of the neuroplastic ability of the brain, will have positive impact on the landscape of the brain, and the mind!  Come back here after reading our entire story, and check out what Dr. Caroline Leaf’s lifelong Neuroscientific studies have revealed HERE!    Back to our story…

CONTINUING OUR ASD STORY
While our other three children quickly progressed through all their milestones, one not only started lagging behind, that child also started displaying some of the more observable outward signs of ASD…losing interest in pointing at things somewhere between the age of 1 and 4 years old, flapping arms, holding ears closed at what most people would consider very little noise stimulation (child never had a problem with that in the beginning), became very sensitive to all kinds of stimuli, including clothing, lighting, and sounds, as well as touch.  He stopped holding eye contact, and even personality changed from a child who was happily jumping onto public stages, to someone who didn’t want to be front and center at all, beginning to display fear of being around others, and seemingly irrational fears about things in life. 

At the age of four, after the last set of immunizations, our family remembers one situation in particular, when no one could convince our child that his shadow wasn’t out to get him.  It was heartbreaking!  He was screaming, trying to get away from it.  This was not normal!  He also started to display extremely obsessive behaviors, being unable to tear himself away from certain tasks, or repetitive behaviors.  In short, there was a turning point for this child, and as a Holistic Healthcare Practitioner, I knew that the quicker I got on intentionally supporting his brain, mental,  and emotional health, the better it would go.  Meanwhile, the Pediatrician only requested some speech and occupational therapy, between 18 months and 3 years old, but would not diagnose ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), even with the numerous symptoms and repeated requests by us to please look further into it, so our son did not start receiving needed and helpful therapy at the young age he should have.  If you KNOW something isn’t right, do whatever it takes to get your child the help he or she needs…even if it means changing doctors.  I wish I had…

SOME ANSWERS FOR BETTER BRAIN FUNCTION
Thankfully, God in His grace had already shown our family the absolute best nutritional support system available, through Juice Plus+.  Our son received it as a tiny baby through the breastmilk, and as soon as he had a few teeth, he started receiving it through the tasty chewables.  Dense nutritional support is key for ASD!  The brain MUST have dense nutrients on a daily basis, in order to make the best use of neuroplastic opportunities! You may have noticed people with ASD and other neurological issues have a taste and craving for colorless, processed, fatty and sugary things (can’t really call them “foods”), over the needed whole foods that grow from the ground.  Their diets tend to be very limited.  Yet that is one of the very important things that MUST change, in order for the brain to heal!  JP+ provides the dense nutrients that support brain rewiring!

The next wave of grace came in the form of specifically branded essential oils (Trust me, just like a Yugo is NOTHING like a Mercedes car, essential oils run the spectrum from not helpful at all, to magical in how they work).  There are specific ones that help oxygenate the brain, increase good circulation, and allow the body to better build neural pathways.  We found those in 2010.  To say they had an impact on our child’s brain health is an understatement…it was HUGE!  We saw changes right away, especially in area of relaxation and response.  Real supplements and essential oils should NEVER be purchased over Amazon, as sellers are fully able to open and reseal products, and legitimate companies will never honor product guarantees when purchased through Amazon, by a third party seller.  Clean, therapeutic, high quality products are essential and key to optimal brain health.  Our child was displaying such high functioning, that doctors continued to be unwilling to diagnose ASD, and even family friends had a hard time being able to see the atypical processing issues he had.

SOME WARNINGS ABOUT ASD AND MENTAL HEALTH
Towards the end of 2016, God took us on a journey we were not planning for…a perfect storm that would cause further neurological damage:  the biochemical chain reactions of raging hormones in puberty, alongside with everything else that started going down at once.  Beware, if your child has been diagnosed with ASD, when hormones start raging, it can cause severe changes! 

Raging hormones can cause a nervous breakdown in teens and pre-teens even if they have normal brain function! 

Add ASD issues, which in his case included high activity resulting in low BMI, the tendency of obsessiveness in connection with negative thoughts aimed at self and others, and a sudden and significant craving for sugar intake, alongside overstimulation of the brain and lack of sleep, causing distress to the mind (unbeknownst to us, and uncertain for how long, as child apparently would lay in bed still, yet not sleep), caused further neurological damage, resulting in a nervous breakdown.

Additionally, our family had inadvertently participated in and added to his personal pain prior to the breakdown, because we just didn’t understand in what ways ASD was still causing him to struggle in his mind and with his own behavior.  (Remember, he was displaying extremely high function).  All the negativity had started in his mind, through his ASD processing issues, and ultimately built up extreme levels of anxiety.  Along with everything else, and lack of sleep (stemming from anxiety levels), it was more than the  mind could take…and you know what?  It’s far more common than we are EVER told!!  “Happens all the time”, and “We see this daily”, were just a few comments from hospital staff, when we ended up at the ER!  (I now get calls and texts routinely, asking for resources for a teen or pre-teen, who is experiencing a nervous breakdown.  Our hearts are broken!)

So while we were feeling frustrated, and exasperated, and sometimes that came out in how we spoke, we also thought that we were helping by trying to teach him proper actions/reactions, etc…unfortunately, us not checking our frustrations, caused him to  internalize that as feeling less than, or not good enough, or not able, and it only added to his mental anguish.  (I share that in the hopes that you make sure to do differently.)

At that same time, we had started him on some well-meaning occupational brain therapy, which ended up not being what he needed at all.  It further confused the neurological workings of his brain…we later learned that since the brain is constantly building neurological pathways, based on what our thoughts are, our child had been inadvertently building toxic, negative pathways, through the way he was processing events.  What he heard, and saw, and the negative conclusions he came up with (in his case, due to ASD, but ASD not a requisite to allowing negative thoughts to reign wildly), caused negative pathways to form, along with too much brain stimulation, hormonal influx, and previously listed situations caused a build-up of great anxiety, which then also resulted in severe lack of sleep, and BOOM!

Nothing can prepare a family for this, and no amount of detail can express the pain and horror of walking through this terrible time…NOTHING!  Nothing.  Those of you who already have, or are walking through it know EXACTLY what I’m talking about, even though there are individual differences to each case.  Desperation might sum up the rollercoaster of feelings, but it doesn’t give you even a glimpse of the chaos and pain we all endured…and what you yourself may have or may be experiencing right now.  Can I just say, our hearts go out to you, because we do truly understand what you are going through. It’s exhausting, it’s painful, and it is indescribable.  If your child has not yet hit puberty, please keep reading, as I hope to spare you what we had to walk through.  There are signs!  And you can circumvent this!

Right before our child’s nervous breakdown, God allowed us to learn about Dr. Caroline Leaf, a neuroscientist who travels the country and world to share these simple truths that all parents need to know:  toxic thoughts grow toxic neural pathways in the brain, and it is these pathways that change behavior and thinking, but it is the negative thinking that builds the negative pathways!  Learn from us!  Don’t let your child go down that road!!  ASD complicates matters, due to how the brain is wired, and the fact that heavy metals are usually present, making it next to impossible to think or do differently!

We didn’t know what exactly was going on in his mind, or what he was thinking, but we suspected that something was happening that wasn’t positive.  No amount of asking was giving us the picture…we just felt it.  But because our child was also receiving occupational brain therapy, we thought that may have had something to do with it.  His processing started to visibly deteriorate.  He started doing something called “word salad”, and started displaying manic, repetitive movements, which really scared us.  The Psychiatrist labeled that Bi-Polar.  We saw it better aligned symptomatically with Reactive Attachment Disorder.  But regardless, we were beside ourselves!  At that time, we did not know how our super quiet, happy, non-confrontational child ended up riding this rollercoaster.  Now we also know that ANY neurological or psychiatric diagnosis is just a label that really doesn’t mean anything except the outward expression of mental anguish and emotional pain…and that ANY label can be changed or gotten rid of.

At the time, we were scared, exasperated, exhausted (we couldn’t sleep well ourselves), and the stress caused numerous other physical, mental and emotional issues for the entire family.  We were unable to concentrate, focus, or recall things.  We lost entire days, forgot what we would say or do, and couldn’t memorize anything at all.  Our emotions would well up suddenly, and we didn’t seem to be able to help ourselves.

We absolutely hoped and believed that God would redeem all the horribleness we had been walking through, especially starting with 2016.  With our whole hearts, we believed there would be full and complete healing, but that didn’t reduce the pain and anguish of walking through this.  We were about to take a deeper journey with God than what we could imagine as possible.  The day to day still often brought agony and sorrow that seemed to hang over us like a heavy blanket:  we felt like we were suffocating. 

While natural resources certainly helped, (Goodness only knows what this situation would have been like, had we not already been doing the really great home therapies) we didn’t fully realize the additional challenges we would be facing, due to hormonal influx during puberty, alongside all the other previously stated issues.  We didn’t realize the implications, until it was too late to specifically address it naturally.  Natural means are great to support good function, and increase proper function, but there is a point of no return, that when not addressed early enough, cannot stop the eventual breakdown.  Therefore, one of the warnings is this:  be consistent and persistent in addressing all health and wellness issues, BEFORE they develop into something that is beyond the ability to take care of them by natural means!

As he was headed to the obvious final destination of a mental breakdown, even believing there would be full healing, didn’t give us a date of when all of this would turn around and be over.  Of course, we wanted that to be yesterday…we wanted it not to be happening at all, but he had reached a point that all my holistic knowledge couldn’t address.  It was also a point evident that doctors, with all their expertise and training, know next to nothing, about the brain and mind:  this includes psychiatrists trained in the current Western style of medical education.  We didn’t know WHEN things would change…and that was just awful!

We were all walking through unprecedented pain…hell, really.  Although we knew deep down, that all of what our child was experiencing had answers, and that the neurological issues and damage could be undone, the mental health “experts” did not agree, and frankly, that was a huge disconnect (and super unhelpful), which easily could give way to fear, and for periods of time, it did!  This really could’ve been a different story, had we known to watch out for and diligently address his processing issues, and all the other issues listed earlier…especially hormonal influx!  So, please, please, learn from us!  (And medications do NOT address the underlying problems, so they will NEVER heal an anguished mind or painful emotions or traumas.)

EVERYONE BECOMES MENTALLY ILL AT SOME POINT
Before we go further, please understand this:  we ALL either have been, are, or will be mentally ill (or better expressed as mentally dis-ordered) at some point in our lives, (and even multiple times in our lives) because mental illness (or a mental dis-order) can be as simple as this:  focusing on ANYTHING NEGATIVE long enough.  Period.  Now, hear me on this:  ASD is NOT mental illness, it is a processing disorder, caused by some toxicity, which the body is unable to get rid of on its own.  HOWEVER, when the processing disorder causes thinking that is not positive or builds up, then it is causing thinking that is negative, and tears down.  This is even true of non-verbal individuals, because it is all in the thinking and processing.  But it is also that much harder for those who are non-verbal as well.  Having said that, please RUN, don’t walk, to find ways to change negative thought patterns!  We attempted ABA therapy.  And although the therapist was out of this world awesome, and the only reason our son received therapy that helped him in any way (not because of how the therapy is applied, but rather because of the personal connection this amazing therapist made with our son, on the whole I would have to say that ABA therapy is usually a hindrance to individuals with ASD. But dont take my word for it, please see information from Asperger Experts, a company run entirely by Asperger adults, to see what they have to say about ABA and why it isn’t helpful at all, to individuals on the Autism spectrum.   Neurobiofeedback can be indispensable to change the course of thinking in unproductive ways!!  A truly great Psychologist, or counselor, trained in the latest therapies for Autism (only if these therapies are audited by and given stamp of approval by individuals WITH Autism), can also be tremendously helpful!  There are also other things that can help professionally.  And do note, I am NOT saying only everyone with ASD develops mental illness when thinking negatively…

ALL OF US, you, me, your family, your friends, EVERYONE develops mental illness, whenever we focus on and obsess about anything negative, and/or whenever we encounter deep emotional pain, trauma, abuse, or we don’t get enough rest, or proper nutrients for the body, or whenever we are exposed to a number of toxins, or when we have managed to pick up any of a number of viruses, bacteria or parasites, which affect the nervous system.  Mental illness can last for just a few minutes, days, weeks, months or years, based on how we address the nervous system issues.  I say the following with all the love I possibly can:  To say that we do not walk through mental illness at some point, or multiple points throughout our lives, is to be dishonest, unaware, or in denial.  We need to think of mental health along the same lines as physical health, for that is factual.  There is healing, and no matter the label, there can be FULL recovery.

So, if you focus on something negative long enough, you WILL develop one or more of the following labels:  anxiety, depression, wrongful body image (Anorexia, Bulimia, over-eating/under-eating), Bi-polar Disorder, Schizophrenia, Mania, OCD, ODD, Suicidal tendencies, etc…)  There are nutritional deficiencies as well as any of a number of other deficiencies, that will also cause mental illness.  For more in-depth instruction and information on how negative thinking impacts mental health (which absolutely everyone MUST KNOW), please go to:  Dr. Leaf’s YouTube videos here .  Be ready to take some serious notes!!  It was the only thing that gave us the first glimmer of hope!

We had a wonderful child going through a very tough time, and as much as we never wanted to even consider any kind of medication, we were not able to find something that could calm his body and mind down enough to the point it had gotten to, in order to allow for natural recovery to take place…we didn’t catch it in time, and with the severe lack of sleep (which we didn’t realize was happening, because he apparently just lay in bed all night long, without getting up), natural resources were not able to address these issues.  I remember sobbing without being able to stop, and praying for God to show me what to do, and how to do it.

If I can be completely honest, I had moments of locking myself up in my car, and screaming at God, at the top of my lungs! (Hoping the neighbors wouldn’t hear)  Moments that felt like total despair, and times of total ugly crying as I heard God reaching out to me in song, and via other people’s prayers, and their willingness to help.  We were scared out of our own minds, and it took friends, God’s Word, and each other, to keep getting on the right train of thought and belief…Believing not in what was being witnessed, but in what is truth and possible!

God also brought several amazing things into our lives during that time:  A medical team of mental health professionals at Arlington Hospital; A truly caring and loving psychologist (Thank you, Dr. Vincent Ramos); The support and prayer of countless friends; A church leadership who loved us dearly (Thank you, Arapaho Road Baptist Church); Our family, who prayerfully stuck together, and walked through hell on earth (Thank you, Bemonts!); An amazing Neurologist (Thank you, Dr. Jonathan Walker); An uncommonly knowledgeable Neuroscientist, who has been fighting the good fight of truth in neurological repair and the destructive practices of current psychiatric thinking (Thank you, Dr. Caroline Leaf).  Close friends that went through or were willing to keep loving us and supporting us (Thank you, Alicia, Janell, Misa, Tama, and others).  A phenomenal ABA therapist, only because of her personal love and connection to our son, not due to methods of ABA (Thank you, Ms. Katie!), and a Dance Studio, with amazing owners and teachers, who continued to love our son through this terrible time (Thank you, RDA, Ms. Carol Ann, and Ms. Tiffany!)  We probably would’ve given up, had we not had God’s truth that we could stand on, even when things don’t seem great or even remotely good at all.  A support group of deep friends who did their very best to be there for us.  And God’s fabulous creation of plants, for our health and healing.  For it was because of and with all these pieces of information, therapy, and love, that allowed us to understand that God’s promises are ALWAYS true, and there is healing at every point.

Throughout history, the world has operated on wrongful theories, until after much fighting and sacrificing, finally truth was acknowledged and acted upon by enough people, that the wrongful thinking was able to be changed.  Conventional medicine is the worst in this area!  They seem to want to continue operating on old information, even in the sight of obviously correct new information.  Just a small example:  The conventional medical community was unwilling to wash their hands, between patients (even between birthing babies, and dealing with dead cadavers), because they REFUSED to believe that good hygiene had anything to do with illness or contamination…to the point that the first medical doctor to be a proponent of this idea was laughed out of his position, was completely discredited by entire organization, and became mentally ill!  Walking through mental illness is not different than having to walk through physical illness.  And you don’t have to wait for slowness of society to act NOW, and reap great benefits from more correct application of truth.  Your mind and your loved one’s mind can become disorganized at any time…becoming mindful is all about learning and applying to take every thought captive to Christ, and not allowing the enemy to gain a foothold in the mind.  For those of you who are not Christ-followers, simply put, you need to reign in your mind, and not dwell on pain or negativity of any kind, or your thinking patterns will start deteriorating.

MEDICINE AS LAST RESORT, BUT NEEDED
We never thought we’d go the medical route, but we were simply unable to handle what was happening.  We had to get our child well by allowing his mind to rest, and retrain his mind to think differently, in order for him to heal.  Conventional medicine and caring healthcare professionals could provide emergent care, afterwards we could provide the retraining.  We needed to rest ourselves, in order to keep going.  It was needed, but it was heartbreaking and we were just wrecked!  We had already taken him to the ER on a previous occasion, and were close to doing so on several other occasions, but our hearts were wrestling with that decision.  In the end, we were too exhausted, and at the end of our own means.  It was time to do what we knew we needed to do, as much as we were torn about doing it.  He was away from us for one week… the longest week of our lives.  Dreaded, but needed.  Anyone walking through this, hang in!!

Be forewarned, there are very few mental healthcare providers, including counselors for ASD, period, and even fewer who believe any kind of real healing or reversal of issues is possible.  So seek before you really need it, and don’t listen to anyone who says that long-term medication is the only answer!  Counseling in particular, is a need throughout life, not just as a last resort.  Medication can be helpful in an emergency or acute situation, but it does nothing to heal the mind or emotions…in fact, it gets in the way of the brain being able to rebuild healthy connections, long term.

OH, BUT GOD DOES REDEEM GREATLY!!

Our family makes very big changes.  We implement a completely different way of communicating with our child, and responding to him.  I give up my home office space, so he can have a much needed personal space, and it can reduce any obsessive thinking.  I ask our communities of church, school and friends to send him encouraging notes, and to be extra kind to him.  THAT was HUGE!!  We cannot express our gratitude well enough to our church body, and to our dance teacher (Thank you, Ms. Tiffany) and dance students at Rowlett Dance Academy…what those notes of healing did for our child is impossible to explain.

We continued on his Neurotherapy sessions, to train the brain to lower anxiety and toxic stress levels. We are very intentional in the use of good nutritional support systems, as well as the use of emotional and mental support through essential oils.  We do positive affirmations and daily devotional readings out of “Start Your Day Right”, and “End Your Day Right”, with Joyce Meyers.  We eat foods that build the brain (see “Anti-inflammatory Foods” blog entry). We do EVOX therapy, which helps reframe emotional perceptions, and allow to think through things in a different way. (I purchased that technology, and offer it to others in the DFW area as well).

We are purposeful in daily detoxification, and we consider every input our child receives with great care.  If it isn’t positive in nature, he does not watch it, listen to it, or participate with it.  To the best of my ability, I stay alert and aware of his communication with others, and provide insight and a way to think of things in positive light. He goes to bed by 9:15pm every day and sleeps a good long time.  He sets his own sleepy time essential oils diffuser in his room every night, and takes specific nutritional supplementation to facilitate neural reconnection and reconstruction.  We are seeking EMDR therapy, and have friends sowing into his heart and mind about his value and his importance (seems to be heard more if it doesn’t come from mom and dad).  We work with him to set goals to get back to doing things he enjoys, or start new adventures, that he may be actively looking forward to the future.  We look for ways to reaffirm him and his great value, and we help him consider things from different angles.  We have learned to celebrate every little victory, in a super, over the top kind of way…this has been extremely helpful to him!  Whatever it is that will grow positive neural pathways, we are there, and boy, is it paying off!!  We are doing everything I mention on the blog titled “Top Brain and Mental Health Resources”

We are praising God for His goodness, even through all the pain, and give Glory to Him above all!  We would’ve given up, and felt complete hopelessness, without believing in God’s promises for us.  He allowed us to find, learn about, understand, and implement the many resources, to be part of amazing communities of love and care, and to find caring counselors and healthcare providers.  He gave us hope, and guidance, and sent us encouragement at our lowest times.  He brought us the most amazing people for our son’s every need.  He exposed us to the right information, and the right products that would make a difference.  He has allowed us to grow a community of caring friends, and I cannot even recount the number of people who have and continue to sow into our lives.

From the beginning of the downturn in 2016 to now, there has been such a dramatic change, that I can only attribute it to all things working synergistically together, and allowing that neuroplasticity to go into full gear. I personally give glory to God for all of it.

It has not been, and continues not to be easy.  On too many occasions, we have been at the end of our rope, cried hopelessly, and felt completely lost and alone…we were not…you are not!  We were just focusing on the wrong things.  Every time we focused on the problem, or the pain, it magnified it to the point of desperation.  God has been teaching us to trust Him, and to walk by faith towards healing and positive changes.  It takes action, it takes decisions, it takes resolve to forget what is before your eyes, and believe what can be.

We’ve been doing that enough such that accumulated changes are being noticed by everyone around us.  The changes have been so dramatic, in fact, that the outcome of the ARD meeting in May was no longer applicable in August!  In May he showed several and severe challenges in learning and was scheduled to be pulled from most mainstream classes.  By August, new ARD meeting showed regular class attendance throughout the day, with only limited pulls for tutoring and additional help in English class only, and only for quizzes and tests in Math class.  SERIOUSLY!!  WOW!

Update:  03/2019
Astounding!  The obsessively focused discussions have come way down.  He is able to have good, logical and flowing conversations!  He is making friends!  He is sharing deeply from his heart, and is even sharing what he has been thinking about, and how he sees things.  He is showing abilities to consider and understand different perspectives!  His eye contact is at 80%.  He talks about goals and plans for the future.  He is willing to step out on faith for social gatherings!  (What the What???)  He is considering input and direction, without instantly dismissing.  He is able to calm himself down very quickly.  He recognizes anxiety, depression and negative thinking, and is working at changing the direction of those paths!  He is displaying boldness, by being willing to be in the same space with people who have hurt him deeply.  He shows willingness to forgive.  He is getting idioms, expressions, sarcasm, and hyperbole.  He is starting to enjoy and share good jokes.  He is willing to apologize.

OVERVIEW:
WHERE CHILD STARTED

While I cannot possibly list every issue that our child was dealing with, here are highlights:
* Typical ASD symptoms, including lack of social skills, flapping of arms (which went away with nutritional support), inability to get sarcasm, jokes, or inferences; hard to make connections with others, lack of interest in social situations (yet hurting and wanting friends), sensory issues (which significantly diminished with dry brushing and other home therapies), and lack of neurological connectedness when requests were being made (directions were not being heard, understood, or processed correctly).  All of above since very young (after 2 year old vaccines); Extreme or irrational fears (noticed at 4 years old).
* Negative, anxiety producing thoughts start springing up. (2014)
* Putting self down in thought, ascribing others’ actions as unkind, unloving or neglectful towards him. (2014)
* Sadness at not being able to “get” social cues (2015)
* Loss of main friendship circle caused severe emotional distress (Towards end of 2016)
* Occupational brain therapy confuses thinking ability. (Towards end of 2016)
* Stopped being able to write properly February 2017
* Speaking non-stop without syntax or context (word salad:  recalling all facts in mind, in jumbled manner) May
* Unable to stop moving (labeled as “manic”) May
* Expressing constant and unrelenting physical lack of well-being, specifically hurting in throat area, and stomach…no physical reasons for such, therefore all emotional/anxiety May
* Unable to think (blank mind, blank look, and constant tiredness/wanting to sleep, brought on by medication prescribed at first counseling, alongside wrongful diagnosis…medication only stayed on for 2 months total)
* Suddenly being drawn to consumption of massive amounts of sugar
* Oppositional to anything that was said. June 2017
* Wanting to isolate. August 2017
* Full scale raging, and screaming out emotional pain and what he’d been negatively thinking about for the last two to three years. October 2017
* Building up of anxiety over many things. November 2017
* Stops sleeping properly, gets very little rest. November 2017
* Completely stops sleeping. Sometime in January 2018
* Experiences Nervous Breakdown, End January 2018
* Does not speak through all of February 2018

Inventory of strides made since February 2018:
* Able to calm his own mind, tries to help others through emotional upset or anxiety
* Has logical, meaningful conversations
* Is understanding sarcasm, hyperbole, and other figures of speech
* Able to learn and apply information
* Not only reads well, but comprehends, can contemplate and discuss at deeper levels
* Aware of and working on trying to understand others’ point of view.
* Showing great empathy, and wanting to find answers for others’ pain and problems.
* Able to draw geometric shapes as well as other conceptual art
* Able to write at only two grade levels below where should, and improving daily.
* Learning to understand abstract thoughts and ideas.
* Experiencing positive thoughts and feelings:  wanting to correct his own (and others’) negative thinking mindfully.
* Enjoying jokes
* Asking for and attending social situations, even where he does not know anyone…AND NOT WANTING/REQUIRING ME THERE!!
* Self-regulating sugar intake
* No physical symptoms of throat or stomach pain (when it shows itself, he helps himself get rid of anxiety).
* Enjoying deep, restorative sleep.

In a dis-ordered, or neurally disconnected mind and brain, the above was impossible for him to do. As we have been faithfully, consistently, and patiently working on things, we have seen miraculous changes!  Sometimes I still have moments of wanting to beat my own head against the wall, when I forget that it’s a process, and that meaningful connections take time to rebuild.  But I get back up, and work on not giving up and continuing all the amazing therapies needed for continued developing those changes.  I know there will come a day when doctors will even question the ASD diagnosis.  But for now, I’ll take the responses of shock and amazement at how far our son has come in even such a short period of time!

Our child is able to process things emotionally, without going overboard more often than not, and we’ve learned how to manage our environment so that it is helpful and conducive to continuing building positive connections which will be life-giving to him.  He has much lower symptoms of ADHD.  Absolutely ZERO issues with negative/destructive to self thinking, NO reactive disorder, or oppositional defiance.  ADD issues down to less than half.  And add that to all the changes above, the differences are like night and day!

It is worth to put the effort into helping build brain function.  It is a process, and sometimes it feels like the changes are not happening fast enough, when you are in the thick of life.  But it is worth to hang in, and it is imperative to find and use the brands and purchase channels that assure purity and stability of products, as you choose your helpful therapies, as well as providers that not only know what they are doing, but care and go beyond minimum required.  It is absolutely necessary to find the therapies that work for your and/or your child, because it really does make that much of a difference!

To start with, don’t get overwhelmed!  Check out the “Recommended” tab, if you want to see some of the things we recommend.  If you want to see specifics of what we used, and did, check out the “Top Brain and Mental Health Resources”.  Those are the products and therapies we used, which allowed for our child’s optimum brain function and improvement over time.  I worked long and hard to exactly list and catalogue what we used, so that you can easily follow, if you wish.  Those are the things that allowed our child to experience such great brain improvement over time…for some of you it will take a shorter time, for others longer…but be patient, catalogue current state of being for you and/or your child, and what all you are incorporating, take inventory of differences every time you see them, and over time, adjust if necessary!  I’m excited for your journey, for I know that there are great strides ahead for your child and your family!  Don’t give up!  Worth it!!

To God be the Glory, Amen!

**Please note:  everyone’s optimum brain function looks different, and depends on many variables, including, but not limited to: How long someone has been on medication, and how that medication may have impacted the brain; How disciplined one is with therapies and use of necessary nutrients and other helps; How disciplined and willing to change diet and things that have not been helpful so far; How disciplined and willing one is in limiting and removing negative emotional and mental input; How patient and loving in tone, voice and body language, as well as how inclusive and caring the family environment is, including how organized or cluttered the home is (clutter dis-integrates orderly thinking); How willing and able family is in intentionally building up the person needing the help.  How consistent the positive input, including positive affirmations, are being done.  And if you are not yet a Christ follower, please know this process will be infinitely harder.  There is nothing that can replace being lifted up by the creator of everything, when your whole world is crumbling all around you, and you are literally unable to find peace in yourself or anything else.  So I do hope that you at least start exploring the love of Christ, and what it could mean to you not only for eternity, but also for the here and now.  However, no matter where you or a loved one finds themselves at this very moment, the hope lies in the truth that the brain can and will rewire itself, given moment by moment input.

Erectile Dysfunction

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Yet another subject people don’t want to talk about.  I’m just gonna say it: EVERY man walks through ED at some point in time.  None want to speak up about it, which makes the problem even more hurtful to both the man, and to the spouse.

Men, if you are having this issue, it is NOT due to lack of Viagra…so please, do your long-term health a favor, and do NOT get on that!!  Your body knows what to do, but something is causing it not to work correctly.  You need to address the root cause, not simply force your body to to what it is unable to do BECAUSE of something that is going on inside of you!

Most cases of ED will resolve fairly quickly, as they involve either emotional, or mental stressors, or unmet nutritional needs.

Reasons for ED:
Prolonged Stress
Blood Pressure issues
Exposure to Pornography (yes, it WILL cause ED!)
A physical blockage of some kind, including prostate issue or cancer
Emotional distress, especially unresolved childhood issues
Lack of nutritional needs being met
Unresolved Mental Anguish
Lack of Sleep and/or Rest
Relational Distress with partner or in family
Medications

Go down the list, eliminating the ones that you know are not relevant to you.

*If you have been stressing yourself out over ANYTHING, you need to learn how to decompress in a healthy way, and to not stress out in the first place (See “Lower Your Stress” Levels blog).
*Check your blood pressure several times a day, over a one week period.  If it is either extremely high, or extremely low, it’s time to do what it takes to get that blood pressure into a healthy range (please note, I didn’t say a “normal” range, because the definition of “normal” keeps shifting, and is just a best estimate, from medical cases, which have many other factors to them). Barring a physical abnormality, you can get your blood pressure into a healthy range by natural means, because your body knows how to do that, when it works properly.  You can increase or decrease your blood pressure by:  meditation, biofeedback, use of natural means to aid body in relaxation, proper nutrition, or addressing any disease processes such as hypoglycemia, diabetes, etc…
*Pornography hurts your body, to your very core.  It is a perversion of the beauty of our bodies and the gift of sex that God has given us.  Whether you think it isn’t harming you is irrelevant.  It is.  It does.  And ironically, eventually, it shuts your body’s ability to perform in the very acts that you have been viewing others doing, and which has addicted you to the impossible standards of fantasy scripts, looks and acts.  None of it is real.  None of it is satisfying.  All of it is ultimately deadly to you at the cellular level!  When God’s design for sex is misused, we experience unwanted side effects.
*Finding out if you have a physical blockage or prostate issue of some kind requires medical testing.  This is good to go ahead and rule out.  Need your prostate in a healthy range?  Do it naturally!  Purchase Prostate Health HERE! 
*Emotional distress, especially unresolved childhood trauma:  an erection is a physical representation of feeling strong, healthy and vibrant. Conversely, ED is a physical representation of feeling helpless, unhealthy, apathetic, dispirited or inactive.  To change this, you MUST address emotional issues…what are you not saying, or dealing with, or what have you not dealt with?  Here’s a quick and easy test:  when you are not being entertained, and have quiet time to yourself…what does your mind wander to?  Generally, it tends to wander to a worry, stressor, or an unresolved mental or emotional pain.  THAT is what you must go after, and deal with!  (See “Resolving Emotional Pain” blog)
*Unmet nutritional needs:  Processed foods are destroying your body at every level.  If you are not eating a densely nutritious diet daily, and you are not bridging the gap in your nutritional intake (see www.GodProvides.JuicePlus.com), your body eventually stops being able to work properly.  A lack of specific protein is often to blame as well.  To combat this, and to keep your protein intake up to get rid of ED, start adding 4 whole, raw eggs to your daily morning shake.  Do this for two weeks, then see if going down to two whole raw eggs in your daily morning shake will still do the trick. If you don’t have a tasty, densely nutritious shake option, with only great ingredients, order the Juice Plus+ Complete shakes HERE!
*Lack of Deep, Restorative Sleep:  this will kill and destroy everything in your body, so of course it’s a factor in ED.
*Medications:  Sad but true, most medications cause a large number of side effects.  Use of multiple medications are usually not even researched, so no one knows the depth of the side effects being caused by actions and reactions of the multiple meds.  Your medications may or may not list ED as a possible side effect singly, but even if not listed singly, again, no one knows the cascading effects of multiple medications, so for you, this may actually be the problem.  Do your research.  If you can in any way use natural options to change your health, and have your doctor take you off medications, that is by far the best thing you can do for your long term, optimum health, and will be one less thing that could possibly be interfering with your body being able to perform.

Super Brain & Mental Health Resources

Related imageTo the extent that you nourish your brain with the nutrients it needs, in terms of foods, supplements (when necessary, if foods are not meeting requirement: 95% of United States Population not meeting nutrient requirements on a daily basis), and all sensory input you give it, is to the extent the brain will be able to focus, concentrate, and have the ability to rebuild itself to the most optimal level possible, no matter in what state an individual finds their brain and/or mind to be in. 

It is now known that the brain CONSTANTLY works on building connections, every minute of every day of our entire lives!  This is called Neuroplasticity, and it means that our mind, behavior and even capability is able to be built up or torn down on a moment by moment and day by day basis!  This is also exactly why cognitive and behavioral therapies work, and  why you will find that some days you seem to “have it all together”, able to focus and concentrate, and some days seem to just fall apart:  All based on the input you are giving your brain and mind, not just in terms of nutrients (foods and supplements), but also in terms of input you are allowing from every one of your five senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell). This also means that YOU can do many things to help build your brain (or your child’s), and attain optimal brain function, no matter what, or where you start off in brain function capabilities, or even where one starts mentally.  Are you stopping to absorb that truth?…

This means NO MATTER WHAT…Insert your personal experience here:______.  Please note:  For each individual, optimal function will look different, but it will be an improvement over what is currently being experienced.  I hope you understand that what is being said now, via scientific discovery, is that brain function and how the mind works for an individual, is indeed, changeable, no matter what the diagnosis for any individual.  NO MATTER WHAT!

So the spectrum of ASD, to mental and emotional disturbances, to current inabilities of brain function, to ( fill in the blank here with your labeled diagnosis) …there are things that you can do to help improve and change the way the brain functions, thereby impacting processing, behavior, and thinking!  This process WILL TAKE TIME ( and always more time than what you would like it to), so do not expect a full scale miracle in short order.  It is a process, and NOT an event! While it can take as little as a few days to see improvements, BIG improvements don’t start kicking in until around six months.  HUGE improvements can run a spectrum amount of time, dependent totally on your body’s ability to detoxify, your willingness to be faithful to doing the things needed, and your environment ( which is mostly up to you).  There will always be unchangeable variables.  For those of you who are Believers, you know God has those covered…for those of you who are not, just hang in so you can see results.  Ready to ROCK YOUR HEALTH AND WELLNESS?

The following are resources that help build the brain and mind most effectively, and efficiently.  These can be your go-to’s for top brain and mental function!  The brain and mind require deep oxygenation, rest, a state of calm, and relaxation, as well as positive input in all areas, including nutritional, emotional, mental thoughts, spiritual, and all sensory input.  Whether you are a Christ follower, or not, there are plenty of scientific studies (and surely some of your own personal experiences or what you may have witnessed or heard) that show the power of the human spirit.  We are not bodies WITH a spirit, we are spiritual beings in a body.  For that reason, and because our spirit is the essence of who we are, we experience healing and wounded-ness even at that level, and most deeply at that level.  This means that if you want full and complete healing of the brain and mind, it will eventually require seeking and finding God.  Set that aside for now, if you are not yet a Believer, or are skeptical, or outright rebellious of this idea.  Take what you can from the rest of the blog ( I promise you, it will be worth your time ), and at least consider the possibility that you may not know EVERYTHING there is to know in and about the universe, and that there is more that you may not know, that what you do not know might include things about God, and that it might be just as, if not more important to your life than whatever knowledge you may already have acquired! 

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The number one, completely FREE thing you can do to help boost brain function only takes five minutes a day, and you can do it anywhere!  Sit across from each other, hold hands gently, and gaze into each other’s eyes for at least four minutes.  This can be challenging at first.  Emotional and mental disturbances or neurological challenges cause individuals to avert their eyes from the gaze of others.  But that is because those areas shut down due to trauma, atypical neurological function, heavy metal and other toxicities, or mental or emotional pain of any kind.  These centers can be re-opened by connecting soul to soul with others.  Gazing into the eyes of another starts building those neural pathways again, to open up emotional connection.  This isn’t something you can force, and there should be no coercion, frustration, shaming or yelling of any kind, to try to get another person to do this.  You start with as long or as short as the needy person can handle, (even if it is only a few minutes seconds at first) and simply make a few minutes to give it a try, every day.

This is a fantastic therapy session for anyone wanting to more deeply connect with any other person relationally. Great for reconnecting to spouse, friend, child, or anyone, really!  Simply do for as long as is possible, and notice the changes that occur over time!  Some of you will even notice differences right away!  At first it can be challenging, and even feel silly.  Giggles often erupt, there may be feelings of being uncomfortable, or looked into, or vulnerability…go with it…often there are tears shed.  But always, there is a shift in the way we begin seeing each other and each other’s situations, and there is a shift in your being.  The number one thing you MUST do to have successful sessions:  close your own eyes, before you start ( other person does not have to do this part ), and focus on the complete feelings of LOVE that you have for the person you are wanting to connect with, aaaaand, GO!

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Another Simple and Free Thing You can Do:
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Music Therapy:  Here is a YouTube Example
Simply listen to the musical pieces at least at night, before going to bed, but also first thing in the morning, if possible, and when you meditate or as you pray or speak your daily affirmations.  Shoot, anytime you can pipe the calming, brain building music through, go for it!  Our brain and mind works off of frequency.  How these work determines the mental, emotional and behavioral capabilities you have.  The more balanced and synchronized they are (left hemisphere to right), the calmer, more focused, better behaved, and greater learning ability!  Sounds at 4-8 Hz are the best.  Calm classical music, Tibetan singing bowls, or REAL Gregorian Monk Chants (singing of Scripture in Latin, NOT same genre for modern or other lyrics), are all examples of healing musical tones or songs.

Check this out:

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That should ROCK your world right there!  It’s all about finding ways to bring the brain to a state of calm and relaxation.  Sensory input is what can do that for the brain!!

Hugs:
Science research shows we need 4 hugs a day to survive, 8 hugs a day to maintain, and 12 hugs a day to grow and change, and stay healthy, joyous and vibrant.  This will be challenging for those with sensory issues, and who may not seem to like hugs…the healthier a person gets, the more they will accept hugs…this needs to be worked up to, slowly and gently, as appropriate touch and hugs are extremely healing.

Dry Brushing:
a simple, easy, and very effective and inexpensive therapy you do at home.  Do not get stuck on the “How to”…just start with what you can.  You may only be able to brush the hands, arms and feet, or maybe just one area, to start.  This stimulates the nervous system, and has a huge amount of other benefits.  It wakes up the brain, and helps detoxify the body.  This is ESPECIALLY great for people with ASD, Depression, Anxiety and Emotional disturbances.
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LOVE AND PATIENCE:


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THE most Important and most effective thing you can do to change a loved one’s mental, and emotional health, and the ONE thing that heals at the deepest levels is love and patience.
  There is no substitute!  The lack thereof is also the number one contributor to mental anguish, emotional pain, and eventual brain damage…yes, you heard correctly, brain damage.  Have you ever seen entire groups of children, who were neglected, abused or simply unloved?  There is a look about them, that makes them seem “off”.  Their minds have suffered great and extensive trauma, and it has caused actual PHYSICAL brain changes!

What is your home environment like?  Is it chaotic, overwhelming, frustrating, full of anger, or strife or any kind of negativity?  Ours was, at one point too!  It’s time for you to make the changes necessary, to bring peace and love into the home!  The latest scientific studies on the brain and mind suggest that the mind actually directs the brain, not the other way around.  And within that new paradigm shift of thought, is the idea that loving, joyful, positive thoughts create life-giving, healthy brain connections, while stressed-out, chaotic, hateful, ugly, painful, or negative thoughts of any kind, create life-taking, unhealthy brain connections.

This topic alone can take years to discuss and develop, but I’m a bottom-line, get right to the point kind of person:  give and show deep love and patience for all who surround you, and you will be part of their healing.  When you mess up, repent, and ask for forgiveness, purposefully intending and working towards changing your reactions and your own way of thinking and behaving.  For more information on this topic, and how to reverse brain damage, as well as how to help yourself or someone move past ANY kind of psychiatric or brain function diagnosis, you can check out what one world-changing Neuroscientist, Dr. Caroline Leaf has to say, by checking out her link when you scroll down. Keep reading and taking notes on this… it’s getting better and better!

Here is what the Bible has to say about what Love is…think on these truths (whether you are a Believer or not, you will still find these to be right on point!)

1 Corinthians 13 English Standard Version (ESV)

The Way of Love

” If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[b] it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

Detox Your Brain!
Dr. Caroline Leaf’s pioneering work on the brain and mind was the first information that gave our family any hope for our son’s full recovery.  When you come across an expert who is able to synthesize information from not only their own field of work, but seeks greater and deeper understanding of how other things impact what they are talking about, you have found a treasure!  The brain cannot function well, let alone optimally, when it is full of toxic thoughts, “foods”(or really, “non-foods”), spiritual lies, and/or negative thinking.  Dr. Caroline Leaf has a wonderful 21 Day Brain Detox system that you and your family can easily participate in online.  It’s not the only way to detox your brain, but it sure is one of the simplest to follow, and you will easily see results.   You’ll be able to find information on that on her website, listed above.

YOU MUST CONSIDER WHAT YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT!

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Since WHAT you think about, builds neural pathways, and these cause either better or worse brain function to occur, it is necessary that you examine and consider WHAT you are allowing to cross your mind! (And see, and hear and process)  If you are a parent, wanting to help a child increase their brain function and ability, by changing their negative way of thinking, it takes time and patience!  This is all about lovingly and patiently correcting any negative thinking, as you probe what they are thinking about, why you see certain actions or behaviors, etc…as they are sharing with you what was crossing their minds, you can then replace it with good, positive options for them to consider.  BUT you MUST VALIDATE THEIR FEELINGS, and try to understand WHY they feel that way, first!  If you are open to an amazing short, concise and powerful book that can change ALL your relational experiences, please prepare your heart and mind, by reading and applying the book titled:  “I Hear YOU”, by Michael Sorensen.  **Please note:  you cannot give what you yourself do not have.  So if you tend to think negatively, it’s time you learn how to turn that ship around for yourself as well!  (For further positive thinking training, see:  “The Power of Positive Thinking”, by Norman Vincent Peale, and  “Emotional Intelligence”, by Michael Garron)

Use Essential Oils to Impact Regions of the Brain:

To improve brain connectivity and calm area you want to address most, apply particular oils to regions outside those areas.  You will see an improvement in function, over time.

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YOUR THINKING CREATES THINGS AND MAKES THINGS HAPPEN!
Thinking causes the following reactions to occur in your body:
*Energy Activity (even measurable heat)
*Measurable electromagnetic fields
*Trackable electrical impulses
*Visible and Measurable chemical effects
*Measurable vibrations in the membranes of neurons
*Activation of Photons, which can be captured on measurement devices and seen on computer
*Builds OR Destroys Neural Connections, based on whether you are thinking about positive things, or negative things!
Your thinking sets off a series of actions that involve neurotransmitters, proteins and energies, which create a signal, which in turn CHANGES YOUR BRAIN!!
*Neural connectivity can be facilitated through the use of high quality essential oils!
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WHAT YOU TAKE IN BEFORE GOING TO BED, MATTERS!

*To be able to have a relaxing, restful night, you MUST focus on the input you are allowing, right before bed.
Your brain and mind will get to work subconsciously, to work through and out every input you have allowed throughout the day, but especially that with which you shut down your conscious thought patterns with.  This means…
* Do not go to bed arguing, angry, or otherwise in a negative state of mind (Ephesians 4:26)
* Do not watch negative, disturbing, horrifying, scary, mean, or soul-destroying material
* The news is out, it doesn’t help build your mind or your brain
* DO watch uplifting, positive, edifying, encouraging, faith-filling, loving and soul-building material…in fact, one of the many things you can do for GREAT sleep, is study the Bible on any area in your life that you’d love to have better outcomes in!
* DO listen to brain building music…see Music Therapy ideas, below
* Be mindful throughout the day, and note how things affect you emotionally, physically, mentally, and even spiritually…the more you get to understand yourself, the better you will get to address your own issues and help yourself!
* Use specific essential oils and other therapies, before going to bed, to help calm your mind, and get you ready for deep, restorative sleep.
* Drink the Golden Milk Tea found in a separate blog entry.

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Sleep Well!
Meaning, sleep deeply and for a long enough time.  As you sleep, every one of your body systems are rebooting, and regenerating/healing! ( When you don’t sleep well, the opposite is true).  Your quality down time, plus the nutrients you’ve fed your brain will determine the quality of regenerating that goes on.  To sleep well:  get off electronics of all kinds, at least one hour before you want to fall asleep.
* Set up an essential oils diffuser in your room, and diffuse relaxing and sleep inducing oils.
* Apply the same relaxing and sleep inducing oils to the bottoms of your feet. One drop.
* Drink the Golden Milk Tea ( recipe listed in separate blog entry).
* Choose to read positive, uplifting, encouraging things, before going to sleep…
If you are a Christ follower, or would like to explore Christianity (so worth it, to your eternity!), there’s nothing like allowing God’s Word to sink into your conscious and subconscious…not only does it help you sleep better, but reading this before going to sleep, allows your brain to get to work on developing and understanding the application of God’s Word.  This in turn, brings you peace, and shows you the straightest, most helpful path for you.  Win-Win!
* Extremely low orange lighting or no light in the room.
* Once your head hits the pillow, count on taking 5-10 minutes to drift into great sleep.
* Do mindful deep breathing, counting in seven slow counts, while breathing through the nose, holding four slow counts, and slowly exhaling out the mouth for 7-9 slow counts.
* Meditate on love and goodness, as you drift to sleep.
* You should wake up incredibly refreshed, and ready to go!  If you don’t, review the steps…what did you miss?  If you haven’t missed anything, check the rest of your lifestyle choices.  Change whatever isn’t about love or higher-level, positive thought patterns.
* While research may say that we “need” 7-8 hours, some people will need more, and some will need a little less.  Don’t get hung up on how many hours, the question is:  have you rested deeply?


Use a Cold Pack!

When the brain is on overdrive, scans show too much heat in that area.  Using a cold pack allows for the heat to dissipate, which in turn allows the brain to work at a cooler and healthier temperature.  Many people with anxiety, or ASD, or any of a number of other diagnosis of imbalance in neurological function find it helpful to fall asleep with a wrapped cooling pad on their pillow.  You can use a cooling pad any time you feel your brain “revving up”.  Please note, this is not just for anxiety, but rather for optimum brain function!  You can also find gel-padded pillows on the market, for this same purpose.

Exercise the brain and mind: games and activities that put the brain and mind to work!

I’m sure you can Google a huge list, but here is a very short list to get you going:
www.Lumosity.com
www.FitBrain.com
www.FreeRice.com
www.Flintobox.com
Phone apps, such as WordScapes, Unblock Me, and Flow Free, or anything that actually engages the brain to work on answers.  Do NOT choose mindless, idle games, games that cannot be won, or most video games that achieve nothing in positive brain stimulation.

Therapies that Positively Impact Brain Function and Mental Health:
     These build the brain by either supporting neural activity, facilitating neural function, or calming the mind to function well:

**Things you can do at home…AND support all other therapies you do!

Practice Love and Patience moment by momentAromatherapy: The use of essential oils, to calm and relax the nervous system, and build neural connections.
Hydrotherapy: The use of warm baths, while using unscented Epsom Salts, adding essential oils to the salts, before throwing into the bath.  BUT, you can also use cold showers/baths to get your mind on a different track…plus it also has numerous other health benefits!
Music Therapy (ex: Whole Tones, or Hemispheric Synchronization, Mozart Effect, Authentic Gregorian Monk Chants, Tibetan Singing Bowl, etc…)
Color Therapy: surrounding yourself with calming, relaxing colors, and even focusing on calming, relaxing colors.
Art Therapy: relaxation through expressing emotions while doing art
Positive/Affirming Speech Therapy: helping build positive neural connections through positive affirmations
Nutritional, Juice and Shake Therapies: giving the brain and mind the nutrients it needs, to work properly
Daily, Intermittent Fasting:  Go 14-16 hours without eating (from dinner previous day to first meal the next day)
3 Day and 7 Day Fasts: for adults, water only (DO NOT DO THIS IF TAKING MEDICATION!!):  The gut and brain, indeed your entire body, is able to do a re-set, when you fast for at least three days!


Things you can learn to do at home…

Practice Safe Conversations:  learn to truly listen and respond from your heart, and with compassion, love and patience
Aroma Freedom Technique
Emotional Release Freedom Technique
Raindrop Technique

Things you can get help with from professionals…
EVOX:  Emotional Perception Reframing- I do this!  
EMDR
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy:  NOT for AUTISM
ABA Therapy:  NOT for AUTISM
Therapy to apply at home:  Therapist Aid
Christ-Centered Counseling (not the same as Christian counselors, see “Christian Counseling” blog, coming soon):  make sure counselor believes in FULL and COMPLETE healing!

QEEG- mapping the brain first, to see where brain frequencies are out of balance, the client works on a series of mental exercises while hooked up to sensors, and client causes games, music, or videos to play harmoniously, only by training the mind to enter the correct frequency ranges (required for rational and calm thinking processes, as well as ability to rest).  Then having follow up brain mapping done.  The brain mapping is usually around $1,000 and up, and each QEEG session is around $75 and up.  Your doctor trained in this will decide number of sessions to start with.  Ranges from just a few sessions to 30 or more.  Insurance often pays for this.  If you happen to live in the Dallas area, or are willing to travel there, you have access to Neurotherapy Center of Dallas, with Dr. Jonathan Walker.  They have periodic informational sessions where you can come hear all about the therapy and ask any questions you might have.  You can reach them at: 972-991-1153.  Check for a clinic near you, that offers this therapy, and make sure you are able to get the brain map done before and after the sessions.  This ensures the clinician knows how to set the sessions, and allows you to visually see the difference in you or your loved one’s brain function.

I highly recommend that any and all professional therapies be accompanied by the therapies you can do at home!!  These will all complement each other, and will show greater impact and change, over time!

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PLEASE NOTE:  THE ABSENCE OF (APPARENT) HARM DOES NOT EQUATE TO THE PRESENCE OF SAFETY, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR BRAIN!
***
Absolutely EVERYTHING you put into your body, with respect to ANY kind of input, AFFECTS THE BRAIN!!
***AND since the brain requires specific nutrients and loving environments, anything you leave out, AFFECTS THE BRAIN!!

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Top Brain foods:
95% of Serotonin, and 50% of Dopamine in the body, are produced in your gut!
**
Have you been told you have an imbalance of chemicals in your brain, causing you to have ( fill in the blank:  depression, anxiety, OCD, ODD, etc…)?  YOU DO!  BUT IT DOESN’T REQUIRE MEDICATION TO BALANCE THOSE CHEMICALS…IT REQUIRES REAL FOOD! Real food balances your brain chemicals!!

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Whole Grains: organic, non-GMO
True Einkorn Flour (Order through my Young Living link!)
Oily Fish (Wild-caught, NOT Farm-raised)
Bone Broth (Expensive pre-made, but you can make your own!  Use organic beef, chicken or turkey bones, and Apple Cider Vinegar; find recipes online)
Eggs (preferably Free-Range, Organic; Pasture-Raised the best, but do what you can!)
Ocean plants (or see JP+ Full Spectrum Vegetarian only Omegas, on my JP+ link below!)
Blueberries
Tomatoes
Blackcurrants
Pumpkin seeds (and other seeds, such as Chia, etc…)
Broccoli and other cruciferous veggies
Green, leafy veggies
Celery
Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme
Nuts, especially walnuts, pecans, and Brazil nuts…very few needed daily
Make your own Nut-butters!
Raw, unfiltered Honey, especially Manuka Honey
Olives
Asparagus
Beets
(Please see Anti-inflammatory Foods blog and Top Brain Foods List)
Raw, unrefined, Organic Coconut oil (eat 1-2 Tablespoons per day)
Cacao nibs
Kiwi
Garlic
Onions
Coconut Oil (Raw, Cold-Pressed, Organic)
Cold Pressed, Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Coconut Milk (unsweetened)
Coconut Water
Fermented foods: Pickled produce and other foods, including pickles, okra, peppers, sauerkraut (cabbage), Kimchee, Kefir, etc…

See too many “green foods” that you can’t yet imagine eating?  Get on Juice Plus+, the most medically researched whole food supplement in the world, to not only bridge your gap in nutrition, but also change your tastebuds over time, making the body eventually crave those foods!

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For more info, or to order the Orchard and Garden blends or the Trio blend, click here!

Meal Replacement Shakes:
A great nutritional answer for busy families!  Especially helpful for early morning breakfast brain food!!  Get deep, dense nutrients, simple, delicious, and saves time and money!  Most shakes do not have both great nutrition AND great taste, but these do!  Have kids or family members that can’t, won’t or don’t eat healthy?  Here you go!  Juice Plus+ Complete.  Comes in both Vanilla and Chocolate flavors!  Delicious, nutritious YUM!  Especially great for kids!

Image result for juice plus complete shakesTo order please choose Vanilla, Chocolate, or Variety, which include both kinds!  For more information, or to order, click HERE

Another great option for meal replacement shakes is YL brand Complete Protein. The aroma alone, makes your brain happy!  Image result for young living complete shake

To order the Young Living Complete Shake, search stock number 3301 for Vanilla; for Chocolate: stock number 3298, Here!

Want to grow your own veggie or herb garden, literally ANYWHERE, with 90% LESS water, no dirt, and no weeds to deal with?

Image result for juice plus tower garden Juice Plus+ Tower Garden! (Hydroponic gardening!!)  Click HERE!

Top Brain Killers…Don’t want to destroy your brain?  Stay away from These:
1.  Refined Sugars and Artificial Sugars
2.  Negative thinking
3.  Unforgiveness, bitterness, anger, or any obsessive, or unhelpful emotional baggage you won’t let go of.
4.  Trans-Fats:  Hydrogenated, Partially or Fully, Interestersified, or any other form of chemically changed fat
5.  Chemicals being breathed in: man made fragrances, chemical cleaners, paints, etc…
6.  Passively watching lots of TV
7.  Toxic Stress

Water intake:  

Essential, and ideal to drink 1/2 your body weight in ounces of filtered water daily (ex: 100 lbs= 50 oz). 

If you have access to Ellis Water, the purest form of water available, introduce to the body slowly, and then keep regimen at 6-8 ounces per day, drinking regular filtered water for rest of daily water intake needs.  Start Ellis water off slowly, as it helps detoxify, and you will want to do so slowly!! 

Other drinks do not make up for pure water intake.  The benefits of water are too numerous to list…we don’t even know the half of it.  Take it from me, a healthy brain requires large amounts of water.

Other Beverages:

A link has been found between caffeine and neuro-atypical brains, which causes those individuals to feel relaxed when drinking caffeine, instead of “wired”, as is the case for most people.  Caffeine is actually the main ingredient that allows ADD and ADHD medications to calm behavior related challenges…so try coffee and tea instead!  Cheaper and completely natural!  ( Many of my clients have reported positive mood and behavioral effects for neuro-atypical individuals, when drinking just one cup of caffeinated tea or coffee…only drink in the morning, never at night).  Other herbals also have a calming effect on the mind.  Want to try calming herb-infused coffees, teas, or non-caffeinated drinks?  Check out Dollar Coffee Club HERE.  For non-caffeinated brain boosting, try the Cocoa beverage.  For naturally caffeinated products, try Active Blendz: Rush, or Energy and Mind Coffee!!

Completely non-caffeine based beverages:
Plant based milk, such as Cashew, Almond, or Coconut milk (unsweetened, best), provide GREAT brain nutrients, and have a much higher amount of calcium than cow’s milk…plus, nowhere near the amount of fat or calories (after all, only baby cows need huge amount of fat, in order to pack on the pounds in a short period of time!).
Chia-based beverages (you can make yourself, with Chia seeds)
Kombucha
Kefir
The last two also boost your needed probiotics!

Nutritional Supplementation:

For your ease and convenience, I have listed any products mentioned in this blog at the very bottom, along with links, for easy access and purchase ability.(scroll down to very bottom at any time). NEVER purchase Supplements or any health and wellness products on Amazon or any other 3rd party website!!  Your health and wellness are at stake, and it is simply too easy to tamper with products, and still make them look new and sealed!!  80% of products on the market do NOT contain what they claim on the label…that’s a super high chance you are at best throwing your money away, and at worst also introducing things to your body that are unhealthy and maybe even toxic!  ONLY PURCHASE SUPPLEMENTS AND ESSENTIAL OILS DIRECTLY FROM MANUFACTURERS OR FARMERS/SPECIALTY COMPANIES.

Nutritional supplementation is no longer a luxury.  The brain requires dense nutrition, and our diet no longer includes the variety, amount or nutritional density required for good health.  In addition, most neuro-atypical brains crave the low nutritional, high caloric, high fat and sugar content processed foods, which only continue to create and perpetuate the vicious cycle of lower brain function!

Juice Plus+ is the ONLY Whole food support system I have found to have and do what it says.  It is the most highly researched nutritional support system in the world!  Independently researched by top medical research facilities, using gold standard, double blind placebo studies. FREE Orchard and Garden blends for children 4 and over! (In fact, as long as they are students, even in college, they qualify for FREE product).  One FREE child per paying adult!! Most families get the Orchard and Garden blends (come in one pack).  You’ll want to get at least the Vineyard blend…for best possible nutritional support, you’ll want the Juice Plus+ Trio!  All come in capsule or chewable gummie form.  This company also has a FANTASTIC full spectrum, completely vegetarian Omega product.  This will add the very needed Essential Fatty Acids, required for highest possible brain function!  For more information, including third party, independent, medical research studies (On the product itself, not the borrowed type research you will find as supposed research support for any given brand), to find out what Medical Doctors in every field of study are saying about the product, or to order, CLICK HERE

Don’t want capsules or chewable gummies?  Try Young Living’s high antioxidant juice drink called NingXia Red.  It contains the Wolfberry, which is shown to be one of the highest possible antioxidant rated foods in the world!  It comes in large glass bottles that last one month each, if taking one ounce daily, five times per week, or two bottles lasting one month, when taking two ounces daily, five times per week (suggested usage amount).  Also available, 30 soft packs, for easy carry and travel, for a one month supply.

Young Living products can only be purchased as a Retail or Wholesale Young Living customer member.  If you do not know someone actively building the YL business, and taking care of their customers through education and resources, I’d love to step in and help you get what you need, as well help you learn how to effectively use it!  Simply type in my member number 1190675, to purchase either Retail or Wholesale options, or click here: 

The company will randomly assign you a customer service leader, if you do not type in a particular member number.

There is a new customer member premium starter kit, which includes 2-4 months worth of NingXia Red, and allows for much greater price decrease as a wholesale customer.  No obligations, except stay active by ordering 50 PV ( about $50) within one calendar year.

If you are on a true wellness plan, you will be ordering more than that, simply replacing other products.  NingXia Red is part of a 4 Month Wellness Plan, please see 4 Months to Wellness blog, coming soon!  To order one time NingXia Red, or order additional NingXia Red products, search NingXia Red, under “Products” link, Here  Or, to register as a wholesale member, with a NingXia Red Premium Starter kit, click HERE and choose “Other Premium Starter Kits” tab

The Direct Link Between YOUR Gut Health and YOUR Brain Health:
Has been known for decades (See research cited in the book titled “Gut and Psychology Syndrome”, by Neurologist Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride).  YOU MUST BALANCE YOUR GUT MICROBIOME, IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE PROPER, LET ALONE OPTIMUM BRAIN FUNCTION!  MUST! NOT AN OPTION!!

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Or put more simply:

Image result for gut brain connection

Probiotics:
An absolute MUST!  Your brain AND mind requires for your gut to be in balance. If probiotics are out of line, the brain and mind CANNOT work properly.  Probiotics in yogurt are not the answer.  No one needs processed cows milk, OR the high amount of refined or fake sugars!  [Though if you feel you must have yogurt, either make it yourself, from RAW, Organic milk, or get the So Delicious! Brand, Coconut based yogurt:  great for those who have milk allergies or sensitivities].  You need high grade probiotics with multiple super strains.  The only two brands I trust are Klaire Labs ( You MUST get from a healthcare professional, NOT online!  Expect price to be about $75 per bottle ), or Life 9 or KidScents MightyPro pixie stix.  They really do taste like Pixie sticks, and include pre and probiotics, allowing the probiotics to double every 20 minutes, thus giving you about 35 Billion colonies within 24 hours.  Expect wholesale price to be about $30.  Life9 and Kidscents MightyPro (not just for kids!) can be ordered through Member #1190675 (or another member you might know), through this link Here.  

Get additional probiotics through your foods!!  Get Kefir, Kombucha, Kimchee, Sauerkraut, or any fermented or pickled products (make them yourself, or get those that do not have any non-essential ingredients!) 

Enzymes:
The body cannot produce these, you MUST eat them, and you MUST have them for the body to break down foods into bioavailable nutrients.  That means you MUST eat plenty of plant-based foods, as close to how God creates them as possible!! Most people can’t, won’t or don’t do so. JP+ helps bridge that gap.  This does not eliminate the need for a healthy diet, but it increases your nutritional density no matter how you are currently eating.   Additional digestive help:  Digest and Cleanse, Detoxzyme, or Essentialzymes-4, all through Young Living Here

Minerals:
Most health issues can be traced to lack of minerals, and the brain and mind absolutely needs consistent mineral intake and uptake, so add more!

Mineral Essence (tastes horrible, but it works GREAT!  Simply hide it in nutritional shakes, like Juice Plus+ Complete, Young Living Complete, or add to Javita Coffee or other drinks to mask the salty/bitter taste…totally preferred over nasty medication and/or developing health issues from lack of minerals!

Try NingXia Red or NingXia Nitro: Made with one of the most nutritionally dense berries on earth (NingXia Woolfberry)!  And/or try MindWise.  All mineral options available through YL, HERE  

Omegas:
Your brain requires Omega fatty acids, found in ocean plants and fish (because they eat the ocean plants)…most people do not have a healthy intake of broad spectrum Omega oils, and they certainly don’t eat much, if any ocean plants or fatty fish regularly… Omega-Gize and other supplements are available to help bridge the gap.  OmegaGize is derived from fish, and Juice Plus+ Omegas are completely vegetarian, and only made with ocean plants.  To order click HERE

Other Brain-Building Supplements:

Calcium, specifically, Young Living’s Super Cal, or Cal-Mag ( Calcium is required for synapse function)!

Essential Oils:
Made from plants, and able to help with proper neurological function (and all other systems of the body).  Able to increase oxygenation to the brain, facilitate in neural connectivity, and calm the mind.  When it comes to the brain, the molecules will travel up the Olfactory nerve, which gains direct access to the brain.  Good essential oils therefore are able to positively impact behavior, emotion and mental state of mind within just a few minutes.  In 20 years of testing and searching for essential oils that are of highest, purest quality, I only found Young Living to be consistently dependable.  Period.  It’s the only one I would use for our own family, and it’s the only one I feel confident in recommending to everyone.

Rosemary, Clarity, Stress Away, Peppermint, Lavender, DiGize, Deep Relief, and/or Frankincense (On area of concern, and over belly)

Lemon, Orange, Lemongrass, Tangerine, Lime, Grapefruit, Citrus Fresh, etc… (One drop, in every water glass; USE ONLY GLASS OR STAINLESS STEEL CONTAINERS when adding essential oils to beverages; good essential oils will eat through all petrochemicals, including plastic, and styrofoam)

Ylang Ylang, Vetiver, Rose, Idaho Blue Spruce, Peace and Calming, Harmony, Valor, RutaVaLa

(On area of concern, around nose, behind neck, and diffuse).

You don’t need them all, you just start with the New Member Premium Starter kit, use those oils, and then replace with new ones from that list above, as your monthly budget allows, and as needed. Essential oils work best when you rotate them.  As my YL client, you will receive resources to help you figure out how to safely and effectively use your YL oils!

CBD oils for calming the brain.  Yes, they can work, but again it depends on sourcing.  I’m still searching for one that I can trust.  When I find it, I’ll share right away!

Juices:  Can get even more goodness when you turn into a shake, and keep all the fiber!!
Delicious combinations are endless!
Here are some particularly brainy ones:
Carrot and celery
Carrot, beet, cucumber
Carrot, celery, spinach, parsley
Add blueberries to any of the above…listen to your body and venture out to more and better!
Want to add more protein, nutrients, and flavor?  Make a shake with either JP+ or YL Complete shake mix, adding the produce above!

Products Mentioned in Blog

Foods:
Most local grocery stores now carry a large variety of organic produce and products.  Local farmers can be a great resource too.  Favorite brands list for other foods and beverages list coming soon!

Supplements:
*JP+ Trio (Includes Orchard, Garden, and Vineyard blends)
*JP+ Duo pack (Orchard and Garden blend)
    *Find out how to get FREE child’s portion, when you order through me!
*Free to any child ages 4- adult, as long as child attending school (including college)
*JP+ Complete:  Case with 4 bags, 60 servings total; All Vanilla, All Chocolate, or Variety (both)
*JP+ Omegas:  Broad Spectrum Essential Fatty Acids, Vegetarian based
For JP+ Clinical Research, CLICK HERE
All JP+ products can be ordered through www.GodProvides.Juice Plus.com

Young Living Products
*NingXia Red Nutritional Juice
*NingXia Red Nitro (extra energy boost)
*MindWise
*Life9 Probiotics with 9 Super Strains
*KidScents MightyPro Pro and Pre-biotic pixie stix
*Digest & Cleanse
*Detoxzyme
*Essentialzymes-4
*AlkaLime
*Mineral Essence
*OmegaGize
*Super-Cal or Cal-Mag

Essential Oils that Boost Brain Function :
Rosemary
Clarity
Stress Away
Peppermint
Lavender
Di-Gize
Deep Relief
Frankincense
Sacred Frankincense
Brain Power

Calming/Uplifting Essential Oils to add to and and all beverages:
Lemon
Orange
Lemongrass
Tangerine
Lime
Grapefruit
Citrus Fresh

Calming/Relaxing/ Sleep inducing/sedating essential oils:

Lavender
Harmony
Idaho Blue Spruce
Peace and Calming
Rose
RuTaVaLa (stinky)
Valor
Vetiver

To Order Young Living products as a CUSTOMER,
choose Retail (pay full price)
or Wholesale: (50% off first time Premium Starter Kit products, 24% off all future orders)
CLICK HERE!

Some of the Beverages Mentioned in Blog:

     Caffeinated Products:
Energy and Mind Coffee:  wake up the mind, without regular caffeine jitters
Burn and Control Coffee:  additional weight loss benefits
Lean and Green:  highest quality, unfiltered green tea
Rush:  natural focus and energy
Non-Caffeine Drinks:
Focus Fusion Cocoa mix:  brain supporting herbs in decadent European chocolate
Active Blendz:
Fiber:  binds to toxins to remove from body
     Control:  additional weight loss benefits
Defend:  Immune system boosting
Flex:  Reduces Inflammation, and calms nerve pain
All above mentioned beverages from Javita, and all (except Cocoa Fusion) in convenient, single serving sleeves for active people on the go!  Grab your single serve, and a bottle of water, and you are in business!!
Order through:  www.DollarCoffeeClub.com/GodProvidesHealth

If you’d like to know how to get your child/grandchild Juice Plus+ whole food nutritional support system for FREE, you will have option to do so, once product has been ordered through www.GodProvides.JuicePlus.com and FREE portion will be added after customer contact. 

Healing for His Glory, Maria Bemont, Holistic Healthcare Practitioner

Sources:
**Gershon, The Second Brain: The Scientific Basis of Gut Instinct and a Groundbreaking New Understanding of Nervous Disorders of the Stomach and Intestine; New York:  Harper Collins, 1998; Johns Hopkins Medicine.  “It’s High Time for the Gut-Brain”; December 12, 2012

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
ABA Therapy

EMDR:  used in professional counseling.

 www.DrLeaf.com

Books:

Gut and Psychology Syndrome
Eat Yourself Smart

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/10-foods-boost-your-brainpower

Only Two Pathways to Disease

 That is definitely one of my all time favorite images, to share health truths with you!  Take a few minutes to really study that image.

It should encourage you GREATLY, that the health problems you have been dealing with stem from root issues that you can actually do something about!  It’s very simple:  The body requires certain elements, and it has toxicity to certain elements.  Degenerative diseases develop when you either do not give your body enough of the required, necessary elements/nutrients for proper function, and/or expose your body to too much of the toxic elements/anti-nutrients that the body does not want or need.

All toxic things cause inflammation, which then unlocks particular disease processes.  Lack of proper nutrients or addressing the needs of the body, mind and spirit, similarly allow inflammation to take hold.  Therefore, the simple solution (although not easy), is to significantly increase the intake of the good required for proper cellular, mental and spiritual function, and/or significantly decrease the intake of bad or unnecessary elements that harm the body, mind or spirit.

 

EVERYONE walks through Mental Illness…

As everyone can see, I’ve been missing for several months…While I wish I could say that what ended up taking place didn’t, I always purpose to be honest, and at the same time can now not only say I more fully understand mental health challenges, and the terrible pain that the family endures, but I know for a fact, that EVERYONE walks through mental illness.  EVERYONE.  (Yes, that means YOU too!)  And as strange as it sounds, I am now grateful God allowed us to walk through that with our child (although it really did feel like hell on earth).  I would’ve never been able to say that I could possibly end up being grateful, while we were still walking through it.( And please don’t tell others they’ll be grateful for walking through pain, when they are deeply entrenched in that desperate place).  God is good…but walking through a nervous breakdown with your young child is desperately heartbreaking.  I believe God was using us to help untold numbers of people, as He showed us that EVERYONE goes in and out of mental illness throughout their lives.  So I hope this helps you, and someone you love!

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How can I say EVERYONE walks through mental illness?  Because mental illness encompasses a huge spectrum, and is caused by a wide variety of things, including long-term lack of sleep, viral, bacterial, fungal, or parasitic infections in the brain or nervous system, long-term negative thinking, or focusing on emotional pain, as well as the horrors of walking through traumatic events (and how an individual processes those events).  Furthermore, mental illness or a nervous breakdown can befall anyone when other biological functions are coming together all at once, such as large hormonal fluctuations during puberty, low BMI, extreme stress, overworking the mind/brain (not getting enough rest), and being challenged by atypical neurological issues to begin with.  Any one or more of these situations can cause a nervous breakdown.  Atypical neurological issues can include, but are not limited to: anyone who has used drugs, or alcohol (we are all unique individuals, and all have different thresholds and sensitivities to those toxic chemicals), children whose moms used drugs or alcohol during pregnancy, were neglected, abused or traumatized at any point before or after birth, having multiple concussions or impacts on the structure of the brain, or severe brain injuries, Autism, vaccine injured individuals, etc…   Individuals with atypical neurological issues, alongside any of the previously listed reasons, can create a perfect storm for a nervous breakdown. But absolutely everyone ends up suffering through mental and emotional ups and downs…it’s painful, it’s imbalanced, and it is like wounds you cannot see.  Look hard enough, or think hard enough, and if you are honest with yourself, you’ll find times you’ve started getting on or riding that train!

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Not all mental illness events end up as a full blown nervous breakdown, and many mental illness events are short lived.  Simply put, mental illness is any mental imbalance, where perception is askew from physical reality.  Mental illness can be brought on when the pain and anguish of our thoughts are just too much to bear.  Mental illness is no different than physical illness…whereas in physical illness we may be able to pinpoint a wound, pain, or physical abnormality, mental illness is a wound, pain or abnormality in our thinking processes, which cannot be seen or pinpointed physically.

“You gotta have the bad days so you can love the good days more.”

 

So that’s the good and bad news.  Mental illness is experienced by everyone at some time in their lives, and often multiple times.  It is on a very wide spectrum, from mild depression and anxiety, to severe cases of complete breaks from reality.

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Too many people won’t freely talk about it, and yet virtually everyone suffers through it to some extent!  The number one comment we received from all hospital staff:  “This happens  ALL the time.”  I remember thinking:  “EXCUSE ME?  ALL the time?  Why doesn’t anyone say anything?”  Of course, you know the answer:  No one wants to be known as “CRAZY”… but it’s time to change how we view mental health and wellness.  The shame, guilt, and ridiculous fear stops here!  And if you are sitting there saying “Not me”, you can get off that pretty quickly, by just thinking back at any point in your life, where you got stuck thinking things that were wholly unproductive, brought you down, or upset you beyond what is healthy.  When you were unreasonable, unfocused, or hyper-focused on negativity, when you had a hard time turning off the non-stop negative self-talk, when you couldn’t forgive someone, or when you couldn’t sleep, or felt complete lack of rest, when you picked up a completely unhealthy and/or destructive habit, yet were unwilling to put it down, even as it was costing you everything…and those are but a few examples of self-imposed mental illness (which we enter into without intending to), and do not encompass the many ways other biological functions and illness contribute to the suffering of the mind.

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No one really knows how the mind works, not even the so-called mental health experts…counselors, psychiatrists, and psychologists are all doing their very best, receiving training from what is able to be observed, and from what the clients themselves are reporting back.  But if and when they are honest, current traditional medicine doesn’t really have a grasp on, or an answer to this widespread issue.  How could they?  The mind is not a physical thing…it’s inner workings and pathways cannot be observed, seen, or known, and everyone is a unique individual, who processes things in a billion different ways.  The only thing that can be seen is the voice/information and behavior that a client actually chooses to share:  and that’s coming from a place of imbalance, pain, and a broken perspective.

Since the 1980’s the “answer” seemed to revolve around mood-altering drugs, and anti-psychotics of many kinds.  However, these do absolutely nothing to heal the mind…
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in fact, studies have revealed that these medications alter the brain, and the side effects are often destructive and cause further unspeakable pain, especially long-term. 
~Dr. Caroline Leaf, Neuroscientist

However, new and exciting discoveries have been at the forefront, through the study of Neuroscience that do not look to medications, but instead help the body rebuild the mind to get vibrant, strong and healthy!  I won’t bore you with the details but here is what you MUST know:  NO MENTAL HEALTH CONDITION HAS TO BE LONG TERM; The mind actually builds the brain (what you think about matters):  every experience you have, every moment of every day, is building neural connections! (or destroying them)  One year from now, your brain will be COMPLETELY different, based on what you have focused on through thought, and all your senses. What you eat, matters!  In fact, every sense you have is instrumental in the recovery and rebuilding of the mind, and you can change the brain and mind to end up in a better place than ever before!  That includes neuro-atypical challenges.  For every individual the continuing optimal level is different, but no matter what the issue, it absolutely can look different one year from now, and each year thereafter.

Specific colors, sounds/music, love and kindness, tastes (foods), smells (in aromatherapy, molecules travel up the olfactory nerve and go directly into the brain), and touch are all healing to the mind!  If you want to change, if you want to get better, there are amazing resources to help you get to a place of mental and emotional wellness.  The opposite is also true, though:  if you are not careful, if you refuse to get rest, take care of your body, and use your senses for your well-being, those same senses can take you to mental illness.  The biggest question you have to ask yourself is:  do you want to get well?  If the answer is “Yes”, or “Yes” for a loved one who is beyond able to help himself, because he has already stepped over the line of rational thought and reality, there are wonderful resources to help heal the mind.  Rule out any physical illness issues that may be affecting the mind, such as virus, bacterial, fungal, or parasitic infections, and then start working on mental wellness through all of your senses!  I will share what we did, that changed everything.

While I’m typing up a list of resources, here is the first doctor who gave us hope:
Dr. Caroline Leaf, Neuroscientist extraordinaire, and founder of the Integrated Mind Network.  Find her information by going to: www.DrLeaf.com

 

Get Your Immune System Back on Track!

YOU are the only one who can get and keep yourself healthy. Own it!

1. Everything you eat, drink, breathe in, apply listen to, watch, think about, and apply on your skin causes biochemical reactions in your body. Good or bad!
2. Your gut is responsible for 80% of immune system function.  Eating well and probiotics are a must!
3.  Boost your immune system naturally.  There are many ways to do this, but one of the most effective ways is through the use of essential oils.  While all essential oils will do something, if you want to get your immune system fully on track, you will only want the most effective brand available:  Young Living.  There are quite a few of the oils that will help boost the immune system…one of the most effective is the Thieves blend.  Please click HERE and do a search on Thieves.  You can order via retail or wholesale…wholesale purchases are at a discount of about 24%.  DO NOT PURCHASE THESE OILS ON AMAZON.  THEY ARE LIKELY NOT WHAT THEY CLAIM, AS THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BE SOLD IN THIS WAY.

Effective Cleansing/Detoxification of the Body

God recently convicted me of the direction my health was taking, as I was trying to minister to everyone else’s health, and forgetting about my own.  So, I started at the best new beginning:  detoxification.  My results are so great, I’ve been having many people asking me what I’m doing.  Here it is!

Health is a lifelong process, not an event.  There are many programs available that promise great detox, and come with a hefty price tag.  Some include very questionable ingredients, many contain ingredients that most people are simply unwilling to stomach. Great news!  Those potions, goops, and gross drinks are NOT required!!  Cleansing and detoxing is not only a required purposeful event you need to engage in at least 1-2 times per year (preferably once per season), but also daily, via lifestyle choices (eating, using natural, toxin-free products).  Here have been my personal favorites, which not only have worked the best, but also are more enjoyable and tasty than anything else I’ve tried.

Please note:  to the extent that you are willing to follow said protocols, will be to the extent that you will feel greater wellness, get rid of unwanted pounds, and feel AH-MAZING!!

Fasting:  it actually means going without food, or going without most food, not just going without one item.  This is to be done under the supervision of a doctor, especially if you have illness or disease of any kind.  And if you are on medications, especially MAOI’s, no matter what the doctor says, you are NOT to enter into a food fast!!  Having medications in your body, without food to properly metabolize them and decrease the impact on the body, is a recipe for disaster.  You can otherwise choose to fast for three days, 10 days, or longer.  The longer you fast, the more medical accountability you need.  You can do a liquid only fast, during this time, which is what I choose to do.  Starting with a 3 day fast (if you plan on fasting at all), is a great way to start.  Fasting is for the purpose of seeking physical wellness, as well as seeking God in spirit.  Prayer is an important part of fasting, as it allows your spirit to align with God’s for your life.  If you’ve never done this before, this can be a life-changing experience!  Yes, you WILL feel hungry…that’s actually part of the cleansing that helps you enormously!
1.  At least half your body weight in ounces of filtered water, daily.  (EX:  weight 100 lbs = 50 ounces of filtered water daily)
2.  Detoxifying teas, with lemon, ginger, etc., all day long
3.  Drinking Juice Plus+ Complete Shakes twice a day (has FOS:  fructooligosaccharides, and only dense nutrition, through whole food);
NingXia Red, and MindWise 
4.  Adding organ cleansing YL essential oils to all liquids.  Essential oils have a remarkable ability to penetrate your cell membranes, and break down toxins and undigested food!  Add savory YL oils to soups and while cooking, too!
5.  Intermittent fasting:  once finished with fasting (if you choose to do it), you can do intermittent fasting, daily.  Don’t eat past 6pm (ideal, but do your best), and then hold off the following day for breakfast, until 2-3 hours after you have woken up.
6.  Oil pulling:  I use Coconut oil (which starts off solid), and add a couple of drops of the YL citrus oils, or peppermint, and then start swishing it around in my mouth, for up to 10 minutes.  Do this once or twice a day.  You’ll have the best teeth and gums ever!
8.  Foods:  fresh, raw fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds.  Make them tasty, by making your own, easy but delicious dressings and dips. (no dairy).  Cook no more than 20% of your food intake.  If doing a liquid only detox, skip this part, until foods come back in.  Start learning to use your intuition, on what your body wants and needs, within the parameters of these foods.  Choose foods that have a pH alkaline EFFECT (not necessarily that they are alkaline when tested before eating!!  I will post what they are.)

Products I’m using for detoxing the body:

Medical Grade Probiotics:  Klaire Labs Complete or Saccharomyeces Boulardii;
Young Living Life9 ( To order, Click Here )

Juice Plus+ Complete shake:  Vanilla and Chocolate…More info?  Order?  Click Here

The following are Young Living products.  For more info, or ordering, please CLICK HERE
Add 1 drop of any of the Young Living Lemon, Lime, Grapefruit, Citrus Fresh, Peppermint, Cardamom, Cinnamon Bark, DiGize, JuvaCleanse, or Christmas Spirit blend.
DiGize blend and/or JuvaCleanse blend and Copaiba over stomach and liver, with hot compress.
Digest and Cleanse capsules:  can also use Essentialzymes or Essentialzymes4.
ComforTone  Info or order for the last three items?
NingXia Red:  1-2 ounces per day
MindWise:  start with 2 Tablespoons daily, for 7 days, and then 1 Tablespoon daily as part of your lifestyle change, for better brain function!  It’s amazing!!

There are also specific cleansing programs, (and portions of those cleanses that you can add to this basic one, to customize/tailor to your needs), which target specific needs, such as Colonic Cleansing, Heavy Metal Cleansing, Liver Cleansing, Parasite Cleansing, and GI Cleansing/Gut Healing. (Check my blog on different Cleansing programs)

Please NOTE:  if you want to truly detox, you MUST detoxify your entire home as well, so you are not wrecking all your efforts!! Where do YOU have toxic chemicals lurking?  Go through every part of your house, and every cabinet.  Check labels… I will write an article on what to look for, as you are doing your whole home detox!!

 

Restoring Alkalinity

Test your pH at home, using the litmus paper strips you can get a natural food stores, online, or at some drugstores or pharmacies.  If BELOW 7.0…

  1. Avoid yeast and fungus promoting foods, including:
    Meat
    Sugar
    Dairy (doesn’t include eggs)
    Bready/yeasty products (gluten)
  2. Consume fructooligosaccharides (FOS), from foods (Some food replacement shakes have these…Google foods that have these)
  3. Lower Stress Levels
  4. Avoid use of antibiotics:  they kill the good, and increase resistance of the bad
  5. Use specific essential oils, known for their harmonizing effects in the body
  6. Increase intake of Alkaline Minerals:  AlkaLime, MegaCal, SuperCal, Mineral Essence, and JuvaPower or JuvaSpice (for salads and cooking)
  7. Add great Probiotics, daily:  Life9, Klaire Labs/Prothera Complete, or SB

Symptoms of Excess Internal Acidity

Your health is linked to body, mind, emotions and spirit.  One thing affects another, and a lack of function in one area, tissue, organ or organ system, will affect one or more other tissues, organs or organ systems.

Symptoms of Excess Internal Acidity:
Allergies
Blood sugar imbalances
Colitis/Ulcers
Constipation or Diarrhea
Fatigue/Low energy
Headaches
Indigestion
Irritability
Low resistance to illness/lowered immune system
Overweight/ hard to lose weight
Rectal and/or Vaginal itching
Unexplained aches and pains
Urinary Tract Infections

Ideal pH for human blood is between 7.4 and 7.6.  Measures BELOW 7.0 are considered acidic, and create an environment in which fungi and yeast can grow out of control.  When they grow out of control, their waste products produce toxins (mycotoxins), believed to be the root of many illnesses and diseases, via causing inflammation.  Mycotoxins and their resulting inflammation, are believed to play a part in many very scary diseases, including cancer.