Friday 11 October 2013

can't live with him - can't live without him

Recently, Ed has been a joy. Much, much harder work than a neuro typical child, but for him a joy. The other day I mentioned it to my mum, inside cursing myself incase I jinx it (I am sure that child is psychic) and sure enough, yesterday he flew in a rage from the school taxi. The front door had to be open, all the appliances had to be unplug, books had to be thrown out the door, and he keep going in to Tom and hitting him, in the end I just had to put him in his room. Its amazing how your emotions can turn on a dime. When he is like that, God I wish I hadn't had him! Hate perhaps is too strong a word but my feeling are instantly on that spectrum.

Anyway, he came down a few minutes latter a little calmer and I jumped in the eye of the hurricane and did a bit of hoovering whist playing Mr Men on the Virgin+. Ahhhh! Calm. Latter that night whilst getting his bath ready, I went in his room and found his mattress on the floor. I knew I needed to make his bed because he had brought his duvet down and had the hoover tucked under it in the kitchen and had been loving it for the past hour. On putting his mattress back on the bed I found a very small patch of vomit - great. Maybe though that's why he was so upset, perhaps he had car sickness, or maybe his anger just made him sick - at any rate it needed cleaning and his bed needed changing. So I changed it from the spotty duvet to the green one with dinosaurs on it. And here I come to the reason for this particular post. On getting him out of the bath and on his bed to dry him and give him his coconut rub down, he saw the new duvet and his facial expression just melted my heart. His face was so open, so joyous. His little mouth was open in wonder and his little gappy teeth were showing (lost his two bottom teeth recently) imagine the happiest child in the world with the most open, innocent, angelic face and you come close. He got in bed so happy, and I lay down to read with him. And as I looked at him I thought what other 7 year old would have been so happy for so little, and I was just so overwhelmed with love for him that I think I am becoming bi-polar. x

Thursday 10 October 2013

this is what has gone wrong with wheat

As a mother starting out with bio-medical interventions one of the first things you come across is keep clear of gluten (wheat et al) and casein (milk), and unless you've just landed from some far flung planet, you must have heard the obesity and diabetic problems sweeping the 'modern' world.  Today I want to show you how they are linked through the consumption of a new breed of 'super' wheat.

It all started in Mexico 1942, when a man called Norman Borlaug started working with the Rockefeller foundation pioneering technical assistant program in Mexico. Borlaug was the chief scientist in charge of wheat production. He intensively crossbred wheat and produced a new high yield dwarf variety. By 1963, Mexico had become the net exporter of wheat, and between 1965 to 1970, wheat yields nearly doubled in India and Pakistan. This wheat was created to prevent catastrophic mass starvation, and in 1970, he was rewarded for his services to humanity with the Noble prize. He is know as 'The father of the green revolution' and 'The man who saved a billion lives.' Now to be fair to him, he was charged with creating a high yield plant, this he did. But I don't think that it occurred to him at the time, that this plant produces grain which is quite toxic to human health. Now there are two problems. First, its not good for us at all, and secondly and very quickly - its the main wheat crop grown around the world. Its a plant highly dependant on fertilisers and pesticides ( many derived from oil) and because its the main wheat crop, a total failure of the wheat crop is possible. This would in an ironic twist, lead again to mass starvation.

So why is it so bad for us? Well its a three fold whammy. It now contains very high levels of a starch called AmylopectinA - this is the starch that makes our modern breads so light and fluffy. However, just two slices of wholemeal bread (not even the white stuff most of us eat) will raise your blood sugar more than amount 2 desert spoons of sugar (english) or 2 table spoons of sugar (USA)!! This high glycemic food makes you store fat round your belly, triggers inflammation (that means screwing up your bodies cells) gives you a fatty liver and starts the process of becoming diabetic. In the USA, 1 in 3 medicare dollars is apparently spent on diabetes. So basically it makes us fat.

It has many more chromosomes than more ancient varieties, which code for new odd proteins (because they are new to our digestive and biological systems).  When digested they produce shorter proteins polypeptides called exorphins, which are like the endorphins you get from a runners high. They bind to the opioid receptors in your brain giving you a high and making you addicted just like a heroin addict. They get absorbed directly in the blood, and cross the brain / blood barrier. They are called 'Gluteomorphins,' and that is why you want to binge on cakes, biscuits, bread etc and not on say - carrots. So basically its addictive, making you want to eat more of it than you would normally, which again, makes us fat.

Dwarf wheat also has a different gluten peptide know as glia-a9. Gluten is what makes it sticky, and this type of gluten is what most people react negatively to, i.e. celiacs. Whilst celiacs have obvious symptom, most of us will react negatively, but in a hidden way, like inflammation. So it makes us feel ill with symptoms of unknown cause.

Now if if you do your own reading on this subject these are the main three topics about what is wrong with this new variety, but there is another area that needs mentioning and that is phytic acid. Phytic acid is the principle storage system for phosphorus in most plants - particularly the bran portion of grains, nuts and seeds. It inhibits enzymes we need to ingest food, including pepsin which helps break down protein (with out this you can develop little white fatty spots on the skin) and amylase needed to break down sugar (which we have already discussed is much higher in this variety and is a third way it makes us fat). Another problem is its structure. The phosphorus is held tight in phytic acid molecule, which looks a bit like a 6 armed snowflake. Now phytic acid is a serious issue for our health because as well as holding on tight to phosphorus, its arms hang on to other minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc etc, making them all unavailable to the body.  Because of this it has been named an anti-nutrient. Perhaps one of the reasons why this is such an issue with dwarf wheat is because it has depleted levels of minerals compared to its older varieties. We know this because since 1843, agronomists at Rotherstead Research Station in Herefordshire, England, have been conducting experiments over the last 2 centuries with multiply wheat cultivates. Experimenting with different crop rotations, fertilisers and farming techniques, all the while tracking the change in the mineral content of both grain and soil. Between 1843 to the mid 1960's, the mineral content including zinc, copper, magnesium, and iron remained constant. But after that (when planting the dwarf variety) they began to drop - as a point of interest, the mineral level in the soil actually went up slightly. The reason they think is that the dwarf variety has a much shorter root systems meaning that its uptake of nutrient is less, which, if you continue along that line, also means that it is more vulnerable to dry conditions -  and we have another possible cause for total crop failure. While nutrient levels have dropped in the new grain, phytic acid levels have remained constant. I didn't read it anywhere, but joining the dots together, this means more areas in the phytic snowflake not already containing minerals are empty, giving it the ability to suck it up more minerals from your body. Research has suggested that we absorb approximately 20% more zinc and 60% more magnesium when phytic acid absent. A traditional method of dealing with phytic acid is 'soaking' or fermenting. Both these methods are used in the making of traditional sourdough bread, which shouldn't be confused with soda-bread. When it comes to bread though, there are other issues like the speed with which a loaf is made. No time for the gluten to break down in the natural process and the over use of bakers yeast, some of which is genetically modified - but that is another sad story for another time.

Now zinc and magnesium are very interesting minerals particularly for autism, and whilst they deserve a whole page each, lets just summarise. Zinc aids the saliva protein 'gustin' which has a major role in the sensation of taste. Any body got a picky eater? Its also important for cognitive function as it helps protect neurotransmitters. I have read also that it plays a role in our auditory sense, children who are hyper-sensitive to noise cope much better with zinc supplements. Magnesium plays the opposite role to calcium in the body. Calcium causes the muscle to contract, magnesium helps it relax. Magnesium deficiencies can result in disruptive behaviours like restlessness, body rocking, teeth grinding, hiccups, noise sensitivity, poor attention span, poor concentration, irritability and aggression to name a few more important ones. When magnesium levels are low, calcium starts to play mischief in our bodies. Leaching out from where it should be and lodging in places it shouldn't. When it lodges in our joints its called arthritis. It can cause bone spurs, cancer, kidney stones, hardening the arteries, hardening the heart chambers, and those concerned with their looks - wrinkled skin. Dr Carolyn Dean says "Magnesium permits calcium to enter a nerve cell to allow electrical transmission along the nerves to and from the brain. Even our thought, via the brains nervous system, are dependant on magnesium." So you can see how important these minerals are for our children.

To sum it up, the wheat we eat today is not the long stalked Einkorn wheat of our fathers, so beautifully described in one of Americas anthems as 'amber waves of corn'.

There is a saying with autism that genetics are the gun that the environment loads, so dwarf wheat is just one of the bullets.

Now if I was more computer savvy, I could pop back in and put a post-script on the article about paracetamol. Forgive me for sticking it here. I forgot to put this in. There seems to be an argument about the results regarding the ratio of autism in France. They also used paracetamol with vaccines but have lower rates than the USA. Again, this is my own conclusion, but your typical french diet is high in onions and garlic and other sulphur rich foods. Knowing the French, they also have a strong tradition for food with flavour as opposed to long shelf life, and tend to buy their fruit and veg fresh from markets, which presumably would have higher vitamin and mineral contents. Having a diet high in sulphur I think it fair to assume that the process of sulfation works pretty well for them, so their bodies don't need to resort to the cytochrome P450 pathway to eliminate the toxin, which is perhaps the nuts and bolts of why the allium family is so good for us - but I am not a scientist so what do I know. Again, this information is presented for information only, I am just a mum trying to find my way out of the autism maze, and hoping as I do to help others. x








Wednesday 9 October 2013

acetaminophen, the link to autism and asthma

There was a point during WW1 that our soldiers were ordered to walk towards the enemy line, despite being shot at with machine guns, history tells us this is what they did. I remember learning the fact and wondering how they could have been so stupid, but you see they were told to do it and they did. It was only afterward, after the deaths of millions that tactics changed. How often have we been told to do something and done it?

When my mum was pregnant with Steve, she had awful morning sickness, she toyed with the idea of taking a wonderful new drug that stopped morning sickness, but my dad said, no, let nature take its course. That wonderful new drug was called - Thalidomide.

When I was pregnant with Ed, I suffered with terrible migraines. I had them before I fell pregnant and the only thing that helped was Migraleve. I took the pack to the Dr to ask if it was safe to take during pregnancy, he looked at he pack and checked it up in his big book of medical facts and gave it the OK.
 My dad said, maybe its best not to take it while your pregnant, I said I had to because I couldn't cope with the pain. Should have been stronger and listened to my dad. Read this yesterday, spent quite a bit of time in tears of remorse, I am putting it in bold because people of the world need to take note.

    'It appears that the marked increase in the rate of autism throughout much of the world may be largely mediated by the marked increase in the use of acetaminophen in genetically and or metabolically susceptible children and perhaps the use of acetaminophen by pregnant women.'
     Dr William Shaw

Now you may be looking at that and thinking thank god I didn't take that, but you see they don't sell it under that name. In the USA its called Tylenol, paracetamol in Europe.

OK, so what does he mean by genetically or metabolically susceptible children? Well we all have various biochemical pathways in our bodies that help remove toxins. Imagine that it's like your waste bin and the rubbish collection. Not all waste bins though are the same size, in this group of children they have little tiny waste bins and the bin men don't come weekly. Imagine this in your house, you produce the same amount of waste, have half the bin size ( or less) and the bin men come fortnightly, or monthly or worse - how much waste would you accumulate. Well imagine now the slow toxic buildup inside your body doing the same thing with your metabolic waste, that's what happens inside these children. And that's without all the man made toxins! Now this is just my theory, but those children grow up generally quite normally till the toxins start to overload their system (every year more and more man made chemicals are released into the environment and ingested or absorbed, be they in your food, your clothes, your personal care products etc) and as they get older the toxic overload manifest itself as Parkinson, Alzheimer etc, like my late father-in-law. These biochemical pathways include Sulfation and Methylation and when they are working correctly they keep you heathy.  Now the picture Dr Shaw paints is very interesting because it includes intestinal bacteria, and I can't tell you how much better Ed has been this week. All I am doing at the moment is giving him about a glass a day of homemade kefir water, Iodine, and Epsom Salt baths.

Back to Dr Shaw and his findings. There can't be many people who haven't heard of a possible link to autism and vaccines, particularly the MMR. Well, Dr Shaw looked at the autism rate in Cuba which was 0.00168 as compared with the Center for Disease Control data published march 30 in the USA at a whopping rate of 1.13 (a 23% increase on the previous study in 2006) In Cuba, the vaccination rate is 99%, more that the take up in the USA of 85%, and by the age of 6, each Cuban child has received 34 shots. The major difference is in Cuba they NEVER give acetaminophen with vaccinations. The cuban medical establishment sees fever as a normal and beneficial side effect of vaccinations, proving that the immune system is working. They do not medicate unless the fever is above 104F or has lasted longer that 2 days. I have tried to bullet point the cascade effect of acetaminophen (aka paracetamol) that Dr Shaw has identified in these genetically/metabolically susceptible children (ie, tiny waste bin, long collection time.)

1 - Because sulfation is often defective in autistic children, they can't detoxify it, it therefore becomes toxic.
2 - This leads to a clostridia bacteria overgrowth. This particular bacteria causes an over production of brain dopamine and reduced brain norepinephrine.
3 - To much dopamine = obsessive, compulsive behaviour.
4 - To little norepinephrine leads to reduced exploratory behaviour.
5 - Because they can't use the sulfation process to get rid of the acetaminophen, their body uses another pathway called cytochrome P450.
6 - Use of the cytochrome P450 pathway leads to an excessive production of N-Acetyl-p-benzoquinoneimine (NAPQI) which is a toxic metabolite.
7 - NAPQI depletes glutathione which again reduces the bodies ability to detoxify a host of toxic chemicals from the bodies environment.
8 - In addition, NAPQI creates oxidative stress which leads to protein, lipid and nucleic acid damage from free radicals. It also increases the rate of damage to mitochondrial and nuclear DNA.
9 - NAPQI production has been found to increase in humans at recommended dosage of acetaminophen, and would be expected to be higher in people with diminished sulfation capacity.

Lets fill in some details and I will try to go through the subjects by their numbers above, because it a tricky interwoven cascade of events a bit like a 3D game of chess, and has ramifications outside of those concerned just with autism.

1 - Sulfation is the pathway that helps rid the body of a group of  potentially harmful chemicals known as Phenols. Phenols can be found in highly coloured fruit and veg, like plums, apples , bananas, chocolate etc. The phenols are attracted to the sulfation process like a magnet, but if there is a deficiency of sulfate in the blood stream, instead they build up. A build up of phenolic compounds can interfere with neurotransmitter functions. Dr Warring (School of Bio-Sceince University Birmingham) found that autistic children have 15% of the normal level of sulfate compared to neuro typical children.  Whilst not the prime cause for autism, certainly they are responsible for much of the dysregulation of the biological and physiological process. The Feingold Diet exclude phenols from the diet and can be very useful for autistic, and dyslexic people. However, I took the view that rather than excluding what is an otherwise healthy food, I needed to try and fix the problem. You can aid the sulfation pathway by Epsom Salt baths (yes, granny knew best) or by rubbing in magnesium sulfate cream. Interestingly, a side effect of a phenol problem is headaches and migraines, so looks like I need to sort myself out.

2 - Clostridium. Dr Shaw thinks that clostridium difficile is responsible for the production of HPHPA (its long medical name is so long I will just use the abbreviation) which is a tyrosine derivative. Tyrosine is an amino acid and is the raw material for the production of neurotransmitters "I suspect that this product might be very important in altering key bio-chemical pathways for neurotransmitters in the brain." Patients with values of HPHPA greater than 500 mmol/mol creatinine, almost always have sever neurological, psychiatric or gastrointestinal disorders such as autism, sever depression, psychotic behaviour, schizophrenia, muscle paralysis, colitis and sometime a combination of them. He was interested in HPHPA because, "Structurally its related to the neurotransmitter dopamine and norepinephrin. (To cut a long story short), the possibility of the formation of false neurotransmitters from the abnormal microbial products of phenylalanie, such as 3-hydroxphenylalancie and 2-hydroxyphenylalanine. both these isomes of tyrosine that would form false neurotransmitters when transported into the neurons."

HPHPA is an abnormal phenylalanine metabolite produced by gastrointestinal bacteria of the clostridia species, it produces spores which are completely resistant to drugs. Once the bacteria has been killed by anti-biotics, it re-colonises by its spores. The only way to prevent this re-colonisation is to 're-seed' with good intestinal bacteria, the one particularly mentioned was L acidophilus - perhaps this is why Ed is doing so well, Kefir water is basically a drink of good intestinal bacteria.

On an interesting side note. Richard Jaeckle Md, a psychiatrist and allergist in texas has successfully treated a number of psychotic patients using anti-fungal therapy, "Patients with psychotic behaviours may well have a gastrointestinal overgrowth of both year and clostridia.'

6 - Cytochrome P450 pathway. These enzymes play a crucial role in detoxifying xenobiotics. Xenobiotics are chemical compounds found in an organism but which is not normally produced or expected to be present in it. Compounds such as  drugs, pesticides or carcinogens. Interestingly, fluoride is xenobiotic.

Glyphosate (the active ingredient in Round Up, the worlds most popular herbicide) inhibits cytochrome P450. Interference with cytochrome 450 disrupts the biosynthesis of amino acids by the 'good' intestinal bacteria, as well as impairing the sulfate transport - so glyphosates are a major player in our modern diseases of gastro-intestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer, Alzheimer and Parkinsons.

7 - Glutathione is a major player in the detox system methylation. It is a series of very important bio-chemical reaction in the body responsible for overall good health. It is so important that I intended it be an article all on its own, if your interest is aroused, look it up.

8 - Oxidative stress and lipid damage. Each and every cell in your body has 2 layers of lipid fats making up the cell membrane. When toxins come in and attach to the cell membrane they cause the membrane to inflame. This causes another cascade of unfortunate events because now the cell has a decreased cellular fluidity, ie, nutrients can't get in and waste produced by the mitochondrial (your energy source) can't get out. This is the actual meaning of inflammation, when they tell you for instance that white bread is inflammatory, that's what they mean. The hormone receptor sites on the cell stop working and so the cell stops hearing what the body wants it to do. In the case of diabetes for instance, doesn't matter how much insulin is floating around if it can't attach to the cell wall, the cell can't use it. This is another big subject that I was going to cover individually, because one of the toxins that your cells don't like funnily enough is vegetable oil. Your cells actually prefer grass-fed butter, and other fats that you have been told are bad for you. If you want to investigate this yourself a really easy way is to youtube Dr Dan Pompa, who makes a complicated subject easy to understand, and he is quite easy on the eye too!

Now remember, all of this is just the reaction to the painkiller, haven't even mentioned what the vaccine does to your body. All that on top of dealing with whatever they just injected you with! So there you have it, I am sorry again for mis-spellings, poor grammar, etc. I haven't read this through as Ed is due home any moment. I present this information not as Doctor or scientist, but as a mother whose life and family has been blighted by autism. And so far, none of the 'professionals' have managed to help me at all. What has helped is my own "quackery"(ie. natural interventions like NAET, epsom salts, vitamins, minerals etc) and other like minded, blighted mums.

On a side note, Dr John McBride (a paediatric pulmonologist at Akron childrens hospital ohio) was stunned by the link between asthma and acetaminophen.
"The more acetaminophen somebody takes, the more likely it is that they have asthma. Also, theres an incredible consistency. Everybody around the world who's looked for this association has been able to find it."

Now I know there was a story in the British press a while ago about this link, which has been dismissed by the NHS. But I can't help feeling that the whole truth hasn't come out. I remember giving Ed Medised, 7 years ago, you could give it  to children from 3 months onwards. Now, its for children 6 years and up! How much has really changed since they handed out thalidomide? That was something with a concrete physical manifestation. How long will it be before someone joins the dots and tells us what causing autism - or have they just done it?

Anyone really interested hop over to www.greatplainslaboratory.com and sign up for a free webinar from Dr William Shaw PhD himself, 30th October 2013

Love to the world x





Thursday 3 October 2013

the ups and downs of detox

Sorry for not posting earlier. What a week last week was! Ed was off the chart, and I was so tired that I took myself off to bed for a couple of hours nap after the boys were off to school. So we achieved nothing at all and this one has been all about catching up.

On Thursday last week, Ed came out of the taxi hot and sweaty, screaming, no shoes, he had already thrown them in the car, and in he came like a whirl wind. The plugs were pulled from their socket, the TV was turned round and all the wires pulled out, things were thrown, things were thrown out of the window... What the hell had gone wrong? On Friday morning I wrote in his school book 'What the F happened, he was a nightmare!' By nightmare I mean he screamed and thrashed till I went to bed about midnight, when he came in bed with me and settled - sort of. I spent all Friday trying to figure out what was wrong when a light bulb went off. Both he and I have been having regular iodine doses. I give Ed some on his wrist before he goes to school and by the time he comes home its gone. So I give him another lot which has gone by bed time and if I remember to, I give him another lot. Mine tends to have disappeared by the morning. You know sometimes you are so close to a problem its invisible, our problem I am sure was we were both detoxing. Mine resulted in tiredness, his unleashed the yeast beast, because of course the iodine will be killing all those nasty pathogens and their remains are poisoning his system till they are excreted.

He was seven on Sunday and we had a lovely weekend spent in the company of my sister and nanny and baba. I had told him on Friday night that his birthday was coming and he really seemed to understand, and trust me, you would have to travel far to find another child who enjoys the song 'Happy Birthday' more. When we were all up, I asked Ed if he would like to open his presents. "Yes" he said getting up and going to the other room without prompting, and boy does he like a bit of wrapping paper, not so much the birthday card!

This week we have been much better, my energy level is back to normal, and Ed is more settled. It only takes him a few minutes bashing with the hoover and throwing something out the door to settle. We have even managed to have a couple of walks before tea round the village to feed the ducks and home. His is babbling more than before, and using words such as 'more', and initiating contact. The other day he gave Richard a 'eskimo kiss' where you rub noses - very sweet, and lovely for Rich to have some nice contact with his son.

Trying to rid the house of toxic items, I bought some fluoride free toothpaste from the health food shop. It tastes surprisingly nice.  Ed does have a tendency to eat toothpaste, and the relief that its not harming him now is enormous. In fact, since the iodine experiment, he hasn't eaten toothpaste really at all, whether is coincidence or not I am not sure. Also he has managed to get to the toilet without an accident this week, so despite his violent behaviour, there have been some steps forward. I haven't found time this week to back up with quotes, names and dates what I know about conventional toothpaste and tooth care, but intend to post something next week. It will also cover good and bad fats, and you may be surprised to find out which are which, and, the fact they have a direct relationship to how strong your teeth are. Till then xx