Strep and Rife Machines

I finally have some positive news to share. I found a technology that dramatically reduces Leo's facial tics. Both my kids, especially my 10 year old son Leo, has an autoimmune response when exposed to strep. No high fever, angry sore throat here. His class could have 4 kids infected and home and he'll respond with eye blinks, strabismus, neck turns, and a furrowed brow. And again when I tested him on the EAV machine, strep came up as the winner.

His facial tics have been the worst EVER this fall. What does this mean? Did I wait too long to find something that works? Is he just getting more immune compromised? I just don't know and I'm certainly not going to waste my time by asking a medical doctor.

The strep nosode (a homeopathic remedy) helped for a while, but eventually the tics came back and the repeat dosing and other remedies stopped working. I'm sure this is a failure on my part (the mom practitioner), not with homeopathy. When you get it right, it works permanently.

I researched and purchased a Rife machine for my daughter Sydney's chronic Lyme disease. Yes, we are still in Lyme Hell after 6 weeks on antibiotics with no end in sight. The Rife machine, another way to kill the Lyme bacteria, is part 2 of my master plan. We will use this to wipe out any remaining/hiding Lyme so she will not relapse and go back to Lyme Hell (and neither will the rest of us in the family).

The machine, the EMX, costs around 1300 with shipping. I purchased mine at www.rifelabs.com. People that are electricians can build them by themselves with an old stereo system and other stuff you buy at Home Depot. Well meaning people have posted all this info for free, including the frequencies for the various Lyme life cycles. I couldn't find much about strep and rifing, hard enough with Lyme, but the movement is growing rapidly.

Here is another website with Rife info: http://www.lymebook.com.

So here I am, in my world of bacteria. Lyme and Strep. My new world. Somewhat new anyway. Perhaps a new possibility to end chronic health issues. Dare I type it.

FDA sets up offices in China to ensure food safety

So this is now what our tax dollars are going towards? Lame government employees overseas to somehow ensure the food that's shipped is safe. They say they are reacting to the melanine incident. But what about the food we have here in this country? OUR food supply is what needs improving, babysitting, monitoring, what have you. Is it really more cost effective going to China rather than fixing our food supply woes here? Even if I didn't have a degree in economics (which I do, a minor anyway), this doesn't jive.

In over my head with Lyme, but I couldn't let this little nugget of info go by without comment. IDIOTS

Ashley

Friendship Perspective Taking

I went to dinner with a group of women friends recently. A very New England group - wealthy, fit and pretty, and live very homogenius lives for the most part. Tennis, PTA, coffees, husbands socialize, jewelry parties, you get the drift. Karen grew up in the area, has her family local, and has a wide array of friends from work, school, and the community. I have always been envious of her comfort and how easy her life seems to me. How nice is it that she has so many people to call for sitters, to go for coffee, a real solid base. I've told her she has an amazing life. She's offered to help me with the kids, which I've taken her up on before. She really gets it and is thankful.

I am somehow accepted into this group although I don't feel I fit in exactly. Good enough, they can be fun, our kids go to school together, a night out is always a plus. Anyway, one of the women, let's call her Karen, starts talking about another mom that's not there, Jennifer. Karen sets up her story first by saying the right things, "I shouldn't be talking bad about her, she's really nice, it's nothing really." We all lean in, eagerly awaiting any juicy story.

I felt conflicted because I recently met Jennifer and thought she was really nice, and better yet, was a UNIQUE person that had passion and good energy. I recently talked to her at an event, we didn't even talk about kids, a breath of fresh air. I thought I should "say something" but decided against it. I thought it may ruin the fun for everyone, knowing this is dinner party conversation, no need to be so serious. So I sat back and just listened.

She starts to say how Jennifer is very quirky, she learned how to knit, and then a month later went into the knitting store and bought yarn for 5 sweaters (for her family) and became totally obsessed. They all laughed about it, and I sat there thinking how I liked that about her, her passion and drive. She goes on to say that Jennifer's husband tells people that Karen's husband is "one of his best friends". And also tells people the same about her, that they are "good friends". They all laugh about it, saying how crazy that is, that they aren't even "friends", they carpool together and do PTA stuff, but that's it. Karen's husband states they aren't friends either, they went to school together, and in fact they all made fun of him because he was so nerdy and strange.

Funny, I had plans later that week with Jennifer, and that night I met her husband. Definitely an Aspie! I really liked him a lot. He didn't "get" that we were talking girl talk at one point, and continued to stand there. He even joined us with a glass of wine. It was a little threesome, certainly not what I expected, but still fun. I would've rather chatted with just Jen, but that's what was going on. At one point, he mentioned Karen and said her husband was one of his best friends!

I thought about the two different versions of friendships over the next day. I realized that neither person was "wrong". Jennifer's husband hardly socializes and doesn't have a large stable of friends like Karen's husband does. According to Jen's husband, his perspective is that YES, they are very close. According to Karen's, they are not, because he has a wide array of friends, and doesn't even consider him in the category of friend, just a classmate. Neither husband are aware of each others perspective.

I am very aware of the friendship disparity with my own situation. As a west coast transplant and Autism refugee, I try not to take it personally when I'm not at the top of the list with some of my friends. My "close" friends and BFF live peppered all over the country, none are local. I have many "good" friends locally, especially Autism friends. Even Karen is a good friend, we've known each other a long time. I am not sure if it's worth pointing all this out to Karen or not. Either way, I know it's not malicious, just ignorant, and maybe insensitive.

Seems that perspective taking doesn't happen as often as it could.

Book Fair Week

The kids seem to rarely be at school in November. I enjoyed looking over their "wish lists" for the book fair. We talked about allowance money, our contribution (parents contribute half). As I was reading his list, he says to me "Mom, since I'm getting older, I'm not obsessed with the big hard cover books that come with toys. These books are all chapter books that are not as expensive." Good observation!

Leo got his first 4Th grade report card and it looks like he continues to be a solid B student (one A in science). I wasn't surprised by a B in math because of the geometry focus. I am very proud of him! His personal development section needs improvement - he looks like again he's talking to much to his friends. I am still thinking about when he couldn't talk, so as long as he's absorbing the lectures I don't care too much, although I don't want him to think being disrespectful to the teacher is "okay". We already laugh too much about the finger game.

Our Lyme Hell, Still In Pain After 5 Weeks Of Antibiotics

So my daughter is still in chronic pain after almost 5 weeks of antibiotics. I took great pleasure in filling out the form from our ped's office to transfer our files to our new pediatrician. I pressed down hard and checked "entire contents." Yeah, fuckers! Too bad I don't have extra time right now to file a complaint to the state for their mishandling, or do the high road thing and prepare a Lyme care package that includes the latest info on chronic Lyme and Lyme's broader symptoms. I have visions in my head of beautifully wrapped books with extravagant bows to be delivered to each and every one of those "doctors" in that practice.

I got a call from "Nancy", the office manager that I have NO RELATIONSHIP with whatsoever. The obligatory "why are you switching" call. They don't give a shit, ped A will be relieved that he will no longer be getting articles shoved in his pocket and biannual arguments. I'm done. So of course I'm not going to call, mainly because how can I possibly condense my problems into a simple list? And they won't change, so why bother.

But I move on. I have moved from ped A to ped B. I have a very good Lyme specialist. I have an incredible nutritionist and homeopath. I push about 30 different substances into my child's 60lb body each day while she aches from head to toe. Her antibiotics make her nauseous each time she takes them, which is 3 times a day. For 2 months she's had the following symptoms:

pulsating headache that wraps around like a band
sore neck
rib pain
chest pain
stomach ache (worse with food)
sore back (can't even touch)
arm and leg pain
sore shins
wrist, ankle, and heel pain (so bad she has to sit in the shower because the tile hurts her feet)
hip pain
dizzyness after any sugar (Halloween night was "fun".

How does she do it? I don't know. Her personality has changed, it's wearing on all of us because she is miserable. Leo gets his share of her irritability and sensitivity. I talk to him every day about it, validating him, and seeing if he needs to talk. He does "get it", he's amazing. But still unfair. And they share a room!

I have the "right" blood work done that tests positive for Lyme along with a normal CBC panel. I have my cancer doc friends that reassure it's not a cancer based on her symptoms and her testing. I now have to sit and wait for her to get better. No one knows when, there isn't a handy chart that will indicate when this hell will be over.

I wish I could just walk away from health problems and go back to advertising without a care in the world. I wish I could just buy food because, hey, it looks yummy. I wonder if I should take up smoking.

WSJ: And You Thought the Debate Over Fluoridation Was Settled

HEALTH JOURNALNOVEMBER 4, 2008
And You Thought the Debate Over Fluoridation Was Settled
By MELINDA BECK
As a baby boomer growing up without fluoridation, I had 14 cavities before my 18th birthday, including seven at one particularly mortifying dental visit.

A generation later, my teenage daughters, who've grown up in a fluoridated city, have a combined total of none.

I assumed that the debate over fluoridation was long settled -- after all, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls adding minute quantities of fluoride to municipal water supplies one of the 10 most significant public-health advances of the 20th century. But opposition remains fervent in some communities. More than 180 million Americans have access to fluoridated water, which leaves over 100 million who do not.

Fluoridation is on the ballot today in 41 such communities in Nebraska, as well as one in New York state, one in Maine and two in Wisconsin -- and the battles echo 60 years of controversy.

"Fluoride is a poison. You can't dump it in the ocean or a landfill, and they want to put it in our water. It's insane," says Marvin "Butch" Hughes of Hastings, Neb. (population 25,000), who heads the local chapter of Nebraskans for Safe Water.

"I've had reporters ask me if fluoride can be used to make weapons of mass destruction," sighs Jessica Meeske, a pediatric dentist in Hastings and board member of the Nebraska Dental Association, which supports fluoridation. She treats patients from communities that have fluoride and those that don't: "The kids who don't have more cavities, and the cavities are much deeper. They're in a lot of pain. They aren't able to eat. They don't do well in school. And the decay just escalates. It spreads from tooth to tooth."

Controversy has dogged fluoridation ever since scientists determined in the 1930s that tiny amounts of the naturally occurring mineral added to water can guard against tooth decay. Opponents dubbed it a Communist plot and have claimed over the years that it raises the risk for cancer, Down's syndrome, heart disease, osteoporosis, AIDS, Alzheimer's, lower IQ, thyroid problems and other diseases.

In 2006, the National Research Council warned that high levels of fluoride -- roughly four times the amount typically used in water systems -- are associated with severe dental fluorosis, in which teeth become mottled and pitted, and could cause bone fractures. A separate study linked fluoride with a very rare bone cancer in boys.

Bill Bailey, a dental health officer at the CDC, says while a few isolated studies have raised such questions, "there's never been any compelling evidence that fluoridation has any harmful health effects" in over 60 years of research. A long list of medical associations have also endorsed fluoridation, including the American Dental Association, the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization and the past five surgeons general.

Overall, drinking fluoridated water cuts the rate of tooth decay 18% to 40%, according to the CDC. Studies have shown that it can help "remineralize" weakened areas in children's and adults' teeth, allowing many more elderly Americans to keep their teeth all their lives. The ADA estimates that every $1 spent on community fluoridation saves $38 in dental bills.

Fluoride is now widely added to toothpaste and mouthwash -- even many varieties of bottled water -- and dentists in unfluoridated areas often urge patients to use supplements. So some critics wonder whether adding it the water supply is necessary. Dr. Meeske says many poor families that she treats can't afford the supplements, and that fluoride is more effective at protecting teeth when it's ingested, so that teeth are continually bathed with a low dose. "It's much cheaper and simpler to prevent decay through water fluoridation than to drill it and fill it out of teeth," she says.

If you're concerned or just curious about the level of fluoride in your water, ask your local water utility. Home water filters that use reverse-osmosis (not the activated carbon filters that sit on a tap) can reduce fluoride as much as 99%. But think really hard before you do that: Take it from me, it's no fun getting your teeth filled.

Which state has the highest rate of fluoridation? Kentucky, where 99.8% of residents received fluoridated water, as of 2006. Hawaii had the lowest percentage, at just 8.4%. Next lowest was New Jersey, with only 22.4% of residents receiving fluoridated supplies. To see where your state ranks, see this CDC link: http://www.cdc.gov/fluoridation/statistics/2006stats.htm

Write to Melinda Beck at HealthJournal@wsj.com

Copyright 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

As we all know, it's not just about fluoride in public water. It's about the overall consumption of fluoride. That fluoride water is used to produce all our food and beverages. The total isn't known, but we all know it's big, and fluoride is a metal. A big concern for any human being, let alone a child, let alone a child with deficits. The big picture is being ignored once again. For us personally, I'd take my cavity ridden children any day over endless detoxing and additional neurological problems. Idiots!

4th Grader, 10 Years Old, Fall Update

November 5th, 2008 - Day One of Obama as President Elect


It's been a mellow beginning of the year for Leo. He seems to like school much better. I think he "gets" his teacher now. He tells me that he learns a lot from him and is very funny, but that he can be very boring. And that 4th grade is boring. I can't blame him. I am thankful his seat is in the front row next to the window. He gets ventilation and the ideal seat for a visual learner. He actually likes violin, an option he can do that requires a pull-out. He and his BFF signed up as a way to get out of being in class, but now he actually enjoys it.

We too "enjoy" the enthusiasm at home in our modestly sized home where there just isn't any escape. He's also gotten back into his acoustic guitar thanks to the people over at Guitar Hero. I say "thanks" to that, but a real thanks to introducing my kid to music I actually love from the 80s.

More about school - he seems to work a little harder this year at homework, taking I'd say 5 to 10 minutes longer. New for Leo, more thinking required rather than execution. Although 4th is more of a repeat year, I can see it's more challenging for him. I continue to monitor, and take note of the geometry assignments that come home that are very frustrating for him. As I've posted before, our strategy is reminding him about the big picture - most things come easily to him, many people take lots of time and struggle on most things, but for him this isn't the case.

We celebrated small this year for Leo's 10th birthday. Yes, I have a child that has a two digit age. I can't believe it! We let him choose one friend to go to a local hockey game with, along with Sydney, his dad, and his cousin and Uncle. The game was great, and he said how he actually liked it better that just one friend was there rather than lots of kids. I think he found it more meaningful and a calmer time. Of course he chose his BFF to go to the game.

These boys are inseparable. They call each other right off the bus, they talk on weekends, email each other. They have a secret code in class for various boy explusions. I can't recall exactly, but it goes something like this: You quietly "cough" to alert the other boy, then slyly hold up a finger indicating what bodily function just occurred. One finger is a burp, two fingers a fart, and so on. I think there's a signal for when you are bored, and when to call the other one an "ass". I treasure all of this, and appreciate the boyhood humor. The finger signals have expanded to two other boys, so let the fun continue! They discovered how to look up bad words in the class dictionary, so they have fun with the exact definitions. Ass is their favorite, and recite the specifics of what a rump is. They giggle and chat about it every day.

Fall Ball was fun and has finally ended, so our days are fairly simple until basketball starts (my idea). Leo just has to carpool with me for Sydney's ballet and hip-hop classes. He still loves coming home and unwinding by going outside to play "imaginary football" where he makes up games in his mind and runs around doing plays. I still consider this a stim, a way for him to transition out of school and let his mind have a break. Yale doesn't since it's appropriate play that's not obsessive, but I see it differently.

On the health front, Leo hasn't been sick all year, and his facial tic (mainly his eyes) are minimal. One kid noticed early on in the year, naturally this was his former arch nemesis-turned good friend-now just "okay" friend that rides the bus with Leo. He had a flare-up this week but it subsided after giving him the strep nosode, a homeopathic remedy. I hope to get him tested for Lyme as well as look at regular blood work to see how he is functioning. I am sure I'll need to tinker a bit.

Emotionally, life has been a little challenging for Leo because Sydney has chronic Lyme. We couldn't stay to watch all the games or do lots of extra activities because they were limited to how his sister was feeling. I haven't spend a lot of quality time with him, at least he's had it with his dad. As the caregiver-pill-pusher-lead-researcher, I am mostly with Sydney as we go along. She is stable now, so we've "kind of" adjusted to a new life that hopefully is temporary. She has about 6 months to go on treatment (I am estimating), and is back to school regularly. For more about Sydney, go to my blog.

Halloween was fun, of course he ran around with his BFF and his sister, hitting EVERY house this year in a certain easy neighborhood we go to. It was really cute. The conversations about what to be were challenging - he wasn't sure and wasn't into it, but in the end went as a punk rocker. His hair is pretty long now, so we put lots of gel and spray in it, he wore black bracelets and a metal belt with an ACDC t-shirt. He looked like Billy Idol, snarl and all. I figure I got a couple more years and he'll be staying home, until he's an older teen hitting parties (insert look of dread and fear here).

That's about it. Round two with chronic illness for me, so I'm not very happy right now, but I'm grateful my sweet boy is happy and doing well.

Kid vaccines okay for kids at risk for allergies

Kid vaccines okay for kids at risk for allergies

2 hrs 34 mins ago
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – In children at increased risk for developing allergies, common childhood immunizations do not increase the risk of more severe eczema or allergies, according to a study published in the journal Allergy. Infant vaccinations have been suggested as the cause of atopic disease. Atopy refers to the tendency to develop allergies, such as "atopic" dermatitis, hay fever and asthma.

Atopy occurs as a result of an excessive inflammatory response to everyday environmental substances, such as dust mites and grass pollen."Atopic diseases are among the commonest chronic conditions in childhood," Dr. Christoph Gruber, of Universitatsmedizin Berlin, Germany, and colleagues wrote in the journal. "Parents of children at heightened risk for atopy are frequently concerned about the effect of immunization in infancy."

Gruber's team examined the effect of immunization in the first year of life in 2184 infants between the ages of 1 and 2 years with active atopic dermatitis and a family history of allergy. Sixty-five percent of the children showed signs of having allergies.
According to the researchers, there was no association between immunization with any particular routine childhood vaccine and an increased risk of allergic sensitization or more severe eczema -- an itchy red skin rash that affects up to 20 percent of children.

On the other hand, varicella (chickenpox) immunization seemed to offer some protection against allergy and eczema severity and pertussis (whopping cough) immunization offered some protection against eczema severity. The team concludes, "Parents of atopic children should be encouraged to fully immunize their children."
SOURCE: Allergy, November 2008.
Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited.

I hope this doesn't mean my Obama glow from his win will be short lived....This is the craziest thing I've ever heard. Well, recently anyway. The headline is the most disturbing part because that's about all that most people will read. Yikes! This study doesn't show the safety of anything! Where is the non-immunized control group? What was the exact criteria used for atopy since there are so many variations and severities? The article just talks about an itchy red rash, not the myriad of symptoms associated with the word "allergies" that is in the headline. Totally irresponsible reporting that again misinforms people! How was there "added protection" with pertussis and varicella? What about the myriad of allergy symptoms often present at birth and in early childhood beyond 2? Even 2 to 5? Are we that stupid?