Dyspraxic Journey

Monthly Archive: July 2016

Summer Vacation

We are away on our regular summer vacation!! Unlike the past where we would home swap, this summer we ended up having to secure a home through airbnb.com. We just couldn’t get anyone to want to trade homes during the dead heat of summer, surprise, surprise :). Sort of surprised we had luck for the past 2 summers. Like usual, the kiddos were great road trippers! We made our way north which took about a week with stopovers with various family members. All of our family visits were short but sweet. CB has always loved riding in his car seat, even as a baby. I think HB has simply followed suit as he has seen how his brother behaves on car rides.

We could not have planned a more jam-packed summer if we tried. I can’t say I would have given up any trip or experience, but I do wish there had a been a bit more relaxation time built into the schedule. I think some of CB’s behavior tidbits this summer were directly connected with our travels. Overall, the summer break has been good for him. He has more chunks of time set aside for play, mostly with HB, which I think is good for him. We have followed the new supplement schedule with just a few exceptions due to traveling and I think the supplements seem like a good fit. We are sticking to the GFCFSF diet. Thank goodness for all the modified diet options we have today. We attended a conference a couple of weeks ago where we connected with other families and learned more about CB’s genetic difference. I think the main things we learned is that an MRI could be helpful, an updated hearing test, signs to look out for for anxiety, an awareness that developing seizures later in life is possible (not sure though if it is really related to his gene or others on the long arm of Chromosome 18) and a few more things to investigate.

I am toying with the idea of piano lessons but then I also want to ensure that he has sufficient off-time/playtime. This is the second time he has said yes. We will see. I guess the next thing I need to figure out is his schedule and to ensure not to pack in too much into it. How do you do that with so many needed therapies? I guess that is the challenge we have as parents with children with special needs. I know that playtime is super important at his age, and his school gets that. I hope this year if things get to hectic, I will be aware enough to back off a bit and see if things balance back out. I also should see if there is an insurance-covered OATS-like test to test his levels to see if the supplements and anti-fungal cleanse helped.

 

July 25, 2016 Genetics, Growth and Progress, , , 0 Read more >

Nutrition Update – Low Iron

Feeling a bit bummed today…CB’s nutrition report came back with low iron, high UBC, low cacl % iron saturation, low IgA, slightly low zinc, high vitamin E, low WBC, and improved vitamin D3. I believe the persistently high vitamin E levels are due to CB’s high almond intake so this is understandable. His IgA level is 6 points lower than it was 2 months ago but the second test was taken in the morning while fasting so that might account for some of the difference. The zinc is the exact same value as 2 months ago and the vitamin D increased some. The vitamin D increase is easily explained by the additional time in the sun plus vitamin D supplements for the first month or so after the last test. However, the vitamin D3 level is not as high as we would like it to be. CB stopped having dairy in his diet one month before the last test. There is definitely the potential that adding dairy back in caused the decline in iron. Even though the dairy was in his diet before the last test, maybe it took more time to really impact his intestines and then his iron levels. From this we know only adding vitamin D3 supplement does not bring up the iron and zinc levels. We also know that although the probiotics are helping, they are not enough.

We feel at this point, we are going to take a step back and look through his previous nutrition reports to find when his levels where the best. It seems like October of last year, his vitamin levels were quite solid with the exception of low IgA (although it was improving) and high vitamin E (still high almond intake). For now, our plan is to get back on the following supplementation routine. CB will also remain GFCFSF plus we limit dyes, no HFCS, any preservatives with initials for names, no carageenan, and no MSG. (more…)

July 7, 2016 Allergy, Diet, & Supplements, Education, Tests & Evaluations, , , , , 0 Read more >