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Detailed descriptions of chelation, will leave this expanded version here temporarily

[ROUND ONE]

I started round 1 on Monday. Am doing MTW 3 on, then 4 days off. I give ALA 25mg every 8 hours. Not necessarily the most recommended protocol, but I do my best. I am doing my three younger children, all three have same food issues. #2 is age 5-1/2 autistic, #3 is age 4 language delay/PDD, #4 is age 2-1/2 NT but same food issues. All three of these children are developmentally approx 2 to 2-1/2 yo. I scale the dosage for #3 and #4.

I will report primarily on #2 but will give you brief on the other two kids.

For #4, I am chelating primarily to help with food issues. I understand some children can eat foods again after chelating. She has same food issues as other two, tolerates basically 4 items without enzymes. No difference with chelation, but I did not expect any this soon.

For #3, he has same food issues also. He has a major ulcerating rash if he eats gluten, casein, and several other food items. He was gfcf and lots of other foods removed for 18 months, but still had a low level rash after that, even after I started enzymes a few months ago. Started talking tho, one word at a time and echolalic, so that is good. Since this first round, his residual rash is MARKEDLY declined, and he is starting to try to put two words together that are not echolalic. I don't know if the chelation is helping residual food allergies, or if he is allergic to the metals which are being removed, but this rash reduction is so nice to see, and of course the language also.

For #2, he is basically an NT 2-1/2 yo child altho chron age 5-1/2. After the first dose of ALA on Monday morning, about an hour later he suddenly had this major urge to engage in his prior favorite stim, which is dragging his head along any horizontal line he can find, and/or twirling sticks in front of his eyes. It was so bad that we went outside and he dragged his head along my car and apparently my car is desperately in need of a wash and wax, because the side of his head was covered in dirt and blue paint dust. I don't know if this metals coming out, which seems too soon for me, or if he is not tolerant of the ALA itself.

After the first 3-4 hours, he did settle down on this, but it remains because he had stopped doing it for the most part for several months, but now he is reminded again, so he is doing it again, altho now he is frustrated and has a tantrum when it does not give him the same feeling as it did Monday.

Tuesday and Wednesday I noticed that he could go over an hour between trips to the potty [I am currrently potty training]. All three of these days he had mushy bm after each round, which yes I had to clean out of his underwear! But his language did improve, he will put 3-5 words together, but he was doing it more than usual, even during the round.

Yesterday was the first day off, which I was warned could be bad because of re-binding effect. WOW an understatement! Whereas before when he was not happy, he would stomp his foot and say "NO!", now he flops down on the floor, all 50 pounds of him, and kicks and yells. Now this is a typical 2yo tantrum, but a 5yo doing it is NOT pleasant. And I was at the grocery store too LOL. Everyone looked at me like I must be a bad mother LOL. Here is a 5yo child having a major firestorm tantrum in a grocery store! And he is 50 pounds so there is not much I can do to "manhandle" him. So I pulled him up by his hand, which caused him to collapse his legs so he would not stand up, which was FUN FUN FUN. I eventually put him in the shopping cart, which then I had to push one and pull the other, because I cannot put items into a shopping cart if he is in it also, because there is no room and now he will throw the items out. I looked like a train, engine cart in front, I am tender, cart following is ca boose. Or so says my #1 son LOL

Today he is announcing when he has to pee about 50% of the time, which is better than before when he would not announce, I had to take him every 45 minutes. He is also using language more than usual, which is good.

The big thing to me tho, is what happened this morning. My son is not interested in any video that is not animated. The only two TV shows I let my kids watch besides videos, is Teletubbies [which my husband describes as turning his brain to jello when he hears it, but it is not offensive to me, and I think Sesame Street is offensive, but then #2 won't watch that anyway because it is not animated] and Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. Anyway, he is marginally interested in Teletubbies, because it is not technically "animated" but close. He is not interested in the "real life" segment of Teletubbies, nor is he the slightest bit interested in Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.

Anyway we watched Teletubbies. He was marginally interested as before. When the real life segment came on, it was about animals from Africa. He was VERY interested. He pointed out the ones he knew, and asked "what's that" for the ones he did not know. He has NEVER been interested in real life on TV before. I am glad I might be able to use real life videos with him now, instead of Teletubbies!

Then on Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, there was a segment on hula hoops. My neighbor gave us a hula hoop a few weeks ago, but my kids roll it and crawl thru it. I tried to show them how to use it and even YOU would have laughed hysterically LOL. But all three of these kids, even #2, pointed at the hoops and said "hoop", and they were fascinated to watch how to really use them. My #2 son watched this entire show, and he has never had the slightest interest in it before.

He is also much more interested in playing WITH his siblings, instead of on his own. We are working on sharing tho, because he is age 5 but wants to play with the 2yo toys, just like the 4yo and the 2yo, and when they have a "disagreement", he always wins because he is so much larger and stronger than they are.

[ROUND TWO]

This time the days on the ALA were not nearly so regressive for my second son as they were during round one. The bms for all three children were not nearly so mushy, but still mushy. The first day off was not nearly so bad as after round one.

My fourth child is now basically age-appropriate, and driving all of us crazy! She wants to help with everything, even with things that her brothers want to do, and she is significantly smaller than they are, so constantly being pushed around. But she still tries LOL

My third child is the child who has improved the most on this round. He has basically caught up with my second child in most areas, and surpassed him in others. We sing our grace before meals, because it is easier for all the children to participate. My third and fourth children will now sing along with us. Additionally, here is my "funny story" from this round, which occurred on the second "off" day. I smelled that all-too-familiar poopy diaper smell around the house, so I went to investigate. I found the pullup on the floor in the hallway, along with a very-well-formed bm, half a box of baby wipes all over the floor, and my third son trying to clean it up, looking very proud of himself! So I went to the bathroom to get a towel, and found a puddle of urine on the floor near the toilet. He tried to clean up and use the toilet by himself, nice try, was too funny! While I was cleaning these two areas, he left. After the cleaning was finished, I found him in his room, with the contents of the dresser basically on the floor, but he was fully clothed in a matching sweat outfit [even tho it was 80 degrees!], complete with pullup, and socks and shoes on the right feet. Very proud of himself, and so was I! He also wants to help me with everything, along with my youngest child, and he is older and larger, so they fight over "who gets to help mommy". He will retrieve items for his siblings, and call them by name when he hands the items to the appropriate sibling. His language has caught up to my second son for the most part, and his play and self-help skills are better. He improved most on this round.

My second son did not regress during the round this time, and the first "off day" was much better than before, almost indistinguishable from the "on days". Unfortunately, he did eat a problem food without enzymes on the first off day, so he is still feeling those effects. But overall his potty training continues to improve, he sleeps all night even if he eats foods relatively high in phenols, and this infraction [which was a high phenol infraction], did not result in a bm quite so bad as usual, nor did he wake in the night or exhibit other high phenol behaviors. He will now select a video to watch, which does not always have to be animated. He still enjoys watching the "real life" sections of Teletubbies and Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. He enjoys looking at books more now, and he still plays with his siblings, despite the infraction without enzymes. So overall he is continuing to improve, but I don't have quite the "success story" after this round because he did eat the problem food without enzymes.

Because I have heard that many children are able to tolerate eating more foods after chelation, I did a food challenge after round two. I gave my children peanut butter, which they did not tolerate even with enzymes. Instead of diarrhea, stims, and renewed skin rash, this time the most reaction was minor mushy bm. No other reaction, no stims, no skin rash. Additionally, the peanuts did not cause the typical phenol reaction for my second son that had occurred before. They still have some difficulty digesting fruits, but that issue is improving also, the bms are not nearly so mushy after eating fruits as they were before chelation.

[ROUND THREE]

Round three was last week. Behaviors and other issues during the round were much reduced, bms were not so bad during the round as they were during the first two rounds, no major stimming issues, etc.

After the round I noticed the following changes in my children.

#4 learned how to ride a tricycle all by herself, she watched #3, then when the tricycle was available, she got on and off she went. She is also much more determined to make her opinion known, rather than just giving up if she does not get her way!

#3 is more of the "little devil" than usual, intentionally tormenting his siblings by taking their toys and throwing them down the hallway, hiding things, etc. But he is also mommy's helper, finding things for me, retrieving his sibling's toys and cups and things and bringing them to the appropriate sibling, etc. He is still getting dressed by himself, and wanting to use the potty altho not reliable. He is also more language-oriented, he will say 1-2 words together, plus he will wait for the verbal command rather than just doing what is expected, for example if we are getting in the car, I will open the door but he will wait for me to say "get in" before he gets in, and if I don't say it, he will say it for me and then wait for me to say it back to him before he gets in.

#2 changes -- He likes to have his blanket covering him in bed now, just like we do. Before he just wanted to sleep on top of the bed. He will now sing along with a video, plus he will sing the songs when the video is not running. Previously, he did not make sounds or say words unless they had a functional purpose at the time.

He will play WITH his siblings, even with #4, whereas before they would play basically parallel, not too interactive. As examples --

#2 and #3 played together on the slide, but instead of just climbing up and sliding down one at a time, they played together, #3 would wait at the top for #2 to climb up, #2 would give him a small push, #3 would slide down, then #2 would wait for #3 to climb up to give him a push, or #2 would go down immediately after #3 so basically together. They also play basketball together, each one waiting for the other to throw the ball into the basket, retrieving each other's balls, clapping for the other one if the other one got the ball into the basket etc.

#2 will bring me objects he does not know the word for, and say "what's this". Previously he would only bring me objects he knew, and wait for me to say the correct word. We can also tease #2, we will pretend to steal the food off his plate, which before would elicit a frustrated "NO" reaction, but now he smiles and pushes our hand away, or covers the food with his hands while smiling. He will also hold a piece of food up to me, and when I move my mouth near it, he will pull it away and laugh.

#2 and #3 will play with trains, but previously each child would be playing separately. Now, they play together. For example, before this round, #2 would put Thomas the Tank Engine wooden track together in a long rambling line of track, then #2 and #3 would put their trains on the track and run them back and forth. Now, #2 set up the track in roughly a square, but connected, and #2 and #3 put their trains on the track and ran them around. So my husband made the layout slightly more complicated for them, with switches and things, and they played with that, but the boys would interact, telling each other which way to go with their trains, looking to see where the other boy's train was going to make a decision on where they each wanted their own train to go, etc. #2 has also decided that playing with the trains is preferable to other interactive play which is active, so he is migrating from chasing/sliding/other active physical interaction to cognitive/imaginative interaction.

I gave all my kids haircuts in the kitchen over the weekend. All of them sat in the chair very cooperative, which last time they had hair cuts, did NOT happen! The only one who fussed any was #3, and when he fussed #2 came over and looked at him, wondering what was wrong. He did not say anything, but did look with curiosity, which he has never been curious about the emotions of another child before.

They all tolerate peanut butter now without extra enzymes. Their other food issues appear to be reducing also, they do not require extra enzymes for several other foods that previously they required extra enzymes, and some foods which they did not tolerate even with enzymes, they now do slightly tolerate with enzymes. #2 phenol issues are greatly reduced.

[ROUND FOUR]

For this round I increased the ALA for #2 to 40 mg up from 25 mg, and the other two children scaled increase also. I saw no adverse effects from this increase.

#4 language is now on same level as #2 and #3. She now has "attitude" LOL, wants everything HER way.

#3 wants to wear underwear now, even tho he really does not know how to use the toilet, he will stand there and smile, but very rarely actually pees. He still will do the bm on the floor occasionally and then get the wipes to clean it. But he now will generally come to me and announce when he has pooped in his pullup. He comes up and says "poopy" so I will clean him, so that is nice. I put underwear on him over his pullup, so we both have what we want LOL He did end this round with a small residual rash which is a little increased over the last round, so it is a sign that the metals are moving around, sometimes settling where they were removed before, but overall improvement is very nice. My #1 will let him into his room now to play, whereas before #1 did not let him in his room at all!

#2 plays hide and seek now, he knows to cover his eyes until we count to 10 and then I say "okay" or "where's [name]". Then he will look for whoever, and when he finds the person, they both run to me to see who gets here first. He is not too understanding of his turn to hide tho, but the other kids don't mind LOL His potty training is much better now, he will stay 99% dry during the day, and even if I forget to take him to the toilet, he is now reliable to come to me and say "pee" when he needs to go. And if he goes this long, his bladder is VERY full LOL, but he can hold it until we get to the toilet, provided it does not take too long to get there. He still needs my help if his pants have snaps/zippers, plus he needs help washing his hands, but he can do most of it himself. The bm still ends up in the underwear tho, but it is nice that he is dry during the day now without accidents! He calls me "silly mommy" now LOL

My kids now tolerate with enzymes [and before chelation they did NOT tolerate these, even with enzymes] egg white, apples, green grapes, and peanut butter. I did try pears, bananas, red grapes, and cane sugar and they still do not tolerate those even with enzymes. My #2 son has very few phenol issues any more, even without the new phenol product. I still use it for pears, bananas, and red grapes when I give those.

People who call me on the phone, previously would comment that even tho I have 4 kids, my house was always so quiet. They were envious of me having a quiet house, but I knew it was because my kids did not talk, so quiet is not necessarily a good thing. Now I am getting comments on the phone like "WOW your house sure is noisy, how many kids do you have?" or something like that. Some people ask me what is wrong, or whether I have changed my method of discipline because before, my kids were quiet when I was on the phone, but now they are noisy, so I should go back to whatever was my previous method of discipline. It is funny, I tell them my kids are "growing up", and I am actually very happy that my house is noisy now [altho sometimes I am nostalgic for the way it was before LOL, they are driving me NUTS!].

[ROUND FIVE]

#2 has an increase in visual stims this round and #3 has a small "whitehead" rash under one eye, which when I started typing this update on Saturday morning I attributed to the fact that for two doses I accidentally gave #2 50 mg instead of 40 mg, with the other two children scaled up also, and #2 became slightly aggressive and #3 and #4 were more whiney, so definitely for now the 40 mg is the upper limit. But initially I thought the stims and rash were also because of this increase, but now Sunday evening I have discovered that my kids are eating quite a bit more pancakes than they did before, and they have 2-3 bm per day instead of the usual one, so I am now relatively convinced that they still do not tolerate egg whites, so I will remove them again and see what happens. But before chelation [but with enzymes], it would have been less than 24 hours to see an egg white reaction, and this time it took most of two weeks, so they are better tolerating egg whites now. The very interesting thin g about this observation, is that this is the exact reaction my kids had when I re-introduced gluten with enzymes. So two possible explanations [altho might be a third explanation I have not yet thought of]: 1. We are not celiac after all, just VERY gluten-intolerant. 2. Celiac might be from mercury toxicity.

#4 language is really improving. I asked her one day "Do you want your bath now?" and I did not expect a "yes" reply because none of these three children has yet to give a "yes" reply, but she surprised me by saying "yes". She will also say "you're welcome" now if someone says "thank you" to her.

#3 is now changing clothes approximately 4 times each day, so it appears he has already reached the high school years! My laundry burden has increased substantially LOL. He came up to me while I was typing this on the computer and he said "kitty", so I asked him "where is the kitty?" because he was not holding anything. He left and then came back, but he did not have his stuffed kitty. I said "kitty?" and he stopped for a minute, then said "poopy", so I know he is thinking about his words and which ones are used for which of his desires. His residual rash remaining from the previous round is almost gone again, except for the new patch under one eye as mentioned previously, which is probably from egg whites.

#2 has begun imitating other children besides his siblings. He saw a child playing with a dump truck and bucket in the sand at a park playground, and went up to play also. Previously, he would not play with other children, only his siblings. He has also learned that moving a chair near a desired object which is up too high to reach is a good way to reach things [not sure this is such a good thing for him to know LOL, nothing is safe anymore!] He is now basically 100% dry during the day. He wears a pullup at night but he now wakes up dry for the past 4 mornings in a row. When he tells me he needs to pee, the quantity of urine which empties from his bladder is truly amazing, more than even I can hold LOL. He can make the /j/ sound now, so "juice" sounds like "juice" and not "shoosh". He is also more obedient and cooperative, altho I would not say he IS obedient and cooperative LOL, just more so than he was at the end of the last round. His tantrums at the grocery store are fewer and mor e manageable than they were before, and he will now generally obey an instruction on the first demand. However, Sunday he was more disobedient and tantrumming than he has been this week, so hopefully his visual stims and disobedience/tantrums will decrease with removal of egg whites again.

I raked our fallen leaves into a nice large pile. Last year at this time, #2 collected leaves and stripped the stems, then twirled the resulting sticks. This year all three of these kids jumped and kicked and rolled in the leaves without prompting at all. They now require fewer enzymes for the same amount of foods, previously each child required one of each of the two enzymes I use, with each meal, meaning I used three of each enzyme at each meal. Now at each meal, I can split two of each enzyme among the three kids. #2 phenol issues are very minimal now, not much to be concerned about at all unless at dinner time or later, and then I just have to limit the quantity. At other times during the day I don't even have to limit quantity.

I will do round six next week, then give my kids a week rest period for the Thanksgiving holiday.

[ROUND SIX]

For this round I gave ALA for 4 days instead of 3, and then gave 10 days off as a break. I also removed egg whites and peanut butter, because enzymes have not helped with either of those foods for most kids, altho I do believe the peanut butter is okay with my kids now, but I removed it anyway and will re-introduce it in a week or so. I also increased the enzymes to one of each capsule for each child, instead of 2/3 each capsule. All three children improved in behavior and language, and began having normal bms again.

#4 has now surpassed her brothers in language ability. I bought balloons for all the kids, and she was holding hers, and #2 tried to take her balloon away from her, and she told him "No, that's MY balloon". She has NEVER used more than 2 words together. She also LOVES eating broccoli!

#3 has now determined that changing clothing is a fun way to spend the day. He can select matching clothing [same colors and/or patterns, not necessarily "matching" in the real sense of the word LOL], and he dresses himself approximately 6-8 times each day, putting the unwanted clothing back into the dresser drawers. I discovered this while putting away clean laundry, I opened the drawers in his dresser and discovered they were full of dirty clothing LOL. I have had to teach him that he can choose one outfit for the day, or maybe two if the weather changes. Otherwise my sanity is compromised and my laundry expense is too large. He is now having no difficulty with selecting the correct word to use to make his requests, and back to putting 2 words together. He is VERY "helpful" around the house, anticipates our needs and wants, gets in the way LOL.

#2 has almost eliminated his remaining visual stims, which were almost gone when I began chelation but he was reminded of them during round one, but now they are almost gone again. He can eat a relatively "normal" level of high-phenol foods during the day and it will not impact his activity level or his sleeping through the night, or if he does eat too much high phenol for dinner, he will take slightly longer to fall asleep but nothing worth noting. On Thanksgiving Day he did drink several cups of [diluted] apple juice but still fell asleep for a nap at about 3pm [I let him sleep for 10 minutes], which he NEVER does, especially with a high phenol drink like apple juice for breakfast and lunch. We ate pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving dinner, it was gf and no eggs, and we reduced the spices by one half. Previously he did not tolerate ANY spices, they would result in a very messy bm, but this time the spices did not appear to affect him at all. He is much more cooperative now, basically does wha t he is told about 80% of the time, fewer tantrums and lesser intensity. He can now open the refrigerator and find what he wants [not necessarily a good thing LOL, but fortunately I have my kitchen area gated off]. We have a battery operated train with plastic track, he will snap the track together into the appropriate circle, put the train connected together and onto the track, and then turn it on, all by himself, which before he needed help for most of these steps. We also have a video with a movie trailer at the front, for a movie about a witch riding a broom [not my idea of a good movie, but I have no choice of trailers]. He has seen that trailer several times, but never acted on it. This time he went to the kitchen, got the broom, straddled it, and "flew" around the house with it. He is beginning to prefer to watch "real life" videos [like There Goes a Train] rather than animation.

My brother and his family [2 kids] and my parents were at my house for Thanksgiving dinner. All of them commented that my house was now VERY NOISY!

[ROUND SEVEN]

Back to ALA for 3 days and then off for 4 days. I added zinc this round, 25 mg once each "on" day for my #2 son and scaled doses for the other two children. They appear to have had a reaction to the Butterball Turkey we ate for Thanksgiving dinner, all four of my children had a red bumpy rash after eating the turkey and for several days after while we were eating left-overs, but once the left-overs were eaten, the rash disappeared and they all improved markedly.

#4 talks ALL THE TIME now! "Mama I want this" and "Mama I want that", drives me NUTS! Plus she will call out to her brothers if one of them is lagging when we are out walking somewhere, she will call his name and then say "come on!" She will also say please, thank you, you're welcome, and bless you after a sneeze.

#3 continues to dress himself, but he is now down to 2-3 times each day LOL. He now knows how to pull the tongues of his shoes out so they do not end up bunched up down at his toes, he pulls them up so his feet go into his shoes correctly.

#2 will now talk to his trains and himself and his siblings "just because", rather than saving all his language for functional uses like making requests. He is starting to talk ALL THE TIME! He also will wait his turn for things, even with children who he does not know. We went to the park, and he had NO DESIRE to run his eyes along horizontal lines. Previously he would do it until I redirected him, then he would stop, but occasionally would try again, but this time he tried once and that was all. He played on ALL the playground equipment appropriately, waited his turn, was not the typical bully he can be [even tho he is very large and strong for his age], overall a wonderful time at the park and no visual stims or behavior issues! Plus NO MORE TANTRUMS or dropping to the floor in the grocery store!! [This alone is worth chelating LOL.]

I gave all three children red grape juice with enzymes and new phenol product. Previously they could not have red grapes even with enzymes and new product, but this time they had absolutely NO problems with the red grape juice, and #2 did not have any phenol issues either. All three children have bms which are small, round, well-formed, golden brown color and hardly any smell.

This round I would say the fog finally lifted for my #2 son. He now appears to have absolutely no desire to engage in any of his former visual stims, which did increase when I started round one of chelation, but now they have basically completely disappeared. He is using language "just because" and not for any specific purpose, he makes his trains "talk" to each other, he talks just for the joy of talking, he enjoys hearing himself talk. None of these things he did before, he would only talk for a specific reason, and if he could make his request without talking, like with pointing or whatever, he would choose that option over talking. But now he will talk as his first choice.

My house is noisy and NT now, I suppose soon I shall be tired of it, but not yet! I still have three children who are developmentally 2 years old, but this round has produced some wonderful results for my Christmas gift this year!

[ROUND EIGHT]

This round I increased zinc to twice per day.

#4 -- "Come to the table for dinner."
"Why?"
"Because it's time for dinner."
"Why?"
"Because dinner is ready now."
"Why?"
"Because it's dinnertime."
"Why?"
"Because I'm hungry."
"Why?"
"Because it's dinnertime."
"Why?"
"Because I said so."
"Why?"
"Because."
"Why?"
AARRGGHH
[Need I say more?]

#3 -- "Give it back!"
"No!"
"Mine!"
"No!"
"Me do it!"
"No!"
He also can put on clothes with zippers now, needs a little help with snaps and buttons. Insists on wearing underpants over his diaper, and sometimes does not want the diaper, but is not anywhere near potty trained LOL.

#2 -- Charlie Brown Christmas was on network television Thursday night. We also have the video, and the kids have watched it twice now in the last few weeks. My son has NEVER seen something on network television for which we also have the video. This was a great amusement for him. He saw what was on the television, went and retrieved the video box, brought it to me and showed me that the video was still inside the box, said "video here?" and was very confused but smiling. The commercials were confusing for him tho, when a commercial break occurred, he would say "no?" but was intrigued by them. [We do not watch television except for videos and on rare occasions such as Christmas specials and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, plus occasional other shows.] After the television show was over, he asked to watch the video, and the lack of commercials was definitely more to his liking. He also knows the names of his siblings now and will use them to call whichever one he wants to play with. He and # 1 played hide and seek without any prompting or help from anyone, altho when I would ask "where's [name]" it did make it more fun for him. His appetite has also decreased over the last few weeks, now he will eat an average amount of food for his age and size, instead of about twice that much. This is a nice change for my food budget!

[ROUND NINE]

I kept the zinc at twice per day, but #2 and #3 now have a rash which I am suspicious is a mercury or other metal rash, so I will be researching that a little more, plus #2 began being more hyperactive this round, so I might consider reducing zinc back to once each day for round ten.

#4 -- why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why

BECAUSE!

#3 -- Basically same as before, except now has a rash like #2. His language is progressing, he says 2-3 words at a time now, still dresses himself, wants to learn to use the toilet. A big thing I noticed with this round is that one day I forgot to give him enzymes with his lunch, and his bm was not too bad at all, not mushy like before. So I have reduced his enzymes to 1/3 capsule of each one with each meal, but he looks like his metal issues as they relate to digestion are very much improved. I will continue to chelate him until I am confident the metals are removed, but this is a very positive sign for me.

#2 -- He can put on his shoes by himself now, altho he does not yet know to pull the tongues up. He continues to be 100% reliable with daytime urine in the toilet, the bms still end up in the underpants but they are formed and solid, so it is easy to just drop them into the toilet, not messy at all. He has a small phenol reaction again, a little hyper at night if I am not careful about his daily phenol load, which I was getting a little lazy about enforcing because he was doing very well, but now I need to keep track of it again LOL. Language still at 4-5 words at a time, but language has always been his most difficult area. But he is still playing nicely with toys, and interacting with siblings, so overall good progression. Plus he is now wanting to use a fork at mealtime, which he did not like previously altho he would tolerate it if required, but now he prefers it, and he is beginning to use a spoon also, which he has NEVER liked, so that is good also.

We set up our Christmas tree last weekend, and this year all four of my children were interested, which means the younger three all needed help to participate, but there are only two adults, so we would help two while the third one was destroying things LOL. Our tree is now leaning, three broken ornaments [so far], and the lower half of the tree looks nothing like it did last weekend! But they are all having fun this year, so that is good.

I will do one more round before Christmas, then give 1-2 weeks rest. I don't think I will report on #3 and #4 after round ten, unless something major occurs, because their reports are beginning to sound like "just copy last round, it is the same". But I will continue to report on #2 because he still has definable signs of improvement.

[ROUND TEN]

This round I reduced zinc back to once per day, the rash is decreased. Someone told me that ALA might bind with zinc however, so next round I will give zinc on different days than ALA and see if there is a difference.

#4 -- Before this round, her longest sentence was something like "mommy, is messy". Yesterday while I was typing here on the computer, she came up to me and said "mommy, why is the floor so messy?" She also ate a partial regular cookie at church, with NO enzymes, and had no diarrhea afterward.

#3 -- He and #4 took picture books with a few words, into one of the bedrooms and "read" them to each other, very funny, they were correcting each other's pronunciation of the words LOL.

#2 -- He "overhears" conversations now, I was talking to #1 and we mentioned Grandma's pool, so #2 came up to us and asked "pool?". He has not had much interest until now with conversations which were not directed at him. He will play with the telephone now, he puts it to his ear and says "hello", before this round he was afraid of the disembodied voice that generally comes out of it. He can now sing the entire ABC song, and recognize the individual letters when they appear in different books, he will say G or W or whatever letter it is, he knows many of them, altho not all.

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