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

[ROUND 43-50, Round 19-20 for #1]

No yeast issues for any of the kids these rounds, except when #2 found a box of cookies and ate half of them before I noticed, and also when I let my kids eat too many holiday cookies!

#1 -- interests have expanded, likes reading stories about many things now, instead of only stories about a limited number of topics. Also enjoys playing with other kids more, instead of always by himself.

#2 -- much better with corn, which made him hyper, even with enzymes. We eat chicken stuffed with Mrs. Cubbison's Dressing, which has a small amount of corn in it. Previously, even this small amount would make #2 hyper and he would not sleep very long that night. However, after round 49, he did not have sleep issues after eating this, altho he was still *slightly* hyper during the hours after eating it.

More pretend play. He put a pillow on the floor and then took little 2" Pooh figures and placed them along the edge of the pillow with their heads on the pillow. Then he covered them with an afghan, lay down next to them, and pretended to sleep.

It would appear metals are coming out of the visual and language portions of his brain now. During the rounds, his visual stimming had become much worse, altho it was almost entirely gone between rounds, except he was rather sensitive to eating a "bad food" and having them return. But about an hour after the morning dose of ALA on day 4 of round 49, my son opened his eyes really wide, looked around, and has not had any visual stims since, even during round 50, except when he had a yeast issue. VERY NICE! We set up our Christmas tree. All four kids helped, and #2 STEPPED BACK to look at the lights! This is the first time he has not put his face into the lights after they were lit.

Also, his language ability is improving more quickly now than it did before. He is "jargoning" more, meaning when he has things to say, he will say them, but it seems like many times he just wants to "hear himself talk", and if he does not know what to say, he will say nonsense syllables or occasionally movie scripting with #3 [they take turns reciting the lines from videos]. But as soon as he wants something, he will use appropriate language, and he will not do this jargon/scripting all day, nor will be be upset if we interrupt him while he is doing it. It is almost like he wants to be able to use more than 2-3 functional words at a time, but the only way he knows how to do that is by jargoning/scripting. Sometimes he is sitting by himself with a train book, and he will be having a LONG monologue with himself, which sounds like English but the words are not recognizable. When he is with #3, they appear to be talking in what I have heard called "twin talk", where they both appear to know exactly what they are each saying, but noone else does. This can go on for half an hour or longer.

He also wrote his first word on the Magna Doodle a week ago or so, and he also draws people and animals, including faces, and they are recognizable [for the most part LOL]. He has about 10-12 sight words now, and he knows his alphabet [capitals and smalls] but he has no idea that each letter represents a specific sound. Just that the letters t-r-a-i-n together means "train".

He is still covering his ears for sound sensitivity, but this is decreasing as he is adjusting to hearing things differently now.

He can now hop on one foot, pedal a bicycle without help, and hang his shirts in the closet [even when they are dirty and need to go in the wash LOL]. He is still having *some* difficulty with bms in the toilet, but can get there in time if the bm is formed and not messy.

#3 -- Last winter he would go outside in cold weather [CA definition: between 45 and 60 degrees], and then take off his clothes and not seem to care. He even did this when it was raining and FREEZING [CA definition: less than 45 degrees]. This winter, he will voluntarily wear warm clothes and even insists on a sweatshirt to go outside.

He is very imitative, wanting to put on lotion and chapstick when I put it on myself. He has started asking questions like "what's that?" and "who's that?" and other similar.

#4 -- I can't get her to shut up!! Yack yack yack yack yack!!!! Driving me nuts!! But she sure does look cute in the princess outfit my aunt gave her =)

We are also allowing her to eat snack at church every Sunday without enzymes, and she has no problems with any food except for food which contains artificial color. This will still make one eye turn out and she gets goopy green discharge, but it is not as bad as it was previously.

I let all my kids eat too many cookies for Christmas, so now they have a yeast issue LOL. #2 is back to occasionally waving things in front of his eyes, and for Christmas Eve we had relatives come for an informal party, and #2 was bouncing around and flapping his hands, and people gave me looks like "I thought he was past this stage????". But he still has his current skills, and as the yeast is dying off, we are moving back to where we were before the holiday.

But all the kids are helping to make the cookies [well, semi-helping], ripping off the wrapping paper [even if the gift is not theirs], eating the food [and the cookies!] and interacting with the relatives and in general just being excited that it is Christmas, so that is very nice.

[ROUND 51-60, Round 21-23 for #1]

During this time period, I had to leave the house unexpectedly for 3 days. This occurred in the middle of one round, so that round had only 2 "on" days. When I returned, #2 was moving his eyes all the way to the side, and spinning around. I asked my husband "what did he eat while I was gone?" He replied "nothing different". So therefore the shorter round did tend to aggravate yeast. One drop of GSE for two days cleared it up quickly.

Additionally, #2 had a return of his visual stims even after the yeast was gone. He began lining up objects, twirling sticks, and other visual behaviors. #3 and #4 were having messy bms again. After determining that yeast/bacteria was not the issue, I turned to the first usual suspect, supplements. I only give the three HNI enzymes, and a cal/mag supplement which includes a few vitamins and minerals. So I removed that supplement, and the visual stims were gone again, and the bms are firm again. So now my kids do not use any supplements except HNI enzymes. I still must restrict a few foods, primarily artificials and eggs. And they can have only minimal amounts of orange and green foods.

#1 and #4 are showing steady improvement with their issues, nothing really remarkable, just steady improvement.

After getting rid of the yeast and removing the last supplement, #2 and #3 begin showing major improvements. They are singing songs with each other, even when the songs are not playing on a video or audio tape. They know and use possessives. They are putting many words together into phrases. And the big one, they are beginning to answer questions. #3 is better at questions than #2. For example, I can ask "what color?" or "how many?" and #3 will answer without prompting, but #2 will still occasionally need a prompt.

Video scripting is much reduced. #2 is not writing letters in the air with his finger as much as he did before.

#2 is now fully potty trained, even for bms!!!! He has been urine trained for about a year, even at night, but we have been cleaning poopy underwear for about that long. But now he will self-initiate to the potty for bms, unless he is sick or the bm is runny. Major milestone, at least in our opinion! Cleaning a 7yo is not fun. #4 is starting to be interested in using the potty. #3 is still clueless, but we are working on it. I have had at least two children in diapers ever since my second son was born 7 years ago. It will be nice when this stage of life is over!

All the kids are now waaayyyy too self-sufficient. They get dressed and undressed by themselves, including shoes [velcro], snaps, and zippers [not buttons yet]. #3 and #4 can change their own diapers so long as they are not poopy. They can get their own water and ice from the door of the refrigerator. When they want food, they just open the pantry or refrigerator and get it. I have been slowly decreasing enzyme usage and many times they can eat foods without enzymes and without problems, altho I do still give enzymes with each main meal, and I do still have to restrict certain foods, even with enzymes.

They are also waaayyyy too imitative. They can "accidentally" log on to the internet on my computer, make phone calls to people we don't know, latch AND unlatch their seat belts, open the car door from the outside AND inside, operate the TV and VCR without assistance [except for rewinding the tape LOL], and climb on top of the TV, shout "to infinity and beyond", and jump off.

They all ride scooters and bicycles with training wheels [#1 can finally ride a bicycle without training wheels]. They share toys and take turns without prompting about 75% of the time.

#2 had his birthday party, he is now age 7. He opened his gifts with excitement, put on the train shirt my mother bought for him, attempted with minimal assistance to put together a puzzle with 25 pieces, looked at books he received, and played with a child's electronic organ. Not much talking, he still has difficulty with expressive language, but since I removed that supplement, things are getting better with that also. At the end of the party, he gave everyone a hug goodbye.

I will now take a few weeks break from chelation, to let the current situation stabilize.

[ROUND 61-62, Round 24 for #1]

I took about a month break, then re-started chelating. Major changes at this time are that I have removed all supplements, including enzymes. During the rounds, I give milk thistle and Culturelle once per day, otherwise no supplements. Within a week of removing enzymes, my kids all developed regression which at first I thought was a reaction to the Shelton's hot dogs I use, but eventually I determined that it was a bacteria issue. Not sure why enzymes would help my kids keep bacteria under control, but I did add Culturelle for 2 days and the bacteria disappeared. No other problems. They now tolerate without enzymes, all the same foods they previously tolerated only with enzymes. They still don't tolerate any supplements, or a few foods, but these are the same ones they did not tolerate even with enzymes. It is very nice not to have an enzyme requirement when giving them foods now!

#4 -- She can now eat foods containing artificials and other "problem foods" without enzymes, and her only reaction is a messy bm. Previously these would have also caused goopy green eye discharge in addition to the messy bm, but now only the messy bm, and it is even not as messy as it was before. Things are improving!

#3 -- He can now eat "bad" foods without any regression other than messy bm. Previously, bad foods would have caused him to lose some language, get a nasty skin rash, and to become very oral, mouthing and chewing on his hands and other objects. Now he just has a messy bm, similar to #4. His language ability is increasing daily now. He would only say 1 or maybe 2 words at a time unless he was scripting a video or singing a song, but recently at dinner he said "mommy more apple sauce". He also is very good now with possessives, will answer yes/no questions, and will even tease others.

#2 -- He will still show some regression with a "bad" food or supplement, but not nearly as much as before. His eye stims did return, and I tried CLO and Twin Labs Allergy A, both of which he still does not tolerate. But once I addressed the bacteria issue, the stims were decreased, but still there. They only show up when he has nothing else to do, which is very much unlike before, when he would prefer his eye stims [twirling sticks and running his face down lines of objects] over anything else. But now, he prefers to be social and to play with his siblings and his trains and other things, and will only do the eye stims when he is bored. And after each new round of chelation, he appears to be less and less interested in doing them. I am hopeful they will again disappear, and this time STAY GONE!

The foods he still cannot eat, with or without enzymes, are artificials, preservatives, and eggs. I need to severely limit rice, corn, honey, orange/green fruits and veggies, and a few other things. But he is doing very well without enzymes now, for all other foods. And I have noticed that when I give one of his "limited" foods with an enzyme, his reaction will be less than if I give that food without an enzyme. Previously he would have had a similar reaction with or without an enzyme. For example, I gave Mrs. Cubbison's Dressing, which contains a small amount of corn starch. Without an enzyme, it caused him to have a very liquid bm and he was rather hyper and a little stimmy. With an enzyme he had only a "mushy" bm and he was not hyper or stimmy. So it does appear that these other food issues are being addressed with chelation, it is just taking longer than for the other foods.

It is interesting to me that he has problems with rice, corn, and honey. Those were his staple foods, along with chicken, while he was gfcf. I am not sure whether he developed a problem with these foods because he was eating them all the time before enzymes, or if he has always had a problem with them and going gfcf was actually worse for him then if I had never done it.

Right now #3 is walking around with our cordless telephone, pretending to talk to grandma, and #2 is walking around with a paper airplane to his ear, pretending to talk to Thomas the Tank Engine. It would appear that they each think their own conversation is with a more desirable participant, sort of like they are implying to each other "MY phone call is better than yours!" It is still very difficult to understand what they are saying unless you REALLY listen, but the articulation is better than it has been previously.

I am continually amazed that my son has a Kanner diagnosis [no regression, born this way], and his previous prognosis was "with intensive intervention, he *might* be able to live in a group home someday", and now the group home is a certainty, and he has the possibility to be independent. He still has a long way to go and a lot of development to catch up on, but he is doing so well, he is a wonderful kid!

#1 -- He has better physical coordination, and is interested in a wider variety of topics. He interacts with others, children and adults, a little more easily. He is understanding jokes more.

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