INSIDE OUT

BRIEF THREE WEEK UPDATE

When the initial die off symptoms began to lessen, S got this crazy pin-dotted rash all around his mouth. Then, while giving him an epsom salt bath, I noticed the same rash behind his knees. It faded by the time the epsom salt bath was over. Magnesium is a wonderful thing. It releases toxins from the body. This may have drawn out the toxins, causing the rash to present itself, only to finally fade by the end of the bath. I saw the rash and I saw the rash fade. Well, the day after this rash, S regressed. His speech was more slurred, a lot of repetitive speech, his pupils dilated, he woke up that night crying in pain from his right knee (this used to occur only before the gluten free diet over six months ago but never since). The very next day AFTERWARD, S's speech was not as slurred (on a scale from 1-10 with 10 being REALLY slurred, I'd say it was a 4). S had no repetitive speech and many times, I didn't have to ask him if he could look at me.

Conclusion: Stay the course, girl!! When symptoms look tough, know that there is yet, another positive outcome on the other side.

FIVE WEEK UPDATE

B and I have started the Specific Carbohydrate Diet and we are now on Day 6!!! When you see a thing working this well... how can you blame us!?

We now wonder... "hmm... I wonder what this diet will cure in US now?! Haha! From a recent post, you've seen my suspicions of yeast in my husband. Well, I also believe I have an autoimmune disease called rheumatoid arthritis. Hard not to think that. ALL the women on my mom's side of the family has it. Crippling really. The science is still out on what causes it. I have some suspicions. But, it's real. Oh, and does it hurt sometimes. :( I've noticed that gluten DEFINITELY plays a role in the inflammation I feel in my knees in the past month since the kids have been on this diet.

So due to these reasons and more, we felt we needed some healing as well. I was afraid of the die off I saw in my kids. I knew a few days into it would be torture. So as soon as Christmas-food was over, we decided to begin.

By day three and four, we were feeling AMAZING!! More energy, felt more sharp... just felt, well... different! We felt that perhaps we wouldn't experience the die off our children had. As we hypothesized why that would be, we merely felt content to not have to go down that road of die off my children succumbed to.

But BOY were we wrong and were we about to get hit.

By day five, my whole body felt like it got ran over by a truck. Any bad symptoms I've had in the past year or so came back with a vengeance. I had chills, body aches, awful fatigue, upper back pain, lower back pain, headaches, knee joint pain, ankle joint pain, and sciatica... on BOTH sides at the same time! I had a hot, plastic-y feeling, face rash, and the same looking lacy rash that I saw on my 5 yr old when he experienced his die off... except I had it on my chest. It was all just awful. Today is just "starting" to get better.

B had the same kind of face rash. He has pretty good fatigue and feels scattered in this thinking. He is also experiencing a headache near his upper jaw-bone area. We're both constipated but there are no cramps associated with it. Some might say we are actually finally absorbing the foods we are eating and there's less waste. Maybe.

I was laying in bed today quite pleased with all of this craziness. I know, I know. I'm an optimist. I can't help it! :P I know there is hope on the other side as I've seen it in my kids. Tonight I had so much energy I deep cleaned my bedroom and started on my kids room before they kicked me out to go to their bed. ;-)

KIDS FIVE WEEK UPDATE

S just keeps getting more conversational. His eye contact, though, will be almost non-existent one day, then 75% better the next! I love those days. It shows me that he IS, in fact capable and I've got to keep moving ahead. The pictures he has been drawing tell the story. He is still into dinosaurs, but DIFFERENT ones now! He is ALSO into eagles and all different kinds! The pictures he is drawing are filling the pages with different ideas. It is amazing to see him coming out of some cocoon. He is no longer afraid of "strangers" at the checkout. If asked to give his granparents or nana and papa a hug, he willingly hugs and he hugs back. :)

J NO LONGER HAS DIARRHEA!!! It's just crazy. The boy had diarrhea STRAIGHT for a month and a half before starting this diet. I'm told it might come back only to disappear again... BUT the stools I am seeing are AMAZING!!! Haha. Who knew I'd ever talk about stools this way before I had kids. Sheesh!
J does have a distended belly today though. I'm definitely thinking salicylates/phenols for my boys. With the red cheeks and red ears gone from S from the removal of high salicylate foods and the red cheeks remaining in J with the continuation of them... I'm banking that this is a surefire reason for his distended belly.

N is doing really well. Both her and J are gaining some of the weight they lost in the early weeks. They both DEFINITELY sprouted in height. Pants, which N could wear before starting this diet have shrunk rapidly.

More and more everyday I'm just amazed at what food can do to a child. I still have so many questions. Why have my kids been affected like this is ALWAYS on my mind.
Is it the vaccinations?
Is it the rhogam shot I had due to being RH negative?
Is it merely just genetics?
Is it mercury?

The questions linger. I may just never know. But I have a sneaky suspicion that one day I will. I just cannot settle in my mind that any of the foods I did or didn't give to my kids caused this in them. Maybe that's what I need to prove to myself. That *I* wasn't the one who did this to them. That this was out of my control. Whatever the reason, I'm always on the path to discover what started this so I can cure it. And believe me...
Cure. this. I. will.

If I look at this life for my kids in an eighty year term, I am not afraid to stay true to something this tough EVEN FOR TWO YEARS if it means that my children will have it so much easier for the seventy-eight remaining years of their life.

One major hope I have is that this diet gets the recognition it deserves. There are so many kids out there who need this diet. There are so many PARENTS out there who need this diet for their kids. It's too bad "diet" wasn't somehow funded by pharmaceutical companies. Billions of dollars might have been poured into research by now! As it is, I doubt that local, organic farmers or most of us moms and dads have the millions of dollars necessary. Perhaps some day. But, I digress.