Healing Haiden

You can view Haiden's entire recovery story back on my previous blog, http://mckinneyclan3.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html.  If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you will see my first entries.

If you don't have time for that or want the cut and dry of it all, here are the main steps we took in improving Haiden's health.

1. Changed his diet!  We went from eating processed, fast food, loaded with carbs and dairy to eating a gluten free, casein free, soy free diet.  Now we are transitioning into the primal diet lifestyle.
Talk About Curing Autism is a great website and resource that was very helpful when we first started the diet, http://www.tacanow.org/tag/gfcf/.  The best advice I can give is to take baby steps.  It is very easy to get overwhelmed by it all but take it one step at a time.  We took out dairy first, then gluten, then soy.  Now days there is a substitute for everything.  If you don't live in a area where these foods are available, try online grocers.

2. Added supplements.  Find a DAN (Defeat Autism Now) doctor. Autism Research Institute has a database of all the DAN doctors out there.  You can find it here, http://www.autism.com/pro_danlists_results.asp?list=US&type=1  We did several tests on Haiden to find out what was going on inside of his body.  I couldn't believe all of his deficiencies and how much supplements helped.

3. Change your environment by removing toxins.  We changed our soap, laundry detergent, toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant, sunscreen, body wash, and cleaning supplies to more natural, chemical free products.  Some of our favorites brands are Tom's, Avalon Organics, Burts Bee, and Seventh Generation. 

4. Stop vaccinating.  I know this is a very controversial subject but we know that Haiden's health further deteriorated after each vaccine.  I just encourage you to educate yourself and investigate before you vaccinate.

You can find all blog posts related to Healing Haiden, under Labels on the right side of our blog.

Haiden, age 2, just after receiving his autism diagnoses.

Haiden, age 7, getting ready to rock climb for the first time!