Ok, I’m finally ready to start the next phase of our Beth healing. We finished with Richard Malter a couple of months ago but I hadn’t had a report from him until now. I wanted to take that with me to an allergist to show what we had already done. It’s quite mentally exhausting for me and for Beth as it’s usually not a one off thing that we go to. We have to be prepared to go for the duration. With Richard Malter it was 6 months and as it was hard to explain what we were doing, even to myself, it was even harder to explain it to Beth. I don’t want her to feel like there is something wrong with her or that she needs ‘fixing’ but at the same time I know she feels better in herself when we try different things.
The allergist we’re going to does what is called NAET allergy elimination. This stands for Nambudripad Allergy Elimination Treatment. It’s based on traditional Chinese medication. Several people have told me about this clinic and I just needed a bit of a kick up the bum to organise myself yet again. I was talking to a lady this morning who was explaining how it works and it really appeals to me. I’m not sure of exactly how the testing is done but they test for over 300 allergies and intolerances. They then decide which ones to desensitize the body to and treat you for that. For example it may be citrus that you have an issue with, whether your body isn’t absorbing it properly or it’s going straight through you. They treat you for this, then you eliminate it from your diet for 25 hours. After this your body is desensitized to it and you can have it again. They will only do 1 or 2 foods at a time depending on the age and tolerance of the person.
We tried a gluten free diet with Beth several years ago which really made no difference. My worry about the gluten free and casien free diets is that there is such a huge difference in diet and it may just be one particular thing that is the problem. For example, Richard Malter tested Beth with a weet bix and with a white bread roll. The weet bix was fine but the bread roll wasn’t. If she had just been tested for the roll we may have assumed that she was gluten intolerant but it may have been an additive in the bread. Kids with autism have so many problems with food as it is, from not eating anything solid, anything new or even anything that isn’t white or yellow. We don’t want to stuff around with what they DO eat. I’m very lucky in the sense that Beth is an excellent eater, but I have heard some horror stories out there. Often people wont try a new style of treatment because it’s just in the ‘too hard basket.’ At least with this elimination diet it’s just a bit at a time, and for only a short time. If it works I think it’s worthwhile getting the whole family checked. I’ll let you know more after we’ve been.
I’ll finish with another Beth funny. On our way out the other day the 3 kids were in the back of the car trying to get Beth’s seatbelt on. It just wouldn’t work so Paul got out and leaned into the back seat to sort it out. Beth looked at Bridie and said “See Bridie, we needed a trained professional!” I don’t know where she gets these things from but she’s certainly entertaining!
