Talk is all over the Fetal Alcohol Support Groups at Yahoogroups about the positive effects of Choline on the brain. It is especially powerful on the developing brain. The researchers say that when taking during pregnancy it builds an excess memory capacity that seems to endure throughout life. As far as its effects on the older child and adult brain, they say it seems to have the most effect on those tagged as slow learners. This led researcher to question whether the slow learning was actually the result of a Choline deficiency, which the supplement corrected.... more

I have blogged extensively on hyperbaric oxygen therapy before, but wanted to answer some of the recent questions. First a review of how HBOT works.

The air we breath is approximately 21% oxygen (depending on how polluted it is). Air in an HBOT chamber ranges from 92-100% oxygen, depending on how pressurized it is. “hard” chambers (the kind you see them using for the men they rescue out of mines) pressurize up to 2.5 ATAs and are 100% oxygen. Mild HBOT chambers (soft-sided) pressurize to 1.3 or 1.5 ATAs and deliver 92-95% oxygen.

When your body is... more

I’ve enjoyed listening to Dr. Don Colbert on the Joyce Meyer show this week. While the last place I expected to find a person promoting principles that I consider biomed to be speaking was on Christian programming, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

I often watch Joyce in the early morning to get my day started on a positive note. This week she’s been interviewing Dr. Colbert on his book, the Seven Pillars of Health. Now, I’m aware that in the alternative medicine... more

The fact is that many of LuLu’s latest challenges are physical instead of the typical mental, emotional and developmental issues she’s had all her life. And this is definitely shifting things.

I’ll admit that in a strange way, I’m excited. For some time I have half-believed those in the biomed world who believe that all mental and developmental issues have a biomedical root, and that with the right interventions you can put the body back on its healing equilibrium, and heal much of what appears to be emotional, psychological or behavior in nature.

I’ve... more

If your New Year’s Resolutions include trying a special diet with your special kid, the folks at TACA (Talk About Curing Autism) have a gift for you. They have recently rolled out a whole section of their website on the Gluten-Free, Casein-Free diet that helps so many children on the autistic spectrum.

Embarking on any diet is challenging, but one that removes all the casein and gluten is overwhelming. The TACA guide is comprehensive, including a “... more

So having a leaky gut can lead to all kinds of conditions and illnesses. What can be done about it? Well, one of the first lines of defense is a change in diet, removing all the foods that have antigens that filter into your bloodstream and cause an allergic reaction. The two biggest culprits…casein and gluten. Both are proteins and are similar to the carrier proteins that transport the vitamins and minerals.

The problem with this is that maintaining a gluten-free/casein-free diet is very difficult. People with Celiac Disease are put on a gluten-free diet.... more

Many people can have leaky gut, and it can develop at any time in your lifetime. The diseases and conditions it can lead to are different in each person. And many things can cause this imbalance in your system. Here are some of the culprits:

1. Exposure to environmental toxins. Toxins in foods, like growth enhancers, pesticides and other chemicals, or environmental toxins you breath can cause inflammation and overload your immune system, causing a break down of the mucosa lining of your intestines. 2. Yeast. Many believe... more

At the center of using biomed interventions to treat autism spectrum disorders, and other disorders as well, is the concept that a person’s gut “leaks”. One of my readers asked me how this can be. In my non-scientific way, I had described this as food particles actually slipping into the bloodstream where the immune system attacked them, causing inflammation.

I was partially right.

Our GI tracts are designed to digest food, convert food into energy and allow certain vitamins and nutrients to cross through the intestinal lining and into the bloodstream on carrier proteins. If a “gut” becomes too permeable, more than just the nutrients attached to the proteins start crossing... more

With LuLu on a megadose of antibiotics (two antibiotics for 14 days), I need to point out to those of you who haven’t experienced this yet…antibiotics are not particular about which bacteria they kill. While you definitely need antibiotics to rid your body of such nasty bugs as Strep or h pylori, antibiotics also wipe out the “good” flora of your intestinal tract, giving yeast a chance to take control.

I first discovered this as a new mother 16 years ago, when my baby began to get ear infections and be prescribed many rounds of antibiotics. She then developed the most gruesome diaper rash, that I quickly learned was a yeast infection.

So, anytime that one of us is on antibiotics,... more

Finding biomedical answers to psychiatric, neurological and developmental issues is a hot topic of debate on some of the support group lists I read. Having spent the last two years exploring these types of interventions for LuLu, I admit that I have very mixed feelings about it all.

Like every other intervention or therapy we’ve tried, I was hoping that it was THE answer; the one thing to make her better. But as the years have waned on, I’ve realized that there isn’t a THE answer. So, what I’m left with is what will make her life better and her issues easier for... more