A story in Reuters Health on Friday, June 22, 2007, By Anthony J. Brown, MD says that new research is suggesting an effective treatment for chronic recurrent headaches, in children and adolescents, involves training them in self-hypnosis. Two doctors in Minnesota assessed the outcome of training to deal with headaches through self-hypnosis of 178 young people, with an average age of 11 years.

A report in The Journal... more

An article in Reuters, June 2007 said that according to new research, giving infants less than one-year-old antibiotics for a non-respiratory tract infection would greatly increase the child’s chances of developing asthma. The June issue of the journal Chest, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), contains the published findings of the study.

Not surprisingly, the study found that infants who received multiple... more

For years LuLu’s behaviors have waxed and waned with no rhyme or reason and no predictable pattern. This has been highly perplexing and has driven many a professional to become frustrated when I’ve told them (and shown them the logs) that I can’t find a reason “why” While there is still much more to figure out, through the biomed interventions we’ve done over the last couple of years, we have learned that she is greatly impacted by changes in her environment of all types (diets, supplements, routines, sensory input, our emotions and the anxiety... more

French researchers recently identified that agricultural workers, including farmers and vineyard workers, who have the highest level of exposure to pesticides, are twice as likely to have brain cancer, than workers not exposed to pesticides are. The study involved nearly 700 adults. If that doesn’t concern you because you don’t have a farm or a vineyard, where you spray hundreds of gallons of pesticides, then read on. People who treat houseplants with pesticides also... more

For decades now, according to a study in the May 2007, American Journal of Public Health, black infants have been four times more likely to be born before 28 weeks gestation, than white infants have. These extremely pre-term babies have a much greater risk of not surviving than babies carried longer, in fact pre-term birth accounts for one third of all infant deaths. This factor helps to explain... more

Green tea is sometimes called Chinese tea or Japanese tea and actually, it’s delicious. I’ve been drinking it over ice every day for at least 10 years. Yup, even before Oprah said it was cool. I make it as sun tea, because I don’t care for the flavor of boiled green tea.

However, there is a much better reason to drink green tea besides the refreshing taste. University of Purdue researchers concluded that a compound in green tea, EGCG, inhibits the growth of cancer cells. Research is also indicating that ... more

Many people are beginning to recognize the benefits of folic acid, which, is also known as Vitamin B9, Pteroylglutamic Acid, Folate, or Folacin. A vitamin of the B complex group, folic acid is essential for the metabolic processes happening in our bodies. Both Canada and the USA mandated in 1998 that cereals and breads be fortified with folic acid at a dose of 140 micrograms/100 g.

Researches following the change found an 18% reduction in stroke death victims on average, as well as a reduction in certain fetal abnormalities. Folic acid lowers the concentration of homocysteine in the blood, which is why researchers... more

This advice falls into the category of “wish I knew then what I know now”. Here are some tips for the chronically sleep-deprived moms of adopted kids.

1. Don’t wait too long to get help. Sleep is crucial to your physical and mental health and that of your child’s. Talk to your child’s pediatrician or other medical professional, especially those familiar with sleep/adoption issues. 2. Don’t buy into Ferberizing. For children who may have a history of trauma, abandonment or multiple placements, sleep issues... more

As an extremely restless and wired LuLu was bouncing around my house at midnight, and still at 2 am and still at 3:30 am…I was both highly annoyed and reminded of the way things used to be. The days of little to no sleep!

My fellow Blogger, Angela recently blogged about sleep issues. I think these issues are more common than adoptive parents are told. In our case, LuLu didn’t sleep a solid 8+ hours for the first three years home. She slept 2-3 hour stints throughout... more

Here are the interventions we've already tried.

I really am in a quandary as to which interventions to pursue next. The other part of my quandary is that we don’t have the money to pursue any of them (but that’s never stopped me before). At this juncture, though, I’m wrestling with the following:

Neurofeedback. We have the basic equipment to restart this therapy in our home. However, it a significantly outdated model and to... more