Does anyone have childeren diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder? or PDD-NOS?!


Question: What can you tell me about it? do you have any good websites you could recomend for me?
If you have a child with this, what are his/her symptoms?
My son is in the process of being diagnosed with PDD-NOS
And I'm looking for all the information I can get :)
one thing about my son is that he lays awake in his bed for hours before falling asleep.. it's like it's really hard for him to fall asleep.
I'm wondering if that's a normal part of an autistim spectrum disorder.. or if there's something else we should be maybe looking into?
any information would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!!


Answers: What can you tell me about it? do you have any good websites you could recomend for me?
If you have a child with this, what are his/her symptoms?
My son is in the process of being diagnosed with PDD-NOS
And I'm looking for all the information I can get :)
one thing about my son is that he lays awake in his bed for hours before falling asleep.. it's like it's really hard for him to fall asleep.
I'm wondering if that's a normal part of an autistim spectrum disorder.. or if there's something else we should be maybe looking into?
any information would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!!

Hi! My son, Jake, is 4 years old. In February 2006, at the age of 2 years and 4 months, he was diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum with PDD-NOS at Riley Hospital.

Jake's symptoms started shortly after his 15 month vaccinations which included 6 different immunizations all at once. His first symptoms were arm flapping, spinning in circles, loss of eye contact, and acting like he was deaf. I took him to the pediatrician at 19 months and she just blew it off. In the meantime, Jake had lost all of his speech, had high pitch screaming fits, and was very frustrated all the time. When we returned at our 24 month well baby check, she knew something was wrong and mentioned the word autism to me.

In the last two years, what we have found out is Jake has severe heavy metal toxicity (Lead is the highest, along with Cadmium, Mercury, Uranium, Tin, Nickel, Aluminum, etc). We have also learned that the symptoms of lead and mercury poisoning are almost the same as the symptoms of Autism and we believe this is what has caused his autism symptoms. We also had IgG and IgE food allergy testing done and found out he is allergic to gluten, casein, beef, pork, soy, and bananas.

Right now, Jake is on a gluten-free casein-free diet, he takes many nutritional supplements and we are currently doing chelation therapy which removes heavy metals from his body. He is in an early childhood development preschool and he is doing great. We still have a long journey in front of us but the progress we have seen has definitely been worth all the hard work.

My suggestions to you would be to go to your local health department and have your child tested for lead poisoning. Definitely continue to get your diagnosis, if he has one. This will help you to get needed services in the future.

Jake also had trouble gearing down in the evening and we give him 1 mg of Melatonin about an hour before bedtime. It is a small white tablet that can be chewed and it works great for him. For some reason, these little ones don't produce enough Melatonin to fall asleep. It is completely safe and is something all of our bodies use to fall asleep. This can be purchased at any health food store. We purchase ours through Kirkman Labs (on the internet).

As for websites, my favorites are www.generationrescue.org and www.tacanow.com.

I have only been a member of this group for a few months now and I get the daily digest everyday so I can read what others are posting. It has been such a help to me. No one in my town is doing the biomedical treatment like we are and I have found strength and encouragement from this group. Just knowing that I am not alone on this journey has been a great blessing. I am very thankful that I found this group. Good luck on your journey and feel free to email any questions you have.

Faith (Jake's mom)

Hi! I have a 5 1/2 year old who was diagnosed with Austism at the age of 2. But I have actually just started looking into the autism part. He had other things that I paid more attention to but now just learned it all ties into his autism. If only I had a doctor tell me so. I will help you look into things as I find out if you could help me as well. As far as the sleeping issue; his pediatrician, and neurologist suggested "melatonin" to help him sleep at night and it works GREAT. Within the first hour (usually I give it at supper or an hour before bed) he is out. I hope I can be of assistance to you and your family. If you ever need to just talk or whatever please feel free to contact me. How old is your child?

Ella,
My son has aspergers syndrome (a spectrum disorder) and he is the same way. I have had to give him a small dose of Nyquil to get him drowsy. I remember when he was 4, I would be in tears because I would just fall asleep and he would wake me up every 1/2 hour until the wee hours of the morning. He is getting a bit better, but still falls asleep way after the other children. He always seems to have "so much on his mind". I have allowed him to have a reading light and can lay in bed with books until he gets sleepy. Sometimes this helps. How old is your son? If he is on meds, many of the meds interfere with their sleeping and can keep him awake. My son is on Ritalin (after many other meds) which are only about 8 hours of dosage. Just to get him through school. This also helps, as he gets a little more sleepy at night, but I think their minds are just wired so differently and they are always "thinking of something" to make, do, invent, worry about, etc. that the quiet time in bed just gives them more idle time. The book reading has helped a bit. But, he must be in bed and must only have a little flashlight or book light. No video games, etc. Tammy

My grandson was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder when he was 2. He is now 6. Sleep issues are a part of that and Melatonin works great. Also extra activity helps too.

My son has autism and he was diagnosed when he was two-he is now ten. One thing that helps him fall asleep is Melatonin.

Many times their sleeping problems had to do with gut issues and food intolerances, allergies, etc.

This are the recommendations by the Autism Research Institute. Not everything listed here will work on every child, so its up to us to try different things until we find what helps our kids.

Improve Diet (veggies, Meats, organic)
Food Allergies
GFCF Diet
Vitamin/ Mineral supplementation (Super Nu-Thera from Kirkman Labs)
High-Dose Vitamin B6 & Magnesium
Essential Faty Acids
Gut Treatments

* Anti-fungals
* Anti-virals
* Probiotics
* Digestive Enzymes

Amino Acids
Melatonin (at night time for sleep)
Thyroid Supplements
Sulfation
Glutathione
Chelation (DMSA with ALA)-reported improvement in 73% of cases
Immune System Regulation
HBOT (hiperbatic oxigen therapy)

I have a 5 yr old son with autism and we use a biomedical approach to treat his medical issues. You should ask your pediatrican for the following medical tests.
Comprehensive metabolic panel ( chemistry test)
Complete Blood Count
IgE, IgA, IgG tests
Allergy testing ( food, mold, etc.)
Gluten and Casein antibody testing
Ammonia
Lactic Acid
Secretin
Amino Acids Test -low tryptophan will explain sleep disorder
24 hr. Urine prophyrin test
heavy metal testing ( mercury,lead, etc.)
viral titers ( vaccines, CMV, etc.)
h. pylori ( if abdominal pain- is he pressing his belly?
Yeast culture ( many kids have overgrowth in intestines)
Stool culture ( looking for pathogenic bacteria)

These tests should help in determining the overall health of your son. If the food allergy , gluten, and casein ( IgE) tests are negative, it will just rule out immediate reactions. Some kids have food intolerances, ( need to order IgG food allergy tests-- done in speciality labs) and these may not show up on traditional allergy tests (IgE). If your son's stool is yellow, he needs digestive enzymes ( found at health food stores) and may benefit from a special diet like gluten/casein free or specific carbohydrate diet. A white tongue may indicate a yeast problem. If his breath smells like sulfur (rotten eggs) this is a problem with digesting proteins.
Your son's sleep problem could be resolved using melatonin or 5 htp. 5 htp is better if the tryptophan level is low and these sleep supplements are taken 1 hr or less before bedtime. My friend's son has a huge yeast infection and this causes him to lie awake, fall asleep, wake up, all night long.

I highly recommend the Autism Research Institute website because parents get to rate different drugs and supplements and you can see which ones worked for their kids. It also
has a survey where you can determine if the therapy you are using has helped your child. It also has a list of DAN ( Defeat Autism Now) dr.'s should you decide to treat your son biomedically.
My son has greatly benefited from the biomedical approach. He has to undergo chelation for the removal of mercury, lead, and arsenic, He takes many supplements from Kirkman's Labs including Spectrum Complete, Advance Mineral Support, Probiotics, Amino Acids, and Digestive Enzymes.
The removal of soy and the gf/cf diet has greatly helped reduce meltdowns and other bad behaviors. We are currently about to start Hyperbariac Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) to help with inflammation and decrease blood flow in his brain. A trial of HBOT increased his speech dramatically ( would not stop talking!!) and social interactions. My son regressed and was non-verbal by the age of 3. He began speaking again 1 month after biomedical therapy. Here is a list of supplements and its better to buy hypoallergenic ( no added flavors or colors if you suspect food allergies). We like Kirkman's Lab's and they have been helping the autistic community for over 20 yrs
Multivitamin ( chewable, Spectrum complete, Super Nu thera)
Advance Mineral support ( extra minerals)
Buffered Vitamin C ( 1000 mg daily)
Cod Liver Oil
Coromega ( omega 3 fatty acids)
Carnosine
Acetyl L Carnitine
Amino Acid Support
Glutathione
B6/ Magnesium
Buried Treasure Added Attention ( found at Whole Foods Market in children's section)
Probiotics ( Three Lac - good for yeast control)
Zinc ( 20 mgs. day)
Coenzyme Q 10
Kirkman's Labs
http:// kirkmanlabs.com/
TACA
http://gfcf-diet.talkaboutcuringautism.o...
Autism Research Institute
http://www.autism.com/

My son is three and has been diagnosed with ASD.... I know exactly what you are talking about with your son lying awake for hours in his bed before falling asleep. That sounds normal for a child with ASD, sleep difficulties are so common! My son will also wake up in the middle of the night to "sing" and recite his version of the Abc's..... at 3:30am! Sometimes it lasts for hours. And the hard part is that there is nothing you can do about it, but tune it out.





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