Maggie was our miracle baby. Through 20 months of infertility and a miscarriage, we were able to have our baby girl. She was born through an emergency c-section, due to low heart tones and distress. She did fine and had no problems after delivery. She was a normal developing baby, no signs of any problems. Also, she was very healthy had a total of 2 ear infections through her first year. She was so happy and playful, such a joy. At nine months we placed her in a Mother's Day Out, so I could get some sleep after working night shift at the hospital. She loved it, had little babies to play with, and great teachers to take care of her. At 11 months, her pediatrician suggested she recieve the flu vaccine, but needed 2 doses, one now and onea month later. Having no reason to argue that point, I didn't want my baby to get the flu, I agreed. I noticed a mild change in her behavior shortly after, she had begin with a fine rash on her chin and cheeks, but since she was drinking whole milk, I thought nmaybe that was why. Developmentally here were no changes, playful, almost walking, babbling...very typical for her age. Then the 12 month shots...I lost my daughter.
Maggie went in for her 12 mo check up, no fever or illness, everything was perfect. She recieved MMR, Varicella (chicken pox) and 2nd flu. No immediate reaction to the vaccine was noted. A few days later, I noticed an awful rash over her right eye, inflammed and very irritated. Concerned as to why this happened, I consulted with her dr they said it was eczema, and not a milk allergy since she tolerated dairy with breastfeeding. I didn't buy it, but I felt he's been doing this for 15 yrs, he knows more than me...right...wrong! When Maggie returned to Mother's Day Out a week after her shots, one of her teachers saw the immediate change in her behavior...lack of eye to eye contact, lack of socialization, not responding when you called her name, she was not the same child. She was instructed by her supervisor not to discuss her concerns with me, but had a feeling the change in her behavior coincided with her immunizations. I did notice a change in Maggie, but with sleep deprivation and 2 other children, I thought she was experiencing an allergy reaction to certain foods, especially with the persistent rash that did not go away.
At 13 months, we saw an allergist that confirmed Maggie's food allergies were indeed milk, potatoes and eggs. At this point, we begin eliminating these foods from her diet, and mine as well since I was breastfeeding her. Unfortunately, we did not see much change in her behavior. Shortly after this appointment, she begin experiencing ear infections that lasted almost two months. As soon as she would finish an antibiotic, she was sick again 1 week later. We went to an ENT who confirmed Maggie's hearing was affected due to the excessive fluid in her ears....at last that is why she wasn't respinding to me, she couldn't hear. We discussed inserting tubes and removing her adenoids. With her obvious developmental delays, we scheduled her surgery.
Expecting remarkable improvements...that was not the case. Maggie still did not respond to us the way we expected her to. At this point, I also opened our new business as a storefront, so things were quite hectic. My instinct knew something was terribly wrong, but could not figure out what it was...I never even dreamed Autism or the correaltion with her vaccines. The day it hit me it was something serious, I was playing a game with Maggie (very similar to peek-a-boo) saying, "Maggie where are you?"...and no response, no eye contact, nothing. This is a child that played patty cake and mumbled the words at 6 months. Where did Maggie go...I was determined to figure it out!
Mike took her to the pediatrician, she was 18 months at the time and just started to walk independently. He explained our concerns, her lack of speech, and how wanted her in speech therapy immediately. The pediatrician sang Itsy Bitsy Spider close to her face, forcing her to look at him, and told Mike he heard her mumble the words, and she was fine. Her lack of use of words was probably due to having older siblings speaking for her, and being the baby. Well, that didn't work well for me, and I demanded more answers. Despite my pediatrician's approval, we retested Maggie's hearing. Tests revealed her hearing was perfect, at this point I felt completely numb. We also sought assistance with early intervention on our own. I remember the specialist saying, "Sensory Intergration Disorder". I begin searching for answers everywhere and information ranged from Cerebal Palsy to Autism. What happened to my baby? She was doing everything perfect...then, looking back at the timeline it was right after she turned a year.
At this time her teacher from Mother's Day Out and I became friends. I begin discussing my concerns about Maggie with her. She then explained to me what she saw immediately following her 12 month shots and decline/regression in her development. She wanted so bad to tell me what she was witnessing, but was unable to do so since she was her teacher. I was shocked to think shots would have caused this? I'm an RN and always supported the medical field, how could this be the case?
Maggie began receiving therapy from early intervention beginning at 21 months. This included speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy. We were seeing gradual changes, but nothing substantial. She had many red flags indicating "Autism", but no official diagnosis. When she was almost 2, I demanded to discuss or concerns with our pediatrician. He said Maggie did NOT have Autism, because she could bable to an inflatible pumpkin. Well, I'm not a doctor, but babbling at two is NOT normal. I realized we were getting nowhere with our doctor, so we scheduled a psychological evaluation with a doctor that has an Autism clinic in Birmingham. It did not take very long very her to conclude Maggie has Autism. She did not discuss anything with us other than therapy and structured preschool. It pretty much left us empty with very little hope. I even asked her about "the diet", she said no it doesn't work. We scheduled an appointment with Vanderbilt to see there specialist but we were told we had a 1.5 yr wait.
I conituned reading about diet and vitamins, I knew there had to be more information out there. A friend gave me a book, "What your doctor may not tel you about vaccinations", by Stephanie Cave. I finally came across DAN doctors, Defeating Autism Now. As far as I knew, we only had one DAN doctor in TN, none in AL. I read about ABA, "Applied Behavioral Analysis", with costs of 20-25/hr for treatment, and no insurance coverage. I also heard about gluten/casein diets but the psychologists said they don't work.
At this point, Mike and I were over 100k in debt from our business and had no extra money. We were so hopeful it would take off, and we kept feeding it, more than it fed us. I couldn't work because Mike was out of town all the time and all the jobs I found were night positions. I had no one that could stay with my kids at night. It was a very stressful time for us.
Finally, I realized we a DAN doctor, Maggie was not progressing, and she needed help. I prayed for answers and as I was skimming the dr list, I said, I wonder where Stephanie Cave practices...then I found her, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, very close to our family. I knew this was our answer to get her an appt asap.
We met with Dr Cave in July 2006, Maggie was 2 1/2...it was such a peaceful feeling when we entered her office. She had many replicas of Virgin Mary and Jesus, which made me suspect she was probably Catholic. I finally felt we were at the right place. She discussed how Maggie's body was harmly affected by the vaccines she recieved over her 1st year. Her body responded negatively after the 12 month shots, in additional to recieving a combination of MMR, Varicella, and Flu vaccine. The affects from the vaccine also cause an insult to her gasterointestinal system, also referred to as leaky gut syndrome. Maggie was unable to process/metabolize foods casein and gluten. We discussed placing vital nutrients and vitamins that were lacking due to permeable gut. Also, there is usually an overgrowth of yeast in the gut which can cause behavior and health problems.
She explained some of the factors that negatively affected Maggie's ability to process these vaccinations. This included when I recieved the flu vaccine while I was 8 months pregnant. She explained that many of the flu vaccines contain the ingredient thermerisol, which transferred to her through the placenta. Also, mentioned some about the MTHFR gene, which makes detoxification much more challenging. We also discussed chelation to remove toxins and metals which would improve her ability to recover from Autism. That was when we were introduced to hyperbaraic oxygen therapy which allows the oxygen to enter the cellular level, improving her speech and ability to interact with others. It also works as a detoxifier as well.
Leaving that appointment, we were overwhelmed but knew we were heading in the right direction.
