A little piece of heaven

I’ve had a few people contacting me about Nathan and what we’re doing with him so I thought it might be time for another “Approach” post.

Here’s our current approach towards Nathan’s development:

Overview

We believe that to give Nathan as many opportunities for a good quality of life, we need to help him heal from the inside via the foods and supplements we give him, spiritually by giving him a stable rhythm and cognitive stimulation, and physically by keeping him active and having him on an intensive physical therapy program.

Nutrition and digestion are strongly connected with brain health and development. The brain needs lots of nutrients to develop and for these nutrients to reach his brain he needs a good diet and supplements.

Rhythm helps in many ways. It gives him stability and confidence. It engages him in many sensory activities. It helps with behavioral issues – if he knows what happens every day, what comes first, what follows, etc he will be more willing to engage. For example, since he knows his physical therapy is followed by a splash in the pool, he works harder in physical therapy. We also keep his mind engaged with stories and crafts etc.

Exercises is essential for the health of the body. Physical therapy and swimming keep him active and improves his circulation and strength. Additionally, we have learned that 90% of brain growth comes from proprioceptive stimuli – movement and vestibular stimulation. Thereore the cornerstone of his program is CME medek, swimming and swinging.

By making sure we are supporting him in all of these ways, we give him the chance to stay physically healthy, emotionally and spiritually happy, and in a path towards development!

Diet

Nathan is on a gluten casein free diet. He does not eat anything containing wheat or anything containing dairy. Mostly he eats things like grains (millet, quinoa, amarinth, brown rice), mixed with a protein (fish, chicken, red meat) and lots of vegetables (every vegetable we can find)! We try to feed him organic foods as much as possible. We keep him away from sugar as much as possible. If he eats sugar, it is something we baked and is gluten casein free.

Supplements

This is his current list of supplements:

– B6 from Metabolics
– Combocillus
– European Walnut
– NADPH
– Fig Tree
– IH Formula
– Flax seeds
– Manuka Honey
– Cat Claw
– Fish Oil
– Rutavite
– Pituitrophen
– Qantum Nerve Complex
– Drenamin
– Garlic
– Neurolink

If you would like any info about any of these supplements, let me know and I can figure out the brand name for each. They are all very very very high quality and most are imported from England.

Chinese Herbs

Nathan also takes a Chinese tea made specifically for him by a Korean doctor. He is an acupuncturist and herbalist. He reads Nathan’s pulse and then makes a concoction specifically for him.

He also gave Nathan a super super super special formula that we have been giving him for a few months now. The primary ingredient in that is musk.

We also see Dr. Kim every so often for acupuncture.

Homeopathic

Nathan takes G-therapy, from a Homeopathic doctor in India. It helps to create new synaptic connections and dendritic growth.

Chiropractic / Biochemist

Nathan sees a Chiropractor who is also a Biochemist and a Kinesiologist. She muscle tests him to see what supplements she needs. We bring every treatment / supplement that we find to her, and she muscle tests him to see how much he needs, and how often, and whether or not it is even appropriate for him. This method allows his body to tell us what it needs, instead of us having to guess. Her premise is that we only supply what the body cannot produce on its own. For example, Vitamin C is something that many people take separately, but we do not give it to Nathan. Instead, we try to give his body all the tools to make all of the chemicals that it needs on its own. Every time a supplement is introduced, the body needs to process it, and make use up other chemicals and minerals etc to process it, so we try to bring the body to homeostasis so it helps itself. She also gives him chiropractic adjustments.

Osteopath

Nathan sees an Osteopath at least once a month. He does cranial adjustments and checks to see if there is any tightness or obstructions in the flow of his energy or CSF and other fluids.

Our osteopath is also an anthroposophic doctor and recently prescribed a few oils: Chamomile for his bath, and Nicotiana and something else that I forgot to wrap around his extremities. This is very new so I will report more on this later.

Epsom / Bath Salts

Nathan takes baths with epsom salts that are also aromatherapy. We use PlantLife Bath salts. These are very good for many aspects of his health.

Rhythm / Education

Nathan’s rhythm and education is currently formed on a Waldorf foundation.

In a nutshell, Waldorf education is all about teaching the children skills that are developmentally appropriate. For example, they do not introduce intellectual concepts to young children, as the early years are all about imagination and play. They also promote independence and spiritual development in children. There is a LOT to waldorf so I won’t talk about it here, you can visit the link above or look on the internet.

Based on this developmental aproach, we have created a Rhythm / Routine for Nathan’s day. It looks something like this:

Morning Song & Massage
Breakfast
Nature Walk
CME Medek
Circle Time
Snack
Domestic Arts / Crafts
Swimming at home pool
Lunch
Story / Puppet show
Nap
Snack
Circle Time
CME Medek
Out of home activities (play dates, park, pool, visit cousins, shopping, errands)
Dinner
Bath and Massage
Nightime Story & Song
Bedtime

I am going to try to create a video with snippets of his day in the future so you can see what it all looks like.

This includes a lot of sensory stimulation – he touches things, smells things, hears things, etc. It also contains a lot of proprioception and movement.

He also receives child development therapy where he is learning things such as: colors, actions, objects, if/then, to recognize his name in writing, and many other things.

Physical Therapy

Currenly Nathan’s physical therapy is comprised by a home program called CME Medek.

We do 2 45 minute sessions at home every day. We also fly for Nathan to see CME Medek specialists every 4-8 weeks.

This therapy consists for various exercises designed to remove support and instigate spontaneous responses which treat his brain. For example, we balance him on a board in space to make him balance himself and hold up his trunk. There are various posts and videos about Medek on this site if you wish to learn more about it.

Speech Therapy

Currently, the primary speech therapy goal is to teach Nathan how to use his eye gaze to communicate. We are working on getting him a Dynavox Vmax with Eyemax. This will read his retina so he can make choices on a computer screen. THis will be used initially for him to communicate his needs and to make selections between toys, books, etc. Eventually this will teach him literacy and become a more complex method of communication.

We also work on oral motor skills. We do Beckman exercises before ever meal. We also use a Z-vibe and a few other oral motor tools to help improve his tongue lateralization and lip closure.

We are going to be seeing a specialist in Venezuela in the future to help with his communication skills.

Occupational Therapy

Nathan sees an occupational therapist to help with his fine motor skills. She typically places him on his side on prop sitting to teach him to use his hands. He can now hold objects for extended periods but is still learning how to release objects by choice.

Other Therapies

Nathan has done hippotherapy since he was 1 year old. He is currently taking a small break from it because of various interruptions in our schedule, but will soon be resuming regular hippotherapy lessons.

He also receives aquatic therapy twice a week. The mostly have him on his belly in the water to get him to kick and to lift his head up. If he doesn’t hold his head, his head falls into the water, so he has learned to hold it up in an almost horizontal position. The focus of this therapy is mostly exercise and movement, but also socialization, as there are other children in the water at the same time. It is a therapeutic pool at about 90 degrees.

Equipment

Currently, we are using the following pieces of equipment:

– Ormesa Bug wheelchair for feeding and transportation
– Kidwalk gait trainer for standing and walking
– Hart Walker for standing and walking
– Childrite seat for seating on the ground
– Corner chair for seating on the ground
– Neck collar to hold his head while using the computer
– ErgoBaby and Baby Bjorn to hold him in while on quick trips
– Danmar collar so he can float independently in the water
– Wingbo for swinging and vestibular stimulation

Western Doctors

Nathan sees a general pediatrician who specializes in children with special needs. She is our go-to-guy for any general illness and medical testing. She is smarter than any neurologist, neurosurgeon, orthopedic, etc. We go to her first before anything and double check any recommendations from other doctors with her. She is Nathan’s primary doctor.

He also sees: Neurologist, Neurosurgeon, Gastroenterologist, Pediatric Opthalmologist, Orthopedist, Orthotist.

Western Medicines

Currenly, the only prescription drug that Nathan is on is Prevacid for reflux or GERD.

Things we wish to incorporate in the future

Stem cells in China if/when funds permit.

Daily ABR sessions. This helps with his physical structure. It is a passive exercise so we have not had time to incorporate it into his routine. However, we hope to find time to incorporate it in the future.

Speech therapy and communication. This will be a major focus for us now that we have a strong physical therapy and biomedical protocol in place. Now we have to help him learn to talk and communicate!

A good friend sent me these notes. I thought I would share them here as they contain fabulous information.

Notes from the June 27th Lecture By Dr Hiromi Shinya
Hiromi Shinya M.D. is the Chief of Surgical Endoscopy at Beth Israel Medical center and Clinical professor of Surgery at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He is a pioneer of the Colonscopy and considered the leading Gastro-Enterologist in the world. He spends 6 months of the year in Japan and 6 months in New York.
So how would this icon of the medical world start this much anticipated lecture?

Well he surprised all of us!

He started the lecture by playing his harmonica. And with that we all knew that he was no ordinary doctor!
Two other ways I which he differs from the traditional medical doctor:

1) He does not like using pharmaceutical drugs. He suggests them only when absolutely necessary. In fact he used to test them on himself before prescribing them for his patients. He has since stopped this practice after taking a common medication prescribed for erectile dysfunction and thinking he was going to die.

2) He views 90% of all disease as lifestyle related. He advocates lifestyle change, attacking the root cause of disease, as the main focus and therapy for his clients.

Over the course of his 40 year career he has seen many changes in health in his home country of Japan. In 1960, there were only 400 cases of breast cancer and prostate cancer reported in the entire country. Although the Japanese are still considered the healthiest people on the planet their health started to change drastically after the introduction of milk into school lunches.

Japanese have 10-15 times more stomach cancer than Americans, He feels strongly that this is due to the tannic acid in tea.

Americans have 10-15 times more colon cancer than the Japanese, primarily caused by diet.
If a person eats a diet high in meats, dairy products, cheese, yogurt, white rice and refined grains it causes the colon muscular layer to become very thick, creating spasms and actually shortens the colon. He says that a high fiber diet can actually make your colon up to 2 ft longer. He stated that a persons colon is a good indication of what is happening to your arteries also. As the colon goes, so do your arteries.
We do not inherit disease from our parents, we inherit their dietary habits and all the health problems that come with it. Good habits will overcome bad genes.

Shinya believes that there is a direct relationship between dietary practices and health problems. This is not a new idea, especially among Natural Health practitioners and enthusiasts. But is sure refreshing to here a Medical Doctor voice the same philosophy and have 40 years of evidence to stand on.
How has Dr Shinya arrived at his theory of health and diet? Direct physical evidence!

As a gastro-intestinal specialist he has carried out over 370,000 colonoscopic procedures. In other words, he has inserted a camera into over a quarter million people’s colon and filmed the results. What results? The results of their dietary practices!

For over 40 years Dr Shinya has carried out his colonoscopic procedures and gathered dietary data from his patients. He finds out what you eat and then looks at the results. Based on this physical evidence he has formulated his ideas on health and the diet for the future. A diet that will prevent heart disease, cure cancer and stop type 2 diabetes. It is pretty hard to argue with this type of evidence.

He showed a number of slides showing the interior lining of a patient’s colon, the toxic accumulations, their health concerns and he shared the dietary data he got from that person.

Shinya advocates what he thinks is the best diet based on his findings. He suggests a two-fold change for all of his clients:

1) Eating a primarily vegan diet. Natural foods cure everything because the body reponds to nature.
2) Drinking alkaline, anti-oxidant water, Kangen Water.

Here are Dr Shinya’s diet suggestions:

1) Eat 85-90% Plant Based Foods and Ocean Sea Vegetables ( Wakame, Nori etc)
a. 50% whole grain, unrefined, organic grains, cereals and beans. His staple food is a mixture of 5 grains (Brown Rice + millet, quinoa, amaranth, whole oats, buckwheat etc.
b. 30% Vegetables. The more raw the better because of the enzyme factor.
c. 10-15% Fruits, seeds and nuts.

2) 10-15% Animal based protein – no more than 3-4 oz a day. Preferably fish. He said that he eats meat a handful of times per year. Meats from animals that have a higher body temperature than that of humans should not be consumed because the fat solidifies on our body and causes a host of health problems.

Human body Temp – 98.6 F
Cow body temp. – 102-104 F
Bird body temp – 105-108 F

His basic dietary routine morning noon and night is:
O
ne hour before a meal: 2-3 glasses of water
30 minutes before a meal: Fresh Fruit
Then the meal based on the above suggestions

The Two Worst Lifestyle Practices:

1) Smoking – Adds 20 years to your age
2) Alcohol Consumption

The Two Worst Dietary Habits:

1) Consuming Meats
– Daily consumption of beef will inevitably produce prostate problems and cancer.
– Vegetable proteins freeze cancer cells.
– Meat protein and especially casein (protein from milk) stimulate and fertilize cancer growth.

2) Consuming Milk Products
– Casein is worse than meat to stimulate and fertilize cancer growth.
– Milk cows are artificially inseminated to stimulate milk production. The increased hormones in milk cause breast cancer, as well as prostate and infertility problems.
– The only animal that drinks milk of another animal is the stupid human!
– Everyone is lactose intolerant!

Limit or Avoid:
– Dairy Products, tea and coffee, sweets and sugars, nicotine, alcohol, chocolate, regular table salt.
– Refined Fats and oils – all oils are 100% oxidized fats loaded with free radicals. Get your fats and oil from natural unrefined sources – whole foods.

Other dietary recommendations:
– Stop eating 4-5 hours before bedtime
– Chew every mouthful 30-50 times
– Eat fruit between meals
– Drink 2-3 cups of water 60-90 minutes before a meal
– Eat fruit 30 mins before a meal
– Eat fermented foods
– Enzyme supplements
– Be disciplined – You are what you eat!

Drink Kangen Water!
It is the only water he mentions in his book. Dr Shinya has been recommending Kangen water for 10 years. You never know what you are buying when you buy a bottled water. You do not know the source and you have no idea of the contamination from the plastic. Poland Spring water was found to have formaldehyde in 50% of the bottles.

Why he recommends Kangen Water:

1) It has strong reduction power. Capable of eliminating free radicals through anti-oxidation.
2) Free of substances harmful to the human body (Purified)
3) Has small water clusters ( Hydrating)
4) Contains appropriate balance of minerals, calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium
5) It is alkaline to help keep your body at an optimum pH level

Drink minimum 6-10 cups of water per day
Drink 1-3 cups upon rising in the morning
Drink 2-3 cups 60 minutes before a meal

The cause of all disease and aging: Lack of enzymes and water
Sufficient water intake improves the 5 Flows of the Body:

1) Blood/Lymph Flow
2) Gastro-Intestinal Flow
3) Urinary Flow
4) Respiratory/Air Flow
5) Internal Energy (Chi) Flow

You will never die from over drinking water. If you drink large quantities of water, put a pinch of salt on your tongue and drink some more.

Dr Shinya says that if you start with his diet recommendations when you are 40-45 years of age that the condition of your colon can return to that of a baby. If you wait until you are 65-70 years old it is almost impossible. When do you want to start change? Now!

How effective have his suggestions been for the health of his patients?

He boasts a 0% reoccurrence of cancer in his patients that adopt his program. This is for patients with up to stage 3 cancers that have not metastasized. 0% reoccurrence!

Dr Shinya’s 7 Keys for Good Health!

1) A Good Diet
2) Good Water
3) Regular Elimination
4) Moderate Exercise
5) Adequate rest
6) Deep Breathing and Meditation
7) Joy and Love

The Price of a Healthy Life is Much Cheaper than Getting Sick!
If you have not read Dr. Hiromi Shinya’s book “The Enzyme Factor” I highly recommend it.

Kate, Gavin’s mom, wrote this beautiful post today and I just had to share it.

How in the world did we get here. – Monday, July 13th

It brought tears to my eyes. Because it is so true. Everything. I couldn’t have said it better, or differently.

Thank you Kate, for saying it out loud.