This story is reprinted with permission from Recovered from Autism. Thanks Erica!

Our Story

Kaiden was born July 5, 2001, a healthy 9 pounds, 10 ounces. He scored a 9 and 10 on the APGAR. The next day he developed a small fever and jaundice. I found out later he had a HepB vaccine without my knowledge and against my request. Despite persistent thrush and yeast rashes, my son flourished. He maintained growth in the 95th percentile, began very early babbling sounds, and began sleeping through the night. Except for persistent thrush and yeast, he was the perfect happy, healthy baby.

All H*ll Breaks Loose

At 9 weeks old, he had his first round of vaccines. Something intuitively made me question vaccinating him. I did some research but the internet was not yet what it is today. The day of the appointment, I talked to the doctor about it. We have an extensive history of reactions to vaccines. My brother completely lost his hearing in one ear after a vaccine. He also had severe allergies and asthma. I had a reaction to a tetanus vaccine as a child. In college, I was revaxed with the MMR. I developed symptoms of measles, mumps, and rubella. I was very sick. I then developed severe allergies to everything, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, IBS, and other immune related problems. However, I never made the connection to the MMR revax until after my son’s ordeal. My oldest daughter also reacted to the MMR and began hitting herself in the face shortly thereafter and then developed sensory integration dysfunction.

The doctor negated my fears and spent 30 minutes convincing me to give my son the shots. I refused the HepB and he agreed it was completely unneccesary for a baby. The doctor emphatically reassured me the shots no longer contained thimerosal. I put my trust in him and held my son down for the shots. I found out later they did include thimerosol (September of 2001).

My son screamed basically non-stop from that moment on. He stopped sucking his thumb, stopped sleeping almost completely, screamed relentlessly, developed all over body hives and eczema, severe reflux and aspirating, and his chronic yeast and thrush worsened.

He ceased all babbling, and plummeted from the 95th percentile to below the 5th to off the chart for weight. He stopped having BMs (having only 3 in 2 months in the time right after his shots!) He developed food intolerances to nearly everything. He began headbanging as soon as he could crawl (at an early 5.5 months).

Confronting the Doctor

After his reaction, I noticed he was very gassy and colicky and figured he had developed a dairy sensitivity as my daughter had also developed this after her first shots. I eliminated all dairy from my diet (he was exclusively nursed) except baked in things. There was slight improvement (4 hours sleep, less crying). But he was still refluxing and aspirating terribly.

After many unhelpful trips to the doctor, I demanded to see a GI specialist. Our ped insisted nothing was wrong because (I kid you not) he said my son was “so good looking there couldn’t possibly be anything wrong with him.” He called him his “movie star baby” and told me I was over-reacting.

Shortly thereafter my son went 14 days without a BM and started spitting up bile. We got our GI referral. In the appointment with our doctor, I demanded to read the package insert for my son’s vaccines. The doctor stormed out of the room and came back in with the DTaP shot insert. He made a big deal of unfolding the insert and began reading the ingredients. He stopped, covered his mouth, nervously giggled, and said, “Oops, I guess it does still contain thimerosal.” He quickly folded the sheet back up, tossed it at me and said, “for what it’s worth” and walked out of the room. We never went back.

We had an Upper GI series and discovered severe reflux and aspirating. Also, at my ped’s recommendation, we had begun giving him rice cereal and mashed bananas to try to help with the reflux. He developed a little red dot hive next to his lip everytime he had the cereal so I stopped it. He also seemed worse when I had chinese food. The GI specialist determined there was soy lethicin in the rice cereal and that he was also sensitive to soy. He was right. I eliminated dairy and soy completely from my diet and he improved - sleeping 6 hours per night - no more crying - but still no babbling.

The GI specialist put him on Pepcid which eliminated the aspirating. However he continued to lose weight and stayed off the weight charts for a year.

A Name for the problem… Autism

Ironically, I had read part of Lisa Lewis’ book, “Special Diets for Special Kids” at the book store looking for casein free recipes and after reading her intro about her son was so freaked out I threw the book down and ran out of the book store terrified as it sounded so much like my baby.

As Kaiden got older, typical and severe autistic stims (self-stimulatory behaviors) became more apparent -headbanging 50 times per day, staring into space with no blinking or reaction, licking things, lining things up, raging, etc. He had severe food intolerances, PST (phenol sulfur transferese) deficiency, leaky gut syndrome, hypotonia, and a multitude of other issues (most of which I didn’t recognize until I read Karyn Seroussi’s “Unraveling the Mystery of Autism and PDD” and William Shaw’s “Biological Treatments for Autism and PDD.”

By July of 2002 when my son turned 1 year old - he was still off the weight charts despite eating well. He had chronic eczema, all over body hives, a weepy eye, and all the other issues. I was desparate and knew he was probably autistic because of his classic behaviors. He was headbanging about 50 times per day, had never played with a toy, didn’t interact with his 5 year old sister, and didn’t talk. He stared at the TV for hours at a time (if I let him) without looking away, did not respond to his name, had never pointed, and basically just wandered around the house all day. Despite this, he still smiled easily on his own terms.

At his one year check up his new doctor said, “You know this all equals autism.” I already knew. I went back to the bookstore and bought several books on autism. That day changed my life. I started reading that night and read three books in the next three days. It was like reading my life story. (See links for resources.)

At 13 months, he had started saying some words, calling his sister by name, etc. But by 16 months, he had stopped most of that. I could shout his name 25 times (I counted once) and he would not turn to look at me.

The Diet

In June, just before his first birthday, I took us down to 4 foods (I was still nursing him so I had to follow his diet) for 2 weeks (turkey, asparagus, pears, and sweet potato as my research indicated these were the least likely to be allergenic). Most symptoms rapidly disappeared. I reintroduced one new food at a time every 5 days until we worked our way up to 10 foods. By Thanksgiving he was doing remarkably better. He headbanged maybe 10 times per day, would sit and color for hours at a time (which to me was better than raging) and was a little more “with it.”

We could keep symptoms to a minimum if we ate only these things: rice, potato, pears, beef, chicken, pork, occasionally asparagus and brocolli, and pancakes and waffles made with rice, tapioca, and potato flour.

A Turning Point … Homeopathy

We began homeopathy treatments in November, 2002. By Christmas, he showed minimal behavioral symptoms of autism. But he still had a drunken sailor walk and occaisonal stims. He had about 5 words which were actually stims. However, he played with toys, engaged his sister, pointed to things all over the place and was finally “here!”

I received minimal help from our pediatrician. We had two developmental screens from our child development services and they always happened just after we did a food elimination so he was always improved at the assessments. He was assessed at 1.5 years old after we did the elimination diet and started homeopathy and they said he was probably no longer full blown autistic but was still PDD (Pervasive Developmental Disorder) at a minimum. We were put on the 1+ year wait list to see the developmental pediatrician.

We remortgaged our house to pay for medical bills. We did qualify for free speech, OT, and developmental therapy which the assessment found warranted. We found a DAN doctor who confirmed our suspicions and documented our son had high mercury, high arsenic, leaky gut syndrome, excess yeast, and tetanus titers 3 times what is considered immune after just one shot (they are supposed to receive four). He said our son was “a classic case of autism.”

By February of 2003, I eliminated the last of our highly phenolic foods (peaches) and all corn sources we had reintroduced as he had begun licking things and spinning. That brought us down to 7 foods (rice, potato, chicken, pork, tapioca flour, egg yolks, and pears) - occasionally he could tolerate asparagus and broccoli. Most of his “bad” behaviors disappeared and he began babbling and saying a few words.

Also in February, he developed what we think was a severe case of the “flu” and almost died. He spent two nights in the ER and was basically unconscious for three days. He raged with yeast rash and thrush and a high fever. Amazingly, he awoke from this after 5 days, sat up in my lap and pointed to my eyes, ears, nose, and mouth and said each word! We were flabberghasted! He did it twice. Afterwards, he was dramatically improved and no longer needed the Pepcid he had been on for 15 months. The homeopath and our DAN doctor believe it was a “healing crisis.” Who knows!

In the spring of 2003, we gave him his first dose of DTP remedy. The change was phenomenal. His personality really began to shine and he made huge leaps in development. His weepy eye cleared up. His hypotonia went away and his physical strength increased so that he could climb up on the furniture, etc. He would respond to his name on the first try and seemed to understand everything going on around him, although he was still mostly nonverbal.

His own Language and Yeast

Although the diet and homeopathy helped, Kaiden still had issues. His speech was severely delayed as well as disordered. What little words he did use, were made up words other people could not understand. For example, “ticky-tick-ah” meant pears, “bah hip” meant sheep yogurt, “hmmhmm” meant music, “oh” meant yes, etc.

He still had leaky gut problems, and occasional headbanging or spinning if we tried a new food. In July (at 2 years old), we began giving him Culturelle, a probiotic, Lactobacillus LL. The change was dramatic. He had his first formed BM in over 4 months. Within 3 days he was babbling and his language jumped from 9 months to 15 months. He had about 20 words. I also discovered I had my own yeast issues. Because I was still nursing him to try to keep him as healthy as possible, I had to eat what he did. I also began the probiotic with much improvement.

We also began Kirkman’s Super-Nuthera, DMG for speech, and Carlson’s Cod Liver Oil. He also continued with cranial sacral therapy which he had received since birth. We saw good improvement with each. Later we added NoFenol enzyme which allowed him to eat bananas and peaches again. In the fall of 2003, we discovered sheep yogurt. Kaiden tolerated it with no symptoms. It caused considerable yeast die off but further improvement for his gut. Tired of the same old foods, he ate it with every meal for weeks. His physical appearance improved and we saw less and less raging and tantrums from yeast.

A Return to Normal Life

In October of 2003, he was doing very well. He had about 35 words but used mostly sign language to communicate. He learned over 50 signs in 2 days from Signing Time videos. He still had occasional stims, still had rages and headbanging, and ate only 7 foods (rice, potato, pears, chicken, beef, bananas, and sheep yogurt). We discovered he could pick out states on a map, knew all his colors, all his shapes, and was very bright. He weaned himself at 27 months. His only drink was water. The only rice milk he could drink was discontinued and he refused homemade.

Late October, we again dosed him with the DTP remedy. The change in him was absolutely dramatic. Within 3 days he had completely potty trained himself (at 27 months). He went from never having put on a piece of clothing to completely dressing himself every day. He began talking in full sentences. His language jumped up to age appropriate. I lost track counting at 150 words. He stopped almost all stimming, and he just blossomed. With a month, he presented like a normal, happy toddler.

On Christmas, he excitedly ran downstairs and opened all his presents, enjoying every one.. .talking all the time. Just 6 months before at his 2 year birthday he had sat quietly and happily watched his sister open all his presents. At Christmas, not only did he open all of his, but he wanted to open every one else’s as well!

In January 2004, at his assessment with Child Development Services, he no longer qualified for services as he was age appropriate and tested out advanced in many areas. He sleeps 11 hours per night, is incredibly happy, and a true delight.

In Feb. 2004 while driving in the car he told me all about how “bears hibernate in the winter, lions roar in the jungle, and baby kangaroos ride in their mommy’s pouch.” At bedtime, he would sneak out of bed and turn on his light to read books in his bed. Every day he surprises and delights us with new stories and new thoughts and ideas. His speech is extremely articulate and his inflection is heartwarming. He has also become very loving and snuggly. Whereas before he did not like his fingers, toes, and ears touched, today he will happily climb on my lap and snuggle in. One of the happiest days of my life was when he recently held my face in his hands and said, “I love you, Mommy.”

We began GSE sometime in 2004 with tremendous results. This stuff is liquid gold and the whole family benefits from maintenance dosing.

I believe the homeopathy played a significant role in his recovery. It’s hard to tell how much of the initial improvements were from diet or from the homeopathy but I think each played a different role. It has also worked wonders for me and our daughter.

In September 2005, Kaiden was almost completely recovered. He attended traditional preschool with no mention of autism. He has many, many friends and is extremely social. He loves striking up a conversation in the grocery store and is a happy, smiling, loving child. He is extremely well behaved and is just a delight to be with. He is learning completely on schedule and is advanced in many areas.

With the help of NAET, which was done in 2005 and 2006, he now eats a regular diet. We saw some minor issues when introducing new foods which evened out after more NAET (acupressure) and continued homeopathy. We continued to deal with yeast as well and even today maintain probiotics (Culturelle) and GSE on a semi-regular basis as needed.

I believe both the food and gut issues were due to the mercury toxicity. Thanks to homeopathy, he no longer requires the No Fenol enzyme.

As of early 2007, I consider him completely cured of autism. He has no food sensitivities or allergies and eats a normal diet. He is advanced in his classroom and scores above average in all social categories on his report cards. He has many friends, is very social, empathic, and bright. Please see the update section for more recent information.

If you have a recovery story to share, please send an email to sarah at wakingsophie.com , replace the at with @

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