Sunday, February 28, 2010

HANDLE, Cranio, Enhansa

If anyone asked me what my three biggest "wow"s would be with Michael, these would have to be them. We have done so many things with him that have been miraculous (Tomatis, diet, etc.), but these are current and making a huge impact on him now.

We had Michael's HANDLE followup this afternoon. It is so remarkable for me to think back where he was last year when we started, and compare that child to the Michael we have now. Today he was interacting, asking questions, being polite, so many wonderful things. Last year he was shy, acting out, impatient. He still has a long way to go, but I am just so thrilled with his progress.

I think the biggest things he has gained from HANDLE have to be better vision, self-confidence and body awareness. He has always struggled with getting his eyes to work together, making distance reading and close work like writing extremely difficult for him. Now, when his schoolwork comes home I can actually read it! And, no more throwing pencils to get out of writing! Also, he really seems to have a much better idea of where his body is in space, letting him freely jump, run, and just be kid. I love it!

I think the CST works so well with HANDLE. As his therapist has been working on his frontal lobe and the two hemispheres of his brain working together, we are seeing huge gains in self control, expression, curiosity, and pretend play. I'm not 100% sure what to attribute to HANDLE and what to CST, but together, they make a whole new kid.

Underlying all these gains has to be the enhansa. Now that Michael is free of the chronic candida infection, his tummy problems are gone and so is his OCD and most of his aggression. I can see every day that as his body heals, his brain does too. It is hard to understand how yeast can do so much damage, but boy do I believe it! Plus, the anti-oxidants have to really help in reducing inflammation and just making him healthier.

So, after much introspection on the way home, I have to rave about my favorite three 'wow's -- at least for today!

6 comments:

Jacqueline Gauthier said...

What a wonderful story of healing and hope! We just began enhansa and we are seeing some wonderful results too, but it's fantastic to hear of a longer term success! Thanks for sharing!

Renee said...

Thanks for the comment! I really think Enhansa has been beyond huge for Michael. Before it, we were rotating antifungals constantly, severely limiting all yeast feeders, and still losing him. Now, none of that. He hasn't had a prescription antifungal in over a year now and no recurrence. I am so thankful!!!

Unknown said...

I love this update. So glad it went so well and that you are seeing gains.

Selena said...

Hi Renee
What a fantastic blog. We are just started the diflucan/enhansa combo. I'm hopeful for improvement with my 28m old angel.
Do you live in the VA area? I thought maybe so since you see K. Dorfman and Dr. Megson. I wanted to know how your CST and HANDLE therapists are. We are fairly new to the journey and while we are started ABA now, I wanted to understand more about the other therapies.

Renee said...

I'm so sorry it took me so long to answer. Things have been absolutely nuts here. But, in a good way.

We live in Maryland, Montgomery County. We go up to Integrated Therapies in Ellicot City for CST. They are a bit of a hike but so worth the trip. We go every two weeks, and they have Saturday appts.

Renee said...

As for a HANDLE practioner, we have been working with Pamela Ruffner, from the west coast. She has been working with some people to get them trained on the east coast, but I haven't heard anything lately. I'll post as soon as I do.