Michael's Enzymes

I've been talking with a lot of people lately about the enzymes that Michael takes and why he takes them. I thought it would make the most sense to just write this out here and hope it reaches as many people as possible.

When Michael was first diagnosed with autism, we heard about the Gluten free/Casein free diet as a possible treatment. He was so limited in the foods he was willing to eat, and so underweight, I wasn't willing to further limit his diet at the time. I heard about a book, Enzymes for Autism and Other Neurological Conditions, and decided to try the enzymes instead of the diet. There is a wonderful yahoo support group for people reading the book and using enzymes.

There are three enzymes that we give him: AFP Peptizide, Zyme Prime, and No Phenol, all produced by Houston Enzymes.

AFP Peptizide helps break down gluten, casein, and soy proteins. It is really the enzyme that can help instead of removing these foods from the diet. However, if your child is allergic to any of these proteins, or has celiac disease, the enzymes cannot replace removal of the foods.

Zyme Prime helps with the digestion of carbohydrates and fats. If your child is lactose intolerant, this enzyme can help digest the lactose (a sugar/carbohydrate).

No Phenol helps digest fruits and vegetables. Michael has a strong hyper reaction to bananas, but if we give him this enzyme with bananas, he can tolerate them just fine. It also seems to help with any food coloring in his food.

When we first started, Michael was unable to swallow capsules, so we bought the powdered version of the enzymes and mixed it with juice. You have to be careful to only mix right before giving the enzymes to your child. Otherwise, the enzymes will act on the juice and spoil it.

Now that Michael can swallow capsules, we get one product, Trienza. Two capsules of this product combines one dose of AFP Peptizide, one dose of Zyme Prime, and a half dose of No Phenol. If Michael is eating a lot of fruits/vegetables with a meal, we will give him an additional No Phenol capsule.

I love that Dr. Houston is so responsive to the needs of our children. His products are safe, and he is responsive. The website is great resource to understand how enzymes work for our kids, and he is a genuinely caring person. He came out to a parent group meeting I attended at his own cost, gave a thorough presentation, and answered all our questions. It was just obvious that he cares about our kids. I appreciate that.

After taking the enzymes for over 3 years, we decided to try Michael on the GFCF diet. Most children who have problems with Milk also have problems with soy, so we eliminated that as well. We also started to see Dr. Megson. We saw wonderful results with the diet, and Dr. Megson ran blood tests that indicated Michael is allergic to Wheat, Egg, and Peanut. Since the enzymes cannot help with physical allergies, it made sense that Michael was so responsive to the diet.

Since there seems to be a yahoo group for everything, I highly recommend the GFCF Kids group, for information about the diet and pretty much everything biomedical/autism related.

The last question people ask is why Michael still takes the enzymes even with the diet. The short answer is to be safe. His digestive system is such a fragile thing, we don't want to take any chances on cross contamination, or him eating something he isn't supposed to. By taking the enzymes before eating, we have an extra level of digestive safety.

I hope this helps with any questions you have about Michael's enzymes. If not, please leave a comment or send me an email. Michael is always my favorite topic!

Bad Mommy, Happy Mommy!

I feel like the worst mother in the world, but I am also incredibly happy. The last couple weeks have been really rough for Michael. He's been emotionally fragile, aggressive, distant, weepy, you name it. The worst part was, we had no idea what started it all – until Friday. After another terrible day at school, Steve finally made the connection that all the behavior started a few days after we switched one of Michael's supplements from a clear liquid to a bright orange tablet. Yes, we should have known better. Of course we should have realized that the tablet had food coloring that Michael can't tolerate. We were so caught up in the allergy information, we totally missed the food coloring.

Saturday morning we switched him over to a 100% hypoallergenic capsule. We started seeing slow behavior improvements. Today, we have our sweet kid back. His teachers even commented on how hard he was trying to have good behavior at school! So, I feel like the crummiest mother possible for missing something that affected him so badly, and should have been so obvious. But, I am just grinning from ear to ear about having him 'back'!

I've been taking a food safety class in the evenings this month, so I haven't had as much time with Michael as I'd like. After hearing what went on while I was in school tonight, I want to drop the class and just be home more. But, I only have 2 classes left, so I think I can manage.

On the way home from his social skills group, Michael told Steve that he wanted to make cupcakes. In the past, he might help with one ingredient and pouring the batter. Tonight, Michael participated in every step: finding the recipe, gathering/measuring the ingredients, mixing the batter, and pouring it into the paper cups. He also supervised when Steve put the cupcakes in the oven, tested them, and took them out to cool. He was so proud of himself, and couldn't wait to taste his creation. When I came home tonight, he eagerly told me about making the cupcakes with Daddy and that they were 'delicious treats'. I couldn't be more proud!

The other amazing thing tonight was that he got a paper cut. Normally, he would get really upset over being hurt, but not let anyone do anything to help. Most times, he couldn't even express what had happened. Tonight he was sounding upset, so Steve asked what was wrong. He answered, "I have a paper cut." When Steve asked if he could see it, Michael said "No, I need a bandaid." Then, actually let Steve put a bandaid on. He wouldn't let Steve wash it, but didn't need to know that he had snuck some Neosporin onto the bandaid.

He was a little grumpy when it was finally time for bed, but I think he was just worn out from such a long, eventful day. I am so glad to have my Michael back. And I promised him I would be much more careful with any changes to his supplements!