Thankfully, they still worked me in for the appointment this morning (woo hoo!) and I spoke to Dr. Russell and he said he is very pleased with how Kaylee is doing. Kaylee's eosinophilic (a type of white blood cell that is involved with allergies) percentage is still a bit elevated and he said that he wants to address that with Singulair for her allergy symptoms, because the Zyrtec worked, but it makes her irritable.
A side note here: I did do a little "Zyrtec Experiment" this week, reintroducing it to Kaylee every other day, and I saw a difference in her behavior immediately. The next day, no more panic attack when putting on her shirt over her head. Yay! I am not sure why it makes such a bid difference, but it does.
Next week I will be starting Kaylee on Lexapro (a very very small dose, 1 mg a day) and I am really looking forward to that. Dr. Goldberg and Dr. Russell have said this is the major medication that makes a big difference in our children diagnosed with autism because it gets blood flow restored to the parts of the brain that are deprived.
Dr. Russell said he was encouraged and that we seem to be right on track with Kaylee's treatment. Kaylee is doing much better not only physically but cognitively, too. When I told the doctor that I was concerned about her reemerging anxiety, he told me that he sees that very often in our kiddos because they aren't always sure how to handle all of the new input into their world. Consequently, they react with fear at times. Dr. Russell reassured me that he believed the Lexapro would help with that, too.
It's true because Kaylee really is coming out and noticing the world around her. She addresses me "Great job, Mom!" and she wants to see what I am doing. She asks to help me cook dinner (tonight she shredded cheese and helped cook beef) and she tries to help me take care of Joey and Abbie!
I have a funny thing to share, actually...I was feeding Abbie her dinner and walked away to get a napkin to wipe her off and I came back and Kaylee took it upon herself to feed Abbie! I hurried up and tried to get it on camera:
Jen,
ReplyDeleteI watched your video and it is so precious! I actually teared up :) What great strides Kaylee is making!!! Praying that she'll continue to improve and that her upcoming medical treatments with lexapro and singulair help provide balance in the areas that are deficient.
Jenny
Jennie,
ReplyDeleteWow, how awesome is that...her wanting to help you do things she sees you doing! Has she ever been like that, because to me that is huge! Glad to hear things are going better and that you figured out the effects of the zyrtec. I'm curious though, based upon some reading I've been doing, I wonder if her Dr. would be open to taking anti-inflammatory enzymes to relieve the allergy symptoms as opposed to more drugs. I hear they can be extremely beneficial.
Thanks Carrie, for your suggestion...at a risk I will say what most people in the autism community wouldn't agree with: but the NIDS doctors don't really advocate the use of supplements because many times, even if they are natural, they can cause an immune response in our kids. I know a woman who's child was tested and had a response to garlic because she was giving it to him everyday as a natural antifungal. Also, many supplements don't have a standard of purity and we don't always know everything that is in them.
ReplyDeleteThe theory is, most of these kids don't have some sort of nutritional deficiency, unless it is secondary to GI problems. Many of these kids have an immune problem that was probably triggered by immunizations or something else. So megadosing tons of supplements aren't going to fix the problem, in fact they can aggravate it at times.
Does that make sense? The truth is, the Dr. Goldberg and Dr. Russell don't do anything that is too risky or not well tested or proven, like chelation or HBOT for example. The more research I do, the more I am glad that I didn't take the chance and do some of those therapies. Sorry, this was a long-winded response!