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I’m a mother of an eight-year-old boy with autism. He was actually born with some symptoms
of autism, but at the time, I didn’t know. He had illnesses, vomiting, constipation,
things like that – very sick child. But at 15 months, it was apparent that he had
autism, and he was diagnosed with autism. Even though I have the diagnosis kind of thrown
out there, I didn’t know what to do; still trying to solve his physical illnesses. He
was very unhappy, very sad, very angry little child. Went to six or seven different pediatricians,
trying to find answers. Pretty much told me, “Well, he has autism. They're supposed to
throw up,” and that was it. I felt horrible. I wanted to help my child. He was 18 months
old, 19 months old, found a DAN! Doctor, and within 24 hours of seeing the DAN! Doctor,
my son stopped vomiting because he said, “Get him off of milk.” Something so simple –
I couldn’t believe it. He stopped vomiting, and he started having kind of regular bowel
movements and he could start sleeping. It was a miracle. And then working with this
DAN! Doctor for the next year or two, changing the diet and adding supplements really improved
my child’s health. Maybe a year after that, doing some chelation therapy, and my son went
from being a miserable, sick little boy to a happy little boy who still has autism and
a lot of autism symptoms, but he’s happy and he’s healthy and he has a childhood
now. And we enjoy being with him now. We look forward to the future because it’ll just
keep getting better and better. We keep trying new things all the time, and it’s very exciting.
My name is Megan, and I am a nutrition student at California State University Long Beach,
and I’m also a caregiver and a behavioral therapist for children with autism. And I’ve
been working with Wren’s son for a little over three years, and I've definitely noticed
remarkable differences with his behaviors and his mood and all those sorts of things
since she is giving him alternative treatments and supplements. And he’s more functioning.
He is more interested in learning. He has better attention, and he’s happier and healthier.
She’s right: He likes to play now and be interactive with kids who are around him.
I’m here at my eighth DAN Conference, which is a Defeat Autism Now Conference here in
Long Beach where they explain Biomedical Treatment for Autism. And the reason why I keep coming
back is because every year, there is new information and it’s very complex sometimes and very
overwhelming, all the information they give you because it’s so much great stuff that
sometimes it’s hard to get it all at once. And there’s no way you can do it all at
once, so I’m here eight times, and I’m learning new things and I am trying to implement
all that I can that fit my son. There's a lot of information that they give you, and
you need to incorporate that into your individual child. Everyone here is great. They're here
to help you, and even though it feels overwhelming and you're kind of afraid about alternative
medicine or it’s too high-level – too much medical speak… No, I’m not good with
that stuff, and here I am, for the eighth time, and I actually enjoy coming and learning.
And my son is benefiting so much from it, and I meet a lot of great people. There’s
a lot of support, so I’ll be back again next year. I have had the best luck with alternative
medicine. Alternative medicine, to me, seems to be more – I think we should call it
– common sense treatments. Sometimes you want to do what the doctor says because you
think doctors are smarter or have somehow gone to a school that they learn secrets that
you don’t know about so you have to trust them, and sometimes that’s true, except
it’s great to use your own mind and research all the information you can. And if you really
look not all alternative treatments are great, but a lot of them are and they just make sense.
And some of them can be so simple, and some of them can make such a great difference.
As a parent with a child with autism, I recommend the first thing to do starting off is to alternate
and experiment with changes in your diet. For us, eliminating milk – dairy products
– was a huge thing. It might not be for every child, but that’s a good place to
start. You can do your research and try other things – gluten, soy, elimination diets.
It’s not hard to do. You can do it. You just have to keep at it, and also eliminating
synthetic foods and chemicals in your child’s diet is a big one, too. From there, you can
schedule an appointment with a DAN! Doctor, and they can go further into supplements,
vitamins, minerals, deficiencies, toxicities, stuff like that that you need kind of guidance
and they're there to help you.