Author: Annie Eskeldson

I am a Classical Homeopath and a Certified Biofeedback Specialist. You can learn more about me at my website New Leaf Holistic. No information here is to be construed as medical advice. Information in posts is education only and I do not prescribe, cure, diagnose, mitigate, or treat any disease. Homeopathy and Biofeedback both have a scope of wellness, not disease. For any healing to take place, we must take back personal responsibility for our own health, educate ourselves, and work to unleash the energy the body already has inside of it to be well.
Posted in ASD, detox, Lyme, PANDAS, PANS, Tips

Choose Detox Success

Posted on by Annie Eskeldson

Detox of ‘dis-ease’ is a necessary yet irksome process where healing makes us feel much worse before we feel better. This unfair turn-around taxes the body and emotions so deeply that waves of doubt and fear can easily overcome us. Choppy waters take our eyes off the prize; calling it quits look attractive, and our longed-for rescue boat sorrowfully drifts away in search of another sailor who might stay the stormy course.

We have navigated this crazy trail for two years with wild success and I want to help you overcome fear and doubt to achieve the same results. Yes, we had scary days, weeks, and months where the notorious towel nearly got tossed. We had tears, anxiety, and flares with over the top mental and physical distress.

But like a lighthouse in a dark and stormy sea, I chose to let every gain be a beacon to signal the way towards a dry land called Healing. Each tiny, one-at-a-time improvement in sleep or poop or pain reduction, tolerating previous food allergens, cognitive growth, a trigger that no longer caused flare, or a word from a non-verbal child was like a beacon of hope. I chose to hang onto each little light sliver for dear life, and vowed to press on for the next one.

My suggestions below may come across as ‘in your face’ and be a turn off, but they were necessary for us to recover. We had lost our ability to function as a family spiraling from home bound to bed bound. We were broke from multiple specialists and protocols, sleep deprived, exhausted with no support or respite system, and we were so battle weary and afraid as one of ours seemed to not have much time left. So, my face-the-music ideas are based on our very dramatic turn around. While sounding too transformational to some, they may be key to others who wanting to heal, no matter the cost.

Focus

Face book detox. It sounds paradoxical, but leaving my face book medical ‘support’ groups boosted our healing. I know, I know, it’s so supportive, right? Well, maybe not as supportive as you might think. I listed some behaviors that may sound familiar:

  • Cross checking doctor on FB after every appointment.
  • Changing doctor’s protocol based on the advice of strangers.
  • Always searching for the latest, greatest, magic supplement.
  • Buying supplements not knowing correct dosage or if genuine need exists.
  • Dealing with FB Admins who argue your success despite improvement.

Here are some other critical thoughts:

  • If any of the above behaviors proved successful, we’d be healed by now.
  • The behaviors I listed above feed fear and doubt, not healing.
  • The groups do not communicate the lowermost level of illness that asd, pans, pandas really is, but I’m here to tell you, it’s the bottom of the health barrel. This is not DIY. We need help.
  • Face book is addictive, invasive, and all that internet usage creates chaos internally, making infections worse.
  • Face book feeds the nature of now, but ASD, PANS, PANDAS, Lyme, and auto-immune problems do not heal that way. These require patience, dedication, persistence, life-style change, sacrifice, determination, and education.
  • We did not need IVIG, stem cell, fecal implant, any invasive procedure, testing, or conventional medicine despite having severe cases. FB feeds into the frenzy of parents demanding these types of expensive procedures.
  • The groups are information overload, not specific to anyone.
  • Biofeedback streamlined everything we needed and we tossed what we didn’t. We needed a whole lot less, not more.
  • After success under us, and getting our lives back, my message of healing is often argued (oddly in my (ex) favorite groups) so healing really isn’t the true goal of some some of these groups.

Take your Life Back

  • Grab a bestie in the trenches to call and text instead of using face book. Communicate in the real world by phone calls or meeting up. Ditching the keyboard has been a true support. Don’t have anyone like that? Sure you do! Pick a bestie from face book and change how you communicate.
  • Use your practitioner as your source of information, not face book. His/her fee includes communication with you. Your treatment is individualized to you. No group holds a candle to that!
  • Focus on the gains. Embrace each one and don’t let go until you see the next. Let the small gains be huge. They’ll get bigger but we have to crawl before we can walk. You’ll be running before you know it.
  • Focus on family. With your time freed from face book, interaction and engagement with family fosters healing on the emotional, developmental, and behavioral planes which feed into healing physiological health too.
  • Spend some time researching resources related to the issues you are facing. Books that really went the distance for us were from Dr. Andreas Moritz, Stephen Buhner, Dr. Joe Rozencwaig, and so many others. And of course, just going back to school put so many books and doctors before me to study.
  • Surround yourself with others who are kind, winning, and supportive. Ditch those who want to fight or argue with you, especially if it’s on face book.

Understand

  • Dealing with infections like parasites, pathogens, retro-virus, metals, biotoxins, or having a leaky gut, food allergens, inflammation, and reactions to everything means we are literally swirling the toilet drain of health.
  • Drs Judy Mikovitz and Klinghardt call this AIDS minor. Grasp the level of illness with which we are dealing.
  • Know that you will not be healed in a few days, a couple of weeks, or maybe several months. It may even take a couple of years. Re-read the first two bullet points.
  • Healing naturally does not imply healing alone, cheaply, or quickly.
  • There is Good News! you will see gains all along which keep you motivated to fight and they will get bigger and better with invested time.
  • Focus on the gains you see each day. I said this above, but I’m saying it differently here. You are going to continue to have flares. Repeat, you are going to continue to have flares, but ( a really big but), they are going to gradually reduce in strength and frequency, and the triggers will begin to become easier to identify, manage, and then gradually disappear.
  • Focus on the time you spend not in flares. Maybe you experienced a flare today, but it lasted 10 minutes instead of 4 hours. Woah! That’s awesome! Maybe you experienced a flare today, but because you have peeled back so many layers, you know the exact cause and can squash it in minutes. Wow! That’s amazing! Focus on the positive.
  • Peeling back those ‘layers’ reveals underlying causes of issues so that they, too, can be solved, permanently.
  • The annoying cliche ‘it’s a marathon, not a sprint’ is an irritating truth you’ll have to decide to consciously live each day, maybe on a minute by minute basis for awhile.
  • Know that each layer may reveal new problems sending us backwards for a short time. It’s a healing pattern you’ll identify better down the road. But each uncovering, at the root, brings new solutions and new level of gains!

Changes in Diet

  • Buy Organic. It’s not a personal attack on your cooking, shopping, or on how much you love your family; It’s just a fact Jack: Detox is expensive, hard work. You are removing toxins and infections underlying dis-ease. You are wasting every cent and second if you are eating toxins at the same time you’re trying to eliminate them.
  • Eat Raw and Organic. This doesn’t mean you can’t ever cook or bake, but 80% of your diet should be raw, organic vegetables and fruits. Processed food contains almost zero of the nutrition our cells need to heal. You like the right tools? Give your cells the right tools, they’ll get the job done!
  • Remove gluten, dairy, soy, sugar, GMO corn, plus any allergens or foods that may cause reaction such as high oxalates, thiols, phenols or salicylates. These foods are inflaming to the body, soy is estrogenic, all corn is GMO unless specified organic, gluten molecules are so similar to thyroid hormone that some doctors believe it may be tricking the thyroid straight into hypothyroidism, and sugar, plainly put, is the devil.
  • Gluten free means buy raw veggies, fruits, and meats. It does not mean buy packages of processed foodstuffs labeled ‘gluten free.’ Those are commonly devoid of nutrition and full of sugar. Avoid the aisles at the g store and stay on the perimeter instead.
  • Drink filtered water. I use two different filters. One is a Zero Water filter which gets out all Total Dissolved Solids and glyphosate. This is a great filter if you have kidney issues. I also have an alkaline filter from EHM. This filter takes out the bad stuff and puts back in the good minerals to keep water alkaline. If you have kidney problems, this is not a filter you should use. If you can afford a whole house system, this is the way to go. The heat from showers and baths open the pores and a fairly large percentage of toxins in water can get into our bodies while bathing.
  • Stop using your microwave and especially don’t microwave using plastic! Don’t eat with plastic utensils. I asked Dr. Moore for a detox tip he would give the general public, and this was it.
  • Research the organs and foods that support them. For example, through detox, we had liver, kidney, bladder, gut, gall bladder issues and so as we seemed to systematically move through each organ, it occurred to me to add foods good for each particular organ and conversely, keep away from foods that would irritate. It’s very easy to research this topic.
  • Research eating for your blood type. You might be shocked to learn that blood type can be an indicator of foods your body can and can’t handle.
  • Research proper food combining. I have a link to a free book by Dr. Shelton in the post directly below this one.

Miscellaneous Paradigm Changing Ideas

  • Don’t worry about all the things you may be missing. They’ll be there when you’re healthy. I know how much it hurts and how few understand. It’s a hardness born out of love and survival in PANS/PANDAS/ASD/Lyme parents. Try to let go, focus on healing, and life will be easier when there is health.
  • Consider homeschooling until kids are well. Most of us have PTSD from what we are going through, but we are passing that to teachers and other students when we send our flaring kids to school. I guess you can demand IEPs or special school plans, but bottom line, these kids are sick. I can’t imagine recovering my kids if they were gone all day. Their diets and toxin exposure must be kept in order and there is NO way I’d put that responsibility on anyone other than myself.
  • Learn about herbs.
  • Learn about homeopathy.
  • Get rid of internet. I use the hot spot on my cell when internet is needed, otherwise, it’s off. It’s definitely contributed to healing.

Stay the course, get in the know, ditch the bad, keep the good, find a good friend and stay in contact, focus on the gains, read our Bibles, depend on the Lord. Healing is just over the next wave. If we can do it at our house, anyone can do it. If you ever need support, I’ll throw you a life preserver.

If this sounds like an overwhelming list, contact me at New Leaf Holistic. I’ll help you keep it all together.

Posted in Getting Rid of Yeast

Food Combining

Posted on by Annie Eskeldson

Are you ready to get rid of the Yeast Beast?

Recently I read a book written by Dr. Herbert Shelton called Food Combining Made Easy. It was more than eye opening. The red flags went up, my radar went off, the light bulbs lit up, and the fireworks rained down because I knew I finally had an answer to the elusive Yeast Beast.

Yeasty behavior can look like giddy, obnoxious laughter and behavior that lasts for hours; unsafely stumbling around, oblivious to surroundings like stairs, furniture, or danger, which is downright frightening; little or no attention span, brain fog, turning upside down with feet in the air, and I’m sure there are others. These are the most common.

We’ve been told that it’s probably a die off reaction when detoxing or even a byproduct of detoxing metals. I’ve even heard that in metal toxic people, the yeast is there as a protection. All of the above may be true, yet despite in-depth detox, our yeast problem continued to persist.

Ultimately my post here is not to teach you how to combine your foods, but rather to show you why. I will list some of Dr. Shelton’s profound ideas below, but in order to understand the concepts at their root you will want to read his book. Here is a link to download Food Combining Made Easy for free.

He goes far beyond the obvious, that the American diet leads to disease, and further proves that even those of us eating raw, organic, non-processed foods are not that much ahead if we are not combining those good foods correctly when we eat.

Sure, you can find helpful charts and menus online by duck-duck-go’ing the subject, but I truly suggest downloading and reading the book. This will help you grasp the underlying concepts which will empower you on the fly at the grocery store and food gatherings.

Doctor Shelton includes technical information, experimentation, and peer reviewed/published research regarding food combining that is hands down fascinating. Frankly it is criminal that this is not general knowledge. He wrote this book in 1951! Even back then Dr. Shelton knew that diet was crucial to both healing and preventing chronic disease and he spent at least 40 years proving it. Yet, in all my time spent in medical support groups and seeing holistic doctors, I had never heard of proper food combining. Yes, diet is constantly driven home as paramount, but it’s been crickets regarding the proper combining of those foods.

If you have yeasty, allergic people in your home, then you haven’t heard of it either and you’re not combining foods correctly. I know I sure wasn’t!

My Notes from Food Combining Made Easy by Dr. Shelton:

  • True, the gut is full of acid, but what breaks down food into nutrients that feed our cells are enzymes, not the acid.
  • Enzymes have parameters and limitations and when we eat our foods without respecting those boundaries, it stops enzymatic action.
  • If an acid is eaten with a meal, it stops enzymatic action immediately, in the mouth. Think vinaigrette on a salad…oops!
  • No enzymatic action means no nutrition from our food.
  • When we don’t get nutrition we are never satisfied. We graze around the clock, a vicious cycle that actually feeds disease.
  • You cannot combine fruit with protein, veggies, or starches. No spinach in fruit smoothies.
  • Undigested foods sit and ferment causing intestinal putrefaction. A-ha! So this is what gives rise to the sugar alcohols (yeast) and other toxic gases. Throw in some leaky gut and we have yeast beast, toxicity, and possibly eczema??
  • Avocados and black olives are considered proteins.
  • Pumpkins and carrots are starches.
  • Melons should be eaten alone.
  • Wait 4 hours after eating protein, 3 hours after eating starches, and 2 hours after eating fruits before eating another type of food.
  • Enzymes are specific for proteins, starches, and sugars and they are specific for types of proteins, starches, and sugars as well. This means it’s too confusing for the body to digest nuts and steak, so choose one. Choose either a potato or rice, not both, and only combine with veggies, not a protein. No meats with starches.
  • Fruits can be combined within their own sub groups of either sweet fruits, acid fruits, or sub-acid fruits, but they should not be intermixed amongst groups.
  • Dr. Shelton saw cases of allergies, intestinal and digestive issues, and chronic disease that were resolved with proper food combining.
  • Ham sandwiches, pasta and meatballs, pizza, most Italian dishes, eggs and toast, toast and jelly, steak and potato, beans and rice, roast beef with potatoes and carrots are all no’s. Heck, even my organic, grass fed meatloaf with organic pumpkin puree sauce from my own garden is a no-go because of pumpkin being a starch and the rule of not combining a protein and a starch.
  • I’m doubting any supplemental enzyme works unless foods are properly combined.
  • You truly cannot have your cake and eat it too, but if you combine your foods properly you can eat as much of each meal as you like.
  • If my notes are confusing, read the book! They will make more sense.

It gets more interesting. The most amazing nugget I found in regards to yeast and toxicity was that sugars are not digested in the stomach. They are actually digested in the intestine. So even if you eat a perfectly organic, raw meal of vegetables but follow it up with beautiful, organic apples – you’ve blown it.

Yep.

The fruit will sit in the gut, waiting for the veggies to digest before hitting the trail to the intestines. While waiting, it will ferment causing intestinal putrefaction and all kinds of toxic gases to build up. Imagine if you had included a vinaigrette dressing and the acid shut down the enzyme’s ability to digest the veggies from the very get go (in the mouth)? That would mean the entire meal is just sitting there. In the gut. Fermenting and producing toxic chemicals and gases.

Dr. Shelton lists those toxins in his book and they all spell yeast, toxicity, chronic digestive problems such as indigestion, food allergies, and only compound problems when leaky gut, Crohn’s, and eczema are present. Dr. Shelton spent his life using proper food combining as a part of his healing protocols all over the world.

I am on our fourth week of following Dr. Shelton’s food combining rules and not only did the yeast beast shrink and disappear, but attention span and focus is improving as well as cognitive ability. Since we are truly digesting our food and getting actual nutrition from it, we only need three meals/day. No snacks are needed and we’ve put an end to constant grazing and bottom-less pits. As a bonus my food lasts longer which means I’m saving a little bit of money.

I don’t know if food combing alone will get rid of your yeast, but there is certainly no reason not to try. We have been detoxing parasites, metals, biotoxins, viral infections, Lyme co infections, etc. for almost two years, so maybe we had peeled back enough layers that properly combining our foods was pure icing on the cake. Still, I can’t help but believe that if we had been properly combining food all along that there would have been a considerable decrease in the amount of yeast and toxicity that we had to deal with in the first place and detox may have went smoother and/or faster.

Everything is better without the Yeast Beast, so grab your free copy of Food Combining Made Easy and start today. Along with a ton of information, Dr. Shelton includes menu plans that will help get you get started and we saw improvement within a couple days.

Posted in ATEC Evaluation

The 100 Point Drop

Posted on by Annie Eskeldson

As we rounded out 20 months of detox I performed a routine ATEC evaluation for our severely autistic child. Eight months prior, we enjoyed a whopping 75 point drop while carefully following protocol; but I believed enough improvement had occurred to show another reduction in symptoms.

I was right. Another 25 points sheered off.

That is a total of 100 points in 20 months.

To put this in perspective, we began many years ago with an extreme, severe ATEC score of 179. Four burdensome years with a MAPS netted us 20 measly points and a bank-breaking, lifetime protocol that included no healing and no cure.

I was left with a now much older child who was, developmentally, only 9 to 18 months old, severe on the spectrum, and now crippled with health issues thanks to everything the MAPS doctor had missed.

Fast forward 20 months and our lives are fully motoring in the opposite direction. With a 100 point ATEC drop, the difference is mind-blowing in every arena: Physical health, behavioral, social, cognitive, and developmental improvements are simply remarkable.

What improvements have we seen?

  • Regular and normal bowel movements
  • Regular and normal sleep
  • Potty Trained!
  • Addition of previous food allergens
  • No more thyroid meds!
  • Restored energy
  • Able to run, play, swim, climb, ride bike (w/training wheels)
  • Ability to use eating utensils
  • Improved focus and attention
  • Improved engagement
  • Eye contact
  • Improved processing of information
  • Improved communication
  • Able to follow simple instructions
  • Able to shake head “yes”
  • Able to say a few words
  • Attempts at becoming verbal
  • Executive function improvement
  • Social improvement
  • Sensory improvement
  • No longer home bound
  • No longer bed bound!

Our ATEC is currently at 59, so of course we have more work to do, and we are, but life with an ATEC 59 is 100% better than life with an ATEC of 159.

Did I mention we did this all naturally? We have!

For us DETOX has been the way out.

Posted in My MAPS doctor experience, New Leaf Holistic

Getting Lost With a MAPS

Posted on by Annie Eskeldson

After years of unhelpful doctors giving referrals to unhelpful specialists, I was, back then, positively stoked to land in the office of a ‘holistic’ MAPS (Medical Academy of Pediatrics Special Needs) doctor.

Ours was an MD/PhD who ran endless tests culminating into several hours worth of appointments each year for analysis. After four years, it felt like I was just another practice run for the interpretation of blood, urine, stool, and hair tests at the expense my dollars and emotions. Leaving upteenth vials of blood at a lab a few times a year became traumatic, and in my opinion, negatively affected healing, if there was any to be had in the first place.

Initially, we learned a lot from those tests: inflammation, food and environmental allergies, oxalate issues, yeast problems, metal toxicity, gut dysbiosis, thyroid problems, vitamin deficiencies, etc., and we got some diagnosis such as: PANS, Auto-immune encephalitis, IBS, Crohns, celiac, leaky gut, MTHFR gene deletion, and of course, we already knew about ‘autism’. We even had some improvement after removing food allergens and adding desperately needed supplementation. I think most people show signs of improvement with obvious measures like these.

But we NEVER had cure.

None of the symptoms were reversed. Those that were alleviated, returned.

Our prognosis was a lifetime of taking $700 worth of supplements each month, routine blood testing, endless allergy shots, and constant expensive office visits; all with no cure.

Years of this left me burned out and frustrated as symptoms spiraled and the health decline became unbearable. We were home bound, then bed bound with no vapor of normalcy whatsoever. We lived from fire alarm to fire alarm trying to keep everyone comfortable until I reached the bottom which is actually a huge success story detailed in other posts.

But what was the MAPS missing?

First, ‘holistic MD/PhD’ is an oxymoron. Sure, he did prescribe(minimal) herbs; but he was not schooled in them nor did he have a quality line on hand. We made massive diet changes, which we still adhere to today, and he did prescribe supps instead of synthetic drugs; but only in a palliative way, not with the vision of healing the immune system thereby freeing it of the inflammation underlying the issues and diagnosis. Second, MD/PhD equals allopathic no matter how you slice it. There was no point in discussing other modalities of healing, such as homeopathy, with him; he wouldn’t have it. Third, he was not Lyme literate or knowledgeable about parasites or proper testing of them, if that is even possible in a lab; and finally, and most detrimentally, there was no detox of pathogens or toxins in his protocol, which is what we needed the most.

Faithfully, we were breaking the bank taking scores of supplements each day, but they were piling into clogged, sluggish at best, methylation systems with no plan designed to open them up! The supps were just stacking up, adding to the toxins already there. By the time I switched doctors, we could barely walk or get out of bed, eczema was raging from head to toe like a bloody fire, and the inflamed misery was over the top for our entire family.

Bottom line, after receiving our initial testing results and diagnosis, MAPS was nothing more than another money flushing, time sucking spot on the road for us; a tourist trap I visited far too long. The worst part was truly believing that during our four year relationship, he cared about us. But, after we finally achieved such dramatic, life altering improvement with another doctor, I called our MAPS to see if he was interested in learning how we had made such a 180? Wouldn’t he want an update? Or to know for his other critically ill patients? The response was, “Nope.” He couldn’t have cared less! I was stunned and stabbed square in the heart. Four years of our lives, our savings, our mental and emotional investment, our hope, our health even – truly meant nothing to him, a doctor. Is allopathic healing an oxymoron too or is it just allopathic compassion that doesn’t exist?

I certainly hope your experience with a MAPS is much better. No two MAPS are alike, right? Maybe. But from medical social groups I see the same medical minutiae ad nauseum of blood, organs, systems, reactions, various testing, micro-organisms, etc. and I, too, could define, describe, experiment, promote, tin-can, and echo with the best of them, but now, post healing via detox, it all seems like not seeing the forest through the trees.

What really turned everything around for us was Biofeedback, Herbal, Homeopathics, Diet, and Massage. I went back to school to focus on becoming a clinical homeopath and a Certified Biofeedback Specialist. This streamlined all of our care. We used a ton less supplements as well. Let me know if I can help you get on track for wellness at New Leaf Holistic.


Posted in detox, Diet, Food, Kidneys

Oxalates

Posted on by Annie Eskeldson

For an issue found underlying in so many auto-immune and chronic problems, there is precious little knowledge of oxalates. A Pub Med article about reducing oxalates ultimately concludes that what is known is nearly negated by what isn’t.

Oxalic acid is a dianion with 2 carbon and 4 oxygen molecules expressed like this C2O4-2. Because of the negative charge, it will attract positively charged ions in the body such as calcium, potassium, and sodium forming oxalic salts.

Potassium oxalate and sodium oxalate are soluble in the blood, but calcium oxalate is not. Being insoluble, calcium oxalate can get taken up in the bloodstream and deposited all over the body into organs, even the thyroid and eyes, causing cell death, inflammation and pain in muscles, joints, and urinary tract. Crystallized calcium oxalates are hard, pointy, razor sharp, and visible like sand in feces. They are the precursors to kidney stones.

If you are dealing with auto-immune conditions like leaky gut, autism, IBS, or Crohns you are more likely to suffer from oxalates because the body is simply not able to effectively get rid of these toxins. In fact, it really isn’t known which came first, the chronic condition or the oxalate problem. That is to say, some believe the oxalates are the cause of the problem.

So far, the best way to prevent calcium oxalate crystals is to avoid high oxalate foods like nuts, chocolate, buckwheat, bran cereals and whole-wheat products, beans, green leafy vegetables, many kinds of berries and citrus peels. We should instead focus on low-oxalate foods like bananas, melons, cherries, lean meats, corn-based cereals (non-GMO), cabbage, cauliflower, cucumbers, kohlrabi, mushrooms and citrus juices. This is not going to thrill those who believe in the keto-diet because many of the foods on the latest fad list are high oxalate foods. Same story for those who are juicing to ‘detox’ – many of those detoxifiers are chalk full of oxalates.

An organized chart of low, medium, and high oxalate foods can be found here, but I definitely recommend comparing several sources because of conflicting information and new research being published. For example, kale is high in oxalate, but recently it was found that dinosaur kale is not near as high. Potatoes are high; however, red potatoes are much lower. Harvard found Brussels sprouts to be low in oxalate while many other sources say they are medium or high. Some say you can cook or boil oxalates out, but highly regarded sources say that is not true. So, be sure to research several resources and keep a food journal.

Something I found so intriguing from the Pub Med article referenced in my first paragraph is that an undamaged gut biome naturally contains Oxalobacter formigenes, a good bacteria that both decreases oxalate absorption and promotes intestinal oxalate secretion. In a gut biome that is destroyed, as with leaky gut, autism, IBS, food allergies, etc – this bacteria isn’t found. Surprise, surprise, surprise; another massive train wreck fail from the overuse of antibiotics, GMO foods, and glyphosate literally scorching our guts and ruining our immunity. Unfortunately, the production of the natural probiotic is taking the pharma route, so who knows when it will be available, how much it will cost, or if it will be effective in properly reseeding the gut.

We have battled oxalates for a very long time and we have the most success by indeed, following a low ox diet and we do experience pain if that diet is altered. I have found that filtered water, lemons, baking soda, and calcium and magnesium supplement (without D3) with meals have helped to keep oxalate issues at bay. While it seems the calcium would be counterproductive, it’s not. It helps to bind the oxalates and move them out. For us, supplemental vitamin C increases the oxalate problems, so we get that from food sources only, and supplement with a different anti-oxidant, Alpha Lipoic Acid, instead.

A great source for all kinds of oxalate and kidney research is Pub Med. Other very helpful websites I have found are these:

Posted in detox, New Leaf Holistic

A Helping Hand Through Detox

Posted on by Annie Eskeldson

Detox is not something to do without guidance. If you’re having minor issues then perhaps the websites, social media groups, and you tube videos will get you by. But if you have slipped into auto-immune problems like allergies, eczema, thyroid, leaky gut, PANDAS, PANS, even ASD, then the expertise of a practitioner skilled in detox, will save you time, money, and a whole lot of stress.

Detox is more complex than just the knowing the vocab. Smoothies, footbaths, and even protocols casually lobbed about have weakened the foundational and serious need for detox. On the other end, some groups are so cultish that daring to put a toe outside the orthodox pool lands one square into some bizarre shame-abyss.

But detox is not a one size fits all event.

For any protocol.

Each individual is going to have their own detox journey because each body expels toxins in its own order requiring different protocols with differing supplements because of different types of infections, injuries, and its own healing needs. What parasites are over-populated? Which pathogens are present? Are there retro-viruses? What methylation cycles are switched on? Switched off? Is the gut damaged? Are the kidneys and liver functional? What’s diet like? Is there metal toxicity? These are questions from my simple layman’s perspective. Imagine those of a skilled, holistic doctor?! Disease is a tricky picture to unravel and reconstruct properly; not impossible with detox, but deeper than what is commonly understood.

At our house, we had different protocols for similar issues. Why?

Because detox is individual specific.

Even in my blog, when I say parasites, I’m referring to the ones that were identified for us. I have no idea which ones might be lurking in your system, however, in general, all parasites do the same thing: steal nutrients from their host offering nothing beneficial in return, striving to overcome the host causing the symptoms that, I believe, are often labeled as ‘disease’.

Having a detox professional sort out your parasites, pathogens, toxins, and your body’s natural path of releasing them is key to a successful detox.

And your sanity.

They can determine which organs and systems are damaged and in need of proper healing and support. You can’t just full on detox with a damaged gut, kidneys, or liver. Some modicum of healing and support must be balanced with detox.

Also, true detox causes herx and I can promise you, in a severe state, life gets a bit unworkable. You will want someone experienced to answer kooky questions and keep you focused as you drive to the finish line. They will also have the necessary tools, like systemic, bio available binders to keep you more comfortable.


Tell me, what option is there via MAPS or conventional doctor to know which organs need support, which supplements are needed and in what dosages, which parasites we have and what is the best treatment for them? All they can offer is innumerable blood tests, urine tests, stool tests, hair tests, many of which are dependent upon having accurate tests in the first place. Even if you don’t have false negatives or positives you still must rely on interpretation, and frankly, I’m not that trusting anymore. And honestly, why keep feeding the beast of the system that got us to the point of debilitating illness in the first place?

No thanks.

Biofeedback paved the way for us to break the chains of dis-ease. We’re still a work in progress but our lives have improved dramatically. We are now free of PANDAS while PANS, Lyme/co’s and ASD all make their grand exit as well.

If I can help you contact me at New Leaf Holistic!

Posted in detox, PANDAS, Parasites

Perspective on Pandas and Parasites

Posted on by Annie Eskeldson

Based on pieces of our own puzzle plus reading the experiences of others, I have a theory that PANDAS has a strong chance of cure simply by getting rid of parasites because parasites are at the root of PANDAS more than strep. In fact, I think PANDAS may just be a symptom of chronic, systemic parasite infection.

What we experienced with PANDAS was recurrent strep infections via sore throats and peri-anal strep. We had ‘flares’ seemingly coming from nowhere but over time ‘triggers’ were identified and heaven and hell were routinely moved to avoid them. We experienced debilitating OCD that could burn a full 8 hours and included aggression and rage. We also had auditory hallucinations.

Because our health is already damnably compromised by ‘modern’ medicine, I had zero interest in their ‘help’ with PANDAS. Seeking natural alternatives led us to parasites, Lyme and co-infections, retro-viruses, and a whole bag of biotoxins, biofilm, and metals clogging up neurotransmitters and preventing methylation. The parasites had established a firm root as evidenced by this hot mess and worse, PANDAS symptoms.

We did treat, all naturally, and as we got those parasites under control, guess what else dissipated?

PANDAS. In fact, we are now symptom free.

Even though treatment has so far lasted 18 months, the symptoms of PANDAS began to disappear after the first 4 months and gradually faded until completely eradicated by 18 months out. No IVIG or Stem Cell Therapy necessary, just detox.

Researching Dr. Klinghardt, Stephen Buhner, going through our experience and education with Dr. Moore in addition to reading the cases of others has led me to conclude that PANDAS is actually caused by underlying parasites. Why? Why would I believe in this versus the strep theory? Because, undeniably, strep infection is present as determined by blood tests.

My first clue is what I’ve witnessed in my own home. I was shocked that treating parasites also got rid of PANDAS. I had no expectation of that. Many people believe their ASD issues are actually PANDAS and Dr. Klinghardt has found that 99% of his patients with ASD also have Lyme. There seems to be a connection there.

In addition, so many of the stories I read are about patients who seek out conventional doctors who typically do not hunt down parasites and even when they do, they are unaware that lab tests for parasites are mostly false negatives. But what conventional doctors do test for frequently is strep. And what they find is very high numbers of DNase B antibodies, thereby believing that strep is causing the PANDAS.

If you study parasites, you will learn that parasites are incredibly clever, manipulative, and focused. They can control their host, making the body act out in ways it normally wouldn’t: tics, meltdowns, flares, rage, aggression, OCD, hallucinations, etc. They are busy building their infrastructure called biofilm that clogs neurotransmitters so the brain doesn’t receive commands, hormones don’t fire correctly, and methylation genes get switched off so that toxins like metals, ammonia, and mold can’t get out of the body causing sensory problems, speech delays, and non-verbal issues. Oddly sounds like ASD, doesn’t it?

Parasites are so efficient that they will even employ other parasites and pathogens to do their dirty work. They easily destroy the gut biome (ASD), and a pathogen like strep could be coerced by a parasite to continue its attack of the basal ganglia of the brain on behalf of the parasites, and, in return, it will be allowed to live and proliferate. Strep numbers then grow out of control, being easily identified by blood tests from which conventional docs determine strep as the cause of PANDAS.

But really, it’s the parasites that are in control. Put another way, it’s the parasite infection that is causing the PANDAS. In other words, PANDAS is a symptom of parasite infection.

Another clue that parasites are the culprit comes from case studies about patients who are treating strep and experience exacerbated symptoms. Those over the top reactions are eerily similar to die off or herx. Patients herx because they are killing too fast and not just killing strep, but rather parasites. Mistakenly, they are taking no systemic binders nor have any concern for the gut or detoxing organs. They’ve fallen for the ‘infection means an antibiotic blowtorch’ approach and now they’re seeing the blow-back (behaviors) of killing pathogens (unbeknownst, parasites) too fast, without binders, without organ support, without healing the gut.

Because we see a natural doctor skilled in healing the whole body, we were able to keep our die off at a minimum by re-adjusting (herbal) antibiotic dosages, reducing detox and titrating back up, using systemic binders for toxins, always supporting the detox organs, and healing the gut. But I don’t see this vocabulary from patients using conventional medicine. They believe the antibiotics are killing strep only while parasites aren’t even on their radar. They don’t understand the worsening of symptoms as it is related to herxing and are unaware of the need to bind those toxins given off by dying parasites to cool the exacerbated symptoms. They don’t have the vocabulary or the tools because their doctors don’t think outside of the synthetic drug box.

In addition, the conventional meds are long term. Why? It’s not that it takes so long to kill a strep infection. I have two ideas: one is that the parasites protect their investment – that is the strep, and two, while the antibiotics do get some of the strep and parasites, initially, it’s not a specific enough antibiotic to target parasites and they easily build up a resistance to synthetics anyway. This doesn’t happen with herbal antibiotics which are much more potent, efficient, and safe.

Another clue is both the success and failure of IVIG and Stem Cell Therapy. For some it works, for others it works after several attempts, or it works for awhile then symptoms all return, or it is all together unsuccessful. My theory here is that the successes happen in bodies who have already detoxed, or detoxed enough that the new, healthy, or oxygenated cells are strong enough to beat the rest of the infections. Or, it works in bodies that aren’t too far down yet. The failures happen because the bodily environment is still toxic. New cells have been introduced into an environment filled with parasites, biofilm, metals, biotoxins, glyphosate, leaky gut, and an over-all immune system that doesn’t yet work. The new cells cannot survive here and they die, just like the cells before them. You have to detox before getting IVIG or Stem Cell Therapy or else it’s a waste. In my further opinion, if you detox enough, IVIG or Stem Cell Therapy will not be necessary.

Having a mathematical, analytical mind, I naturally try to find patterns from research, experience, and case studies which could be generally applied in the face of medicine which isn’t an exact science. Most cases are specific and individual, at least on the surface. But my theory holds a thread of commonality at its core which could provide cure. Disease is caused by toxins that enable the parasites (everybody has them) to overrun the body by destroying the gut, immunity, the organs, and the blood causing extreme symptoms such as ASD, PANS, PANDAS, cancer, every auto-immune disease, and pre-mature death.

Before you decide that’s a little broad, remember, at our house, we did get rid of PANDAS by thoroughly cleaning the body of parasites. Going farther. I believe we are healing the immune system so that it can control parasite numbers all by itself. It’s not just working for PANDAS, but also for PANS and ASD, in more than just one patient.

And, we’ve done it all naturally.

Our doctor is very credentialed in kinesiology, exceptionally skilled with detox, and Lyme Literate. A link to his website is here.

Posted in detox, Kidneys, Liver

Liver and Kidneys

Posted on by Annie Eskeldson

These organs hold the keys to a successful detox yet they are often overlooked. We have been through some pretty hairy kidney and liver issues and even though we have not needed dialysis, I don’t think we were far from that stage. Now that we have a better grip on the kidneys and liver, I will share what we did to achieve it.

The short version of how the kidneys work is that blood flows into the kidney via the large renal artery, divides into smaller vessels, and travels to a huge network of millions of nephrons. Each nephron houses a filtering unit called a glomerulus, which traps the bad stuff, plus a tubule which works twofold sending the good stuff back into the blood via the renal vein and dispatching the bad away as urine. Kidney filters are the same as all filters, they can get clogged causing toxicity, stones, organ failure, and pre-mature death. The agony of a dysfunctional kidney will bring a grown man to his knees, instantly.

The liver is not exactly a filter because it doesn’t filter toxins from the blood. Instead, it makes toxins less toxic and easier to excrete by first oxidizing the molecules, then conjugating those molecules to make them less metabolically active and more water-soluble, and finally, exporting the conjugate into the bile and into the intestines. From there, it either leaves in the feces, or is reabsorbed into the bloodstream and exits the body through the urine so that toxins leave the body. They don’t stay in the liver, like in the filters of the kidneys. Nevertheless, the liver is complex, playing a huge role in all metabolic processes of fats, sugars, and proteins, blood-clotting and detox.

We’ve had kidney issues present as irritated kidneys, excruciating oxalates, painful ureters, and urinary discomfort as well as liver dysfunction as determined by a weakened immune system, very low energy levels, digestive problems, pain by the lower right rib cage, mood swings, difficulty concentrating and poor memory, yellowing of the eyes, severe eczema, and gall bladder pain.

Any amount of detox, even natural detox, in this state without proper healing first plus proper support was detrimental to us and it will be for most. A good practitioner will understand the importance that the gut, kidneys, liver, and gallbladder all play in detox and make sure they are healing, healed, and supported. You can’t just go after parasites or pathogens without these checks in place. I know it sounds obvious reading it here on this blog, but daily, in the real world, I see people treating PANDAS, PANS, and Lyme without any consideration of these things! They don’t connect antibiotic use to detox. I see this mistake mostly with allopathy, but I have personally experienced this in homeopathy as well.

First, we desperately needed gut healing. For us, that took a few months to get to a place where I could finally add previous food allergens back in. Our doctor used products from Apex Energetics called Repair Vite, which achieved some basic gut healing. Because leaky gut renders us allergic to everything and prevents the proper absorption of vital nutrition, the gut must absolutely be healed. Supplemental vitamins are okay, even necessary, but the number one source of nutrition the body craves is that from food. Organic meats, veggies, fruits, and filtered water offer healing and support to those organs so that you can detox.

Foods such as cabbage, cauliflower, asparagus, cucumber, grapes, apples and watermelons are good for the kidneys. Berries are good too, but if you are a stone former, they are often high in oxalates, which we steer away from. Drinking plenty of filtered water is important to keep the kidney filters clean and many say that distilled water will literally remove build-up on all those glomoruluses. Be sure to supplement with plenty of minerals because distilled water will absorb those too.

In addition to an organic, clean diet, we used a variety of supports like Castor Oil Liver Packs, which we used daily at first, then gradually reduced; essential oils from Vibrant Blue Oils, Cell Core Biosciences Kidney and Liver Detox which contains milk thistle for the liver and all the top herbs to clean those filters in our kidneys, N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine to help an overburdened liver, and reflexology was incredibly helpful because I could massage tender organs like the kidneys, bladder, ureters, liver, and gall bladder via the feet. I also used a handful of homeopathics for support: cheliodonium, berberis vulgaris, and china for liver, kidneys, and gall bladder. There are others available, but those were specific for us.

Most importantly, we had a doctor very skilled with detox to help us. He was able to orchestrate the killers, the binders, the healers, and the supporters using kinesiology enabling us to regain health while detoxing. At every appointment he would check the organs and make sure they were truly healing and well supported. We are still a work in progress, but over the last 18 months we are overcoming leaky gut, allergies, eczema, parasite and pathogen infections, PANS, PANDAS, severe ASD, Lyme and co-infections.

Posted in AE, Hitting, Painful Urination, Self Injury

Ammonia, Acidity, and Self Injury

Posted on by Annie Eskeldson

The other day, a brave mother shared a telling photograph of her beloved son with bruises all over his sweet little face. Thankfully, experienced, instinctive mothers know the desperate plea for help when they see it. This courageous, loving mom needed answers as to why her her son was in excruciating pain, so much so, that it would cause him to punch, hit, and bruise himself.

I understood the frustration of self injury because we’ve lived this scary life of man-made illness and the photo she shared touched me so deeply; it could’ve easily been one of my own. I’ll never shake the sheer dread I used to feel running errands amidst a judging public and we’re still recovering from the costs of personal property damage from a little one in so much pain. The very worst is the living nightmare of helplessness that ingrains trauma and fear into a once relatively normal life. It defies the odds to overcome, but you can.

Our self injury issues looked like punching the face and outer thighs in moments of extreme pain. The hitting was hard enough to cause bruising. We also had headbanging, occurring without warning, which is so frighting because of possible head injury on top of the seemingly elusive cause. It also appeared that urinating was painful despite negative UTI tests.

We were fortunate enough to have our doctor witness a self-injury episode in his office. Because he is also a kinesiologist, he muscle tested during the screaming and head banging and face hitting behavior. He measured the pain to be at a “twenty” and further compared that to a broken bone which would be a “ten.” This was the first definitive explanation of what was happening to our non-verbal child that I’d ever received.

Despite a diagnosis of auto-immune encephalitis from a PhD immunologist, no doctor had ever gone through this side by side with us. No doctor had ever put a measurement, a number, an explanation to the violent behavior so that I could fully connect the reaction to its cause. And, certainly, no doctor had ever solved the problem.

But Dr. Moore did.

In minutes.

In addition to identifying the exact problem, he also determined the treatment. And he went farther. He treated there in the office. It worked in minutes and perfectly, I achieved the same successful results at home.

Our solution was NAC ( N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine).

I had tried this supplement before, but in far too tiny of a dose to make any impact. Dr. Moore, however, muscle tested and measured exactly how much the body required. It was far more than I had tried, or would ever try on my own. We moved from the self injury episodes being palliated, to their prevention, to their elimination.

NAC wasn’t just a help for AE (PANS), it was also useful for detox. Whether you are using synthetic or herbal antibiotics to kill parasites and/or pathogens, one of the by-products of their death is ammonia which can can get trapped anywhere in the body and brain causing systemic pain. Thankfully, NAC is a hard working, systemic binder and it has many other detoxifying, anti-inflammatory benefits as well.

From time to time, though, we still had problems with painful urination with no urinary tract infection. My clue to this was the hitting of the outer thighs. Digging into my favorite sources, the answers I needed came from a Lyme support group.

This article about Lactic Acidosis in Critical Illness from Pub Med Central was posted which caused me to re-assess our alkaline diet. Even though we are pretty strict, we do eat meat and it’s watermelon season, both are acidic. When the body is in an acidic state it can mimic a PANS ‘flare’ because symptoms can include a sudden change in disposition, rage, nausea, cramping legs and muscles, and painful urination. With chronic, auto-immune disease and especially with leaky gut, it is very easy to slip into this state unless careful attention is made to consume only alkaline foods. The meat and watermelon was enough to tip our bucket. I added extra daily magnesium, a small dose of baking soda with meat consumption alongside a very high quality, bio available mineral supplement from CellCore Biosciences. The combination eliminated the painful urination, leg muscle pain, and hitting the thighs.

In conclusion, to solve the problem of self injury we had to mop up ammonia. The ammonia was coming from die off (detox) and from the (incomplete) digestion of meat. It is very common in the auto-immune state that the body does not cycle well, so the NAC helped mop up extra ammonia that the body just couldn’t. In addition, it is crucial to keep the body in an alkaline state. In a chronic state of illness, the body is often depleted of minerals, easily shifts to the acidic state, and is magnesium depleted. Therefore, constant attention to an alkaline diet, supplementation of minerals and magnesium, as well as some baking soda to help offset any infraction of diet went the distance to permanently stop the screaming, headbanging, self injury such as hitting oneself in the face and thighs.

We also have done a massive overhaul of detoxing the body of parasites, pathogens, biotoxins, metals, and retro-viruses. It all has been necessary for healing.

Posted in detox, Tips

Detox Drop

Posted on by Annie Eskeldson

Every detox journey is individual but I hope our experience offers a ball park idea of what to expect. Detox was more difficult and costly, and further prolonged than I ever expected. Yet it was far more healing and curative than I ever comprehended. So, if you’re ready to dig in, this honest, raw rundown may help pave the road.

Do you need Detox? We had substantial symptoms we were dealing with. If you have even one of these and you are looking to heal, possibly cure, then detox may be your answer. The sooner the better. Walking was difficult and getting out of bed wasn’t always possible. Going outside to play for ten minutes would cause exhaustion that lasted for days. We could not poop, had severe food allergies, hypothyroidism, chronic fatigue, leaky gut, and severe eczema. The kidneys and liver were not working and the blood was full of bacteria. We had headbanging from auto-immune encephalitis, PANS, severe ASD symptoms, non-verbal, and incontinence. Four years with an MD/PhD MAPS doctor left us sicker than when we started and yielded a pitiful 20 points off our ATEC score. We also dealt with PANDAS symptoms like rage, aggression, debilitating OCD usurping hours of the day, and auditory hallucinations. Flares would come out of nowhere, multiple times a week, and we ‘tip-toed on egg-shells” attempting to fend off triggers. We had metal toxicity, retro-viral infections and Lyme plus many co-infections. After our ordeal, I believe most disease is rooted in toxins and retro-viruses and detox is the way to heal.

Detox is Hard. This is a relative statement and compared to all that we were dealing with, detox was better than helplessly standing by. If you are not severe or chronic, detox will still be difficult because of die off or herxing. You will have die off whether you use artificial drugs (antibiotics) or herbs, but artificial drugs will further the damage you already have because the body doesn’t recognize synthesized ingredients as healing and your control is limited. You can’t start an antibiotic, pull back if needed, and titrate back up because you would build up a resistance. That is not a problem for herbs making them more flexible to work with. And from the experiences I read, it seems many doctors prescribing antibiotics for say, strep infections, have little knowledge about detox, required nutrition, organ support, or binders necessary to bring on a level of comfort through detox in the first place. In my opinion, this is the key reason that those treating PANDAS with synthetic antibiotics are suffering so bad: you are killing pathogens but not mopping up the toxins they leave behind causing a horrible increase in symptoms. This reflects poorly on the doctors who simply don’t know better.

Detox Requires the Right Doctor. The standard, conventional doctor is going to be outside of his pharma box on this one. Let’s face it, they are trained to sell drugs which toxify us. Why would we go there to detox? It doesn’t even make sense. Find a functional doctor, a holistic doctor – we see a chiro/kinesiologist who is very skilled at detox and Lyme literate as well. You’re not really looking for someone who wants to just kill parasites, although that is part of it, you want someone who understands healing, supporting, and regenerating the organs, the immune system, and cleaning up the entire bodily environment as parts of detoxing. It all needs to go together in a careful balance.

Detox is a Commitment. Depending on the severity of infections and toxins, this process could take several months to years. While that may seem discouraging try to understand that parasites, biotoxins, retro-viruses, and other pathogens have taken up residence, built their own ecosystem inside you, and intertwined their existence with yours. If you have debilitating symptoms, then they are most likely systemic meaning they could be everywhere in your body. The structure they live and function in is called ‘biofilm’ which will all need to be torn down and removed. Parasites employ other parasites, they network with other pathogens, they feed off the metals in your body, they manipulate the yeast overgrowth that you can’t get rid of and retro-virus infections can switch genes off and on, undermining the entire detox process. Undoing this microcosm is not going to happen over the proverbial moon phase. As much as we want to, we can’t go after these things with a blow torch. First of all, the body is accustomed to working, however improperly, amidst the infections. Obviously you can’t go on like this, but it will take time to turn this dysfunctional ship around. Second, chronic and systemic infections mean the immune system is already compromised beyond the ability to handle die off and the blow back from the parasites would be unbearable. You’re working for balance here, not total annihilation. Think of nature. Good weeds live side by side with bad weeds all the time in our yards. There is balance. Just the same, while an herbal detox does kill pathogens, the real goal is to heal the environment so that the immune system can keep the pathogens in check on it’s own. That’s what occurs in healthy people. Third, since infections are extreme, the organs must be healed, strengthened, and supported. Without them working, you can’t detox. You can try, but you’ll have a hot mess. When you’re this far down, there will be times where focus is on strengthening the organs and you’re barely detoxing, but that is the careful dance that the right doctor can orchestrate.

Detox is an Investment. For a severe state, detox will run about $4000 per patient the first year. This is approximate, but this is the average across patients at our house. The second year should be considerably less, and so forth since functional doctors actually heal their patients and send them off to live life instead of making them patients for life. Further reducing cost over time is that less supplements are needed as healing occurs. Sounds expensive, and it is, at first, but considering we now have PANS, PANDAS, ASD, Lyme and co’s, and tons of auto-immune problems either healed or almost healed, it’s worth every penny. You get what you pay for. I believe the cost of healing those with ASD, PANS, PANDAS, Lyme, etc is a tremendous savings over the cost of life-long care. For example, one of my family members was incontinent well past the years he should be. Healing has allowed him to be potty-trained saving me about $200/month in diapers. That’s $2400/year and will probably pay for his second year of detox. See how my investment paid off?

Detox Requires Diet Changes. You cannot detox without changing your diet otherwise you’re flushing money straight down the toilet. Detox is hard and expensive work getting the yuck out, why put more in through our mouths? Diet is really not rocket science, thankfully. Eat organic meats, lower glycemic vegetables, fruits sparingly, and filtered water. Ditch everything else. A convenient guide is the AIP alongside removal of food allergens. You’ll be shutting off the supply of sugar, yeast, gluten, dairy, soy, and the glyphosate feeding those hungry parasites. You’ll stop the inflammation that is making you miserable and these foods will help you detox faster plus you’ll shed pounds (if needed), effortlessly.

Detox Requires Research. Talk to your doctor about resources, authors, and subjects related to what the two of you are trying to accomplish. You are a team. Our doctor has offered fresh ideas, mind-blowing perspective, and a strong confidence to fall back on when the going gets tough. He takes the time to educate and equip me with the tools I need to be successful. You will be the one putting in all the hard work at home and of course the hard earned cash so get in the know as much as you can. Ask questions. Doctors don’t know the answers to everything, but a good doctor is always seeking and will be happy to learn and teach. Resources I like are: our own doctor, Dr. Moore, Dr. Klinghardt, Dr. Judy Mikovits, Stephen H. Buhner, and Dr. Jay Davidson. There are so many others. I’ll add them as I think of them.

Don’t Detox Alone. The infections are worse than you know, herxing will be harder than you imagined, and detox will take longer than you planned. Please see a functional doctor educated in detox to guide you. I had long suspected a parasite issue and tried killing them via internet research, but herx happened, leaving me in a stupor. Was I doing the right thing? Should I continue? Should I stop? Is this reaction from allergies, a cold, or herx? The moon phase is over, are we done? See, I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. But our doctor did and he’s walked with us all along the way. We’ve used dosages I would’ve never tried on my own, used top quality products I never knew existed, and his kinesiology has been able to tell me exactly what is happening in our bodies, even that of someone who is non-verbal. I understand my kids, their behaviors, and how to help them so much better now.

What are the Gains? No more thyroid meds, adding back in previous food allergens, regular bowel movements, control of PANS flares, potty training, huge increase in cognitive ability, huge increase in non-verbal communication, attempts at speaking, eczema dramatically improved, 75 point drop in ATEC score (after 1 year), regular sleep for everyone, no more PANDAS flares and triggers are all gone, auditory hallucinations are gone. I’ll add more as they happen. We are 18 months in and we are still detoxing. Currently we are working on retro-viruses and detoxing some co-infections of Lyme.