Cycling

[JanaBanana612]

I'm looking for suggestions.  I am a personal care attendant for a young man with Autism.  Actually, I do respite and he stays weekends with me every few weeks.  I've known the young man and his family for 6 years.  Every so often (6 months or so)  the young man will seem to cycle like someone with Bipolor might.  He seems to just loose all control of what he doing.  I am so lucky that the kid is so well behaved that even at his worst, he actually pretty good.  You can see it in his eyes when this is occuring.  He babbles non stop, bounces, and shows lots of symptoms of being extremely anxious.  He struggles sleeping and focusing on every day tasks.  One day it was so bad I literally had to break down the steps of getting into my car, something he's done millions of times on his own.  He will lose control of his bladder and eat and drink obsessively.  The most concerning piece, is these cycles can last for months..........During this time they will proscribe him clonazapan around the clock.  When this young man is "normal" giving him a clonazpan will knock him out, when cycling, 2 or 3 won't do anything.  We try many thing with him (music, swimming, hot tubs, dark rooms, walks, long bike rides, puzzles) but nothing seems to break through the chaos in his head.
Does anyone have any experience with this?  I am a special education teacher and have my ASD certificate.  I've worked for 10 years with kids with Autism, yet I don't know how to help him.  I've worked closely with him mom on trying to find things that help.  She likes to let him just get though it, but months at a time is not healthy for him.  The kid is exhausted!!!!
I just spoke with his dad and he directed me to go heavy with the clonazapan.  He feels strongly we need to do what we can to stop what's going on in his head and let him "reset" himself.  I kind of agree.  Does anyone have any thoughts???  Being a teacher, things are very structured at my house, he has to follow through and not bounce around from thing to thing, and I try to stop some of the obssessive behavior. I hope that my boundries might help what he's going through................

[JanaBanana612]

Ya, it wouldn't surprise me if a diet would help.  Unfortuantely that part is out of my control.  He lives off of fast food and potato chips and every time I bring it up to his mom, she blows me off.  When he cycles he becomes even more obsessed with food, so eats nonstop.  He gains weight constantly.  When he stays with me he doesn't eat all that ****.  I think the chips are a sensory things so I feed him carrots all weekend instead and he eats 3 fresh home cooked meals a day.  I just wish his mom would catch on.  His weight is out of control and his skin is horrible.  I'm surprised the doctors haven't said more, nor approached hid diet.
I should be judgmental.  She works hard and has taken care of him for 22 years.  I can't even imagine!

[timmysmom2005]

Although we tried the GFCF diet for my son and it didn't help, I do agree with eldermom that it sounds like trying this diet would be a fantastic idea for this young man. I have seen it help many other children on the spectrum it just wasn't for us. One thing that helped my son TREMENDOUSLY was putting him on fish oil with dha. So many people suggested it to us and we thought it sounded like a crazy notion but it makes my son a different person! He is more focused, calmer and speaks much better since going on it. It's an all natural supplement. No medicine in it. We were told to only use Nordic Naturals brand because it's the only one guaranteed not to have mercury in it. You can buy it in Whole Foods supermarkets or order it online. Only 1/2 a teaspoon a day and what a difference! If you do try to do the diet remember how hard it is to maintain and you really need to research what ingredients have any gluten or casein in them because many things sound like normal ingredients but are derivatives of wheat and dairy. One slip up and you undo everything. Even check things like soaps, lotions, toothpastes,etc. Anything that comes in contact. Hope this helps, and best of luck!

[Eldermom]

This young man is not bipolar nor should he be on clonazipam.What you are witnessing is a severe mold allergy reaction as well as yeast overgrowth in the gut, which causes the brain fog you  describe. He needs to go on an anti yeast diet  and the use of probiotics. Primal Defense Ultra  or I Flora are good ones. Also you should rotate about every 3-4 weeks antifungals such as Thorne 722 (undeconoic acid) , Uva ursi , olive leaf extract, all of which can be gotten from the internet. These herbal antifungals are gentler and unlike prescription antifungals are less likely to present the Hertzheimer reaction(yeast die off).To rid the body of yeast toxins he should use Calcium citrate as part of his supplement program.
The kid is exhausted from the stress of the yeast neurotoxins acting on his body and brain. He should be checked for thyroid and adrenal function.If these are not up to par I have advice for that ,too
I am the parent of a 30 year old young man who was misdiagnosed over the years and now is doing well on his GF/CF and very low sugar diets. There are 5 stages of yeast overgrowth/intoxication and if you do not attend to this it may escalate to rage behavior and then the medical experts will add more meds in a futile effort to control behavior  rather than the cause. Also doctors do not understand the effect of yeast neurotoxins on neurotransmitters in the brain nor do they understand how the meds interfere with what you are trying to correct. A word of caution: this allergy to mold will be worsened by the use of antihistamines due to the fact that histamine is also a neurotransmitter, which in turn affects others.
I hope this is a helpful start. Thank you for taking thoughtful interest in your client. We need more like you. I hope you can get the parents to understand.
Eldermom