Thursday, August 28, 2008

Oh How We Miss Our Dairy!!!

Some of you may know that our dear Jasmine has been blessed with raging ADHD. This was discovered halfway into her second grade year when she still couldn't read and had behavior problems up the wazoo. As parents we were just taking it one day at a time, because hey, it's your kid. We had finally had enough when we realized just how much it was taking its toll on Jaz. She was distraught with what was happening in her life. She had no internal control over her actions and absolutely no focus. This was the beginning of a life on medication.

Jasmine had been taking 2 pills a day to help control herself. Let me tell you what a lifesaver they were. She quickly learned to read and then quickly became one of the top readers in her class. We went from huge behavior problems to none at all. And all of this made her feel successful and was a huge self esteem boost.

Well as Jazzy grew the meds didn't have quite the same effect. Soon she was on three pills and just a few months ago they bumped us up to four pills a day. The problem is that even with four pills it just isn't working that great anymore. I was fine with her taking meds as long as I could see that it was making her life easier, but I am not okay with it once I see they aren't working.

I talked with several friends from church and about ways to naturally help Jazzy with her issues. John and I looked for days and days over things that I had found on the Internet. This is the list of the changes we have made:


  • We cut dairy completely out of our diet - this means vegan "cheese" and margarine spread, tofu sour cream, rice milk, and non-dairy "ice cream" ~ this has all been very interesting!

  • New supplements for everyone but Trin - Cod liver oil with A & D, high dose of vitamin C, Super Nuthera (which is an extra strength B complex) and calcium magnesium.

  • Jazzy can't be cut cold turkey from her pills so we are down to 2 pills first thing in the morning and next month she will be down to one pill and so on.

One of the people we spoke with was a homeopathic doctor, so don't worry that we are shoving our kids full of vitamins. We have the correct amount of dosage for each of them.


The results......WOW!!! Because most of the supplements we take are liquid we have noticed a dramatic change in a short amount of time. I can't even explain through words how different things are. First and foremost Jazzy is a totally different person ~ rather she is under control without all of the prescription pills. No more crazy extreme mood swings, still totally focused and she has been amazingly loving and kind. Most of all she is happy once again.


John and I have also noticed a difference in our own moods with being on this new regime. It's crazy what some changes can do.


Although it has been difficult ~ We all LOVE dairy, we have found ways to make do with the changes. All in all it is worth it!!


This is our new favorite ice cream. And the great thing is that our close friends are the producers of the cookie dough (gluten and dairy free) that go into this ice cream.

2 comments:

A Family Affair said...

Good for you for doing it together! I hear the Jenny McCarthy changed her son's autism with diet-I think there is a lot to it-things like high sugar carbs, etc. I stopped eating anything with high fructose corn syrup and lost like 10 lbs overnight-weight that really wasn't necessary to lose, but that was all I changed in my life and I feel better, more energetic, and lost weight I wasn't trying to lose! Good for you guys!

Kimi said...

I love icecream and good icecream is even better. Keep it up girl!

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