It's nearly impossible to not fall asleep to John Tesh music. Let me qualify that. It's absolutely impossible to not fall asleep to John Tesh while laying next to your child at 9:30 pm.
We are pulling out all sorts of tricks to help soothe Ari and get him past his night terrors. Soothing music has been one suggestion. After a couple of tries with the Slacker new age station, our introduction of John Tesh gave miraculous results. He was asleep within minutes...though I might have fallen asleep first.
So our next strategy was to use some essential oils and detox baths. The oils came in yesterday. My X-man no longer smells like coconut oil, he smells like a very handsome hippie. I kinda like it. I'm still waiting on some detox clay for his bath but we did try the epsom salts last night. One caveat, though, I doubt the salts work if I can't get him to sit in the bath...and that's how it went last night - 20 minutes of standing up and dancing hanging on to the side of the tub. I'm counting on the fact that happiness is a miracle healer all by itself.
It's hard to say if our efforts have helped. Two nights ago I tried waking him up just before he went into the terror cycle to break the sleep pattern causing this. That worked in the sense that he cried out much less often the rest of the night. I don't know that it was ideal though, because he was very moody and crying all day yesterday. Maybe he needs to work through all the stress in his sleep. It's also hard to say if the oils and bath helped last night. I don't think I can really count the bath, and I've got some user education to do before I feel really confident about how I'm using the oils. And who is to say he just wasn't having a fussy day yesterday unrelated to anything else? Either way I've got a great smelling x-man to snuggle.
On another note...Ari has tonsil stones. Have you ever heard of these? Yeah, me neither. I took Ari to the pediatrician this week afraid he had strep. He showed no symptoms of illness, but his throat looked just like strep throat. Apparently, his tonsils have little white pockets in them that are deposits of (essentially) hard mucous from all the inflammation and trauma he went through. They don't hurt and they go away on their own, but they do make his tonsils enlarged which could be uncomfortable....and could contribute to poor sleep. Still...it's worlds better than strep.
Finally, for today's educational lesson - did you know that 10% of individuals with Down syndrome also have autism? We don't have any indication that Ari has autism, but I like to keep informed about it. We have some family members with autism...but also, autism research has really pushed forward some new ideas about how the body works as a whole.
This story was produced at KERA, the Dallas NPR-affiliate and then picked up by national NPR. John and his non-profit "N of One" sponsored a very cool meeting here at Arkansas Children's Hospital last year focused on autism and the microbiome. I got to listen to a stream of the meeting. It was fascinating and groundbreaking. Many of the ideas presented in this article were discussed at the meeting. We are lucky to have a team of physicians and researchers at ACH leading us to a better understanding of autism.
And now, just to confirm, my X-man really can sleep...just maybe not at all the times we wish he could.
Love to all,
Dorothy
We are pulling out all sorts of tricks to help soothe Ari and get him past his night terrors. Soothing music has been one suggestion. After a couple of tries with the Slacker new age station, our introduction of John Tesh gave miraculous results. He was asleep within minutes...though I might have fallen asleep first.
So our next strategy was to use some essential oils and detox baths. The oils came in yesterday. My X-man no longer smells like coconut oil, he smells like a very handsome hippie. I kinda like it. I'm still waiting on some detox clay for his bath but we did try the epsom salts last night. One caveat, though, I doubt the salts work if I can't get him to sit in the bath...and that's how it went last night - 20 minutes of standing up and dancing hanging on to the side of the tub. I'm counting on the fact that happiness is a miracle healer all by itself.
It's hard to say if our efforts have helped. Two nights ago I tried waking him up just before he went into the terror cycle to break the sleep pattern causing this. That worked in the sense that he cried out much less often the rest of the night. I don't know that it was ideal though, because he was very moody and crying all day yesterday. Maybe he needs to work through all the stress in his sleep. It's also hard to say if the oils and bath helped last night. I don't think I can really count the bath, and I've got some user education to do before I feel really confident about how I'm using the oils. And who is to say he just wasn't having a fussy day yesterday unrelated to anything else? Either way I've got a great smelling x-man to snuggle.
On another note...Ari has tonsil stones. Have you ever heard of these? Yeah, me neither. I took Ari to the pediatrician this week afraid he had strep. He showed no symptoms of illness, but his throat looked just like strep throat. Apparently, his tonsils have little white pockets in them that are deposits of (essentially) hard mucous from all the inflammation and trauma he went through. They don't hurt and they go away on their own, but they do make his tonsils enlarged which could be uncomfortable....and could contribute to poor sleep. Still...it's worlds better than strep.
Finally, for today's educational lesson - did you know that 10% of individuals with Down syndrome also have autism? We don't have any indication that Ari has autism, but I like to keep informed about it. We have some family members with autism...but also, autism research has really pushed forward some new ideas about how the body works as a whole.
This story was produced at KERA, the Dallas NPR-affiliate and then picked up by national NPR. John and his non-profit "N of One" sponsored a very cool meeting here at Arkansas Children's Hospital last year focused on autism and the microbiome. I got to listen to a stream of the meeting. It was fascinating and groundbreaking. Many of the ideas presented in this article were discussed at the meeting. We are lucky to have a team of physicians and researchers at ACH leading us to a better understanding of autism.
And now, just to confirm, my X-man really can sleep...just maybe not at all the times we wish he could.
Love to all,
Dorothy
Ok, call me devil's advocate, but I do not believe that Autism and Down Syndrome can coexist within a child. As a school psychology specialist, I do evaluations for Autism, among other disabilities. Although the evaluations are not medical, rather psychological and educational in nature, I use all of the same tests that the major facilities use, like Dennis Developmental Center (actually I use more for consideration under IDEA). One component in the evaluation is a medical rule-out, indicating that the autistic behaviors observed are not the result of an underlying medical condition such as a genetic disability, traumatic brain injury, etc. According to the DSM, Autism typically stands alone as a diagnosis. I receive reports all the time that have co-morbid diagnoses, in which all of the behaviors should be subsumed under Autism. For example, a child cannot have ADHD, Autism, Disruptive Behavior Disorder, and Sensory Processing Disorder, because all of those symptoms are characteristic in children with Autism. I would like to know more about this particular study. Although I'm not denying some overlap in behaviors, Autism and Down Syndrome are very different in origin. I'm also not denying the rise in Autism altogether, which is both real and very scary, but I think some of the rise is partially due to overdiagnosis. The DSM-V has recently been published, which created stricter diagnostic criteria to call someone ASD. On the other hand, I have also worked with many children and adults with Down Syndrome and none of them have the social issues people with ASD have. All DS kids I've met are super social and lovey. Sorry.....this is kind of my thing.
ReplyDeleteDorothy and Ari, we are praying for better sleep and thanking God for the John Tesh station.
ReplyDeleteLorianne, Down Syndrome is a medical condition whereby the person has an additional chromosome. Autism, thought to also be a genetic condition, is considered to be a behavioral/psychological condition primarily which is why you find it in the DSM-V. A person that has Down Syndrome may also have any myriad of behavioral/psychological conditions just like any other person including depression, anxiety, ADHD, or autism spectrum disorder as Down Syndrome is not simply a behavioral/psychological diagnosis. I personally know a parent who has a child with both Down Syndrome and ASD and can assure you that they deal with all that goes along with that. I realize you are an educated person and I respect that but just because you personally have not come across this please don't assume it doesn't exist. That can be extremely hurtful and disrespectful for those who have a loved one dealing with both conditions.