Lindsay Falkenstein Autism Testimony

Our daughter, Lindsay was born 11 weeks early weighing in at 2 pounds 11 oz, Nov. 3 2001. She was born with a congenital bowel obstruction. She also had mal-rotated bowels and her appendix was on the wrong side of her body. Eighteen hours after birth she had a portion of her bowel removed and an appendectomy. Shortly after her surgery she became very sick and we almost lost her. She was in renal failure and had blood poisoning in her system. She developed a bleed in her brain and was diagnosed with communicating hydrocephalus (swelling in the brain). At 13 months old, she started having seizures and was placed on medication for epilepsy. It wasn’t until this age that she finally began crawling and sitting herself up on her own. She didn’t take her first steps until she was 22 months old. At the age of 3, Lindsay only had three words in her vocabulary (eat, more and please-all communicated through sign language) and she continued to be very developmentally delayed. At the Age of 5 Lindsay was diagnosed with ADHD and Autism  Added to her long list of other disabilities- o Epilepsy o Communicating Hydrocephalus o Asthma o Chronic Constipation  Lindsay had been on many meds for her constipation , 3 for asthma alone and epilepsy when we added Ritalin to her routine o She lost a ton of weight on Ritalin- 80% to the 40% in weight o She HATED to have her picture taken  We were introduced to Shaklee at this point o I asked for good vitamins and protein to help increase her weight and Peds office introduced me to a Shaklee Distributor  1 week after starting Shaklee o She started verbalizing to us  Exchanging back and forth conversation  Before this she only spoke in Autistic Rote speech (we called it movie scripted) o Improved Eye Contact and somewhat normal behaviors  Before this she had poor eye contact, passive aggressive behaviors  No imagination or imaginative play  Very poor Social Skills o Her first conversation still makes me cry today when I think of it o It was the day we got a new daughter She made such fast improvements that the Dr’s had her off her meds within 2 months and she has been off all of her meds now for 3 years. It is so awesome because the side effects of these meds were terrible…  Her Meds- o The terrible side effects -  Some would make her sleepy  Others kept her awake  Weight gain-weight loss  Loss of appetite  Increased aggression  Mood swings-Anywhere from lethargic behavior to screaming at us o On ADHD meds- she took 3x/day  No interest in anything  When they were wearing off she had increased aggressive behaviors, decreased frustration tolerance  Dr. compared it to going out, having several drinks- feeling pretty good, but when it wears off you feel terrible. That is how she felt when she was coming off her meds  Her speech was suppressed which increased her frustration  She would pull her hair  Pinch self or bite self  Hit, kick, bite, scratch or scream at us  It was awful to go through this or see our child go experience such mood swings Once on Shaklee we not only added the supplements we also changed her diet as well. We cut out as many carbohydrates and sugars as possible  Now she eats a salad all the time and loves baby spinach  She used to sneak into the cupboards to get bread, chips and other sugary snacks and now she usually goes for fruits or vegetables and dip She now loves to have her picture taken & looks like a healthy child About 1 ½ years ago we decided to do some testing with Lindsay to test for heavy metals and bacteria  Lead levels-85%  Arsenic, Bismuth, Tungsten & Antimony with levels above 65%  Yeast  Strep(2 forms)  E-Coli  Where did it come from? o Tums? Living in the country? Antibiotics? Steroids? Does it matter how she got it we just need to get them out of her system…Vitamin C Detox After starting the Detox-  Decreased disciplinary problems at home and school  Increased writing in school and at home  Able to process faster-using describing words like “Mommy, who bought these juicy red strawberries?”  She could barely trace a word before the detox and now she is writing sentences. Lindsay has been off ALL meds for ADHD, Epilepsy, Asthma and constipation for now over 3 ½ yr. No breathing treatments for 40 months and counting… She is playing with friends and even had her first sleepover for her birthday. She even helps with her little brother, changing his diaper, feeding him and being a very helpful big sister Vitamin Routine-  We used to have to crush everything up and sneak it to her or give it to her crushed up in applesauce with cinnamon  Now she takes: I can ask her to go to the cupboard and get her vitamins and she will and take them independently. o Vitalizer o Zinc o Mood lift (2) o Alfalfa o Nutriferon o Vit C o Calcium (2)  At School: o B Complex (2) o Stress Relief  Lunch: o B Complex o Stress Relief o Optiflora o Omegaguard- 3  Before going home from School o 1 B Complex  At Home: o B-Complex-if needed  Protein- o Cinch o Energizing Soy o Other means of protein She will even ask for B’s or Stress Relief-she knows that they make her feel better and calm her system. Yesterday (January 28, 2011) Lindsay’s teacher just gave me a report of how she is doing-  Reading: At the beginning of the year she was reading at a DRA2 level 3 and now she is reading at a DRA2 level 4. This went up from a Kindergarten reading level to a beginning first grade reading level.  Math: In math Lindsay was doing one-digit touch point addition at the beginning of the year and now she is able to do two-digit addition with touch points and one-digit subtraction with touch points. She can also tell time to the hour and half-hour and tell the values of the coins. She can add like coins using pennies and dimes.  Behaviorally, Lindsay is doing a very nice job since the beginning of the year. She very rarely gets x's anymore, which means she is following the directions much more than at the beginning of the year and having much less melt-downs. Overall, Lindsay has improved from last year (from what I hear) and has improved behaviorally especially since the beginning of the year.

Disclaimer: None of these testimonials are approved by the FDA, they are are personal experiences and the results may be different for you.