Autism Turnaround

A diagnoses of Level 3 Autism suggests that the condition is considered serious requiring very substantial support.  As a parent, to receive this diagnoses can be devastating. The conventional approach rarely demonstrates significant results which can leave a family in a difficult situation. In this episode we chat with our practitioner Genevieve Mlotkowski ( https://getwellwithgen.com) and her clients mum, Hattawa about the miraculous turnaround that using natural medicine had on her son. Truly inspiring !

Transcript

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Daniel

Genevieve and Hattawa, welcome to A Patient Story.

Hattawa

Hi, Daniel. Hello.

Daniel

Genevieve has been on the podcast before. She's a well-known naturopath in Sydney and Hattawa is the mother of her client. And we're going to talk about the autism spectrum and what can be done An amazing story between Genevieve, Hattawa, I believe also Hattawa's daughter Scarlett was very involved in helping, and her son Oscar, who really progressed in his self in leaps and bounds with the assistance of everyone together. So let's hear this wonderful story. Hattawa, how old was Oscar when he was first diagnosed?

Hattawa

He was, I believe, 2 1/2 when We started, he was diagnosed with being on the spectrum, autism level three. So yeah, that's when it all started, basically.

Daniel

Okay. When he was diagnosed, did he have a lot of the typical symptoms associated with autism, eye contact issues or social cues, repetitive activity, that sort of thing?

Hattawa

Yes, he was lacking eye contact. He wouldn't really look at you more than two seconds. He would look away. His social cues were barely there. His communication, very little, maybe like single words I would say at the time. Yeah, and repetitive behaviors like flicking the lights, closing the door constantly, stuff like that. So yes, he did definitely show. show the signs.

Daniel

And what about sensitivity issues, loud noises and sounds and bright lights and that sort of thing?

Hattawa

Definitely more the side of when it came to Oscar, the loud noises, he would get quite irritated when we were in like family gatherings. We couldn't stay anywhere we went or there was an event he would I would stay 20 minutes and I would have to leave because he would be overwhelmed and crying. So yeah, for a while we had to do that, leave early.

Daniel

When he was diagnosed, what was the medical approach to helping him?

Hattawa

That's when he was diagnosed, when they did the test in the room and after, I don't know, an hour, an hour and a half, They sat me down and they said, okay, this is the report. He's on the spectrum. His autism is level 3. And so I obviously burst into crying. But afterwards. There was not really, I just kept asking questions like, what am I going to do now? Like, what do I do basically? And I just basically got a few pamphlets of the therapies or people that I could talk to. Like, I wouldn't say a lot. For what I know now as a mum, not a lot. Yeah, unfortunately.

Daniel

Okay. Did you have any previous contact or interest or knowledge of natural medicine at that time?

Hattawa

No, idea.

Daniel

And so what got you to look at natural medicine? Was it a suggestion, something you read?

Hattawa

Honestly, after his diagnosis, all I did was read online to try to find out answers or what I could do to help him or improve his life or basically. And I couldn't find anything and I didn't for a while. I didn't find Gen for a while, to be honest. I was talking to a mom and I was saying, you know, what helped them or what they did for their child to get him improving. And she then mentioned Gen to me and said, well, this is who has helped us a lot and she's a naturopath and we've gone to seeing her, we've made such a progress with our son. And that's when I contacted her.

Daniel

So did you have any expectations when you were to see Gen?

Hattawa

No, because at the time, Oscar, I had tried everything. helping him have eye contact, reading to him every day, talking to him, taking to all of his therapies. There was... little to none progress in that department. And I just felt like saying, okay, I just kept pushing myself and trying to be positive as much as I can. No, yeah, when I went to see her, I didn't have any expectations. I remember I went with the family and they were like, no, you know, nothing's gonna I had that nothing is going to work sort of thing. That was it. That was his diagnosis and I just had to live with it. But I just refused to believe that. I refused to give up on him. Yeah.

Daniel

Do you remember any one incident or situation where you saw a change in his behavior? Like when he was younger, six months or one year old? Was he displaying any different tendencies to other children in that age group? And was there anything that changed his behaviour or was it just consistently getting worse over time?

Hattawa

Honestly, until his, I would say 18 months vaccine, he was still looking at me prior to that. He was making all the noises and development as a normal child develops. I think after that vaccine, I kind of just, he kind of just, I don't know if it was a vaccine or maybe that's just, that's how I maybe look at it as a mum. But he stopped saying mum, where he used to say mum, he stopped giving me eye contact. Those were the two big signs where I noticed, okay, something's wrong.

Daniel

Changed. Okay. Hello, Gen.

Genevieve

Hi, how you going, Daniel?

Daniel

Good. Gen, you've had quite a bit of experience with kids on the spectrum.

Genevieve

I have.

Daniel

And I'm just wondering if when Ossie came in, he was within the parameters of your normal spectrum patient or whether you saw something different in him?

Genevieve

I guess the thing that surprised me the most is that Harawa said he only eats two foods, bananas and croissants. So kids will have a propensity towards white foods or foods that are quite bland. But I was quite surprised that he had such a limited range. So straight away I knew he was zinc deficient. So immediately we could put him on very high dose zinc and get him to eat a bigger variety of foods. And Hadewa and her daughter Scarlet were very instrumental in celebrating every single time he family food, he put a new food in his mouth, they celebrated at the dinner table. So it was such a team effort on their behalf to really encourage him every time he tried something different. So that was one thing that we started off with.

Daniel

So just with the zinc deficiency, you knew this because of the limited diet, so you had an expectation that he was zinc deficient or did you do some sort of test or?

Genevieve

No, we knew he was zinc deficient. So if your child does not eat meat, they are zinc deficient. 80% of Australians are zinc deficient. If your child is not eating certain types of protein, if they're fussy, then they're zinc deficient. And for him, he was phenomenal with taking the supplements. But for some kids, we do creams topically if they won't take supplements to bump up their zinc levels, so they can eat all the family foods. So we couldn't do a restriction diet or anything, gluten or dairy free or any of that, there wasn't enough foods to start taking things out. And then she started talking about his gastro. Whenever I see recurrent bouts of gastro, I know that the child has a parasite. So we went in and treated his parasite. Gastro is not normal. No one should be getting gastro. If you get gastro, you've got a parasite, you need to treat the parasite. The only reason you're getting gastro is because of the parasite, they're having a little party in your gut. So that was When she told me about him catching gastro from daycare, my kids...

Daniel

Sorry, can you just say gastro, so everyone's on the same page, is explosive diarrhea.

Genevieve

Vomiting, dehydration if it is more than 12 to 24 hours, depending on the age of the child.

Daniel

Passing wind.

Genevieve

Yeah, passing wind. The other thing with parasites is toe walking. So you'll see the toe walking kids, often kids on the spectrum are not walking on like their forefoot. They might occasionally walk on the heels, but mostly it's the toe walking is a sign that they've got parasites as well. So there's a couple of little bits and pieces there that we addressed. We also addressed high levels of heavy metals because of his hearing impairment. I used to work for a company called Sound Therapy and we learned a lot about the inner ear muscles and about nutritional deficiencies with certain minerals like magnesium and zinc, but also about high levels of heavy metals in the system. So with the hearing impairment, we went in and detoxed the heavy metals from his system as well.

Daniel

Any particular metals that you'd be concerned about, cadmium or mercury or?

Genevieve

Mercury and lead and aluminium are usually the main three that will affect their brain development, eye contact. Ability to cope with stress as well. So if your child goes from zero to 100, that's a good sign that they've got high levels of heavy metals there as well. So if they don't cope with stress and adults, what my adults say when I put them on this heavy metal detox is it helps with road rage. So they say to me, If I encounter road rage, I know Gen, my heavy metals are high and I need to detox my heavy metals. So that's how you might see heavy.

Daniel

Well, Gen, I'm a cyclist, so if you could put that into the water, that would be terrific.

Genevieve

Absolutely.

Daniel

Okay, well, there's a lot to unpack just there. Firstly, well, and so is that how to work? Did that happen around the same time post, you know, timing of the vaccine or was that earlier?

Hattawa

No, he was actually born born with that impairment. It was when he had his first newborn hearing that they told us that his hearing was not good in the ear. Initially, they thought it might have just been fluids in the ear, so we had waited about two to three weeks to get him retested. and unfortunately those results came back to say that he will need the hearing aids.

Daniel

So when they do a hearing test in a neonate or a toddler, do they give you a percentage of potential hearing? Do they say he can hear 50% of normal or 30%?

Hattawa

Oscar can hear on his right ear, he can hear about and his left ear is about 60.

Daniel

Okay.

Hattawa

60. Yeah, We had to do, even in that, we had to do a lot of tests repeatedly because they first said, okay, no, he is completely deaf in one ear and he can hear fine in the other. And then we had to go back again. They said, no, We had to do another test. Then they said, okay, he can hear from both ears, but it's a 50, 60%.

Daniel

Gen, what is the essence of the detox program you put kids on for heavy metals?

Genevieve

So I do tox prevent capsules to act as a binder to work on the large intestine. So most heavy metal detox programs depend on the other organs to work effectively to remove the toxins. So they essentially dump them elsewhere, whereas Toxaprevents the only one that acts as a magnet to take it out of the body. So if there are heavy metals in the brain affecting their behavior, it will actually target those heavy metals and act as a binder to take them out of the body rather than dumping them in another organ and expecting the other organ to have to clear them from the system. So it's just a quick way of getting things out without depending on good liver function or good bowel function or something else to work to move.

Daniel

It. And how long do you think this takes to because heavy metals, you know, are bound in bone and in organs and sometimes in blood as well. So over what sort of period of time would you need to start to see some sort of change in clearing heavy metals.

Genevieve

Well, I think like if I look from the first appointment on the 31st of August to the second appointment on the 28th of September, there was already a lot of improvements. Oscar was sitting more talking. He was opening his bowels every day. He had daycare days were better and like he was eating more variety and trying more foods. And he even like tried a yogurt within that first month and family foods and with his behaviour. The meltdowns were getting better and he was sitting more. He was looking at Hattawar and listening. He was picking up more words, four word sentences, or three word sentences within that month of treatment. So we were seeing big changes. But how long does it take to detox these heavy metals? Some of these heavy metals, Oscar would have had there from birth and they would have been from Hadowah and Oscar's dad and the grandparents. So you're detoxing generations worth of heavy metals. So it could take years to potentially get them completely out of the system. So there's not really a set time. It's basically when we feel that he's caught up enough at school and he doesn't need it anymore, then we would be taking him off, things like that.

Daniel

Was Oscar, either one of you, a sickly sort of child? Was he, does he have a history of many antibiotics or other prescribed drugs?

Hattawa

Before he used to get sick a lot because poor diet, I would say, but nothing, yeah, poor diet, I would say, and that he would get sick because he wasn't, his immune system was very low. But when we get him on the zinc and all of that, he started eating more and he's a lot better now than actually these days, touch wood, he gets really sick, which is so good.

Daniel

Yeah. Yeah. So how long did it take for him to start broadening his diet?

Hattawa

It took consistency And to have him take the zinc, he was young, which was really good, to kind of trick him into having the foods and putting him in his drink. So within a couple of months, he would eat new foods, which would shock me, to be honest, because anything prior I would try, it would be a no, straight no. He wouldn't even, but then he started when, after the zinc, he started smelling food, feeling it. And then when he took a bite, that's when me and Scarlet would just clap, reward him. for trying that food, which was so good to see, because prior to that, honestly, we go blue in the face.

Daniel

I know as a parent it is, or a grandparent, it is so exciting when your kids start a new healthy food. I understand the cheering.

Hattawa

Yes.

Daniel

How old was Scarlet at the time?

Hattawa

Bit older, she's three years older than him. So there's a three year gap. So much older.

Daniel

So she understood at that age the importance of supporting him through Gen's programs and trying new foods and all that sort of thing.

Hattawa

She's definitely, yeah, she's amazing with him, honestly. She will sit here and teach him, this is how we do it, Oscar, and he just follows her. And yeah, she's amazing with Oscar, definitely. Yeah. Yes.

Daniel

Do you have in mind a dietary program for things for him to try? And what sort of foods would you consider would be a good step forward, Gen?

Genevieve

Well, I guess with the speech chewing meat is so important. And a lot of these kids, they're eating foods that are really soft and don't require them to chew and to really use the muscles of their jaw. And so I think anything that is hard and they're chewing and they're going to have to build up those muscles is fantastic to develop the speech. So he was able to you know chew foods and watch and copy and mimic what they were doing and being interested and even the smell thing obviously if you're zinc deficient your sense of smell isn't going to be great it's like a lot of people who caught a certain virus lost their sense of smell just because they were zinc deficient so once we gave them zinc then they got their sense of smell back so yes.

Daniel

With the coronavirus I think I saw so many people that benefited from zinc that lost their sense of smell and taste.

Genevieve

Yeah, absolutely. And we did homeopathics as well. So with the homeopathic cease protocol for any vaccines that he'd had, as well as using homeopathic oxytocin, which is based on the research from Westmead Hospital for autism as well. And we used a perarin extract, which is similar to the research from Serumen, which is a drug from the US. So we kind of used what we had here in Australia that would work on the similar pathways.

Daniel

So with the CEAS protocol, is that a homeopathic based protocol or is it a mixture of?

Genevieve

So we just use, say for example, we go back to the last vaccine that was given, for example, MMR, and we do 30C, five drops once a week, then 200C, five drops once a week, 1M, five drops once a week, and then 10M, five drops once a week, and then we go back and do the whole protocol again for another 4 weeks.

Daniel

So for our listeners, when Gen talks about 30C or 1M, We're talking about the strength of the dilution of the homeopathic remedy. And those remedies work in different parts of the body, mental or physical, depending on their diluted strength as well. And use homeopathic oxytocin. And oxytocin, well, it's the love hormone. It helps mums and pups bond. Any outcomes?

Genevieve

So with autism, I find a lot of kids lack self-love. They've perhaps been told there's something wrong with them or they have this diagnosis. So for them to love themselves is so important. And so we really want to improve that self love for them. So the oxytocin is helping them to love themselves and to value themselves and to see themselves as worthy. So that's something I really love about it. And also, if the bond between mum or dad or siblings isn't there, if they're not rushing up to give them cuddles, if they're like a bit like closed off, I find that and that helps. And one mum actually said to me, my daughter ran up to me and gave me a cuddle and she'd never done that prior. So it's not just the bond with themselves and loving themselves, but it's also that bond with the family that I really find that oxytocin helps with.

Daniel

Yeah. Mum must have had the best of her life.

Genevieve

Oh, yes. And I'm just, I highlighted this thing that she really did.

Daniel

Yeah.

Genevieve

One time after we'd been doing everything for about five months, Hattawa said that Oscar came up to her and said, Hattawa, are you okay? And That's something that I highlighted because he was showing her empathy and she was very impressed because he'd never shown that concern. So that was in the November and we started treatment in the August. And so he was showing her empathy and I really love that. How do I highlighted that because I thought that was really special when he said that to you.

Daniel

That seems to be quite a quick turnaround, Gen, for five months to get to the stage of empathy because that's a big emotional shift.

Genevieve

Absolutely.

Daniel

How exciting. Wow. And so what's happened since then?

Genevieve

Well, he's in a mainstream school. Do you want to speak about his results getting into the school and how you advocated him for that way?

Hattawa

Yeah, so he's in the mainstream now. We wanted to, first they said, you know, let's put him in the help section, which I was I said whichever he was to grow in, I was fine with. But I wanted to just to see, to trial him out in the mainstream and see how he went starting kindy. And he loves it. He absolutely loves it. He started to make friends. He's communicating with the teacher. He's sitting down and listening, doing all the right things. I mean, which is such great feedback to get from the teacher 'cause I was really worried that it wasn't gonna go well, but he's been amazing, amazing, yes. He's still, and the trial kept going and now it's August and he's still in mainstream, progressing really well, yes.

Daniel

And what's your family saying to you about all of this?

Hattawa

My family, there's just, they just say he's a different kid. He's not the child that, you know, we saw when he was two and a half. He talks to them, he calls them on the phone, has a conversation with them, which is so big, you know, and he has that connection with all my siblings. Yeah, he's just so different now, yes.

Daniel

Yeah, yeah, isn't that wonderful? Gen, what happens now? I mean, do you keep with detoxing? Do you keep with trying to build his immunity or do you have a different process that you go through now?

Genevieve

Well, his immunity is pretty phenomenal and I think because he's eating family food, so he's getting the nutrients that he needs. from eating beautiful, healthy foods. We are still working on the social, so we've still got him on the pararan to improve the social, but it's fantastic that it is making friends and making connections. And I call it learning to read a route because some kids will come in and They might be too loud or too shy, but they're not reading the room. And so that's where I find Piraran really helps to read the room for kids. So, and it helps the language centre of the brain. So that's...

Daniel

What is Piraran?

Genevieve

Piraran, oh, so that's the extract that works on the glutathione pathways. This one is from Korean ginseng, this particular extract.

Daniel

Do you feel that he has some sort of ongoing inflammatory process? from when he was diagnosed or do you think his glutathione was diminished?

Genevieve

Yes, definitely. Detox pathways weren't working as well as they could do. And so I guess we improved his detox pathways and helped his brain to be able to process nutrients more efficiently into the gut. So then those neurotransmitters can get from one part of the brain to the next and tell him that, everything is safe, everything is good. You don't have to react to sound, light or odor or whatever it is that you're reacting to. And, you can fit in and make friends and have a great time and learn and learning can be fun as well. Like make learning fun. Once their zinc levels come up, school is easier for them. The other thing is iodine as well. We treated iodine deficiency there. And then that makes school easier because I just believe school should be easy for everyone. And if you have the correct nutrients, it is. But if you're deficient, kids will say silly things like, I think I'm dumb and they're not dumb. They're just nutritionally deficient. And once we can get those levels up, you know, things become easier for them. So, yeah.

Daniel

And, um, what about his physical coordination? Is he playing any sport or running or have you noticed any changes there?

Hattawa

He's physically okay. I guess he's not playing any support, but when we do go out and we take the ball outside, he's catching the ball, whereas before it was just kind of like he couldn't really get a grip to the ball, for example, or kicking the ball he couldn't do prior. Now he can kick the ball. And also, you know, as simple as going up the stairs and to look down, not just look nowhere. So he has definitely progressed in those as well. Yes.

Daniel

Yeah. Look, this is amazing, guys. What a great story. So Hannah, you're obviously very impressed with what's happened and his progress, Oscar's progress. Where are you taking this now? I understand that you want to advocate to other mums. So what are you doing? What are you up to?

Hattawa

I'm setting up a support page. and basically a small group for parents. I want to share my experience and what I have learned on the way of all of this and also give them encouragement and hope to parents that yes, your kids may be diagnosed with autism, but there are things that we can do as parents to help them, that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Yeah.

Daniel

Do you want to give yourself a free plug? What's the support page called? How do people find it?

Hattawa

So it's just called Harawa Autism Support. It will go.

Daniel

It's HA double TAWA.

Hattawa

Yep. HA double TAWA Autism Support. Yeah. So look out for my page. I'll have lots of.

Daniel

Is it up and running yet or are you?

Hattawa

Not yet. No, but it will. Yeah, that's fine.

Daniel

How far away do you think it is?

Hattawa

Next week or two, I just want to have. everything, if I get asked questions that I know all the answers to and also to have posts that encourage other parents that if they look at it and I can share Oscar's progress, that it gives them encouragement to do the same as I did. Yeah, so definitely soon.

Daniel

Okay, and I hope you don't think this is a dumb question, but when you say a support page, does that mean it's on Facebook or?

Hattawa

It's going to be on Instagram.

Daniel

Instagram.

Hattawa

Yes. Maybe, yeah, Instagram, I think. Yeah.

Daniel

Yeah. Okay. That's great. What a great idea. I love it. So, Gen, how are we going to finish up this case? Where do you think you're going with it?

Genevieve

I would just love for all of my families to be as incredible as Hattawa and her daughter Scarlet, because I feel like it's a team effort. And if everyone in the house is on the same page, and celebrating the success of this child and constantly giving positive feedback, I feel like there are improvements with speech and other different areas that Oscar's improved in leaps and bounds will occur faster if they can all work as a team. So that would be my goal for families to all work as a team.

Daniel

Pretty good goal to go there, Gen. All right, guys. Well, look, that's fantastic. And Gen, can people reach out to you as well? Do you have a particular website or?

Genevieve

Yes, so my website is... Get Well with Gen and Gen is spelled G-E-N. And yeah, they can reach out through my website or I'm on Facebook, Genevieve Lotkowski, and I have a Get Well with Gen page on Facebook as well. And yeah, I love to meet new families and I love to see the progress and I just think these families are just incredible. Like I'm so inspired by the families that I meet because honestly, You know, they have been told things like your child will never go to a mainstream school and then I see them improve and get into mainstream and just improving leaps and bounds. So I'm just these families I think are incredible.

Daniel

Well, I think both you and I hate that never word.

Genevieve

Yes. Yes, yes.

Daniel

Yeah. But look, congratulations to both of you and a great story. And I'm so happy for Oscar.

Hattawa

Thank you so much.

Daniel

Yeah, pretty good stuff. So thank you.

Hattawa

Thank you, Jan.

Genevieve

Thanks, Hattawa. Thanks, Daniel.

Daniel

Take care, people. Bye.

Genevieve

Bye.