As many of you know, we have been on a journey to help our daughter from the dibilitating side effects of many of her psychotropic medications. She recently began to have tremors, not just shakey hands, but rather Parkinsons type jerking that was involuntary. After talking to her doctor, he recommended we stop the Geodon immediately and then proceeded to ask me what medications she was taking. We had called him after hours, so I did not expect him to have her chart memorized. I began to list the 7 meds she was taking: Geodon, Lamictal, Prozac, Trazadone, Xanax, Ambien, Focalin... and there was SILENCE on the other end of the phone, After a moment he asked, "Did I prescribe all those meds?" My heart Sank. I reminded him that my daughter also saw his nurse practitioners, but that YES-- his office staff and himself had prescribed all the meds.
I shared my concern with him about her being over medicated. He agreed. He said to stop Geodon immediately and get to his office ASAP monday morning so we could begin the process to wean her off the meds. When we arrived at the office we were seen by another Nurse Practitioner. We expalined the conversation we had with the doctor over the weekend and that we were here to get her weaned off the meds. She agreed that we should stop the Geodon (which is good, we already had at the doctors orders!). But when we began discussing weaning her off all the other meds and titrating her doses down, she said that she wanted to raise her lamical dose by 50 mg!! I protested and said the point of this visit was to get her off the meds, not increase her doses! She explained that she would feel better lowering her doses if we got her into an EMDR Therapist to deal with her trauma issues. We agreed and made the appointment the same day. But she still insisted that Laura increase the Lamictal since we were removing the Geodon. It was as if it never occurred to her that the meds could be the problem. (NOTE: Lamictal is a med for bipolar disorder. Laura was diagnosed bipolar just 3 weeks post partum. Women post partum are typically a hormonal mess for a few months after giving birth. So we have wondered if the bipolar diagnosis was even accurate.)
Laura and I left the office a bit defeated. We did not get what we had expected. I told Laura to try it for a week. If she felt the symptoms were worse to go back to the original dose and then we would titrate down ourselves. She did not make it a few days before the side effects of the higher dose began to bother her. Being concerned about the toxic build up in her system, and seeing that she was already experiencing Tardive Dyskinesia, we decided to seek alternative treatment options to help detox her body from the chemicals and toxins.
We sought the help of Chelsea Barlow, CNHP (Certified Natural Health Practitioner) and FB page: www.FaceBook.com/AllGoodThings4You.Her website is www.AllGoodThings4You.com.
Bio-Energetic Practitioner. Her
When we shared our concerns for detoxing Laura with Chelsea, she explained the process like this:
My goal when working with the client is to FIRST make sure their body is READY to detox. I have recommended Laura start out on whole body support to get it there. The protocol I use is called the Opening Channels Program. The purpose of it is to nourish her body in it's s most basic needs. Her neuroendocrine system is being supported with a homeopathic product called Rehydration that makes water better. It aids the cells to better uptake water, supports her hypothalamus and therefore, improves cell-to-cell communication.
Next, ionic trace minerals to bypass digestion and nourish cells quickly. She is using a super easy to digest white fish protein to help rebuild tissues. Probiotics, because we must have a healthy gut flora. Digestive enzymes, because we live in a world of "Frankinfood" and poor farming practices. And the final two are to clean the colon and the filtration and drainage systems of her body. The goal is to heal her gut, support cellular communication and nourish them, and to clean out the junk floating around all her cells so that when that gets clear, we can start to encourage her body to clean out more deeply. Deeper detox will need to wait until her body is ready. She is my most toxic client to date. Her body needs time to clean out. I respect the fantastic work that she has done so far. She's come a long way and there is MUCH more to do.
Once her body is ready for a deeper detox, we will use homeopathics and high quality supplements to support her further. My goal with her is to give her what her body needs so it can heal itself. I believe that Masterfully created, the body absolutely has the ability to heal, if it is given what is needed. I don't work with diseases. I don't have "cures." I help lift off the toxic load and aim to give what the body is truly asking for because it WANTS to heal and was designed to.
Chelsea has been a God-Send in our life! God has strategically placed the perfect people in our path on this journey to save Laura. Laura has now been on this protocol about 6 weeks and we are starting to see glimpses of the daughter we used to know! She is in there! She is much more clear minded and PRESENT with us; not just "the zombie girl" that we had come to expect.
I can't tell you what it does, as a mom, to see her smile again, to see glimpses or her... at times tears sting my eyes when I hear her laugh because it seems like she has come back from the dead-- and there is a part of me that fears if we don't get this right, we will lose her again to the meds. But day by day she seems to be thriving more and more. She has gone back to college this semester and seems to be excelling academically, emotionally, and in her physical and mental health!
Our next step on this journey is with a Naturopathic Doctor in Flower Mound, TX, Dr. Gary Sconyers. We will be looking at Brain Mapping which can actually show how specific parts of her brain are functioning. The Brain Map can determine if there is over or under activity is specific areas of the brain and then target those areas with exercises that retrain the brain and create new neural pathways of processing information-- something medications can never do. It's like Chelsea said, the body is DESIGNED to heal itself. If the body is given what it needs it can repair itself! In Laura's case, she does not need meds to numb her ability to feel anything, she needs to know why her brain is not working properly. Now that we know there is a way to discover that without the use of psychotropic meds, we are moving full steam ahead in the fight to save Laura!For more information on Brain Mapping you can go to http://www.hrcoftexas.com/
For Info on Neurofeedback that has been in the news go to http://www.hrcoftexas.com/news/
