Zeolite Progress: Day 11 and Day 20

Sharing my testimony why we use PBX zeolites now, every day! This journey started in 2015 when my special needs daughter was born…

Starring: My daughter who was born with Trisomy 18 (Edwards Syndrome) – which results in severe global developmental delays for children with it who survive the first year of infancy (a fraction of the 5-10% that make it to birth). Even before she was born I was told time and again to give up and accept failure, before I even began to fight for her. I was time and again told she would die those first months of her life. She was in NICU for 7 weeks, and it wasn’t until she reached 8 months that doctors started acting like they needed to help her.

In her case, we’ve dealt with:

• apnea
• floppy airway
• feeding tube since 6wo
• heart repair of PDA using copper coil catheter procedure at 2wo
• near heart and respiratory and kidney failure due to an infection at 1wo
• bowel resection at 4do to remove Meckles diverticulum
• allergic intussusception that made her have stomach and intestinal bleeds until I figured out why after 4 hospital admittances in a two-month timespan in 2018
• chronic anemia
• chronic severe diarrhea for 9 months of 2019
• chronic severe constipation since 1yo
• chronic severe reflux/GERD
• chronic extreme insomnia
• failure to thrive
• scoliosis with ongoing management
• hypotonia that’s looking like being too fatigued to function more than a “muscle problem”
• multiple intolerances related to corn and corn derivatives since she was born
• cognitive delay skill equivalent of 1-2 years of age
• still nonverbal but for a couple handfuls of words

And I still managed for a year to either nurse/pump breastmilk for her exclusively to give her her best chance. Most of the hurdles above has resulted in gut dysbiosis that I’ve had to work through layer by layer since 2015. But this post has a huge breakthrough in it.

Also:

• My second child who has eczema and started developing adverse behavior following some child wellness appointments (suddenly-doubled eczema severity, some GI upset, hitting himself in the head, falls, aggression, sudden hyperactivity)
• Myself and my mombelly, asthma, anxiety, fatigue, lactose and gluten intolerances, and I don’t know what else

Day 11

My daughter noticeably had more stamina.

Typical: Collapses step to step. On a good day, up to 30 steps before giving up. Feels like we’re supporting her weight holding her hands to help her, and she ends up not taking the steps so her feet drag. Screaming for us to pick her up or get her even things sitting right in front of her because she just couldn’t get around.

Day 11: She had a little improvement the several days prior, more willing and using just a couple fingers to hold onto for security. But that day she walked with me halfway around the house after her daddy, and I felt like I was following her. I was not supporting her weight, though she got tired after about three times her usual best distance.

She still had enough energy after outside to walk our hallway three times. As a physical therapist assistant, my husband’s familiar with what a good session looks like. That day’s was her best, he said. That she stood straighter, and it was the first time she kept her hands on the handles by herself while using the walker. All my husband did for most of it was help pull the walker as she moved.

Day 20

I’m incredibly grateful. Since starting zeolite on 25 September 2020, my daughter has shown progress for:

• neurological – improved balance, attentiveness, responsiveness, ability to look with her eyes and face instead of turning her full body to do it
• digestive – stool function, food tolerance
• energy – about three times more stamina than before starting
• sensitization – she’s becoming more tolerant of foods she’d lost (particularly, fruit)
• expressiveness – more smiles, looking at our faces more consistently, more facial reactions, more playful and engaging with family members
• development – she’s been able to start BENDING DOWN to pick things up WITHOUT not falling in the process, actually REACHING for items, keeping herself UPRIGHT to sit on a seat without back support, …trying to balance without holding onto furniture – she’s had some new falls related to… standing straighter and leaning/stepping away from walls and furniture. She’s now even had the forethought to set a pillow on the floor to sit on. Never did that before, ever.

Now there is another BIG WIN: Yes, she’s been gaining weight since eliminating corn derivatives, BUT THIS IS A FULL POUND. IN A MONTH. She measured 34 lbs on September 9 — as of October 15 she was 35.3 lbs. Ordinarily she’s gained 1-2 pounds in a year. After removing synthetic corn derivatives, she gained 5 pounds over 11 months (from November 2019 to September 2020).

January to October 2020, she also gained about 2 inches of height.

This girl began life not even 1% weight-for-length on a weight chart. Failure to thrive, malnutrition in spite of perfectly adequate dietitian-approved non-processed feeding tube routines, muscle wasted. She’s had years of stalled growth. Removing corn derivatives got her on the chart bouncing between 4% and 11% depending on progress and new layers of issues to resolve. But today? She jumped from the 20-something-% in September… to 54%(!) weight-for-length, on 15 October 2020.

So that makes another HUGE GAIN: Day 20 — weight/nutrient intake improving/stabilizing

I could cry. My baby is finally GROWING. I haven’t seen anything but UP since the changes we’ve made since November 2019 and, now showing such leaps in LESS THAN A MONTH of starting natural zeolite.

What about zeolite progress for my son, myself, and my husband?

To start, we’re all sleeping better.

My HUSBAND’S Progress:

Mostly for my husband, I notice he’s more expressionable than his usual stoicism. He lost inflammation since I saw his “weight” drop along with mine after we started PBX, and more energy to get things done without seeming buried in need-to-do’s.

MY Progress:

Me, I “lost weight” (inflammation) and went down a full shirt size, I stopped having major anxiety like I was, and my asthma and stamina have improved. Multiple doctors have told me I wasn’t hypoglycemic but never did any testing because it “wasn’t warranted”, but I’ve also had hypoglycemia-like symptoms (weak, shaky, dizzy, clammy that comes on suddenly if I don’t eat enough and often enough) since high school that I haven’t felt since starting PBX.

My SON’S Progress:

And I was doubtful until today when I was finally able to see the difference I was looking for in my son’s eczema! It was a slower progress, but at 3 weeks in it made a happy leap towards improvement! We really did go from having to cover him in lotion or antibiotic or some other skin soothing concoction I’d think to try, upwards of 3-5x in a day, AND having to put it on him up to 4x at night so he could sleep without crying and digging at his skin until he bled… To now at Day 20, and I realized we’ve only been moisturizing after baths. I haven’t had to double-sock my toddler in almost a week. It’s not gone yet, but sooo much better. And behaviorally, he’s been calmer.

[Regarding my son’s progress: to be continued, it hit a snag…]

I wonder what progress will be at one month, after another 10 days? What other progress from there? I’m so excited!