The Story of Thomas V.

Autism and Nutrition. Result: Here I tell you about my son. ⁠ ⁠

I want to tell you a little about Anaemia and nutrition with CBC tests for my baby boy. Before the weaning from breast milk, at about one and a half years old, my boy tried everything, even the sausages offered by grandma—although not as the main food. Our life felt it was more like pampering to his needs.

And he liked to chew everything.

The First Signs of Trouble: Refusal to Eat

But already at 2 the first problems appeared.

It was time to wean him off mums milk. And it seemed like it was time to do that. There was nothing useful in that milk anymore, although there was an immeasurable amount of it as she was very healthy. But here’s the problem. My Boyrefuses all other food. He does not try, and what he tries does not go further than his mouth. Everything is spat out or vomited. This was affecting his health. We got checkups done for him. No persuasion or deception worked to help his CBC levels to improve.

We tried giving him everything: purees, treats, porridge, fruits, and vegetables in jars and not in jars. All baby food and mixtures (cow’s or goat’s milk) were out.

There was an opportunity to go to Finland on a weekend and buy some Anaemia designed baby treats there – and he didn’teat even that. A lot of money was flushed down the toilet, closed feeding was given away in “give away for free” groups. Mothers will understand the despair – when a child does not eat anything except breast feeding. Three years are approaching, and the child is still on breast feeding. There was an attempt not to give it. But it didnt work. The child did not eat anything offered. For a day … and he screamed for 6 hours in a row.

A Breakthrough: Fruit Porridge Discovery

But then I found it: fruit porridge, powdered, with peach—more precisely, with a peach flavour.

Mom suggested it.

In the 90s, we were all supplemented with a very liquid type of semolina.

But in this case he did not eat semolina but we did dissolved three spoons of powdered porridge in a bottle of warm milk, and added a spoon of sugar, and shook it very well. This became the first serious replacement for breast milk. The CBC test saga was maintained to keep an eye on his health levels as we were worried about then due to limited diet. And with the breast feeding and the unfinished porridge solution lasted for 4 years. However fortunately, by age 3.8, he started eating bananas.

The child weight was ok at 4100 grams and my milk gave him enough calories. Also anyway he grew up to be a chubby little thing with chubby cheeks.

And at 4 years old, we managed to progress with vermicelli with butter and salt stuck to bananas. Then we tried to replace porridge with tea. But he refused all the solutions that we offered.

Then we had a small win, for about three months, he ate pasta and bananas every day.

Introduction of Sweets and Bakery Products

Then, i was so stressed nd worried about his blood levels that I finally gave in and started stuffing him with bakery products and sweets. At first, he spat them out, but adding sugar is a real win, so it was the easiest to introduce.

So then we tried buns, cookies, rolls, and chocolate appeared.

Sweets are very harmful, i know thats true. But we need to keep him our of damager. At tthe end of this perios I realized to much sweets was bad and I repented and stopped. But when sweets were introduced into the diet, he was more willing to try new things.

NAd then I decided to use Pancakes, cakes, and cheesecakes and we had success when they came into play. And to this day, one of these three dishes is present daily.

Then mashed potatoes appeared. Oddly enough, bacon, deep fried until crispy. Also it was not healthy, but it was closer to nutritious so we acceppted that small win. Now my son recently turned 6, and the diet includes chicken, pork, croutons, pancakes, fritters, cheesecakes, bananas and peeled apples, almost everything sweet. Mashed potatoes, sometimes pilaf, sometimes pasta. Boiled eggs and omelette. Oatmeal once a week and very rarely, cottage cheese (we have a life-and-death struggle for him so we tried everything).

Unfortunately, according to the tests and CBC reporting all this does not provide enough iron in the body; haemoglobin is around 104, ferritin is reduced, and iron is present but not sufficient.

They prescribed for the Anaemia recovery, a three-month course of various food matter and a multivitamin complex. He has been drinking it for four days.

Future Hopes and Continuing the Battle for Nutrition

I still hope to find options for preparing vegetables and fruits suitable for my son. I will fight for victory with nutrition.

But for now, this is it.

And how are things with nutrition in your children?

Were there any problems with weaning off breast feeding?

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Kristinas story:

That’s how it should be, right?

I am in hospital due to severe anaemia. The situation is as follows: I am not the easiest patient – polyvalent allergy, nothing can be treated. This fact has been confirmed and reconfirmed three hundred times with documents – there are enough examinations and conclusions from the allergist to fill a whole folder. Well, and this. The doctor is a stern lady, apparently a fan of Dr. House with his signature: Everyone lies. Yesterday, we had a conversation about what to treat in the CBC profile test. Not only do I say, but I also show on paper that only Ferrum Lek can be used out of the absolute majority of iron preparations (and many with Anaemia have been tried).

Suspicious Medication on the Nightstand

Today, I returned from CBC examination tests and trhere was a handful of tablets on the general nightstand. And I decided not to take them and i waited for the Nurse doing the ward rounds to ask what were the tablets. When he came, i complained that 90 per cent of what is suggested are allergens, not even potential allergins but actually, even quite proven to be. And empirically proven even in the same hospital. Only the attending physician was different from the previous oneso there was no understanding of my issues with the current staff. However even the discharge Nurse from the hospital indicated this fact too.

So I ask now about it, and the new Rounds doctor does not give me a straight answerl. After my persistence finally he responds but, breaking his voice, he says: “IF YOU DON’T WANT TO, DON’T take them. It seems that YOU CAN NOT BE TREATED AT ALL by us. But I must say that IF YOU HAVE A REACTION, I WILL PROVIDE HELP.” So i was thinking that I probably did not take them. There was a discussion .. and i concluded that Okay, maybe it’s not that serious, nothing happened the day before. So they put in an IV. And guess what.. after about 5 minutes, I am covered in terrible hives; my face is swollen, my limbs are swollen, and everything is itchy.  The nurse sees all this reaction andinstantly removes the IV system, and informs the Anaemia doctor.

Another Shift, Same Mistake

And today: another shift. the shift duty Doctor  Comes, and asks how bad did it hit yesterday; I take off the mask and show my still swollen mug. She says she doesn’t know what to do because the previous doctor prescribed the same medicine. Then she’s making a suggestion like… Okay, I’ll say that we used drips, but we won’t use drips we will do something else. But about 40 minutes later, she came back and said that the doctor wouldn’t leave me alone with this situation. the doctor  was nasty, and insisted that we’ll put in a drip when it starts, we’ll record the reaction, we’ll remove the reaction. They put it in. Same story. 5-7 minutes, and I’m ready to bathe in acid.

I was filled with such anger – it’s hard to describe; how is that possible? Or I don’t understand something, and these are just new clinical recommendations to force allargic reactions. It’s hard to assess the adequacy of the situation because…the doctor said it and prescribed it, and I’m used to trusting doctors…

Hemoglobin Levels and the Transfusion Dilemma

Here’s another thing. My Hemoglobin is three times lower than normal – ~ 45 g / l. The doctor is categorically set on a blood transfusion to treat it, but I have several contraindications – from an allergic reaction to who knows what at all. I consulted 3 haematologists at the regional hospital and 3 allergists – they almost unanimously said it was impossible to make a transfusion. In the best case – the kidney will finally fail me. And it is like this … and without it life will become unbearable. And for the Anaemia specialists, again, they unanimously,and yet independently of each other, wrote that we must replenish haemoglobin reserves with erythropoietin. The attending physician, a therapist, not only did not take their recommendations into account; they even scheduled a further intetrnal hospital consultation And after that she still insisted that i take  either a hemotransfusion and I signed the consent, or she will discharged me from the hospital. There is no third option.

So a this moment I am confused and unsure about even if I’m right to be concerned. Maybe they are doing everything correctly, and I, as a non-specialist, simply don’t understand the doctors’ actions? 

But the result was that they were right. After the treatment i felt alot better. All that stress for nothing. My faith in doctors has been restored.