Aaaaand it's official. I have two children with autism.
Fuck autism.
Anyway, we had our next visit at Thoughtful House yesterday, the first one with the actual doctor, and it was just as enlightening and encouraging as the nutritional consult. We expected the stool tests to show yeast, and they did show a moderate fungal infection, but surprisingly they also showed a strong bacterial infection. I didn't realize that was possible, the two being natural enemies, but apparently they have either created their own equilibrium or are simply colonized in different sections of his gut. Furthermore, the culture showed exactly zero beneficial bacteria inside him, despite the fact that we've been giving him acidophilus supplements every day. So either my supplements are crap and dead on arrival (no way to know for sure, but it is a reasonable-quality brand,) or the infection is bad enough that the good bacteria have no chance of survival in that environment. So starting today he is on a prescription for a strong antibiotic, to be immediately followed by an antifungal drug. After that comes new, much stronger probiotics, and a collection of vitamin and mineral supplements to address the other nutritional deficiencies his tests showed.
But meanwhile, the tests also came back showing extremely high levels of lactic acid, but low-to-normal levels of a substance called pyruvic acid. Taken together, these readings indicate that he may have a relatively rare subset of autism (about 5-10% of the autistic population) that is caused by a mitochondrial disorder, which is genetic and incurable. (This would be the same type of autism that
Hannah Poling has, by the way.) So if the mitochondrial disorder is confirmed, it means it would be impossible for him to ever make a "full" recovery, i.e. one where he could stop taking his medicines or go off his diet. However, it's still possible he could have a "managed" recovery, where the continued medicine/supplements and dietary restrictions would allow him to be indistinguishable from peers. It all depends on how severe the disorder is and how it would manifest over the rest of his life--many people live with mitochondrial disorders for decades and don't even know it. At any rate, confirming it would at least give us a clearer picture of how to proceed with some aspects of his treatment, so we had another round of blood testing today, and should know the results in a few weeks. A word to the wise: blood draws on an incredibly strong 3-year-old are not advisable, especially when they have to take eleven damn vials. He knocked out the needles so many times, I had to restrain him for twenty minutes to get it all done. My muscles were shaking afterwards from the workout, I kid you not. But once he was free he got over it within two minutes, so that was nice.
Meanwhile, Minifobette has started her intake procedures with Thoughtful House, and will get her own occupational therapy sessions once Minifob starts school in August. Whee.