Wednesday, October 20, 2010

some happy news!

Yesterday Kaiden sat up all by himself!!  Of course, I missed it.

I changed his diaper, left him on his back on the floor and left the room to take care of the dirty diaper.  Came back to see him sitting up, and not where I left him!  He hasn't yet repeated the action, but if he did it once, I'm sure he can do it again!

These last few weeks Kaiden hasn't really done anything new; instead he's been refining his motor skills.  PT has him cruising furniture and 4 point creeping (assisted).  He can now go from a sitting position forward into a 4 point position, then does a belly flop - which is much better than him letting himself fall over onto his side, then twisting to get onto his belly.

He had stopped with the self feeding and is now back to grabbing the spoon if he feels I'm not feeding him fast enough!  I should just let him have the spoon and the bowl and walk away and see what he does . . . but I think Lola will end up with his food if I do that!

With motivation (my fork???) he will inchworm thru the house - from the living room into the dining room and up over the threshold into the kitchen.  I don't know why he likes forks so much . . . I don't let him play with it, I give him a spoon as reward instead!  Safer for all involved!

He has tentatively started exploring.  He normally sticks to inchworming around his play area and has now ventured into the dining room a few times; tonight he was fascinated by the wallpaper.  Then played tug with Lola and one of her toys . . . too cute!  Got that on video.

Not much else to report right now . . . I did read something regarding nightshades where nicotine works synergystically with solanine to do something . . . nicotine is in nightshades (as is solanine).  As previously mentioned, solanine is in blueberries, but I'm pretty sure nicotine isn't.  Have to dig further into that.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

I don't get it.

from: http://www.craigsams.com/pages/tobac.html:
WHAT ARE ACETYLCHOLINESTERASE INHIBITORS?


• The chemical that transmits nerve impulses from one nerve ending to the next is acetylcholine - once it has transmitted a nerve impulse it has done its job and is no longer needed so it is broken down by an enzyme called acetylcholinesterase and recycled.

• Solanine (or tomatine from tomatoes) slows the production of this acetylcholinesterase, so acetylcholine isn't broken down as fast as it's being produced.

• Acetylcholine builds up causing a 'traffic jam' of stimulation at the receptor nerve endings.

• The nerve endings become overstimulated

• This overstimulation can lead to muscle weakness, muscle twitching, hypertension, increased intestinal contractions and increased secretions of tear, sweat, saliva, gastric and intestinal glands.

• All nightshade foods contain solanine, a strong acetylcholinesterase inhibitor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yet, studies done regarding dementia are using acetylcholinesterase inhibitors because with dementia (and Down Syndrome) there isn't enough acetylcholine in the brain.
 
So does Kaiden have an adequate supply of acetylcholine, and the nightshades were inhibiting acetylcholinesterase, thereby causing a buildup of acetylcholine in his brain?  Or did he not have enough acetylcholine . . . which doesn't really make sense because then you would think a bigger supply of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors would help - as with the dementia studies.  Yet we all know what happens: Kaiden + nightshades = seizures and impaired cognitive function.  Not that he isn't still delayed developmentally . . . but the astounding progress he has made since being nightshade free would make one think that he didn't have enough acetylcholinesterase, and too much choline.  But when I began giving him choline supplements, he didn't get worse, he developed further.
 
There is so much to this, I wonder if I'll ever figure this whole thing out.