Ezekiel's Story
Ezekiel's story begins during pregnancy. Well, I guess all our stories do, but when I trace back his history, I can clearly see that what “happened” to him began while I was carrying him.Having long suffered from recurrent bladder infections, I had ended up with a full-blown kidney infection during my seventh month of pregnancy. It was a bad one, and I had to go on a strong antibiotic to get rid of it. Then my midwives decided the safest course, given my history, was to remain on a low, preventative dose of an antibiotic for the rest of my pregnancy. I reluctantly agreed. I had tried other things – natural remedies, etc. – which I have detailed in another post.
Unfortunately, the antibiotic did not prevent me from testing positive for Group-B Strep, for which the standard protocol is antibiotics during labor. I had also tested positive for Group-B early on in pregnancy, and at that time they were treating with antibiotics for Group B early in pregnancy, too, thinking it might prevent miscarriage. So, in all, Ezekiel got 2 full rounds of antibiotics, plus the maintenance dose, plus the GBS protocol bag of antibiotics during labor.
He was a very fussy, colicky baby. I’m glad I didn’t just give up and let him cry, though, as they used to say to do. (Okay, I guess some people still say that. That will have to be another post.) He’s always had some food sensitivities, notably to dairy, which contributes to his chronically stuffy nose. Other than that he seemed like a fairly normal – well, a little weird – kid.
He was bubbly and silly, but very smart. When he was two, his fun computer game was clicking on a map and hearing the names of the countries. He memorized all of Asia. He was always silly, loud, and impulsive, but was mostly just an energetic little boy.
Then we all got strep, some of us more than once. It turned out my niece, who was living with us at the time, was an a-symptomatic carrier. By the time that ordeal was over, Ezekiel had had three prescriptions, for two different anti-biotics, for a total of 24 days. And he could no longer speak clearly. My sweet little boy was rocking back-and-forth, staring at the ceiling, and interjecting “uh” and a facial tic every third word. He could not follow instructions. He would walk out of the room to go get something and walk right back. Something was clearly wrong.
I took him to the doctor, wondering if he was having trouble hearing. I think I actually said, “Please tell me he can’t hear.” Well, his hearing was fine but we found out he did need glasses. So maybe that helped him a bit, but glasses were not going to solve all the issues we were dealing with.
The wait to get in to see the child behavioral specialist was six months.
I went online. Since I was now having people ask me if my son was autistic, I figured it made sense to look at that. Without a clear diagnosis, I figured trying things like “gluten-free, casein-free” certainly couldn’t hurt. But it sounded very taxing. With three other children in the house and a high-stress living situation, I couldn’t see how I could possibly make such a drastic change.
I read about the brain-gut connection. This made sense, and sounded a bit more doable, especially with the antibiotics he’d been on. I put him on a gluten-free diet and kefir every day for two months. He liked the store-bought, plain kefir. When I tried making it, he hated it. Actually, we all did. He got better! Not completely better, but the rocking stopped and he was able to speak clearly again. The facial tics continued, and the trouble paying attention.
When he finally was able to see the specialist, he had much improved. He was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, Auditory Processing Disorder, Sensory Processing Disorder, Tourette’s Syndrome, and Attention Deficit Disorder.
Life continued. We’ve encouraged him to try making friends, have two-way conversations, expand his interests beyond whatever he fixates on. In many ways, we adjusted to Ezekiel. He really is a great kid, and we like him a lot. But the facial tics were, well, annoying at best. Sometimes they would manifest as an eye-roll of sorts, and his older brother was often accusing him of “making faces” at him. Then the tic became a cough. This random, startling cough. We had taught him to cough into the crook of his elbow, so out of habit his tic was accompanied by his arm jerking up toward his face at lightning speed. It was really unsettling, and I often saw people who didn’t know him well jump at his sudden movement. I found myself having to explain that he wasn’t sick all the time.
And it was annoying as all get out.
We tried chiropractic. My chiropractor is wonderful and said, “It will either work after a few weeks, or it won’t at all. Don’t believe anyone who tells you it will get better after six months of treatments.” It didn’t work in his case, and he absolutely hated it.
After witnessing Young Living Thieves oil heal his brother in time for camp, I decided to research essential oils for Tourette’s tics. I found several stories online, and decided it was definitely worth a shot. I tried having him take a combination internally, but that did not meet with his liking. (You have to remember the other issues I’m dealing with. He’s not a kid you can just force to “suck it up.”)
Finally, we found Vetiver oil. I’m able to apply it to his feet at night, via a roller top because it is such a thick oil, and he doesn’t have facial tics anymore. Gone. Completely. What a relief! No more coughing, eye-rolling, grunting. The tics are just gone.
As a bonus-effect, Vetiver seems to help him concentrate on his schoolwork better, too.
I am so thankful that we found Young Living essential oils and that Vetiver works so well for Ezekiel. And I need to keep working on his gut health. I love my son as he is, and I’m able to appreciate a lot of things about him, but I think he could continue to improve if we keep up our efforts.
Unfortunately, the antibiotic did not prevent me from testing positive for Group-B Strep, for which the standard protocol is antibiotics during labor. I had also tested positive for Group-B early on in pregnancy, and at that time they were treating with antibiotics for Group B early in pregnancy, too, thinking it might prevent miscarriage. So, in all, Ezekiel got 2 full rounds of antibiotics, plus the maintenance dose, plus the GBS protocol bag of antibiotics during labor.
He was a very fussy, colicky baby. I’m glad I didn’t just give up and let him cry, though, as they used to say to do. (Okay, I guess some people still say that. That will have to be another post.) He’s always had some food sensitivities, notably to dairy, which contributes to his chronically stuffy nose. Other than that he seemed like a fairly normal – well, a little weird – kid.
He was bubbly and silly, but very smart. When he was two, his fun computer game was clicking on a map and hearing the names of the countries. He memorized all of Asia. He was always silly, loud, and impulsive, but was mostly just an energetic little boy.
Then we all got strep, some of us more than once. It turned out my niece, who was living with us at the time, was an a-symptomatic carrier. By the time that ordeal was over, Ezekiel had had three prescriptions, for two different anti-biotics, for a total of 24 days. And he could no longer speak clearly. My sweet little boy was rocking back-and-forth, staring at the ceiling, and interjecting “uh” and a facial tic every third word. He could not follow instructions. He would walk out of the room to go get something and walk right back. Something was clearly wrong.
I took him to the doctor, wondering if he was having trouble hearing. I think I actually said, “Please tell me he can’t hear.” Well, his hearing was fine but we found out he did need glasses. So maybe that helped him a bit, but glasses were not going to solve all the issues we were dealing with.
The wait to get in to see the child behavioral specialist was six months.
I went online. Since I was now having people ask me if my son was autistic, I figured it made sense to look at that. Without a clear diagnosis, I figured trying things like “gluten-free, casein-free” certainly couldn’t hurt. But it sounded very taxing. With three other children in the house and a high-stress living situation, I couldn’t see how I could possibly make such a drastic change.
I read about the brain-gut connection. This made sense, and sounded a bit more doable, especially with the antibiotics he’d been on. I put him on a gluten-free diet and kefir every day for two months. He liked the store-bought, plain kefir. When I tried making it, he hated it. Actually, we all did. He got better! Not completely better, but the rocking stopped and he was able to speak clearly again. The facial tics continued, and the trouble paying attention.
When he finally was able to see the specialist, he had much improved. He was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, Auditory Processing Disorder, Sensory Processing Disorder, Tourette’s Syndrome, and Attention Deficit Disorder.
Life continued. We’ve encouraged him to try making friends, have two-way conversations, expand his interests beyond whatever he fixates on. In many ways, we adjusted to Ezekiel. He really is a great kid, and we like him a lot. But the facial tics were, well, annoying at best. Sometimes they would manifest as an eye-roll of sorts, and his older brother was often accusing him of “making faces” at him. Then the tic became a cough. This random, startling cough. We had taught him to cough into the crook of his elbow, so out of habit his tic was accompanied by his arm jerking up toward his face at lightning speed. It was really unsettling, and I often saw people who didn’t know him well jump at his sudden movement. I found myself having to explain that he wasn’t sick all the time.
And it was annoying as all get out.
We tried chiropractic. My chiropractor is wonderful and said, “It will either work after a few weeks, or it won’t at all. Don’t believe anyone who tells you it will get better after six months of treatments.” It didn’t work in his case, and he absolutely hated it.
After witnessing Young Living Thieves oil heal his brother in time for camp, I decided to research essential oils for Tourette’s tics. I found several stories online, and decided it was definitely worth a shot. I tried having him take a combination internally, but that did not meet with his liking. (You have to remember the other issues I’m dealing with. He’s not a kid you can just force to “suck it up.”)
Finally, we found Vetiver oil. I’m able to apply it to his feet at night, via a roller top because it is such a thick oil, and he doesn’t have facial tics anymore. Gone. Completely. What a relief! No more coughing, eye-rolling, grunting. The tics are just gone.
As a bonus-effect, Vetiver seems to help him concentrate on his schoolwork better, too.
I am so thankful that we found Young Living essential oils and that Vetiver works so well for Ezekiel. And I need to keep working on his gut health. I love my son as he is, and I’m able to appreciate a lot of things about him, but I think he could continue to improve if we keep up our efforts.