Here’s the scene: A really difficult patient comes to my office with many, many problems. “Stims” are way out of control. Language is at a bare minimum, if at all. Most importantly, the child looks sick!

So, I go about the usual sequence of intensive history taking, extensive physical examination, complete record review and appropriate laboratory testing. Through that process, which may take a month or more, I am able to ascertain what medical ailments the child is suffering and I speak with the family about the options for treatment.

Each prescription is gone over in great detail with expected results from each approach to care and cure. This supplement may cause yeast die-off, this diet may lead to emotional disruption. Step-by-step the parents follow a well-thought-out course of action and, many times, are quite pleased as expected outcomes are met. The child makes real progress that hasn’t been seen in quite a long time and medications or supplements are increased when indicated and as tolerated.

Almost inevitably, however, the parents become less-than-satisfied that the progress is not as fast as expected. “He’s still not engaging in conversation”, “he doesn’t seem to make any friends” or “those stims are driving us crazy!” “Do you remember when all you wanted was to hear him speak?” I ask.  “Yes, but there’s got to be more” is the disappointed answer.

This is when I usually give my “sailing” analogy. When you keep pulling the wavering sail ever more tightly, the boat may go a bit faster, but you may also catch a new breeze and everyone gets disturbed by having to cross over to the other side of the boat. You may have gained a bit of speed, but was it worth the trouble? “Stay the course,” I plead, but sometimes to little avail.

The parent then seeks other methods of improvement. A supplement that I haven’t thought of. A new (or actually old) therapy that promises magic results. Another opinion from a frustrated web yenta. So, the parent follows that line of thinking for a while, and, many times, abandons the course of treatment that got actual, real, palpable results.

Weeks and months go by, sometimes with some perceived initial improvement and slowly – slowly – the child gets sicker and sicker and returns to the state where I first met the patient. “Well,” the parent explains, “the diet wasn’t working any more so we decided to try ultrasound enhanced pinball with neuro-interventional patterning. The first $10,000 treatment seemed to help a lot, but the third round didn’t seem to do anything!”

Here’s the thing – people don’t write testimonials about slow, steady improvement. They don’t generally write about things that didn’t work, especially when they feel that they wasted a great deal of money.

Professionals work to identify real sources of inflammation and treat many of the issues that are leading to poor health. Combining biomedical treatments with the proven traditional therapies such as Behavioral, Speech & Language, Occupational and Physical Therapies, results in palpable improvement. I have seen it from other practitioners and I have seen it with my own eyes.

In closing, I would like to offer this bit of advice that I found on the Internet: “Many an opportunity is lost because a man is out looking for four-leaf clovers.  ~Author Unknown”

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