Autism and Plexus?!

First let me start by saying *Plexus products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.* I'm not claiming that Plexus has cured Ronnie, but it HAS helped him in SO many ways. I am NOT an Ambassador, just a happy customer! Prepare for a long post, but it's amazing seeing and now sharing with all of you how much Plexus has helped him!

I will say that I personally have seen great benefits from using Plexus products and you can read more about that here. But today, this post is all about my son, Ronnie. He's 6 years old and has Autism.

This is a typical reaction when we say "Ronnie smile" and I love it!

Ronnie has dealt with constipation pretty much his entire 6 years of life. And if your child has ever dealt with chronic constipation you'll understand when I say, it has been so heartbreaking to watch. When Ronnie was diagnosed with Autism (around the age of 3) the psychologist recommended we do a dairy free diet, at that time he was taking in large amounts of dairy. Yogurt, it was one of the few things we could get him to eat. She talked with us about how removing dairy may help improve his constipation and that "might" help improve :some: behavioral issues. So we tried. It helped some, but not enough.

We spoke with his pediatrician because despite going completely dairy free (wow, what a challenge that was) he was still having pretty severe constipation. She prescribed him Miralax and told us to give him some every day. We did this for quite some time and guess what? Still no relief. After researching, I found out that Miralax A) Shouldn't be taken daily and B) Can cause chronic constipation. Yes, you read that right, extended use of Miralax can cause chronic constipation, the one thing I was trying to help my child with.

So a friend recommended trying a probiotic. I found some chewables that luckily he could tolerate and after doing some more research I added Aloe Vera to his juice. And eventually we went gluten free. While doing all this helped improve his constipation problems a lot, he was still having problems (just not as severe). We kept with this routine for quite some time (years) until he could no longer tolerate the chewable probiotics. So I moved on to a liquid probiotic that I could just add hide in his juice.

*CUE PLEXUS*

I started taking Plexus products and LOVED THEM (read more about it here). My husband and I had to take Ronnie to the doctor because he was peeing so frequently we thought maybe a bladder infection!? Nope. It was from constipation. So I showed her my Probio5 and she gave us the green light and things have been amazing ever since. He no longer has problems with being constipated. For the first time ever my little guy isn't in pain when he goes to the bathroom and he's regular. But that's not all that Probio5 has helped him with.....
*Note, he occasionally will have a half of Slim, but he IS consistent with Probio5.

Behavior. His behavior has drastically changed for the BETTER. I cannot stress that enough. Before Probio5, it was rough around here. And that's putting it mildly. My husband had just gotten back from his assignment in Turkey, Ronnie was having problems with transitioning from one parent to two parents. Daily, we were dealing with being screamed at, slamming doors (I'm honestly surprised it didn't fall right off the hinges), throwing things, hitting, kicking, screaming, saying the most awful things, he couldn't focus and was extremely hyper. If you're an Autism parent, you'll understand when I say....they were meltdowns from hell. And as a parent I felt so awful, like I wasn't doing everything I could to help my baby. I hated seeing him like that, he didn't understand why he was behaving that way...it was hard hearing him say "I don't understand why I'm this way Momma." We aren't seeing this behavior anymore, I mean....rarely....when we do it's usually around a full moon and it's not as severe. Thank you Jesus.

Schooling. We homeschool and that journey has been rough. We began kindergarten last year. He couldn't focus, he couldn't sit still long enough to try to focus and the moment something difficult came up...he would lose it. We weren't getting much work done during the day. We ended up taking a break from homeschool for months because of his behavior, honestly....I felt like a failure. But now, we're a couple of  months back into homeschool and he's doing GREAT. He can focus better, he is much more emotionally and mentally prepared for school work and his behavior...AMAZING. When something frustrating does arise, he communicates with me instead of automatically resorting to screaming at me or melting down. Do we still have a few rough spots here and there? You bet, but it's not something that we can't manage now. Even his OT has commented on how much he's changed and how much improvement she's seeing in his sessions.

Sleep. Where do I start? Around the age of 2 sleep became such a huge problem area for Ronnie. It was a battle....a long, hard and exhausting battle. It was taking him usually around 2 hours to go down for a nap and at bedtime. I eventually gave in and did away with nap time, thinking he would fall asleep easier at night. Nope. It was still taking him up to 2 hours (usually right at 2 hours) to go to sleep. PLUS he would wake anywhere from 3-5 times a night. So it wouldn't wake my husband, I eventually just started sleeping in Ronnie's bedroom floor. I was EXHAUSTED. We took him to his pediatrician several times and kept getting the same "oh that's normal for his age, just put him in his bed and he'll go to sleep eventually." They would not hear our concerns. Before you say, "oh why didn't you just find a new doctor?" It wasn't that easy when you lived on a military base and they were short on pediatricians. I expressed my frustration and exhaustion on Facebook and a friend recommended melatonin. What a life saver that has been for Ronnie (and the tired Mom). Ronnie has been taking a total of 6 mg for quite some time now and that helps him fall asleep, but he would still have night time wakings. Now, since being on the Probio5 and thanks to our amazing Young Living Essential Oils, I've been able to back him down to 4 mg. AMAZING! He's not getting up before dawn anymore either. *insert angels singing* He's sleeping anywhere from 7 ish to 8 a.m., sometimes as late as 9 a.m. That is HUGE for him y'all. HUGE.

If you read my blog post that I linked above, you'll see that I said I ran out of Probio5 while waiting on my order....yeah, he ran out of his too. NEVER again will I let that happen. EVER. He was off his Probio5 for 2-3 days and the difference we saw in him during that time was....SO ROUGH. His constipation returned and his behavior....let's just say we weren't able to get ANY school done those days and a lot of tears were shed (between the both of us). It was hard. And it was a great reminder of how much Probio5 has been helping him!

Over the years, I've done and tried so many things to help Ronnie. It's hard watching your child, in a sense, suffer. For us, Plexus has offered a bit of normalcy and relief for Ronnie. For both of us. I hashtag this a lot because it's true, we're a #plexusforlife kind of family. I am so thankful that I took a leap of faith and tried Plexus for myself. I'm even more thankful that I introduced it to Ronnie.

So if you ever wonder why I LOVE Plexus SO MUCH and share about it a lot, THIS is why!

His first time climbing Pinnacle Mountain. My husband and I weren't sure if he would be able to handle climbing to the top. But here he is. He conquered it. He conquered it like he has so many other things in his life. I'm so proud to be his Mom.

I will continue sharing with everyone how much Plexus is changing lives, for the better! I'm so thankful God answered my prayers and helped bring something in our lives that would make a difference!

#plexusforlife

***UPDATE***
As of 10/26/15 Ronnie still CONSISTENTLY takes Probio5. When he's eaten more things we typically don't do, especially with the holiday's rolling around, we bump him from 3 Probio5 to 4. I have also started adding 1 Biocleanse to his chocolate milk (he can't swallow pills) and he drinks that at dinner. He is still seeing AHHHHMAZING benefits and I still get SO emotional when I talk about it, so it's probably a good thing you can't see me typing! ;)

Be sure you check out the updates in my blog entry about how Plexus has helped me! 

So.....Ronnie decided we needed to add a updated photo and so I said of course! I just love him to pieces! He picked this photo to share. He's going as Binx, the black cat from Hocus Pocus! :)


****UPDATE****
 12/2/15 - Ronnie still consistently is on 3 Probio5 and we have now added 2 MegaX. One during the day and one at night. He still consistently takes BioCleanse, but now between breakfast and lunch. But GUESS WHAT??? He can now SWALLOW his meds, no more mixing it in his milk! That's so HUGE for him, so YAY! :)


****UPDATE****
3/7/16 - Ronnie is still consistent with Probio5 (3 right before dinner), 2 Biocleanse between lunch and dinner and 2 MegaX. I switched giving his MegaX 1 in morning and 1 at night to taking both (2) at night. But GUESS WHAT???? As of 2/20/16 Ronnie is officially OFF Melatonin. Yay!! Ronnie had been taking it for about 4 years and was up to 6 mg. I slowly weened him down to 4 mg before MegaX and then slowly weened him completely off. He sleep beautifully....PRAISE GOD! :) 

**These statements are not endorsed or provided by Plexus nor am I medical professional; this is just my personal experience and/or research.