Our story began with the birth of my adorable twins in April of 2002. Although they were born early, they were great, thriving, and healthy infants. I feel like their infancy was like any other, they ate well, slept well and fussed as any other infant would. By 4 months my daughter was sleeping completely through the night and my son was only waking for one bottle about 5 am every morning. Then we took them to the doctor one day to receive their 4 month old immunization shots and this is where our trouble began. My daughter did not seem affected other than the normal agitation, but my son woke up that night every 45 minutes. I assumed he did not feel well from the shots but his behavior continued for 6 months straight. Then we moved into only waking every hour to hour and a half, all while displaying what I believed to be stomach pains in the middle of the night.
After seeing 2 different GI doctors, the second told me he had a milk allergy. We then visited an allergist who did skin testing to confirm the allergy and felt there may be some other sensitivities but she was not sure. My son did pretty well on soy milk until he was three, them some of the same night time symptoms returned and we had him tested again for milk and soy. This came back positive for both and we put him on rice milk. Over his 3rd year he seemed to have difficult days…emotional, irritated, and a bit distracted. His sleeping had become worse and just about everyone I knew had given up on trying to figure out what was wrong. But as a mother you just know your child and his behavior. So, after 4 ½ years of not sleeping and a lot of research I tried to eliminate other things in his diet, like corn then rice. When I eliminated rice is when I saw a difference in his sleep and his behavior…he slept 10 nights in a row…I knew we were on to something. Luckily, a friend of a friend told me about her experience with stomach issues and sent me to Dr. Shane Howell.
Going into our first meeting with Dr. Howell I wasn’t sure he would believe my desperate cries for help of my wild ideas on how I thought that all physicians we had seen before were just missing something, but I was wrong. It was the first time that anyone had said to me “I can help you”. It was the best thing I had heard in 4 ½ years and it was the first time I felt validated. I proceeded to set up one appointment after another to get my son treatment he needed, and within 2 weeks…my son was sleeping through the night!…every night. Dr. Howell found many sensitivities and allergies to things that a normal allergist would never test for. Through NET allergy desensitization Dr. Howell was able to extinguish any sensitivities that my son had and he now eats anything with no side effects.
Dr. Howell has also worked on my daughter for a peanut allergy and environmental allergies…she has been off of anti-histamines now for a year and a half. I thank God for guiding me to Alternative Health Management and Dr. Howell. It truly changed our lives…a full nights sleep is wonderful thing!
