Soothing The Storm: Gentle Healing For Children With Neuroinflammatory Conditions

Introduction to Neuroinflammatory Conditions 0:00

Welcome back to ADHD, Autism and Chronic Disease Parenting Summit. I'm here with Lauren Stone, the founder of Althea, who is a fantastic practitioner and extremely knowledgeable on inflammatory brain conditions, which are, very in the you in vogue in the news right now. People are talking all about it, you know, pandas, pans, Lyme, autism. These are big issues that are getting, you know, more frequent. And we're seeing a lot more of it. So thank you for being here. And thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.

Yeah. Thank you for having me. So I would just want to start, you know, very broadly talking about what you're seeing, you know, why, why have you taken this on as a cause? I mean, I would say I'm guessing just because, you know, autism rates are skyrocketing. Pans and pandas, we're seeing a lot more of it. Lyme disease. We're seeing neuron planetary conditions like we've never seen before. So I don't know if that what got you into looking into this more than anything else. So you know, I think like many of us, I came through my kids.

I was not in this field originally. My first born was, diagnosed with autism at the age of four. And I was told, by all the powers that be that there was nothing I could do and that he would continue to regress and be institutionalized. Thankfully, I did not take that advice, and I quit my job and went back to school and studied biochemistry and nutrition and homeopathy and human toxicology and, yeah, he's fully healed.

Personal Journey Into Autism Healing 1:29

So he, he's actually getting married this year. And, you know, so the truth is that when you once you, you know, delve into that world and you've had success in that world, like your heart just breaks for everyone else. And it's really important to get the word that the word out that, you know, healing is real and healing happens. And the people who can really do the most for their for, you know, this population are the parents. And there's so, so much that parents can do. You know, I am a practitioner, but I have to say that 99% of what I do is, is teach, you know, teach how to, you know, how to not just raise healthy kids, but how to raise resilient kids and how to, kind of reverse engineer the devasted eating symptoms that we're seeing right now.

Right? So, you know, we always think about pans and pandas and whatnot as being sort of acute onset. And yeah, they are diagnostically however, there is a whole history of what what happened to the immune system so that it created the situation where in, you know, the body moves into a fight or flight, inflammatory kind of place where you know that it's starting to to express neurologically. And, you know, from my perspective, that's a really it's a lot it's it's not an overnight. Right? We're talking about, you know, an immune system that has become dysregulated from day, from day one, from birth, from before birth, through pre-conception.

Because, you know, these the toxin load of our kids is, you know, it's it's impacting their health and every level, you know, and I truly think that that is the point of departure for all of the rise in these neuro inflammatory diseases. I mean, we are, you know, our kids are more at risk because, you know, obviously they're exposed in a different way. They're smaller, they're closer to the ground. They're closer to, you know, putting toxins in their mouth, all the rest of it. But they're also, you know, born with what I think often is, you know, leaky gut, which is causing leaky brain.

You know, so the brain is, is already, vulnerable. Let's say, you know, and then we have where we are, you know, exposed to a wide array of toxins that, for the most part, are like the folic. So we're in we're in a child. Do they go, you know, they're going to end up in the brain. So it's just a, you know, it's a tragic situation. Our kids are the canaries in the coal mine. You know, however, there's so many actionable steps that parents can take to prevent, hopefully, but be heal, like,

Diet and Gut Health Foundations 4:08

you know, to heal once they start to actually recognize that there's something going on. And so what are some of those things that, that you like to, to mention to parents in terms of, you know, different ways that we might think about reducing inflammation in a child's body, gut healing, you know, those kinds of things. Yeah. So, you know, diet is number one, obviously I feel like, you know, we are again, our kids, we all are. But our kids in particular are so vulnerable because, our food sources, in addition to being, you know, toxic at this point in many levels because of, you know, all the GMO and the pesticides and whatever else.

You know, even if we have a great diet or what we consider a great diet, our soils are are hugely depleted. So nutrient content is really, really, really low. There's a study I think it was out of Ohio State, if I remember, that stated that, you know, they did they did a huge, sort of look at nutrient content between an orange in the 1950s and an orange today. And apparently we would have to eat eight oranges in order to get the nutrient content of one orange in the 1950s. So, you know, all right.

So, so so we have we have food that's not actually nutritive. Right. And which actually is can and is often inflammatory and toxic to the body, you know. So we have to really teach to a how to, how to rejigger that so that you're finding real food. Food that's nourishing. And food that's not inflammatory food. So for me, step one is is always, you know, going organic if you can. And I know how expensive and hard that is. But there are ways to do it that are not, you know, over the top. And then obviously, I think it's really, really important that we eliminate gluten because gluten is highly, highly implicated with leaky gut syndrome.

And if your child has leaky gut, he has a leaky brain. So it's just, you know, it's something that is super, super important from the get go. So diet is number one. Definitely. And then, you know, when you work on this what what do people, what do people see. Like what are the steps. What do we what do we do next. So we start working on the gut and do we need do you feel like we need to do more for detoxing. So I'll say for me, you know, when I'm, when I'm starting with, with any patient even before, you know, we get into deep dive into you really can recommend just detoxification in general.

And that's the basic stuff like pooping more, peeing more, exercising more, and sweating more. That's never going to be harmful for, you know, basically anybody in terms of moving and eating. So but those are the things that you start talking about first or what are what is kind of the, you know, your process for, for parents. Right? So my, my background is on the toxicology. So it is all about gentle detoxification. And so my methodology is really, it's it's a beginning with that, that cleaning up the home environment and educating on that.

But then after we do that, we do we move in to, you know, curated bioenergetics, detoxification protocols. That's what I specialize in. You know, however, I want to emphasize that these protocols are really like the frosting on the cake. You know what I mean? Like the body until the body is ready to detox, detoxify in that way it's not going to. And the what makes the body ready is doing all the things you just mentioned. It's like living a healthy lifestyle. It's absolutely making sure your child is sleeping.

I mean, the brain is not going to detoxify if the child is not sleeping. You know, making sure like even like just of course, making sure your child is pooping every day, Epsom salt baths at night, like grounding. All of those things are really, really important. Making sure the lymph is moving. There's just there's there's so much that can be done on a daily basis that can create an environment where in the body is already I mean, the body wants to heal, right? It's going to do what it can to heal as long as you give it the tools.

So, you know, that's really again, the the bioenergetics are really an additional tool. But lifestyle is the tool to feed and nourish so that,

Detoxification and Home Environment 8:09

you know, those systems are ready to work in the way they were meant to. And you mentioned homo toxicology, which I don't know if any or everybody would be familiar with that. So is, I mean, you know, using homeopathy, and homeopathy tools or what, just maybe spend a minute lingering on that in case anyone's interested, to work with you or to think about that. Right. Yeah. So human toxicology is just basically the study of, the way of toxins and the way toxins interact with the human body. Right.

So it really it's it's all it's it's a sensibility more than anything else that, you know, what we see on the outside is really a total load syndrome. It's multifactorial. It has more than one, one point of departure. And healing is all about supporting the body to do the work, to gently unwind those, various stressors, so that, you know, you get back to a core of hell. And yes, more often than not, you're going to be using you know, curated homeopathic, that will target, you know, various, you know, either systems or organs or infections or, or you toxins, whatever it is that basically are going to help the body to heal more efficiently.

Right? So, what I like to think of, I think for me, path is really being more like instructional author, an education system for basically for the immune system, because immune system has become so dysregulated, that when you give a homeopathic, it's going to help the body to do the work a little bit better because it's going to reteach it, you know, reeducate on what is proper functioning. So yeah, it's a it's a nice way to foster a little bit more. It just it's elegant and gentle and it helps to foster, healing and, you know, a little more direct way.

Okay. Awesome. And then what about the autonomic nervous system? How does that play in with the role of healing? Well, 100%. It's anything. I mean, we we live in a world where our kids are and all of us are walking around and fight or flight and, you know, the body does not heal when it's inside our flight. So we have to figure out ways to create that rest and repair response. And, you know, it's a little bit different for everyone, I think, you know, for kids, the most important thing you can do to help to and aside from sleep, right, sleep is absolutely number one.

But, you know, getting the kids outside in nature I think is 100% the most important way you can get. You can try to start to reverse engineer that, that autonomic fight or flight response and move into a place where, you know, they're being actually nourished by the, you know, by the earth, by nature, by things that are going to help the body to, to re, you know,

Homeopathy and Toxicology Approach 10:48

to redo the way it's working and to really kind of, settle into, into a healing, into a healing modality, into a healing place. You know, that's great. And so with inflammation, it's always, you know, you want to remove things that are inflammatory. You talked about gluten. We talked about trying to go organic. So what do you as people kind of move forward. What are the things that you like to kind of replace it with? You have like a gut healing protocol. Do you have specific food? Like how did how does that work for for you?

And what do you found to be most effective? So for me, I like to do I mean, I definitely do a lot of lab testing to make sure, because the kids who come to me are quite, you know, are often quite sick. Right. So it's it's, you know, I wish I were doing more preventative work, but I'm not, right now. And, and so, yeah, we do a lot of labs and so we, I, you know, my protocols for gut feeling. But are you going into what, the lab. So what what what are the do you have some general lab work that you tend to do, like stool testing, blood work, like, whatever it is?

Yeah. Stool testing for sure. I really, think it's super important to figure out what the microbiome is doing. I need to, I mean, I, I find that most of the kids who come to me have actually pylori infections, which is such an interesting, it's just interesting, you know, so if you have that, that kind of, issue going on, you're going to end up having, alkalinity in the gut, which is going to, you know, foster the, the, you know, the growth of those dis biotic bacteria. It's going to reduce your ability to digest and absorb.

Right? So it just sets up a system that, you know, where in the train is just not okay. And and it's really hard to move forward until you fix that. So that is always step one. You know, definitely stool testing. For the kids who are pans and pandas, who have those kinds of expressions and, you know, autism and Lyme, I do. I love vibrant labs. As far as getting a real sense of what is going on in the background and whether or not there are, other sort of autoimmune tendencies at play. And, you know, that way we can be really directed in our healing, if you know what infections are lurking in the background that are that are contributing to the inflammation.

You can you can be super, super, directed and, and really accelerate that healing process. I also I love to do if possible.

Autonomic Nervous System and Healing 13:12

I like micronutrient testing. I'd like to see what's getting into the soil, actually, you know, whether or not they're, you know, absorbing their nutrients in a way that is, you know, going to help with, with, moving things along. Genetic testing is great if you, you know, if the parents are willing to do it. Yeah. So that's pretty much what I do. And mold, if mold is an issue, obviously mold has been a big deal for a lot of the kids. And that's fantastic. Yeah, I mean, that's a lot of the stuff that I would do the same thing or thinking about the same thing and every kid again, I always like the caveat, I know you, you went to that.

Every kid is different. Every situation is different. There's no way for us to say like, oh, these are the tests that you should do, or these are supplements you should take. I mean, there are some things that generally work, but but every kid is different. And that's where especially for someone who's, you know, more complicated, they've been through a lot of different practitioners, probably most people that end up on your doorstep or have already been through a whole world of different things.

So they they are interested in going a little bit deeper, and that's why they may come to your doorstep, just like you said. You know, maybe one day we'll be doing this. Preventatively that would be my goal. I mean, that'd be nice if we could just have like a center one day where people, like, come in and preventatively do a bunch of tests and these things were covered, and we try to optimize your health and get to it before you have a problem. That's not how it is these days. Nobody comes in before they all come in when they're very sick, unfortunately.

So, you know, maybe one day that'll change. But I guess, you know, just to finish off, I always like to discuss something that's very practical. And so if you were talking to, if you're talking to the parents who are, who are watching this, what would be the first steps? That you would recommend in terms of moving in?

Testing, Labs, and Individualized Care 14:45

A healthier path for our kids, moving towards, a more resilient state or what would be your big tip to leave parents with or your goal for this week or today for them? Yeah, again, I think I'd have to go back to food. I mean, I just think you can't you can't move forward if your body's not being nourished. Right? So, you know, really digging in and understanding what is real food and what is fake food, right. What is a nutrient? Right. Chemicals are not nutrient. If it if a food has a chemical, then your body is spending as much, if not more energy to detoxify for that chemical than it is for us to absorb whatever minimal and content is in that food.

So, you know, I think cleaning out the pantry is step one, right? And, just trying to like, you know, figure out how can I reinvent how we eat because, you know, the standard American diet is sad, right? The acronym is sad and it's true. So, you know, and I do I kind of I think regarding diet, often, it's helpful to think about traditional eating, like the way we used to eat 100 years ago. You know, sandwiches weren't you know, it wasn't the thing, right? You would eat real food. So maybe thinking about that, thinking about how did my ancestors eat and trying to reinvent the way you're feeding your child with that as a model, I think is a great way to start.

I agree, and that's generally one of my big tips as well. So I couldn't agree more. I think it's a it's a great, you know, thing to think about. Our diet is always, you know, the foundation of ever. It's really the foundation of everything. So I think that's a good way to end. I really appreciate you being a part of this and and sharing your wisdom before we go, maybe you can tell people a little bit more about where to find you and if they want to work with you, how they find you, that kind of thing.

Sure. Yeah. So, the my clinic is Althea Health and Wellness, but I do do a lot of online work. I have, actually a really lovely, course it's a mentorship for parents to help move them throughout this whole process that we talked about today. You know, that it's an eight week sort of, it's called the jumpstart, but it really it it's it's, you know, it's an intensive and on how to how to reinvent your, you know, your child's, illness and, and sort of reverse engineer the symptoms.

Practical First Steps for Parents 17:18

Because I really do think that parents are the key here. Right. So, so it's about empowering them to do the work that I know they can do. And, you know, that is going to change the future of children's health. It's not going to be me. It's not going to be you, you know? Right. It's going to be the parents out there. So. Well, thank you again for sharing your wisdom. I think it's very, very helpful, a very good overview of the neuro inflammatory conditions and hopeful to I think a lot of people and parents don't necessarily have the hope that they can change things or move things in a better direction, but you definitely can.

And both of our goal, you know, as you said, is let's get there before you know, after watching this, let's think about these things before we ever get to the new inflammatory condition. But, you know, if your child does have one, then these are some of the things that that are great to think about and maybe to work with a great practitioner like, you know, thank you for for being a part of this. Thank you so much.