Autism, Aspergers, Rob Gorski,Special Needs Parenting, Reactive Attachment Disorder, Fibromyalgia,

Tag Archive: My Autism

Jul 23 2013

Today’s #Autism Victory: Learning new skills

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This evening, Gavin went down into the basement, all by himself and cleaned out the litter box. Our basements a bit on the creepy side but he didn’t let that stop him.

He says that he enjoys cleaning out the litter box. 

I’m not sure that I’m happy he enjoys it because that seems a bit strange but I’m thrilled that he’s taking this on and learning something new. 

To some people, this may jot seem like a big deal.  In truth, I suppose it isn’t.  Having said that, what is really wonderful about this is the fact that despite his continued regression, he’s able to still learn new things. 

As far as I’m concerned, this goes into the victory column.

Great job Gavin…..

While this picture has nothing to do with this post, it’s a lot more pleasant than a dirty litter Vox and this happens to be one of Gavin’s favorite flowers.  🙂

This site is managed almost exclusively via WordPress for Android. Please forgive any typos as autocorrect HATES me. 😉

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Jul 23 2013

Noodle Wars

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While at therapy tonight, the boys discovered that Dr. Pattie had some pool noodles.  We let Elliott and Emmett sorta go at it for a little while. 

They had a ton of safe but physical fun.

This site is managed almost exclusively via WordPress for Android. Please forgive any typos as autocorrect HATES me. 😉

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Permanent link to this article: http://www.lostandtired.com/2013/07/23/noodle-wars/

Jul 23 2013

Have your relationships been affected by #Autism?

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How many of you have had your relationships with others affected by Autism? I know how stressful raising 3 children with Autism is for me and my marriage is not exempt from feeling that strain.

Lizze and I don’t always get along.

In fact, the strain, stress and constant sleep deprivation has taken its toll on our marriage. We love each other and will be celebrating our 10th anniversary in a little over a month, but to say that our marriage hasn’t been impacted would not be true.

We’ve lost touch with friends and family as well.  I would even go so far as to say that some relationships simply were not strong enough to weather the special needs Autism journey. 

Lizze and I both have been unfriended on Facebook by family members and friends alike, because our lives are too depressing.

I don’t personally care about the Facebook thing because to me, that’s petty and I have bigger things to worry about. 

Having said that, it does send a very clear message and certainly goes a long way towards that feeling of isolation that so many of us feel.

This is such an important topic because so many people are affected by this.  So many people feel isolated and alone, even unloved. When you are faced with the challenging task of raising a special needs child, the whole it takes a village thing, takes on new meaning. 

I was hoping that you would be willing to share your experience in this area.  Have your relationships suffered as a result being a special needs parent?

It’s important to also note that this is not by any means the fault of a special needs child. I’m not blaming my kids for anything.  I’m simply creating dialogue about the unfortunate collateral damage.

This site is managed almost exclusively via WordPress for Android. Please forgive any typos as autocorrect HATES me. 😉

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Permanent link to this article: http://www.lostandtired.com/2013/07/23/have-your-relationships-been-affected-by-autism/

Jul 23 2013

Confessions of an #Autism Dad: My confession

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Lizze woke up sick this morning and is likely going to be sleeping most of the day.  This is all tied to the massive fibro flare she’s been coping with for the last few days. Apparently, this is something that is impacting many members of the fibro community and is being caused by the recent weather.

I’m feeling very overwhelmed right now because I’m failing at so much and with Lizze down, there is even more on my shoulders.

We lost our internet this morning because we are behind on the payments. This impacts a great many things in my life, including my ability to maintain this site.

Lizze and I have tried every agency and resource available to us and we still can’t get the gas turned back on..

This next thing I wasn’t going to share because I didn’t want to listen to certain people be overly judgemental and critical of me.  I’m in a place that I would respond in a manner that would not be consistent with the message I’m trying to send with this blog. 

Having said that, I don’t care anymore.  If someone wants to judge me or ridicule me, more power to them. 

I’m not going to respond or waste one ounce of energy worrying about what they think. So with that said, he’s my confession

As many of you know already and some of you may be learning for the first time, my family is on public assistance. We are on government insurance and we get help with groceries. 

While I long to be more self-sufficient, we simply can’t survive without the help at this junction.

In June we had to recertify for our food assistance. 
Unfortunately, some of our paperwork got lost along the way.  Believe it or not, this wasn’t on our end, at least not this time. 

Anyway, on July 5th, our food card didn’t renew. 

We called and they told us that they couldn’t find two pieces of paperwork.  Basically, all they needed was for us to sign two pieces of paper again. This wasn’t a huge deal.  We immediately left and made our way to Jobs and Families, where we signed the missing paperwork. 

Everything had already been approved, it was just a matter of our signiture.

We were told that our caseworker has up to 30 days to process our paperwork and get the funds available to us but that it would likely only take a couple of days.

That was July 5th and today is July 23rd.

We have been without the ability to go grocery shopping since last month.  Well to be more accurate, we have been without the help we rely on to go grocery shopping. 

The last thing I need to do is spend what cash we have on groceries, only to have our card recharged the next day.  Unfortunately, the card hasn’t been charged yet and I’ve gone through all the cash we have available at the moment. 

Our caseworker has until the 28th to push the button and recharge our card.  If she doesn’t, someone else will.  However, until the 28th, no one else is allowed to touch our case. So we wait. 

The first thing I do every morning is check our balance, hoping that things have been fixed and each morning, I’m left more and more stressed. 

Just so I’m clear, no one is going hungry and we are okay. 

However, now we are behind on everything else because I spent our entire budget on groceries, instead of things like insurance, taxes, fuel, utilities and most recently, our internet.

For the record, I’m not proud that we are so reliant on others for survival.  It never used to be that way but as things got worse over the years, I haven’t had much choice.

I don’t feel entitled either. So please don’t assume that. 

We are a family in need and these services are in place to help families like mine.  I don’t expect anyone to understand or even agree but it is what it is.

I have to make it through the next 5 days. Like I said, no one is going hungry and we will be okay.  I’d be lying to you if I said this wasn’t an absolute struggle.  With that said, you don’t know what you can survive until put to the test. 

We will survive.

Please don’t waste the calories it’s going to take for you to type something unpleasant.  I’m not going to respond.

This is meant to provide insight and perspective, nothing more and nothing less.

I know that our caseworker is overworked and I’m not angry.  I do feel like the room is getting smallerI and smaller as time goes on. 

This wouldn’t be so bad if my kids didn’t have food allergies and sensory related food proclivities.

This has been my confession

This site is managed almost exclusively via WordPress for Android. Please forgive any typos as autocorrect HATES me. 😉

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Permanent link to this article: http://www.lostandtired.com/2013/07/23/confessions-of-an-autism-dad-heres-my-confession/

Jul 23 2013

Good morning, how are your kids doing today?

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My boys are doing pretty well today.  Emmett doesn’t appear to be in the fever flare, which is fantastic. Gavin’s doing well this morning and while Elliott’s a bit on the whiny side, he’s well also. 

How are your kids doing today? Just so that you know, I’m not looking for anything in particular.  You can share the good and the bad. Sometimes just saying it can help you feel better. 

This site is managed almost exclusively via WordPress for Android. Please forgive any typos as autocorrect HATES me. 😉

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Permanent link to this article: http://www.lostandtired.com/2013/07/23/good-morning-how-are-your-kids-doing-today/

Jul 23 2013

Vaccine Advice: 10 Things to help you decide whether or not to vaccinate your child

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Why I decided to put this together

I decided to put this together because I’m constantly being asked about vaccines. Parents are understandably worried, confused and overwhelmed by all the information floating around. Will vaccines cause my child to be Autistic? The truth is that kids are diagnosed with Autism, regardless of whether or not they’ve been vaccinated. So it’s not that simple.

Personally, I’m a believer in vaccines and I don’t think there is any denying that they save countless lives. However, not everyone feels the same way.

My goal with this article is to help parents to rely less on what celebrities like Jenny McCarthy have to say and more on their own personal research. I think that if we can take the power away from the people spreading the misinformation and propaganda, parents are in a better position to make a decision based on conversations between themselves and their child’s doctor.

There has been a recent surge of interest in this topic once again in light of the whole Jenny McCarthy joining ABC’s The View. When it comes to something like this, people are always throwing advice out and it’s hard to know who to trust and what is opinion and what is fact.

I’m not sure what ever happened to trusting our doctors but it seems that we don’t anymore. We are more willing to believe a celebrity with absolutely no medical background or scientific evidence to back up their claims and simply dismiss the medical community.

When my wife and I made the decision to vaccinate our kids, we didn’t make that decision lightly.

While I will never tell you what’s best for your child, I can provide some advice that may help you to make a responsible and informed decision when it comes to Autism, your child and vaccines.

I truly hope this helps…….

10 steps to making a responsible decision about vaccines

1)Do your own research and rely on reputable sources for your information. There is a great deal of paranoia and misinformation floating around, especially online. You have to be really careful what information you trust. Try to stick to the facts and avoid opinions.

2) If you have any concerns about vaccinating your child, make a special appointment to talk to your child‘s doctor. When you make the appointment, explain what it’s for so your doctor will be able to set aside the appropriate time. Don’t be afraid to ask tons of questions and take lots of notes.

3) If for some reason your child’s doctor is unwilling to discuss your concerns or answer your questions, guess what? It might be time to find a new doctor. Any doctor worth a dime, should be willing to have this discussion with you and answer whatever questions they can. Just give them a heads up. After all, you both want what’s best for your child.

4) Remember that everyone’s experience has the potential to be different because everyone’s genetic makeup and body chemistry is different. In other words, just because one child has a bad reaction to a vaccine does not mean that your child will. The same holds true that just because one child does okay with a vaccine doesn’t necessarily mean yours will.wpid-10-Things.png

5) Ignore Hollywood. There are a great many people that will try and push their opinion on you. It’s important to remember that most of these people have absolutely no medical background and shouldn’t be advising you of what to do for your child. It’s okay to hear what they have to say, just remember that there is a world of difference between opinion and fact.

6) Remember that there is always a middle ground. You can always space or spread out the vaccines over time, if you’re that concerned. Just ask your doctor about adjusting your child’s vaccine schedule. Most doctors will be more than happy to work with you. Again, if you’re met with resistance or feel pressured, you can always find a new doctor.

7) Deciding whether or not to vaccinate your child is probably one of the biggest decisions you’ve had to make up to this point in your life. This decision shouldn’t be taken lightly as there is potential risk in whatever you decide to do. Carefully weigh all the information you have collected and ask more questions if you need to.

8) Don’t wait until the last minute. Plan ahead and take your time. This is a big decision and one that you shouldn’t rush into.

9) When you finally make your decision, stand by it. There are people out there that will criticize you no matter what you do. Remember that you are your child’s parent and the only one that can make decisions for your child.

10) No matter what the outcome, remember that you did what you felt was best for your child. You have no ability to predict the future and neither does anyone else. All you can do is rely on your instincts and deal with whatever life has in store for you and your family.

This site is managed almost exclusively via WordPress for Android. Please forgive any typos as autocorrect HATES me. 😉

Follow @Lost_and_Tired

Visit the My Autism Help Forums

This site is managed almost exclusively via WordPress for Android. Please forgive any typos as autocorrect HATES me. 😉

Follow @Lost_and_Tired

Visit the My Autism Help Forums

To reach me via email, please Contact Me


Permanent link to this article: http://www.lostandtired.com/2013/07/23/vaccine-advice-10-things-to-help-you-decide-whether-or-not-to-vaccinate-your-child/

Jul 22 2013

Medicating My Son: A peak behind the curtain

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I wanted to give you all a peak behind the curtain, so to speak.  Every Monday night, we have to refill Gavin’s pill dispenser for the week.  We go one week at a time because the pill dispenser is broken and we haven’t been able to replace it yet.

This may look like two weeks but it’s actually divided up by AM and PM. The top row is given in the morning and the bottom row is given in the evening, at bedtime.

For the most part, he’s taking the same thing in the morning and at night. 

Doling these pills out one week at a time has actually worked out pretty well for us. 

Thankfully, Gavin is amazing at taking his meds. He never complains and never gives us a hard time.  Although in truth, he doesn’t remember them anymore. 

He used to request them in the morning and then again at bedtime but he doesn’t even remember taking them half the time. 

It’s really sad because it’d one of the reasons we first picked up on the regression. Either way, he’s still very compliant and that is such a blessing. 

In the picture below, you can see e most of his pill bottles laid out, ready to refill his dispenser. Gavin’s on 12 different medications currently.

This may seem like a lot of medication and it really is.  However, we have been able to cut back or otherwise reduce the amount of medications he’s on.  Each one of these serves a vital role in Gavin’s health and safety. 

Again, while this a lot, it’s more than some and less than others. 

This is how they breakdown.

Gavin is currently on only two psychiatric meds and that’s it.  He used to be on a few more. One is an anti-psychotic and the other a mood stabilizer. 

He’s on two medications for allergies.

There is an inhaler for his asthma and actually a second one for emergencies but he’s never needed it.
IVIG is given once a month at the hospital via a five hour long infusion. This treats his Primary Immunodeficiency.

The last five medications are for his autonomic disorder.  They manage his heart rate, blood pressure and nervous system. Without them, he would be in crisis much more frequently and could die.

Lizze and I are not fans of medicating everything.  Whenever something comes up, we throughly research the pros and cons as well as ask a ton of questions about possible interactions with his other medications. 

As I mentioned already, each one of these medications serve a vital and sometimes lifesaving role for Gavin. 

He has bloodwork done every month to monitor for problems and sometimes more frequently if needed.

I hope you found this both interesting and educational.  I thought that this peak behind the curtain could help provide you with a bit more insight into our lives and just some of the day to day things we have to worry about. 

Pleas feel free to ask me any questions as I’m happy to answer them if I can.

This site is managed almost exclusively via WordPress for Android. Please forgive any typos as autocorrect HATES me. 😉

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To reach me via email, please Contact Me


Permanent link to this article: http://www.lostandtired.com/2013/07/22/medicating-my-son-a-peak-behind-the-curtain/

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