James went to his regularly scheduled doctor check-ups and docs tell us James is a healthy “normal” baby. So we follow the schedule of shots and procedures for a normal baby of his age. After the visit James got sick, so we missed our next appointment. Once he was feeling better we picked the schedule back up; however this time he received double the dose to catch up to the schedule.

James had originally been on track with his milestones, but with this change, we noticed that he was no longer on track for his speech milestones. At age three, we decided to enroll him in a speech therapy class with the hope that he would catch up and this was simply his normal. From age three to age four we saw no progress from his therapy sessions. It didn’t make sense to us and we could tell that this wasn’t a phase.

The school employed a child psychologist who visited with our family to check on James’ progress. This was when James received the diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder. To new parents learning to navigate parenthood, we felt as if the wind was knocked out of us. We knew nothing about ASD and didn’t know where to start. What were the next steps to ensure we give James a happy, healthy, thriving life?

The school Psychologist suggested that we take James to see a homeopathic biomed doctor. A biomed doctor is a physician scientist trained in both scientific biomedical investigation and in pathology – aka the study of root causes of disease and illness. His subspecialty was in Autism Spectrum Disorder. He also had a son on the autism spectrum – so he had firsthand knowledge of parenting a child with ASD.

For a variety of reasons, the “typical” route for a child with autism involves pharmaceutical drugs. Some children on the autism spectrum have seizures, stimming, or other physical and mental conditions that require medications many doctors consider to be necessary. However, for James’ symptoms the doctor we visited provided another route we could explore. Start with a change in diet, a regular schedule of vitamins and minerals, and start a routine to provide structure. Another option was to consider the use of CBD.

When we heard the acronym CBD, we weren’t sure exactly what it was, although we had heard people discuss CBD and THC in relation to cannabis. We, never in a million years would have considered cannabis for our child. Having both been raised in the D.A.R.E. era, we believed that cannabis wasn’t a medicine. After conversations with our doctor we started to look into CBD as an option.

As we dug into the symptoms of autism and the benefits of CBD our eyes began to open. We learned three crucial things.

1. Children with autism typically have lot of inflammation in the brain and gut.
2. Many foods cause inflammation – like gluten, dairy, and sugar.
3. Studies of CBD have shown that it can reduce inflammation in the body.

It was time to make a change to see if we could reduce the amount of inflammation and symptoms James was experiencing.

We moved quickly to start a new lifestyle for James. We incorporated vitamins, reduced the amount of inflammatory foods in his diet, but we didn’t utilize CBD just yet. We saw wonderful improvements. He started physically responding by looking at us when we called his name or asked him questions. But he still wasn’t communicating. When our supplements ran out, he regressed dramatically. He was in pain and we could tell through his outbursts and tantrums. He would scream and bang his head. We knew the changes were working so we asked for more supplements. This time, we decided it was time to give CBD a try.

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At first, we were scared because of the persistent stigma around products related to cannabis and hemp. However; we saw the distress our son was experiencing and knew we’d try almost anything to help him. That’s when we reached out to someone from Hemp Works to consult about receiving CBD products. We worked with the team to learn how to dose and started supplementing with a few drops of CBD on a piece of dark chocolate each day. Within ONE WEEK we saw noticeable improvement across the board. We know that not all people experience the same results – and implementing a new CBD or other regimen carries no promises, but our experience was successful.

Our story has had many ups and downs over the years, but we’ve come to appreciate each one for the lessons we’ve learned and the progress we’ve made. Now, we want to share our story with other families with the hope that others find success and improvements with lifestyle changes. We hope you follow along as we explore life together and learn about the beautiful personalities of our children.