I was having a rough time sleeping due to our horrible mattress. As I was in the process of moving downstairs to the couch, I noticed Elliott's door was open.  We usually keep their door closed because the cats tend to nibble on the boys toes. As I looked in his room, I saw that Elliott was crying.  When I asked him what was wrong, he got upset.  When I checked him out, he was burning up.  I can't tell if he's running a fever or was just overheating. Either way, he was coughing and hacking so I brought him downstairs to sleep on the couch after he got his rescue inhaler.  We are currently watching the Wonder Pets and he's almost asleep.  Hopefully, he was just overheating tonight and…

I just got off the phone with the Cleveland Clinic and it's been decided that the best course of action, at least for Gavin's elevated heart rate is to begin using alpha  blockers. The goal being to lower his resting heart rate out of the 130's. They reiterated that Gavin is dealing with an adult diagnosis and that very little is known about this on the pediatric side.  Everything we are doing is basically guesswork, educated guesswork but guesswork nonetheless.  This is a very complex situation and unfortunately, all we are able to do is chase the symptoms because there is no way to fix his brain (from an Autonomic standpoint). That's incredibly frustrating to know that all we can do is address his symptoms.  Right now, I'm feeling so…

I spoke with the Cleveland Clinic this morning and explained that we are basically beginning to panic because Gavin's heart rate has slowed down yet.  He's been sitting at a resting heart rate of 130+ bpm for almost a year now. Recently, we have seen his heart rate, with very minimal activity hit 170 bpm.  While he seems asymptomatic, meaning he doesn't seem to be have any adverse symptoms as a result, it's definitely not a good thing.  I also explained about what appears to be global regression and that honestly freaks me out.  The nurse I spoke with is going to speak with the doctor and get back to me this afternoon.  She said that she understood why we were so concerned and that we weren't making a big…

I've been meaning to ask this but always forget. Do you find that your hometown, city, village or whatever, is Autism Aware? The reason I ask is because I find myself really frustrated because the city I call home, isn't...at all. I live in Canton Ohio, home to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  We have absolutely no Autism Awareness in my town.  This is extremely frustrating and even offensive because they're already talking about this year's Hall of Fame Week. I don't know what I have to do to get someone's attention.  I've written emails to our local newspaper, without ever receiving a response.  I've taken to Facebook and Twitter and offered to help in anyway that I can. Not one single response. Our local newspaper, the Canton Repository,…

This morning,  Emmett broke his glasses.  It was bound to happen at some point but it took a few months to happen.  He actually broke the frame and ripped the screws out.  It finally happened today......on a friggin Monday. :-( I told you that I hate Mondays.  This site is managed via WordPress for Android, courtesy of the @SamsungMobileUS Galaxy Note 2 by @Tmobile. Please forgive any typos as autocorrect HATES me. ;-) Check out my #Autism Awareness Store to find really cool and unique #Autism Awareness Clothing and Accessories, designed by me. ;-) For more ways to help the Lost and Tired family, please visit Help the Lost and Tired Family.

Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. That someone is Elliott and it's only made worse by Emmett constantly pushing his buttons.   I've been trying to work with Elliott on not reacting to Emmett but he's to emotionally volatile to not react right now.  I'm really getting concerned that Elliott is getting into a worse and worse place as time goes on.  He's like an emotional sponge and seems to absorb all the emotion around him, both good and bad.  The other concern is that the anti-anxiety medication isn't working, so we're going to check into how we safely discontinue using it.  We don't want him on meds if they aren't going to work. I hate Mondays, I really truly do.  I don't know why…