However, throughout all this, her language and cognition has always been very good. But Paul also pointed out that we have not seen any developmental gains in the past few months, she is still at the same developmental level as she was 6 months ago. Because of what we went through with Maya, we also understand the genetic susceptibility of siblings getting the same condition. So we took steps to reduce the possibility of it; we put Yasmin on the GFCF diet for the past 9 months, she is also soy-free and egg-free. Her diet is organic and pretty much the same as it is for Maya. We did not give her the MMR however she did receive some vaccinations prior to it.

In January 2009, both girls were hospitalized for Rotavirus. Both Dr Erwin Kay and Dr Rina Adeline suspect that her regression was induced by the infectious and bacterial disease. There are many causes of Autism, we now believe that the Rotavirus tipped her over the edge. I also believe there she also contracted other countless bacterial and viral co-infections that were never tested, identified or treated for. We were on holiday in Phuket and Paul took the girls to play under the water sprinklers in the hotel garden. I kept asking them to stop because the water smelled putrid, plus the Thai gardeners kept shouting and gesturing at them to get away from the garden. We later found out that the filtration system is broken and water contaminated from the septic tank was used. Yeah, dumb but true. 2 days after we came back from Phuket, first Yasmin and then Maya was hospitalized. They were treated for Rotavirus, but it’s interesting to note that they were not tested for other types of infections or viruses, the doctor only tested for Rotavirus.

We did the IgG Food Intolerance test and the Comprehensive Stool Analysis. Her IgG levels are elevated with multiple food intolerance, she also has leaky gut, there are multiple bacterial infections, yeast overgrowth, digestive enzyme deficiencies, gut inflammation, oxidative stress and others. Her medical prognosis is chillingly similar to her sister’s, in fact some of her test results are worse than Maya’s.

Both DAN doctors confirmed that Yasmin is either borderline ASD or gradually declining towards the Autism Spectrum. We don’t know whether it will be Autism, ADHD or Aspergers, but I’m not waiting to find out. We are doing all we can to stop it now, starting with her gut issues. We have not done a psychological assessment, mostly because of time and financial constraints, but also we do not need a clinical psychologist to tell us what we already know. Also, some people including doctors are very quick to judge us as overly-worried parents because Yasmin’s language skills are amazing. And it’s unfair that because for the 5 minutes someone observes her, they come to the conclusion that she’s fine. As if that can be construed as a `qualified diagnosis’.

Yeah, but did they ever consider that during that 5 minutes, she is so engrossed with a new toy, chatting happily away, laughing and everyone is giving in to all her demands that she is not likely to throw a tantrum? No one else would know that it takes us such a long time to calm her down or redirect her when she’s in one of her tantrums and rages? No one else has to get her to stop humping the furniture, if they did then they’ll know that this is not `normal’ behavior. No one outside the family has ever experienced a night when she wakes up at 3am and wants to play for 3 hours. It’s come to point now that sadly, our officially-diagnosed ASD child Maya is so much easier and better behaved than Yasmin.

As parents, we shouldn’t let ourselves be blinded by Yasmin’s cleverness and precociousness. I could never avoid noticing some of her abdominal pain behaviors, she would insist on me holding her tummy, she would lean over tables and bed corners, pushing her tummy into it. I can’t help but notice that she is constipated for 5 days, her stools are always either very hard and pebbly or runny and soft. Her tummy is distended and she is extra irritable and cranky during constipation days. Her constant knocking and tapping is a sensory issue and also signs of calcium deficiency. Yes, a lot of her behaviors are considered normal 2 year old behaviors, but all together at once and there’s a sibling with ASD? Come on, I’m an Autism Warrior Worrier Mummy, you can’t fool me!