Sometimes God Heals in Different Ways!

This post is way off topic for me, but I thought that some parents out there might benefit from it so here it is...

About one year ago, I woke up to find one of my sons having what I thought was a seizure. Both of us were sleeping in the living room. I was on the sofa because I was a miserable nine months pregnant, and my son had come out in the night and slept across the room. I woke up to some noise and saw him. Since I had no experience with seizures, and I was really scared, we called 911. By the time they arrived things were calmed down, and we ended up taking him to the E.R. where they didn't even seem to think he had really experienced a seizure. I knew what I had seen, but what could I say? We decided to just wait and see what would happen next.

He continued to have similar episodes periodically--but only when sleeping. We made an appointment with a neurologist and since the wait was a couple of months before he could get in, we continued to observe and pray. I had a real feeling that his problem was not a disease per se, but some type of reaction or event being triggered by something he was coming in contact with. I began to carefully observe what he was doing and eating and when he was having seizures. Before we got in to see the neurologist, however, things got worse. He was averaging about three night seizures a week, and one night he had two in the same night.

At this point, I was worn out mentally because these episodes really stressed me out. I began to seriously pray about this problem asking the Lord to show us what to do . One night after everyone else was in bed, I was praying about the problem and as I prayed, I felt clearly that the Lord was going to take care of the problem. A couple of nights later he had another seizure. This was difficult for me because I had felt so sure that God was going to answer my prayer. However, as he was having a seizure I took his hand, and as I did, I saw he had shoe polish stain all over his hand. As I saw it, I immediately felt God speak to me as I have very few times in my life. I can probably count on one hand the times that I have felt God speak so clearly. I felt that he was saying that this was the cause. There is no scientific or reasonable explanation for me to know what I felt, but I felt that this was something I needed to follow up.

Since I knew that he rarely polished his shoes, I knew that the shoe polish itself was definitely not what God was trying to show me. I went in to my computer and began to research and pulled up tons of sites showing the connection between some childhood night time seizures and food coloring. My mind began to connect the dots. I had taken careful observations so now I could reflect on their significance.

That first seizure (which was a more significant seizure) was after eating a significant amount of red velvet chocolate cake. Of course, with Joy's new venture into cake decorating, there were frequently samples of brightly colored pieces of cakes that needed to be eaten by someone...

That day, I decided that whatever we had to do, we were immediately taking him off of all food coloring. I did not think that he was allergic to all food coloring. However, things were in such a state, that I felt that we had to remove all possibilities before trying to single out the culprit.

Beginning that day, his seizures went from averaging three a week to NONE. Weeks went by, and I carefully watched his diet and he had NONE. After about six weeks, we decided to go to Golden Corral for a prize that he earned. Since we still couldn't completely convince ourselves that we had really found the culprit (perhaps it was a really big fluke?), we decided to basically let him get what he wanted. Well, you know what kids get...the brightest colored things--gummies, jellos, etc. That night we paid for it big time and I for several nights afterward. Once we got past that serious of episodes, we just decided that there could be little more debate about the real cause.

We finally got to see the neurologist, and told him our story. He agreed to let us continue with the diet plan although he didn't think it would continue to work, and suggested meds.

Well, to make a long story just a little shorter...it has continued to work. It has been a huge amount of work to eliminate these colorings from his diet. I never could have imagined how much coloring was in our foods, and I think our family already eats a whole lot healthier than the typical family. Even after I eliminated all coloring from his diet, he still had a few episodes after soaking in the tub in cosmetics that were (you guessed it) full of coloring.

Now I know this whole thing sounds really absurd to a lot of people. However, facts show that the day we changed his diet, the seizures stopped. Not only have his seizures stopped, but he's had great changes in behavior. So much so, that someone who didn't know of this situation commented about how much he had matured, and then I told them the story.

Why am I telling everyone our story? Not to start a campaign against food coloring! I have enough to do in life that has more purpose than to devote myself to ostracizing the food industry. I am saying this because there might be some parents out there for whom this information might benefit. My son struggles with the things we have had to limit him from; however, I tell him that I am so thankful that the Lord showed us what was causing the problem. We are blessed because his problem was so obvious. While these ingredients were damaging his body, they could have damaged his body in a silent way and one day we would have woke up to a serious illness or other life threatening situation.

While this one son is completely banned from these colorings, our whole family has adopted a much more conservative approach also to these ingredients. After all, while one child's reaction could be obvious, another child's reaction might not be known for years when it's too late.

There it is...I've put my hat in the ring along with the quacko's and those sponsoring "Food Incorporated." However, thank the Lord, I do have a child that is free of medicine, free of seizures, and in the end has a much healthier diet. Send me your comments...I would love to hear them!