Autism Consulting Service

for autism, Asperger's and PDD-NOS

Change on the SCIO

Gail Gillingham Wylie

One of the major concerns of the people with autism I work with is the fear that they will "lose" themselves through any of the treatments that they are exposed to. Many of them tell me that they either stopped taking medication or went through a great pretense of taking their meds when they weren't because they felt they had "lost" themselves through the chemical input.  Others resist treatments such as ABA because they focus on "making them normal". So what about the SCIO? Do changes occur that make such a difference in your life that you don't know who you are any more?

I feel that I can only share my own story here. I now have been using the SCIO since April of 2005. I started with 8 treatments, once a week in the beginning. At the end of 5 treatments I didn't really feel like I needed any more but since I was taking my granddaughter each week thought I might as well continue with her. I then had a break until the beginning of July when I bought my own machine. Since then I have used it on myself off and on when I have the time, focusing a lot of my effort on exploring new avenues of treatment, as it is such a complex program. Thus I must admit that I have spent a lot more time on the SCIO than a regular client would.

So am I different? Yes I am, but it is different in ways that feel so good. First of all, most of the body aches and pains that I have accumulated throughout the years and that I attributed to being the reality of an aging body are gone. And if and when they appear, it just a quick check to see which minerals and vitamins I am low on or which parasites have invaded my body to get them to go away again. It's great to live pain free in a physical sense but I believe it's my emotional reactions that seem to be affected the most.

For example, I have always been shy and that hasn't really changed much but I am definitely standing up for what I believe in more than I did in the past. But it is the fear or shall I say the lack of fear that makes the biggest difference in my life these days. I was so afraid of being alone. My first husband would retreat behind a wall of ice for weeks, driving me absolutely nuts and I would desperately try to get him to interact with me again. My current husband does the same thing, not with the intensity that the first one did, but I still would be devastated every time it happened. That's all gone. I have always known that their reaction has little to do with me, but it didn't seem to matter.  Now I can sit back and relax fully living in that knowledge. It's a wonderful place to be.

Another fear that has plagued me throughout my life is a fear of rats and mice. I was one of those people who would be up on a table screaming if a mouse ran across the floor. Thankfully I live in Alberta, which is rat free, but I have been exposed to them throughout my travels and my reaction to them is even stronger.  I couldn't even watch them on a movie or television in which they appeared without my skin crawling and having nightmares. It was a horrendous experience. That reaction now appears to also be gone. The other night my husband watched the movie Willard, which has swarms of rats all over the place. I was not only able to stay in the room, I was able to watch the show and enjoy the story line. A very unique experience for me!

One of the major changes I am going through right now affects my hearing. A couple of years ago I attended a concert. As the band was tuning it's instruments on the stage I turned my head to look over the audience. In that moment a massive feedback erupted from the stage going straight into my ear. Since that time I have had a buzzing in that ear which recedes and gets stronger depending on how much anxiety I am dealing with and/or how much noise there is in my environment. I have also noticed a loss of hearing in that ear. I have just began the autism auditory hearing program from the SCIO on myself and noticed an instant change in this condition. The buzzing was gone. As the days pass I wonder if it is gone for good. I feel slightly off balance as I know I have learned to compensate for the buzz over the past years and I have to retrain myself again. And my ear hurts slightly, not a serious pain, but enough to notice that there something going on. I will update this paragraph as time goes on. 

So has the SCIO changed me. Yes, but not in a way that I am in the least uncomfortable with. I sit and ponder about the reactions of the past and wonder where exactly they were based, but I don't miss them. Actually it's kind of fun to live my life without these fears. Did it take who I am away from me. Not at all! In fact, I believe it has allowed me to access the person  I truly am.

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Last modified: 11/12/09