Lola Grace Neal - Autism treatment

I read, (in one of my many books about Autism,) that "Autism steals your child's soul". I'd have to say I agree. Especially in the beginning. In our case we had a beautiful, healthy little girl. Full of life with a silly personality. She always made eye contact and smiled right at your face. Her brother could make her laugh harder than anyone. The signs of her autism were not over night, like a lot of parents claim. In about a few months time, it changed our girl from bright and silly, to someone we didn't know anymore. The changes started around 14 months old, and were gradual. At this age she had been to the doctor for her checkup, and that day received 6 vaccines at once, including the MMR. Soon after, She stopped making eye contact, stopped paying attention to us when we tried to talk to her. Then anytime she heard a loud noise (even someone clapping) she would cry like she was terrified. She no longer said the 7 or 8 words she knew before. No more waving bye bye or being silly. No more laughing at brother. In fact she didn't even know if he was around or not. She didn't see any of us anymore. Now when we'd say her name she never looked. It was almost impossible to make her laugh. She began walking on her tippy toes, and flapping her hands when I'd turn on her favorite mickey mouse episode. She ONLY wanted to watch the same ones we'd had recorded since she was a baby. Over and over we watched the same mickey shows most of the day. It was the only thing that made her happy. When we would go to other peoples homes for holidays or birthday parties she would cry the entire time. The minute we would walk in she was upset and nothing could make her happy. She loved to spin toys and that's the only way she played, so I went and bought her every spinning toy I could find. I knew around 15 months that something was off. She had changed so much and it was like she was going backwards. She wasn't learning anything new. I missed my baby. I missed who she used to be and how much fun she was. Now all I did was stress about how she was going to act if we went anywhere. Her doctor wasn't sure yet if she possibly had autism, but after me pushing, they referred her to therapy for speech and ot. I wish there was a guide book on what to do or where to start but you have to figure it out as you go unfortunately. Now here we are, over a year later. She is 2 and a half and I feel like we are slowly starting to get pieces of her back. She was diagnosed with level 2 Autism Spectrum Disorder. She currently has 6 therapists. We do ABA therapy, speech, and occupational therapy. She is on the gluten free, casein free diet. Is on fish oil, multi vitamins, probiotics, a natural detox medicine, essential oils, and anything else I've read parents say has helped their child get better and overcome this life altering diagnosis. I have read several books about autism along with blogs from other mothers going through this, and anything I can find on the internet about autism. No matter what I do or how hard I try, one thing will not change..... we lost our daughter. Not physically, but mentally. We lost who she was and who she was supposed to be. Maybe not permanently, I haven't lost hope, but she has been gone for a long time now. As a mom, when your child is born, you picture what their life is going to be like. First day of school, learning to drive, getting ready for prom, and watching her daddy walk her down the isle.... Now those dreams were something that may never happen. Or may just happen a little differently than I expected. The loss of those dreams, may have been the hardest part. Since starting the diet, supplements and therapy I have seen changes. She makes some eye contact again, is super loving (and aggressive at times), she laughs at her brother (when he tries really hard), she is doing better in public and at other peoples homes, and smiles at my face again. Still no consistent words, Still hums constantly, flaps her hands, walks on her tip toes, and goes in her own world a lot, but we celebrate the small victories. In every successful story I've read about these kids, the parents all said one thing in common... "find an Autism specialist to guide you through this!" They do all the latest biomedical treatments, lab testing, and detoxing. We found an amazing doctor for Lola but the cost is something we can't come close to being able to afford, which is why we need help! If there is even a chance this doctor can help Lola then we will do whatever it takes to get her there. No body can tell me why this happened to her. All we can do is keep trying. Keep praying. And Never give up hope.