On Thursday, September 27th we began to notice our son was seeking for more deep pressure sensory than what is normal for him. His autism sensory processing problem causes him to seek sensory and he needs deep pressure to satisfy his body's needs thru the day and even at night with a weighted blanket. At age two when we began working with agency to identify his needs he had extreme sensory seeking behaviors, specifically with poor sleep (he had never slept thru the night and would wake up every 1 ½ to 3 hours), constantly needing to bang toys on hard surfacing, and chewing constantly to see oral sensation. Over the last two years we have seen a vast improvement in these areas and those extreme sensory issues. Up until September 26th he had been sleeping well and although still has deep pressure sensory needs had not been excessively banging toys or having extreme oral chewing issues. We started to notice on Thursday the 27th thru October 2nd that his deep pressure sensory needs were increasing and that he was regressing back to the negative sensory behaviors that had been greatly improved or resolved. His sleep quality declined, he began to constantly bang toys on hard surfaces, he was chewing and destroying pacifiers and he was also becoming easily agitated and frustrated thru the day. Typically, patient is a very happy, affectionate and easy going boy with occasional short times of frustration when he can't communicate his needs. (Patient is largely non-verbal although his speech is emerging.) On Wednesday October 3rd his sensory seeking negative behaviors were worsening and in the afternoon he had a very extreme episode. This episode began with an unexplainable melt down where he began to scream and wail at the top of his lungs. He began to slap his hands on the sides of his head and threw himself onto the floor. When I tried to offer comfort he did not want to be held or touched, which is NOT normal for him. He craves hugs and being embraced for comfort typically. He was unable to calm down for over 20 minutes when typically he calms down when upset in five minutes or less. Due to his poor communication skills he does often get frustrated and yell or stomp when he can't tell us what he needs, but these small tantrums pass quickly and typically he calms within a few minutes. That evening he was unable to stay asleep thru the night. On Thursday, October 4th the extreme sensory seeking continued and I became incredibly concerned that these episodes were increasing in duration and severity. Mid-morning (to my recollection around 9:30am or 10am) he had another similar episode lasting around 30 minutes. He awoke from his nap suddenly screaming at 3:45pm and this episode lasted until about 4:30pm. In this episode he began trying to bang his head on the side of his crib and on the floor. His screams were high pitched, frantic and wild. It was very clear that he was experiencing extreme discomfort and was angry/frightened. After this episode I began to realize that this was more than just having a rough week, there was something wrong with my son. We had thought that his increased sensory issues and agitation were from abruptly not being in school, but when we transitioned from last school year into summer we never saw these types of episodes in reaction to the change in routine. On Friday, October 3rd I reached out to the health/wellness groups I am a part of, to other parents of ASD children desperately searching for answers. He had another extreme episode early afternoon on Friday early afternoon (time would have been between noon and one) and his hang banging behavior was terrifying and I struggled to keep him from harming himself. It was that afternoon that I realized this was clearly a reaction to what was in the vaccine. We are very careful about what patient eats because we have noticed that when he eats processed foods or foods with chemicals/additives/preservatives his ASD behaviors seems to be agitated. He also has a bad allergy to all dairy. All dairy results in a rash/eczema on his face and chest, legs and arms. I looked into what the ingredient list was for the Varicella vaccine and realized that he clearly was reacting to the ingredient list of toxins/preservatives used. His body simply could not handle what had been injected into it and likely his body was struggling to compensate. Around 7pm patient suddenly began to scream, thrash, band his head, slap his face and no matter how we attempted to calm him he was not responding. The screams were escalating and at 8pm he still was thrashing, stomping, screaming and hitting himself on his face and head. Never in his life had I ever seen him like this and we were terrified. I had been given suggestions by others that afternoon on how we could support his body by helping it to get rid of the ingredients of the vaccine if his body was unable to detox on its own. We drew up an Epsom salt bath according to what was safe for his age/weight along with a few calming essential oils. After being in the bath about 10 minutes he was finally able to calm his breathing and begin to relax. After 20 minutes in the bath he was calm, drinking lots of fluids and peeing. It was evident the bath was helping. Since Friday we have created a very safe and strategic diet of foods that can help draw out toxins/heavy metals that are associated with vaccines and as a result we have seen a steady improvement in his behaviors and sleep. Today is Wednesday, October 10th and his sleep as now back to normal, his sensory behaviors have decreased back to what is normal for him and we have no episodes or head banging behaviors. After going thru this terrifying experience, I can see clear pattern following the vaccine. The only possible explanation for this crazy and awful escalation of abnormal sensory problems we saw in patient was the Varicella injection he received. His body simply lacks the ability to cope with foreign toxins and the presence of that much toxins/chemicals injected all at once will undoubtedly cause these extreme reactions in the future.