Magnesium and Diet question.

[zsimms]

Hi all,

 

It's been a while. Emelia, now 12, had a terribly ill two years. The short story is that she ended up pretty much constantly lying on the lounge, no energy (this is a child with adHd), multiple massive mouth ulcers, regular bouts of vomiting and constant headaches. Of course she also had all the TS stuff but at that point the vital health issues were more distressing. Her paediatrician had no answers other than maybe Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and even the gastro decided, and told us with her in the room, that all the tests and operations (including an MRI) had shown no results therefore she was probably losing weight due to wanting to be a model!!! OMG! This is a child who is homeschooled. Who barely watches t.v other than documentaries and the occasional movie. We live on 100 acres in the bush in Australia! She was ten years old at that point and didn't know what a model was until that day! I left his office disgusted and with no faith in the conventional medical profession.

 

Finally we decided to go to a naturopath/herbalist/nutritionist. Best move ever! Two weeks after seeing him her general health was better. She was off the lounge and playing with her sister outside for more than ten minutes. His first treatment was for leaky gut and immune strength. Although we still haven't actually healed the immune, we are maintaining it. And that makes a huge difference.

 

So general health is improving, but not the Tourette stuff or the anxiety or the ADHD. And her mouth ulcers, despite being better most of the time, are still disruptive her life about one week in every month (too painful to eat normally or even sleep well).

 

One problem with our great naturopath is that he doesn't really seem to believe in food intollerance. He has his hair analysis test for certain allergies, but when Emelia did this it came back showing that she was not allergic to some things that I KNOW she reacts to like chocolate. It also said she could have dairy etc, he wanted her to go onto butter instead of margarine so we tried and she vomited for a week (literally little bits of hardened butter).

 

So I'm looking for info on two things: One is which foods people have found to be triggers. And which vitamins and minerals they have found to be helpful.

 

We have had Emelia off all artificial everything pretty much her whole life. And have had her off Amines, wheat, dairy, yeast for a few years now too. BUT I haven't conquered the salycilates diet yet. Just so extreme if we're doing all the others as well. I know sometimes you can think your child reacts to amines or wheat etc. when they actually reacted to salycilates, but you just weren't looking closely enough. And I'm hoping that's the case for our daughter. I'd rather take her off sals if she could have something else -- amines or wheat?

 

I'm probably dreaming. But I was reading Kevin's blog thread and hearing about the bacon and the ham and thinking "wow, that would be great if I could give Emelia that!" Ah, how desperate we get! LOL.

 

Anyway, being that salycilates tend to link in with both TS and mouth ulcers, that seems our next best shot. Just thought I'd ask first, how many others have found salycilates or amines or whatever to be a trigger.

 

I'm open to experimenting (with a box of Epsom Salts tucked under each arm) to see if there are more things that could help.

 

Of particular mineral/vitamin interest is how much magnesium people are taking/giving to their children. I'm not sure that our naturo has Emelia on enough of that. Considering its effect on tics, anxiety and immune function.

 

Okay, enough rambling, I hope I was clear enough. Any info on food triggers and vitamin/mineral helpers?

 

 

Many thanks,

 

Zoe (in Australia)

[sherrysunshine]

Hi Zoe,

 

I'm so sorry to learn of your little one's suffering but I think you are on the right track with the naturopath and natural remedies. My daughter, who just turned 18, has had bouts of twitching, mainly her eyes, since she was around 7 years old and she has never been on anything other than natural remedies. I also consulted a naturopath and she has taken up to 400 mg of magnesium per day. He did a "spectrocell" test, which showed her various deficiencies, and he prescribed mainly mag. zinc and B vitamins, which helped her tremendously. Thankfully, she did not suffer the mouth ulcers but I would think that zinc would be beneficial for that.

 

My daughter had been doing really well, with little or no symptoms, and she has not even been taking vitamins because having been forced to take them when she was younger she absolutely hates them now, however, having recently experienced some stressful situations the excessive blinking/twitching and slight eye rolling movements have begun happening again. She has also not been sleeping well and has been somewhat depressed but today I was able to get her to take 250mg of mag. which has a calming effect and which I hope will show good results at this stage. I pray that she will continue to take it.

 

I hope that this info will help but let me know if I can assist you further.

 

Blessings,

 

Sherry

 

 

 

Hi all,

 

It's been a while. Emelia, now 12, had a terribly ill two years. The short story is that she ended up pretty much constantly lying on the lounge, no energy (this is a child with adHd), multiple massive mouth ulcers, regular bouts of vomiting and constant headaches. Of course she also had all the TS stuff but at that point the vital health issues were more distressing. Her paediatrician had no answers other than maybe Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and even the gastro decided, and told us with her in the room, that all the tests and operations (including an MRI) had shown no results therefore she was probably losing weight due to wanting to be a model!!! OMG! This is a child who is homeschooled. Who barely watches t.v other than documentaries and the occasional movie. We live on 100 acres in the bush in Australia! She was ten years old at that point and didn't know what a model was until that day! I left his office disgusted and with no faith in the conventional medical profession.

 

Finally we decided to go to a naturopath/herbalist/nutritionist. Best move ever! Two weeks after seeing him her general health was better. She was off the lounge and playing with her sister outside for more than ten minutes. His first treatment was for leaky gut and immune strength. Although we still haven't actually healed the immune, we are maintaining it. And that makes a huge difference.

 

So general health is improving, but not the Tourette stuff or the anxiety or the ADHD. And her mouth ulcers, despite being better most of the time, are still disruptive her life about one week in every month (too painful to eat normally or even sleep well).

 

One problem with our great naturopath is that he doesn't really seem to believe in food intollerance. He has his hair analysis test for certain allergies, but when Emelia did this it came back showing that she was not allergic to some things that I KNOW she reacts to like chocolate. It also said she could have dairy etc, he wanted her to go onto butter instead of margarine so we tried and she vomited for a week (literally little bits of hardened butter).

 

So I'm looking for info on two things: One is which foods people have found to be triggers. And which vitamins and minerals they have found to be helpful.

 

We have had Emelia off all artificial everything pretty much her whole life. And have had her off Amines, wheat, dairy, yeast for a few years now too. BUT I haven't conquered the salycilates diet yet. Just so extreme if we're doing all the others as well. I know sometimes you can think your child reacts to amines or wheat etc. when they actually reacted to salycilates, but you just weren't looking closely enough. And I'm hoping that's the case for our daughter. I'd rather take her off sals if she could have something else -- amines or wheat?

 

I'm probably dreaming. But I was reading Kevin's blog thread and hearing about the bacon and the ham and thinking "wow, that would be great if I could give Emelia that!" Ah, how desperate we get! LOL.

 

Anyway, being that salycilates tend to link in with both TS and mouth ulcers, that seems our next best shot. Just thought I'd ask first, how many others have found salycilates or amines or whatever to be a trigger.

 

I'm open to experimenting (with a box of Epsom Salts tucked under each arm) to see if there are more things that could help.

 

Of particular mineral/vitamin interest is how much magnesium people are taking/giving to their children. I'm not sure that our naturo has Emelia on enough of that. Considering its effect on tics, anxiety and immune function.

 

Okay, enough rambling, I hope I was clear enough. Any info on food triggers and vitamin/mineral helpers?

 

 

Many thanks,

 

Zoe (in Australia)

[zsimms]

Thanks for that response Sherry. Our nutritionist put Emelia on Magnesium yesterday. Although we remembered that he had started her on that a while ago but her gut didn't handle it, and I've noticed some stomach pains in her today. Hope she copes with it this time as it seems she will need quite a high dose to make a difference.

 

Cheers,

 

Zoe

[Chemar]

Hi

what form of magnesium is she on? some have a laxative effect and that may be why she has the tummy aches

 

depending on age & weight, 300-500 mg is recommended for tics

 

I am rather surprised that you naturopath does not recognize how food intolerance can affect many aspects of normal health!

 

IN terms of salicylates...although some people with TS have sensitivity to them, not all do. The best way to test is to eliminate and see!

 

May I ask if your daughter is exposed to any chemicals, especially pesticides, at home, school, sports etc?

I ask because I was exposed to malathion some years back, and one of my first symptoms was mouth ulcers

 

You may also want to have her tested for herpes simplex virus as there is a form that results in painful mouth ulcers, and other microbes can also cause it. Mycoplasma infection is also worth looking into as it can also trigger tics and other neuro issues

 

Sodium lauryl sulfate in toothpaste can aggravate them so maybe consider a toothpaste that does not have that chemical in it

 

Mouth ulcers can also be indicative of nutrient deficiency like vit C, B12 or zinc

 

hope that gives some possible pointers

[Ozimum]

Hi Zoe,

I've sent you a PM but it seems to be blocked? Just wanted to touch base since we're both in Australia...

[zsimms]

Hi Cheri,

 

Thanks for that info. I'm confident we are dealing with the vitamin deficiency.

 

The type of magnesium is Orthoplex MagOpticell. It's loaded with other things as well. But I just realised this morning that it's ORANGE and has "Trusil fruit punch flavour" in it. Yikes! I'll hold her off that til I investigate that flavour.

 

The C powder she has, which is also loaded with other things, is very light cream colour as a dry powder but when you add water it turns orange. There is no listed flavours on the packaging.

 

I have to say, Emelia's ulcers haven't gotten worse since we started on the nutrients from our naturo. But they only got better for a while. They're almost back to where they were before.

 

In a good way, I actually think the naturopath is being forced to learn about food intol. as his other theories on food allergies and sensitivities don't add up with Emelia. But if he continues to deny food intol. we may have to move on from him.

 

Which brings me to one of our biggest problems: Australia is way behind on treatments, diagnosis and beliefs in the health industry. Even in the alternative health industry. We just don't have the numbers of people coming forward to demand help that other countries have.

 

Regarding pesticides: Do you mean even fruit that has been sprayed? Or veges grown in soil that was sprayed? I use very little to no chemicals in the house. We are on 100acres of bush, so it has never been farmed on or sprayed. But there is the occasional spraying of nearby farms -- but they tell us they're using an organic form of bug killer! I tend to think if it's still killing the bugs then it's still dangerous. But we don't use chemicals in our garden or anything.

 

On the herpes simplex point: Emelia had the same mouth ulcers when she was 2yrs old. A mouth, full of them, and our doctor back then (different town) said she thought it might be that. But she didn't do anything about it. Is there something that can be done, Cheri? I thought if you got mouth ulcers, you just got mouth ulcers? I've had ulcers my whole life too.

 

I've just eliminated the sodium laurel sulphate in the toothpaste.

 

The Mycoplasma thing looks interesting. But in terms of that being the cause of the tics, I doubt it. Emelia's father has TS, ADHD and we both now think Aspergers -- his father has high functioning Autism and his mother has ADD and LD. So, you know, apples don't fall far from the tree.

 

You've helped me think more about possible ulcer causes and double checking all the supplements to make sure their food intol. friendly.

 

Thank you,

 

Zoe

[zsimms]

Just checked my medical file and Emelia was tested for herpes simplex. Negative.

[Chemar]

relief that she does not have herpes infection!

 

I looked up the Orthoplex MagOpticell ingredients but they don't list the "inactive" ingredients like that flovoring, which troubles me

 

also, it has chromium and I thought I should mention that even trace amounts of chromium give my son hives!!!!!

[zsimms]

relief that she does not have herpes infection!

 

I looked up the Orthoplex MagOpticell ingredients but they don't list the "inactive" ingredients like that flovoring, which troubles me

 

also, it has chromium and I thought I should mention that even trace amounts of chromium give my son hives!!!!!

 

 

 

Wow Cheri, that's interesting about the chromium. I might look into it.

 

We called the MagOpticell company and they say there are trace amounts of salycilates in there powders and the flavours come from the oil extracted from fruit skin.

 

Onwards and upwards...

 

Zoe

[Ozimum]

Hi Zoe,

I've sent you a second PM with my email address. (I'm still getting a 'block' message so I don't know if the message goes through to your email or not.)

There is an excellent Biomed community in Australia. The Mindd Institute and the Walsh Institute both bring doctors to Australia to assist kids on the Spectrum and help train our Biomed doctors. Both websites have lists of practitioners based in Aust. In my PM I've given you a contact email for the Australian Yahoo Biomed group. Happy to talk further.

Edited April 10, 2011 by Ozimum