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Perpetually eating but losing weight ...


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Hello,

 

My 6-year old daughter is on a gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, egg-free diet. She is also on a lot of supplements - magnesium, calcium, glutamine, taurine, super-nu-thera multivits, enzymes and probiotics. The poor dear!

 

The thing that bothers me is that she is losing weight pretty fast (in three months, she has lost 3kg and is now only about 16kg). The funny thing is that she is hungry all the time and her appetite is much better now than it ever was before. I can't understand this at all. More food is being consumed, yet she is losing weight - how is this possible? We have only done the IgG allergy test so far. Do we need to check for anything else?

 

Her tics have become more manageable but last Thursday, I gave her some prawns, and on Sunday I gave her some grapes (high in salicylates , I know) and above all, I have been giving her prune juice on alternate days for the past week. the prune juice has helped with the constipation issues somewhat. I've been tinkering with her diet somewhat because she is bored with her usual beef, lamb and fish combination. That's why I added the prawns. She wanted some grapes as well and so, I gave in to her. Well, no surprises - she started blinking excessively. Sigh. Looks like she can't take foods that are high in salicylates as well. I thought the enzymes would help but it looks like there is no effect?

 

Any ideas on what I can do to lessen my dd's blinking? Or should I just wait it out. Besides, any thoughts on why she is losing weight when in reality, she is eating more? You are all so experienced and calm and I wish I could control my emotions a little more. I think I've aged a lot in the past five months. My 'slightly less-polite friends' have said that.

 

Shy

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The first possibility that comes to my mind is, perhaps her digestive system is working very poorly, just not digesting the food very well. I have gone through many periods of feeling the urge/need to eat lots and lots of food, and I did not gain weight at all (but didn't lose it). I could see and recognize my dinner in the stool the next morning. 12 hours is way too fast, and if it's recognizable, it certainly was not digested completely. Food allergies could cause that, and digestive enzymes can help. Could the enzymes being taken just not jive well with your daughter? Could it be a very bad reaction to something being eaten? Those are the things I would look at, not sure if that's much help, seems like you're looking in the right areas. But, losing weight, could really be lots of things, I suppose.

 

Michael

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shydee,

I don't think its any wonder that she would lose weight. she may be eating more, but all healthy foods, and don't forget you are cutting out gluten which is breads and carbs, so right there is going to be a weight reducer. same with dairy. so maybe she is eating alot, but she's not getting alot of bad fats and carbs. just like when people do the low carb diet, they lose weight fast. maybe you could try and get some grains into her that are gluten free, like corn or millet. also try and give more high caloric foods of the ones she can eat. The weight loss should taper off at a certain point, but again, try and replace what she is losing in calories, you may want to calculate what she is getting and try to maintain that.

 

I have also experienced increased eye tics from fruit (salicylates) with my son, I think if you just cut it out for several days, it should wane (if that is what its from). four to seven days should be tops. a little extra magnesium can't hurt.

 

 

Faith

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Shy,

 

I'm a yank so I had to quickly run to the kilo converter. She weighs less than my boy who is the same age and pretty slim build. I see that there are no fats in her supplement regime. My son is dxd celiac and he had the same situation as Michael-- undigested food in his stool when he was dxd 2 years ago.

I don't know if your dd is celiac or not, or what her digestive history is, but it is well known in celiac circles that digestion of dietary fats is a problem with celiacs who have flattened villi and intestinal damage. Many do high doses of fish oil, borage oil, primrose oil, flaxseed oil, etc.....

Be encouraged that if you are dealing with intestinal damage and imbalanced flora things will improve in time. Be patient. In time, when she is 'healed' in the gut she may return to a much more varied diet. We originally had 17 allergies/intolerances on our IgG and now he only avoids 3 things. Time will heal her.

I would suggest that you check for fat absorption if there is a test available that can measure that where you live. Here in the States we use Enterolabs and they test the stool. (We are waiting for our results as I type).

 

All the best.

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Hi,

 

Thanks for all your comments and advice.

 

Yes, Michael, I did play detective with the stools but I couldn't quite find traces of lunch/dinner. So, can I take that as a good sign? The things we will do for our kids :lol: And Faith, I'd love to cut out the fruit but that's really tough because dd just won't give in. Her eye tics are still there and I'm going crazy.

 

Caryn, I'm really motivated by your post because you mentioned that your son had 17 allergies and he's now down to 3 - that's really wonderful. But, my question is how did you get there and how long did it take? Did you do NAET or did you do it the painstaking way (dietary changes)? Any advice will help.

 

Currently, dd is taking the following supplements:

- Magnesium (300mg)

- Calcium (400mg)

- Super Nuthera Multi-vit (Kirkman's) - really high in the Bs

- Glutamine (1000mg)

- Taurine (1000mg)

- Enzyme Complete DPP IV II - twice a day (with meals)

- Therbiotic Factor (morning)

- Therbiotic Complete (night)

 

She is also off gluten, soy, dairy, eggs, chicken and high-salicylate vegetables and fruits. Currently, this is what she eats:

Grains - aside from rice, she is now taking quinoa, amaranth, millet

Vegetables - celery, potatoes, beans, brussel sprouts, cabbage, some types of green leafy vegetables. Hardly any carrots and strictly no spinach and broccoli

Fruits - pear, papaya, mangoes and sometimes, bananas

Meat - beef, lamb and fish

Butter - Nuttelex which is dairy-free, soy-free, gluten-free (at least, that is what the label says)

Snacks - Ewehorn's brown rice cereal, millet puffs, home-made potato chips and sweet potato chips (read - yucky because I make them)

 

Not sure if this dietary restiction is making her lose weight. I've tried the rotation diet but I don't have enough to go round. In the end, it looks like I'm giving her beef/lamb/fish every other day. My understanding of the rotation diet is as follows: If we give something on Monday, then the next time, it can be introduced will be Thursday. Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

Our IgG Allergy test was also sent to the States (EnteroLabs) and doc has suggested doing a urine test to check if her food is being absorbed properly. He wants to do the OAT Test plus a few other tests (Enterolabs) as well. It's going to cost us S$590. Sigh!

 

Caryn, I showed my husband your post and he agrees with you - He believes that Time will heal our daughter but I'd like to see a progressive improvement. In her case, she gets ok and then, when my spirit is lifted, something else comes along. It's really painful and I sometimes doubt whether I'm doing it right.

 

By the way, I read about Houston enzymes and how allergies get eliminated after a while. Does anyone have any experience with this?

 

I know that this post is hardly coherent but what to do, I have too many things on my mind. Hope you don't get too tired reading this :blink:

 

 

 

Shy

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Hi Shydee,

that is a scary amount of weight loss for a child that size. Have you considered taking her into the pediatrician to make sure there aren't any underlying medical issues? Apparently children can be hyperthryoid http://pediatrics.about.com/od/symptoms/a/06_thyroid.htm which could cause weight loss with increased appetite. It would be nice to run a chemistries/cbc/urine to rule out this and other potential problems.

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Since there are no obvious signs that food is not being digested, I agree with EAMom, it sounds like a very good idea to get a doctor who will probably be able to run some tests, as there can be other things causing this that you would want to rule out or address.

 

Other things are, if she is getting much more exercise, or the diet has changed to be a lot fewer calories, but you would probably know about that.

 

Hope you can get it figured out.

 

Michael

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