Update with Naturopath

[Heather]

Hi All,

 

We had another visit to the naturopath today. She tested (using the Electrodermal testing) Will's intestinal yeast and found him still in perfect balance in that regard. I thought that would be the case since his stools are perfect!!! I know it may sound a little wacky but I am amazed at these consistently perfectly formed stools (with little odour) after years of loose, smelly bowel movements that I never even saw as a problem. Because of my daughter's chronic constipation I saw Will's loose stools as a positive thing (How wrong I was).

 

Anyway, she feels that the most recent dispaly of tics over the last few days are due to the food issues at the hockey game on Friday night and said he definitely could still be reacting 4 days later to these foods. In her office today his allergy point showed moderately elevated as opposed to very high on previous visits. He still showed a very high allergy point when corn was tested today which makes sense with the big bucket of popcorn that he inhaled on Friday night. I'm surprised that the reaction wasn't more severe after what his friend's mom told me he ate, which is hopefully a good sign that he is on his way to healing and not reacting as severely as he has in the past.

 

She also tested his nervous system with the electra dermal screening and it was reduced from 80 points to 66 points. The goal is 50 to be in perfect balance. She said testing the nervous system with this machine reveals the possible presence of metals attached to the CNS causing neurological symptoms. As I noted on a previous post his hair analysis did show high aluminum and moderately high lead and mercury. The testing with the machine today is just something she uses in the interim as a guideline between hair analysis tests to give an indication of the status of the nervous system. She said the drop in points shows the possible indication that the metals are being displaced and are being excreted with the NDF.

 

We will keep working on the metals and once the nervous system reads in balance she will continue the treatment protocol with a strong multi-vitamin and fatty acid supplementation. She advised me against using any other supplements at this time while we are getting rid of the metals. Her training is based on working in stages to promote healing.

 

I know this machine is not entirely accepted as being accurate by some researchers, however, everything that has occurred to this point in treatment has shown that this is a very effective method of determining imbalances in both my daughter and my son. The food allergies she has found have definitely proven to be triggers to the tics as shown by our previous improvement and recent setbacks. It is also very affordable to us at this time rather than going to the more expensive and specific blood tests. Our repeat visits at this point are only $55 each time to cover consultation and testing costs. If the time comes when Will stops improving I will resort to the more invasive and specific tests that the DAN doctors do but for the time being I am happy with the results we are getting with her approach.

 

I also received Dr. McCandless's book today, Children with Starving Brains and couldn't wait to start reading. I was a bit thrown off by the title saying "A Medical Treatment" but then as I read I realized that of course she is a medical doctor and uses medical treatment in some areas of concern. For instance, for yeast overgrowth she often prescribes Nystatin (a medical prescription) as opposed to some of the natural supplements that have been discussed on the forum. She also has routinely used DMSA for chelation of metals, also available only by prescription. One of the issues with this treatment (as she outlines) is that the gut may become reinfected with yeast during chelation and she has to stop treatment to repair the gut periodically.

 

As my naturopath says, the NDF has ingredients in it that stop the regrowth of yeast in the intestine. There is extensive information about this on various Bioray websites. If you look up NDF on a yahoo search it outlines a comparison chart of some of the main chelators (including DMSA, NDF and PCA-RX). It describes the NDF as a superior chelator and has been proven to be more effective and safer to use than the other treatments with a "minimal healing crisis" when used slowly. I am experiencing that first hand with my son. However, my naturopath warns that even though you can order this drop without a prescription, it should never be used without the guidance of a doctor who is trained in using it.

 

Anyway, sorry to go on and on. With the book arriving today and the natoropath visit, it gave me a lot to comment on.

 

It's pizza day at school tomorrow. My son convinced me to order a piece for him as he feels very left out when everyone else is getting pizza when it is delivered to the classroom. Once again, these social situations are my biggest hurdle. He has both milk and tomato sensitivities. Sometimes, however, it is worth the consequences, when minimal, to avoid the emotional upset of feeling different. Claire, your ideas for the snacks were great!!!!!

 

 

Heather

[Jennifer]

Heather,

 

Thanks for the NDf info. I'll look into that. By the way a friend of mine who ws interested in ordering Dr. MCandless' book says that she is in the middle of writing another one. I don't know if it is a 3rd edition or something else. I hope your son feels better. The food thing is really hard, they have enough to deal with and then have to be different because of the food on top of everything else!

 

Take care,

 

 

Jennifer

[Claire]

Heather,

 

That was an excellent post! So full of data and specifics, thank you. I will absolutely raise your points at my son's next doctor visit, should he show problems with metals. I hope he doesn't--it is sounds so complicated to resolve.

 

Interesting what your naturopath said about avoiding other supplements during metal detox....For my son's heavy metal blood test, he had to avoid all vitamin supplements for 4 days, since presumably the metals in them throw off the test. This will be a concern should he turn out to have problems with metals.

 

Also, I asked at Whole Foods re Threelax and they said didn't have it.

 

congratulation on your son's positive and *measurable* progress.

 

My 65 year old neighbor has been fighting mercury toxicity for a couple of years, and her husband just told me that her yeast is now a problem. The are a highly intelligent and educated couple and have changed doctors 4 times for this matter--I suspect that they know more than most of their doctors.

 

I had no idea that the naturopaths were that much cheaper--wow. The approach is the same as the DAN doctor, it sounds definitely worth it if insurance or $ is an issue. My husband is quitting his job this week to return to the world of consulting/self-employment and I will keep this in mind should our insurance coverage change significantly, or should this current DAN doctor retire sooner rather than later (he is very close!).

 

Thanks again for the details. Good luck with the pizza. I bet some kids would choose one over the other. My son can't have regular pizza either (the wheat). We make our own wheat-free version, but that wouldn't work at school. The next time they do pizza, I think I will bring in an extra bucket of KFC chicken to share (and peel off the wheat breading). I must believe (hope!) that at least a couple of other kids would pick chicken over pizza.

 

I forgot whether your son had any sensitivity to TV/Computer? The reason I ask is that if so, I would like to know if all these health treatments have reduced his sensitivity there so that he is now less reactive. I am really really hoping that this is the case with my own son as it would sure make middle school life next year much easier.

 

Claire

[Guest Guest]

Heather,

 

Thank you for the post and glad to hear your son's improvement. I'm still waiting for my son's test results, and am so looking forward to seeing the results.

 

Claire,

 

FYI. I think that each naturopath charges differently (depends on the area). The fee that we have to pay is tripled of Heather's. In my area (where probably close to yours), ours is about the average.

 

Jean

[Guest Guest_efgh]

Jennifer and Heather

 

thanks for your detailed updates. Looks like, the latitudes members can become excellent future naturopaths!! Most of the folks here are awesome with so much of knowledge! Special thanks to Sheila Rogers for having come up with such a big boon for parents like us.

 

Jennifer, what does the doctor mean when he says that your son's liver and kidney are not functioning optimally? Did she do any special test for that? Any update on his thyroid level? any medication recommended for that? How are his tics/moods these days?

 

Heather, great to know about your son's improvement. Your post is really interesting. Does your son react in general to Pizza? (Is it due to the cheese?). Did you ask your naturopath about the iron in your multivit? How much iron does it contain? I guess you got a very good doctor.

 

Claire, regarding TV I should thank you for giving such a tip. I would not have paid so much attention otherwise. I see a marked improvement in my son after "no tv" .. But somehow he DOES NOT react to computer games and he is fine with them. TV is THE culprit in his case.

 

Jcandkc

 

we are really happy to know about your daughter's improvement. feeling good for your little one. Congrats!

 

Chemar

 

thanks a LOT for your information on NOW brand vitamins with veggie caps. will look into it. As you rightly mentioned to GL and L mom, all this is so overwhelming at times and it does take a LOT of time and effort to get the hang of the whole thing. (hopefully our kids' tics would disappear by then !!)

Chemar, what is the minimal dosage of 5 htp (to start with) which may help ocd? Can 5htp alone be given as a trial for OCD?

[efgh]

Heather,

 

In addition to my above post -

 

Can you please tell me if the multivit that you give your son is Genestra SUPER ORTI VITE. The super orti vite genestra, is it a vegetarian capsule or a gelatin capsule?

 

thanks.

[Claire]

efgh,

 

Thanks for the computer game feedback. I sometimes forget to qualify in my posts that the idea is to find out triggers for your own child. I still wonder with your son if it is the passive viewing of TV makes him more susceptible to the 'flicker' impact.

 

And yet some don't react to flicker at all, just the rapid action of the games.

 

And then some aren't affected by either. Kind of like some have different food reactions.

 

Claire

[Jennifer]

efgh,

 

The blood chemistry panel is what revealed the problems. I'm not exactly sure what the markers are, but things like albumin, B.U.N and some others are kidney and liver proteins...if they are low, that generally indicates that they are not functioning optimally. This was the test that we did through our doctor locally , the new doctor has not seen them yet and we won't meet with him until the 2nd of April. I will, however, get some bicarbonate that Body Bio recommended to counteract the ammonia in his system. Ammonia is a neurotoxin and can even cause seizures if too high. They also recommend butyrate (which is in butter) to counteract ammonia. Ammonia is one of the things that Dr. McCAndless checks for, it seems to be a very common problem.

 

I just read something very interesting in the body bio report, 95% of our serotonin is manufactured in the bowel. I had never heard that before.

 

 

Jennifer

[Guest Guest_efgh]

Jennifer

 

that is really interesting about 95 percent seratonin being manufactured in the bowel. can you please give me the link for that information.

 

thanks

[Heather]

I see a couple of questions here that I neglected to answer.

 

EFGH,

 

I am sorry...I completely forgot to ask my naturopath about the iron in the vitamins. Since she has not prescribed a vitamin to continue with at this time I completely forgot about pursuing that question at the visit. I had so many things to ask her and was focusing on the NDF and the affects of that. The multi vitamin she had prescribed before was the Genstra brand (a chewable) but I can't remember anything more about it and don't have the container anymore....sorry. I don't recall the name super orti vite though. I will look it up on here tomorrow on their site and let you know. I am exhausted tonight and going to bed now.

 

Claire,

 

The Threelac seems to be only available from Global Health Trax that sells over the Internet. They have many private distributers around the country it seems and I found one that sells it out of Canada. It doesn't seem to be something you can buy in stores.

 

Also, I really can't answer the question about the TV/computer issue. Since my son was constantly ticcing when we started treating it was very hard to determine triggers. Now, TV doesn't seem to affect him but maybe it does and we just don't know it. There is definitely not an immediate response once he starts watching.

 

At this point I have definitely mimized his TV watching but have been in a tough position to take it away entirely. As I have mentioned before, we are building a house right now and sold our house we were living in prematurely and were stuck with finding a place to live for a few months. We moved into part of my mother in law's home in a small apartment while waiting for our home to be built. There have been many delays and we have been here much longer than planned.

 

Anyway, in this small apartment there is limited space and many of our belongings are in storage, including many of my son's toys that he enjoys playing in larger areas. There is limited space to do anything and through these cold winter months it has been difficult to spend all of our time outside. When we moved in here in the fall one of the things we bought to appease the kids over the winter in our tiny quarters was a game cube This was before I read about it being a possible trigger. Once the warmer weather is here and we are in our home (in June) it will be much easier to eliminate the TV completely for awhile and assess the situation. Anyway, as I said, right now it doesn't seem to be a trigger and he does watch TV without ticcing. It will be interesting to see if elmination of it takes the tics away. Since they are so minimal right now I haven't made the step to take it away completely since I think it would drive us crazy.

 

When I think back to before Xmas though, his snorting was worse while watching TV. Sometimes it would be gone completely if he was building lego or playing intently with something. I thought it was gone because he was absorbed in an activity. When he watched TV it would come back but I thought it was just because his mind wasn't as focused as it had been on the activity. Maybe that wasn't the case and it really does trigger tics in him????

 

Anyway, regarding the metals...I remember when I first started reading on here and heard the words chelation and heavy metal detox. It really seemed overwhelming and I couldn't imagine if I had to go there. This was before I even had the hair analysis done and I just didn't see myself ever being at that point. Anyway, now that we are there it is much less frightening to me as it once was. Since we are using the natural drop to help excrete the metals and it is taken orally, it really seems no different to me than the other supplements.

 

Back to the TV...With regard to your query about the TV trigger going away with treatment, according to my naturopath, I would think that this would change for your son. She has said to me that once the body is back in balance we will not have to avoid all of the foods and environmental triggers that we do now. I would assume that the TV trigger would work the same way. Let's hope so...for your sake.

[Claire]

Hi Heather,

 

Thanks for the Threelac info.

 

Weren't the holidays when you had that great success with resolving his yeast issues? With your comment on snorting being worse during TV before the holidays.. Perhaps then bringing his health back in balance did help minimize a possible TV trigger?

 

Ok, ok, I do realize that you don't even know if TV is or ever was a trigger in the first place. I am probably just clutching at straws here! But your naturopath's comment that the treatment should reduce other triggers is quite encouraging to me--I will ask my DAN/EM doctor what he thinks also. As you know, this is my biggest driver for my efforts here. Remember, the TV/Computer doesn't just trigger tics in him, it triggers compulsiveness, which does affect his sense of well-being. But the tics do matter to him too, he is soooo sensitive to teasing of any sort, that it would really stress him out.

 

Claire

[Guest Guest_efgh]

Heather

 

Thanks for your details. So, are you NOT giving any multivit currently to your son. Did you naturopath suggest you that way?I am asking this since from what I have read, I always assumed that a good quality multivit is an important part of the vitamin regimen for tics.

 

your inputs on this would be appreciated.

 

 

thanks.