I have been doing alot of research on my son and his possible LD and have read up on food intolerences. Has anyone here had their child tested for them? Do you see a nutrionalist for this or a regular allergist?
Also for those of you who give your LD child vitamins or supplements have you seen an improvement?
Any thoughts would be appreciated!
vitamins, supplements and food intolerence questions
A friend of mine saw a naturopath who put her on an elimination diet for her rheumatoid arthritis. (She was markedly better after 3 days on the diet, and was able to identify her triggers with trial-and-error.) Elimination diets are tricky, so it’s best to have a pro guide you through it.
Most allergists test only for allergies, not food intolerances.
There is blood testing that can be useful to identify allergies/intolerances. The ALCAT is one. See http://www.alcat.nl/publicaties/s10.pdf for more information. You can also Google on IgE testing, which is a different kind of blood test.
Some children improve a lot on fish oil, while others don’t change. It probably depends on whether or not they have a deficiency that fish oil addresses. The same probably holds true for many other supplements.
vitamins, supplements and food intolerence questions
If I may, I would like to add my two cents.
Although every child is different, there does seem to be a huge amount of overlap with food intolerances.
I would emlimate casein, gluten and soy and see what happens after two weeks. Those three are the top three food intolerances.
By the way, I second that you can’t “test” for intolerances but only for allergies. Clinically speaking, an allergy is life-threatening and anything less is an intolerance.
I don’t know your child’s situation, but we have started methyl-B12 shots with my son. He has high level of B12 in his blood because it is not able to stored in his cells. His body was not breaking down B12 correctly.
Another thing, has your child a history of antibiotics. Antibiotics destroy the natural balance in the digestive system and thus cause digestion problems, even intolerances. We give our son Primal Defence.
The best info for diet and diet supplements come from groups for autistic children. I haven’t sign up for this one yet but I will be. I have heard that this site is excellent:
http://www.autismweb.com/forum/
I haven’t had time yet to sign up.
Just because your child is not autistic, does not mean that your child is digesting foods as well as the next kid and perhaps even at the same level as an autistic child.
Hope this helped.
Joan
vitamins, supplements and food intolerence questions
[quote]
I don’t know your child’s situation, but we have started methyl-B12 shots with my son. He has high level of B12 in his blood because it is not able to stored in his cells. His body was not breaking down B12 correctly.
Another thing, has your child a history of antibiotics. Antibiotics destroy the natural balance in the digestive system and thus cause digestion problems, even intolerances. We give our son Primal Defence.
[quote]
My son is having a hard time learning he is only in Ktgn but shows many signs of dyslexia. He does not show so much letter reversals but then he does not write much either. Writing is hard for him and “boring”. He is also prone to meltdowns! I have started him on fish oil and it does seem to help him with his speech and he is not so reluctant to go to school. How did you get the testing done for b12 levels? Was it with a regular pediatrition?
You scared me about the antibiotics thing too. He did have a couple ear infections and bouts of pneumonia and was on antibiotics as a baby. What really scares me though is my daughter was on then for the first 1 1/2 of her life for kidney problems. I have a friend who has done cranial sacral on both of them and “felt” issues with their bellies.
So where does one go to get this hair testing and IgE testing I have read about? There are not naturopaths in our area.
Thanks everyone for the replies. They have helped. I feel like I am going crazy with all this research!
Food intolerance is different from food allergies, and it is extremely difficult to test for intolerances. The best way remains to eliminate foods and see if improvements result.
We give my boy (autistic) fish oil, B complex, zinc, and selenium daily. We have seen improvements, but it is hard to say whether it is solely because of the supplements or because of the other interventions we employ.
Good luck and please let us know how things turn out.