Healing the gut

[lisle]

Hi,
I am wondering if any of you accept the theory that the gut is the source of a lot of problems with behavior. I can say for sure that the things my son has tried to so call heal his gut have agitated him a great deal and we have discontinued it. One of the questions I have about a lot of the "natural" approach is that it is basically theoretical and a lot of it is inferred from other abstract theoretical assumptions. Not to say dr. don't do this--they do also but I wonder if this gut thing is valid. There are some people who swear by it. I would like to hear anyone's opinion who has tried to heal the gut and get rid of toxins that prevent absorption of nutrients.
lisle

[AustinsMom]

lisle, we have been dealing with this also for years, slowly trying to piece it all together. I have come to believe that the whole digestive thing IS a key for my ds. I base that on these observations:
-His stools have always been on the constipated side and with unusual texture
-It is not unusual for him to feel nauseous (sp?) when he has a bm
-After taking a good multi-vitamin (with sufficient B's) religiously for 6 years 5 of his B vitamins tested abnormally low. They are going in obviously but not absorbed.
-He takes his EPD allergy shots only once a year now, and has to take something to prepare his stomach for them. 3 years ago he took bismuth (he takes diflucan now) and this summer on his metal test his bismuth was off the chart. Why is that still around after 3 years?
-His hair analysis has been high in toxic metals since the first time we tested, at age 2 or 3.

So it seems to me that there is something going on with his gut and some things not being absorbed, some things being retained. We are doing some stool tests to send in to Pfeiffer along with all of the other tests they did while there. I am hoping they can shed some light on this for me.

Does your child have these same issues? What have you tried...found anything that seems helpful? I have always been told that when treating gut issues, if the treatment is successful, behavior may get worse if the body is getting rid of toxic stuff. My Pfeiffer nurse said that the digestive and metal stuff is one of the things they do best. Were they not helpful for you? I agree that some of these things seem like theories that haven't been fully studied. But am also fairly confident that something isn't right with my son's digestive process, so am willing to try things if they are not proven, as long as they are not harmful.

[ohmama]

lisle,
I found some excellent information on the gut and the connection to adhd as well as other disorders that are related such as autism, schizophrenia, and possibly tourette's syndrome connecting them with bowel disease. The information is too extensive to relate so I will give you the website www.lef.org/protocols/prtcl-124.shtml#bodis

Here is just a little of what it says:
"One of the most common problems found in many autistic and some adhd/add children is the presence of neurologically active peptide metabolites arising from gluten in wheat, rye, oats, and barley and from casein in dairy products. These proteins incompletely break down to form morphine like substances that adversely affect development and signal processing in the brain."

It goes on to give info on digestive enzyme supplements, body pH and the autonomic nervous system, vitamin and mineral supplementation, mercury chelation, etc. The gut plays a BIG part in these disorders. It is no wonder that nutrition is the first step in a good treatment plan. See what you think.

[Sorka]

well well here it is!
heheh
I was going to present this theory and here it presented itself..
Dealve into it more.. see www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info and www.pecanbread.com

I really am begining to believe there is a big connection between adhd, sensory integration and other autistic spectrum disorders. One big thing that goes around is that we should give these kids epsom salt baths.. Why> because it calms them.. why? because the magnesium in the epsom salts is absorbed transdermally, then it aids in the building of neural nets around the cells and essential parts in the brain that regulate the typical things effected when a child has sensory integration dysfuntion..
Why is this magnesium not present .. among other things like vitamin b? They are not being absorbed properly by the gut. This causes that shortage in essential building materials for the brain to build good connections and structures on a cellular level. Then this in turn causes the autistic spectrum disorders to show up because those connections are not being made..
The cause for this? Sometimes it is a vaccine injury especially related to the MMR vaccine. The measles portion of the vacine stays in the gut and causes an overgrowth of the bad bacterias and then a neuro toxic reaction ..
sometimes a genetic disorder such as Celiac disease an allergy to the protien gluten found in wheat rye barley and oats. The ingestion of gluten causes the blunting of the villi in the small intestine causeing the surface area of the small intestine to be inssuficient to absorb those much needed nutrients again causing a chain reaction resulting in various problems..

But please see those sites.. they tell it alot better than I can!
I seem to be living this now as well with the testing of my younger son for Celiac disese and that presenting possible answers for my oldest son's ails!

[AustinsMom]

Another interesting web page for those looking into this issue: www.hriptc.org/metal_metabolism.html