5HTP/Carnosine/No sugar diet

August 8, 2004

Good afternoon:

My six year old son has done amazingly well over the last 2 1/2 years

on GF/CF, low corn/soy/sugar diet, lots of suppliments and chelation.

He just started first grade and I started to see a regression...not

sure if it was new class/teacher, nervous about being in first grade

or the massive amounts of testing that they put him thru in the first

few weeks. I started seeing a slip in eye contact, scared when

people talked to him, overly critical of himself, disobedience in the

classroom and crying. I felt like my son was about to snap (I sure

felt like I wanted to, so imagine how his body felt).

The only thing that was different was we had added l-carnosine six

weeks before (he already takes E and zinc). Also, I had taken him

off of Strattera for the summer to see if he really needed it. His

teacher reported the first week that he could not sit still and it

took her three times to test him on his knowledge of parralelagrams

vs. trapezoids (don't get me started on this topic), so we decided to

put him back on Strattera. On Friday, we talked to our DAN doc and

she had just received his Metamatrix OAT and it showed that his yeast

AND bacteria were off the charts (we had just been on Diflucan for

two months). Also, she reported that his adrenaline was very high

(in flight or fight all the time) and a host of other things that I

can't think of at this time. I will get the test results myself on

Monday and plan to have a meeting with his teacher and resource

teacher and ask them politely to " back off " until we get his system

back in order. Two days on flagyl have made a difference already.

So, here are my questions. Has anyone used 5HTP with their child?

Did it help? How long does it take to get in to the system? Can you

take 5HTP if you are also on Strattera?

Has anyone had a negative reaction on carnosine? I suspect that his

negative behaviors and impulsivity is due to the chart breaking yeast

and bacteria.

I'm going to have to bite the bullet and remove ALL sugar from my

son's diet. He gets very little sugar as it is. The SCD looks very

hard. Has anyone taken all sugar out, but allowed carbohydrates

(muffins made with pear sauce as the sweetner, etc.)and it worked to

kill the yeast (along with an anti-fungal like Diflucan)? I know that

carbs eventually break down to sugar. I am at my wit's end. We have

done Diflucan, nystatin, GSE, OLE, No Phenol and have never had a

clear yeast test in 2 1/2 years.

Thanks for your help,

Betsy

August 8, 2004

You didn't ask this, but I'm going to put it out there anyway. Do you have

an IEP or a 504 plan in place? It sounds to me like school, especially if

they are testing children this young on stupid crap like trapezoids, might

be too much for him if he doesn't have any accommodations in place.

I know it seems like the best thing is if our kids could function well in a

mainstream classroom. But less trauma now could well mean he catches up

later. I'd give my eyeteeth to have early school to do over again. It would

be VERY different, and I would have gotten accommodations in place much

earlier.

Also, if he didn't go to Kindergarten all day, simply going to school all

day long could be the culprit. Experienced first grade teachers know this,

and don't stress the kids out by doing standardized tests right away! Duh!

I'm not discounting your biomed intervention, which sounds very thorough and

solid. Just saying you don't want to keep the focus too narrow.

Liz

>

> Reply-To: csb-autism-rx

> Date: Sun, 08 Aug 2004 21:08:32 -0000

> To: csb-autism-rx

> Subject: 5HTP/Carnosine/No sugar diet

>

> Good afternoon:

>

> My six year old son has done amazingly well over the last 2 1/2 years

> on GF/CF, low corn/soy/sugar diet, lots of suppliments and chelation.

> He just started first grade and I started to see a regression...not

> sure if it was new class/teacher, nervous about being in first grade

> or the massive amounts of testing that they put him thru in the first

> few weeks. I started seeing a slip in eye contact, scared when

> people talked to him, overly critical of himself, disobedience in the

> classroom and crying. I felt like my son was about to snap (I sure

> felt like I wanted to, so imagine how his body felt).

>

> The only thing that was different was we had added l-carnosine six

> weeks before (he already takes E and zinc). Also, I had taken him

> off of Strattera for the summer to see if he really needed it. His

> teacher reported the first week that he could not sit still and it

> took her three times to test him on his knowledge of parralelagrams

> vs. trapezoids (don't get me started on this topic), so we decided to

> put him back on Strattera. On Friday, we talked to our DAN doc and

> she had just received his Metamatrix OAT and it showed that his yeast

> AND bacteria were off the charts (we had just been on Diflucan for

> two months). Also, she reported that his adrenaline was very high

> (in flight or fight all the time) and a host of other things that I

> can't think of at this time. I will get the test results myself on

> Monday and plan to have a meeting with his teacher and resource

> teacher and ask them politely to " back off " until we get his system

> back in order. Two days on flagyl have made a difference already.

>

> So, here are my questions. Has anyone used 5HTP with their child?

> Did it help? How long does it take to get in to the system? Can you

> take 5HTP if you are also on Strattera?

>

> Has anyone had a negative reaction on carnosine? I suspect that his

> negative behaviors and impulsivity is due to the chart breaking yeast

> and bacteria.

>

> I'm going to have to bite the bullet and remove ALL sugar from my

> son's diet. He gets very little sugar as it is. The SCD looks very

> hard. Has anyone taken all sugar out, but allowed carbohydrates

> (muffins made with pear sauce as the sweetner, etc.)and it worked to

> kill the yeast (along with an anti-fungal like Diflucan)? I know that

> carbs eventually break down to sugar. I am at my wit's end. We have

> done Diflucan, nystatin, GSE, OLE, No Phenol and have never had a

> clear yeast test in 2 1/2 years.

>

> Thanks for your help,

> Betsy

>

> Many frequently asked questions and answers can be found at

> <http://forums.autism-rxguidebook.com>

>

August 9, 2004

Hi Betsy-

I am so sorry that your son is having such a hard time.

We give our son both l-carnosine and 5HTP. We started the 5HTP for

OCD, but the first change I noticed was in sociability and mood.

became more outgoing and relaxed and seemed happier.

gets 200 mg of l-carnosine twice a day. If you didn't notice a

negative change for 6 weeks on l-carnosine, I rather doubt it's the

culprit. We have only seen positive changes with it, though Dr. JM

said a while back that some kids are irritable on it.

I agree with Liz - it sounds to me as if your son's teacher

overwhelmed him at the beginning of the school year. Could you have a

therapist shadow him for a week and see if they can help him adjust?

Perhaps your IEP committee could help with the situation? While I

understand your concern about yeast and bacteria, it sounds like this

anxiety and acting out is directly related to the stress of his new

classroom and teacher.