Friday, January 4, 2008

How I love homeopathy! It should be called hopeopathy :) Caleb's anxiety was again getting out of control. The only thing that seemed to help was the supplement GABA, 1000mg at a time (twice daily). I'm glad it helps, but must we rely on this everyday now? Low and behold, Caleb's constitutional remedy lycopodium finally helped a bit (only now in a larger dose of 200c). It made his return to school after the holidays somewhat bearable. No one sent me notes about his behavior....so that's a positive thing :)
The reason I knew to try GABA was because GABA often balances excitotoxins in the brain from excess glutamates. Some glutamate sources are calcium and folic acid, many foods like wheat and milk, and I'm sure others. For Caleb, we had been trying Calcium for a while, and it had seemed to help at first. Then we hit the wall..... Instead it raised his glutamates (or so I supposed) and made GABA necessary. He's extremely good on GABA, but just quiet & not as fiesty (which I like him to defend himself and have opinions...just in smaller doses). Caleb has needed folic acid before for clearer speech, but it also often ends up fluctuating his body to excitotoxin mode. For him, we see "screaminess" over every little thing, and weeping over nothing. He also gets a bit OCD. Anyhow.....lycopodium has helped for these past few days. Thank you Lord for that!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, Jen. My mom saw some thing on TV tonight about glutamates and MSG and excitotoxins and came over angry and ready to take anything with MSG in it back to the store. Of course, she wanted me to talk to you about glutamates and make sure you weren't getting any in Caleb's diet! :) Well, I KNEW I had just read something about that here... and here it is! So glutamates are in milk & wheat also? Is this something that people w/o autism should be concerned about? Is MSG particularly harmful--even to the average person? Can you lend some more insight here? Thanks!

Jen B said...

Yes, people with autism, adhd, epilepsy, psychiatric disorders, etc... should all be concerned about glutamates. Glutamates are double edged swords, sometimes good and necessary, but too much equals an excitotoxin and actually causes excess firings in certain neurons. MSG and also aspartame are ingredients that are nearly all glutamates. However, certain foods have a lot of glutamates as well. Wheat and milk are some of those. Also, Calcium supplementation can be lots of glutamates. Incidently, the amino acid GABA, helps control excess glutamates. It has certainly helped in Caleb's case, but sometimes in blocks too many glutamates and weepiness is a result. Glutamine (an amino acid which is also a precurser to glutamate) is necessary to maintain intestinal health. So, sometimes controlling glutamates can be a double edged sword. You don't want to compromise intestinal health, but you don't want the excitotoxin behavior. However, a sprinkle of GABA twice a day definitely has helped Caleb control his anxiety. Hope this helps!

From ch3nutrigenomics.com: There IS glutamate in everything that has protein in it. It is a naturally occurring protein. There is also chemical forms of glutamate in a large number of substances, and that is more of an issue. The bottom line is that you will never completely eliminate glutamate from the diet. The goal is to reduce the load so that your cup is not overflowing. So stay away from sources you know are a big issue. For instance, whiel plain potato chips are okay, any flavored potato chips are no good as they have MSG. Fritos corn chips are okay, but Doritos have MSG. Tuna in water is okay (except for the mercury of course), but tuna in broth has MSG. Any broth or soup has MSG. Look at the labels on any supplements, or vitamins. Stay away from vitamins that have added glutamine, glutamate, or are available as amino acid chelates.

Quote from THE PUZZLE OF AUTISM, "Glutamate is the main excitatory neurotransmitter in the body. It is essential for learning, long/short term memory, and is also the precursor to the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA. GABA is a calming nt, and is essential for speech (it is often given to restore speech is stroke victims). The balance between glutamate and GABA is like a seesaw. Under normal conditions, excess levels of the excitotoxin glutamate will convert to GABA. There seems to be a disconnect in this process for autistic children."

Hope all this helps!

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Jen! It does help. So basically, in people w/o autism, excitotoxin levels of glutamates will just make us produce GABA. People w/ autism and other disorders can't do that. It's probably still a good idea to cut out MSG and asperatame, but we don't need to get freaky over it.

Jen B said...

Yes, most people don't have to worry about glutamates, but then again, we never really find out we should've been worrying about them until something frightening happens.....like seizures, mental illness, severe headaches, etc... In general, it's a good idea to avoid such frank levels of glutamates like msg, aspartame, and sometimes calcium supplements (since we can generally get enough calcium through other sources) especially if we have family history of any type of autoimmune or brain issues. Generally, though you can tell your mom to "chill" !

Anonymous said...

Homeopathy cures where Conventional Allopathic Medicine (CAM)fails

Dr. Nancy Malik said...

Homeopathy: Micro Doses Mega Results

Dr. Nancy Malik said...

Homeopathy is evidence based modern medicine for the 21st century

Dr. Nancy Malik said...

Not every physician is a homeopath (a surgeon without a knife), and not every medicine is allopathic (dangerous, risky & life threatening)

Susan Thomas said...

how old was your son when you were giving him 1000mg twice a day? I am thinking about starting my 6 and 3 year old on it as neither sleep through the night.

Jen B said...

He was age 5 at the time. My advice is to start low...say below 250 mgs...and work your way up while watching how it works. Perhaps try it on the older child first. Good luck! Let me know how it works for you. Thanks for your comment!

Dr. Nancy Malik said...

The fundamental pillars of Homeopathy are: -
1. Law of similar (1796): Like cures like
2. Law of minimum dose (1801): Less is More
3. Law of simplex (1810): One single similar medicine for the patient
4. The theory of miasms (1829)
5. Doctrine of Vital Force (1833)
6. Potentisation/dynamisation (1833)
7. Hering’s law of five directions of cure (1845):
8. Diet & Regimen