Friday, January 9, 2009

Nutrients for ADHD and the role of sulfation & glutathione in Autism

While at the DAN! conference in San Diego last October, we heard data that said supplementation with iron was AS EFFECTIVE as Ritalin if the child had low iron. Wouldn't it be great to test your child for iron deficiency and supplement as needed and not give your child a prescription that has all sorts of negative health effects? Why aren't most doctors looking at these levels prior to prescribing drugs?

Another great supplement is called pycnogenol. This is an anti-allergy, helps glutathione (major detoxifier/anti-oxident) and helps with iron.

If you have a child on the spectrum (and yes, this includes ADHD/ADD, they are at the far end) you should really understand the role of glutathione. Glutathione plays a primary role in detoxification in the body. It is a great anti-oxidant. Glutathione can be severly depleted in children on the spectrum and that is a very bad thing. Increasing your child's methylation (through methyl B-12 injections) can help that cycle but you can also get glutathione supplements (IV, transdermal and liquid). I just found out why high oxalates are a really bad thing. My son had the highest oxalate levels our nutritionist, Julie Matthews, had ever seen. When you have a child with poor sulfation, the cells will take in excess oxalates instead of the sulfate (because it is not there). So instead of getting sulfate and then going on to do its thing, the cell oxidizes because the oxalates don't function like sulfates and there is a lack of glutathione to counteract it. Oxidation is basically rust for lack of a better term. Oxidative stress is also very common in children on the spectrum. I also just learned on an Autism Action Plan live video conference that eating sulfate rich food (broccoli for example) actually helps the poor sulfation.

And if you have a child with poor sulfation, oxidative stress, and Autism, maybe you too should look at these supplements. I read an email from Susan Owens who is a doctor specializing in sulfation problems. She wrote about the role of sulfation in the production of oxytocin which not only sparks our labor and milk production in child birth but also controls the center of the brain for bonding and recognition. Maybe this faulty sulfation is part of the reason some parents with children with Autism report that they seem to be just another piece of furniture to their child, their child does not recognize them as a person or have any emotional attachment. Anyways, she discussed her own faulty sulfation when her labor did not progress, her uterus did not clamp back down after delivery and her milk took two weeks to come in. As I read this to my husband he thought this was MY OWN account of my son's birth.....hmmmm....note to self, order nasal B-12 or talk to naturopath about methyl B-12 injections AND start eating a lot of broccoli!

As I say again, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I think that our kiddos have a certain predisposition that for whatever reason got "turned on" through vaccines, environmental toxins, etc. Why it didn't happen with us I will never know but some of the same issues my son faces to the extreme, I and my husband probably also have. We always seem to put ourselves last, especially while healing our children with Autism. But, I think it is worthwhile to take some time and maybe even have some of the same tests run on ourselves and assess our methylation and detoxification processes. We could probably ALL benefit from some of these things that are helping our kiddos!

PS - if you think you or your child has faulty sulfation - AVOID TYLENOL products!!! And by the way, many kids on the spectrum have faulty sulfation - wish I knew that years ago...

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