Proefa and Gastrointestinal Health

[Guest guest]

Hi there again. The Betsy/Wiley saga rages on. LOL. This morning Wiley

had severe diarhhea, enough to have his tush bleeding and rashed out by 10

a.m. It subsided by 4 this afternoon. He wanted to eat and drink, a little

less than usual, but not the all out no interest that he usually has when

sick. Also he has been pretty active and happy throughout the day. I'm a

little schitzed out that maybe it could be the fish oil. I actually called

Nordic Naturals and the owner said he had never heard of diarrhea as a side

effect of the supplement. I didn't give it to him today since I figured it

would just make it's way rather rapidly out again. But also I'm worried

that it could be what caused it - not so much worried that I hurt him but

that he isn't able to tolerate the supplement and I'd be incredibly sad if

he had to miss out on such a promising opportunity to improve his speech /

motor skills and so on. Has anyone on the listserv experienced anything

like this? There's nothing on-line about it that I can find. I'm just

hoping it was a bug... Wondering too if I should continue the supplement

over the weekend as we are attending my sister's wedding starting tomorrow.

What to do!!

Any advice?

Thanks!!

Betsy

[Guest guest]

Hi again Betsy!

Ouch -sorry to hear that. I know I just went through the same here

(minus the blood part) with my two who one at a time just went

through a 48 hour stomach bug. The bug going through my son's

school is the " surprise " stomach bug with a four day incubation it

appears. No fever or anything -just all of a sudden - " mommy -I feel

like I'm going to throw up " and then seconds later...Not a fun time!!!

I don't know why the person that you spoke with at Nordic Naturals

said that they never heard of diarrhea as a side effect of adding oil

to the child's diet. It's not uncommon at all for the first few days

for some of the children to have looser stools -typically mild enough

to not stop supplementing. However -to have it so severe like your

child is not at all common -in fact I've only heard it once before

from Rhonda from ECHO of Canada as reported to her by one of the

parents in her group. I recall you saying however that there is a

virus going around so you were not sure due to the timing. Either

way it was a good idea to stop the supplementation like you did if

the diarrhea is that severe. Once the diarrhea stops -which was

either from a virus -or from adding the drops of fish oil to his

diet, try supplementing again -but this time do it differently.

Anything is possible -and maybe you need to add the oil a drop at a

time to start and increase from there? Call your pediatrician and

ask.

Here is some information from a past post

" Since I receive lots of calls about this -I wanted to list the most

common changes in an apraxic or other speech disordered child on EFAs

from what I've read and heard and seen.

1. Increase in babbling or attempts at sounds.

2. Increase in imitation.

Changes also can be looked for in (what you see as positive or

negative)

sleep

attention

appetite

focus

behavior

stools

Next will come a breakthrough of something you were probably working

on for a bit -so you will be excited but will think " Well -I don't

want to get my hopes up we were working on that for awhile now -maybe

it's just a coincidence " However after the second or third surge in

a short period of time -and then another - you are pretty sure things

are different and it's at this point the professionals and the rest

of the family and your friends are noticing it too -maybe about two

to three weeks now.

OK -the next stage is pure elation and hope -you see the light and no

longer feel as desperate and want to share this new information with

everyone and anyone. As the months go by and your child continues to

progress at a much more rapid rate -you may even start to doubt the

original diagnosis -especially if you started EFA supplementation at

two -and perhaps the SLP that diagnosed the apraxia who also was at

first excited is starting to second guess if the original diagnosis

was correct as well. Unless you have to stop the ProEFA (or other

Essential Fatty Acid) and literally have the chance to see the

regression of acquired speech and language skills, attempts, and

changes in behavior like we did with Tanner (and/or have a chance to

again witness the second surge when your child is put back on the

EFAs) -that doubt will probably remain somewhere in your mind and in

others around your child. So the " I told you that he would start

talking when he was ready " comments should be expected of course. "

Take care and let us know how it goes!

=====

[Guest guest]

Thanks, , for letting me know that this is not a common ailment from

taking ProEFA. I will start Wiley out again tomorrow on 1/2 a capsule daily

and see how things go. Obviously if it happens again I'll know it has

something to do with the supplements. If not, great! I do wonder if it has

to do with Wiley's diet being made up so much of liquids anyway, with the

overnight feeds, etc. It's only 13 ounces or so though and most children

drink that easily in a day plus lots more. But they also eat more too, so

who knows? I'm thinking if younger children, babies even, are tolerating

this stuff, he should be able to eventually.

Keeping my fingers crossed on this, anyway.

Betsy

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