adrenal information

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Dear listmates,

It's my belief that a lot of ASD kids have adrenal problems and are

going without help in this area. Recently I've talked to a couple

moms about this and said I would post a kind of summary about what I

know.

Here's a decent introductory article on adrenal stress, except the

writer misses the point about adrenal cortext extract (which I have

used for my sons with great success) and I would never say

that " treating adrenal fatigue is as easy as... " If there is any

underlying issue such as metal toxicity (as is the case with my son)

fixing the problem can be quite a long term thing.

http://www.newstarget.com/019339.html

Adrenal stress in our kids can look like many things. As is the case

with lots of issues, how it manifests in adults may not resemble how

it manifests in a kid with ASD. My youngest child showed his adrenal

stress mostly with uncontrolled crying and an inability to be happy.

As it worsened, he was unable to stand anyone around him, could not

tolerate any frustration, and eventually started severe self-injuring

which escalated from hand biting, mild headbanging, to smashing his

face against the floor. My older son worried about everything,

cried easily, had anxiety attacks that would last a very long time

(especially at night). All of these things for my older son are now

gone (after about 8 months of treatment). My younger son has a much

longer road ahead because of severe metal toxicity and other problems

related to that.

There are a number of tests one can use (I believe the flashlight and

saliva tests are mentioned in the article above). The hair elements

test from DDI that many of us have used can also show adrenal

stress. My youngest son's tests inched toward showing severe stress—

somehow I wasn't able to see the pattern developing, otherwise I

would have started supporting his adrenals a lot earlier. If calcium

and magnesium go one way and sodium and potassium go the other, this

is indicative of adrenal stress. If sod/pot are high and cal/mag are

low, this would mean too much adrenaline and not enough cortisol.

All of this information is from Andy Cutler's book Hair Test

Interpretation. There is much more detailed information in the book

and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to run the hair test.

Here's one article that talks about the efficacy of Adrenal Cortex

Extract and oral dosing

http://www.westonaprice.org/archive/britton.html

This is the Adrenal Cortex Extract I use for the kids:

http://www.vitacost.com/NutriCologyOrganicAdrenalCortex

Most people dose early on in the day. If you use it, start low (1/8

cap) and build up, as some people don't tolerate it and things can

get a bit rocky, especially if the adrenal fatigue is severe. My son

now gets 625 mg spread throughout the day, all by suppertime. I

sometimes go as high as 750 mgs. My older son no longer takes it.

Along with the ACE one should increase B vitamins and Vitamin C, and

try to dose these at least 3 or 4 times during the day. We dosed

even more often when chelating (as it was easy to do and really

seemed to help), but now dose only 4 times a day. I think the

amounts of B necessary are somewhat individual. My youngest son, for

example, needs very large doses of B2 in order to function well.

People who have thyroid problems as well need to support the

adrenals. From what I've read, people who support the thyroid but

don't first help the adrenals often have lots of trouble.

There is certainly much more information about adrenal support out

there. This is my understanding and what worked for us.

Anita