RE: reaction to beta carotene in O.J. ?

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

We have somewhat of a mystery going on here .Our son has had episodes off

and on where his skin turns orange (soles of feet, hands, knees, elbows and

face). His eyes stay white and clear as does his mouth remain pink, so it's

not jaundice but seem to be a reaction to beta carotene in his Tropicana

Healthy Kids O.J. ( NO more of this for him). At the same time that his

skin color changes he has vocal stims and totally " off " behaviors. Very

autistic looking, yet we never see it at other times.

He eats no veggies so it's not that, his labs do not show liver problems and

what's amazing is that when we give him ,activated charcoal, he recovers

within 24 hours.( Toxin ??) He was hospitalized for this in the fall because

school called and reported a mental status change as well as what looked

like jaundice to them.

Ths E.R. docs were confused and referred him to his neurosurgeon to check

his intercranial pressure for the mental status changes.( he is post-op 4

neurosurgeries for Chiari Malformation surgeries with complications) His

pressure was fine and he was referred to a geneticist for yet another

work-up. All tests were normal.

Has anyone heard of a child reacting this way to beta carotene, and are

there any tests that can be run to check for a metabolic disorder?

Thanks and take good care,

[Guest guest]

It's easy to measure carotene on a blood sample. That might be a good

place to start. Some children seem to accumulate it easier than others.

Aside from hypothyroidism, I'm not sure of other predisposing factors for

accumulation. BUT, on thinking about it, I believe it can occur in some

forms of porphyria. As there are some suggestions of impaired porphyrin

metabolism in autism (as a sign of oxidative stress), maybe there's a

connection. It's definitely worth some investigating.

S G Kahler

On Thu, 15 Jun 2006 08:38:04 -0500, LINDA ANAGNOSTAKOS <lsa5885@...>

wrote:

> Hi all,

>

> We have somewhat of a mystery going on here .Our son has had episodes off

> and on where his skin turns orange (soles of feet, hands, knees, elbows

> and

> face). His eyes stay white and clear as does his mouth remain pink, so

> it's

> not jaundice but seem to be a reaction to beta carotene in his Tropicana

> Healthy Kids O.J. ( NO more of this for him). At the same time that his

> skin color changes he has vocal stims and totally " off " behaviors. Very

> autistic looking, yet we never see it at other times.

>

> He eats no veggies so it's not that, his labs do not show liver problems

> and

> what's amazing is that when we give him ,activated charcoal, he recovers

> within 24 hours.( Toxin ??) He was hospitalized for this in the fall

> because

> school called and reported a mental status change as well as what looked

> like jaundice to them.

>

> Ths E.R. docs were confused and referred him to his neurosurgeon to check

> his intercranial pressure for the mental status changes.( he is post-op 4

> neurosurgeries for Chiari Malformation surgeries with complications) His

> pressure was fine and he was referred to a geneticist for yet another

> work-up. All tests were normal.

>

> Has anyone heard of a child reacting this way to beta carotene, and are

> there any tests that can be run to check for a metabolic disorder?

>

> Thanks and take good care,

>

>

>

>