child turning yellow on small amounts betacarotene

[Guest guest]

,

I just saw this and as I have dealt with this very issue, I am replying and

have not seen what anyone else has written.

My 18 yo, severe autism, low-functioning, non-verbal son has done exactly the

same thing. The doctor wouldn't do anything at first. He just assumed

was eating a lot of betacarotene. Of course, he was eating SOME more, because

we had taken grains out of his diet and I was giving him NuThera, which I quit

giving to decrease the yellowness. Finally, I came across an article that said

the yellow skin when eating betacarotene could be low thyroid.

Long story short: he finally was started on Armour thyroid. He was on it for

several years and then I dropped it and we quit the gfcf diet. It seems that

when he was on grains, the grains must have absorbed the betacarotene, because

the yellow did not show up for several years. When we started the SCD in

September, it began again. We now have a DAN! doctor who knows how to use the

Armour thyroid, and how to read the lab results correctly while using Armour

thyroid.

The DAN! dr. explained that the synthetic thyroid just gives more of the T4

(or T3--I can't remember exactly). However, the active form is the T3 (or T4)

and if the person has a problem in the pathway that converts the T4 to T3 (or

vice versa) then by giving more of what the person still cannot use, will not

help. However, the Armour thyroid has both T3 and T4. We will see if and hope

that the Armour will work. We may have to go to a synthetic T3 (or T4).

We started the Armour slowly and have slowly increased it and it is taking 120

mg. to get his thyroid stable, and frankly, I am not sure that we are there yet.

He has had several days of normal (trophy) stools, but we haven't had very many

days even yet.

So far, we have not had good luck in getting the run of the mill M.D. to

understand about all this. 's thyroid tests were not that bad.

For what this is worth.....

, mom to , SCD since September, 2006

Increasing vegetables/fiber without turning yellow or orange

Posted by: " Kalb " rcadiay@... rcadiay

Date: Mon Jan 8, 2007 7:46 am ((PST))

My 8-year-old ASD son doesn't eat very many

vegetables, but the ones he does eat are red, yellow

or orange (he won't touch any of the green ones), so

it doesn't take much (two servings per day) for him to

turn yellow or orangish-yellow. From this I infer that

he has a buildup of beta carotene or something like it

in his system. I heard of a guy who drank a high

amount (quarts or gallons?) of carrot juice a day and

turned orange, but my son's consumption of carrots,

squash and tomatoes is not as high as that. So I'm

wondering:

1. Is there something he can take to help him

metabolize the vegetables or the beta-carotene or

whatever to keep his skin a more normal color?

2. How can I increase his consumption of green

vegetables and fiber on SCD? He is very picky and

also texture-sensitive (prefers purees) and very alert

to small changes in color, smell and taste. He is

borderline overweight and I think he needs to eat more

vegetables (unlike me and most people he is actually

GAINING weight--but not height, alas--on SCD, I think

because so much of his diet is fat--he won't eat meat

and we cut out the whole grains he used to eat before

SCD, so he gets his protein from high-fat sources like

cheese, yogurt and peanut butter, and gets less fiber

without the whole grains) but he will turn orange if

he eats more of the sort he's already eating. He has

rejected the few egg-free nut flour items I have made,

and I won't be able to make any more for a while

because my oven is broken in a way that is very

expensive to fix (basically needs to be replaced).

3. What can I do to help a child stop gaining weight

on SCD?

4. I know that the tomato is botanically a fruit, but

from a dietary standoint, do tomatoes count as fruits

or vegetables?

Thank you for any advice,

mother of Adam (8, PDD-NOS, Lyme, asthma, egg allergy,

SCD 7/06)

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