Re: Vitamin E Oil Update/Our Vit E Blood Tests

[Guest guest]

I don't regularly post here anymore, but saw this thread and thought I'd share

our Vit E blood test results from last December. My son (now 5) has moderate

oral apraxia/moderate verbal apraxia. He also had gut issues, mild truncal

hypotonia, and some mild sensory issues. We started fish oil (Pro EFA) at 22

months and raised to 2 capsules at @ 28 months. Just before my son turned 3 we

added Vit E. This was a mixed tocopherol vitamins with 400IU d-alpha and 200mg

gamma + some beta/delta tocopheral. We got immediate results-both negative

(hyperness which lasted about 3 days and brattiness which lasted about 3 weeks)

and positive-huge jumps in language (not speech) and imaginative play.

We remained on this dosage until right after our blood tests in December 08

(we'd been on Vit E for almost 2 years at this point).

When we tested Vit E, we found that my son was just over the top of the

reference range (by .1) for d-alpha and just under (by .1)the reference range

for gamma. Obviously, my son really needed the extra Vit E. What we've done is

stayed with the same vitamin for weekdays and for weekends are giving him a Vit

E with 50IU d-alpha and 300mg gamma in order to decrease the alpha and increase

the gamma (Gamma E by Jarrow).

We've also done stuff for gut issues (digestive enzymes, probiotics,

anti-fungals, zinc, magnesium), and have added a good multi vitamin & multi

mineral as well. Whether or not these have helped his speech, I couldn't say,

although dealing with gut issues really helped with attention, focus, and

behavior. However, my son graduated from speech therapy at age 4 and is 99%

recovered as long as we stay on his supps. Our only lingering issue is an

ocassional stammer during spontaneous speech...usually telling a story. It

seems to slowly be improving so we'll see how it goes.

Hope that helps.

>

>

>

> Thanks - that makes sense to me, unless I see some really concrete and

> disturbing difference (which I understand some people may and do see which

> is why these are all case by case, and I respect that) we will be staying

> off - what I do tend to see is a slightly more unregulated behavior - -one

> becomes weepy and extra sensitive, can get angry and upset more easily too,

> (and this is stuff that is reported by the teacher too who doesn't know

> about any of this - also, this is not small issue for him, up until last

> year this would lead to up to 2 hour meltdowns regularly and it wasn't clear

> whether he would be able to remain in his school, now they have completely

> disappeared) but its not unmanageable, and the other becomes more

> rambunctious in ways that sometimes are not helpful to him socially, he just

> overdoes things, too loud, too much, etc. but again manageable and I think

> they can both develop strategies to deal with that. Interestingly when they

> are off fish oil (as the older one was for a few days because his school

> went to camp on a 3 day trip) it subsides. So something about the fish oil

> seems to deregulate them, but it helps their speech, organizational

> abilities and focus so much that it outweighs the downsides. I also read

> elsewhere that other people had this experience when they started the fish

> oil but it subsided after a few weeks. When I first started my son on fish

> oil (the older one) it actually didn't deregulate him, it just improved his

> speech and focus. It was only after about a year on the fish oil that the

> other behavior came up, and then I saw the vitamin e posts, and it seemed to

> help him regulate back down a notch. Not perfectly mind you - but he's

> always had some regulation issues anyway - pre fish oil - they just didn't

> manifest the same way as they do now. So I hope that all makes sense - I

> also think there are strategies they can use at this age (7 and 9) to help

> regulate themselves as well. But if others have low or no risk

> interventions viz this regulatory stuff, I'd love to know what they are!

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi there. I would like to know who tested your child for the vitamin e levels.

And when you say gut issues do you mean reflux? Did you do cleansing or just

added supplements. Did you also do any special diets? I'm sorry to be asking you

all these questions but my almost 3 year old daughter souds very much like your

son. Do you think I could email you privatley or call you?

-------------- Original message from " epoxycozy " <epoxycozy@...>:

--------------

I don't regularly post here anymore, but saw this thread and thought I'd share

our Vit E blood test results from last December. My son (now 5) has moderate

oral apraxia/moderate verbal apraxia. He also had gut issues, mild truncal

hypotonia, and some mild sensory issues. We started fish oil (Pro EFA) at 22

months and raised to 2 capsules at @ 28 months. Just before my son turned 3 we

added Vit E. This was a mixed tocopherol vitamins with 400IU d-alpha and 200mg

gamma + some beta/delta tocopheral. We got immediate results-both negative

(hyperness which lasted about 3 days and brattiness which lasted about 3 weeks)

and positive-huge jumps in language (not speech) and imaginative play.

We remained on this dosage until right after our blood tests in December 08

(we'd been on Vit E for almost 2 years at this point).

When we tested Vit E, we found that my son was just over the top of the

reference range (by .1) for d-alpha and just under (by .1)the reference range

for gamma. Obviously, my son really needed the extra Vit E. What we've done is

stayed with the same vitamin for weekdays and for weekends are giving him a Vit

E with 50IU d-alpha and 300mg gamma in order to decrease the alpha and increase

the gamma (Gamma E by Jarrow).

We've also done stuff for gut issues (digestive enzymes, probiotics,

anti-fungals, zinc, magnesium), and have added a good multi vitamin & multi

mineral as well. Whether or not these have helped his speech, I couldn't say,

although dealing with gut issues really helped with attention, focus, and

behavior. However, my son graduated from speech therapy at age 4 and is 99%

recovered as long as we stay on his supps. Our only lingering issue is an

ocassional stammer during spontaneous speech...usually telling a story. It seems

to slowly be improving so we'll see how it goes.

Hope that helps.

>

>

>

> Thanks - that makes sense to me, unless I see some really concrete and

> disturbing difference (which I understand some people may and do see which

> is why these are all case by case, and I respect that) we will be staying

> off - what I do tend to see is a slightly more unregulated behavior - -one

> becomes weepy and extra sensitive, can get angry and upset more easily too,

> (and this is stuff that is reported by the teacher too who doesn't know

> about any of this - also, this is not small issue for him, up until last

> year this would lead to up to 2 hour meltdowns regularly and it wasn't clear

> whether he would be able to remain in his school, now they have completely

> disappeared) but its not unmanageable, and the other becomes more

> rambunctious in ways that sometimes are not helpful to him socially, he just

> overdoes things, too loud, too much, etc. but again manageable and I think

> they can both develop strategies to deal with that. Interestingly when they

> are off fish oil (as the older one was for a few days because his school

> went to camp on a 3 day trip) it subsides. So something about the fish oil

> seems to deregulate them, but it helps their speech, organizational

> abilities and focus so much that it outweighs the downsides. I also read

> elsewhere that other people had this experience when they started the fish

> oil but it subsided after a few weeks. When I first started my son on fish

> oil (the older one) it actually didn't deregulate him, it just improved his

> speech and focus. It was only after about a year on the fish oil that the

> other behavior came up, and then I saw the vitamin e posts, and it seemed to

> help him regulate back down a notch. Not perfectly mind you - but he's

> always had some regulation issues anyway - pre fish oil - they just didn't

> manifest the same way as they do now. So I hope that all makes sense - I

> also think there are strategies they can use at this age (7 and 9) to help

> regulate themselves as well. But if others have low or no risk

> interventions viz this regulatory stuff, I'd love to know what they are!

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Tara,

Vitamin E levels were tested by blood test ordered by our doctor. We actually

tested all the fat soluble vitamins (ADEK) at the same time. The blood test was

done by Quest Diagnostics and was covered by our insurance (in-network!)

Our gut issues were on the other end.:-) We had loose,stinky poop 2-3 times/day

starting at about age 2. My son had both bad bacteria issues and yeast issues

as well as issues with digestion (He often had identifiable food in his

stool-not just corn either) and was skinny. We treated the yeast with

probiotics (started with plain yogurt and then added Jarrow probiotics later)

and then added Candidase which breaks down the yeast to help the body to get rid

of it. We also added digestive enzymes (by Houston Neutriceutialcs sp?) to help

with digestion. We didn't do any clean-outs as he wasn't constipated at all. A

note on treating yeast...within 1 week of starting to deal with my son's yeast

issues, both his SLP and his OT asked me if I was doing something different.

They commented on my son's significant increase in focus and attention span.

We didn't do any special diets except for avoiding peanuts (allergic!) and

low-sugar diet to help with yeast. We do eat mostly organic, limit artificial

ingredients, etc.

You can e-mail me privately if you like.

> >

> >

> >

> > Thanks - that makes sense to me, unless I see some really concrete and

> > disturbing difference (which I understand some people may and do see which

> > is why these are all case by case, and I respect that) we will be staying

> > off - what I do tend to see is a slightly more unregulated behavior - -one

> > becomes weepy and extra sensitive, can get angry and upset more easily too,

> > (and this is stuff that is reported by the teacher too who doesn't know

> > about any of this - also, this is not small issue for him, up until last

> > year this would lead to up to 2 hour meltdowns regularly and it wasn't clear

> > whether he would be able to remain in his school, now they have completely

> > disappeared) but its not unmanageable, and the other becomes more

> > rambunctious in ways that sometimes are not helpful to him socially, he just

> > overdoes things, too loud, too much, etc. but again manageable and I think

> > they can both develop strategies to deal with that. Interestingly when they

> > are off fish oil (as the older one was for a few days because his school

> > went to camp on a 3 day trip) it subsides. So something about the fish oil

> > seems to deregulate them, but it helps their speech, organizational

> > abilities and focus so much that it outweighs the downsides. I also read

> > elsewhere that other people had this experience when they started the fish

> > oil but it subsided after a few weeks. When I first started my son on fish

> > oil (the older one) it actually didn't deregulate him, it just improved his

> > speech and focus. It was only after about a year on the fish oil that the

> > other behavior came up, and then I saw the vitamin e posts, and it seemed to

> > help him regulate back down a notch. Not perfectly mind you - but he's

> > always had some regulation issues anyway - pre fish oil - they just didn't

> > manifest the same way as they do now. So I hope that all makes sense - I

> > also think there are strategies they can use at this age (7 and 9) to help

> > regulate themselves as well. But if others have low or no risk

> > interventions viz this regulatory stuff, I'd love to know what they are!

> >

> >

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

4000 (four thousand) IUs of vitamin e is far above upper tolerable levels for

any age. With all I know now even as an adult I wouldn't take over 400 (four

hundred) IUs if I even took some and even then not every day.

And for those in the normal range of taking supplements there is still learning

that any may be too much. " Too much of a good thing " from today's BBC News:

Too much of a good thing

Men who took vitamin C and E supplements showed no changes in their free radical

levels, whereas those who did not take these antioxidants showed increased

levels of free radical oxidative stress.

After four weeks of intensive exercise training, insulin sensitivity was

restored only in the group of men who did not take antioxidant supplements.

The men who took the vitamin supplements fared worse, metabolically.

Dr Aldred, a lecturer in exercise biochemistry at the School of Sport and

Exercise Sciences at the University of Birmingham, said: " It doesn't mean that

antioxidants like vitamin C and vitamin E are bad for us, it just means that

sometimes we need to consider whether taking supplements is actually beneficial.

" As this study shows it is not actually always the case. "

Dr beth Weichselbaum of the British Nutrition Foundation said:

" Antioxidants protect the cells in your body from damage and therefore help to

reduce the risk of certain diseases such as cancer.

" But you should not consume high doses on a regular basis as this can have

negative effects on your body.

" If you stick to a healthy and varied diet, you generally get enough of the

nutrients you need and you don't run the risk of consuming large amounts that

may be harmful for you. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8043456.stm

=====

[Guest guest]

,

I'm not sure if you are replying to my post or not, but to clarify, we were

giving 400 IU d-alpha (not 4000)/day + 200mg gamma. With our changes after

testing, we are now averaging 300 IU d-alpha/day and 228mg gamma/day. We've

never gone higher than that.

>

> 4000 (four thousand) IUs of vitamin e is far above upper tolerable levels for

any age. With all I know now even as an adult I wouldn't take over 400 (four

hundred) IUs if I even took some and even then not every day.

>

> And for those in the normal range of taking supplements there is still

learning that any may be too much. " Too much of a good thing " from today's BBC

News:

>

> Too much of a good thing

>

> Men who took vitamin C and E supplements showed no changes in their free

radical levels, whereas those who did not take these antioxidants showed

increased levels of free radical oxidative stress.

>

> After four weeks of intensive exercise training, insulin sensitivity was

restored only in the group of men who did not take antioxidant supplements.

>

> The men who took the vitamin supplements fared worse, metabolically.

>

> Dr Aldred, a lecturer in exercise biochemistry at the School of Sport

and Exercise Sciences at the University of Birmingham, said: " It doesn't mean

that antioxidants like vitamin C and vitamin E are bad for us, it just means

that sometimes we need to consider whether taking supplements is actually

beneficial.

>

> " As this study shows it is not actually always the case. "

>

> Dr beth Weichselbaum of the British Nutrition Foundation said:

" Antioxidants protect the cells in your body from damage and therefore help to

reduce the risk of certain diseases such as cancer.

>

> " But you should not consume high doses on a regular basis as this can have

negative effects on your body.

>

> " If you stick to a healthy and varied diet, you generally get enough of the

nutrients you need and you don't run the risk of consuming large amounts that

may be harmful for you. "

> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8043456.stm

>

> =====

>