I took kiddo back to see our doc who is helping us with supplementation that will help the kiddo's apraxia. I posted before about the supplements he recommended for kiddo in Phase I of our biomed journey, and also how he took blood so we could figure out what he is deficient in and supplement those areas. From all my research, children with apraxia tend to have severe deficiencies in 5-10 areas, usually zinc, iron, omega-3s, B vitamins, magnesium, carnitine, and Vitamins B, D and E, and he said that Phase II of our biomed journey would be to start supplementing specifically in the areas he is deficient in, or increasing the supplement if we were already giving it to him.
So, I went in to the appointment, expecting a laundry list of deficiencies and the supplements I needed to add to our daily regimen of supplements he is already on. But...
His blood work revealed he was within normal range for every area! Seriously. The only one the doc noticed was low, but still within normal range, was carnitine, which we have been supplementing. But, everything was within normal range!! Which means, no need to add anything else, his body is absorbing nutrients properly, unlike a lot of children with apraxia and autism.
While that was awesome to hear, I must admit it was also a little disappointing. I was expecting something else we could give kiddo that could possibly help him continue to make progress. The doc then suggested we add more carnitine. I'm giving him 600 mg of Acetyl L Carnitine daily, and the doc said we could bump that up to 1,000. He agreed with me from my report of kiddos' progress, that it seems the carnitine is what he's responding to the most, and by increasing it, we may see even more progress, which would be awesome.
I told him about how the magnesium glycinate he recommended for kiddo was causing teeth grinding and so I discontinued giving it to him. He agreed that was the best thing, that there was no need to try it again, so that was a relief. The teeth grinding was not only annoying but very concerning for us. I spent hours researching each supplements' side effects, trying to figure out which supplement was causing it, and I spent a few weeks experimenting with dosages of the supplements he recommended for us until I figured out it was the magnesium. I'm glad that's behind us.
And I'm so grateful to know that I no longer need to research supplements, biomed, etc. Kiddo is where he needs to be nutritionally, and that takes one more thing off of my plate. What we are doing is working, and we just need to continue it. I can spend more time with both kiddos rather then researching supplements. Such a blessing and a relief.
Have I mentioned before how much I like this doc? He asked me to email him an update after a month of increasing his carnitine to let him know if it seems to be helping, and to feel free to email him any questions I may have. He admitted that he had no other suggestions for what we could do for kiddo, but that he'd like to see him again in a year, to do more blood work and just see if all his levels were still normal. That he expects to see lots of progress when he sees kiddo next time. A year folks. Originally, we were going to meet every two months. That's five less appointments I have to take kiddo to. 10 hours of driving time saved, time that could be spent with the kiddos at home or with a play group. Again, another blessing and a relief.
God is so very good. :)
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