Help For My 10 Yr Old Daughter Please!

[Jill]

Hi all-- first let me thank you all for having this site. I'm so grateful all the knowledge.

I'm desperate to get help for my daughter who just turned 10. She's had digestive issues her whole life and has been through many tests by allergists, gastroentologists, hepotogists, etc. Except for some food sensitivities, nothing has ever come back abnormal.

In the past 3 years she's gained a considerable amount of weight and her abdomen is pretty large even though she hasn't really changed her eating habits! She eats a wide variety of foods, very little processed and grains (she just prefers other things).

She's always had trouble with digestive and constipation, but just yesterday she was crying and immobile with pain. I thought it may have been something she ate so I gave her activated charcoal and Benadryl in case it was an allergic reaction.

I'm keeping track of everything she's eating today and it happened again. She's in severe abdominal pain. Nothing she ate was out of the ordinary for her. I just don't know what to do. My poor baby girl is suffering and I have not been able to help her after all these years.

If anyone has advice of what I can do, where I can go, etc. . . I would be ever so grateful.

Thank you,
Jill

 

[Sucrates]

You might want to think about getting her checked out for appendicitis short term.
Activated charcoal slows transit, in general could be a problem in the context of constipation. I'd be thinking of slowly adding coffee with food in the AM, maybe a magnesium supplement and aged cascara sagrada, fruit at night.

 

[theLaw]

Please be advised that the following is just my opinion based on my experience with digestive issues. There are senior members here with much more knowledge and experience:

1. Remove Starch - Starch can feed harmful gut bacteria, and cause some pretty nasty symptoms in the short term.

2. Potato Juice - Peat has mentioned this many times for those with digestive issues

https://raypeatforum.com/community/threads/how-do-you-make-potato-juice.16247/#post-221129

3. Carrot Salad + Low-dose Antibiotics

4. Activated Charcoal (already mentioned by the op here) is great for cleaning out the gut, but can slow digestion to a crawl in the short term

5. Focus on Easily Digestible Foods - This might sound obvious, but sometimes people forget that perfect can be the enemy of good.

Best of luck to you!

 

[Jill]

You might want to think about getting her checked out for appendicitis short term.
Activated charcoal slows transit, in general could be a problem in the context of constipation. I'd be thinking of slowly adding coffee with food in the AM, maybe a magnesium supplement and aged cascara sagrada, fruit at night.

Thank you, Sucrates! Ok I'll definitely have her checked for appendicitis and we'll start having morning coffee together. The magnesium I have is glycinate in huge tablet form. She takes it when she can but sometimes they're just too big. Would you recommend powder? And aged cascara sagrada? (Don't have this). She loves fruit so we'll do that at night too. Thank you!

 

[ecstatichamster]

I would suspect histamine sensitivity. At least try low histamine foods.

 

[encerent]

Give cyproheptadine a try? Penecillin VK or lidocain could be tried too.

Magnesium supps can be very irritating.

 

[Sucrates]

Thank you, Sucrates! Ok I'll definitely have her checked for appendicitis and we'll start having morning coffee together. The magnesium I have is glycinate in huge tablet form. She takes it when she can but sometimes they're just too big. Would you recommend powder? And aged cascara sagrada? (Don't have this). She loves fruit so we'll do that at night too. Thank you!

Glycinate is my favourite form, but it's the least stimulating to the bowel. Mega mag or remag are more stimulating. I think Ray has said carbonate is the best form, not sure how it interacts with the gut. Citrate is stimulating but there may be problems with it.

Cascara sagrada is a plant product used to increase peristalsis among other things, needs to be aged properly. I think the Herb Drs that do the radio show with Dr Peat sell it in the US, or healthnatura.

 

[Jill]

Please be advised that the following is just my opinion based on my experience with digestive issues. There are senior members here with much more knowledge and experience:

1. Remove Starch - Starch can feed harmful gut bacteria, and cause some pretty nasty symptoms in the short term.

2. Potato Juice - Peat has mentioned this many times for those with digestive issues

How Do You Make Potato Juice

3. Carrot Salad + Low-dose Antibiotics

4. Activated Charcoal (already mentioned by the op here) is great for cleaning out the gut, but can slow digestion to a crawl in the short term

5. Focus on Easily Digestible Foods - This might sound obvious, but sometimes people forget that perfect can be the enemy of good.

Best of luck to you!

Thanks, theLaw! Ok, so remove starch - should be relatively easy except for potatoes. She loves potatoes. Never did try potato juice but I will. Ha - easily digestible foods isn't that obvious for me - I had to look it up! I saw kimchi, sauerkraut, yogurt, eggs. . . All of which she eats lots of! Is this accurate?
Thanks again for your help!

 

[Jill]

I would suspect histamine sensitivity. At least try low histamine foods.

That's what I thought too! Even looked into Mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) because it sounded so similar. Couldn't find anything from Ray Peat on the subject, have you?

 

[Jill]

Give cyproheptadine a try? Penecillin VK or lidocain could be tried too.

Magnesium supps can be very irritating.

Thank you! No I've never tried cyproheptadine- could recommend a good source? She has a reaction to penicillin, but lidocain? Forgive my ignorance, is this the same as the numbing agent?

 

[Jill]

Glycinate is my favourite form, but it's the least stimulating to the bowel. Mega mag or remag are more stimulating. I think Ray has said carbonate is the best form, not sure how it interacts with the gut. Citrate is stimulating but there may be problems with it.

Cascara sagrada is a plant product used to increase peristalsis among other things, needs to be aged properly. I think the Herb Drs that do the radio show with Dr Peat sell it in the US, or healthnatura.

Oh ok well we'll experiment with different forms of mag. And I'll definitely look into the cascara sagrada. Thank you!

 

[Sucrates]

That's what I thought too! Even looked into Mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) because it sounded so similar. Couldn't find anything from Ray Peat on the subject, have you?

PUFA, particularly AA and LA, along with estrogen, are very common factors in mast cell activation. Nitric oxide and serotonin tend to track with it too. Thyroid balance in opposition. A lot of Rays work is along those lines even if not specified. Progesterone is one thing that can be very effective.

 

[Lecarpetron]

In Peatland, "easily digestible" = simple sugars. Think sugared milk (like homemade hot chocolate), strained oj. Eggs ok, yogurt if it's strained (so real Greek yogurt, not the kind thickened with pectin). Haribo gummy bears, coke, cottage cheese with honey are all good to try.

If you do keep starch, try white rice, mashed potatoes, and Italian pasta (it won't have added iron).

As a former kid with horrible digestion, I beg of you...whatever you do, forget eating "healthy" for a while. She needs to digest calories, any calories, as a much higher priority than whatever micronutrients would come from kimchi.

 

[theLaw]

Thanks, theLaw! Ok, so remove starch - should be relatively easy except for potatoes. She loves potatoes. Never did try potato juice but I will. Ha - easily digestible foods isn't that obvious for me - I had to look it up! I saw kimchi, sauerkraut, yogurt, eggs. . . All of which she eats lots of! Is this accurate?
Thanks again for your help!

Just remember, when it comes to digestive issues...followed by the phrase "she loves starch", you might need to consider that they could be causing those issues, and how much pain you guys are willing to endure for the sake of mashed-potatoes.

The fastest way to diagnose the problem is through basic experimentation. You would be shocked by how many members here have issues for years because they failed to do some simple tests by adding and removing foods from the diet.

Having said that, if you read or listen to any of Ray Peat direct advice to people, he's never a food-nazi, and frequently suggests non-Peat foods in small doses to improve health.

 

[redlight]

be very careful taking asvice from strangers to treat an innocent child who is not well

 

[redlight]

Your better off seeking a functional medicine doctor Institute for Functional Medicine

 

[Jill]

In Peatland, "easily digestible" = simple sugars. Think sugared milk (like homemade hot chocolate), strained oj. Eggs ok, yogurt if it's strained (so real Greek yogurt, not the kind thickened with pectin). Haribo gummy bears, coke, cottage cheese with honey are all good to try.

If you do keep starch, try white rice, mashed potatoes, and Italian pasta (it won't have added iron).

As a former kid with horrible digestion, I beg of you...whatever you do, forget eating "healthy" for a while. She needs to digest calories, any calories, as a much higher priority than whatever micronutrients would come from kimchi.

Lecarpetron, I'm so glad you said that! I totally agree with you. Even in my insane Paleo days, I have never forced or restricted food of any kind when it came to my kids. We unschool (my 3 kids) and they have grown up eating intuitively- what they want, when they want (certainly didn't want to pass on MY food issues!) and that may mean ice cream all day or kimchi and rice. So I assure you that kimchi is all her choice! Ironically, my daughter eats the most "healthy" and has the most problems.

Do you know why you had terrible digestion as a kid? I know Peat is big on stress and it's affects, but since she doesn't have any pressures at home, I'm wondering if I'm missing something. . .

 

[Jill]

Just remember, when it comes to digestive issues...followed by the phrase "she loves starch", you might need to consider that they could be causing those issues, and how much pain you guys are willing to endure for the sake of mashed-potatoes.

The fastest way to diagnose the problem is through basic experimentation. You would be shocked by how many members here have issues for years because they failed to do some simple tests by adding and removing foods from the diet.

Having said that, if you read or listen to any of Ray Peat direct advice to people, he's never a food-nazi, and frequently suggests non-Peat foods in small doses to improve health.

Right! It's been a while since we've been more conscious of adding/removing foods; I'll try this again without getting too crazy!

 

[Jill]

be very careful taking asvice from strangers to treat an innocent child who is not well

True and I appreciate that! Unfortunately all these specialtists never seem to help or get to the root of these issues as all her labs come back "normal". I'll be asking her doctor about the antibiotics, but mag supplements and removing/adding certain foods is something I can do now.

 

[Jill]

PUFA, particularly AA and LA, along with estrogen, are very common factors in mast cell activation. Nitric oxide and serotonin tend to track with it too. Thyroid balance in opposition. A lot of Rays work is along those lines even if not specified. Progesterone is one thing that can be very effective.

Thanks for the links!