Help With Teenage Gut Issues

[Philomath]

Both my teenage daughters appear to have some sort of gut issues. My youngest is most obvious and need more immediate attention. Her "symptoms" include:
-Chronic constipation
-Red/dark circles under eyes
-chronic "dry" cough
-snapping/cracking joints
-some fat retention around belly

Is there anything else other than carrot salad (how much per day?), charcoal?
Is turpentine or tetracycline advisable?

My older has some constipation, hypothyroid symptoms, hashimoto's and ADHD

 

[thomas00]

You could try them on cyproheptadine. It can have excellent results for gut issues. A lot of the research on it's use for GI issues has been conducted on younger people. If you do a search on the forum you can find some of the relevant studies.

 

[Marcus1000]

I had very severe constipation IBS for 7 years (since age 14, after I took a course of antibiotics).
Had to use huge dose of laxatives every single day for 7 years straight. (had 0 chance of passing stools without and extremely painful cramps)
Eventually managed to cure it with daily 500 ml raw milk kefir daily + 30g L-Glutamine for about a week.
The raw milk kefir caused watery "stools", then the L-Glutamine stopped that. Have not had a single problem since (1.5 years so far, used the kefir and glutamine for a few weeks then stopped).

 

[raypeatclips]

I have started saying this recently but try carrot and mushrooms daily and see what happens. I'd personally try this before any drugs and supplements and you could start these right away instead while you are waiting for supplements in the mail or whatever.

I eat 1 raw carrot in between meals and around 150-200g mushrooms sometimes with meals sometimes on their own per day. I boil loads of diced mushrooms for 1+ hour then reheat for a couple of minutes in the microwave when i want to eat.

I was chronically constipated before i started this, having maybe 1 bowel movement a day, sometimes 1 bowel movement per 2 days. Now I'm guaranteed 1 but usually 2 per day both smooth and easy stools that require no effort to come out. Other digestive issues improved doing this as well.

 

[theLaw]

The obvious challenge here is getting a teenager to stick to a strict dietary protocol.

If I were in your situation I would do the following:

1. Make sure they understand how to avoid high-PUFA foods in general

2. Carrot salad each and every day (1-2 medium size carrots)

3. Make sure they keep their carb intake high with simple sugars

4. Add a few Idealabs vitamin sups to cover any missing nutrients (non-dmso)

5. Find a way for them to use a sauna each day (you can buy cheap home versions on ebay for less than $100)

6. Give them each a CO2 tank to use daily (link: Paging VOS- CO2 tank)

I know that the last two sound a bit strange, but as teenagers, this would probably be the easiest way for them to improve without making major dietary changes.

The sauna will deplete PUFA + raise metabolism briefly, and the CO2 will improve overall metabolic function.

Cheers!

 

[Footscray]

I have tried the carrot salad for a few years now with no noticeable difference. But for a little while now I've added some cooked mushrooms into my diet consistently and that has done wonders to my bowel movements. I've since tried to get them in to the family's cooking as a way to get my kids to eat some mushrooms eg. into curries or pasta sauces, I'm not the primary cook in the house so it's been a struggle thus far but worth a try.

 

[HLP]

If I were in your situation I would do the following:

1. Make sure they understand how to avoid high-PUFA foods in general

2. Carrot salad each and every day (1-2 medium size carrots)

3. Make sure they keep their carb intake high with simple sugars

4. Add a few Idealabs vitamin sups to cover any missing nutrients (non-dmso)

5. Find a way for them to use a sauna each day (you can buy cheap home versions on ebay for less than $100)

6. Give them each a CO2 tank to use daily (link: Paging VOS- CO2 tank)

I know that the last two sound a bit strange, but as teenagers, this would probably be the easiest way for them to improve without making major dietary changes.

The sauna will deplete PUFA + raise metabolism briefly, and the CO2 will improve overall metabolic function.

Cheers![/QUOTE]
How often and for how long to use this breathing contraption from the link in point #6??

 

[theLaw]

Use link in post for further explanation.......I think it's based on comfort (think moving to a higher altitude).

 

[HLP]

K, thanks. I already live at a very high altitude. I made the breathing "contraption" and find it fairly easy to use. Want to see if it helps constipation.

 

[theLaw]

K, thanks. I already live at a very high altitude. I made the breathing "contraption" and find it fairly easy to use. Want to see if it helps constipation.

If you already live at high altitude, then it sounds like a pure CO2 tank would be needed to see a difference.

Also, you might want to check out these threads :

The Only Hormone Or Anti-Oxidant You Actually Need

VoS uncoupling thread

Cheers!

 

[HLP]

My kids have some paint ball tanks. Will check it out. Thanks.

 

[PUFAfree]

Soak chia seeds in filtered water and eat this daily. that will help with the constipation. don't use tetracycline. get them to eat a 100% whole foods diet, eat carrots, and mushrooms are good too. Some raw milk from grass-fed cows will help. Take the raw milk, pour it in a jar and put a piece of paper towel over the jar with a rubber band. Let it sit for 1 - 2 days at room temp - then put a lid on the jar and put in fridge for a day (as it will taste better than warm) and consume. Add to cereal if you don't like the taste. Go gluten free, pasteurized dairy free, soy free, GMO free! FK GMO's and Monsatan! Make homemade sauerkraut. Eat figs (to feed good e coli, which is in the raw milk) And buy organic. I think things will improve on their own. not a doc, but that would be my suggestion based on what's helped me.

 

[raypeatclips]

@PUFAfree You do know chia seeds are very high in pufa?

 

[Richiebogie]

Both my teenage daughters appear to have some sort of gut issues. My youngest is most obvious and need more immediate attention.

Have you tried removing common problem foods?

Eg gluten (wheat and barley)?

Next thing to try would be removing all grains, beans, nuts and seeds.

If they are still having pain then remove pork and farm fed beef and lamb and ordinary milk.

Then you could remove tomato, eggplant, goji, peppers and white potato.

Finally remove other dairy, eggs, chicken, fish and seafood.

If you get rid of all that then you will need to feed them several kilograms of fruit with some coconut, gelatine and sucrose based drinks. Sweet potato may be well tolerated too.

It may take anywhere from a few hours to several weeks to feel the benefits, but once they are feeling better, they can experiment on themselves one food at a time to find what causes issues and what doesn't.

 

[PUFAfree]

i'm no longer pufafree .. should change my SN.. i'm just eating what makes me feel good.

 

[Philomath]

Both daughters are already on low dose doxycycline for acne. I will start the carrots and maybe cascara to work the intestinal bacteria angle. After that, maybe a cypro trial. Cypoheptadine made me very tired, perhaps Idealabs has a good alternative. thanks everyone

 

[EIRE24]

Both daughters are already on low dose doxycycline for acne. I will start the carrots and maybe cascara to work the intestinal bacteria angle. After that, maybe a cypro trial. Cypoheptadine made me very tired, perhaps Idealabs has a good alternative. thanks everyone

Does the doxycycline make a huge difference? Have they tried large amount of vitamin A?

 

[Philomath]

It dos make a noticeable difference on their acne. They both press me for refills when they run out. Of course, the dermatologist "prefers" to get them off antibiotics and on to other drugs like retain A. I think they could benefit from vitamin a but I think they need large doses and I'm trying to find a good source.

 

[Motif]

Both my teenage daughters appear to have some sort of gut issues. My youngest is most obvious and need more immediate attention. Her "symptoms" include:
-Chronic constipation
-Red/dark circles under eyes
-chronic "dry" cough
-snapping/cracking joints
-some fat retention around belly

Is there anything else other than carrot salad (how much per day?), charcoal?
Is turpentine or tetracycline advisable?

My older has some constipation, hypothyroid symptoms, hashimoto's and ADHD

Did you find something that helped ?

 

[Philomath]

I have started saying this recently but try carrot and mushrooms daily and see what happens. I'd personally try this before any drugs and supplements and you could start these right away instead while you are waiting for supplements in the mail or whatever.

I eat 1 raw carrot in between meals and around 150-200g mushrooms sometimes with meals sometimes on their own per day. I boil loads of diced mushrooms for 1+ hour then reheat for a couple of minutes in the microwave when i want to eat.

I was chronically constipated before i started this, having maybe 1 bowel movement a day, sometimes 1 bowel movement per 2 days. Now I'm guaranteed 1 but usually 2 per day both smooth and easy stools that require no effort to come out. Other digestive issues improved doing this as well.

Thanks raypeatclips. A couple questions: do you eat just carrots or so you make the “salad” and what type of mushrooms do you eat?