The Results
In a nutshell, what came out of the tests was: -
1. Bright Eyes is low in zinc and high in copper. The normal body ratio is 1:1. His is 2:7. This stops his brain working properly, and has an impact on his gut as well.
2. He has parasites in his gut, which means his digestion doesn't work properly, which also affects the brain.
Look, there are heaps of big words like undermethylation, gut dysbiosis, pyrolureiria that our doctor likes to use, and I'm sure he understands them properly. I actually do understand them when I read the literature, but I'll be blowed if I can report it back so that anyone else can understand it too.
I like to know what I can do about it all. So here's my list of things we have to do for him.
1. Gluten-free and casein (milk protein) -free diet. (His faulty gut wall can't digest these proteins and they end up floating around the body, acting like morphine. So the poor little fellow was continually drugged out by the very food he was eating.)
2. Digestive enzymes with every meal. These assist in digestion and help the nutrients in the food to be broken down and absorbed properly.
3. A completely foul mega multivitamin dose every day. It's mixed up specially to increase zinc uptake. (Apparently it's not as simple as just giving zinc drops every day.) This is a nightmare to give him. He won't swallow a capsule and the stuff tastes worse than bile. I have to mix it in a masking fluid and then try to hide that in vegemite, tomato sauce and juice throughout the day. Even then, he doesn't get the full dose.
4. More Omega-6 oils. Thankfully these work through the skin. Trying to get more medicine into his mouth would be a disaster. Every night I rub the oil from two evening primrose capsules into his body.
5. Avoid high copper foods (mushrooms, dried fruits with sulphur, oysters). That's easy. He won't eat most of them anyway!
6. Avoid foods with artificial preservatives and colourings in them. Again, he can't eat most of these anyway because of the gluten and dairy.
7. Filter drinking water (too much copper in Sydney Water apparently), avoid long baths and no swimming in chlorinated pools. The copper can get in through the skin.
8. Increase his intake of proteins throughout the day. This is hard. He'll only eat ham or sausages (gluten free of course!).
It's a lot to do and it can get very wearing preparing his food and making sure he never sneaks doughnuts, like he tried to today! However, I know that the difference in him since we began all of this is incredible.
My doctor is part of the Mindd Foundation who are promoting this approach to treating autism, ADD, dyspraxia, dsylexia and other related conditions. If you are interested in knowing more about their medical approach, click here.