Our next issues to deal with: zinc and poo

We go to see our very open-minded, out-of-the-box GP a few times a year. She treats Bright Eyes and his brother (and has seen his sister) looking at their learning issues, moods and auditory processing problems. 

This week we went back after a few months and I was a bit dismayed to see that the two major issues we've had for the last few years are STILL the major issues.

First, and not to put too fine a point on it, the child (and his brother) has crap in his guts. Yes. Crap. 'Severe to moderate faecal loading' is the nicey-nicey doctor speak for it. But it comes down to stuck poo clogging up his plumbing. (FYI, if you get an abdominal x-ray done for your child, you will be able to see the offending faeces. It looks white and innocently fluffy.)

This is not a good thing. Faecal loading puts toxic rubbish into his body. It's basically like having a whole load of poison just sitting there oozing away. And so we have to get it cleared out. Which is easier said that done. I've spent the last year feeding him stool softeners like Osmolax and dosing him up with Dulcolax every month or so to try to get it out. 

Basically, we have to redouble our efforts. And she's going to treat them both for mitochondrial dysfunction which can (apparently) make the bowel slow, thus leading to all this clogging up. I also might be researching miracle cures for faecal loading... who knows if there's a magic bullet out there or not...

The second major issue is that Bright Eyes STILL has a zinc deficiency. His copper/zinc ratios are still out of whack. High copper and low zinc leads to aggression and irritability amongst other things. (I will be the first to tell you that aggression and irritability are Bright Eyes' major issues of life.) Low zinc is also very likely the reason his younger brother is very nearly outstripping him in height. Bright Eyes has become one of the shortest kids in his class this year. 

I have known this is a problem and I have known he needs to have more zinc but unfortunately zinc is one of those supplements that can give you nausea. Unless you take it with a big, protein-filled meal, you're likely to vomit it back up. As we all know, Bright Eyes is not a good eater, and he has had many, many zinc-vomiting episodes as a result.

I was in a spin about this recently. Just didn't know what to do. And then it occurred to me: maybe you could get 'slow-release' zinc. It turns out there is ONE brand of slow release zinc on the market in the entire world. And of course, it's only available from the US. But I have ordered it, and we will be trying it soon. I SO DESPERATELY hope Bright Eyes can tolerate it because otherwise I'm not sure what else we can do. 

IF we can get the zinc and the faecal loading sorted out in the next three months, I really hope that I'll have a much calmer, more amenable child on my hands. And we may be able to work on some of the other, less urgent issues in the year remaining before our much-loved doctor retires and leaves us on our own... Aaagh.