Wellness

Last week, we went back to the chiropractic internist who diagnosed Alex as having allergic shutdown earlier in the summer. At that time, he ran some blood tests and offered several suggestions for helping Alex cope with the apparent inflammation that was making him irritable and lethargic. He offered a detailed plan of various nutritional supplements; however, having monitored Alex’s interventions carefully throughout the years, I knew that we could only do one new thing at a time. In order to see what effects—both positive and negative—each new supplement provides, we always introduce them gradually and individually. For example, we have given Alex some supplements, especially fish oils, that have made him hyper, “bouncing off the walls” during the day and unable to sleep at night. Since we knew those supplements were the only thing different, we could feel certain that the new addition was the culprit, and we immediately removed the cause of his negative behavior changes. By contrast, if we saw improvements when we introduced a new supplement, we could feel hopeful that we had found something helpful to him.

After studying the comprehensive notebook the chiropractic internist provided in May, I determined what needed to be addressed first for Alex. Although food allergy testing revealed that Alex only had few sensitivities, we immediately removed those from his diet. Taking away those foods proved not difficult since they included less commonly eaten foods, such as chestnuts and lobster, but we had to take away olives and olive oil, which he did have in his diet regularly. After doing that, we put him back on crucial supplements he has been on for several years: Kirkman’s EveryDay multivitamin, calcium magnesium citramate, and probiotics. At the chiropractor’s suggestion, we had put him on a vitamin vacation, leaving Alex only on OTC lithium drops to regulate his mood, prescription Prozac for his OCD, and vitamin B-12 shots to detoxify his system and heal his nerves. By taking him off the other supplements, we realized that he no longer needed melatonin to sleep at night, nor did he need GABA to calm him during the day, which was a nice surprise. After re-introducing the old stand-by supplements, we added a new one on the recommendation list that contained bioflavonoids to address his allergies. Over several days, I very gradually increased the number of these tablets to the suggested dosage of four per day. We could tell that this supplement was helping Alex because he became more energetic and happier—more like his old self. The next suggested course of supplements was adding vitamin C to detoxify his system. Again, I added this over several days, increasing the dosage in gradual increments and monitoring any changes in Alex. Fortunately, he responded in a positive way to this addition, eating and sleeping well, and other than not talking, acting pretty much like himself. With these changes in place, we were ready to see the chiropractor again, pleased to report the improvements we’d seen, thanks to the supplements he’d recommended.

During the previous appointment with the doctor, Alex slumped in the chair, keeping his head down, and acting as though he could barely stay awake. This time, he happily skipped into the doctor’s office, smiled the entire time, and looked much healthier. Pleased by the changes, the doctor offered one suggestion to try to get Alex to start talking again: increase his multivitamin dosage while remaining at the same doses for all other supplements, which seemed to be helping, especially the combination of bioflavonoids and vitamin C that work together well. The next three days, we gave Alex an extra multivitamin and discovered this was not a good addition because he became agitated, easily angered at times, and silly at bedtime, giggling in his room about nothing. We took him off this extra vitamin, and he has stopped these negative behaviors. Sometimes it’s best to leave well enough alone. Although we hope he’ll start talking again soon, I think it’s just a matter of time, especially considering the improvements we’ve seen the past few months. He can talk, but for some reason, he’s just choosing not to speak. However, on my birthday, I had a nice surprise. As I lit the candles on my cake, Alex suddenly started singing “Happy Birthday” on his own without any prompting. That was the best present I received, for it reminded me that he is getting well, which has been what we have been praying for all along.

“Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well.” James 5:15