The Nutritional Supplement

K was born healthy but started to develop frequent ear infections, severe infected eczema and projectile vomiting in the first few months of life. Blood tests did not show any allergies, food or otherwise. As he was being breastfed exclusively, his mother removed dairy from her diet with the aim of managing symptoms – which then improved from the age of 4 months. Dairy was slowly reintroduced at 10 months on the advice of a dietitian.

On his first birthday K contracted a virus which led to wheezing and difficulty breathing. He was admitted to hospital for the first of 40 times over the next 3 years – around 30 of the admissions being life threatening.

He was seen by a local specialist and then referred to a specialist respiratory hospital in the UK. The doctors gave him reflux medication and thickening product for liquids to try to manage the dysphagia. Parents were told it was very likely he wold develop asthma as he grew older due to the damage his lungs sustained from the infections.

At around 20 months he started to lose words and his attention became very poor. Each time he was admitted into hospital for viral induced wheezes and receive high dose antibiotics and steroids, he would regress.

K was admitted to hospital on average twice a month between the ages of 18-36 months for viral induced wheeze and dairy was then removed again from his diet at 36 months, following which hospital admissions reduced to about every other month and the severity also reduced.

K had been developing normally until aged 2 when he was put on prophylactic antibiotics for 6 months which affected his sleep, he had also stopped responding to his name completely and had lost all speech at this point.

When he came to me aged 4 he was on Azithromycin, Omeprazole, Prednisolone, Salbutamol, Clenil inhaler, and a “thicken up” product to thicken liquids to avoid choking. His last hospital admission has been 1 week earlier and he had been kept in for 10 days.

His bowel movements varied depending on what he ate and he looked bloated after meals, especially after eating eggs. He was always hyperactive, but especially so after lunch, no matter what he had eaten. He was following an almost dairy-free diet when he came to me but was not 100% dairy free at nursery.

Recommendations made:

He was placed on a gluten, dairy and soya free diet as well as a diet low in corn. We introduced part-digested foods such as slow-cooked foods and sprouted grains to support his digestion after so long on Omeprazole as well as recommending smaller, more frequent meals several times a day, rather than larger meals 3 times a day. We also introduced just 1 drop of coconut water kefir daily to start with.

Stool, urinary organic acids, hair mineral, IgG food intolerance and amino acids tests were also recommended. No supplements were recommended at this stage.

Test Results:

IgG results showed a High reaction to Casein, Cheese and Cow's Milk

Moderate reaction to Candida Albicans, Yogurt, Goat's Milk, Mozzarella Cheese, Whey, Yeast, Bakers & Brewer’s yeast.

Low reaction to Coconut, Gliadin, Egg White, Wheat & Wheat Gluten

Amino Acids showed low BCAA’s across the board as well as low glycine and taurine.

Stool test showed yeast, very high faecal IgA and Prevotella as well as candida and bacterial dysbiosis.

Organic Acids showed yeast presence and bacterial dysbiosis.

We therefore removed egg whites from his diet immediately and added in natural bile support at this stage.

Progress at 8 weeks:

8 weeks later at the follow up consultation, K had had 2 viruses since we first spoke and had responded “normally” each time. There had been no wheezing or other respiratory difficulties and no hospital admissions, neither had he required any inhalers, antibiotics, steroids, reflux medication or fluid thickeners. He had in fact come off all his medication successfully.

K’s parents also reported huge improvements in their son's behaviour; his hyperactivity had drastically reduced, he was more alert, he was saying some words and had also produced one full sentence. His teacher had also commented on increased engagement and understanding in class. His receptive language had improved, and his vocal stimming had reduced. For the first time in his life, he was able to tolerate water with no thickeners in and this no longer caused choking or infection. His sensitivity however had increased slightly and he no longer tolerated having his nails cut or being hugged too tightly. This had improved at the next follow up 3 weeks later.