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Hi 1000Daisies -

Well, first, I'm so sorry kiddo is not doing well. My heart goes out to him and mom.

Awesome that you've sought a new NP--he/she will be more of a partner WRT GI and neurotransmitter issues/connection.

I think he can still seem asymptomatic because he might have experienced symptoms long enough to kind of get used to them--that's exactly what happened to me. I had no idea how awful I felt until I started healing. WOW. But his main problem is absorption.

NEUROTRANSMITTER CONNECTION
GI dysfunction, neurotransmitters and HPA axis (hypothalamic, pituitary and adrenal axis) are interconnected and function in sync w/ ea other. So it is very common to have issues with all 3 systems when one system starts to go out of whack. So it makes perfect sense that his neurotransmitters are out of balance. In fact, it could have been neurotransmitter imbalance that caused the GI to malfunction. Or it could be a bacterial imbalance as a catalyst...

A few yrs ago, I did neurotransmitter testing and every single level of the 12+ they tested was off-the-charts too high or too low. No wonder I felt so awful. After spending 2 yrs and thousands of dollars with my ND trying to rebalance my neurotransmitters (I didn't know I had lyme at the time or how sick I was), and with everything we tried swinging levels in the opposite extreme with each new supplement, I just stopped and focused on my GI. As I healed my GI, my neurotransmitters AND adrenals/thryoid also improved... not entirely but enough to tolerate lyme & co.

I later found out that I have DNA mutations that are likely causing the neurotransmitter imbalances and this explains why we couldn't rebalance them with simple and superficial supplementation.

So, while I don't necessarily agree that it skips a generation (if that is what the ND was implying), I totally agree with the suggestion that family history can reveal possible genetic predisposition to issues. Although it's still not easy to understand how to mitigate and it's possible you'll need to get more specific about what your son's issues are in order to treat them successfully. I hope not. But it's also VERY likely that the ND might not really understand how to rebalance everything. And, it's possible that you don't need to figure everything out if you can hit the key issues. How's that for specific? ;)

I fought a hard fight to repair my GI after leaky gut and bart damage so this is what I would recommend:

REPAIR
Repairing the mucosal lining caused by leaky gut is critical--this is where 70% of our immune system lies and it's the reception for all his nutrition and we take meds/supplements orally so damaged mucosal lining can also cause absorption problems and prevent effective treatment for anything, everything. So I would prioritize this ASAP. I held off all of my treatments until I could heal my gut a bit because I was afraid of wasting time & money. You may not need to do this since he is not seriously experiencing symptoms.

But this is what I would try to do:
- I would see if you can get him to drink aloe vera juice--add other juices to it to mask the flavor (it tastes bitter). Get the high quality kind, organic, inner fillet, if possible.
- Split it up into 1-2T at a time and work up to a full 1/2 c per day. This helps soothe and repair the mucosal lining.
- There are also tasteless "digestive repair" type powders you can add to smoothies so you can look for them online.
- implement a binder (tricky with a 1-2 hr buffer before and 2-3 hr buffer after taking the binder where he should not eat/consume anything... the binder can help keep him a little more regular and make sure toxins are getting ushered out effectively to allow the mucosal lining to heal. Easy does it - go slow, low doses at first and lots of water. OTC binders: activated charcoal and bentonite clay (the clay kind of tastes, like, clay which he might think is cool but the charcoal might be easier to get down him... not sure.

Diet
is KEY, here so kudos to you in getting that started.
- I would also go no sugar and very low "simple carb" like rice, potatoes---maybe once a wk but definitely not every day
- I'd lay off legumes - too hard to digest
- I'd also stop grains for at least a month or at least reduce to once/wk - this is really, really tough especially for a kid so eventually you can reintroduce some grains but the only non-wheat forms that are organic and non-GMO. The quick reason is that most grain crops are contaminated with chemicals known to cause GI damage.
- These restrictions are not forever, but just for a month maybe and see how it goes.

SOOTHE
- I would also go very gently for a few weeks, too, to give GI a chance to calm down and not work so hard to digest.
- I'd try liquid meals as much as possible (and small, more frequent feedings as opposed to full-sized meals). Puree cooked veggies and soups, smoothies.
- No raw veggies and very, very little fruit unless you're sure he doesn't have any yeast/fungal issues and then lots of fruit.
- I would lay off salads for now and any real roughage or significant fiber.

LEAKY GUT
Generally, for leaky gut you do a stool test to see how reactive you are to foods to know what to stay away from and also to confirm leaky gut. But he doesn't really need to do this...
- First, the restrictive diet will eliminate foods that do the most damage.
- Second, with leaky gut you end up sensitive/reactive to every food you eat... and since you can't stop eating everything, it becomes more necessary to eat a solid diet than to avoid foods that probably aren't hurting the digestive system.

"Vitamins test" - was this just regular blood work? Did you have an organic acids test? This is one of the most comprehensive tests out there but expensive. I doubt he needs this at this stage, though.

BACTERIA
After a lot of research it's also pretty apparent that bacteria imbalance also causes a lot of GI issues, can lead to leaky gut and neurotransmitter imbalance and other chaos. The lyme & co can certainly cause or exacerbate bacterial balance and so can yeast/fungal overgrowth. Is he on a good probiotic? Garden of Life has a kid's version--not sure what the difference is but I like that it's specific. In fact, I've seen several "kids" versions in the health food store.

Hope this is helpful - probably overwhelming but do what you can to get started and then build up from there.

Hope the little guy gets to feeling better - let us know how he's doing and shout out if you have more q's

-p