Positive Health Online

Georgia is the beautiful, bright, happy, contented, loving daughter of Angela and Martin. She is slightly built, energetic, and her body is strong and flexible. Her blue eyes are bright, her brown hair is shiny and her complexion is creamy. Georgia is helpful around the house and is improving her work at school. Daily, her personality is unfolding to reveal a likeable, confident, kind nature with a mischievous spirit and a great sense of humour.

However, Georgia hasn't always been like this. For most of her seven-year life she has been ill, and her behaviour has been so erratic that she has been described as "the child from hell" on many occasions.

Georgia's story begins in her mother's womb, and for Angela, a very difficult pregnancy suffering from sickness, yeast problems and poor nutrient absorption. Georgia weighed 8lbs 1oz when she was born and never slept, was frequently sick, had green, sticky, loose stools, thrush in her mouth, pains in her stomach, and was generally miserable and cried all the time, except when she was breast fed.

As she was weaned onto solid foods she would scream in agony and yet her specialist could find nothing wrong and recommended Calpol. Physically, her growth was slow and at eleven months she weighed just 13 pounds. She was diagnosed as lactose intolerant and all dairy products were eliminated from Georgia's diet. However, Georgia continued to feel unwell and has been back and forth to the doctors and specialist for most of her life. Nothing untoward has been detected, and Calpol has always been the recommendation.

Last August Georgia was really poorly. She looked pale, with large black rings under her eyes, had bruises all over her body, and her thin, baby hair was falling out. She suffered from pains in her stomach, felt nauseous, would reflux every time she ate and lumps of milk curdle would appear in her mouth. Her temperature kept fluctuating and she frequently drifted off to sleep, had panic attacks and was endlessly running away from school. Her mood and energy were unpredictable. Sometimes she was quiet, reserved, nervous, shy and unconfident, but at other times she was like a wild animal; her eyes would get bigger and bigger before exploding into a severe tantrum, head-butting the floor and walls, hitting and kicking her mother, screaming that she didn't want to live any more and that she wished she had a knife to kill herself.

At Christmas, in desperation, Georgia wrote:

Dear Santa

I wish I was feeling well. I wish you could make me well. That would be my Christmas wish.

Lots of love from Georgia

I met Georgia in March of this year after thoroughly studying her case history. On our first meeting she was nervous, ran away from me and had a tantrum, but we soon made friends. Her present diet seemed variable with a mixture of fast foods high in sugar and additives and frequent snacks of apples and grapes as though she was trying to detoxify herself.

The kinesiology tests revealed sensitivities to foods containing dairy, sugar and wheat, and all additives including preservatives, food colourings sweeteners, stimulants and flavour enhancers such as monosodium glutamate. She also tested to the chemicals phenol, toluene and acetaldehyde, suggesting parasitical and fungal infections. This inability to deal with toxic substances led me to investigate her liver function. Briefly, the liver works in two phases.

In the first phase specialized enzymes begin the process of transforming toxic substances into non-toxic, biotransformed intermediates so that they can be combined with specific substances in the second phase for elimination via the digestive tract or kidneys. Georgia's test revealed that the 'phase one' detoxification pathway was working, but the 'phase two' pathways, predominantly sulphation, were severely underfunctioning. The sulphation pathway is the primary route for the detoxification of some food additives, food colouring, toluene, phenols, acetaldehyde and paracetamol, which is the main ingredient in Calpol. It also eliminates excess neurotransmitters, and dysfunction in this system can contribute to the development of nervous system disorders and an increased susceptibility to neurotoxins. The liver was underfunctioning because of her depleted vitamin and mineral levels resulting from her inability to digest and absorb foods. Two minerals were particularly low: molybdenum, which is vitally important for the sulphation detoxification pathway; and zinc, which is needed for the immune system, the integrity of the digestive tract wall, production of hydrochloric acid and the breakdown of fungal spores.[1-2]

The first part of Georgia's programme was to eat small, frequent meals, eliminating the offending foods and all additives, and increasing quality wholefoods and water in her diet. Supplements taken were a liquid multi-vitamin, multi-mineral and immune formula plus essential fatty acids. Internal exercises for the kidneys, liver, stomach and colon were carried out daily as well as breathing exercises, which were also used as a strategy when she felt unwell and out of control.

The first month was difficult; Georgia's behaviour seemed to get worse and she would kick, punch and scream. During one tantrum this slight, three-foot tall child picked up a seesaw and threw it into the next-door neighbour's garden. Georgia's behaviour eventually calmed down and she started to feel happier and more confident. After three weeks she added ionic minerals of molybdenum and zinc in liquid form to aid the liver function, and to deal with the parasitic infection and fungal spores; and a tincture of catmint and lavender to cleanse her body of chemicals and relax, balance and soothe her emotions. After 9 weeks she felt amazingly well and after 12 weeks was allowed the occasional treat of dairy-free chocolate and organic plain crisps. Her parents, headmaster, schoolteacher and neighbours cannot believe the difference in Georgia.

Through her illness Georgia has learnt two very important life lessons. The first is compassion for other people who are ill; and the second is that nutrition has an influence on her total well-being, including how she thinks, feels and behaves.

References

1. Bland JS and Bralley JA. Nutritional upregulation of hepatic detoxification enzymes. J Applied Nutrition. 44(3,4): 2-15. 1992.
2. Guengerich FP. Effects of nutritive factors on metabolic processes involving bioactivation and detoxification of chemicals. Annual Review Nutrition. 4: 207-31. 1984.