Too much beta caratene can what?
December 11, 2007 | Updates
Ah, just a quick update. The holidays are upon us and in full swing. MAN, it seems like they come so quickly every year. I still remember waiting for New Year’s Eve 2000 and now 2008 is upon us. Time sure flies!
Samuel is doing well. I took him to have his g-tube checked and it all looked fine. The nurse there thought I was crazy for driving all that way just to have the site looked at. But I was already in Ogden, so it was just another 45 minutes away. She told me I should have just had my local pediatrician look at it. But that’s a 30 minute drive each way and I have no idea whether or not he’s even ever seen a g-tube - much less whether or not he knows what one should look like. But, oh, well, I was glad I went so I didn’t have to worry anymore.
Nothing much new here. Samuel has started rolling onto his stomach more often and the tube doesn’t seem to be hurting him near as much. I can hardly wait to get it switched for a button the first part of January. We made it to our appointment at NACD and discussed some new things we want to try with Samuel to get him to stop baulking at crawling so much. So, as soon as he can tolerate the stomach work, we’ll be on our way.
The only other thing is I’m going to have his liver and thyroid and all those panels checked again in January. We did all that about a year ago, but I have a few new concerns. First, I’ve been reading Abby’s site (www.prayforabby.com) and her mom is awesome at researching and finding great new things to try for our kids. Well, she found that Abby has some crazy things going on with her thyroid. I wasn’t so much worried about Samuel though, except for one thing. About a month ago, his hands suddenly turned orange. Literally! I thought it was just me for a few days and then I wondered if he’d been painting at school or something. In the end, I realized it was due to having too much beta caratene in his diet.
I had just switched his vitamin from Flinestones Complete to Usanimals about a month earlier because the Usanimals had less artificial flavors and colors. Well, I didn’t notice that the Usanimals also had 15 TIMES as much beta caratene as the Flinestones. Needless to say, it was too much for little Samuel to handle. So, we’ve switched back, but it will take a few months for the orange hue to go away. Crazy, huh? It’s a little embarrasing because it’s pretty obvious and I’ve had A LOT of people comment on it. But it was REALLY embarassing when the nurse in the nutrition clinic noticed it :)! Some days…
Anyway, the more I’ve thought about it, the more I think that there must be tons of kids out there taking the Usanimals everyday without a reaction to the beta caratene. And I’ve been reading a book that Abby’s mom recommended entitled, “Hypothyroidism Type 2″. It’s a really interesting book and I’ll be loaning it to some of you in the future that I feel it may apply to (hee! hee!). But it also got me thinking that possibly Samuel’s liver is not very healthy and that’s why it couldn’t handle all the beta caratene. Hopefully I’m completely wrong. But I do want to get it checked just to make sure.
We’ve been really busy with holiday activities and we spent this last weekend in Orem getting family pictures and seeing my sister and her family who were visiting from Alaska. It was really fun and we all had a good time. She has a little boy who had a great time hanging out with my kids and then two cute little girls who made me wish I had one! We got to see grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles and cousins. It was really fun. And I do want to take some time in one of my next posts to tell you about a young man who came to our weekly family night lesson and spoke to us about his experiences in Iraq. But right now, it’s midnight and I have to be up early to get all the kids off to school.
So, until then, keep Samuel in your prayers and we wish you all the funnest of holiday seasons. May you always remember the real meaning of the season!
Love,
The Jewkes
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December 13th, 2007 at 10:46 am, Caradie & Corbin Says:
Hi Teresa,
It’s really hard to tell in pictures but Corbie is orange. I call him my little oompa loompa. He just needs green hair LOL His nose, some throughout his face, his finger & his toes are all orange. His liver wasn’t ever tested but the doctors agree with me that it’s because almost everything the eats is orange. The only thing not orange is the peas & green beans.
I can’t wait to see the family photos!!!
Caradie