I haven't updated here in quite a while, but I'll give some update on Stephanie and how things have been going.

We had our "test results meeting" with Dr. Kotsanis in Grapevine about two weeks ago. There weren't any big surprises, of course, but there was a good bit of hope that some things can be helped.

One of the surprises, though, came in the allergy tests. There were no true food allergies, but there were a lot of "intolerances." As we have known for years, all dairy products came in very high in the intolerance column. We had already made the decision to remove all dairy from her diet before we went to this meeting.

Unfortunately, eggs also came up really high in intolerance. So we have now removed eggs from her diet. The bad news about that is that mayonnaise is made from eggs. Stephie loves mayo, but she can't have that any more.

Also very high on the intolerance chart was another of her favorite foods, peanut butter. Wow. So, we're kind of wondering, "What can she eat??" All the meats were good, but she have never been a real heavy meat eater. She does eat sausage and bacon and chicken, but has never been big on the steaks and beef.

Also, of course, the fruits and veggies were all okay. The doctor said we should concentrate on tart, sour and bitter fruits.

Also high on the intolerance chart, of course, was wheat. We will eventually remove all gluten (wheat protein) from her diet as well. We're moving slowly on that one, though.

We came away from this meeting with another bag full of supplements. I'm going to try to run down the list of them (I hope you're sitting down...well, of course you are, you're at a computer). Here we go.

1. Pro DHA--this is an omega fatty acid. 2 pills twice a day
2. Zinc Monomethionine--1 capsule daily
3. Vital Zymes--Digestive Enzymes--1 capsule w/each meal
4. P5P w/Magnesium--a B6 vitamin--1 capsule every am
5. Magnesium Malate--1 capsule every pm
6. Basic Preventative Jr.--multi-vitamin--1 chewable twice a day
7. Ther-Biotic Complete--a pro biotic--1 capsule once a day
8. L-Glutamine--amino acid--1 capsule twice a day
9. Vitamin D3--1 capsule a day
10. AdrenAll--Glandular support--1 capsule twice a day
11. Phophatityl Serine--1 capsule every pm
12. Alternating every two weeks between Flucanazole, Caprylic Acid, and Nystatin, all of which are antifungals.

That's a lot of pills. And a lot of dough, too.

We've had mixed results. For the two weeks right after we started removing all dairy, she was pretty good. We've had some meltdowns, but only a few, and they are usually on Saturday evenings or Sundays. Not sure what it is about weekends.

With the addition of all of these other supplements, though, it seems like there might have been a slight regression. Christi and I are debating on whether she is worse or not. We are considering taking one supplement at a time out for a week or so to see if we notice any differences in her behavior.

Over all, though, Stephanie is much better than she was at the beginning of the year. She is doing well in the STARS program, and is now (by some miracle) passing all of her classes. She had two finals today, has one tomorrow and one Wednesday, and then she should be an official Sophomore! Yay!

That's it for now. I'll try to stay more current.

TTFN, y'all!

Missed anything?
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