Our New “Normal”

 

Is anything about this picture of supplements “normal”!? Most people might say no, especially for a young child. Unfortunately there are times when you can’t get everything your body needs entirely from food. If there is anything I have learned from my nutrition studies, it is that we all have a unique biochemical individuality. What this means is that one person may require a significantly higher dosage (or lower) of a particular nutrient due to their genetic makeup, makes sense right?

We have returned from NY with a whole new perspective. The purpose of our trip was to see Dr. Kenneth Bock, who specializes in Childhood ailments. He published the book “Healing the New Childhood Epidemics”. I purchased this book to gain more insight into his healing protocol, which draws on medical research along with years of clinical success. He is most known for treating what he calls the “4-A disorders” ADHD, Autism, Asthma and Allergies. He has found that deadly modern toxins, nutritional deficiencies, metabolic imbalances, genetic vulnerabilities and assaults on the immune and gastrointestinal systems trigger most symptoms. I came across his work doing research on eczema and felt his approach might work for us. His book “Healing The New Childhood Epidemics” has so much useful information, however without current labs its often hard to know where to start. There are many sections with supplementation recommendations, however when you have a young child, pediatric dosage’s are often difficult to determine. Above all, its important to test, not guess. Giving your child supplements they may not require can also be a detriment, you do not want to create further imbalances.

This trip didn’t come easy and without expense. None of the treatment was covered by any sort of medical coverage, after all we had to fly to the United States. Planning for this trip was a whole other type of stress, up to this point I had made ALL Z’s food. He had never had anything that was pre-made or packaged, it was a new journey of discovery and nervousness on my end, wondering what he might react to. I read every label to try and find “safe” travel foods. Since I couldn’t pack any REAL food, due to customs restrictions – or extremely limited real food, I had to find these types of alternatives. The options once we cleared through security were very limited, I’m talking Burger King or Starbucks. At least Starbucks offers bottled smoothies and occasional fresh fruit.

So I set out to pack and prepare for this trip like no other. I have travelled and lived in a number of countries, but this trip for so many reasons was different all together. I had never taken a child – my child out of the country! Up to this point we really couldn’t travel, even within the province. Z has always HATED being in the car and as a baby travel was the absolute worst, thats putting it lightly. He has gotten much better, but its been a very long road and I mean that both figuratively and literally. It once took us 6 hours to get to Edmonton, when it should take the average person 3. Trying to travel that long with an itchy, screaming child…you pull over LOTS. Yes, this was our life, and this was why our New York trip had to happen. We needed answers and we needed to start living and functioning as a family. So, with the Car being a problem, Z had obviously never been on a plane. This would be his first plane trip…how was that going to “actually” go over!? As a Mother to a child with food restrictions, along with eczema (how much “gel”/lotion could I get away with for 4.5 hours), my mind was always trying to think of what scenarios we might face.

As the day approached, we packed his bedding, a towel…everything to avoid any irritations with his skin upon arrival to our hotel. I also made sure all of our accommodations had a partial kitchen to allow for food preparation and storage. We arrived to the airport, bags filled with snacks, toys, an ipad, anything to make the flight easier. We decided to avoid packing a car seat and rent one along with our car rental, one less thing to worry about.

We arrived at the airport and got ourselves checked in, allowing enough time to get through security with a child in tow. There were line up’s and Z was squirmy, but we managed. I hadn’t flown in over two years, one could be hopeful that things had changed. However, it was as I expected, hardly any options were in our area. How is this possible for an “international” airport, I would certainly expect better, but this didn’t come as a surprise to me. We managed perfectly fine on the plane, did I wish my Son had better food, yes – but you do what you have to do, things could always be worse. We arrived in New York with no issues, off to our hotel we went…the next few days we would make our way upstate for our big appointment.

Thanks so much for reading…If you are curious how our appointment went, I’m creating a series to outline all the details of how a functional medicine style appointment goes with a child. Please feel free to leave questions or comments below, I’ll be sure to answer and perhaps include those in my next instalment of this series.

Have you used a functional medical Doctor for you or your child, how was your experience!? I would love to hear about it, comment below!