Expert: Suzanne Rose Lubkowski - 1/21/2004

Question
Hi, thanks for volunteering your time! My question concerns my 12 yr old boy, Jimmy. He's 5'4" and weighs 124. He eats well- lots of veggies...when his meds don't take his appatite! He's not a small guy and his dad is about 6'3" Jimmy has had a slough of problems develope over the past 3 or 4 years. He takes medication (Lamictal and Topomax) for a mild seizure disorder. He takes a low does of Adderall for ADD. He's out grown the Asthma for all intensive purposes and we'll be done with Advaire in about 3 weeks. Recently I've taken him to the Dr. for The 10 Week Cough. We've gone through test, meds, treatment for Asthma, antibiotics, Prednizone and a Pulminologist. He had Cough Varient Asthma so this line of testing is understandable, but we've seen no Asthma for a year or better and his lungs have remained clear through this. He now takes a pill called a Tessalor pearl, to help the coughing. It does soemwhat, but the coughing only happens when he laughs, or, as I'm leading up to, he gets ANOTHER virus. this is a bad thing for anyone with a bronchial history. On The 10 Week Cough, we've been told wait 4 more weeks using Tessalor.

So, that's what's been happening for about 3 months. stopping the meds for purification purposes is obviously not an option. Now I'm thinking this is waaaay too much, even for Jimmy. He looks awful, he's mopey and the worst is his spirit is down because he's got so much happening! My question is how can I deal with the bigger picture, say with Vitamin C and Zinc. I had a similar problem from a car accident and stopped taking the meds, added tons of vitamin C and Zinc as was great in a month. **I want to give his body a death blow of vitamin C. Can he take 200mg a day? The Zinc says 1 lozenge every few hours.

I'm STRONGLY convinced I need to treat his immune system at this point and need help figuring how. I'm intelligent enough and a research bug. Plus a sad Mom who wants to help her boy. I'm single and on a budget, but have a student loan check available in 2 weeks as a boost to help us here. I'm having the ducts cleaned and looking into ionic cleaners. As you can see, I'm just grabbing at straws. Please tell me if there's a way to boost my son's immune system without inflicting more pills on him (he HATES pills).
Thanks!
Lisa (and Jimmy)  

Answer
Hi Lisa and Jimmy -- this guy has been through an awful lot!   You are on track with vit. C in particular -- I would recommend the program I use for my family from Shaklee -- Optiflora is a powder and a pearl which balances the flora system -- for some reason this is a major beginning back to health.   Shaklee has a chewable Vit. C and Vitalea for children (which my kids even my sixteen takes cuz he won't swallow pills!).   I would begin with this and add Meal shakes which is a protein shake if he can take milk or mix with water.   I would recommend the Airsource 3000 before you purchase ionic cleaners -- you can learn more at http://www.shaklee.net/integrativewellness   My son was our first Shaklee guinee pig -- he had allergies in first grade so we got him on a program -- he is now 16 and hasn't missed a school day since so he stays pretty healthy with minimal supplements.   Pure water is also important and keep him off of sugar as much as possible.  You can contact me at zannrose@aol.com if you would like to discuss more.   Best,   zann