Best way to test for vitamin/mineral deficiencies?

[dandilion44]

DS is 3.5... Along with his numerous allergies he continues to have sleep issues as well as difficult behaviors (mostly aggression, defiance and constantly bothering others). Just curious what your experiences are in regards to testing for vitamin/mineral imbalances. I didn't get too far speaking with my son's pediatrician about this. We see his naturopath at the end of January so I will talk to her about it then. I would especially like to test magnesium levels. What have others done to test for these and have results seemed accurate?

Thanks!

[rhesp1212]

Your pediatrician should be able to request a blood test for basic vitamin and minerals, but they are usually a pain in the butt about doing so unless your child is on a severely restricted diet or something like that. It took me months of begging and pleading for them to test my son and he was only eating 5 foods at the time! They had to request each vitamin/mineral individually and it took a ALOT of blood. I don't know this for sure, but I want to say hair testing can be done for minerals.

I think in general, supping with minerals is pretty safe as almost everyone is deficient in some of them. Supping magnesium is also relatively safe, and even though a blood test may show it to be in the normal range doesn't mean that he doesn't need more. You could start doing epsom salt baths for 20-30 minutes each day and see if it helps calm your little one down a bit. it might make a big difference.

Hopefully some of the gurues will chime in here to give you more help and ideas!!

Valerie

[dandilion44]

Thanks for your response, Rhesp1212!

I should have noted that I am supping with 300 mg of Magnesium...I'm just not sure if its helping! Our schedule was all funky over the holidays and he did not receive his supps and his behavior was significantly worse and he refused to take naps. He is back on track with his supps and he is napping again although behavior is still difficult. Who knows if it was just the excitement of the holidays though (and a little more leniency with our grain-free diet)? I don't want to give him supps if he doesnt need them due to the struggle I have some days getting him to take them and possible cc issues. His Vit. D was on the low end a few months back (31 so not significantly low) but I was wondering if that could indicate a deficiency in other vitamins/minerals as well? Maybe I'll try the ped again - so frustrating having to fight for these things! Glad you finally got what you needed from your ped!

[rhesp1212]

What form of the mag are you giving him (powder, pill, liquid)? If the taste is bothering him, I would definitely try the empsom salt baths and maybe look into Brainchild minerals and supplements. I believe they have a night time supplement that's a fizzy tab of cal-mag that really helps with calming them down.