Hormone imbalances during puberty

by Diane

Thank you so much for your website. It's been tremendously helpful--I found it while searching for info about balancing my body's pH.

My question is about balancing hormones through puberty. I have a 17 year old daughter, a 14 year old son, and an 11 year old daughter. My 17 year old still struggles some, but is largely through with the most difficult phase. My son does much better then my oldest daughter ever did. Our solution for raging hormones for him has always been hard exercise.

My 11 year old daughter is an absolute mess--20 times worse than my older daughter. She has a seizure disorder, although she rarely has a full blown seizure. She does have ADHD type symptoms, which are related to the disorder. She eats a fairly healthy wheat free diet and takes Intramax liquid vitamin/mineral supplement.

I am looking for a good additional B vitamin supplement for her as well, because everything I read says B complex is necessary for addressing neurological disorders.

She has just started into having extreme mood swings and irritability. She is not normally a disrespectful kid, but she has started responding hatefully to everything I say.

She has extreme anxiety even during the summer with no reason to stress out about anything. She is always "fired up" about every little thing--overreacting and freaking out. I have NO IDEA how to help her, and she's only 11. I fear it will get much worse before getting better if I can't find some way to help her.

I know your time is extremely limited. I appreciate you reading my question and even considering whether or not to answer it. You have already been a huge blessing to me through all the information here, and I thank you.

--Diane

RESPONSE

Hi Diane,

I understand how frustrating and difficult this can be. Trying to get to the root cause of a health issue can seem like a Herculean task.
If I were you, I would check your youngest’s adrenal function. Adrenal fatigue can cause hormone imbalance and critical nutrient deficiencies. This can cause the symptoms you mention - high anxiety, jumpiness, irritability, impatience, inattentiveness, as well as a host of other symptoms.

There is a great group on Yahoo that helps people with thyroid and adrenal issues called RT3-Adrenals. They helped me get back on track when my low thyroid function resulted in low adrenal function. There is a simple saliva cortisol test you can do to check her cortisol levels – you can order it online if you can’t get a doctor to order it.

Adrenal glands need adequate vitamin C to function optimally. Also important is a good B-complex. I use the Buried Treasure B Complete Liquid and love it. If she needs additional help getting up her vitamin B12 levels, I also recommend Natural Factors Vitamin B12 Methylcobalamin Tablets.

Wishing you the best of health,

Melissa
Approach Wellness