Well, as I suspected there is a link between Lithium usage and thyroid imbalances. This is what I was just dreading. After all my excitement. The problem is that we really do not know how this large quantities of Lithium carbonate would affect our children. It is known that bi-polar people treated with it tend to get hypothyroidism but they are also older and the quantities are enormous. However, for them keeping track of the thyroid functioning is nothing if you think of the high suicidal rate amongst this population. The high doses they are put on may not be neccesary for people with Don Syndrome. The study I mentioned in my previous post used 2.4g/kg in mice. I do not think they checked these mice thyroid.
Our kids tend to hypothyroidism and are checked frequently so one could decide that they have nothing to lose and many neurons to gain... We gave Leyla 2.5mg of Lithium Orotate a day and we did see improvement within a week. She started combat crawling and rolling all over the place. We took the dose to 5mg and after a week she developed a corse throat in the mornings. That is what led me to think of the thyroid connection. We stopped inmediately! She is no longer rolling all over the place and her crawling hasn't improved. We are considering reintroducing it at a lower dose and see. We are due for a thyroid check up in a couple of months...
We have also finally started with the LongVida Curcumin. We have been on it for a week at half the recommended dose and we haven't just yet seen anything that calls for celebration. Maybe once we get to the recommended dosage.
All in all Leyla is doing great but we can stop been vigilant. She will be re-evaluated for EI (Early Intervention) on 26 February and I cannot wait o hear what her therapist have to say of her progress. Who knows maybe the curcumin kicks in and she will be crawling like a pro by then. Why not?