Child’s Loss of Appetite, Acne and Constipation
Answered by: Susan Eagles
Question from:
Posted on: January 02, 2005

My son is 12 pounds underweight with bad acne He is 14 years old. He has a condition called subluxzation and sees a chiropractor. He will not eat a thing. Can you tell us some way to build his appetite that would be appealing to him? He also has very hard stools. He uses the bathroom once a week. He takes Body Roxs vitamins, 2 Fiber Choice pills a day and he has started taking 3 to 4 Soft Chew Phillips brand laxatives a day. For his acne problem he is using oil free acne wash foam cleanser. On the bad places he is using Tincture Merthiolate and also Clearasil Maximum Stregth acne cream. Please try to give us your input on these problems.

The definition of subluxation is: a partial dislocation of bones that leaves them misaligned but still in contact with one another. According to most chiropractors, nearly everyone has subluxation, and, according the most of these chiropractors, it is the cause of most health problems.

The answer to your son’s loss of appetite will be found in physical or emotional factors. Causes include problems with the liver, kidneys, heart, adrenal glands, pernicious anemia, infection, anxiety and stress. An experienced medical or clinical herbalist or a naturopath may uncover physical factors with a full assessment of your son’s health, and will recommend further medical tests if necessary. Encourage communication with a friend, a relative or a counsellor that may open up psychological reasons for not eating. If one of the above causes is found to be a relevant, then follow up on that disorder. The acne and constipation result from not eating a balanced diet.

The diet and hormone imbalances around puberty are the main factors in acne. It must be cured from the inside. The diet should consist mainly of fruit and vegetables, with a little high quality protein such as wild fish, or organic meat or poultry. Chocolate, dairy products, sugar, fried and fatty foods should be avoided. Only whole foods should be in your son’s diet -- no junk food, white flour products or white sugar products.

How to create a diet that will appeal to your son depends on his tastes. I find that smoothies are usually appealing to children and teenagers. The fibre in the fruit that you blend up in a blender will help with his constipation. It does take some time to retrain the bowel to work normally. Try blending 1-2 tablespoons of flax seed in the blender before adding the fruit. Flax seed acts as a stool bulking laxative, has many medicinal benefits, and has a pleasant, nutty taste. Another fairy irresistible food is an ice cream or slushy, where you freeze or partially freeze blended fruit. Bananas are particularly good in smoothies and frozen fruit dishes, and they provide potassium.

Ensure that your son’s vitamin supplements include at least 50 mg of vitamin B complex daily, and 15 mg of zinc. Starvation leads to zinc urinary excretion, which leads to a loss of the sense of taste and sense of smell, which further diminishes the appetite.

Encourage any kind of physical exercise that your son enjoys. Exercise encourages both appetite and bowel movements.

For information on herbs for acne, please see our web site at www.richters.com. Choose "Q&A" from the main menu, then enter "acne" for the search.

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