hi mm, so sorry to hear about your little boy
can you tell me without investing too much time, a little about your original regimen over 2 yr period? and specifically how the regimen was revised during pregnancy?
I will give whatever help I can. in the meantime if you are interested this is how I approach nutrient therapy in ms
http://www.thisisms.com/forum/regimens- ... c2489.html
the short story is do things VERY CAREFULLY and scientifically, with a lot of attention paid to proper balancing. I too learned the hard way about not balancing nutrient supplements, but my tale of woe is nowhere near so sad as yours
now for the long story.. I had a quick search to investigate nutritional factors related to cleft palate and meningitis.
[Low zinc and high copper levels in mothers of children with isolated cleft lip and palate].
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16425788
Changes in orofacial development have been reported in offspring of animals treated with copper injections or low zinc diet during pregnancy. The aim of our study was to determine serum levels of zinc and copper in mothers of children with non-syndromic orofacial clefts and in women who gave birth to healthy children. Ninety six healthy women participated in the study: 35 mothers of children with cleft lip and cleft palate (CLP), 30 mothers of children with cleft palate (CP) and 31 control mothers of healthy children. Serum zinc and copper concentrations were determined by the use of inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).
RESULTS: Between CLP and controls there were significant differences in mean zinc levels (511 +/- 121 microg/L vs 572 +/- 76 microg/L, p = 0.012) and copper levels (991 +/- 388 microg/L vs 810 +/- 201 microg/L, p = 0.02). In CP mean serum zinc and copper levels were 540 +/- 130 microg/L and 846 +/- 291 microg/L. The ratio of serum zinc to copper levels was significantly lower in CLP comparing to CP and controls (0.57 +/- 0.19 vs 0.67 +/- 0.18 and 0.74 +/- 0.19, p = 0.003)
CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that trace elements may play a role in facial clefting in humans.
just to make those results a little more readable:
cleft lip and palate serum zinc = 51.1 µg/dL ( 7.8 µmol/L )
cleft palate serum zinc .......... = 54.0 µg/dL ( 8.3 µmol/L )
controls serum zinc .............. = 57.2 µg/dL ( 8.8 µmol/L )
cleft lip and palate serum copper = 99.1 µg/dL ( 15.6 µmol/L )
cleft palate serum copper ..........= 84.6 µg/dL ( 13.3 µmol/L )
controls serum copper ..............= 81.0 µg/dL ( 12.7 µmol/L )
cleft lip and palate zinc:copper ratio = 0.57
cleft palate zinc:copper ratio ..........= 0.67
controls zinc:copper ratio ...............= 0.74
Serum zinc and copper levels in children with meningococcal disease
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00451902
Mean serum zinc and copper levels were depressed in 94 children aged 1 month to 9 years who presented with meningococcal disease. The mean serum zinc level was 44 μg/dl (reference value 78 μg/dl, SD 18) and the mean serum copper level 157 μg/dl (reference value 159 μg/dl, SD 27). Nineteen patients had serum zinc levels less than 25 μg/dl and ten patients had serum copper levels less than 101 μg/dl.
MD serum zinc.................= 44 μg/dl ( 6.7 umol/L )
MD serum copper.............= 157 μg/dl ( 24.7 umol/L )
MD zinc copper ratio.........= 0.28
overall the inverse relationship between serum zinc and copper is clear to see. also when zinc is higher and copper lower (within limits) you're better off.
it's known that zinc is low in ms patients and also that levels are depleted during pregnancy. (oh and by the way, every single mom in that orofacial study, even the ones who had normal babies, were zinc deficient by any standard. the highest zinc result for any mom in that study was 9.9 umol/L).
truly healthy controls have much higher levels ie serum zinc ~18-19 umol/L zinc, serum copper ~17 umol/L copper, and a zinc to copper ratio up towards 1.1.
if you can get a serum zinc test that would be an extremely useful first step, to help get an idea how far you have to go.
again, so very sad to hear about your little one