can a 3 1/2 year old toddler take L-glutamine safely?

Sadly, when my little boy was 3 1/2, I took him to a homeopath in Ontario who also claimed to be a naturopath in Montreal, because he had enlarged adenoids, and I was hoping that she could help him with that.  Well, in addition to giving him this homeopathic remedy, she had us purchase a whole bunch of things, some of which contained l-glutamine.  My little boy has never been normal again. 

Right away, he started twitching, which he had never done before.  He was a gentle sweet and outgoing child, and an hour or so after giving him a high dose of all of this crap that she prescribed, he screamed for 20 seconds at a play group, which was totally uncharacteristic of him.  Obviously the glutamine was causing his little brain to freak out. 

Sadly, my son who is now 7 1/2, always always always twitches in his sleep, and has a bunch of movement disorders that have come out as a result of this alternative health doctor's greed.  I really wish that I could go back in time and never ever ever go to that woman, because she ruined my son. 

I pray all the time now, asking God to heal my little boy, and I ask Blessed Mary to intercede, asking her son to heal my son.  My little boy had an especially hard time this past school year, twitching like crazy, moving his shoulder, his mouth, his eyes, his legs... it was so sad.  I was totally devestated all last year and all summer long.  I now live in fear that he will go through that again.  The twitches have decreased for over one month now, with the exception of the ones during his sleep.  You need to know that I used to sleep with my little boy, so I knew that he did not twitch in his sleep before the crazy stuff that this homeopath/naturopath gave him.

PLEASE...PLEASE...DO NOT FOLLOW THE ADVICE OF ANYONE WHO GIVES YOUR LITTLE CHILD ALTERNATIVE STUFF.  She gave him l-glutamine in a probiotic that was meant for adults, and l-glutamine in some kind of pills that were supposed to be gluthione inducers (I didn't know what that was, and really still don't), and in some colloidal minerals. 

The health store told me that she prescribed a toxic dose to my little boy.  The health store said that little children don't need that kind of stuff...it is supposed to help adults wake up their brains.  The homeopathic doctor, who also claims to be a naturopath in Montreal, said that the company told her that this stuff is good for people.  She also said that she prescribes it for kids with autism, which by the way, my son did not have when he went to see her. 

I phoned the naturopath association in ONtario, and they told me that they don't cover homeopaths or naturopaths that are certified in Montreal.  They explained that a person can take a weekend workshop in Montreal and call themselves a naturopath, but in Ontario, it is very strict.  This woman was not a naturopath in Ontario, otherwise she would have been in trouble. They added that homeopaths are not regulated in Ontario, so there is no governing body overseeing the crazy greedy mistakes that they make, and the disabilities that they cause. 

If I can warn anybody about what happened to my son, I will.  Please...please protect your little boy.  If he is normal, please do not give him crazy things that alternative health pratitioners prescribe.  They just want to make a buck at any expense.

This crazy homepath just wanted to sell these products by a certain company that caters to the alterative pratitioners.  Greed took over.  She needed to be honest and say that she did not know how to help his adenoids shrink, instead, she decided to have me buy hundreds of dollars worth of product from her, and follow a protocol for kids with autism, when my son's issue was not autism.  Please be forewarned.

Please....please protect your little boy's brain!  I wish that I could go back in time.  I can only go forward, with faith in God to help me make the right decisions, and to ask for his graces in healing my son, and to guide me to warn other parents.

All the best! 

 

 

Whoa Hold on!  I'm the original poster of the question, and that was quite some time ago. 

I see lots of detail but very little information in your post.  Please offer info so your post can be factual and investigational, like what ELSE was given to your little boy and how many mg of L-glutamine he took daily.  I feel for you, but you've thrown both the mix of too many alternative things AND no info about your child into the accusation that L-glutamine was to blame. 

And, this may sound harsh, but it appears that you just followed somebody's advice without investigating everything that you were putting into your child.  These days, it's imperitive that parents take the responsibility to investigate, investigate, investigate, THEN make a decision base on what you feel best about.  If you do, then how much you may or may not trust the alternative doc you went to doesn't have to be part of the problem.  There's too many factors involved - I think - for you to blame L-glutamine alone.  It has wonderful benefits but with a child YOU should (in spite of any doctor recommendations) always investigate how many milligrams are considered safe as per body weight, and carefully consider your sources.  That's how things are now...

My child took 125 mg of it daily for a year as a base for AMP (aloe mucilaginous polysaccharide) and I saw absolutely NO such response.  If anything, it seemed to be helpful, and she's a blossoming child to this day.  High energy, at times, but so was I when I was four...

I'm sorry you had (and are having) a bad experience, but you've got to look into all the other things, or the mix, that could have caused this, OR... look into the possibility that this is something that would have started happening with your son regardless of any previous treatment.  That IS a possibility.  I hope you find answers and that your son will be okay.      Please tell me, did he by any chance take Miralax?  Just curious.

Hi all. It could be true. Glutamie is sometimes converted in to glutamate. it is said that the cheap glutamie you buy as supplement easily breaks down. I think it is into glutamate and ammonia. Glutamate is a signalling substance but can also work as a toxic compound for nerve cells. I mean it kills them. toddlers and young children doesn’t have a blood brain barrier that works well so they will get the glutamate in to the brain. where as we adults filter most of it away.  So in theory you could get a brain-damaged especially in young years of your life if you use glutamine.
There are also other factors of the brains development that are not yet understood that indicates that glutamate is used differently buy young brains witch means that you might meddle with things you don’t know about when it comes to the development of the brain as well as killing braincells.
I think there is perhaps one company that sells expensive natural oligopeptid glutamine and that is called "glutimune". But I’m not sure if it is any better concerning this question.

/Johannes

I have read up a little. and it seems that you can get serious overdose brain damage from glutamine. read the article Glutamine: A Trojan Horse in Ammonia Neurotoxicity http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hep.21357/abstract
click on full article or download pdf it is free wikipedia the things you dont understand or google a more easy lesure reeding sight with the for example the words "neurotoxicity glutamine".
According to forums on the net 20-40 % of the glutamine you eat reaches the blood. So you can use that when you read the article when it comes to concentrations in the blood.
What to do if you overdose. Induce vomit, pump the stomach, contact medical personal.
something you can do by yourself is take taurine it counteracts som of the glutamate that glutamine produces.  http://www.integrativepsychiatry.net/natural_gaba.html
according to a book I have you can take 500 - 3000 mg taurine a day. 
a great book on mental health recovery scientificly. If you get brain damage that is. Is written by an Finlandish MD Matti Tolonen. ISBN: 9789525428179. It is in Swedish but if you get a hold of this MD he could help you on some levels I think but you could combine him with others opinions, just don't miss his opinion. I'm thinking of you with the twitching son. Try contacting him trough the publisher of his book:  Facile Publishing +358 40 503 6460 or +358 40 501 7640 or facinet(at)me(dot)com.
/Johannes

other (many) sources disagree and can support other evidence of l-glutamine's safety.  http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/43177-glutamine-and-neurotoxicity/

 another source: http://www.listen2yourgut.com/blog/l-glutamine-usage-with-children/

Here’s the result of my research and my personal opinion on the topic:

Kids with sickle cell anemia need higher amounts of L-glutamine. So this study assessed response/effects with a massive dosage of 600 mg of L-Glutamine per 1 kg of body weight. Which means, for example, that a child weighing 44 pounds would ingest 12,000 mg of L-Glutamine per day. Even at that very high dose, this study (below) on children as young as 5 years old showed no negative effects of supplementation.

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also on the same site - 

L-Glutamine is only a problem when you ingest MORE than your body needs, or can utilize. For anyone in a disease state, their requirements are going to be much higher since the body is engaged in ongoing repair of damaged tissue.

And just for another counter to the claim that L-Glutamine can cause mental retardation, I found a few studies done using L-Glutamine with Attention Deficit Disorder children, that show that supplementation INCREASES mental ability. Here’s one example:

STUDY #2:

“Intellectually impaired children and adults often show an increase in IQ after taking glutamine in combination with Ginkgo biloba and B6. Dr. Roger Williams demonstrated that children and adults diagnosed with ADHD showed a marked improvement when taking 250 mg to 1,000 mg of glutamine daily. Dr. C. Fredericks research also demonstrated a definite increase in the IQs of children given glutamine. When glutamine was given daily, children showed impressive improvements in their abilities to learn, to retain, and to recall. Glutamine is a major part of my orthomolecular program for hyperactive and ADHD children. Glutamine is one of the amino acids that create the neurotransmitters in the brain that enhance learning and memory. Hyperactive and ADD children have lowneurotransmitter levels, especially glutamine. Adding glutamine increases the level of neurotransmitters. Start with 500 mg of glutamine and gradually increase until you reach the optimal dose for your child, to a maximum of 3,000 mg per day.“
- ADD & ADHD Natural Control of ADD & ADHD
Billie J. Sahley, Ph.D., CNC

So, the best route, as always, is to “listen to your gut” – and more importantly, listen to your child’s gut. She/he will let you know if it’s good for him/her, or not. And if you want to follow pre-established limits, as evidenced in clinical trials, then these indicate that you can safely give your child anywhere from 3,000 – 10,000 mg per day (depending on the study).

(((WOW up to 10,000??!! - Angelina insertion)

Don’t forget, many health sites are purposely looking for information that they can present in a shocking or “groundbreaking” way – this increases their subscribers and also gets higher readership of their newsletters (thus driving more people to their site). So try to be discriminating and don’t over-react to new findings until you have done your research and put it into context. It may be 100% valid, and it may not.

[I couldn't agree with what she just said more...]

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Jini Patel Thompson’s books on natural healing for digestive diseases have sold in over 40 different countries. Her health articles have been published in journals and magazines in the U.S., Australia and U.K.

 

 

Now I personally would not and did not give my child that many mg a day!! only 125mg... it was merely a delivery agent for the AMP aloe mucilaginous polysaccharide I was giving her, which did absolute wonders for her bowel problems.  She is a super- bright, healthy 5 year old to this day - a bit spirited and dramatic, but smart as a whip with no signs of brain damage.  Well... except for those pesky sinus problems we all have here in the southeast...

I could go on with more sources, but it truly is conflicting and overwhelming, and hard to know what sources online to trust, as much as it is hard to find the right healthcare professional at all these days.  I hope that what happened to your child was NOT due to a poor unqualified practicioner, but I suppose that's a risk one takes when seeking out a professional to trust.   Sometimes I wonder if the internet is a blessing or a curse.