This originally-private correspondence obviously has some general
interest, so here it is.  (Many thanks to davel for technical
assistance)

> From gracel Thu Feb 10 22:02:59 1994
> Subject: colic drops
> To: kami (kami landy)
> 
>       Are you familiar with colic drops?  The little you've
> said about Gareth's ills, and my little one with a (temporary, I
> hope) unhappy tummy, came together in my mind this evening.
> For Jonathan I had never heard of such a thing, I'm not sure if
> the stuff was over-the-counter.  It's just the baby version of
> simethicone, available in various brands, and *sometimes* it works
> like magic, night and day in just a very few minutes.  For real
> teething pain it is of course irrelevant -- and we went through
> a *lot* of acetaminophen before all the teeth came in.

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(Kami replied to this, but the reply was unfortunately not saved.
She expressed interest in more details.  Part of her reply is included
in what follows.)
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> From gracel Fri Feb 11 22:15:51 1994
> To: kami@grex.cyberspace.org (kami landy)
> > 
> > Gareth has never had any difficulty relieving himself of gas,
> > and seldom shows any relief from the sorts of manipulation that 
> > helped Tim.  Also, when it is teething pain, he tends to be fairly
> > quiet while being held- patient.  We try to use chamomile rather than
> > tylenol.
>  
> I was not good at figuring out what kind of pain they had -- about
> 20-60 hindsight, at best.  If mother's milk didn't settle it, and
> cuddling didn't help enough, my standard remedies were acetaminophen,
> vitamin C (tiny fragments broken off a chewable tablet), or the colic
> drops.  Colic drops had the advantage that they worked quickly, so I
> didn't have to wait half an hour to find that this *didn't* work.
> 
> > It may  be that part of his problem is just not wanting to be sleepy, and
> > I know that sometimes when I'm very tired it feels like various nerves fire
> > at random- little fits and starts- and a sort of oversensitivity.  He may
be > > experiencing something similar.  Who knows?.   >  > Something like that
was Paul's worst misery when he was reacting to > my diet, as transmitted
through my milk, before I figured out which > things to avoid (this took about
2 months to be fairly sure).  He was > tired to death, part of his body was
*very* sleepy, and his nerves (or > something) just would not turn off and let
him rest.  So he screamed. >  > > Still, I'd love to know more of  > > these
"colic drops": something like "beano"? Tim still reacts to various  > > kinds
of stress with gastric upset- I guess that's just his body's stress  > >
reaction. Are these things found at Meijers?  Hey- thanks for the  > >
information. Cheers! > >  > Actually, Meijers is about the cheapest place to
get it -- and price is > definitely a consideration, the stuff costs from $7 to
$14 for a one- > ounce bottle.  Many pharmacies have a house brand version,
fortunately. > I've no experience with Beano, but I thought I'd heard you
treated your > food with it, unlike this stuff. Simethicone, as I understand
it, works > directly on the food-in-process, reducing the surface tension or >
something, so bubbles dissolve (or something).  Anyway the infant  > version,
the drops, comes in a bottle with a dropper to be given > like baby vitamins or
baby Tylenol.  The only advertised-brand name > I can remember is Mylicon,
there's also an adult version of that in > pills to swallow.  Look for it with
Pepto-Bismol, Mylanta, that sort > of thing.
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> From davel Sat Feb 12 05:58:53 1994
> To: kami (kami landy)
> 
> Supposedly, Beano is an enzyme, and works by breaking down non-digestible
> sugars into digestible ones in the earlier parts of the digestive system,
> so that they're not left in the lower parts of the system, where gas-
> producing bacteria grow on them.  Simethicone, on the other hand, changes
> the way gas (produced in whatever way) behaves; supposedly the main
> thing is that it causes small gas bubbles to combine into large ones, which
> move along and out.  I think it affects surface tension, if I remember
> what I read.  They claim that it is in fact not absorbed into the blood
> stream and has no known side effects.

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> From kami Sat Feb 12 15:10:07 1994
> To: davel
> 
> neat! lets here it for kitchen chemistry...
> 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

> From kami Fri Feb 11 22:42:26 1994
> To: gracel
> 
> I'm definitely going to check out the colic drops.  Sound useful. 
> Odd thing I've found about homeopathic remedies: since they are in a sugar 
> base, they aren't unpleasant.  If the remedy I offer (they all look/smell 
> alike) is what is needed, Tim (and Gareth but maybe to a lesser extent) 
> will take it willingly.  So if I'm greeted with a closed mouth and turned 
> head, I don't fight
> I guess I just never learned to trust most pain relievers: too general, apt
to > mask useful symptoms.  Or maybe just New England stoicism.   > Hey- why
are we having this discussion here? shouldn't it be a new item in > "smalls"? 
Can you copy it there, if that seems like a good idea to you,  > please.

13 responses total.

This response has been erased.

Probably most of you already know, but there's also Lact-Aid, lactase
enzyme for the lactose-intolerant.  If you have problems with milk, you
may of course be allergic, but if you simply can't digest the lactose
(milk sugar) this can really make life easier.

I'm a bit cautious about relying on Lact-aid: CAN a milk tolerance be regained?
Will steady use of an artificial enzyme speed or impede this process? Will it
make it harder for me to figure out the whole range of food sensitivity? and
other such concerns.  Especially with a 4 year old, it seems easier to stick
to "no milk products at all" except for special occasions with strict parental
control.  I don't know much bio-chem.  Am I way out in left field?

This response has been erased.

I'm also no expert (though lactose-intolerant), and I'm not sure whether
when one is only slightly lactase-deficient one can increase function.
My gut reaction (sorry) is no, but I don't know.

Even in populations not prone to this problem, I believe, continued lactase
production depends at least somewhat on continuance of lactose in the diet.

And lactose intolerance is not the only condition associated with milk
products.  There's always the possibility of a true milk allergy,
where the protein is the problem instead of the sugar, and there are
other sensitivities.  Our seven-year-old can consume milk products
on any one day with no problem, and usually two days in a row, but
if he has them *three* days in a row he will have an authentic full-
fledged cold on the fourth day, which he will probably give to the
rest of the family.  So we habitually try to avoid milk for him, so
that he asks "Is this a milk day?"  (Goat's milk didn't seem to have
the same effect, by the way, but he's not that fond of it and it is
extremely expensive.)

This response has been erased.

My philosophy on things like Lact-Aid, or colic drops, or pain
relievers, is that I *don't* want to depend on them and expect to
"get away with" unwise behavior just because I can mitigate some of 
the consequences.  But I like to have such remedies on hand, especially 
in view of the inevitable occasions when hunger (or social obligation, 
&c) overrules "better judgment".

re:#8- exactly! I'm not sure Michael agrees: he prefers convenience to discipli
ne.  Actually, but I see convenience more in terms of long-range effects of 
current set-up: Timothy is 4.  How much judgement can I expect of him in the
face of pizza or ice-cream? :}; easier to give him an absolute rule and keep
the privilege of making exceptions for myself.

Absolutely.  But sooner or later he's going to have to learn that actions
have consequences, & that he's responsible for his choices.  Four is **way**
to early to learn it about something whose consequences are as delayed
as with lactose intolerance - not too young to start having it pointed out
to him, just too young to be responsible for being wise & disciplined, I
mean.  Kids are going to vary a lot in this, too.  Jonathan regularly
amazes me with his willingness to let Grace or me check before he eats,
on his own initiative; he's by no means perfect on it, but much closer to
always than to never, I think - astounding to me in a 6-year-old.  (But
plainly the existence of a very uniform rule helps him in that - he's not
nearly so disciplined in dealing with other kinds of things.)

bingo.  also, the consequences are sufficient to make him prefer the difficult
self control.

It helps Jonathan, I'm sure, that he's obviously not the only one
practicing this kind of self-discipline in food avoidance.  He may
be the only one in his first-grade classroom, but even before we
knew *he* had problems he was hearing "No, we won't buy that, it
has corn in it and your Daddy wouldn't be able to eat it."  He sees
Dave not eating treats in social situations -- he also sees and
hears Dave sometimes choosing to eat what he should not, and Dave
complaining thereafter of his sufferings!  I try not to flaunt my
own happy ability to eat anything, though he voluntarily gave me
about half of his Valentines Day candy from school after bringing
it to me for advice on what would be "safe".

lovely.  I was trying not to bring home stuff that we couldn't all eat, but the
constant back aches and occasional yeast infections, along with a complete 
inability to remember vitamins-with-meals convinced me to start getting milk 
and yogurt again.  Michael doesn't care and Timothy is mildly curious. 

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