Not sure where to go for answer to this question.....

[wailingsage]

My son, who is 12, and I are doing Atkins. His is somewhat modified. He stays around under 30 carbs and is not as strictly monitored as mine. He is about 5'7- 5'8 and currently weighs 204, he started at 226. He also was diagnosed with epilepsy last year at this time, and takes Zonegran, 400 milligrams. He recently started playing football on his jr high school team and I have noticed that he is bruising extremely easily and badly. He has played football in a league since he was 5 and has never bruised like this.... is this due to the low carb diet or possibly a side a effect of the medication that he is taking? My father was on Atkins and said that he was bruising easily also, but he also takes blood thinners for a heart condition and bruises easily due to that. Can anyone help me answer this? Thanks.

[Matt]

ive heard from several people that are LCing that they bruise easily, i know i do.

[Diana]

I am actually the opposite. I used to bruise before. Now I don't. I fugured it was from vitamins and the iron I was taking

[lkmjbc3]

I also bruise easily and it was worse when I was losing weight.

I would suggest changing your childs diet. I would suggest taking him up to 60 grams per day during football. Make sure the carbs come from vegetable and low glycemic fruits. I would also make sure he takes a good multivitamin.

I would also consider a potasium(spelling?) supplement. Morton's "lite" table salt sprinkled over food will do.

The main idea is to not worry about weight loss during football. The exercise and muscle building should come first. After football go ahead and drop back down to 30 grams per day.

lkmjbc3

[CarolynF]

I would definitely take a good multi as well as Vitamin C..for bruising..

My ds plays highschool football..is not a lowcarber..but I would
definitely not worry about the carbs during football..Cut out the
junk, sweets, etc..and go with the basics...

We feed our players..and the ideal meal for before a game is
lowfat/lowprotein/high carbs..(like pasta, bread)..and NO SUGAR.

My son drinks a great protein shake called Muscle Milk..and
you can get it on-line at Netrition..this market place..It is wonderful..with lots of good protein building stuff..and the
carbs are pretty low because there is not alot of sugar in it..

Good luck...and congrats on his weight loss...It will definitely
help his playing.

[FreeIndeed]

This is a hard question because ketogenic diets are supposed to be helpful for a very large percentage of children with epilepsy. I wouldn't even begin to give you advice one way or the other about how to adjust his diet.

I can only recommend that you go to a search engine and do a search on the contraindications of Zonegran to see if bruising easily is a side effect of that medication.

Or you might try calling your local pharmacy and asking the pharmacist if it is a side affect. It has been my experience that pharmacists usually know more about drugs and side effects that even the doctor prescribing the medicine.

Perhaps a search on the internet about the different causes of bruising too easily. I like ask.com because you can type in whole sentences there like "how come someone bruises easily."

And of course ask your doctor too. I hope he or she is not opposed to low carb dieting though because in that case, you'll barely get the words "low carb" out of your mouth and their answered will probably be biased.

Looking forward to the Atkins Nutrionalist's answer. I don't bruise easily at all on low carb or not and have no idea really except to admit that I am totally ignorant on this subject.

[Atkins_Nutritionist]

This is most likely due to the medications. You should speak to his doctor about this.

[susies1955]

I almost never bruised before starting Atkins and now it happens quite a bit.
Susie

[Lisa Rae]

Was going to say Check with his doctor. My son who is 11 has been doing maintenence levels for 4 years (with the blessings of his doctor) I am a big bruiser..which tends to go with those of us fair skinned. My son however is 1/2 cuban..and is more a medium color. He has always been a bruiser..and thus I asked his doctor if there was any concerns. I forgot what they look for..but to rule out a health problem..they checked for something (sorry..this was 4 years ago..can't remember exactly what they check for) when he got his blood tests done. He was fine..and the doctor said to not worry...he just got more my skin sensitivity then his dads.

[wailingsage]

Thanks to everyone for your advice. I do have him on a multivitamin and have been way more leniant (sp?) since he has been in football. He goes to his neurologist on Thursday, I will talk to him. Getting him to eat more carb foods is very difficult, since he has had a weight problem since he was 4, and has found that this WOL works, he is very "addicted" to it. His regular dr is a low carber and is good with it. I will definately do the Morton lite table salt. Thanks for the info on the Muscle Milk.

I haven't posted here before, but do read the posts from time to time, you are all very helpful and knowledgeable. My sister and I are both doing Atkins... she has hit her first goal of 299, she started at 342. I have lost about 45 lbs...Not sure where I was when I started, I feared scales, probably at 385- 390, I'm now down to 341 pushing for my first goal of 299 by January.

[Linny]

I also bruise very easily. I just reinducted 2 weeks ago today and I have 3 very large bruises on my legs that I have no idea where they came from nor do they hurt like the bruises you get when you bump yourself. I think it happen to me when I lose suddenly!

[Atkins_Nutritionist]

Good luck! I am happy to hear that Atkins is a way of eating for you and your family.

Please keep us posted on your/his progress.

[MaryMary]

When I asked my doctor about my bruising, she said that when dieting and losing fat, the vessels that bruise are closer to the skin with less fat to protect them and that it can happen on most any weight loss plan. She said not to worry as my blood work came back okay.

Anyway, it made sense. If other things change in my life, like fatigue, etc. in addition to the bruising, then I am to contact her. Once about 10 years ago, I was so tired all the time and called her to ask her to sign me out of work for a couple of days, well, she ran some blood tests and told me to stay in bed until my blood work normalized. It was some kind of blood condition where my sed rate was real high, and she said if I had bruised, I could endanger myself. So I had to stay home for about 3 weeks. Haven't had that problem since then, but I wasn't on a diet then, in fact, I was eating junk and gaining weight then.