…then this HTMA bundle is for you.
This is my favourite test for children with learning or behaviour issues because it’s needle free, 99.9% accurate and tells us SO MUCH because whatever is in the bloodstream exits the body into the hair.
This is for moms who want to address the root cause of what’s going on and feel stuck and overwhelmed with all the options with learning interventions and natural and functional medicine protocols.
The HTMA offers an incredible window into your child’s biochemistry – and therefore brain chemistry. This test is so much more than knowing which minerals are high or low; it also reveals your child’s detox ability and if they are toxic in heavy metals.
Minerals are the spark plugs for body and brain chemistry. They are the precursors to create neurotransmitters like GABA and acetylcholine which are often low in children with learning and behaviour issues.
Kids with learning and behaviour issues are often deficient in minerals needed for self-regulation and learning. For example, zinc is notoriously related to learning issues as well as ADHD and anxiety. We say ‘zinc makes you think’ for a reason.
Without proper mineral balance, you’ll always be stuck on the hamster wheel of therapies, tutoring and supplements and even medication.
It’s also not uncommon for these kids to have elevated minerals like copper which has been linked to a variety of psychiatric symptoms as well as learning impairments.
Imagine trying to out supplement or out-tutor these underlying factors.
You can’t.
Minerals are also needed to detox and specific mineral ratios can tell us how well your child’s body is able to detoxify – which brings me to another very key area of HTMA testing – heavy metals.
Our kids are more toxic than any other generation so it’s no surprise they are struggling more with health and development than ever before. In fact, this alone is what drew me to HTMA since kids with learning and behaviour challenges consistently test higher for heavy metals compared to their neurotypical peers.
HTMA can reveal the presence and levels of specific heavy metals like lead, aluminum, mercury, cadmium etc. which can accumulate in the body and have devastating effects on the brain and body. Metals create inflammation in the body which is responsible for most of the underlying issues our children are dealing with. Poor learning and focus, aggression, speech issues, learning impairments and diagnoses like ASD.
The best private schools, tutors and OT’s can’t help your child overcome a learning challenge if heavy metals are at play. Behaviour plans and medication will only mask the symptoms that are being caused by a deeper underlying imbalance. Heavy metals hinder brain development and neuroplasticity which is why kids stay stuck in tutpring, speech therapy, integrating reflexes etc.
And high levels of toxic metals are directly linked to cognitive impairments as well as mimicking psychiatric disorders.
Even more interesting is that mineral deficiencies result in heavy metals being deposited where healthy minerals should be. For example, selenium detoxes aluminum but when there is insufficient selenium, toxic metals like aluminum are more likely to be deposited in the tissue.
To make matters worse, when people learn they have heavy metals, they usually try to detox before optimizing minerals which can result in detox reactions that further deplete minerals and aggravate symptoms.
HTMAs can help us determine if your child had a past or current exposure to toxic metals, how to mitigate this and support the body’s ability to gently detoxify.
So often, moms pursue natural or functional medicine with great expectations and become frustrated when their kids get worse from parasite protocols and heavy metal detoxes.
Then we do an HTMA and it reveals their nervous system is dysregulated and they don’t have the capacity to handle a detox. Nourishing the body and building up the foundation must come first in this case rather than trying to push the body to use resources it doesn’t have to get rid of something.
Detoxes and killing pathogens all demand more minerals and energy from the body and this is why we need to know where to start.
When the body is nutrient and mineral depleted and the nervous system is dysregulated we need to REGULATE and BUILD before we ask the body to do more.
Mineral ratios or the relationships between minerals known as ratios are often more telling than individual mineral levels. That’s because specific ratios correlate to specific glands or states.
Many children with ADHD and learning difficulties have stressed adrenals and sub-clinical thyroid issues which is revealed through the magnesium to sodium ratio for the adrenals and the calcium to potassium ratio for the thyroid.
When the sodium to potassium ratio or adrenal ratio is low – your child is going to have a hard time regulating their emotions, they’ll feel tired, cranky, anxious and prone to behaviour issues. They will be more prone to food allergies and have a hard time fighting infections. In a nutshell, they will have little resilience to all stress.
This is how the HTMA can reveal if your child is stuck in fight-or-flight and why detoxes and parasite protocols will just further deplete their minerals and exasperate their stress response.
Due to modern farming, soil erosion, food transportation which depletes minerals, poor gut health which leads to low absorption, our toxic environment and high stress lifestyles – our minerals are severely depleted. Other factors such as certain medications, bacterial or viral infections or more recently – covid – can also severely deplete minerals.
Too often moms are doing a guessing game of hoping they are using the right mineral based on something they have read like using magnesium as a relaxant or zinc for focus but minerals should never be taken in isolation since this will deplete other minerals that are antagonistic which is why you end up in a loop of constantly chasing symptoms and trying new supplements.
HTMA is a non-invasive laboratory test that is 99.9% accurate. A small hair sample is collected to evaluate your body’s mineral levels and ratios as well as the presence of heavy metals. Because hair is a bodily tissue, it shows the body’s minerals and metals over a three month period unlike blood, saliva and urine tests which only provide a snapshot of the body’s state on the day of the test. This test ultimately provides critical information into your unique biochemistry and therefore brain chemistry.
From these results and your intake forms, I can help you understand what’s really going on in the body and brain that is contributing to symptoms or not making progress with interventions that you’ve tried.
From there I create a customized plan with recommendations on how you can safely, sanely and effectively balance minerals, improve organ function, detox and overall vitality and optimize brain function so that your child can have the best brain possible. This is how we optimize learning and behaviour.