Our son was born healthy and happy. However, it became clear very quickly that something was wrong. He was not gaining weight despite a plentiful milk supply and frequent nursing. Then he experienced a vitamin K deficiency at 7 weeks old with bruise on his torso and ankle. We have hemophelia in our family history so I immediately thought that was going to be what was wrong. However, blood test showed nothing. His liver enzymes were off and we were sent home after much care and stabalization with vitamins and orders for many, many blood tests and a sweat test.

He was so small, they were unable to take the blood required for the DNA test (for CF) while also watching his liver (which was at the time more of a concern). Long story short, we eneded up in the hospital again after struggling to find answers and me finally demanding to be seen by head of GI. He now had protein deficiency from malabsorption along with a zinc deficiency rash and swelling. Our angel was a mess and we were at our wits end.

We were sent to our CF clinic and treated as if he had CF. I opted to be admitted rather than wean him since I was too concerned for his life at this point. We were admitted and immediately he began to turn around with the zinc supplement, enzymes, albumin transfusions, and extra calories via NG. After a week of recovery from malabsorption he finally gave enough sweat to get a confirmation of CF. Two weeks later we received the genetic confirmation as well.

Since that horrible start, he has gone from off the charts to about the 70% at the moment. This took a lot of time and patience. I was committed to breastfeeding him because of the incredible benefits but received very little support. I ignored them and carefully with my pediatricians, midwife's and La Leche League's support, went onto breastfeed him until he was 20 months, at which point he was at about the 15-20%.

We began doing tons of research and figuring out natural ways to support our son's health. I had always used natural therapies with our first daughter and myself so this was already familiar to us. We used a few homeopathic remedies which helped his first year of life. We had him on a probiotic since he was 7 weeks old. Once he stopped nursing we added DHA (200mg of Nordic Naturals liquid gels), at 18 months we started GSH, and we recently added tumeric.

He had cultured and was treated for (with inhaled TOBI) pseudomonas at 15 months. My husband had been researching GSH for quite some time and wanted to put him on it. I needed to catch up to him but agreed to try it in small doses and careful observation. We decided to go with inhaled only and see how he did.

Well, that was over a year ago (he is now 2 1/2) and we have been more than pleased. His appetite and weight gain have been markedly better. You can literally see the jump in his growth chart where we started him on it. He has continued to have a very sharp growth curve. They recently said we didn't need to add calories any more as he is doing so well.

He has not cultured PA since he was 15 months old and his staph culture was so low this last time it was considered a clear culture (a first). We hope to see this continue.

He goes through viruses very easily and has only been sick once this winter. We are out and around children all the time.

I believe GSH plays a major role in his health right now and have every hope it will continue to do so. I also believe it is one part of a preventative plan which includes whole, organic (whenever possible) foods rich in nutrients which are easy to absorb; appropriate vitamins and supplements; use of healthy fats rich in DHA and other good things; good gut ecology through probiotics and anti-inflammatory diet (which varies for each person); great lung care (GSH and vest every day 2x daily); clinic visits (check-ups, blood work, cultures); and a balanced life-style.

We also have a few great intergrative MD or DOs on our extended team of health care providers which are well versed in nutrition, supplemental care, and complimentary care such as acupuncture, cranio sacral manipulation, and other healing modalities at our disposal should he need it (thus far he has not).

We feel having a positive attitude and not allowing CF to run our lives really helps to create an environment of possibility rather than limits. We realize many factors contribute to health and well-being and feel very fortunate to have the community we have surrounding us. Creating health is not just a physical thing...it is taking care of the whole being -- mind, body, emotions, energy systems and all.

This is our experience. We hope more study will happen in the area of GSH and NAC to more clearly define this very important piece of the CF puzzle. We hope CF is downgraded from a disease to an inconvenience very soon.

Much health and happiness to you all.

The P's