Friday, June 26, 2009

Food Allergies, ADHD and life in the real world

Anyone that has a child with ADD or ADHD knows what its like to have a child that you know is bright, sweet and full of life trapped in a hyperactive, unfocused crazy person. Its distressing to see glimmers of that child but never for long. About a year ago I discovered that my son's seemingly out of control behavior was caused by food allergies. What led me to this discovery was nothing short of a miracle. I was at the library with my daughters and stood in an aisle waiting for them to find a book they were looking for. I turned around in the small space and of all the books there, what caught my eye was Twelve Effective Ways to Help Your ADD/ADHD Child: Drug-Free Alternatives for Attention-Deficit Disorders
Flipping through the book I knew in my heart that this was what was happening with my child. For years I had watched certain foods or meals seem to trigger insane reactions with my son that didn't make sense. Sleepless nights after a piece of candy, dark circles under his eyes after pizza, bouts with intestinal cramping, mood swings, hyper activity, lack of focus. So many different things that seemed to disappear when his menu was simpler and involved a week of eating at home. I devoured the book that day and was convinced that a common foods elimination diet was how I should start. I explained to him what we were going to do and why and we set the date to begin. It was challenging at first. The withdrawal symptoms alone were horrible. But after two weeks a new child emerged. The boy I always knew was there. I was thrilled. HE was thrilled. He felt better, slept better, looked better and most of all we had better school days and less behavior problems. But then came the BIGGEST problem of all...implementing this in our daily life...

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