Rashes are easy to see but what about behavioural changes?

[Elf]

DS is nearly three and has many allergies which are easy to spot but a York Test showed up LOADS of intolerances.

I know some effects can be rashes and all sorts of things but I wondered if anyone can put down certain behavioural changes in their child to a problem food. I don't just mean sugar and chocolate causing a bit of hyperactivity but something less obvious perhaps.

I suppose I'm wondering if say there is 3% cows milk in some battered fish, or a food he may have an intolerance against, could cause coughing or wildness for instance.

Hope I have been clear enough, I'd love to hear your experiences. Thanks.

DS1 is autistic and reacts behaviourally very badly to certain foods (peanut butter - pure organic nothing else in it- caused massive headbanging for example).

I used ot have a chart you could use to track behavioural changes following food introduction. I may be able to get it back on this computer (although maybe not until Jan) you'd be welcome to have a copy.

oh meant to say that ds3, who isn't autistic, but has the same gut problems as ds1 also reacts behaviourally to food.

I'm not sure I'd rely on the York tests.

I agree with jimjams that one of the best ways to track food problems is via a food diary (which is a right pain to fill in but can really help give you clues as to what is going on!).

I too have a child that has 'proper' allergies but has some gut reactions to other foods that she isn't officially allergic to. It took me a while to figure them out though!

My DD has cows milk protein intolerance. She spent the first 15 weeks of her life screaming incessantly due to it. We believe it gave her stomach cramps (as well as nappy rash and constant diarrhoea, but no other rashes). Me giving up dairy (she's breastfed) changed her mood within a couple of days.

Jimjams2 the chart sounds very useful, I guess I could make my own but if you think your one could be much better I'd love a copy. How would you get it to me?

Foxinsocks what are the gut reactions? Do you mean diarrohea etc?

Thanks the replies so far.

I'd email it. I have it on disk- but currently have no disk drive, once I can get back down to the university I could get it on there then email to myself. DH may be able to do it from work...... if I can find the disk!

Great. Do you know how I can give you my email address without telling the world? (I'm sure they all want to write to me.)

yep you can CAT me Hang on a sec though I'll just google and see if there are any out there.

Elf, DS was a very placid baby, was a late crawler, a late walker and by the time he was 2.5 years old we were very worried about his develpment as he walked as an 18m old.

Then he had a York Test for intolerances which showed, among other things, that he was very intolerant to milk. We were aware of this test being unreliable so we ordered RAST tests for the things that he was most intolerant to (+4), but cut out milk in the mean time.

The change within 2 weeks was beyond belief, he was very very active, apparently cows milk sedates him (again, between other things). And the RAST test confirmed as allergies most of the things the York test had pointed out as offending +4 foods).

We have also seen a change in behaviour when we removed wheat from his diet, he just went ballistic over the weekend when we did it. Before that I would have hardly believed he was allergic to wheat.

Wow, very interesting Chandra, thank you for telling me about your ds. I find it such a huge area.

DS1(now 8) had some food allergies as a baby, but they were never identified - he is generally atopic and had baby eczema, vomited a lot and has mild asthma. He grew out of the allergies in so far as he stopped getting hives and facial eczema. However.......as we widened his diet, no longer scared about allergic reactions, his behaviour deteriorated. We undertook a strict elimination diet and found out he is intolerant to salicylates as well as lots of artificial flavourings, preservatives etc.

Some of the behaviours we see with 'bad' food:
stomach aches, night waking, bad dreams
daytime 'damp pants'
persistent cough and runny nose
random loose stools
chewing clothes or mouthing objects
extreme irritability and poor impulse control
foggy brain - inability to remember maths facts, for example
poor appetite and excessive thirst
fidgeting and hyper behaviour
repeating catch phrases, so I guess a mild verbal tic (one of these was 'big fat chicken')

He is very angry and cross at the moment because I have let him have lots of Christmas party food and it is building up. He needs to detox now!

P.S. DS's york test showed an intolerance to 97 of the 113 foods tested. Half of them are graded +3 & +4.

I had great hopes for this to be a mistake but test was repeated and results confirmed. Although we didn't test for all those foods in a RAST test, many of those we tested had a ridiculously high grade too(For egg he has 72 KU/L when the reference limit is 0.35 KU/L but we have not been able to clearly point out a reaction to it, although on advice of the allergician we carry an epipen as we are not sure if or when this could take a turn for the worse ). So, who knows?

Singersgirl and Chandra, I haven't time to write properly tonight but Iwant to get back to you tomorrow - Chandra, my ds had a very similar York Test result and Singersgirl my ds has a couple of similar behavioural things. Will be in touch.

Chandra, my ds is nearly 3 and it was about six months ago that we did the York Test. The (awful) nutritionist who we did it through said it was the worst result she had seen. Dh thinks it's all a load of baloney and that we can't do much about it anyway but I just worry about the intolerances because I am not sure of their effects on DS hence my thread. We did put ds on a diet of only things he was ok with for about a week but it was so restrictive and hideous as you know/can imagine. There was no obvious effect in just a week. I would like to take out gluten from his diet but don't think dh would go for it. I was just interested that your ds had had such a result as well. Did you take out any of the intolerance food from his diet? It's hard to know where to start when it's so many isn't it? I know you took out dairy, (ds doesn't have dairy either) but what about carrots and things!?

Singersgirl, it was the low impulse control which struck me, because that is ds to a T. I haven't been able to put it down to one particular thing though. I haven't done a chart thing.

We have removed from his diet any offending food scoring +4 and those with a +3 that were confirmed as allergies by the other tests. Otherwise I think he should have to live in prescription suplements, if we were to avoid everything that was shown in the test in the red column he would have to live on Blackcurrants, meats and mushrooms. He seems fine.

The things we're avoiding to perfection are dairy, eggs, soya, fish, nuts, kiwi, and wheat. He doesn't eat lentils, peas, sesame, bananas or kiwi either as he comes out with a rash or vomit afterwards, but may be OK in tiny quantities.

If I were you, I wouldn't take the York test to the letter, it is really not very reliable. What about starting by removing one of those foods that a) scored +4 and B)you have identified a reaction to them, for 2 weeks and see what happens?

It may give you some time to adjust to the new diet, removing too many things at the same time can be a bit overwhelming.

Gosh Chandra, it is so interesting for me to hear about your ds because I am so used to my ds being 'different'. My ds can't eat beans of any kind ie baked beans. He's ok with white fish but not most others. We are/were quite vegetarian but have introduced chicken for ds for variety for him.

I wonder if you could tell me a few of the dishes you cook for your ds, I find it quite difficult especially the double whammy of dairy and soya. All those of staples for easy suppers ie beans on toast, egg on toast, sardines on toast - completely out the window of course.

Elf, I have all my family visiting during this days but as soon as they are back I'll post some recipes

Apart of egg, soya, dairy and glutten what else does he needs to avoid?

i find that lack of water makes me incredibly irritable and anxious. Im also intolerant to dairy products and they can cause severe wheezing and coughing. Last year I completely cut out all dairy and didnt have hayfever at all. This year on holiday in Ireland I had quite a bit of dairy and went though my hayfever inhaler in 3 weeks!

I used to be allergic to a lot of foods, although everything except cows milk now shows up only as a half reaction.

The only rash I ever had was to tomatoes, around my mouth. Everything else was not visible to other people, which led to a lot of comments along the lines of my doctor being a charleton, and me being a gullible idiot. (despite allergies showing on skin tests)

like jampots, I also get the sneezing from cows milk.
other symptoms from assorted allergies included:
headaches
aching limbs
mental confusion
pmt
tiredness
weakness
"glass wall" feeling

to this day, Im not sure if depression was also a symptom, or if it was a result of the other symptoms!
It may have been a genuine symptom, because it did disappear about the same time that the allergies did.