new to this allergy stuff, could you give me the basics please?

[dissle]

It started with ABs, amoxill liquid.
Ds was uncontrollable with his behaviour.
destructive, aggressive, uncontrollable.

Penny dropped!

My boy has always had behaviour "issues"

I have stopped all fruit juices, he has milk or water only.
No sweets for 3 days now.

A different child today.

So what else should i be monitoring, what am i looking out for in particular?

Is this usual for there to be such a fast imporovement or is it coincidental do you think?

All advice welcome.
(ps he has never ever had a fruit shoot before you ask.)

My sister used to have awful problems with her son - turned out to be certain food colourings. The GP was useless as he didn't believe that food additives were a problem, so my sister kept a food diary and worked out what the main culprits were herself.

Children's medicines are awash with artificial flavourings and colourings, and she found her son was dreadful whenever he was prescribed any form of medication. She found a pharmacist who was happy to make her up colouring- and flavouring-free medicines whenever her son was prescribed anything - it would be worth finding out if either your GP could prescribe these next time, or if your pharmacist would be happy to make them up.

She found that her son improved very quickly once she stopped giving him the things which set him off.

orange colourings are noted for being bad. There is a list of the "dirty dozen" here www.organix.com/Content/Who-We-Are/What-We-Campaign-For/The-Dirty-Dozen/Campaign-Details

o r read the allergy bible (available on amazon).

Food takes up to 4 days to leave the system but as levels of whatever is bothering him drops you'd see an improvement. The only way to really test what it is involves reintroducing the food and see if he gets worse.

Thanks for that, i will look up those web sites.
I really really do not want to re introduce the foods. It had become so bad that me and dh were taking it in 2 hourly shifts to look after him, neither of us could cope for more than that.

Cant go back to that.
Thanks again.

The problem is that there may be a multitude of different things causing the problem (or not!), the only thing I can recommend is to concentrate in avoiding sugar (like in undiluted fruit juices, sweets, cakes!, etc.) and, keeping a food/reaction diary.

And then, once you have identified other "culprits" take the time to remove them one by one (and re introduce them if you see no change) and to find adequate replacers (in terms of nutritional content and flavour).

your child doesn't need sweets or masses of sugar but it would be a shame to keep them away from all fruit juices. Orange colourings and food aditives are common problems but fresh fruit or juice would be unusual.

Funny you should say that tatt, ive bought some of that 100% smoothy stuff and have added some water to it and he loves it.

Ive found some sweeties in M&S that are additive, colour free so we will trial those.

It just cant be a coincidence, he is calmer, better behaved and more rational and open to distraction. This is day 4 now.
He does have the occasional outburst but that is due to frustration reather thatn for no apparent reason!

Im now obsessed with ingredients. There are even E's in Lloyds own paracetamol. Can i get some with nothing added?

Can you suggest any other treat type foods which are free from crud?

There are E numbers in Calpol, Tartrazine even!

according to this morning snorting urine helps (if I heard trailer right!)

You'd have to ask a pharmacist. My information is mostly second hand and we never discussed what the mums did for medicines.

Chocolate isn't bad for treats.

Some e-numbers are derived from vitamin sources and are good for us.

(taken from optimum nutrition for babies and samll children) the good ones are:

Colourings - E101 and E160 (riboflavin and carotene)
Antioxidants: E300-E304 and E306-E309 (Ascorbates and Tocopherols)
Emulsifiers,
Stabilisers
and also: E322, E375 and E440 (Lecithin, Nicotinic Acid and Pectin)

The books is written by a nutritionist so i'm assuming this is right, not looked into it myself though.

It sounds like your DS didn't have allergies but was high on too much sugar from sweets & juices.

No, i disagree.
He doesnt have sweets often and i just bought juice for me as it was on offer. He only very occasionally has juice and i restrict his sweet intake.
he had those small packs of Haribos.
No, this behaviour was extreme, not a "high" but extreme agression, destructiveness and out of control awkwardness/naughtiness.

I have no idea about allergies but i know that this wasnt a "high", it was a reaction of some desctiption.

Quoting your op:

"I have stopped all fruit juices, he has milk or water only. No sweets for 3 days now.
A different child today."

Even without the reference to "no sweets", I can tell you that "destructive, aggressive, uncontrollable" behaviour is not the way allergic reactions manifest themselves.

You might have better answers from the 'Health' board.

no they aren't the symptoms of an allergy. However a relationship between behaviour problems and food aditives isn't that unusual and might be classed as an intolerance. No child needs additives in their diet and it does no harm to omit them.

went on the health board and was advised to come on the allergies board.

I dont know, i suppose that i am just trying to make sense of it all, thinking out loud really.
As you say it isnt an allergic reaction as such but i know that it just isnt right and the only thing that i can put it down to is additives. Cant put my finger on it.
It may well be coincidental, but his behaviour is just so different, it was extreme.
There are a million reasons for such awful behaviour and i have gone through each reason and crossed them off as not possible.
I have read about behavioral problems when children consume crud and so i have just taken steps to reduce it from his diet.
i would still welcome advice from any one who has some experience in this.

dissle, I am sorry you haven't found any answers yet. I know a bit about allergies (unfortunately) because I am highly allergic to a number of substances and was hospitalized once with fear for my life. I can tell you with near certainty that what you are describing is not an allergic reaction. It sounds like it might be some kind of intolerance.

People with allergies are told to keep a diary of exactly what they eat and when. Omit all suspected foods from his diet for a couple of weeks, then reintroduce them one at a time and try to see which food/additive is causing the strange behaviour.

Alternatively, just to put your mind at ease, you can put him on an over the counter antihistamine (allergy medication) for a while and see if that changes anything. Antihistamines are harmless, assuming they are not used for a very lond time.

the other place you would get good advice (probably better than here) is the special needs board. Don't be frightened of the term - lots of children with special needs are made worse by diet. The other thing that commonly helps is a fish oil supplement. My experience is mostly second hand but I have seen children change dramatically for the better.

Thanks, he is on omega suppliments and has been for a couple of years.
This whole experience has made me awfully paranoid about ingredients!
We have been to 2 party's and each one ive taken a bottle of water and filled his cup before the juice has got to him, and taken sweeties off him and accidentally "lost" them...what a cow i am.
I'm anxious and worried before we even get any where about what they will give him.
luckily i manage to keep it under wrapps so he doesnt realise BUT its tough bieng a cow mother.

you're not being a bad mother, you're being a good one. Feeding your child things that harm him is not love. If depriving him of sweets bothers you, swap them for some other treat - a small toy or a colouring book.