Can anyone talk to be about links between children's behvioural problems and food intolerances.....?

[mollyroger]

...? Not sure whether this should be in behaviour or allergies or what really...

ds is 8 and has always had a volcanic temper, which is getting him into serious trouble at school. I am just exploring all possible avenues as there doesn't seem to be any tangible reason for his behaviour, no obvious triggers. He is happy and secure at home, well-behaved and polite. But just EXPLODES sometimes and loses it totally. Other children have been hurt....

He is a mouth-breather, a snorer, always bunged up and ear-nose-throaty, and one or two people have suggested milk intolerance.

I just don't know enough about it.

Hello

From my own experience (milk intolerant) I found replacing all dairy in my diet really helped me feel comfortable. I've always found myself bunged up etc and sometimes it can leave me feeling quite sick so I'm much happier now I'm dairy free

I also work with an autistic lady who has an intolerance to wheat. If she has bread etc she gets v bloated and uncomfortable and usually ends up lashing out at those around her because she can't express verbally how uncomfortable shes feeling or possibly even understand why?

There's loads of info around on the net and I think it's possible to get a food intolerance test done at your local GP or clinic? Not 100% on that one but there are tests etc out there

I truly believe that there is a very strong link between behaviour and food intolerance.

DSD is allergic to a couple of things and intolerant to loads. As she is now much older she can identify feeling very agitated if she has eaten foods she is intolerant to. She gets tired of being bunged up and sniffly, also stomach bloating from some foods can put her in a hideous mood. This lends itself to mood swings and irritability, arguments and sulkyness.

Put it this way, go out to dinner and eat too much, way way too much, make yourself feel like you are fit to burst - now tell me, are you agreeable and good fun to be with? Hmmmm, I have to really remind myself of this feeling when I am climbing the walls!

I have recently found out I am very wheat intolerant - been wheat free for a couple of months, then made a mistake.

All of my symptoms returned (aches, fatique, bloating) as well as a TERRIBLE temper. To the point where DH and I looked at each other and went....ahhh that was where my foul moods had disappeared to.

Like severe pmt (which I have had as well).

I think it is more than; feeling ill therefore grumpy but more to do with some moodchanging hormones (god I should be a scientist )

hope you get to the bottom of it.

Nooki, how did you diagnose it was wheat? I work 4 days have one DD and two SDDs. It has been a shite year to say the least. I am tired, grumpy, inactive and sad. I am just stressed or do you think I could try to avoid some food groups. I don't think I have ever felt so grumpy, it is like there is an itch I cannot scratch, feel on edge all the time and 24 hour pmt. Am I just a knackered working Mum or could i try to help myself better?

Sorry for the hijack.

We would always look at childrens diet when faced with behavioural problems.

bluebumedfly

I has taken about a long time to get to it, I was getting HUGE after eating (got asked so many times when I was due it stopped upsetting me!)

And had backpain. joint pain, grumps, also I had/have ME. (which I had for two years a couple of years back as well)

Eventually I stopped eating wheat for a trial period of about 10 days, and many of the symptoms went. I then tried a bit of bread and my stomach went huge. SO apart from the one of mistake I haven't had it since.

My ME symptoms are gradually going, interesting it flared up horrendously after eating wheat by mistake. I have also been diagnosised as a coeliac (gluten intolerant) the two are different but often people have both. Some coeliacs can tolerate wheat (I tried gluten free wheat, hence my mistake!)

If you do cut it out temporarily I was told you have to be really strict to get a true result. And that can take a bit of getting used to.

Hope you find out what is making you feel rubbish. My mum has discovered she is allergic to and was never all that ill but like you 'under par'.

good luck

Thanks Nooki, you have hit the nail on the head with the 'under par' thing. For the sake of 10 days I am going to give it a try!!

My DS has a host of severe allergies and on occassion we have to spend a day at hosp where they feed him one of his known allergens to see if he has grown out of it ( some allergies do disappear as people get older). He usually has an allergic response in the hospital (swelling, blood pressure and hives)and the only behavioural reaction I have noticed is hyperactivity but he is pone to this anyway.

bluebumed - let us know how you get on

My daughter (coeliac) had terrible tantrums until we cut out gluten, then they just disappeared after a day or so. Even now she has severe PMT-like symptoms after a tiny bit of gluten.

She just 'cracked up', screamed, shouted, threw herself on the floor then sobbed for a looong time after. There never needed to be a reason, although any reason would do as well. It was really hard to understand, and she was starting to get a reputation - nursery nurses were starting to avoid having her in thier group etc! She was never really violent though, but still very disrupting. People were starting to smile smugly, comparing thier children to her, or make comments about my being 'too soft on her'.

I always try to think of it by likening it to how we feel when we have had BAD toothache for a few days + a nasty bout of PMT - any understanding of what is happening.

I suspect school would have been referring her to educational psychologists etc if we hadn't found that gluten was the problem.

Its definitely worth exploring the possibility of food intolerances.

good luck!

Before my son was diagnosed coeliac he developed terrible moods which we put down to becoming a teenager. After diagnosis and going glutenfree his sunny disposition returned (despite being a teenager!).

I am also involved with a children's group. One child was on the verge of permanent expulsion and his mother had to regularly collect him from school before lunchtime as the school just wanted him removed. I suggested she keep a food diary to try to identify what he ate on the worst days. Against all rational assumptions he was being aggressive (he did actually knock other children to the ground) and disruptive on days when he had Weetabix for breakfast (as opposed to days he had Corn Flakes when you would expect the sugar to be affecting him). She removed all wheat from his diet and the problem disappeared. With another child milk was the problem.

Try keeping a food diary and see if you can identify a pattern. If you can then try removing foods one at a time for two weeks before reintroducing it to test the reaction. Good luck!

Sorry - should have added that children often crave the foods that are causing them the probems so if there is something he eats a lot of you could try removing that first.

Speaking from personal experience here - milk makes me stuffed up, and gives me a terrible cough. I am OK with cheese and yoghurt though, so its lactose that's the problem and enough of it is changed by the process of making it into cheese or yoghurt so that I can have them.

However, I am violently allergic to chocolate. I've never been 'tested' as such, but my parents always wondered why they brought home a monster after taking such a nice little girl to parties - found out what it was when I was 5. Throughout childhood I managed to 'get away' with the odd bit - although my mother could always tell when I had had some as my face got a bit swollen. However, I have not had any chocolate now for 12 years - the last piece I had (1/2 a thornton's truffle, so not even very much) had so drastic an effect I've not dared have any since then, despite craving it. The only description I can give of its effect upon me is that someone else takes over - its no longer me - and I'm really not keen on the other person or what they do!

Hope you track something down that helps

molly
my son has ASD and was very very aggressive and angry until we changed his diet.
We removed gluten and dairy and the effect on him was astonishing.
Funnily enough because we ALL removed wheat and dairy in order to reduce the risk of him eating something he shouldn't we were able to see that actually it affected all of us to some extent.
This was particularly annoying for me as I didn't particularly hold to this whole lentil weavy notion linking food and behaviour and as I really like dairy.

I would look at the hyperactivity support sites who will tend to focus on the removal of additives and reducing sugar. also look at books like the food and mood book which talks about identifying intolerances.
Try and use a food diary and then exclusion rather than other tests.
Have to also reiterate what a previous poster said - children will actively persue the foods they struggle withthe most.
When I discovered that DS2 had problems his entire diet was chicken nuggets,pasta, bread, ice cream, cheerios and baby yogurts. He self limited to the worst possible foods and was endlessly violent until I removed them