MY 8 year old has been to a Naturopath and food tested.

[maltesers]

My son went with his dad this weekend to see an allergy testing specialist... i think she is a Naturopath and they found out after testing different foods on him that he cannot have Chocolate, Pasta, Fizzy drinks, Hard cheese and a few others. I plan to take him back soon to dicover more and see what else he reacts badly too. We think he may have mild ADHD but can this be food related? Can it be the food causing him to be difficult, badly behaved and not listeningand paying attention to his teacher, me, Dad etc ????
I would be really grateful mnetters for your input on this matter. Thanks.

A naturopath cannot test for food allergies/sensitivities or intolerances. How did they test?

If you think he has as many allergies as that you should make an appointment to see your GP asap imo.

what they said

and yes, food can be linked to behaviour

i would ask for a referral from your GP to a pead;/allergy specialist to get a proper diagnosis and if you have suspicions of ADHD then you should ask for a referral.

i am all for complementary therapies, but not instead of a tradidional medical diagnosis

food and behaviour can be linked but you need a proper diagnosis

has he exhibited any allergic reactions to those foods? sewlling, rash, vomiting etc

No , he has not reacted badly to these foods. However, his behaviour often displays traits of mild ADHD and he is being assessed for this. We have already seen the PaediatricConsultant who is refering us to the child psychiratrist. His DAD took him out of interest primarily cos he, himself has seen this woman and she found Dad to be intolerant of milk and dairy stuff. So his dad thinks she knows what she is talking about .
To test my ds she checked out his energy levels, and meridians and then placed a few different foods on his belly button, then checked his reflexes/arm strength etc. Sorry i am not explaining this very well .
Is anyone familiar with this type of therapy ???????

She saw you coming a mile off I'm afraid.

It's not therapy, it's taking advantage of vulnerable, desperate and gullible people.

i think its quack therepy

if you think his diet is linked to his possible adhd, ten you could try cutting all artificial additives out of his diet and see if that has any effect.

Utter quakery I am afraid.
I agree with Lulumama; complementary therapy is fab but is no substitute for a proper diagnosis.

(And I think its a totally rotten cheating thing to have done to you - I'm really sorry and annoyed on your behalf)

yeah, you might be right. Thankyou for your input mnetters.. I shall see her myself with my ds , let his Dad pay as he is rolling in it... (my Ex dp i hasten to add). .. and she what she says.. no loss then. If there is not difference in my ds then it may be nothing to bother about. I have to say my Ex is full of bullshit and very self opinionated...perhaps he just fancies her !!!!!

yeah, you might be right. Thankyou for your input mnetters.. I shall see her myself with my ds , let his Dad pay as he is rolling in it... (my Ex dp i hasten to add). .. and she what she says.. no loss then. If there is not difference in my ds then it may be nothing to bother about. I have to say my Ex is full of bullshit and very self opinionated...perhaps he just fancies her !!!!!

Beware - these people make money from telling you you cant eat stuff - the longer the list the more credible they seem. I would be really wary of striking a lot of perfectly reasonable foods out a a child's diet like pasta and cheese because of what some wacko says.

how old is he? First thing to do with a child not paying attention and behaving badly is to get their hearing tested.

Someone with nut allergy died recently when a quack like this decided to desensitise them to their nut allergy. Then they didn't recognise the allergic reaction and didn't get proper medical attention. I'd liek to see them charged with manslaughter.

Diet can have a dramatic effect on behaviour. I know some children who react badly to food colours - ususally orange - and a child whose "adhd" responded very well to a special diet including fish oil and excluding sugar and additives. Its quite likely the child will improve with less sugar and fizzy drinks but you don't need fake tests to say that and excluding hard cheese is probably not going to do anything.

Get them properly assessed - and feed them a sensible balanced diet.

She is talking complete bollocks I'm afraid. This pseudoscience is called kinesiology and is total quackery. Don't waste any more money on her.

The only way to test for a food allergy is by a skin prick or blood test or an elimination diet. Testing can be done on the NHS so get a referral from your GP if you have cause to believe he may have an allergy.

Mild ADHD?

If its mild can it be ADHD? ADHD tends to be rather extreme IMO.

Happy to be put right though. I am sure I will be

I have 'mild' ADHD. I am reasonably able to control the symptoms except when triggered by specific food when I go completely off the wall and the extremer ADHD effects come out they just to call this add but some bright spark decided that adhd and add were the same thing and got rid of add.

Would like to raise point that there is a big difference between food allergy and food intolerance. Chocolate and fizzy drinks are common hyperactivity triggers. Anything milk based is also common for food sensitivities.

If you think dc is adhd and think diet might help control symptoms try getting hold of a book called E for aditives which lists those commonly associated with hyperactivity and will scare you into eating healthily when you realise how much chemicals is in most food.

Also look at things like fruit and both sis and ds are sensitive to frutose (in grapes, strawberries and oranges) and behave far less hyperactively when excluded.

Would advise trying this before going back to specialist you might save yourself a bit of money.

opp drunk too much coke - not good for spelling and hyperactivity but might get me through spring cleaning

Thank you. My DS1 is a wonder to behold when he has a coke . We used to warn friends and family not to give it to him but he is a charming little bugger and they would. Mind you they would only do it the once

Same with my nan and grapes with my sis.

I have a rule if anyone gives the boy something on his NO WAY list they babysit for the 48hours it takes for him to return to normal - that is both the high flying and the low cant cope whiny stage (including the night -not going to sleep even if hell freezes over shift)

Nobody has been brave enough yet to take me up on challenge !

The therapy in question is kinesiology www.kinesiology.org.uk

I think its great. Taking a good hard look at what is in the food we eat and stopping to think if it is really doing our bodies any good can only be a good thing.

My son is seeing a kinesiologiest for treatment for a problem with his skull. He is also under a NHS doctor. BOTH is a good bet!!

Whatever my views may be about producing a list of "don't eat" foods on the basis of putting them on someone's tummy button...

Was your son present for the diagnosis part and how old is he?

Has he effectively been told there is something wrong with him by the practitioner and that may have worried him/might not be quite right?

I don't know why but that side of it makes me feel uncomfortable.

Actually I'm with bigbellasbeerbelly. Kids scare easily. I would tread carefully here!

DS knows what he can't eat and that is because he knows that if he eats it he cant control his behaviour and he gets into trouble. But he was not involved with the sorting out bit.

SUppose i'm lucky as ds is anaphalatic as well and knows the seriousness of not sticking to diet for that.

We didnt use a method for exclusion but more trial and error. Food exclusions for behavioural reasons are not treated helpfully by medical proffession and you might be given an exclusion reintroduction diet but told to get on with it if you seek medical advice.