ADHD

[NAB3wishesfor2008]

Can someone tell me in really easy to understand language what it would mean if my child had this please?

this might help?

And at the very least will bump it- some very knowledgeable people on here withe xperience of ADHD.

Thank you.

Reading the link he didn't have any of the infant symptoms but does have some of the older children ones.

heres another site you could look at.

Ds has no dx yet but the paed thinks he has ADHD (as well as probably having ASD as well). He didn't display the infant stuff either. He was a handful from about 18 months but I didn't realise he had a "problem" until he started school. Up until then although he was often challenging and also very lively his behaviour was managable.

How old is your ds?

NAB, i do hope my suggestion hasnt worried you unduly. I really have no experience in this sort of thing. I think you are doing well to investigate though. It really does show what a lovely caring mum you are xx

TBH I am sh*$ing myself he has this.

No one has ever said they think there are problems.

Have you tried checking out food intolerances? Not just additives etc- salycylates (sp) are a significant factor for some kids, and they are in all the stuff MN approves of- raisins, citrus, tomatoes, apples, apricots...... and cause ADHD symptoms.

NAB i am SO sorry Stupid of me to suggest it even. I don't know your little lad, but i would think if the school had worries in that direction they would have flagged it up by now. Have a chat to the school, you said on your other thread he is a little angel at school, that certainly wouldnt be the case if he had ADHD. LEM kicks herself up the arse for thoughtless suggestion.

Don't worry, LEM. I would much rather something but a false alarm than no one mentioned it and he did have a problem.

It is funny you saying about food, Peachy. I am very fussy about what they eat (no sweets apart from choc for example) but when he was laughing hysterically on the toilet I did think was it something he had eaten. I can't for the life of me think what he had (will think later when more time) but iirc it was something he doesn't have all the time.

School hasn't got any problems with him.
He does find it hard to know how to deal with certain situations but I think that is because we don't have anyone round so he only sees friends at school.

ds1 does the hysterical laughing bit- its apple juice! I used to be the ultimate organic mumsy when it came to food, they wouldn't drink water (the ASD 2) but they ate so well- even now ds3 will happily munch his way through a bag of apples (!) over chocolate, and they love things like olives etc. We even got discharged from the BIBIC nutritionist because the diet was perfect- trust me, that woman is strict LOL!

Then I looked at the salycylates, when BIBIC suggested it as I had bnever come across them, and it was a revelation for ds1- I don;t think he ahs any adhd behaviours now, we're just down to the HFA / dyslexic stuff. It's a complete pita- It's so easy to give a small bag of apricots as a snack, or a handful of cherry tomatoes- but the effects just weren't worth it, and ds1 is honestly better off with a bag of crisps (salt and shake with the sachet removed, obviously )

Thanks for that NAB, ive been awake in my bed worrying about things last night (personal stress - woohoo) but i have been thinking about you and i would hate to upset you, like you dont have enough on your plate!!

Peachy has made some great suggestions, maybe you could keep a food diary? It might be an intolerance or something.

This is not a serious suggestion but it made me chuckle when i read this in the paper the other day (it was the daily mail so i didnt exactly take it seriously!) It actually said that there has been research that suggests that the children who get the healthy pack lunches are more likely to play up in the afternoon than those wwith the junk food, because they have more energy and find it hard to concentrate. I guess we can't win hey - i think we will soon have to give them food tablets just to sustain becasuse we wont be able to feed them anything for fear of screwing them up .

I wonder if it is quite common for children to be good at school and "naughty" at home. As i said, it was certainly the way for me. My DD1 on the other hand was "naughty" at home AND at school!

Right, I have had a think and this is what he had for tea on Wednesday night.

Sausages, chips and beans.
Strawberry shortcake fruit corner.

They have chips once at week at school and no more than once a week at home but definitely not every week.
The sausages were good ones (85% pork) and again, they have them rarely.
Can't argus with baked beans (low sugar/salt ones.)
Could have been the pudding I guess.

Was meant to be doing rice pud in the slow cooker for them but not enough milk so have made orange jelly with carnation milk added. A real treat but I guess not great.

I feed them so healthy I do wonder sometimes if they do react to junky type food more because they don't have it often.

They'll have to have pasta for tea as the element has gone on the oven.

Strawberries- salycylates. Sausages- hidden gluten. Then there's caseion in the dairy.....

Sorry- it actually sounds fine, just am a bit, you know, overwhelmed by all the diet stuff meselfand end up seeing crud where there is nothing but balance!

Beans- salycylates...

Peachy, for agwds sake stoppit....

Never heard of salycylates - what are they?
Why is gluten bad?
What is caseion?

Casein- milk protein 9as opposed to lactose, milk sugar)

Gluten- in a few susceptible people it is thought that gluten can pass through a leaky gt and cause damage- however that is mroe ASD (I think- not an adhd expert)

Will get link for the otehr

it lists physical sgns, but can be linked to ADHD- type behaviours too

TBH I can't understand any of that atm. I will look at it tmw when I am in a better frame of mind. Thanks for the info.

The websites are good dustystar and peachy. I'm reading through as dd is exhibiting certain symptoms, and tbh, has been for years and this thread (thanks NAB) has been very helpful.

I hope you find out whatever it is NAB, that is affecting your ds. I haven't read any of your recent threads (spending all spare time reading anything which might concern dd and worrying for England), but the very thrad title here had me reined in as a matter of interest. Will be following this one.

DH doesn't think DS1 has ADHD as he was fine yesterday.

Daft question - can a child react to certain food stuffs without there being a medical problem?

definitely, yes. Intolerances aren't considerd a medical problem in themselves, and intolerance effects can mirror ADHD etc where it isn't present.

How likely is it that he has an intolerance to certain foods and what do I need to do about it, if anything? (He could just be being a sod!)

well, there are somesigns in some kids- dark circles under the eyes, poor sleep or conversely over tired a lot... but the easiest and really only thing is to remove the possible cause from his diet, one thing at a time, for about a fortnight; if that has no effect, replace the foodstuff into the diet for a few days before embarking on the next trial. if it has an effect, keep it out but still try otehr things- a kid vulbnerable to these things is often reacting to mroe than one.

Start with soemthing 'simple' like aspartame, and work up to the biggies if needed (if the problems stop then you've already ht it of course)

I wouldn't know where to start as most things they have are fresh and cooked from scratch. Maybe he is just being a little monkey.

Does he have raisins or other died fruit? they're qute concentrated sources of sugar and salycylate- maybe start there? (non dried bersions are fine)