Oh my gosh have i had the worst couple of days with my son. Not long ago i found a medicine that worked well for his adhd it was medadate cd. But through research i found that it was a form of a narcotic and chose to pull it from him and put him on Straterra!!WHAT a huge mistake he has done 2x's more terrible than when on the med that worked for him. Called the doctor today to switch him back and after a long conversation with the dotor we started talking about my childs diet well i was asked to cut out all sugar switch splenda, all sugar free candy and cut out red 40 dye completely.....Well when i got a list of red40 products i was astonished everything in my cupboard including his cereal and poptarts were very high in red 40 dye. Well i printed a list and starting today will cut red 40 dye from our household. Any moms had experience with this i would greatly appreciate some input, also the red dye 40 is known for irritability, agression,and beligerence, outburst. ect..juice is a biggie but my child drinks water, and milk (choco) but i will by sugar free for now on..
Red Dye 40 certainly has its pitfalls!
Sucrolose (along with other artificial sweetners) has its own problems though: http://www.mercola.com/2000/dec/3/sucralose_dangers.htm
Its better to just try to minimize sugar--stick to fruits for "sweet" and just have regular sugar once in a while.
Good luck!
S.,
Wow, I bet you are just so exhausted! But now you have a starting point and can take control. You now KNOW that to some degree diet affects your son's behavior. Obviously, whatever is put into the body affects how it runs, somehow in modern America we have lost sight of that almost entirely. Unfortunatley, sometimes doctor's focus on treating symptoms of problems, not the root cause.
Now you can make a difference. You can take control. It will be time consuming and not easy, but you can do it. Start doing some internet research. Check out amazon.com for books on the subject. The best book I have read so far on diet/and kids behavior is "Little Sugar Addicts". It really explains simply how certain foods/chemicals alter brain/body chemistry and gives an easy step by step, slow and REALISTIC plan to gradually wean your kids off the bad stuff and onto the good stuff...where the kids learn to take note of how they feel and own their food choices. I have been into nutrition since my son was born, and we try to stay mostly organic/local anyway, but THIS book gave us the missing piece.
I am in the process of implementing the plan in that book for my 4 year old and (even myself) and can tell a difference.
On a side note- I am appalled that a physician, who is supposed to 'do no harm' recommended artificial sweeteners!IMO, they are poison. DO the research!
Best wishes to you and your family.
Just watch out for all of the sugar-free stuff. They usually contain Aspertame, which isn't good for you or your child either. I try using honey, agave, or maple syrup as an alternative for my daughter instead of sugar or sugar substitutes. You can also use Rice syrup too. I havent tried this one yet, but have seen it in the grocery stores. Check out Dr. Ted Broer's website. (Google it, as I can't remember the exact website right now) He has a book about ADHD/ADD. I have read a few of his other books and I love them. His wife, Sharon Broer has book called "Train Up Your Child In The Way They Should Eat". It is great. There is also a cookbook you can order. I got mine off of Amazon, as they were cheaper that way. Its a real eye opener once you learn about the many additives the FDA allows to be put in our food, even worse that it is fed to our kids.
Red Dye 40 is made from coaltar. There are at least 10 synthetic sugar in the market and sucralose - also known as Splenda / Equal - is one of them.
I would not take it for myself, kids nor for any animals/pets, unless you think coaltar is nutritious!
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My son is also ADHD and on Straterra (he is 5) and I have also found if he gets sugar things are 10X worse than when he wasn't on meds. Sugar is a big thing that will make your child have behavioral issues while on it. I had never heard of the red dye but my son has very very limited sugar no candy or anything like that and I have found he does quite well even though he drinks some juice and such. I have found though that in the evenings he has major mood swings when it is wearing off and gets a huge burst of energy so it could just be your son's meds wearing off. Unfortunate side effect i suppose. Anyway if you cut out the sugar I think you will see a huge difference. Good luck and remember you're not alone in this. :)
We went through all of this with Red Dye 40 my oldest son was allergic to it. It was so hard to find things that he liked that didnt have the dye in it. Luckily he grew out of it but we are still very catious about giving any of our 3 children anything with Red Dye 40 in it.
You'd be amazed at what a diet change can do. I know someone that cut out the same things to treat her daughter's Turretts (sorry, I don't know if that's the correct spelling). She now has no symptoms and is doing great.
S.:
I am sorry about the last couple of days that you had with your son. I'm sure trying to figure out what was happening was extremely nerve wracking.
Although I don't know anything about the subject matter, I found it very interesting and am going to research it more. Thank you for throwing this out here. Very interesting to say the least.
Best,
M.
Good for you for following your heart, doing the due diligence and talking with your doctor. I don't know much about Red 40 Dye. What I have researched on is HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) and all the additives in food. Which red 40 dye is. When my first born had an allergy to the milk protein I had to read every label for wheat, whey, dairy etc. Our ped told me to buy as natural and pure as possible, to buy products that had the least amount of ingredients. Now being an crazy label reader, I do my best not to buy foods with HFCS, which then means the rest of the junk is not in there either. I pretty buy pure natural food and keep it simply. Look at your applesauce... if you are buying Motts or whatever the second ingredient is HFCS, aren't apples sweet enough? Kids get addicted to sugar along with adults. Check out fast food, its mostly sugar! Even bread has tons of sugar in it. As you can see, I could go on and on. Feel free to PM and we can chat more. Good luck and say no to HFCS! And red 40 dye!
Hi S.,
I tried the diet thing with my son when he was in the third grade. It can be very difficult to do... you already mentioned the shopping problems... but did you think of the teacher at school or Sunday school who rewards with candy or cookies... not to mention the bus driver.. Christmas is coming... so you have to make sure your son co operates too and is honest and 'turns in' treats given to him as a reward from well intentioned adults who don't know any better. I ended up going back on the meds due to this problem, my son was not honest about it. They did not have splenda back then though. Back to the candy / cookie rewards from others... first go to the teacher. Hopefully he is still in one class and give her some apropriate candy specially for your son so that when she gives out candy he can have some too. Also get something at your house like tattos or stickers or something he likes to 'trade' him for the candy from the bus driver etc. I did not think of the last one when I went thru all this. good luck... and just to let you know; my son is now a senior in high school and of his own choice has been off meds for four years now. He told me one day that he did not want to take it and he did not like the way it made him feel (he was on the Stratera then) and I told him that is was for his school so he promised to keep his grades up. He is not a straight A student, but he gets good grades... also sports or an interest like an instrument are great for keeping him busy... too much free time is not a good thing...
