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Post by Kimmers on Nov 14, 2003 10:38:58 GMT -5
Well guys, I really did it yesterday. Probably one of the most bone-headed mistakes I could have made. After school my son was whining that he was hungry on the way to pick up his sister from daycare. Mistake #1: I forgot to bring him a snack which I do every single day (where was my head?!) His sister is in daycare 8 miles from the school so we had a reasonable drive to go yet. He kept on and kept on and kept on, so finally I reached into my purse and Mistake #2: pulled out a Nestle Crunch Bar that I had been saving for later that night and gave it to him, just to have some peace while driving. Within a half hour he was bouncing off the walls, flying around, tackling his sister at daycare, laughing, dancing, screaming and as Cat would put it, the spaz-boy from h*ll!  We stopped in to visit my parents who live a few blocks from daycare and while we were there, he went from the hyper-spaz boy to the defiant, temper tantrum, obnoxious boy reminiscent of 6 months ago. I found myself counting to three for him to get his coat on to leave and what do you know, 3 came and went and we still didn't have our coat on. So he had his movie taken away for the day. Oh man, that sent him into a crying hysteric, sobbing and pleading with me. At first it was the whiny-type sobbing but after a few minutes it turned into genuine tears, like he was sorry for what he had just done. I comforted him and we left. Things were fine on the drive home. He was very quiet. But don't be fooled...As if that wasn't enough, we get home and he is right back to Mr. H, all the way til bedtime. And wouldn't you know, he woke up this morning and he was STILL hyper. Crashing into walls, refusing to get ready. What an exhausting day yesterday. I hope school shapes him up after this morning! I guess after all of this I have a few questions: 1. I think I have the culprit in the chocolate bar narrowed down to vanillin. How severe of a reaction does this normally cause?? and... 2. Is it truly possible that the chocolate bar caused ALL of this and lasted SO long? I mean we're talking 6 hours PLUS overnight! Or is it the supplements all of a sudden not working anymore?! Thanks for listening and any input would be greatly appreciated! Kimmers |
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Post by babytay on Nov 14, 2003 11:00:04 GMT -5
Well I dont know as much as some out here about how candy effects our children. But I posted about this somewhere else. My son was doing pretty good until another kid on his bowling teamgave him some candy at 8:30 am . I caught him with starburst I have no idea what else he had I found a butterfinger wrapper in his pocket later that day. He went crazy after this and it was early in the morning so he had an empty stomach. I think this made it even worse I almost had to make him leave the bowling alley early that day. He was very wild until 3 or 4 oclock. He has been fine since then but we havent been eating any candy.
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Post by gabrielsmom on Nov 14, 2003 11:03:24 GMT -5
Kimmers:
Until about a week ago, I would have told you that the probable culprit was vanillin. However, a week ago, I made some homemade chocolate syrup. Well......to make a long story short, my child reverted back to his old, pre fiengold diet self....IT WAS BRUTAL...and i kept thinking....the chocolate syrup was homemade, nothing artificial in it....why is this happening?....to this day, I have no idea....was thinking maybe the caffeine?....this reaction lasted about 2 days.
In the future try using alka seltzer gold....it's supposed to counteract whatever allergic reaction your child gets from eating something he's not supposed to. I haven't tried it myself yet, but I did buy some and have it readily available in case i should need it.
Been there.....done that.....LOL
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Post by Kimmers on Nov 14, 2003 11:32:07 GMT -5
Thanks for the tip on alka seltzer gold. I will look for that!
Kimmers
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Post by DenverSarah on Nov 14, 2003 12:21:13 GMT -5
Everyone is different. My son does fine on chocolate as long as it's approved, but on Halloween when I allowed him one piece of unapproved candy (it was one of those bite size mounds bars), he was in a horrible reaction all the next week at school. The first few days were so bad he was peeing his pants as a joke. Moral is: never underestimate the effects of sensitivities and or the amounts it takes to cause them!
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Post by catatonic on Nov 14, 2003 14:14:46 GMT -5
Candy has so many possible bad things in it, it can be hard to pin down the culprit. Could be the vanillin. Also, lots of candy contains corn syrup. I don't know how common his reaction is, but my son cannot tolerate corn syrup. I call Sprite tantrum in a bottle because of the corn syrup's horrible effect on him. He seems to do ok on homemade hot chocolate mix that only has powdered milk, sugar and cocoa powder in it. If only it weren't so blasted hard to figure out exactly what they react to!!!!! DenverSarah, you cracked me up. That sounded so like something my son might do when he's having a reaction, except he'd probably try to pee on someone else instead of himself. (Is that better or worse???)
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Post by gabrielsmom on Nov 14, 2003 14:18:43 GMT -5
Cat: What are your thoughts on the homemade chocolate syrup?...i got the recipe from the fiengold book and it was made of water, sugar, bakers unsweetned chocolate, vanilla and corn starch.... care to hazard a guess as to what caused him to revert to the old dreaded behavior?  |
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Post by Kimmers on Nov 14, 2003 14:25:02 GMT -5
Well I do know one thing, I have this in my little handy-dandy notebook for future reference because whatever it was, did not go over good! Poor kid, if his mommy had only been thinking straight...  Thanks for the input! Kimmers |
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Post by DenverSarah on Nov 14, 2003 15:00:29 GMT -5
I think vanillin is a the most likely culprit for the nestle bar. I can FEEL it myself when I've had that stuff now that I've been on the program for so long (I'm on it by default because my son is on it). For the chocolate syrup, take a look at the vanilla (does it have corn syrup?) or the corn starch...may indicate a sensitivity to corn. I don't totally eliminate corn syrup, because the reactions for my son are an annoying but tolerable level of hyperactivity, and only last about an hour. Therefore I will allow it on occasion at strategically placed times and locations. You can always eliminate the vanilla from the recipe if it's the corn syrup and then you won't have to sacrifice yummy chocolate!!! And Cat, yes my son has a sense of humor that just Won't Stop! LOL |
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Post by catatonic on Nov 14, 2003 20:56:04 GMT -5
These food reactions can be so incredibly baffling, sometimes I just want to scream. I keep a detailed food diary (fancy name for a spiral notebook where I write down everything my son eats). Even so, I often HAVE NO CLUE!!!!! Part of the problem is that my son will sneak unacceptable food (like trading at lunch or take his quarters and buy red-dyed fruit punch from the machine at school) and then he'll lie through his teeth about it to me. It makes me crazy.
Interestingly enough, I've discovered that there are subtle differences in the way he reacts to different things, so that I often can tell what to suspect based on his behavior. Sometimes, though, he's just plain horrible and I have absolutely no idea why.
Joshua, on the chocolate syrup...anything is possible, especially with our kids who react weirdly to all kinds of things anyway. I do know that we use that chocolate syrup from the Feingold book all the time to make chocolate milk and to put on ice cream and I've never noticed a reaction from it. My son never consumes a large quantity of it at once, though, which could make a difference. I'd make a note of the reaction (along with everything else he ate) and see what happens next time he tries the syrup (make sure he doesn't try it again for at least 4 days, though).
Good idea, Sarah, about checking the ingredients in the syrup. I didn't even know vanilla could contain corn syrup. I thought it was alcohol or something. Something else I'll have to be vigilant about, because corn syrup for us is like the gates of h >:(ll. It's the one thing that triggers those red-faced head-banging every-muscle-rigid temper tantrums. Thank goodness I've only had to deal with one of those in the past 3 months.
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Post by Kimmers on Nov 15, 2003 15:28:38 GMT -5
Just an update, Friday after school he was back to his old self again. Like you Cat, I am completely baffled by the reaction he had. I mean as soon as he started acting up I KNEW it had to be the chocolate bar but I never dreamt it would go on for so long. I am going to pick up the alka seltzer gold to try the next time I am in a brain fog and let him have something like that. Thanks everyone for the repsonses, they were all very helpful!
Kimmers
P.S. Is corn something to watch?? That is the only veggie my guy will eat,and he eats it alot!
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Post by catatonic on Nov 15, 2003 18:21:56 GMT -5
Among food allergens that are actually food (as opposed the things they put into our food) corn is one of the more common ones...along with eggs, milk, wheat, soy, and oranges. Like you, I have one boy who eats no other vegetable but corn. If a food is green and has ever had leaves, forget it. Luckily, the corn doesn't seem to bother him, or he'd probably never consume any vegetable at all unless he accidentally swallowed the bay leaf from theitroast.
Lots of kids who can't tolerate corn syrup manage to eat corn just fine. (My Challenge-Boy is one of them.) I'm not sure why this is, except that corn syrup is not actually food in a natural food state, but rather a refined and chemically treated extract of a food.
If you worry about the possbility that corn is a problem, you can try removing it from his diet for a week. No exceptions. Get rid of corn in all forms no matter what it's part of. After a week, let him eat his corn, a pretty large amount of corn. (corn meal pancakes for breakfast, corn chowder for lunch, corn chips for a snack, canned corn at dinner, you get the picture).
This is called a single elimination diet. It's harder than it sounds, because generally the foods you need to test are very common and it's a pain to eliminate them for a week. But it's informative, as long as you do it strictly.
But overall, you don't need to worry about corn any more than you need to worry about other foods.
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