On Fri, 19 Jan 2001, Gary Nunn wrote:
> I am not happy about the idea that she may need to be on this for the
> next few years. One of the things that we are looking into is the
> possibility that her ADHD symptoms may be an allergic reaction to
> certain foods. She eats very little candy, but it is difficult to get
> away from processed foods that contain additives and preservatives.
> One thing that I have noticed is that if she eats brand name peanut
> butter, or things that are heavy with MSG, she does become very hyper
> and reactive. If she eats peanut butter that is freshly ground at the
> store, she has no reaction. It is just a very slow process of
> observation and elimination.
The name-brand peanut butter probably has a fair amount of sugar in it. (I
don't have any in the house to check on, but that's my recollection.)
There are organic peanut butters packaged before they get to the store
that don't have sugar, just peanuts, oil and salt. (And there is at least
one kind of organic peanut butter that has sugar -- read labels carefully
if you're shopping at Whole Foods for organic foods.)
Check all ingredient labels before you buy any food, is my advice. I read
ingredient labels carefully, looking out for things I know are problems
for *me*. I can't eat about 97% of name-brand cereal (and even a larger
%age of the generic equivalents) because everyone has decided it's a good
thing to use the preservative BHT in everything. I can have Cheerios (but
there's one variety of Cheerios, even, that has BHT), but not much else.
The BHT does a number on my intestines -- just enough to be unpleasant and
for me to NOT want to eat anything with the stuff in it; and the stuff I
can get at Whole Foods that doesn't have BHT is so expensive that I've
mostly given up cold cereal. I've gotten really good at scanning for the
character string "monosodium glutemate", and I avoid that because if I
have too much I get a headache. And I have to check all mints for
aspertame, as *that* isn't good for me personally either. (I can't eat
Penguin Mints!) And I can't handle non-organic raisins. Or pigfat.
(This short list is the result of about 15 years of trial and error. I
hope it's mostly complete for now. I'm going to try to see if I still
have a problem with yogurt sometime soon; I'm hoping that maybe that's
cleared up, at least.)
If you've figured out what some of the problem ingredients are already,
you're off to a decent start. And even if diet isn't the total problem on
her ADHD, if it affects her *some*, then knowing that and figuring out
what to avoid certainly can't hurt.
>From the rest of the post (which I snipped) it sounds like she *does* have
a problem that should be treated at least some with medication. What I
object to is medication as a method of first resort, and you sound like
you're working on making sure it's the method of last resort, or close to
it. Your daughter is fortunate enough to have a parent as concerned as
you, who is working on as many angles as he knows how.
Julia
