I have had escalating behavior issues with my 8 year old daughter, almost exclusively outside the home. She had a very difficult school year with many trips to the principal's office and one suspension. She will suddenly throw violent fits, screaming, threatning the teacher or other children and throwing chairs. She was just kicked out of summer camp after throwing one of these fits on only the second day. We have had issues throughout the years, but she no longer behaves this way with me, she seems to know her limits at home. I believe my daughter is responsible for her own behavior and choices but am beginning to think there may be something physical or chemical involved. I have done extensive research on the web about Red Dye #40 affecting behavior in children, with many of the descriptions matching my daughter so much I can't ignore it. It is like a switch is flipped, she's fine, and then it's like she's possessed. There is no reasoning with her during one of her episodes, and consequences or rewards do not matter to her at all in these situations. The episode yesterday happened after they had gummie bears for snack - with red dye. Checking our pantry and fridge yesterday I found we do not have any foods in the house with red dye. I know this would not be responsible for her actions, but think in some way it could be a contributing factor. Do any other mothers have expericence with this? Also, can anyone recommend a good testing facility in the area? Perhaps Cook's Children's? I am in favor of medication only as a last resort, but I don't want to be blind to the fact that there could be other factors at work here than just regular childhood tantrums. We have spent a lot of time on anger management techniques, consistent consequences, etc. and while she seems to completely understand when she is calm, when she has an episode it all goes out the window. Any advice or suggesstions are greaty appreciated. Thank you for reading.
I don't have any personal experience with it, but a friend of mine said her son is very easily affected by the dyes in food. She follows something called the gold diet(I think) and she said it does wonders. It is a book that helps you avoid the dyes.
My sister had a problem with red dye when she was a kid. I don't remember the details, but whenever she would act up, my other sister and I would ask if she has a hot dog or bacon, those being her favorite foods, which also contained the dye she couldn't have. My mom cut all types of foods from her diet that bothered her, and she did really well. As she got older and learned to control herself better she could slowly reintroduce those foods and now at 23 she can eat everything again.
Don't drug her up, just have her not eat red dye. She is old enough to know not to eat the red ones if you explain it to her.
When you have her tested also check for lead. You would be surprised how many ways your child can get lead in their system and the many ways it affects them. If she does have lead one of the ways to get it out is to give them childrens vitamins with extra calcium in them. It will replace the lead that has stored up in their body.
Check out the book Is this Your Child by Dorris Rapp. It has given us our son back! I actually thought a lot of the issues we had were about food dyes but it turned out to be corn products (inc corn syrup) which is in everything! Keeping all corn products out of his diet has worked a miracle! PM me if you want more details but check out the book. There is lots on symptoms & then a great 2 week plan you can follow to help you determine what, if anything, is affecting your child food wise. She also addresses environmental allergens.
Try acupuncture. NAET treatments did wonders for my kids. I used Dr. Steve Homoky at Coit & Spring Creek. ###-###-####. He doesn't use needles on pre-pubescent children, and it's amazing how quickly he gets results.
