ADHD of the Christian Kind - Environmental Factors

Environmental Factors and ADHD

My Children

When my children were small, I gave them a lot of apple juice because I thought it was healthy for t hem. Then I would pull my hair out when it was naptime because my children would literally jump on their beds because they couldn't calm down. I remember fighting with them every day trying to get them to calm down because they needed their naps and I needed a break from three preschoolers.

My 2nd son was born irritable. He was unable to calm or comfort himself from the beginning, required vigorous rocking and even a little jiggling to bring on sleep and woke at night often. As he grew, he became more difficult to discipline and control. He was into everything and everywhere. He was also precocious from the beginning, walking at 10 mos., identifying letters and their sounds at 2, reading at 4. He was diagnosed ADHD at the age of 7. I have since realized that he is gifted and self-motivated to learn if given freedom to read and explore, yet is totally intolerant of structured, "boring" school work such as workbooks, handwriting exercises, math fact practice, and other mundane tasks.

Daughter came along 18 months later and was a calm, easy child, though somewhat detached. She did become irritable, loudly crying while riding in a car as an infant. When she was a little older (15-18 months) she would become hyperactive regularly and even required stitches on her upper lip at 3 years of age after jumping on the bed and falling into a rocking chair. She has consistently fallen down, bumped her head and injured herself because of her high activity levels. Surprisingly enough, she completes all of her school work diligently and carefully, yet does not retain information easily. Learning disorders are suspected. Is she ADHD? I believe so, though she has not been professionally diagnosed.

Son-3 was born 18 months later and experienced jaundice soon after birth and slept all the time. Even after the jaundice cleared up, he was calm and easy. But all of this changed again at about 15 months. Immunization connection? I don't know. Introduction of different foods? Possibly. This child meets all of the criteria for ADHD. He is also extremely bright but unable to complete most tasks required in formal schooling. I have even considered the possibility of high functioning autism because of his inability to focus enough to carry on a conversation at most times. He does experience lucid moments that are precious and like a window to his little mind. At 6, he can read at a 2nd-3rd grade level (self-taught using a computer curriculum) and can compute math problems in his head faster than his older siblings.

Son-4 is approaching the age of 4. He is bright, yet can become hyperactive after eating certain foods and when he is tired. He is the most teachable of all my children, responds well to consistent discipline and training. He plays well by himself, enjoys all types of activities, can sit in his seat at the table until he finishes his food and is normally curious and gets into things. Will he later qualify for a diagnosis of ADHD? He easily could when he is faced with formal schooling.

Causes and Treatments

Since my children have consistently exhibited hyperkinetic behavior for years, I had two of them evaluated for Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, one by a psychiatrist and one by our family doctor (the latter did not really evaluate Son-3, but based the diagnosis upon my reports of his behavior and difficulties). They met all of the DSM IV criteria.

After med trials with stimulants and anti-depressants I was not seeing good, consistent results. There were ups and downs, physical and emotional reactions to the stimulants, and eventual ineffectiveness with the anti-depressant, Imipramine.

I began to research the diet connection. I learned what an elimination diet was and attempted to begin one based on limited information. I did see some positive results, but only when I eliminated all artificial colors and flavors, preservatives and salicylate-containing foods (found in apples, grapes, oranges, and many more fruits, vegetables, almonds and some spices) did I see dramatic change. Strangely enough, apples and grapes as well as most artificial colors were the worst culprits in hyperkinetic episodes with Son-3 and Daughter. Son-2 did not show dramatic or obvious differences in behavior.

My children complained about this diet because it was so limited so I began to cook more from scratch so my children could have a wider selection of additive-free foods. I bought a bread machine and began making homemade bread products.

Occasionally, I give up the controlled diet and let them have all kinds of foods full of all kinds of additives not because I am a bad mother, but in times of sickness (mine) or extreme stress, I feel overwhelmed by the dietary restrictions and demands on me. Soon their behavior grows unmanageable, there is more fighting among the children and they are more difficult to train and teach. I eventually go back on a restricted diet out of necessity.

Other excitotoxins are preservatives found in almost all processed foods so that they remain safe to eat while sitting in warehouses or on the grocery store shelf, red dye used to make red potatoes more red, and tomatoes and apples red before they are ripe, dyes in our children's toothbrushes and in their toothpaste and a multitude of chemicals that our children inhale each time they take a breath.

Read a few labels the next time you go shopping. Can you pronounce or even know what many of those listed ingredients are in the food you bring home?

Other Factors

I have learned that negative behavior can be exacerbated by more than a child's diet. Our children are exposed to chemicals and what are termed "excitotoxins" everywhere they go. These excitotoxins can be found in:

most prepared and fast foods
soft drinks and flavored drinks
snack foods
shampoo
toothpaste
children's vitamins
over-the-counter and prescription medications
cleansers
laundry detergents and softeners
dishwashing liquid
air fresheners
hand creams
medicated ointments
paints and solvents
new products (carpet, plastics)
craft supplies (crayons, pencils, colored paper, glue)
pesticides

Food Additives

Food additives¹ come in many forms and perform many different jobs. Here is a sampling of some that are known to cause problems for hyperactive children and ADHD adults.

Artificial colors:

Tetrazine², Yellow No. 5, has been around for a long time and is approved as "safe" ³ by the Food and Drug Administration. A study conducted in 1994 by Rowe and Rowe⁴ found that children do react to the ingestion of Yellow No. 5. Changes in behavior consisted of irritability, sleep difficulties, restlessness and hyperactivity to name a few.

Erythrosine, FD&C Red No. 3⁵, has been banned for most food uses, yet it is still found in foods today.

Artificial flavors:

Vanillin⁶ is found in most candies, chocolate chips, and packaged products where vanilla might be called for. In its purest form, it is a dangerous chemical.

In Conclusion

In conclusion, our children's bodies are bombarded with chemicals at every turn. As parents, we can learn to identify and eliminate irritants through hard work and trial and error. Can the elimination of these irritants provide a "cure" for ADHD? My personal opinion is: "No!" In my opinion, ADHD is a neurological difference, not necessarily a disease. If we can eliminate the negative behaviors through dietary controls and environmental choices, then our children can learn to embrace their differences without constant negative feedback from parents, teachers, family members and friends.

Further information on diets and natural treatments for ADHD can be found at the List Archives. Additionally, the Feingold Association can provide greater depth of detail on how and what to eliminate from a child's environment to determine which irritants could be causing hyperactivity and other negative behaviors.

There is also an email support group for parents of ADHD children who are interested in non-pharmaceutical treatment of ADHD. See Christian ADHD Alternative Treatment List.

Footnotes

¹Food Additives - a governmental propaganda brochure on the different food additives and how safe they are.

²Tartrazine links:
Food Color Facts
³Does Yellow No. 5 Cause any allergic reactions?

⁴ABSTRACT - Synthetic food coloring and behavior: A dose response effect in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, repeated-measures study
Adverse Effects of "Inactive" Ingredients

⁵ - Red No. 3 and Other Colorful Controversies by Dale Blumenthal
PubMed - National Library of Medicine - Source of Abstracts
Effects of a few food diet in attention deficit disorder by Carter CM, Urbanowicz M, Hemsley R, Mantilla L, Strobel S, Graham PJ, Taylor E

⁶Vanillin FCC requirements
Material Data Safety Sheet: Vanillin 99% - provocative information