One Week Gluten Free, Now 6yr Old Is Hyper - Normal?

[Benshell]

We started the gluten-free diet a week ago after my 6 year old was diagnosed with celiac thru bloodtest, we skipped the endoscopy and just went to the gluten-free diet which was Ok with dr. She was asymptomatic, just didn't gain any weight past 6 months. Anyway, now that we're a week into gluten-free diet, I'm finding my daughter is bouncing off the walls. She seems like a "hyper kid" or someone that has had too much sugar. I'm trying to limit her sugar intake as it seems a lot of the gluten-free snacks have a ton of sugar in it, but even with no sugar, she is now hyper, not listening, etc.. I wouldn't say she was lethargic before, but she was the type of kid to be content sitting and watching a movie for 2 hours without having to take a break or doing a puzzle, reading, crafts, etc... with no problems. Now its like she can't sit still for more than 10 minutes.

It this how she "should have" been without celiac, if so do I need to have her checked for ADD/ADHD?

I know I shouldn't complain because at least she's healthy and I've read about so many kids with terrible symptoms. It just doesn't seem like "my Rachel"

help?

[climbmtwhitney]

Hi.

Something to consider....My 6 year old son (gluten-free, casein-free) is also free of all artificial food dye and sodium benzoate preservative. If he eats anything containing these, he's literally jumping from the sofa to the chair over and OVER again within hours. He's gets super hyper. He also gets mouthy, emotional, angry, and won't listen. Sans food dye he's amazing! He can play Legos for 2 hours or sit at the kitchen table and make cards for his sisters for an hour or two. He's a completely different kid.

He went Gluten-free Casein-free over a year ago, but we didn't take him off of artificial dye and sodium benzoate until July. He used to get reprimanded in school for goofing around a lot and copying others who were goofing around. But not anymore. Now he's a very well behaved student. I used to hold my breath when I'd take him places sometimes. Hated that. I knew it had to be something he was eating because some days were fine and other awful. Sometimes his eyes would dart around when you were trying to get down eye level with him to explain what he was doing wrong. I had been hearing some buzz about food dye and ADHD/ADD behavior, so we went cold turkey and gave it a shot. We cleaned out the entire house of any traces. We knew on Day 1 that we had our answer.

He was so cute......I asked him a month ago if he was o.k. with having to give up food dye in stuff like popsicles and fruit roll ups. And, he said, "Yes, because now I don't always have to go to my room." And, you know what? He's right. I have not sent him to his room even once since July. Not once! A totally different little boy. Actually, I shouldn't say "totally different", now he's back to the way he once was. He wasn't always a hyper little bug.

Anyway, it's worth thinking about. My son was eating more and more food dye because there are many types of candy that are both gluten and casein free. So, we gravitated toward it for dessert. Now I've made a pact to always have a little something homemade available. And, for Halloween I've made "trade bags". The kids will be trading their trick-or-treat candy for a really cool, fun "goody" bag that I've put together and my husband is taking the candy to work.

Good luck with your daughter. If it does turn out to be food dye, be careful. It's everywhere. Even toothpaste and Tylenol/Motrin. Luckily they do make dye-free versions.

Jillian

[modiddly16]

You should be careful as many gluten free products are loaded with sugar to make up for the taste...however...your daughter is 6. She could just finally be feeling better after being sick for awhile and be acting like a normal hyper 6 year old I'd just wait awhile before you start getting her tested for anything else until her body fully adjusts!

[ang1e0251]

My little niece and my friend's grandson both have problems with red dye. It directly affects their behavior. It would be worth it to try an elimination. I imagine it in my mind as a kind of electric current running through their small bodies and they are doing everything they can to get that out of them; running, screaming, throwing, hitting, jumping, etc. One friend's son even had seizures from it. At the hospital the specialist told mom that she would be the one to figure out. To keep a specific food diary and they would pinpoint it from there, as testing revealed nothing. It turned out to be red dye.

[StephanieM]

Sounds like food dyes/ preservatives to me. my kids react to food colouring as well as 'artificial flavour' and I limit the benzoates, etc.. and all other preservatives.

Check your cupboards.. When I first discovered my kids react to food dyes, I was disgusted at where I found them. Pickles, crackers, popcorn, chips, cookies, some juices, even vanilla ice cream may contain tartrazine (yellow dye). I found tartrazine in cheese products, donuts, even some buns. For my kids, tartrazine or FDC yellow #5 causes the most intense reactions. There are many many alternatives without artificial colour and flavour.

My kids don't eat ANYTHING with food dyes or artificial flavour now, and they are completely different kids than they were one year ago.. I make most things from scratch, and the stuff I buy is pure..

Try it, you may see a HUGE difference... I know it changed our lives.. My kids do NOT have ADHD, nor have they ever.. Food dyes can affect all kids, even normal population. They are chemical additives and don't belong in our cupboards.. I even have a friend make their birthday cakes with vegetable-based icing, so the colours are natural...

Hope this helps,

Stephanie

[StephanieM]

Jillian, I completely agree with you. We are completely colour-free in our house, and my 6 and 4 year old know to say no thank you when they are offered things. At friends' houses, (they both read), they read labels and even when I'm not there, they both listen and don't eat anything they shouldn't. But I agree with you, you have to go cold turkey, and the difference in them is so amazing, you can see it within a day.. That's how I discovered that movie popcorn, and timbits contain colour.. My kids freaked out after eating those items once we had cleaned out their systems..

I love to hear stories of other parents who have taken it out of their diets.. these additives are so bad for our kids, and there is still relatively little pressure on food manufacturers to get that crap off the shelves!

Steph

[Ahorsesoul]

When I had my ds on the Feingold's diet I found he could drink all the 7-up he wanted but couldn't drink anything artificially sweetened or colored. Also orange juice him extremely hyper. He could drink other fruit drinks but no OJ for him. Diet drinks send my dd off the walls.