STORIES & OPINIONS 1
Readers are invited to
contribute to this section. Please send your stories and opinions to suedengate@ozemail.com.au State whether you would like your name or
email address used, or to remain anonymous. Some names have been changed to
protect privacy. My mailing address is PO Box 718 Woolgoolga NSW Australia.
[037] 635: Minutes away
from death: life-threatening swelling of lips and tongue from 635 (April 2000)
I have a story regarding
flavour enhancer 635 from the eight-year old boy next door.
Last year he ate a pie
bought from a bakery shop near his mother's workplace. Not only did he get the
skin reaction he also suffered a life-threatening anaphylactic-type reaction
with swelling of mouth, tongue and throat. The doctor (fortunately a doctor's
surgery was just around the corner) who treated him said that he was probably a
matter of minutes away from death. He remained on antihistamines for weeks and
missed a lot of school. For days his lips protruded four inches or so! The
family was unable to find out what was in the pie and so the cause of the
reaction remained a mystery.
A little over a month ago
this child was given two or three CC's by a friend at school. Within a short
time his arms were itching and his chest was covered in red and white wheals.
This reaction was not as severe as the pie incident (the dose was no doubt much
lower). I think that reaction took a week to subside.
His mother has commented
that this boy has had no problems of this kind until last year, although he
does have a history of mild asthma.
It wasn't until I was
looking through your web site that I found the more-than-likely culprit. The
family is very grateful. Once again THANK YOU! Surely 635 cannot go on being
legal - if it was a drug it would be taken off the market or used, if deemed
necessary, with extreme caution under hospital conditions, I'm sure! - Alison
Cliff, Qld
[See our report of
635-associated skin rashes in Failsafe #10. Anaphylactic shock has previously
been considered an IgE mediated allergic response. RPAH researchers now suggest
that anaphylactoid reactions may be associated with various food chemicals
including additives, see Clarke and others, The dietary management of food
allergy and food intolerance in children and adults. Aust J Nutr Diet 1996;
53(3):89-94. Note also that, unlike the National Registration Authority's
Adverse Experience Reporting Program for agricultural and veterinary chemicals,
there is no mechanism for reporting adverse reactions to food additives. There
should be! Our attempts to do this have all been met with reassurances that
additives are safe, yet they are not tested for their effects on children.]
[036] 282: Jack's story:
severe speech delay associated with bread preservative (April 2000)
I have been meaning to
write to you for years to thank you for your books. We were on the right track
with our then four year old son, Jack (now coming up to 10) when I read
"Different Kids". I already suspected ADHD and knew very well that he
reacted to food as do I. Jack had his first food reaction at 20 weeks
gestation! I ate some of those awful red sugar-coated peanut things and he just
went berserk, looping the loop and throwing himself all over the place for about
an hour or so. So we were prepared.
I breastfed him for nearly
three years - breastfeeding was only time I got to lie down and rest. He was a
"windy" but fairly normal baby early on and I did avoid any foods in
my diet that seemed to cause problems. He never liked to be left alone and
would panic if put down while awake. From three months constant movement and
novelty was required to keep him happy. When he was happy he was radiant and
when he was not he was grizzly and constantly squirming with this giving way to
frantic screaming if the boredom lasted for more than a few minutes. Out
shopping, strangers loved him as he responded with such joy to any attention
and he was a very attractive baby. I had to carry him on my back in a sling,
the stroller was too boring, too far away from me and not social enough. I
accepted all this as I had been told I was a very, very difficult baby - colic
- and my expectations were therefore "realistic".
At four months I began to
introduce solids - rice cereal with breast milk to mix. The novelty seemed to
appeal to Jack! Then I began to mix a small amount of orange juice in with the
cereal to boost iron absorption. From there I introduced apple, ripe banana,
pureed vegies (broccoli, pumpkin, etc.). He wasn't so keen on this but I heard
about adding cheese to make the vegies more appealing, so I did this, often
using parmesan cheese as well as milder cheeses. Jack loved bolognaise sauce
mixed in too. Another favourite was avocado. He loved apricot and yogurt. He
had a small amount of mashed prune to counteract a tendency to constipation. I
was so pleased that he ate well and proud he had such a good appetite and such
an ideal diet. When others asked how he slept (pretty awfully) I could at least
say, "But he eats really well".
Meanwhile our little boy
was getting more and more grumpy and demanding and more and more miserable when
he wasn't amused. I looked frantically for the "ideal toy" the thing
that would hold his attention. Each new item was met with delight and then
discarded within thirty seconds and the grizzling began again.
Jack woke at least twice a
night. He was into everything and seemed to always want more - more - more. He
wasn't babbling - ba ba ba & da da da at 10 months. (In retrospect, the
first sign of his problems with auditory processing that later resulted in
speech delay and difficulty in learning to read.) He never sat and played. He
never sat! He went straight from crawling to being dissatisfied because he
couldn't yet walk.
From the 4 months we put
his "difficult" and unhappy behaviour down to "teething".
The first tooth didn't appear until eleven months.
When Jack was four months
old I ate a small amount of dark chocolate in an ice-cream and about one hour
later breastfed Jack. Within half an hour he was screaming inconsolably and
instead of being tense as crying babies are he just lay back in my arms in an
almost relaxed way as he screamed (low muscle tone no doubt). I identified the
chocolate as the most likely culprit - I'm now sure I was right. After Jack
went to sleep I sat up and expressed my other breast out into a nappy!
He was still a delightful,
smiling, social child as long as he had the undivided attention of someone and
a constant stream of novelty.
I've gone into this first year
in detail because it really shows most clearly what was going on even if it was
not obvious at the time.
My second child, a daughter
called Ellen, was born when Jack was nearly 3 and a half. Jack was delighted
and adored his little sister. The pregnancy was complicated by my blood
pressure going high from 23 weeks. My mother came to look after us all as I was
meant to be resting as well as taking anti-hypertensive medication. My mother
just couldn't take Jack's behaviour.
I had been avoiding wheat
in Jack's diet as I believed I had a problem with it. (My problem was actually
with calcium propionate (282), of course, but cutting out all wheat did solve
my problems of fatigue and fuzziness and so for years I thought I needed to
avoid wheat). For convenience we changed to normal white bread from the
supermarket. Jack loved it after the drier rye bread I had used formerly. I had
not a clue about the preservative in the bread. Jack's behaviour went from bad
to atrocious.
Jack's behaviour was at its
all-time worst between the ages of 3 and 4. It was during this time he was
eating the preserved bread. He put his hand through a windowpane during a
tantrum. He woke with nightmares and screamed madly about and it was impossible
to get through to him.
He went to bed late,
reappearing often saying he was hungry and wanting (surprise, surprise) another
slice of bread. He would wake at 4.30 in the morning wanting to be entertained.
The only toy he persistently liked was his ride-on car. His behaviour and
manner were almost autistic but for his insatiable sociability. His speech was
very delayed and I don't think he really understood a lot of what was said to
him. He was however very imaginative and inventive and liked to play pretend
games, but always with someone. He had no liking for being read to but
preferred to have me act out stories with both of us taking roles.
Needless to say I was
exhausted and miserable. We lived half an hour out of town. My husband, Nick,
was at that time managing farms. It was a very similar situation to yours, I
think.
Jack was going to preschool
in town a few days per week. Although they did not complain about Jack's
behaviour (he has never been physically aggressive towards other people, even
at his very worst and he's never said "I hate you" either - he is a
very gentle character) When pressed they would say he was a bit weird, hiding
in the playhouse and refusing to come out when the others were sitting on the
mat listening to stories and taking off outside at inside time, etc, but he was
only three so a lot of immaturity was allowed for.
My mother and my husband,
Nick and I discussed Jack and his behaviour and decided that his things had got
much worse around the time of the change in bread type. I took Jack of all
wheat. The change was astonishing. He could have his socks put on without going
berserk. You could talk to him and he would act on what was said. He didn't
scream through everyday tasks such as bathing, dressing etc. When he went to
preschool that week I dropped him off and didn't say anything about the
changes. When I picked him up the teacher approached me and said "What
have you done - he's a different child - he's playing with the others and
listening to us."
Just before Jack went off
wheat he had been assessed by a speech therapist at the preschool. She
diagnosed, as best she could -we couldn't really keep Jack in the room much
less anything like on-task - a severe expressive language delay and a moderate
receptive language delay. Six weeks, later when off the wheat products, was
reassessed by the same speech pathologist, using the part of the test that Jack
had not done due to being non-cooperative. This time he seemed to have no
significant receptive language delay and was only mildly delayed in his
expressive language. She said she had never seen a child change so dramatically
within such a short period of time.
Of course avoiding wheat
meant avoiding a lot of foods, such as sausages. So Jack's diet also became
generally blander and so did Jack. He was still difficult but at least he was
"on the planet" now. He was only four but used to ask me "Why am
I so happy, Mum?"
After a couple of months I
screwed up my courage to do a challenge for wheat. I cooked some pikelets so I
knew just what had gone into them. No reaction other than a very happy child -
yummy pikelets!
I challenged with bread,
planning to do two-week-on -- two-week-off challenges to see if any difference
was apparent. That challenge lasted for two slices of bread fed to Jack at 4.30
on a Friday afternoon (timed so as to coincide with the weekend when Nick would
be about)!! Within forty-five minutes, Jack was off his brain. Screaming, upset
by everything - he finally went to bed and woke at 4.30 and was off again. This
reaction lasted as a major thing for three days and Jack was unsettled for at
least a week afterwards. Nick strapped Jack into his car seat and spent a lot
of time driving around checking the property that weekend! We have never
rechallenged this one as Jack himself has no desire to repeat that particular
experience and neither have we.!!
The clinic sister I went to
for Ellen was very supportive of my efforts to unravel the cause of Jack's
problems with diet. When I had identified bread as being a huge problem she
pointed out that bread did contain a preservative. She did not know anything
particular about this preservative and its effects and she only mentioned it
because preservatives were believed to be a cause of behaviour problems in
children. Unfortunately I didn't take this too seriously at that time - I still
believed that they wouldn't put anything this harmful in our "daily
bread" and therefore the preservative couldn't be that harmful.
I spent the next year or so
thinking our problem was yeast. I also noticed that a lot of Italian food
caused major problems and made Jack pale and blobby looking as well as
affecting his behaviour.
It was around this time I
found and read "Different Kids" and it all began to make sense. What
I had been doing as a mixture of the observation that the blander the diet the
blander the children, my little clinical-trials-with-one-(or two, three or
four) participant(s) and intuition could now be done with structure. I think
you saved us another three to four years of misery, money wasting and mucking
about.
These days my husband says
he feels better and doesn't get headaches any more. I've found I react to many
things and I compete with Jack for the most sensitive-in-the-family status.
Ellen reacts to salicylates by becoming easily enraged and blaming everyone for
everything. She is, by the way, the most un-ADD person I've every met - highly
organised, very logical, and a real old head on young shoulders -very knowing
and mature and reasonable. She is also extremely bright and academically gifted
especially with maths.
Jack becomes hyper and
idiotic and unable to learn when he has more than moderate salicylates in his
diet. His salicylate reaction is a rapid-onset-rapid- resolution-type reaction.
Amines used to make him irritable and as close to aggressive as he got but these
days the reaction takes the form of a migraine. Jack still has academic
problems related to his ADD and particularly to his auditory processing
disorder. He is on Ritalin for school. I liken it to wearing glasses and tell
him his sister wears glasses at school to help her eyes focus and he needs
Ritalin to help his mind focus. He takes a very small dose (1 tab then 1/2 tab
three hours later) and he finds it very effective. He does not take it at
weekends usually although he would have a dose if we were going to do something
that required good behaviour despite being bored or to help with a task
requiring concentration and organisation such as making a model etc. He also
asks for a dose if he his anxious to be on his best behaviour.
We also need to apply behaviour
modification techniques on a daily basis - I did a Triple P course and this has
been immensely helpful in managing Jack.
To put it simply, our
approach to Jack's behaviour and other problems three-tiered one:
First comes diet and
general good health including adequate sleep and food - this is essential as if
his diet, in particular, is off then nothing else is really effective.
Second comes the behaviour
modification. I believe a lot of poor behaviour in children is caused by not
being able to understand their environment. It seems to me that all effective
behaviour modification systems provide not only rewards and punishments but
more importantly they organise and simplify the social environment for all
players. This consistency enables children who have trouble reading those
around them to understand what is happening and they are therefore able to
comply.
And thirdly, medication is
the icing on the cake. It does cause Jack persistent appetite suppression and
sleep problems. (The appetite suppression can be a good thing for parties
though as he will only pick at plain chips and have a bit of lemonade if on
medication!)
Once again thank you so
much for your books - and for the great website, and please sign us up for your
newsletters, discussion group and kids discussion group!
-
[035] We never thought food
intolerances were part of the equation (April 2000)
Our oldest son attends a
Montessori preschool and his teacher had been concerned from day one over a few
of his little habits. In November 1999 he was assessed because he has always
been an over emotional child and his concentration was not developing like his
teacher expected. He was also rolling his eyes when doing work at school and he
was starting to fall behind. At no time did anyone (teacher or assessor) think
ADD / ADDH was a problem. Needless to say our feet hit the ground running since
that assessment.
First stop was diet. The
lady who did the assessment recommended getting both our children off additives
immediately and reducing dairy and wheat. We were lucky to get into
Within three days after
removing additives, wheat and dairy from the children's diet our children
transformed into angels. Our son and daughter had always fought. After three days
there was no fighting. They were settled and calm within themselves. They slept
longer. They ate more. The teachers at school wanted to know who possessed our
son. All of a sudden he was focused, able to concentrate and more sociable.
Parent's of his friends noticed the change. His 5 year old friends noticed a
change. Of course no one believed us it was due to a major diet change. After
all, bread is good for you!
The children have done the
elimination diet and we have been steadily challenging food chemicals. Judging
by the reaction from our dietician our children are not fitting the usual
reactions. The children have had no physical reactions. All reactions have been
behaviour related. Wheat made both children aggressive, giddy and unfocused.
Cow's milk (both with lactose and without lactose) made both children emotional
basket cases however they had no reaction to tasty cheese. We think they
reacted to cow's milk yogurt but we are going to retest. I know they reacted to
ice cream also. Our dietician explained that an emotional reaction to cow's
milk has been observed so we weren't imagining things. Currently the children
are being tested on additives from unlabeled capsules. Our son’s first test was
food colouring. Even without a label the additive was obvious when I broke open
the capsule. Within minutes he reacted with hyperactive energy. I believe his
teacher had one of the worst days in her teaching career that day! She told me
never ever ever give him that again. He was unfocused, talking non-stop and
could not concentrate. It took three days to get out of his system.
A few things have amazed me
through our food testing experience. Once the chemicals are out of the diet the
reactions when the chemical was re-introduced has been over the top. How could
the children have ever eaten those chemicals before and we did not see the
reactions? Once you start from a clean slate and looking at one chemical at a
time the results are amazing. I'm also amazed how many foods contain unsafe
chemicals. Has anyone ever tried to buy corn chips with no anti-oxidants? Not
many edible choices out there. Lucky we're not corn chip people! I am also
astonished how long it takes for the children to regain their angelic natures
after a food challenge. RPA gives approximately three days but we found it
takes at least one week for the bad stuff to get out of the children's systems.
I am convinced that our
children are not the only children with food intolerances. I think all children
have food intolerances but parents are living in denial. I speak to friends and
they all agree that their child should cut back on this or that food. No one
has the commitment to do this unless they have reached crisis point. We knew
our son was a high needs / high returns child from day one but we never thought
that food intolerances were part of the equation. We now see that unless your
child has a good clean diet then they have no chance to reach their potential.
Our son’s overall problem
is neurological. His birth was very bad. It appears that structural damage
prevented parts of his brain integrating hence the result is he has problems
getting information out. He has seen a cranial chiropractor, a behavioural
optometrist and a kinesiologist plus weekly visits to a neurodevelopment
therapist. The bottom line is until his diet intolerances have been confirmed
and his metabolism rebuilt by the kinesiologist the neurological side will not
be totally fixed.
Our daughter has been
dragged along on his journey. At one stage blood tests indicated she had coeliac
disease. A visit to the specialist concluded she has a strong disposition
towards coeliac disease but she is not a coeliac. I was amazed that a
specialist dealing with gut problems was skeptical of results from the food
challenges. That specialist was recommended because he was one of the open
minded ones!
Meanwhile the children are
permanently off gluten, dairy (except a little cheese) and additives. We have
gone back to the old fashion make it at home cooking and baking. I don't even
bother with the instant gluten-free additive-free box foods. Hey, I can make a
pizza base that tastes just as good from scratch. We continue with his other
therapies. He's making great progress. Still up and down because the diet is
still being sorted out. Our daughter is two years younger. Luckily she is young
and she has not been under the scrutiny academic wise that our son has. She has
had food reactions but shows no neurological problems.
The thing that frightens me
most is that we live in a world of children (and adults) who are zombies due to
food chemicals. All those beautiful little minds being drugged by legal
chemicals in our foods. Parents who have gone through food challenges and have
children with food intolerances need to educate their friends. A parent just
needs to change their diet for a short time to see the proof that their child
is affected by foods.
- Mother, Sydney
[034] Chronic fatigue
(January 2000)
I am 23 years old and I
have had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for two years now. I thought I was never
going to get better. It seemed the healthier I thought I ate (lots of fruits
and veges!) the sicker I became and the more weight I lost, along with many
other symptoms including headaches, muscle soreness and weakness, bowel
disorders. You name it I experienced it! At my lowest weight I was 32kg which
was a total loss of 30kg. After being an elite athlete I can assure you this
was very frustrating.
It was only when my
fantastic doctor happened to come across another patient who had the same
problems as me that he was pointed in the direction of the allergy clinic at
Through a dietitian there I
was put on the FAILSAFE diet and dramatically improved within two days. Even
though this meant that I only ate fish, rice and chicken for four months I
didn't mind because I no longer had stomach pains. I am now able to tolerate
most foods on the low list although not dairy or gluten. That may not sound
like much but to me I can eat a huge variety compared to what I started out
with.
I have managed to put on 12
kg and am almost ready to return to a bit of part time work! I can honestly say
that this diet saved my life.
- Emma Roffey,
[033] 'Smart but doing
badly at school' (January 2000)
I just want to tell you how
your book has changed our life in just five days! I had two of my children
tested for educational problems as they were both very smart but were doing
badly at school - just couldn't get it together and were repeating for their
lack of progress. The child psychologist offered me a range of books to read
whilst I was waiting for the hours to pass and I picked your book up - as I
felt I had four 'different kids' without even knowing that it was aimed at ADD
type of behaviour. I read the book in one sitting and then reread parts of it,
reluctantly I returned it to the psychologist, who mentioned that she had
suspicions that at least one of the children was intolerant to certain food
chemicals (amongst other problems she has).
I then visited Dymocks and
bought both your books - read 'Fed Up' in less than a day and felt ready to
tackle the problem - we went shopping and explored what the chemicals were
armed with your books and the code breaker book - not much to choose from but
it has increased my awareness of how even though we try to maintain a healthy
diet the corporations and food manufacturers are slowly poisoning us!
My children have been
preservative and colouring free for about five days - a total change in their
behavior and willingness to be obedient and cooperative and just really
pleasant to be with, our little girl is a joy to be around with no sore belly
and no temper tantrums (I have also tried to take her off as many salicylates
as possible) - her sense of humour is really coming through.
On Christmas day someone
(well meaning of course) gave the kids a small bag of sweets and their
behaviour change was reversed ... This behaviour is not just observed through
me wanting change - we are currently staying with my parents and they too have
noticed a difference in the kids and although scoffed at first, are also
converts.
- Dianne McKenzie,
[032] After 12 months
failsafe, a prize at the junior school prizegiving (January 2000)
I had to write and tell you
how we are getting on. My son will receive a prize at the junior school
prizegiving next week...we are just so pleased for him. He deserves it so much!
It is hard to believe that this is the boy they wanted to keep back a year ...
needed writing tuition and now has beautiful handwriting, wrote short boring
stories and now writes amazing near novels. His reading has gone up three years
in one year, his spelling four years in one year. He really has worked hard in
all areas and has tried to keep within the diet.
I must say we are very
proud and so pleased he will receive this trophy. Thanks for your many times of
support, we know a lot of these results are because of your books and the diet
and the on-going support. It is so very much appreciated.
- member of the failsafe
email discussion group
[031] 282: Results of
bread preservative (282) challenge (January 2000)
You said you were interested
to hear how our challenges went. Well, what can I say - they weren't fun times.
We challenged nitrates and
amines and yes, my daughter does become irritable a day or two after eating
foods containing these chemicals. Her mood only lasts around 24 - 48 hours and
so this isn't too bad. I can tolerate this but as for the 282 bread challenge,
I never want to see another slice of bread or crumpet or anything else that
contains this preservative.
I felt cruel doing this
challenge but as you say, we do need to know if she reacts to this
preservative. I could see her mood slowly changing by the fifth day on the
challenge and from then on it only got worse.
My food diary reads:
day 5 - cries easily
day 6 - cries easily,
slightly cranky
day 7 - cries easily, sour
faced (stopped challenge)
day 8 - angry, irritable,
fighting with us and sibling
day 9 - foul mood
day 10 - terrible mood,
irritable, cranky, easily angered
day 11 - mood still bad but
improving
day 12 - bad mood,
irritable, angry, stirring siblings
day 13 - irritability
improving; still fires up but not as frequently
day 14 - mood much more
pleasant
day 15 - pleasant child
The one good thing to come
from this challenge was that it opened my husband's eyes up and he has now
started reading labels and watches carefully what our children eat.
- mother of two
[030] Adults have food
intolerance too (January 2000)
I bought your book recently
at a dietician's recommendation after being diagnosed to have sensitivity to
salicylates and amines. It is really easy to read and contains a wealth of
information. The dietician was especially enthused about your recipes - she
felt they were easy recipes and it was therefore easier for people to comply
with the limitations on food types. I agree totally.
In my case, the initial
symptoms included tiredness and lack of concentration, so it took a while for
me to even begin to seriously consider looking at recipes - I started with a
fairly standard and uninteresting diet that did not require any mental effort
(rolled oats, golden syrup on toast, boiled egg sandwiches, stir fried
vegetables). Now, after a couple of months, I am much more alert and awake, and
interested in things.
In fact, the reaction
checklist was a revelation - it revealed that things I regarded as normal were
actually symptoms. And having filled out the checklist initially and again
after a week on the diet, I was amazed at the difference ...
It seems from your book and
website that children are the main sufferers from food intolerance. However, I
know a couple of adults who have intolerance problems ... It occurs to me also
that this might provide another avenue, possibly more fruitful, to continue the
campaign against food additives, or at least having them tested more fully.
When adults are ill, there are direct economic costs in terms of lost work
time, reduced productivity, possible workers compensation claims or even
superannuation costs due to early retirement due to ill health. Certainly in my
case, my productivity has been down for some years due to inability to
concentrate.
By contrast, children's
behaviour can easily be dismissed with responses blaming parents, children or
everything else but food additives. Pursuing the economic costs of irritable
bowel syndrome alone may well reveal the true cost of having additives in
foods. Further, once it becomes an economic issue, it is likely that further
research will be done on the subject, revealing even more information.
- David Morrison,
[029] For ADHD,
"understanding and dignity" (November 1999)
My 6 yr old son is to be
assessed at the end of this month for ADHD but after reading "Different
Kids" (I'm half-way through - it's a GREAT book) I *know* what the answer
is going to be.
He is an exceptionally
bright child who started school this year. His reading, math and long term
memory are exemplary. His teacher wrote in his mid year report that she had
never met a child so young with such a broad knowledge base (I'm VERY
particular about TV etc... - no mindless drivel in our house :-) . It was she
who suggested he be tested as she felt his behaviour could easily impede a
great potential. The first time she suggested it I brushed the idea to the back
of my mind - defensive about a condition I had no knowledge of. The second time
she mentioned it I decided to "look into it". I dug about on the
internet first, rang support groups, and got hold of your books. Within 48
hours I was convinced she was acting in my son's best interests and the more I
read the clearer it became.
I don't want him to be
medicated so I am very interested in the elimination diet (I have "Fed
Up" too - I just haven't got that far in my reading yet!).
I've suggested
"Different Kids" to numerous people (a lot of them strangers) - some
with possible ADHD kids and others with so-called "normal" children -
purely for the depth of understanding and dignity you assign to "the
problem".
Thanks for giving me an
insight into my childhood - now I know why I did (& still do) some of the
things that I did (& do) :-).
- Kim Colwell
[028] Indeed 'fed up'
(November 1999)
Thank you so much for your
book 'Fed Up'. The title jumped off the bookstore shelf at me for the simple
fact I was indeed 'fed up'! The book has been very insightful for me and
my family and we are eager to start an elimination diet to hopefully bring more
harmony into our lives and our home! ... Thanks again for a truly wonderful,
informative book. I have a feeling that we will enjoy some remarkable changes
as a consequence of a dietary life change and reading your book!
- mother of two,
[027] "Calmer and
happier" (November 1999)
I have just read your book
'Fed Up'. I suspect my whole family has food intolerances and would like to
follow the elimination diet ... I have already had some positive results with
my son by excluding preservatives and chemicals from his diet. He is much
calmer and happier. Thank you so much for your book.
- mother of 2, WA
[026] "Change just
about unbelievable" (November 1999)
Thank you for writing Fed
Up.
A friend of mine showed me
your book after I was speaking to her about my daughter and the problems I was
having with her.
My daughter was a very
short tempered, angry and defiant little 4½ year old. It got to a stage where I
was so upset and couldn't understand how my sweet little girl could so easily
turn into this nasty little girl.
To cut a long story short,
I thought anything was worth a go and so I read your book. We have now been
eliminating all the additives and preservatives that you suggest for nearly two
weeks and the change in my daughter is just about unbelievable.
We may continue further
into the diet as she has a terribly stuffy nose every morning.
Our whole family is now
happier and healthier thanks to you.
Thank you so much for being
so concerned for other people's health. You have given us our little angel
back.
- mother,
[025] Family of seven on
FAILSAFE diet (October 1999)
We have your books -
wonderful!, changed our lives, took one of our kids off ADHD dexamphetamine
because its what he eats that matters!!! We have five children and two parents
on various variations of diets including gluten, dairy and additive free.
- failsafe father of
five
[024] Discounted as a
caregiver (October 1999)
May I take this opportunity
to say "THANK YOU". I still feel that I'm just a beginner with all
this but I am so very appreciative of your efforts on behalf of us all. I also deeply
appreciate the hard path you've trodden with your children. It sounds like a
very long one, with more than its fair share of pain and loneliness. I can
identify with many of the things you share re your experiences with doctors and
the medical system ... the not-being-listened-to, the we-experts-know-best, the
they'll-get-over it, the put-this-one-in-the-too-hard-basket and so on. Like
you, I find the arrogance and indifference is sometimes utterly staggering.
By contrast, today I met a
doctor who was so respectful. I found myself thinking 'where are all the other
doctors in the world with a bit of humanity?' Then I felt sad that I even
thought like that - but it was true. Too often I feel marginalised or
discounted as a caregiver for my kids.
- mother of 2, NZ
[023] Failsafe at
university: progressively more organised (October 1999)
Just a short note to let
you know that things are going really well and that I am becoming progressively
more organised. I have been feeling fantastic lately. At uni I have been doing
a lot more work than usual. I am feeling a lot more settled and focused, and I
am able to memorise things a lot easier than before the diet.
Two friends whom I hadn't
seen for a few months told me last week that I looked well, and one of the
girls said that my eyes looked "clear"! I don't know if she meant it
literally, or that I just looked more awake!
- Ellas, university
student
[022] The Cookie Cooker
(October 1999)
I spent all afternoon
yesterday reading your book "Fed Up" and by chance this morning I
came across the Failsafe newsletters on the web and have just finished reading
them all. At times when reading your book I felt as though you may have been
speaking about my family. The sibling squabbles; irritability; difficulties in
getting a child to sleep; defiance; a child not helping herself get ready for
school; periods of not wanting to sit and concentrate on schoolwork and
homework.
I have always realised that
my 7 year old daughter reacted badly to some foods, but in the busyness of life
(particularly as our family has had a number of crises to deal with in the past
two years) it was often easier to give and to avoid the arguments. However this
would only deal with the arguments then and there and the behaviours would
often kick in later.
My 7 year old has always
been very active - she finds it difficult to sit/stand still (although she can
sit for long periods and watch TV or read with us) and has never been easy to
get to bed. In class I find that she ends up sitting on her own because she
"annoys the other children" - although she will say that they annoy
her first. I have often put her patches of annoying type behaviours (defiance;
reluctance to help herself in terms of dressing etc; fidgeting in class;
fighting with her 5 yr old sister) down to periods of unsettled family life.
Whilst I think that this has had an impact I'm sure diet is also involved. In
the past we have undertaken to watch our diet and have eliminated foods as
dictated by a naturopath and I have found the children's behaviour to be calmer
with more self control and they certainly had less colds. However, I never had
an in-depth understanding of this whole area. I'm an educated women and in
hindsight it never ceases to amaze me how in our private lives we do things
over and over even though we know the outcomes aren't desirable eg: know the
outcome of giving red lollies.
After a particularly heated
run in with both my 7 year old and 5 year old and the most wonderful shopping
centre tantrums - which came after lollies, iceblocks, chips and fruitjuice, I
discovered your book in the book shop. I think fate may have been working at
it's best.
I feel your book has
provided me with a more in-depth understanding and a desire to pursue an
elimination diet to see where it takes us. I have a number of concerns -
especially related to the school environment and whole of family participation,
especially Dad. For example - how do you get around things like cookie cooker at
preschool? As you may know this is where each child takes a turn to bake/buy
cookies and take them to preschool for the others to buy. I wouldn't like to
isolate my child by not allowing her to participate when the others have
cookies to sell.
Part 2
I realise that our issues
are extremely mild compared to a lot of the families that have written to your
newsletters but it is quite recognisable that the foods that my 7 year old
craves are the ones that affect her. I think we will all give the elimination diet
a shot. Although it was more the 7 year old that prompted me into action, after
a junk food attack my 5 year old displays less than angel-like behaviour. It
certainly can't do any harm - in fact it appears to me that what you advocate
makes perfect healthy eating sense. You will be pleased to hear that my
daughter was the cookie cooker today and all the preschoolers enjoyed failsafe
cookies from your book.
- Cindy, Qld
[021] Sanity saver
(October 1999)
I have used your 'Fed Up'
book for quite some time, and find it such a help. I have my little boy back,
as well as my sanity!
- mother of 7 year old
[020] Asthma, eczema,
sinus, mood (October 1999)
I am writing to thank you
very much for your book 'Fed Up', and to say that our family has been on this
diet since August 98. By eating 'failsafe' we have experienced great
improvements in our family life. During this time my son has ceased using
asthma medications, and his eczema, mood swings, behaviour, tiredness, and
sinus problems have disappeared. He is now a happy, healthy and settled child.
- mother of six year
old,
[019] Room for
improvement (October 1999)
I have two children, boys
aged six and three. Last year we found the oldest (Christopher) quite difficult
to control. He was unable to accept 'no', he was aggressive and his temper was
quite short. This behaviour did not extend outside the house. Behaviour at
school was marvellous and teachers could not speak highly enough of
Christopher's behaviour. It was like there were two Christophers. My husband
and I felt it was not going to get any better and to try to get some help
before Christopher's behaviour got way out of control.
We spent approximately four
months with a psychologist, using the triple p program. Christopher's behaviour
turned right around. His behaviour now is so much better, though at times, I do
believe there is room for improvement. While working a couple of weeks ago, I
was speaking to a lady who has a son with food intolerance, she gave me a full
run down. That afternoon I started reading your book (Fed Up). It took me a day
and half to read it. It is fabulous. I have contacted a dietican and am seeing
her in a week or so.
- Mother of 2, QLD
[018] Additives and food
pollution (August 1999)
Sue, I finally got around
to looking at your web page and decided to tell you my story although I imagine
this sort of thing is all too familiar to you by now.
I am a middle aged male
employed in a professional capacity. I have a family. For at least 25 years of
my life I suffered migraine headaches. I saw doctors and specialists, I had CAT
scans and no physical causes were found. In 1982 I was advised by a specialist
to take large doses of aspirin together with ergotamine. I hated ergotamine. I
had headaches at least every second day for many years. I took aspirin at rates
of up to 2 dozen 300mg tabs a week. At one stage my doctor said I had
"mild neutropenia". In the 1990s I took sumatriptin tablets (Imigran)
which worked about as well as anything but were very expensive.
In 1995 ... I [found out
about food intolerance]. I was ready to try anything and commenced the
Elimination Diet. I had a continuous migraine for 6 days but stuck to it. I
then started to improve dramatically. I have not taken an aspirin since. I take
the occasional Panadol (maybe once a month on average) and this is almost
always related to a dietary excursion (usually beer.)
Despite reading all the
stuff about how I would improve and be able to reintroduce some foods I have
stuck to the elimination diet. I have no wish to undertake challenges and no
wish to start eating strongly flavoured but poisonous foods again ... I have
learned to appreciate the food I eat and find a lot of enjoyment in subtle
flavours.
Now the second part of this
message. The more I read about food intolerance the more concerned I am
getting. When I read your letter contained in Ministers.html my reaction is one
of EXTREME ANGER. How can ANZFA possibly even consider softening of labelling
regulations. I have been caught myself by ingredients lists that appear
innocuous except for the word flavours or possibly oils with undisclosed antioxidants.
I have never written to a
newspaper, never written to a politician and never even spoken to one on a
serious matter except through work. However, I now feel very strongly that
there must be changes made to stop food pollution.
How can a society where
people will chain themselves to construction equipment to stop mining of toxic
materials blithely tolerate the addition of things like BHA, BHT and TBHQ to
the very food we eat. Sorry, there is no point preaching to the converted.
The point is I would like
to HELP ... Of course I am very busy, but I am becoming very passionate about
food intolerance issues as I read more and more. Please let me know what I can
do.
[Many thanks to the writer
of this letter and others like it. See 'FAILSAFE #11 (out soon) for suggestions
about how you can help! ... Sue]
[017] ADHD success from
We purchased your book 'Fed
Up' and started to use some of your foods mentioned and in a matter of two days
we noticed a difference with our two children who are ADHD.
Our six year old was
diagnosed ADHD 12 months ago. He was in the top 3% for hyperactivity. Ritalin
has never been our answer but seemed to be the better of the two evils. He
still finds it hard to fit in with children in his class and is often left
standing alone when it comes time for the children to pick a partner. He
however interacts very well with older children and all his friends at school
are two or three years ahead of him. When you strip away the ADHD he is the
most gentle intuitive animal-crazy kid you'd ever meet.
I had felt up until a day
or two into your diet we had been robbed of the normal loving caring
relationship shared by mother and son and it makes me sick to the stomach that
all the so-called top paediatricians and psychiatrists have never mentioned
diet, only increasing the amount of Ritalin and disregarding my theory on diet.
Our son loves school, even if it comes with a few knocks. He's bright and he
wants to learn so I want to do everything in my power to help him succeed and
your diet works better and more consistently than Ritalin.
Our younger son is 15
months old and what a handful he is, exactly like his brother but with a
temper, again the diet has helped him slow down and become more focused and
much calmer to be around.
Thank you so much as it has
brought our family closer.
- Leesa & Stephen
King, NZ
[016] Extract from a
letter from Jake, aged 9, who has been on failsafe foods for 4 months (note the
halo) (May 1999)
"I still like my diet
because it helps me."
Love Jake o:-) (the angel)
[015] From a mother in
Thanks for taking the time
to write such a great book. I am reading "Fed Up" as fast as I can,
which isn't fast enough. My seven year old son shows all the classic signs of a
child with a sensitivity to foods.
Last week I started by
taking him off fruit juice and fruits except pears ... the school called me and
asked why my son was different. Now we are into the diet full swing and hoping
for good results. He is missing his tomato sauce but there are no other
complaints from him.
Thanks again!
[014] Managing FAILSAFE
on the road (May 1999)
... more news from the
family whose story appears in Fed Up, page 329. After enjoying their
3000 km holiday through the
We are in a truck and a
caravan set up so that we can get work along the way. We have two
boys aged seven and eight.
The eight year old is the food intolerant one whom we thank for showing us the
way into learning so much about foods and our own intolerances and how the
problems can be solved, even though at first we cursed the situation that he
"caused" but now we know better ... and are still learning so much
about these situations.
We always stick to the
elimination diet or failsafe foods as that is the only way we
"survive" so to speak. We have containers in one of the van cupboards
with all the raw ingredients such as sugar, milk powder, flour, oats, rice,
noodles, rice bubbles, etc and we carry the tinned foods and the bread maker
along with the right bread-making mix. It's not hard at all and is quite cheap
as it's all the old fashioned cooking ingredients.
We make up many different
meals with those ingredients such as pizza, stir-fry with fresh/frozen meats,
noodles and the right vegies. We often use cabbage, leek, shallots, green
beans, red kidneybeans, rice - and we make up chicken rolls with pastry. We
usually only eat meat every second night and our only take-away foods are hot
chips once every so often. I try to make muffins and bikkies when I can and we
have sponge/butter cakes along the way too. We use a small amount of shredded
Mozzarella cheese.
Our meals usually just
emerge from what we chop up and cook. We use fresh garlic and we also make up a
pot of chicken stock using just chicken carcass, leek, shallot and lotsa water.
Then we freeze this all down in recycled
Travel lots - it's great
for everyone - the "travelling eliminators"
[013] The school
tuckshop - from a teacher (May 1999)
You would be absolutely
horrified to see the tuck shop at the school I am working at. Lollies, slush
puppies, etc. etc. etc. It is a tough school with lots of behavioural problems.
I am reassessing what I am doing. I am not questioning teaching and learning
but am thinking about what sort of setting I want to do it in. I have real
compassion for those with learning difficulties and much prefer working with
those who need remediation work. Perhaps because I was a 'slow learner' I
understand where these kids are coming from.
I value my time too much to
waste it on people who aren't receptive. I do not want to spend my whole day
managing behaviours that are influenced by many other factors beyond my
control. Does this seem selfish?
[012] Can a vegetable
garden really be so bad? Read the two-part story from this family of five (May
1999)
Part 1
We are finding it difficult
to start on the diet properly. Our vegetable garden at the moment is rewarding
us for months of hard work by producing large amounts of tomatoes, sweet corn,
strawberries and silver beet, it is very hard to pass all these up.
However, when we eliminated
all additives - which wasn't many as we have always tried to avoid these anyway
- our three-year-old started sleeping through the night every night for the
first time - after only two days without two glasses of cordial each day.
People said he is just growing up, but when he had commercial bread two days in
a row for lunch (we usually bake our own) he woke up in the night on those two
days only.
My own experience has been
really great. I have suffered from migraines which last for two days every week
for years. After five weeks of no additives and no foods high in amines I had
not had a single migraine and felt wonderful. Then last week a friend gave us
some home cured and dried beef, I couldn't resist. Guess what, a migraine the
next day. I am going back on the diet straightaway.
Our 13 year old daughter
suffers from asthma and headaches and was becoming what we thought must be
normal at her age (withdrawn and sullen). Now she is hooked on the diet. No
asthma, no headaches - she feels great and her general attitude to life in
general has improved.
My husband thought that
sitting in front of a computer all day was giving him headaches every afternoon
but has now made a connection between his headaches and chilli sauce on his
sandwiches and the orange he was eating for lunch.
Our 11 year old son was
actually the one we decided to do the diet for. He was extremely disruptive at
school, could not concentrate or complete tasks and found it difficult to
maintain friendships because he had a very volatile temper in the playground to
the extent of injuring other children by throwing bricks, rocks and sticks. If
he considered something was unfair he would destroy any cubby houses that the
others had constructed. At other times he was a complete angel and couldn't do
enough to help others. He is also the hardest one in the family to keep on the
diet. He doesn't see his behaviour as his problem, it is always someone else's
fault. He was going really well for a week or so then suddenly had an outburst
one afternoon at school that his teacher, who is very understanding, could not
account for. Later that night when he calmed down it came out that he had
swapped sandwiches with a boy who had anchovies on his lunch.
Part 2 (two weeks later)
I've decided that I don't
care how much our garden is producing after having two migraines following
tomatoes for dinner one night and silver beet another. Both these left me
feeling unwell and nauseous for 4 days.
This was also time for a
breakthrough with our 11 year old son who also suffered from similar symptoms -
as well as behavioural - for a few days after eating the silver beet. He is now
aware that there is a connection with the food he eats.
[011] Epilepsy and food
chemicals (May 1999)
Epilepsy is a
little-known side effect of food chemicals. Kerry from chapter 4 of Fed Up
has noticed that her seizures are triggered by salicylates and tartrazine
colour (102). Another university student noticed that some foods trigger his seizures.
Of the foods he mentions below, chocolate and orange juice are both very high
in natural food chemicals called amines (May 1999)
Thanks for your book Fed
Up and web-site. They're very useful and an eyeopener, especially since I suffer
from epilepsy.
My epilepsy is well
controlled by medication so it is difficult to determine what causes a seizure.
However, I know that feeling fuzzy headed, over-talkative & rambling, are
precursors to a seizure - especially feeling fuzzy headed. I notice the
fuzzy-headedness, first, after not sleeping well.
I will experience a bad
night's sleep through restlessness and at some point during the night I will
wake up and start scratching my forearms. Waking up in the morning is
difficult. The next day I can't think, especially to do math, or to perform
conceptual thinking such as writing an essay.
The worst foods are
chocolate and dairy (but I have to eat a lot of dairy for about a week before I
notice any effects). I went on the "fit for life" diet and noticed
that juices were causing similar problems - I sort of became addicted to orange
juice and was having major mood swings. The same problems occurred when I tried
the "liver cleansing diet." Chocolate is, by far, the worst.
I find that I am not good
at sticking to diets, but I keep trying - especially when things get bad!
[010] Jeremy's story -
classic mild attention & social interaction difficulties (May 1999)
This story is
particularly interesting because it highlights the need to do the elimination
diet absolutely strictly. One small problem on a daily basis can completely
undo the benefit of the diet. Advice from health professionals about trying
dietary management "but not taking it too seriously" is
counterproductive. For at least three weeks you should take it very seriously
indeed, until you find out exactly what the problem is.
Sue ... Thank you so much
for alerting us to the incredible array of preservatives and additives etc. in
the food we eat and feed our children, completely oblivious to the potentially
damaging contents.
I am yet another one of the
converted who read your book cover to cover from the moment I picked it up. I
am 99% convinced now that one of my 6 year old twin boys is affected
neurologically. The case studies were fantastic in relating to the range of
effects and most importantly showing us that 1. there is a logical cause and 2.
reversals are quite possible.
Jeremy has the classic
attention difficulties, social interaction weaknesses and challenging
behaviours although nowhere near those of some of the children in your case
studies. I would class him as mild, but still there is a very noticable
difference to other children of the same age.
I have started him on an
elimination diet ... only to be foiled by party food at school which I was
unaware of .... so we will start again. [about to see a dietitian]
Thanks again and I look
forward to reporting to you very soon that another child and family has
benefited greatly from your hard work.
Part 2
- a couple of weeks and we
wanted to give the diet a fair trial and report to you the reaction from school
after Jeremy returned from school holidays .
We had some fantastic
results early on and saw some dramatic changes in social skills, attentiveness,
motivation to learn, reading capability and focus to task. We saw a much
happier child who was noticeably gaining in confidence and self esteem . By Day
9 and 10, both his teachers at school and swimming independently noticed the
marked change. We then had 2 weeks of school holidays and close management of
the diet. We believed we had found that dairy and amines were the most likely
causes.
.......At this stage we
were absolutely delighted and waiting on the big test of returning to school as
an effective independent review by his teachers as we felt he had made
significant progress over the two weeks.
On his first day back the
comment in his school diary was ......" WOW, What a change"
Unfortunately, over the
last 14 days we have noticed a gradual reversion to his old ways.... although
there is still improvement from before starting the diet. I have documented his
food diary since starting the diet and we are now in the frustrating process of
trying to work out what is going wrong and what the culprit is. It isn't
obvious to us, but something is lurking in there tripping us up.
The most obvious major
change in his diet has been moving to So Good Vanilla flavoured drink. I
noticed on one of your reports that So Good lite with corn syrup can have a
slow build up reaction ..... I don't suppose there are any reports of the
vanilla flavoured one having a similar effect ??? [Yes!! - many children react
to vanilla, even natural vanilla. If in doubt, take it out.]
Other than this, we are
grappling for ideas as to what it could be, especially as we have seen ... for
a short time .... what a different little boy he can be. His grandparents and
others who he sees regularly are all clearly convinced that there were marked
changes .. so it is not just the opinion of wishful thinking parents who saw
the dramatic changes.
Thanks again for alerting
us to this most fundamental problem ........We're absolutely determined to find
the answer to Jeremy's diet so we can re-capture the delightful little boy we
saw a glimpse of recently, and remove the obvious frustration he also feels
about the reversion.
- Di Morton
[009] Sarah and Callum -
two children with autism (April 1999)
My name is Julie Patterson,
and our family consists of my husband Ian, our daughter Sarah aged seven, and
our sons Callum aged three and
I remember now people
commenting on how 'busy' Sarah was as a toddler. As she was my only child, I
never knew any different. She very rarely slept, we used to be up until 1 or
But all that happened is
the symptoms appeared in a different manner. Sarah became withdrawn, anxious,
and suffered severe night terrors. When she was three, Sarah started Montessori
school and then we started to notice other things. Sarah was exceedingly shy,
she would not communicate with other children even after she had known them for
a long periods of time. She had no recognition of colour and never described
anything by its colour. We had her eyes and ears tested, but nothing showed up.
When Sarah was four, Callum was born. When he was three months old we moved up
to Tom Price in
Sarah started preschool and
would vomit for no apparent reason in the mornings before school. She was
tested and pronounced hypoglycaemic. I was told to feed her more often. Grade 1
presented more problems, huge anxiety attacks and night terrors lasting two
hours. I would pick her up from school and find her sitting crying under her
desk. Still I was told it was developmental and she would grow out of it. In
desperation I rook her out of school and went back to
Later that year Callum
started repetitive behaviours such as pushing his head along the floor, staring
at fans, complete withdrawal, no eye contact and delayed speech. By the time he
was diagnosed I was drowning. I wanted to go back to the city, anywhere where I
could get some help. I even withdrew from life myself. It was too hard to go
out, I got sick of people staring, making helpful or unhelpful suggestions, it
just all got too hard.
Then in November 98 a
friend gave me Sue Dengate's book Fed Up. I started that day and
on the first night of the elimination diet my two children slept through the
night. That was the first whole night's sleep I had for nearly seven years.
I am convinced! Sarah is
managing mainstream school without the stress of last year. She has made
friends. Her communication skills had improved so much within two weeks of
starting the program that her teachers asked me what had changed. Callum now
makes eye contact with people and laughs and talks. He is just getting better
and better, his vocabulary is so vast now it makes me gasp! He enjoys playgroup
and is even starting to play with others.
I know a lot of autistic
children will only eat a limited amount of food, and Callum is definitely in
that category but I believe that it is so very beneficial to make the food they
eat failsafe. I also found that after they withdrew from our previous diet,
which with Callum took around six weeks, their tastes had completely changed so
they didn't mind the failsafe food at all. In fact, Sarah has asked me never to
give her food that isn't good for her because it makes her body feel bad.
I am grateful to Sue for
writing her book. I has completely changed our lives and it has, I'm sure,
completely changed my children's future.
- Julie Patterson
[008] Simon's story:
extremely active exploder to model student (March 1999)
Part one (after four days on failsafe
foods)
"Our 4 year old son
Simon is an extremely active child that we have suspected of food intolerances
for a long time. I had a miserable childhood, labelled as a "Trying
Child" at five years old and spent most of my school life outside the
teachers office. When I was 11 my parents put me on a preservative-free diet
which did wonders, but was very difficult as 20 years ago no food was labelled.
Simon is extremely volatile
at home and little things set him off, for example a rollerblade through the
plaster in the wall because he could not get the knee pad done up properly. He
is a perfect angel when things are going his way, but explodes when he is
challenged or things do not turn out how he wants. We have always been proud of
his "mature palate" and his weekly diet would include foods like
pesto, tuna, anchovies, olives, salami and parmesan cheese. He generally melts
down in the afternoon at
For four days we have been
in heaven. Simon has done things that were just never part of his personality
(washed his hair, flushed the toilet, picked up toys) and already he is much
more communicative, following me around the house just chatting. He has been
challenged by things not going his way a few times and had a couple of
tantrums, but they are less severe and over very quickly.
The best thing is that I
have been eating the foods he eats and I feel so much calmer and able to deal
with him ... My husband and I consider we are reasonably intelligent and
rational people but we have been at a complete loss about our son's behaviour.
Part two (six months
later): Simon is at
school now and has settled really well. We went to see a behavioural
paediatrician before school started and he stressed that these behavioural
issues cannot usually be solely dealt with by diet ... but he was very
impressed with our details about Simon's change in behaviour and his diet,
supported by testimonials from the day care centre.
We have had our first
parent teacher interview at the school and we went along all defensive and
ready to hear tales of mass destruction in the class room and were overjoyed to
hear the teacher describe Simon as the "Model Student", courteous,
hard working, able to concentrate. We were so overwhelmed that we did not even
find out if he is intelligent or at the bottom of the class, because, quite
frankly we do not care!!!! As long as he can sit still ... he still is very
excitable in the playground, but not aggressive.
The next week he was awarded
a "Special Effort Award" for "Excellent Cooperation in the
Classroom", and had to go to the front of Assembly to receive it, and all
this from a boy who six months ago we did not think was going to cope.
We are still identifying
things that really affect him and we do not touch olives, cheese, tuna, meat
pies and soy sauce now. We have had a couple of incidents with sausages and
sausage rolls which have resulted in snitchy behaviour and bed wetting ...
We have been really pleased
with the response from the school. They do not have a tuck shop and we have
written to Simon's teacher about food sharing. There have been two birthday
celebrations and on both occasions the parents have contacted me about what
party food Simon can have, so the whole class has gotten sponge cake and
lemonade icy poles.
The child care centre has
recommended your book Fed Up to a number of families that they feel
might need to address their children's behaviour through diet. They also have a
low to moderate food chemical diet for babies room based on the Friendly
Food book from Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Allergy Unit. They do not
eliminate everything but are aware of not giving multiple serves of
"high" salicylate fruits to the children and the menu is very low in amines.
Again we have been very impressed with their help.
Thank you for your help, we
have another appointment with the paediatrician next week to follow up Simon's
progress at school. He was going to contact the school and work through some
management strategies for Simon if the wheels had fallen off when he started
school. Now it seems as though his unmanageable behaviour was a bad dream and
that it was a completely different child to the reasonable, mostly rational and
adorable 5 year old that we now have.
Part three
Although Simon was not a
"basket case" before Failsafe foods, everyone we know has commented
on his behaviour improvement, even though some did not think it was an issue
previously and it was not an issue for us every single day. His change in
general demeanour has made a HUGE difference to our lives, just the ability to
communicate daily without the general crankiness has made us a much happier
family. I think that many people do not realise what a difference it makes just
not to have to battle over every issue and every point with someone who often
realises they are being very unreasonable but cannot manage their responses,
and that children do not need to be on the verge of being put on medication to
greatly benefit from diet changes.
Part 4 (June 1999)
(This family was one of the
first to buy Fed Up and started an elimination diet soon after when their son
was in preschool. Here is the follow up after nearly a year on failsafe foods
with Simon now in school.)
We have just had Simon's
first school report and teacher interview. We were over the moon when we saw
his report, he is doing really well in prep, has no difficulty concentrating
(no more than other 5 year old boys), and is on track with reading and writing.
AND - he scored in the highest category for "polite and considerate"
and "cooperative in class"! We are so pleased at how well he has
settled into school and how responsible he is with his food. We have maintained
a failsafe diet for nearly 12 months now and we have never been happier. My
husband and I have given up wine and beer (now we stick to gin) and this has
added to the benefit. We cannot thank you enough for your book and your help.
- anonymous
[007] Emily Rose:
obstructive, obstinate, defiant and plain horrible to tantrum-free (March 1999)
Part one
Having just finished
reading Fed Up I felt compelled to speak to you - your book struck such
a chord! For two years now we have been battling with our daughter's health and
behavioural problems and have been fobbed off left right and centre. It was
such a wonderful relief to speak to you and read of your experiences and know
that we are not alone in this.
Right from the start Emily
Rose was a 'difficult child' - never slept for longer than two hours at a time
at night and had only two short catnaps of about 30 minutes during the day. She
cried a great deal, wanted to be held constantly and often woke up screaming.
Clearly this was going to be a challenge. After four months the sleep
deprivation really hit home and we began doing the rounds of the doctors in an
effort to establish the nature of the problem. We had no answers apart from
maybe it's colic, watch your diet, cut out brassicas, fruit juice, yellow
stoned fruit, onions and garlic. No one mentioned cutting out dairy, tomatoes
or tea!
We thought we ate healthily
- no pork or processed meats (having worked at a food company and seen what
goes into sausages, ham, bacon etc, we came off them in 1994), drank herbal
tea, didn't drink coffee or fizzy drinks, had very little alcohol, didn't eat
much in the way of processed or preprepared foods, don't eat take-aways and had
a high proportion of fresh fruit and veg in our diet with little in the way of
fried food. At one stage we stuck to the Fit for Life Diet for at least 18
months. We struggled on and wondered how it was possible to have a baby like
this - did parents survive such an experience without going insane or
committing infanticide? Here we were, both with post graduate degrees, fairly
competent people, reduced to grovelling wrecks - the baby running our lives.
Thank God, my husband David was very supportive I can't imagine how much worse
it might have been had he not been there for ER and I.
During her first nine
months, Emily Rose had three ear infections and was put on antibiotics.
Although we do not believe in antibiotics we were desperate enough to give it a
go. The problems with her sleep continued. We insisted on a referral to a
paediatrician in an effort to establish whether there was a physiological
cause. The paediatrician was most unsympathetic, of course ER was as good as
gold there and didn't exhibit her usual crying or fretting, she gave Emily Rose
a cursory examination and pronounced her a 'bright' baby (began to crawl at
five months and proficient at getting around by six and a half months, sticking
her hands into everything within reach). Her whole attitude was 'look, I have a
three year old and he still doesn't sleep well, so just learn to live with it!'
We were referred to [a health department facility for mothers and babies] and
had a day stay as well as two home visits - the upshot of that was we were told
we had a 'naughty baby' who should be taught to sleep (controlled crying etc
and left in her cot for up to an hour at a time, very distressed, crying and
screaming). I couldn't believe that at five months a baby could be naughty (it
went against the grain of all my psych training and experience) and the
controlled crying etc was nearly the undoing of me. We stopped using [the
health facility] or their advice - I refused to be made to feel guilty and did
not like the implication that we were bad parents!!
Finally when Emily Rose was
about 11 months I contacted the Government Audiologist and asked for his advice
and a referral - she had just blown a fourth ear infection and I was not
satisfied with the doctor's comment that this is normal for young children -
'they have an average of 13 infections in their first year!' We were put into
contact with a GP who specialises in distressed infants and it was the first
turning point. This doctor's hypothesis is that some infants from families with
histories of allergy/intolerance exhibit sensitive tissue which overreacts to
irritants. This view is unfortunately not well accepted in the wider medical
circles here in
On her initial visit, Emily
Rose was given a tympogram and we found that both her ears were effused -
obviously she had been in significant pain for most of her life. She had
probably had more ear infections than we were aware of as she exhibited asymptomatic
otitis media. No wonder she did not sleep well, if she lay down for any length
of time, the pressure built up in her ear drum until she woke crying/screaming.
More antibiotics, and we were advised to move her off milk based formula for
her complementary feeds to a soy based formula. I breast fed her until she was
just under two but we had to start complementary feeds at about nine months - I
think I was too exhausted to continue on my own. We used soy formula for about
four months during which time her bowel motions became increasingly loose.
Eventually we agreed to the grommet route because we did not want to continue
with antibiotics, she was looking ill and peaky with dark circles under her
eyes, and when read stories about children going to bed would clap her hands
over her ears (we took this as an indication that she associated bed with
pain). Within two weeks of her operation the difference in the child was
astounding - she gained some colour in her face, the dark circles receded and
she began to pick up weight.
However, her irritability
continued and in fact began to get worse. We began to explore whether her
behaviour was in any way related to food and took her for vega testing. We were
astounded by the results: wheat, dairy and soy intolerant as well as sensitive
to salicylates. Controlling her diet more closely produced even better results.
In May 1998, when we took her off the soy and reduced her fruit intake, her
irritability subsided, the runny nose also began to clear and she began to look
healthy and rosy!
Over the last few months we
began to slowly reintroduce wheat and dairy into Emily Rose's diet. She loves
her rice milk and is a good eater when she is well and has an appetite. She
eats a broad range of fruit and vegetables and is not what I would consider a
fussy eater - apart from not liking chicken! On reflection I realise that we
did not have enough information about food chemicals such as salicylates and
this is where we have gone off the rails again. Thinking we were doing the right
thing we introduced cranberry juice into her diet to provide her with vitamin C
and gave her crushed almonds for calcium.. She loves olives and will go the
fridge to help herself to them. We tend to eat a lot of home made tomato sauce
on pasta and rice and lavishly pour olive oil on our steamed veggies and salad!
We made sure Emily Rose had at least two - three pieces of fruit a day:
watermelon, apples, grapes, nectarines, pears or banana.
The slide into the
intolerable behaviour has been so insidious that we did not make the connection
with food. Emily Rose has become increasingly obstructive, obstinate, defiant
and plain horrible. This is more than just the terrible twos! The tantrums
started about six weeks ago and are unbelievably dreadful - she will cry and
thrash about for over an hour and on one memorable day had three tantrums!
There is no identifiable behaviour which triggers the tantrum nor a particular
time of day when they occur. What upsets us the most is the fact that she tries
to hurt herself during the tantrum either head banging or biting her arms,
wrists and hands causing bad bruising. Time out in her room was out of the
question as it resulted in bruises and egg sized swellings on her head (banging
her head on the closed door) as well as split lips and blood all over the show.
We have learnt to sit and restrain her, all the while talking her through the
episode. Very debilitating for all concerned.
We seriously wondered about
the wisdom of our even considering having a second child when we obviously
couldn't handle one! Needless to say David and I are both exhausted and
somewhat depressed - our life revolves around how ER is behaving. Is it going
to be a good day or one of those horrors? We don't seem to have any time to
ourselves as we spend so much time and effort trying to deal with Emily Rose.
She continues to be difficult to get to sleep - it can take us one and a half
to two at night to get her to go into a deep sleep. We have very few
uninterrupted nights - sometimes she will only wake once, other occasions it is
at least three or more wakings. None of our friends seem to have these
difficulties with their children. My sister has a dream child - you wouldn't
even know that her daughter is in the house. Why us ???? As migrants we have no
family support or the gaggle of houseservants we had at home. My greatest
desire is to have a whole weekend of uninterrupted sleep whilst ER is farmed
out somewhere!!!
The light dawned as I read Fed
Up - this child is very sensitive to salicylates and we need to cut out all
those foods. I now have enough information on what foods contain salicylates to
begin to do this in a logical and constructive way. Previously when we went for
the vega testing we were just told to cut out certain foods but not given
enough information as to why or how. I am now very motivated to start on the
elimination diet and finally establish exactly what her problems are ... David
has said he will also do the diet in an effort to sort out his recurrent
sinusitis so this will be a family effort.
Part two
We are on day two of the
elimination diet and I must admit that I am finding it hard going especially as
we are also dairy, wheat and soy free. Emily Rose is already so much better,
not as good as she could be, but an improvement. Since withdrawing the
cranberry juice 10 days ago we have been tantrum free - just crying fits which
are easier to deal with. The other great thing is that her snotty nose has
cleared up for the first time in months. She is still very irritable and easily
frustrated but I am sure that will improve. We just have to hang in there for
the next three weeks and will challenge with wheat first because I reckon
cooking will become that much easier if we can have wheat!
- Simone McLachlan-Rees
[006] Jake's story:
"the best he has been" after 6 weeks Failsafe (June 1999)
(June 1999)
Part one
"You might be interested
in part of an article in a newsletter from my son's high school. It is a fact
sheet : "Attention Deficit Disorder - The Facts" written by Dr Mark
Gibbeson, Behavioural Paedatrician, Sydney Children's Hospital,
It states as follows:
"MYTH: Drugs are the
only treatment given to help these children
FACT : Medication is
without a doubt the most effective management tool to help these children
concentrate at home and at school. Dietary manipulation is of little help to
most ADHD children [yawn]. Long term improvement is best achieved with the help
of behaviour programs, family and teacher counselling and, of course, helping
the children themselves come to an understanding of their condition as they
grow older."
This article alarmed me
because there was a contact number for further information and books on ADHD.
You can bet your life that "Different Kids" and "Fed Up"
are not on their list. I am also alarmed that these fact sheets are given out
freely to parents and professionals alike really offering no other choice than
to medicate.
I agree that a lot of
parents would need to be helped with behaviour programs but I now think diet
needs to be looked at first before resorting to medication. If the diet has
been adhered to strictly, I am sure that most parents would see an improvement
in their childrens' behaviour as I have seen with my son ...
It makes me angry that
there are so many experts out there willing to medicate our children without
first offering alternatives."
Part two (after 6 weeks
on the elimination diet)
Today Jake was the best he
has been, but even though I watch what he eats and drinks, I got caught. He
sneaked some Sprite lemonade and I didn't know until I arrived to pick him up
from after school care. The carers said his behaviour had been "ratty,
obnoxious, argumentative and hyped up" all afternoon. He had told them
about the Sprite. They said there really must be something in this diet thing
as they had seen a rapid change in his behaviour since I had dropped him off.
At this stage I hadn't seen him yet. Then Jake bounced through the door and
nearly ran up the wall. It took me half an hour to get him into the car. He
wouldn't listen to reason, he was totally off the planet. I will have to be so
careful in the future.
- Dianne Wilson
[005] "immediate
results" (June 1999)
"We are witnessing immediate
results in a 3½ year old grandson as one of our daughters implements a watchful
discipline on eating habits as a result of reading Fed Up."
- John Brewer
[004] Daniel's story:
severe colic and reflux (June 1999)
From the minute Daniel was
born, he was a very unsettled baby. We went home on day three and I expected he
would improve when my milk came in. I work as a midwife, so I had some idea of
sleepless nights etc, but nothing had prepared me for a baby who screamed
constantly when awake and slept very little. My mum said I had been a very
colicky baby and my mother-in-law said my husband David had been an extremely
colicky baby - so we presumed Daniel was the same.
After three doses of
mastitis, I put Daniel on the bottle at five weeks of age. He was just as
unsettled on formula as on breast milk. He continued to have several loose
green bowel actions a day. The next day we left for the
We visited a doctor for
Daniel's immunisations and I told her of his constant screaming - she told me
it was colic and that it would improve by three months of age. I started him on
solids early in case he was hungry (rice cereal and tinned pumpkin) and changed
to a formula for hungrier babies. He seemed better for a couple of days but
then was just as bad.
When we arrived back in
I tried making an
appointment with the paediatrician, but. being Christmas, there were none
available for another month. So we continued to battle on and tried Daniel on a
soy formula which seemed to help for a while, but then he just went back to
square one. He got worse with his feeds, arching his back. We would bang toys
on his bottle to distract him. At this stage most nights he was sleeping though
and I think that was the only way we survived. He continued to scream and
whinge all day and I'm sure he was exhausted at night and that is why he slept.
Despite all this he continued to gain weight and reach all his milestones. I
lost weight rapidly and was lighter than before falling pregnant. We
contemplated that he was just an attention-seeking baby because when we played
on the floor, or took him somewhere different, with different toys, he was
okay.
The feeding continued to
get worse so two and a half months after seeing the GP, when Daniel was six
months old I took him to a paediatrician He immediately diagnosed reflux and
oesophagitis (inflammation and ulceration of the oesophagus) and started Daniel
on Ranitidine (Zantac) which reduced the acid in the stomach, to stop the
'heartburn' type pain. I will never forget what a relief it was to get a
diagnosis; little did I know that this was only the start.
Daniel's feeds immediately
improved on the Zantac but he continued to be very irritable and whiny between
feeds. Three weeks later we started him on Prepulsid (Cisapride) which
increases the rate of the stomach emptying, but it didn't seem to make a great
deal of difference. We tried him on Nutramigen, in case he was cow's milk
intolerant. It seems to help for a couple of weeks, but then he just went back
to the old irritable Daniel.
I had become suspicious of
a few things in his diet. We went camping over Easter and I gave him a Heinz
tomato based baby food - it came out the other end looking nearly same as it
went in and Daniel was extremely unsettled all weekend. A booklet from a
support group for reflux babies mentioned avoiding acidy foods for reflux
babies so we presumed that was the reason it was upsetting him. Luckily, for
this reason, we didn't give him Kiwi fruit, oranges or fruit juice.
At eight months of age he
was still whingeing all day and throwing huge temper tantrums (head banging the
dishwasher) so our paediatrician organised a barium swallow. He also started
him on Mylanta four times a day. The first week on Mylanta he was wonderful and
that week he had the barium swallow, which was normal, much to my disgust. The
next week he was worse than ever. I stopped the Prepulsid at 12 months and
started Daniel on cow's milk, which made no difference. At this time I went
back to work two days a weeks and left my mum to cope with Daniel - there was
no way a child care centre would have taken him. I think going back to work was
the best thing. I would come home after my two days and feel ready to cope with
another week of life with Daniel. My mum says she even dreaded him coming for
the two days sometimes.
Around this time I tried a
naturopath, masseur and chiropractor, but nothing really helped.
By fifteen months of age he
was no better. A normal day was leaving him scream to get him to have his
afternoon sleep and to settle at night. I would put him in his room several
times a day on a bad day and sit for ten minutes and try to calm myself down.
Normal daily talks such as cooking meals and washing were all done while he
screamed.
I returned to his paediatrician
and he referred us to a gastroenterologist at the Royal Children's Hospital in
The pH study showed 'mild' episodes of reflux. His gastroscopy showed moderate to severe inflammation and ulceration of his oesophagus and suggested that there may be an allergy involved. They suggested we see the allergy department at the Royal Children's Hospital. They put Daniel on the Neocate diet. He was only allowed Neocate formula, rice, zucchini, apple, pear and potato. The doctor at the allergy department also advised me that these c