STORIES & OPINIONS 8
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 2456
[599]
Anita’s speech: a 10-year-old tells her school about food intolerance
(November 2007) WINNER OF
THE COURAGE AWARD
Near the end of 2006 I was getting sick and
tired of all the kids at my old school ripping me off and teasing me for being
on a ‘diet’. In October I had a school project to do, something that we were
passionate about. I asked my teacher if I could talk about the diet. So I spoke
in front of 380 children, parents and teachers at
Parents, Teachers and Classmates,
In June 2005 mum put myself and my brother on a
diet as I was very hated and always getting into trouble and even being called
‘Hekyl and Jekyll’ by our school counsellor.
No matter how hard I tried, I could not seem to behave better.
At first we hated the ‘diet’ because we couldn't
have our ‘normal’ food and we did not like being teased some of the kids at our
school, some of you did not invite us to birthday parties because of the diet.
We soon realised how much better we felt and how much
better we were behaving, the food wasn't that bad, it was really good and good
for us, so we both decided that when people ripped us off we would say ‘We are
not on a diet, but an ‘Adventure’, we are not made to do it, we choose to
because it will make us healthier’. So everyone in our family and friends call
it our Adventure, not a diet.
On the adventure we have found that I react to
Amines as well as the artificial stuff and especially 160b, and my brother
reacts to Sulphites and the artificial stuff as well.
Mum also found that I get very sick when I eat stuff with 160b which is
advertised as natural, which I guess it is but they do not tell you it can make
you extremely sick. When I eat these types of foods, I get very irritable,
cranky, aggressive, violent, black bags under my eyes and sometimes would bang
my head against things to try and make the pain go away. I do not mean to do
this but I cannot stop myself from doing it.
I have not had and neither has my brother any problems
since June. It feels so much better to able to control myself and not get into
trouble. I know that some people especially teachers I have already upset, and
sadly I know no matter how hard I try or how good I get, you will not change
your thoughts about me, so I have decided with my mum, dad and brother to move
to the new school that is being built, just around the corner from our house to
start a new ‘Adventure’ and hopefully will make new friends and people will
accept me for who I am.
We cannot believe that the big companies are
watching out for us, because they aren't, if they were, they would not be
putting all of this stuff in our food when it makes us sick. They are more
interested in getting money, which is wrong. Once you start looking at what is
in our foods, it will make you sick to think that is what we are putting into
our bodies.
Just by cutting out the additives, preservatives
and natural things like 160b, you will see how much better you will feel, not
just for us kids, but the adults as well. Our Adventure really has made a huge
difference. Give it a try, it is a lot of work to make sure
you don't eat the bad things, but if you have the support of your family
and friends, it makes a great difference.... My brother and I are very lucky,
we have mum, dad, grandma, grand-dad and our church all supporting us. Church,
Before & After school care phone mum when they are having ‘party’ days and
mum makes something that we can enjoy.
Parents, all you are pretty much doing is going back
to basic eating like my parents and grandparents used to do not that long ago.
We are all tired, but mum & dad both work full time and can manage to do
this for us - to make us healthier. The more people that do
this then the quicker the big companies will click and realise
we won't be buying their unhealthy food.
Thank you for listening. I hope it makes a
difference.
[598]
Australian of the year nomination (November 2007)
I am an ordinary person in the community who happens
to believe the work you are doing is fantastic. I have therefore nominated you
for Australian of the Year. I hope you don’t mind. I included the following in
the nomination:
‘I have been a follower of Sue Dengate's
books/website regarding the effects of food additives on the health and
behaviour of people, particularly on children.
‘I recently viewed a story on Sue educating six-year
olds in schools to eliminate harmful food additives. The children were
intelligently choosing appropriate foods from the supermarket and school
tuckshop. Grades went up, detentions were almost eliminated. Children were
happy and well behaved.
‘Apart from the obvious benefits to the health of the
children, and making life easier for parents and teachers, this has many
long-term benefits. There will be little need to target obesity, as the foods
that contain harmful additives are mostly the same foods that cause obesity.
Health problems in children and later into adulthood will be greatly reduced. This would do more to reduce the load on the
hospital system than any federal or state government could ever do.
‘Our kids are our future. I cannot think of a greater contribution to
our society than educating children to be intelligent about the food they eat,
and to be aware of the consequences and results of their choices. Please refer
to following website for further information:
http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/‘. - Helen, by email
[597] One liners (November 2007)
- We were pressured to put our
child on medication at the age of five, and it had a negative effect on
him. We then began to rethink our options and decided to go totally
failsafe, within days we had what could be considered a normal child (from
talking point)
- Thank you for writing your
fantastic recipe book. We have been using it for a while and have recently
gotten "Friendly Foods" as well and as good as it is for a lot
of stuff, I'm SO grateful for the simple, family friendly recipes in your
book. – by email
- I was happy to see our school tuckshops changing their menu but disappointed they
only looked at fat content and not additives. Our tuckshop
sells an icy drink which is loaded with preservatives and artificial colours. No wonder there are so many children going to
the Behaviour Support Room. – by email, Qld
- We have just spent 3 weeks on
the elimination diet. We are amazed
at the positive change in all of us, (a hyperactive, asthmatic,
eczema-stricken three year old boy; a 40 year old dad who has suffered
from chronic asthma all his life; and a 34 year old mum who thought she
felt pretty healthy ... until the last three weeks, where I have felt
better than ever) - Julie
- I am 32 and have been feeling
ill for a while. Without realising it I had been
filling myself with additives in soft drinks and packet snacks. Now after
two weeks additive free I am feeling great, lots of energy, no muscle
aches, no headaches! – by email
- Through the elimination diet I
have learned I am sensitive to salicylates,
amines (very) and milk. I never expected milk. When I dropped mil, my nose
opened up. When I challenged it, my nose got stopped up again. – by email,
- I recently went to eat some
store bought Coleslaw from the supermarket and had a look at the
ingredients: colours 102, 110 and preservatives
211, 202, boy was I shocked! I want
people to realise how easy it can be to read the
back of a packet. Taking the no additive challenge does not cost a cent
more, if anything it is cheaper in your weekly shopping. - Angie
- We have been trying our best to
avoid all the nasties on your list and our son has
finally begun to say words sometimes linking 3 or 4 together (he is 3 and
a half!) and he is an angel to live with - I never thought he would talk,
so it is a true miracle and we are sticking to our new diet! – by email,
ACT
- We saw the school program on
Today Tonight and my eight-year-old son looked at me every time one of his
symptoms (asthma, bed wetting, sneaky poos,
cradle cap, irritability, poor concentration) was listed. I thought I was
a pretty healthy provider of food as I do a lot of home cooking but it is
scary to see what is in some of your everyday foods. – by email, SA
[596] From ‘severe inattentive ADD’ to ‘normal’ due to diet
(November 2007)
In 2006 my quiet 7 year old daughter was
diagnosed by her paediatrician as having severe
inattentive ADD. He offered Ritalin to help the symptoms. I was not comfortable
giving her this as a first step because in the 2 weeks since our last
appointment I had read 10 books and scanned the net. A common theme kept coming
up. If your child has an intolerance to a food group
there is a likelihood of more than one intolerance which can lead to behavioural issues. I felt I had to investigate this before
trying medication because we already knew she had a dairy intolerance as a
baby.
I chose to follow the Fed Up elimination diet by
Sue Dengate. Following are the results
when food groups or additives were re introduced.
|
Challenge |
Response |
|
Colours |
anger followed by tears, inattention, lack of
concentration, memory loss, head banging and rocking |
|
MSG/635/Glutamates |
nausea and stomach cramps |
|
Benzoates |
aggression |
|
Antioxidants - 310-312, 319-320 |
nightmares and trouble going to sleep and
staying asleep |
|
Propionates 282 |
bedwetting and daytime bladder control issues |
|
Dairy |
nausea, stomach cramping, diarrhea,
inattention, fatigue |
|
Soy |
stomach aches |
It has been 14 months since adapting to my
daughter’s dietary needs. She has been reassessed for ADD with a normal out
come. Her school work has progressed. She is able to concentrate. She can tie
her shoes, hold a knife and fork, remember her phone number, ride a bike, and
skip a rope. She is able to follow multiple directions and hold attention to
the task at hand. She has friends. We have also discovered she is a budding
artist.
Through dietary changes we helped many of our
daughter’s physical and behavioral issues including fatigue, tearfulness,
emotional outbursts, inattention, lack of short term memory, lack of
application at school, bedwetting, vaginal irritation, rash, insatiable
appetite, imbalance and clumsiness (she could not ride a bike, skip, hop),
nausea and stomach cramps.
My daughter did not need medication. She has
food intolerances. As grandma said ‘Whatever you are doing keep doing it. She
is a different child’ - Trudi, NSW
[595]
Filling our house with laughter (November 2007)
My husband and I watched a news program on the
children at
Our 6-year-old has been a very emotional child.
Always close to tears, unable to put into words what is making him frustrated,
angry, and teary. Now he is talking about how he feels and reasoning with other
children rather than coming to me crying. They are both filling our house with
laughter once again.
We bought your failsafe book and the difference
in our boys is amazing, to the point of other people are commenting. Thank you
for simplifying all the numbers and facts and giving us back our two beautiful
boys who for a long while had been lost.
My husband and I now sit on the couch and listen
to the sounds of two boys playing well together and enjoying each others
company, no more fighting to the death near enough. - by
email from WA
[594]
Amazing changes in difficult two-year-old (November
2007)
I was recently on a forum, having a whinge about my 2.5 year old son, and how terribly
difficult he is. I was asking advice on ADD and ADHD. A lady on the forum
offered to lend me your books ‘Fed up’ ‘Fed up with ADHD’ and the cookbook. I
took her up on this offer so as not to appear rude, but have to admit to
thinking ‘It's not going to help me’. I started reading ‘Fed up with ADHD’
first. Well, you could have substituted your daughter's name for my son, your
name for mine and so on. I nearly cried.
After that, I was determined to start Failsafe.
It was pretty daunting, and I have made many mistakes. I have been doing it for
about 3 - 4 weeks now. I still haven't gotten it right, but even so the
difference is amazing. My defiant son is starting to listen and follow
instructions! I was able to take him grocery shopping and he walked next to me
putting items in the trolley. He never screamed, ran off, threw a tanty or pulled anything off the
shelves! This has never happened before!
My husband gave him vegemite on toast yesterday
(I was outside feeding the >animals) and within 3 hours he was right off.
Last night he woke frequently, screaming and running through the house. He was
up super early and has been non-compliant and very annoying all day. He used to
eat vegemite daily!
I wanted to thank you for your books and for
sharing your story. I'm so glad that I gave it a go. It has made such a difference
to our lives in such a short time.
[593]
Additive-free improvements in Generalised Anxiety Disorder
with panic attacks (November 2007)
My daughter who is 16 has Generalised
Anxiety Disorder, with panic attacks. So I have tried to keep her on a mostly
additive free diet. It has been a bit tricky, but so long as I have something
ready for her after school, she doesn't care what she eats. I haven't tried to
restrict her when she's out with friends, but she takes her lunch to school and
only eats the bad stuff probably on the weekend. After getting serious about
cutting out additives I suddenly noticed one night that our house had become a
lot calmer. I guess it wasn't overnight (didn't really expect it to be) but I
all of a sudden realised that things were travelling very smoothly. So I definitely believe that
cutting out additives have made a big difference to her whole personality, and
produced a calmer household all round. [Update one month later, this family is
now reducing salicylates]. – be email
[592]
Grandparents notice temperament change after 28 years of marriage
(November 2007)
My husband and I are doing the diet to support
our grandsons. As a spin off, my headaches which I blamed on shift work and
lack of sleep have disappeared except two times when we didn't have the boys
and ate Chinese or Thai, both times I woke through the night with a raging
headache. My husband who has been short tempered
through our 28 years of marriage, has had a change in temperament/ behaviour, for the better. - by email, NSW
[591] Help
from compounding pharmacists (November 2007)
Additive-free
antibiotics from compounding pharmacist : Our 3 month old
breastfed baby has to take oral antibiotics so I explained to our local
pharmacist that I wanted no added colours,
preservatives or flavours. He had no idea what was in
antibiotics other than the active ingredient, conceded that I knew more about
it than he did, and gave me a contact for a compounding pharmacist. They made
me up a liquid that is just the antibiotic suspended in water, with nothing
else added and made it concentrated so that I could give her less at one time.
It tastes bitter but she takes it squirted into her mouth with a syringe with
no problems. – by
email
Additive-free
supplements from compounding pharmacist : When my son needed an iron
supplement with Vitamin C, I spoke to our compounding chemist - a very useful
person, I think everyone with dietary issues should have one! He went through
everything and came up with three alternatives - two were the supplements
listed on your web site, the third was to put his skills to work and make up a
special mixture in the necessary dose for my child. I think I need to get a
tattoo on my eyelids that says ‘if child requires
medicine - speak to Compounding Chemist’. [Search the Yellow Pages online under
Compounding, there are 66 Australia-wide]. – by email
[590] 635:
Possible Ribo Rash in a 74-year-old
(November 2007)
Three months ago, my father aged 74 who has
never reacted to anything - plant, animal or food - had a major reaction of a
welt like rash on the trunk especially in the groin area and under arms. It was
enough to go to the doctor who simply dismissed this as hives and prescribed
steroid tables with no real explanation of what had happened. His wife thought
there must be a connection as it was half an hour after eating a packet pizza
containing 635 that they hadn't eaten before. A similar incident then happened
about a week later, after eating [a ‘healthy’ prepared frozen dinner also
containing 635] for the first time. Now they avoid such packaged food and he
has not experienced it since, although he has often eaten in restaurants with
no ill effects. – by email from NSW
[589] 635:
Possible Ribo Rash in a 19-year-old
(November 2007)
I came across your fantastic website in my
search to find out what was causing my 19 year old son’s hives and angioedema. As a baby he was intolerant of formula and soy,
and had an anaphylactic reaction to penicillin. He is now 19, and has been very
healthy up until a couple of months ago. He awoke one morning and his upper lip
was quite swollen, he had no other symptoms, it was quite bizarre and the
swelling lasted for 24 hours. One week later the same thing but this time it
was his bottom lip. Being a typical young man he didn't see the need to go to
the doctor. Then three weeks ago he awoke one morning covered in a rash and
very angry looking weals all over his body, swollen
eyes, lip, ear and even his arm. He went to the doctor who said it was an
allergic reaction to soap, deodorant or washing powder etc. It took nearly 10
days for his body to return to normal. He has since had another 3 attacks, the swelling hasn't been quite as bad, but still
present. I did not believe that the doctor had any idea and I was sure it was
something that he was eating. So I started keeping a food diary and we had
managed to narrow the offenders down to four things. Then I found your factsheet on ribo rash, which I
am positive is what he has. I have always tried to
feed the kids a balanced diet, meat, chicken, fish, fresh fruit and vegies,
junk food is a rare treat. I was absolutely astounded when I went to my
cupboard and started checking labels. One that really caught my eye, that I had
assumed was a fairly healthy choice of snack was seaweed rice crackers, yes
there it is clearly on the list of ingredients, 631 and 627. Then on the front
I looked at the packet again, ahhh, seaweed FLAVOUR!!
Maybe you could put this on your nasty foods page. – by
email
[588] 635:
Long distance hiker and ribo rash
(November 2007)
Previously from story [569]: I'm sure that my
symptoms intensified as we have been planning to do some long walks and were
trying out pre-packaged and dehydrated foods (all containing 635). Ironically I
was going to go on a course of prednisone to dampen it all down so that I could
walk, while I would've been eating the very thing that is causing the problem.
Update: I did the Jatbula Trail (six day hike in the NT) last month and ate
well without taking any commercially prepared dehydrated foods. Since avoiding flavour enhancer 635 my condition has improved 99%. I still
occasionally get small outbreaks of itchy welts. I haven't needed to take any Claratyne or use topical hydrocortisone cream as these mild
outbreaks generally settle overnight. It hasn't been too difficult to avoid, mainly
changing types of crackers and avoiding precooked chickens, sausages, frozen
lasagnas and pies. The kids are onto checking out all the labels now too and we
have stopped nearly all precooked sauces and anything that has an oversupply of
numbers on the ingredients list even if it doesn't have 635. I am extremely
happy as it is no longer a daily problem and the solution has been very easy.
Eat mainly homecooked whole foods and cut out the
processed products! – by email, NT
[587] 635:
Ribo Rash from 30-year-old traditional recipe using a
packet soup base (November 2007)
I would like to add my objection with regard to
the recently approved flavour enhancer 635. In August
of 2006 I developed a rash over various areas of my body. Scratching resulted
in raised welts, little sleep and caused quite a disruption to my life at work
and home.
My local GP referred me to a dermatologist at a
hospital in
All of the above has cost me not only money, but
has taken an emotional toll through tiredness and the feeling of, 'Will this
ever stop?'
I stumbled across your reports of 635 earlier
this year, but as I was at the stage of trialing a gluten free diet, didn't
follow up. Then a few weeks back I made chop suey and
pumpkin soup using my traditional 30-year-old recipe. I ate the chop suey for tea and the soup for lunch the next day. The itch
had started to calm down over the few weeks preceding, but after the lot above,
I itched for a good four days. Guess what? Flavour
Enhancer 635 is in the packets of Chicken Noodle Soup (which I have been using
for 33 years in my chop suey and other recipes), and
the dry stock powder also has 635.
Trial and error has shown me in a really rotten
way, that anything I use with 635 gives me the itch, the rash and the ‘what is
going on’ feeling. I have now also reacted to [dry stock powder containing Hydrolysed vegetable protein (Maize Derived) and yeast
extract] as well as [flavoured rice crackers with
Vegetable protein extract (Soy Derived) and yeast extract]. I am starting to
think that 635 has triggered off a yeast sensitivity.
- by email [Vegetable Protein extract, yeast extract
and Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein are a way of adding
MSG to foods without saying so. It is common for people who have suffered from
long term Ribo rash to become more sensitive to other
sources of MSG, and sometimes to other foods as well - S].
[586] 631:
Racing heart beat after flavour enhancer 631
(November 2007)
My 37-year-old husband recently had suffered
from racing heart beat twice in two weeks. When I was checking out your website
for stuff to do with our daughter I happened to find the info on heart
palpitations etc and straight away remembered seeing empty [yellow extruded flavoured snack with flavour
enhancer 631] packets in his workbag! The racing heart beats came in bursts of
maybe 5 to 10 seconds, 2-3 times an hour, a few hours
after eating 631. It even happened when sitting down under no exertion. An ECG
ten years ago showed his heart was fine. Since seeing your information, my
husband hasn't had any more of those snacks or heart irregularities. – by email, Qld
[585] 102:
Lifethreatening asthma from artificial colour 102 (tartrazine, yellow
#5) (November 2007)
My son was a premie
with a family history of asthma and as a little one had wheezing episodes
throughout his life. We were very
experienced with asthma attacks and had all the medicines and equipment at
home. My son had always eaten natural, homecooked
foods as we just tend to not be junk food people. Just before Christmas when he
was 19 months old I had commercially prepared eggnog in the house and gave him
a tiny glass as a treat. Within 15 minutes he went into the most severe asthma
attack we had ever seen. We gave him his medication and used his nebulizer, but he was not coming around. He had had a number of asthma attacks and
this was nothing like it.
Our pediatrician had us rush him to the
hospital. He was given immediate care - very unusual in US hospitals. The
doctors didn't really know what to do. They gave us megadoses
of all his medicines, put him on pure oxygen, put IV's in him but he didn't
come around. They called Children's Hospital who sent down a team of 4. Our pediarician stayed with us for hours and his daughter was
due in at the airport, so we knew it was serious. The doctors from Childrens ended up using Atrovent,
a medicine at that time used only for adults. Our hospital didn't even know to
use it on children. Ryan came around but it was very dicey.
After Ryan got out of the hospital I looked up
asthma and found a British book that mentioned major chemical triggers for
asthma including tartrazine a yellow food dye. So I
had an idea that it might have been the cause. I then met with a specialist who
felt that I was probably right, but there was no test because it was not a true
allergy, but that I should avoid it because the next time we may not be so
lucky. He said that often it is subsequent exposures that are more serious.
Ryan did bite an
[584]
160b: ‘Croup cough’ from annatto (see also Annatto factsheet)
(November 2007)
My four-year-old son has peanut, egg and dairy
allergies and is anaphylactic so as you can imagine I spend hours reading
labels. We have been buying So-Good products for about two years and generally
he is fine. Recently he has been having the creamy vanilla for dessert and
having what I thought was a croup cough. I soon realised
the nights he didn't have it there was no "croup cough". After
several calls to Sanitarium and speaking with the dietician, I have worked out
that it must be the annatto E160b causing a reaction. – by
email
[583]
160b: Head banging and annatto (see also Annatto factsheet)
(November 2007)
Just thought I would let you know, after your
recent talk in Maitland I went back to work and told a friend about annatto
160b as her two-year-old daughter had been splitting her head open head
banging. My friend has kept her daughter off the annatto for a week now and her
daughter has stopped head banging. She still gets in the position when she is
throwing a tantrum but doesn't bang her head. Amazing! This is only additive
she has removed! – by email, NSW
[582]
‘Sensitive ears’ in an 18-month-old (November
2007)
My maternal health nurse suggested that I
contact you about my 18-month-old son’s sensitive ears. They were tested when he
was young and were fine. He has started speaking a few words and seems to
comprehend things you ask him to do, but when he is around noise he cries his
eyes out and needs to be taken away, simple things like singing happy birthday
in a group, a group clapping, and sporting venues will bring it on. He also
puts his fingers in his ears and blocks them every now and again as if they are
annoying him. He eats a lot of organic veg and fruit.
[two months later …] I bought your cookbook and
started cutting down on tomatoes, dried fruits and fresh fruit, and I have
noticed a huge change. We even took him to the soccer in
[581] Three responses
on behavioural effects of Down Syndrome (September 2007)
"A great
improvement in my son who has Down Syndrome"
Your books are fantastic and I have noticed a great
improvement in my son who has Down Syndrome and was
recently diagnosed with ADD. Apparently Ritalin was our next step! This
information should be given to all Maternal Health Centres
and it would save families a lot of unnecessary arguing and disharmony! - by email
Diet,
sneaky poos and Down Syndrome
I have been reading your website for over a year now, after
stumbling across the information on sneaky poos.
About 2 years ago our son who is now 11 and has Down Syndrome, began soiling his pants on a daily basis, rarely
at school but often up to six times in the evening. I stumbled across some
information about Failsafe on a parenting website and when scanning through the
fact sheets, found the information on "sneaky poos"
It described our situation perfectly. So after reading lots and lots of
information on the Fed Up site, we, or should I say "I", along with
one extremely sceptical husband, set about reducing salicylates in my son's diet to see if it made any
difference. His diet was basically a salicylate feast
- spaghetti bolognaise probably 4 -5 times a week, laden with hidden vegetables
(mostly zucchini) and followed by a bowl of either grapes, strawberries or
cherry tomatoes (that was lunch), peanut butter on toast for breakfast, dinners
included tacos, lasagne with hidden high salicylate vegetables, various stir frys
with worcestershire, soy, tomato, oyster sauce etc.
He was also hugely into fruit salad. As I'm sure you've heard over and over, I
thought we were providing him with a really healthy diet and couldn't
understand why he would be unwell all the time.
Anyway we took the plunge, and within maybe three days the
soiling had ceased and there were no more stomach aches. I was pleased with the
results, however my husband still believed it was
another of my harebrained ideas until I tested the salicylates
about a month later with a huge fruit salad. My son scoffed a bowl after dinner
and another for breakfast the following day. And by lunch time the next day we
were back to square one. From that day on my husband has been as vigilant as I
am. I must admit, I missed all the summer fruits last season, but only having
one pair of undies in the wash each day is worth it.
After going low salicylate and
cutting out other nasties, we also noticed a definite
behavioural improvement in our son. One thing in
particular was his change in motivation, especially getting ready for school.
Before the diet, I had a daily struggle with him to get dressed, as if he had
the choice, he would stay home every day. After getting strict with his food,
he started to just take his clothes from me and say "thanks mum" and
next thing he would be dressed.
On the strict diet, he seems to be so much more agreeable
and able to be redirected or reasoned with. He used to lose his temper
regularly especially with our older son. Now, instead of losing his temper, he
will asking calmly for help - like to find a DVD or figure out which remote he
needed to change channels. His school teachers have commented on how well he
concentrates this year, they were unaware that we had made any changes to his
diet. The teachers have also commented that he no longer acts the fool to gain
attention, and is much happier to sit and do school work, and be like everyone
else.
I have also discovered that he is intolerant of MSG. He used
to be addicted to corn chips, we cut those out early
on in our failsafe journey. When he later ate other flavoured
chips I noticed every time he had them he would cough continually for several
minutes. At first I thought he was choking on the chips, as he sometimes has
trouble swallowing but then it clicked - it was basically MSG causing an asthma
attack.
The low salicylate diet has been a
life saver for us with our son. I am a huge fan of failsafe!!! - by email
“Low salicylate diet for DS”
I have a friend who is into failsafe also,
she has a 2-year-old with Down Syndrome on a low salicylate
diet. Behaviour can be a definite challenge when it
comes to DS and I'm sure most families never suspect food intolerance as a
contributing factor. - by email
[580] Tics disappeared on day 10 (September 2007)
Our son was diagnosed with Tourette's at the age of six. He had substantial tics, but
no behavioural problems. I decided to apply the
complete elimination diet (not an easy process.) By day 7, I was quite
despondent with no obvious improvements and then miraculously, by day 10, his
tics had disappeared. He had been experiencing severe eye, mouth and head
jerking tics for over 2 years. I haven't yet narrowed the tics to any specific
reaction. Thanks for your amazing website - it definitely saved our boy from a
very troubling syndrome. - by email
[579] 319,320: Tic disorder related to antioxidants 319-320
(TBHQ and BHA) (September 2007)
My three boys have been
avoiding a number of additives for many years now because of obvious affects on
their behaviour and health. Last year my oldest son
(then 8 years old) was diagnosed with Chronic Tic Disorder (one step before Tourettes Syndrome) – he could not sit still, having tics
in his face, neck, shoulders and arms. After a period of time, I realised that this behaviour
coincided with an increase in eating hot chips. I stopped my son eating hot
chips and THE TICS WENT AWAY. I have since tried him on hot chips and the same
thing happens. The culprit ingredient/s here is the synthetic antioxidant 320
(and/or 319) that appears in most chips and oil used for deep frying, however
manufacturers of frozen chips, and other products such as packet chips/crisps
and dry biscuits do not need to list the additive on the label if the oil is
less than 5% of the product. NOT GOOD ENOUGH! How can I help my son be “tic
free” if we don’t know when these nasty additives are in certain foods? - by email,
[578] Tics related to salicylates
in summer fruits (September 2007)
My son very suddenly
developed mild facial (rapid blinking eye and lip biting) and vocal tics
(sounds like a quiet grunt or throat clearing sound) at a time when I think his
hyper/silly behaviour and other food intolerance
symptoms escalated, probably in response to his increased consumption of summer
fruits, salads and juices. Other symptoms included: loud voice, bed wetting,
sinusitis, teeth grinding. All of his favourite foods were high in salicylates:
strawberries, apricots, rockmelon, tomato, cucumber,
capsicum, broccoli, vegemite, spag bol, apple juice etc.
His diet contained few foods with colourings, flavourings and preservatives as I've always tried to
encourage "healthy" foods which he has been very willing to eat.
We noticed some improvement
(in behaviour, bed wetting, teeth grinding but not
tics) over a week just by changing fruits to pears and bananas, stopping
vegemite and tomatoes and switching to low sal veges and Bakers Delight bread. We visited a dietitian and Joe (not his real
name) started on the elimination diet. He had a very obvious reaction to sals - hyper like I've never seen him within about 4 hours
of starting the challenge. I wouldn't
have believed it but my parents witnessed the reaction too! When they visited, he was his usual self,
undertaking some quiet activities requiring concentration (jigsaw puzzles, colouring etc), chatting and on his (usual) best behaviour. Within
about an hour and half of their arrival he changed into this wild, racing,
hyper thing heart racing, unable to stand still, almost a "mad" look
in his eyes, silly silly silly
etc...the worst of it finished within about two hours
and he basically collapsed exhausted and couldn't even stay up to wait for
dinner guests that he had been looking forward to seeing. Very strange but so similar to the stories
I've read on your web site.
We didn't manage any other
challenges before Christmas - felt it too unfair to restrict his diet so
severely during the holidays, although I did continue to restrict sals and he doesn't eat many processed, flavoured
or coloured foods anyway. We continued along on this basis, watching
his sals intake over a day and over a week, and the
tic went completely. His behaviour was much more
predictable and stable and very much like the boy I know. He is still bed wetting although I am
convinced it is worse when he has had sals (e.g.
salad) in his dinner and this seems to be improving, particularly since we have
been focussing consistently on his sals intake. Teeth grinding and sinusitis very improved. So
I am absolutely committed to continuing our new approach to Joe's diet as we
really have seen some big improvements. - by emails
over a period of 3 months
[577] Motor tics related to amines (chocolate) and additives
(lollies) (September 2007)
We have been following the
diet for several years and we have seen the positive effects a failsafe diet
has on our hyperactive 6 year old daughter. She does have trouble with
expressive language and has been having therapy for a year. If she eats something eg
a chocolate or lollies for several days, she starts
to stutter really badly and she also makes "jerking" movements with
her body. - by email
[576] Vocal tics related to non-failsafe 'treats' (September
2007)
My husband said he was
supportive of our boys' [RPAH elimination] diet though I suspected secretly
skeptical. Last weekend he indulged the boys in various 'treats' including
non-failsafe lemonades, popcorn, etc. This morning I had the first meltdown in
a couple of months from our son who has Asperger's.
He was back to headbanging, crying, not wanting to
eat, refusing to go to school, hand flapping, vocal tics, etc. It was full on.
I talked to him about it (after he'd had a calcium tablet and calmed a little)
and he said he would give up all those foods he loves if it meant he was able
to be calm again. - by email,
[575] Vocal tics, word and phrase repetition due to salicylates and additives (September 2007)
When Chris was born he was a
big, boofy boy. For the first six month of his life
he was a placid, calm, happy child. At six months, he changed to being very,
very active, fidgety and demanding. Looking back at that time, three things
changed – he started long daycare, solids and formula. I also remember very
clearly that his face changed as big dark circles and creases formed under his
eyes. He was labelled ‘naughty, disruptive,
hyperactive and violent’ by daycare when he was only 10 months old. He was
walking at that stage and continued to escape from the childproof room, or to
snatch toys from non-mobile babies.
Since that time he has been
variously diagnosed by health professionals as having Tourette’s Syndrome, the
hyperactive type of ADHD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder and others. Whatever
the term, the symptoms are the same, including unmanageable behaviour,
poor impulse control, loud voice, vocal tics, word and phrase repetition and
lack of empathy.
Coupled with the behaviour has also been a range of other medical problems
including croup, asthma, headaches and stomach aches, unexplained temperatures
and eczema. Chris also suffers from glue ear and for the last four years has
had grommets inserted every winter to enable him to hear clearly. (As I know
now, these are all indicative of food intolerance.)
Last year I took Chris to a
paediatrician, looking for a solution to his constant
illness rather than his behaviour. The doctor took
one look at him – he was making duck noises and running in circles around the
waiting room – and diagnosed food intolerances.
We went home with a complex
list of foods to avoid. Although his health improved, his behaviour
seemed to become worse, as it always has in summer. Just before Christmas, I
found the
I switched the family to
the RPAH elimination diet during the holidays. Gradually, as we removed foods
from the diet and found acceptable replacements, Chris’ behaviour
improved. Living with him became easier, there were less sibling fights, and
when he did misbehave it was easy to use normal parenting techniques to modify behaviour – something that had never worked before.
By the end of the summer
holidays, I finally had a calm, reasonable, sensitive child, who was able to
play at other children’s places without causing mayhem, would look at people
when talking, and would allow other people to talk without interrupting.
Amazingly, Chris was keen to stick to the diet, having realised
how good he felt.
First day back at school
and I had lots of positive comments about how calm or grown-up Christopher
seemed. A good start to the year. However, as I write
this, I am back to having a child who runs around making chicken noises, uses a
loud voice, is prone to crying and is violent and aggressive. What happened? He
got to school and started to cheat. He ate chocolate cake, m&m’s, muesli bars and lollies.
For him, even the smallest amount results in a reaction. It is like being on a
trip – he can’t control his behaviour, and trying to
discipline him has no effect.
So what do I need, or more
importantly, what does Chris need? He needs the support of the school community
to assist him to stay on his diet – he needs recognition for the fact that he
does suffer from food intolerances – he desperately wants to feel in control of
his life, and he likes feeling calm and relaxed, so please, please, please
don’t feed my child, or encourage him to cheat. - by
email,
[574] One-liners (August 2007)
- I love your books and I love this diet, I have a completely
different daughter.
- My husband and I heard you talk when you came to Albury/Wodonga.
Thank you, you have changed our lives! We have cut out all colours,
preservatives and additives from their diet and it's like having different
(normal) children.
- We have just been lucky enough to go to
- I love the failsafe cookbook! - it has
made cooking so much easier for me and the whole family enjoys what I am
cooking.
- Thank you for all the work you have done and continue to do, I
teach in one of the largest primary schools in the state and over time I
really hope that I can get the school to undertake some of your methods.
- I enjoyed your seminar at Frankston in April - I could have stayed
there all night listening to you.
- My autistic son has gone without Gatorade, PowerAde and coloured
drinks for just three days, and already his behaviour is improving - such
a small thing to do for such a great result.
- For the last two months I’ve had no additives, no kiwi fruit, no
oranges, no strawberries, no tomatoes, no juice
and have had 7 weeks without a mouth ulcer. Usually I only go about 2
weeks pain free before the skin on the roof of my mouth peels, the tip of
my tongue becomes extremely sore together with a badly infected ulcer
anywhere in the mouth.
- My daughter was a very sick and unhappy child five years ago and
after visiting RPA, eliminating and using your cookbook like a bible we
have a happy and well child (she cannot tolerate preservatives and is
extremely salicylate sensitive). I must admit five years ago when we
started all of this if anybody had ever said that strawberries, broccoli
and bottled tomato sauce could send my three children into crazed animals
I would have not believed them. Bring on the pears!
- My grandchildren's asthma is now much better. I managed to convince
one of my daughters of the connection between the 'healthy' apricot bars
she was feeding him and her son's attacks (despite a very dubious husband
and other grandma!) and my granddaughter's behaviour and asthma has improved
after removal from her diet of the highly coloured treats which she was so
fond.
- I have had my daughter on an elimination diet for 12 months now -
the behavioural changes were literally overnight once I found your
website. I want the DVD for her school because they still serve trash in
the tuckshop and the teachers don't believe me when I say they wouldn't
have anywhere near the problems they are having if they looked at what the
kids were eating!- Sheryle by email.
- We have just spent 3 weeks on the elimination diet, using " Fed Up with ADHD" and the "Failsafe
Cookbook". We are amazed at
the positive change in all of us, (a hyperactive, asthmatic,
eczema-stricken three- year-old boy; a 40 year old dad who has suffered
from chronic asthma all his life; and a 34-year-old mum who thought she
felt pretty healthy...until the last three weeks, where I have felt better
than ever - Julie, email.
[573] His
asthma disappeared (August 2007)
We put my 6-year-old grandson on the failsafe diet for
ADHD and his 4-year-old brother (who has had 2 serious hospital admissions for asthma)
has seen his asthma disappear!! Another off spin from the diet my headaches
which I blamed on shift work and lack of sleep have disappeared except two
times when we didn't have the boys and bought Chinese and went out for Thai
both times I woke through the night with a raging headache. And my husband who
has been short tempered through our 28 years of marriage, has had a change in
temperament/ behaviour, for the better. - Kathy by email.
[572] The Great Philly Incident (August 2007)
Over the course of a couple of weeks in September
2006, our daughter became progressively more lethargic, withdrawn and
emotionally fragile (cried easily for no particular reason). She was getting
upset quickly in a teary way and blowing things out of proportion. After the
holidays her teacher commented she thought it was unusual for Lucy to be so
lethargic, quiet, teary, keeping to herself and not playing, not
interacting. As an example, the teacher
had asked all the kids to pack away the books. Normally Lucy would do this
fairly promptly but she just sat there mesmerised in her own little world and
didn't appear to hear the teacher. The teacher came over to her after all the
other kids had left the area of the classroom and said gently to her ‘Lucy it's
time to pack away now please.’ Lucy just dissolved into tears and it took a
while for her to regain composure. The teacher said it was very out of the
ordinary for Lucy who was usually full of energy, vibrant, bubbly, friendly and
always very, very happy.
That night, after ruling out illness, and with much
careful consideration and dissection of her diet and environment, I discovered
from Sue's website that Kraft had introduced preservatives (sorbic acid, 200)
in the tubs of Philadelphia Cream Cheese tubs. Lucy eats this on a daily basis
on her sandwiches and sometimes as a dip as she had done for years. I rang Kraft
and they informed me that they had only just started putting this ingredient in
a couple of months earlier. After checking old containers I figured that she
had consumed at least two tubs. The change in her demeanour had been gradual
but still clearly noticeable by us as well as her teachers as this was not the
Lucy we knew. Once we switched to the preservative free Philly blocks, she
became ‘better’ within a few days and had returned to her usual energetic,
happy, amenable self within a week. I now check labels every time, even if it
is something I have bought many times before.
[571] Why
asthmatics need to know about salicylates: An interview with Matt’s mother
(August 2007)
How long have you been failsafe?
My 8 year old son Matt is a severe asthmatic who has
been on the diet for almost a year. We
of course have our good days and bad days in making him stick to it, but
regardless of that he has done so well and has not had to go to hospital since
he has been on the diet, and for a child who has been hospitalized multiple
times every year since he was 6 months old this is quite an achievement.
What made you decide to try diet?
I love my children and as a mother I could not
continue to blindly pump drugs into Matt every morning, night and during the
day, it made me feel sick and I couldn't see that it was actually making an
awful lot of difference to his asthma, in fact it seemed to be getting worse.
Just before we started the elimination diet Ventolin seemed to have no effect
on Matt at all, only prednisolone seemed to alleviate an attack, which as you
can imagine frightened the hell out of me. The doctors all said the same
things, either give it to him or he could die.
How quickly did the diet kick in?
Amazingly, within a few days. We could
not believe how quickly. I remember Matt had been 'trying' to play basketball,
we would give him two puffs of ventolin before the
game as the doctor had instructed and then the poor thing would try in vain to
run up and down the court, but he really didn't want to play and used to ask to
be 'subbed' off.The first week of the diet he had a
game on the Thursday, so rather than pre-puff, I asked if he needed a puff - he
said no - and went out on the court.I sat there
nervously with his puffer in my hand at the ready, and off he went - running up
and down the court, he was only subbed off when the coach did the normal
process of taking equal turns between the players. He came off at the end with
a bright red face, sweaty head and a big smile - and a noticeably absent
wheeze. I could not believe it - that was when I knew this was going to work.
Which food chemicals affect Matt's asthma (e.g.
sulphites, salicylates, benzoates, colours?)
Artificial red colours seem to have the most dramatic
effect. Salicylates definitely, although salicylates by themselves e.g. apples,
tend to creep up on him, taking a few days and even then the reaction seems
milder than artificial colours. Sulphites definitely.
Amines do not seem to present the same level of problem, but I am extremely
cautious with them also.
Have you done challenges or did you work it out from
mistakes?
I am very loathe to do
challenges, we tend to learn from his or my mistakes. The results are so
obvious, usually that night he and I are up all night with his terrible croupy
cough, he becomes unreasonable, eczema flairs up, his feet crack and bleed.There is no mistaking it when it happens, and I can't
bring myself to deliberately create the situation.The
only real trial I have done is with fruit because it is what he misses the
most, golden delicious apples for three days, third day severe asthma attack,
cracked feet - lasted 3 days.Bananas no apparent problem.Half
a mango - within hours agitated, croupy cough leading to an attack that night,
but gone within a couple of days.
What happens when he breaks his diet?
It depends on what he eats. Sometimes it kind of
creeps up on me that he seems to be a bit wheezy, but nothing dramatic happens,
which concerns me because I think maybe the 'build up factor' is occurring, so
I put him back on the elimination diet and start again (we are doing this at
the moment, because I have found out that he has been 'sharing' lunch at school
and also put in a tuck order without me knowing!) I have reviewed his lunch box
and was able to buy your cookbook, so now he is getting enough interesting
things and variety so he feels that he is not missing out!
Sometimes it is so painfully obvious that he has eaten
something, he just comes home and starts coughing. This happened before
Christmas with those rotten candy canes that all the kids give at school -
Christmas is a nightmare for me and Matt, he has to say no to things he loves
and I have to be the 'lolly detective' to make sure he survives! He came home
one day from school and was clearly having an attack, in addition to all of the
horrible behavioural issues that accompany such food, I just said point blank -
what on earth have you had at school? - and of course
it had been a candy cane. School presents the biggest challenge on this diet.
What kinds of foods is he most likely to eat when he
breaks his diet?
It depends, lollies, chocolates - things he sees all
of the other kids having that he can't. When he did his 'secret' tuck order it
was a ham and cheese sandwich and a strawberry milk.
Funnily enough most people would think this was quite a 'healthy' lunch!! That
night it meant a serious asthma attack for him, and all types of horrible behavior!
Has he been able to reduce medication?
He hasn’t needed steroids since he started the diet 12
months ago and over summer he went for three months without any Ventolin. He
really only has it now if he is having an attack usually because we have made a
mistake or he has had something at school that he shouldn't have. After the ham sandwich and strawberry milk
incident he had one dose of two puffs per night for a week, prior to that it
had probably been about two months since he had a puff.
How about exercise?
Matt is very active, he plays basketball and football
and swims four nights a week in a squad team.
Has Matt's doctor been supportive of diet?
No, I gave up
discussing much of anything with the gp/specialist
some time ago.Their answer has always been puff at
all costs, nothing else will work, his asthma is
totally unrelated to diet.
Do you have an asthma plan drawn up with your doctor
for Matt?
We do have for school, but it is pretty standard stuff
and says he should be puffed twice before any physical activity. He no longer
needs and because of his age now the school more or less leave it up to him
unless there was an emergency.
Do you measure peak flow readings? if
so, do you have any examples of what
certain foods do to Matt' readings?
No, we have never measured peak flow - the doctor has
never suggested it.
Did you join the failsafeasthma
group and if so has it been helpful?
I just joined - so will let you know.
Did you see a dietitian
about the diet?
I met with the dietician you recommended - she was
fantastic, gave me some really good tips and excellent guidance. Other than a couple of lunch box
modifications she thought we were very much on the right track.
Any other comments?
I would love to see an action group in schools -
school lunch is the hardest part of this diet. I would love to be able to refer
the school to some committee etc that are educating the educators.
Also, I need to mention something else in relation to
Matt's school work. Mid last year Matt's teacher told us that she thought he
would have to repeat the year, due to his inability to focus and complete work,
also his reading and writing were below standard for his age. She couldn't
understand what the problem was, as he is obviously an intelligent boy, however nothing she did was working. We started the
diet in the school holidays a few weeks later. We had a parent teacher
interview at the end of the following term.The
teacher told us that she couldn't believe the difference in Matt, and wanted to
know what we had done as the change was quite profound. He was now able to
focus and when he couldn't he actually removed himself and asked her if he
could go to a quiet place to concentrate!! His reading, writing, completion of
tasks, virtually everything had improved out of sight. So much so that she said
there was absolutely no need to hold him back a year.
I can tell if Matt or I have made a mistake - as much
by his behaviour as his coughing.
Once again THANK YOU so much for continuing this
wonderful work - it has changed our lives.
[570]
PDD-NOS and failsafe (August 2007)
Our daughter Beth is five and a half. At four she was
diagnosed with Pervasive Development Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified, a bit of
a mouthful but it sounds like Asperger's shadowing.
She is not ASD but has a lot of symptoms in common: developmental delay in
speech, fine motor and gross motor, attention deficit, poor eye contact,
argumentative, very poor social skills, being in her own world.
… THEN we went failsafe and what a blessing it has
been!!!! … Ten days after starting
failsafe, Beth suddenly began running around with all the other kids talking
and interacting with them!! Every week, I hear new things that she is doing at
preschool. At home she is constantly surprising us with new things that she
says and does. It's great!! It is as if a block has been removed in Beth's
brain and suddenly she has the possibility of being a normal little girl. Going
failsafe is not easy but I had to give her the chance. Even though it may not
fix all of Beth's difficulties, it seems to have removed a lot of them, see the
full story at http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/factsheets/SymptomPDD.htm.
[569] 635:
Ten years of ‘a very debilitating condition’ due to 635 (August 2007)
Since 1997 I have suffered with what I was told is
chronic urticaria especially affecting my hands and feet. For about a year I
had constant welts and itching on the soles of my feet and would develop huge
welts on my torso and back at times. It then seemed to settle a bit and was
more intermittent, sometimes not happening for several months. I was
investigated for SLE and other autoimmune disorders - all negative. Over the past year it had worsened into what
looked liked an urticarial vasculitis where my fingers swell, become intensely
painful and itchy and small watery skin eruptions would develop into purple
swellings, like blood blisters but dry. I also had episodes of joint and bone
pains that lasted 24-48 hours and always had patches of welts somewhere on my
torso or thighs. Some months ago I again saw a GP about it and he felt I had
probably developed mixed connective tissue disorder. However all my blood
results were normal and yet again I was left feeling extremely despondent about
any chance of management of what had become a very debilitating condition.
Then about six weeks ago I came across your articles
and letters re riborash and stopped all foods with
these enhancers. Within 48 hours my symptoms had gone and I am elated to say
that since, I have had only 3 welting episodes.
I'm sure now that my symptoms had been intensified in the past months as
we have been planning to do some long walks and trying out all sorts of
pre-packaged and dehydrated foods (all containing 635). Ironically I was going
to go on a course of prednisone to dampen it all down so that I could walk,
while I would've been eating the very thing that is causing the problem. Now I
have done a couple of day walks wearing boots (for months I have only been able
to wear crocs as any pressure or rubbing around my ankles would result in a
similar outbreak to my hands) with absolutely no problems! Once again thanks for sharing your knowledge
on the web. – see photos on Ribo Rash factsheet.
[568]
Epilepsy and additives (August 2007)
I am a new convert to failsafe eating and I am a
sufferer of epilepsy. We initially began the diet for my son's problems but
having read the information on the effects of additives I am also taking care
to follow it myself. My doctor recently
changed my medication back to Lamictal and I was
surprised and annoyed when I found the drug has had blackcurrant flavouring
added to it so that it can be dispersed in water or chewed. This hasn't always
been the case. A number of years ago I was taking this tablet and it was free
of artificial flavours. I continue to swallow the tablets whole as they are not
large or difficult to swallow and find this new format totally unnecessary. I
am very disappointed with the fact I have no option to take a tablet that does
not contain flavourings as I need this medication for seizure control. I
believe many sufferers of epilepsy are sensitive to additives and I remember as
a child of 12 when I first started having seizures that I made a connection
with dark coloured icy poles and the simple partial seizures I suffered. I
voluntarily stayed away from the raspberry flavours.
Many of the anti-convulsants used for seizure control
are coloured to differentiate the strengths of the tablets so this problem is
not just peculiar to my medication. I
would be interested to know if you can help in this area. [In our experience,
the most effective action is to complain frequently to the manufacturers. It’s
also worth complaining to the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in
Health Care, mail@safetyandquality.gov.au
[567] 102:
Tartrazine, a mother’s story (August 2007)
: ‘Our 4 year old has been diagnosed with life-long,
tartrazine anaphylaxis requiring instant medication/epipen
and hospital observation upon accidental tartrazine ingestion. We first learned
about this when eating out one day. He took one bite of his meal and suffered instant
and severe itch and rash with swelling of his face, lips and neck, facial, lip
and neck swelling. We rushed him to hospital. From now on he has to avoid all
foods with tartrazine including cordials, drinks, snackfoods
and even play-dough.’
[566] 319:
Four weeks of hell despite no antioxidant on the ingredients list (July 2007)
Earlier this year, we were giving Patrick a
gluten-free bread mix which states on the packet, “preservative free”. We had
reason to trust this product because it was listed on the ‘safe shopping guide’
issued by the
We rang our Paediatrician who advised us to cut down
on his supplements. After a week there was no change, even at school our son’s
teacher was noticing a big difference in behaviour and learning. The
Paediatrician advised a blood test, another week passed for the results which
in turn came back within normal range. Only then did we suspect foods. The Food
Intolerance Network always advises to check products containing fats or oils
for hidden synthetic antioxidants. I rang Coles to double check if there were
any changes in their sunflower oil that we use, and they advised there were
none. I then rang the bread mix company and asked if there were any synthetic
antioxidants in their product in question, he said he was pretty sure there
wasn’t. We insisted that he double check because we were at wit’s end and we
were ready to have our son’s head scanned because he was so aggressive and
erratic in his behaviour. The man rang back in shock and was very apologetic,
because the oil which was supposed to be ‘pure canola oil’ as stated on the ingredients
list, has in fact got synthetic antioxidant 319 in it.
We were relieved but angry, our son was put through
four weeks of hell, not to mention us as well, because he could not control
what he was doing, and it took well over a week for the affects to wear off. We
had our good boy back and he even said, “Mummy please don’t
give me bad food any more”!
[565] One-liners (May
2007)
·
I
sooo appreciate what you are doing - people are
starting to believe me that I have a problem and it is not in my head, and many
of my friends now make a special effort to provide at least some food that is
safe for me to eat – email, NZ.
·
I
took my 4-year-old daughter off all additives, preservatives and colours. In one week she has had a dramatic reduction of
mostly myoclonic type seizures, down from her usual 2
- 40 throughout each day before" – Karen.
·
Since
going failsafe our daughter has changed her afterschool
activity on Fridays: instead of having a therapy session with the Institute for
Learning Difficulties, she is now attending a gifted and talented program – by
email.
·
I
have so far not visited any internet sites which have enlightened me as much as
yours - thank you! – by email.
·
We
are in the process of learning all new foods and additives in the
·
My
kids have some classic signs of food intolerance - tantrums for one and "sads" for the other. – by
email.
·
Salicylates make me wired, pee a lot and cause dark circles under my eyes;
amines make me very angry and I wake up with palpitations and sweats – email,
·
The
information on your website is fantastic and it's great to have support
networks provided - it makes you feel like you're not the only one looking for
answers! – email, Qld.
·
My
sons aged 9 and 4 – now additive free - both had croup in the last week and the
younger one even had a cold as well but neither of them had asthma which is
unusual for them. – Kylie
·
We
just had our Tu Beshvat
holiday (New Year of the Trees), ate a good bit of dried fruit, and guess what?
- more headaches, asthmatic spasms, gut in an uproar,
and the boys nervier – by email.
·
Thank
you for all you have done - you have changed, and possibly saved, many lives –
email, US.
·
I
am a mom of two and have found your book a delight - my four-year-old has
improved so much since we started cutting out things in her diet. – by email.
·
Thank
you for giving us hope. – email,
·
When
buying foods I have a problem trying to read the small print (even with new
glasses!) - I would love to see these written bigger! – by
email.
·
I
have an active son, who reacts to food, although like you thought at first it
was sugar. I have told so many people about your books, and how it has benefitted our family - and we don't do the whole thing,
just some eliminations and awareness.- Cassie.
·
Thank
you for your book Fed Up, which I just happened to stumble across at a friend’s
house, it has changed our lives and I am now frequently referring to your
website - Jane.
[564] 635: “An attack of 635”:
anxiety, racing heart, headaches, rash (May 2007) SHARED COURAGE AWARD STORY
FOR MAY 2007 NEWSLETTER
I was suffering with what
the doctor said was normal for my age 39, higher blood pressure, heart
palpitations, not able to sleep on my left hand side, rash around my groin and
armpits that I couldn’t get rid of, weekly headaches and to top it of waking up
at 2-3am every morning with a anxiety
attack.
I was attending a anxiety meeting every week and seeing a psychologist but
the problem was that I couldn’t identify with any of the other people that came
to the anxiety meeting. It seemed all of their complaints of the 100 or so
different people that came to the meeting related to cyclic thought process
that brought on the anxiety and kept them in that loop. I on the other hand
felt a little on edge but was very relaxed about life. I delved into unresolved
tensions with my psychologist but still no relief. Yoga and relaxation
exercises seemed to help but what it truly did was let me watch my body go
through the symptoms while I watched it happen in the third person. Because my
symptoms didn’t fit the norm I refused to take any form of medication. I felt
it was stupid to compound the problem until I knew what was causing it.
Finally I had yet again
another anxiety attack. This time it was unbearable and my heart went over the
199 bpm that my machine could measure. I tried
everything to relax but my system went into overdrive. My mother came around
and my wife was there to help. I am amazingly good at relaxing my body but
nothing seemed to help. I called nurse on call and they called an ambulance
immediately upon hearing my symptoms. The ambulance arrived and went through
the routine of checking me over and in the time they were there my body stabilised to around 100bpm. They gave me the option of
going to hospital and waiting in the waiting room for 4-6 hours or stay at home
and try and get over it. I took the wait at home option. The interesting thing
from all of that is the male ambulance officer who leaned against the door
frame for the whole time they were there said “gee you look like my wife does
when she has a attack of 635” I thought he was full of it and ignored him at
the time. I felt like I had run a marathon.
The following day I looked
up 635 on the internet and noticed the rash and the headaches that I had were
the same but nothing else rang a bell. Having nothing else to go on I looked
into what had 635 in it as an ingredient. I was amazed to find my pies, pasties
from the local bakery had beef booster and hence 635 + 621 that was Monday
nights explained then a lot of chips + crackers that I had for lunch - even
ones from the health food section of my local supermarket that state quite
clearly on the packaging that 635 is not 621 and therefore is not bad for you.
What a laugh! I must stress I had no belief that 635 was the cause of anything
but my rash and headaches. I have not changed my lifestyle in any way except
for removing 635 + 621 from my diet and only very recently removed 282. But a
key interesting note is the 12 hour delay from eating the food to the full
blown symptoms. I still eat selected
junk food, I still exercise the same amount, I have even more pressure at work
and I still get broken sleep from my now 2 year old.
When I would go to my
doctor, her face would drop in that “not you again look” she would listen to me
with bored expression and write in her notes, anxiety related. Please also note
that my doctor since then acknowledged she has absolutely no knowledge of food
intolerance re 635 – 621 and their symptoms. How are you expected to be helped
if they are blind to these issues? The way I wish to truly express myself as to
how I feel re their mainstream blindness is limited by my overriding desire to
keep this letter polite. I have not read anywhere a person with my exact same
experiences but I know it is simple. I have stopped eating 635 + 621 and I am
back to how I remember the way I used to be.
From that
week….
My multiple rashes of many
years cleared up completely!
Not one single headache!
I have not had a single
heart palpitation!
Not one single anxiety attack!
No hand or body tremors!
No racing heart!
No feeling of tension!
The only exception to this
was when I went to a mothers’ group party and ate some salt and vinegar chips
laced with 621 + 635. I had a bad night sleep that night. I checked the chips at
the supermarket the following day and found the suspect ingredients. I will not
eat any food that I cannot check the ingredients. Hungry Jacks will not return
my calls to tell me what foods have 635 in, and Nandos
will not return my calls as well. It is of interesting note that the American
version of Hungry Jacks (Burger King) + KFC list their ingredients but the
similar Australian version of the web sites have the
ingredients list missing. I FEEL LIKE A NEW MAN – Wayne, by email
[563] IBS: colostomy for
11-month-old baby (May 2007) SHARED COURAGE AWARD STORY
FOR MAY 2007 NEWSLETTER
In reply to the Reader’s
Story [537] in the last newsletter about salicylate
intolerance misdiagnosed as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, our story started 5 years
ago. We have fraternal twins who were born at 37 weeks and seemingly healthy at
the time, no problems within the pregnancy was diagnosed in regular scans or
when they were born. My first clue, looking back, that twin 2 may not be all
right was her failure to use her bowel until day 3. I remember her gagging on
day 1 and being told by the nurse that this was common in newborns until they
had their first motion.
We then continued on a very
long path during her first twenty-one months of life with an unsettled baby.
Both twins were breast feed however twin 2 was always unsettled. At 6 months we
decided to introduce solids - starting out with farex
and progressing to adding small amounts of pureed fruits, ie
pear, apple, etc 'all the safe ones'. To our shock twin 2 started to get the
most horrible nappy rash with excoriation and bleeding. We couldn't understand
it and were regular with her nappy changes, we also noticed that she would
strain whenever she tried to use her bowel. We went to see her Paediatrician who prescribed hydrozole
cream and amoxil drops, suggested we try some small
amounts of vegetables and sent us on our way.
Four months had passed and
we were increasingly worried for our daughter who still suffered from the
terrible nappy rash and constant visible straining when using her bowel (most
unusual in a baby) and was generally unsettled. By now we had tried cows'
formula (which resulted in vomiting) and soy formula (which resulted in
diarrhea) and we had also noticed that with fruits the problem was worse.
Things didn't improve and after many calls and visits to our GP and Paediatrician we decided to see another Paediatrician.
The next Paediatrician suggested we trial a prescribed formula for 2
weeks of 'Alfare'. This resulted in violent vomiting
and trip back to him whereby an ultrasound was performed and we were informed
that she in fact had chronic constipation, with a large mass in her colon. Our
daughter was now 11 months-old and had to have immediate surgery to remove the
mass which resulted in her having a colostomy for 3 months.
We were assured by the Paediatric Surgeon that in fact her problems were not food
related and that she was born with an 'anorectal
anomaly' and that all would be ok once the colostomy was reversed. To our
disappointment as soon as the colostomy was reversed we went straight back to
the problems of severe nappy rash and excoriation on her full diet. Our
daughter at 15 months was then seen by a Professor at the hospital who
diagnosed disaccharidase deficiency (sucrose
intolerance) to be the cause of the excoriation and unsettled behaviour; not the case.
Somehow eventually after
breaking down many times and a visit again to our GPs rooms in desperation we
were finally sent with a referral to the RPA Allergy Clinic (daughter 21months
old). This was like a dream come true, they did a skin prick test for
allergies; which showed no positive reactions (as suspected it would by the
clinic Paediatrician). We were then talked through
food intolerances and naturally occurring chemicals in foods which caused
intolerances in some people! The evidence was there in front of us and we
couldn't believe it we finally had answers. Our daughter is now a healthy 6.5
year old, on a low salicylate and mainly low chemical
diet who continues to thrive and hasn't looked back. We do trial new foods
occasionally and are starting to add small amounts of moderate salicylates to her diet and some dairy (her main drink is
now rice milk). We know straight away if she has overloaded as this results in
usually loose motions or not being able to control her motions. For us the
evidence is overwhelming and we are just very grateful we have our daughter and
we can now give her answers and solutions so that she continues to enjoy good
health and happiness. - by email.
[562] 160b: Yellow addiction (May 2007)
My son was restless from
the day he was born. His paediatrician told me to not
feed him dairy or wheat and suggested I feed him meat and vegetables and fruit
for the first year of his life. When he was one, I decided to broaden his diet
a bit and started feeding him vanilla ice cream. I didn’t understand at the
time, but he started throwing the most awful tantrums and head banging. He
became obsessed with the colour yellow. He only
wanted to wear yellow clothes, draw with yellow
pencils and chose toys that were yellow. My friends constantly commented on his
yellow addiction. I used to feed him corn and cheese omelettes
for dinner with vanilla ice cream and banana for dessert. I’d mix the banana in
thoroughly so the ice cream looked more yellow. It wasn’t until 18 months later
that I started learning about nasty food chemicals, and learned that annatto
160b natural yellow colouring was causing a lot of
problems. When we got together with other mothers, he’d go straight for yellow
food and always want yellow drinks. It was a bit of a joke really. He’d choose
yellow lollies over other colours
and when I asked him what colour he wanted his room
painted, he of course said Yellow. I stopped allowing him food with 160b in it,
but still let him have it when he went out. My friends thought I was over the
top with food.
One day after meeting with
my friends, and my son eating their yellow food, he went off the rails. I
managed to get him into the car, (which is hard when they stiffen their bodies
like a board) and drove him to my friend’s house. He was screaming in his car
seat, Let me out, let me out and was struggling like crazy in his seat. We
drove up her driveway and my friend said Oh my god, what’s happened to
Liam? I explained this is what happens
when he eats bad food chemicals. It was only after this that she actually
believed me. I then became strict and totally eliminated it from his diet. His headbanging stopped and his outrageous tantrums stopped
also. I then realised that his obsession with yellow
was caused from an addiction to yellow food. When I eliminated it from his
diet, he began to choose other colours to wear. He’d
choose other coloured lunchboxes, drink bottles and
hats. I’ve never heard any other parent mention the colour
phenomenon, but I still believe it was connected to his addiction to 160b. –
Helen, NSW (similar stories to suedengate@ozemail.com.au
please)
[561] Nurofen mistake (May 2007)
Thank you for helping us to
get back the children we were meant to have. We have been failsafeing
for about 2 1/2 months mainly for our 4 year old daughter who was defiant,
argumentative, oppositional, angry, sometimes violent, sometimes hyperactive,
deliberately annoying, and would be awake for 2 - 4 hours after bedtime before
falling asleep. The contradiction being that she could also be charming,
loving, insightful, enjoyable, happy, playful, caring, enjoy an activity
(craft, colouring, building etc) for extended times,
clever, calm and inquisitive.
About two years ago we learned
about colours and preservatives (from "The
Chemical Maze") and pretty much took them out - apart from occasional
treats – with good results and we had no idea there was so much more to the
food chemical story. I never would have considered fruit etc, I just thought I
somehow had to be doing a bad job at disciplining my child and that must be why
she is still the way she is. While reading Fed up with ADHD my hopes were
ignited for a better life for all of us as I worked up the courage to go
failsafe and give this a try. It was a daunting thought with a new baby as well
but we really had no choice as far as I could see so we started! Amongst the
initial flurry of the first few weeks the results were incredible as we saw
emerge this delightful child and hardly any of the pre-diet behaviour.
I now feel it is our way of life and I am learning to manage the work load of
the constant cooking, baking and planning around food. My once skeptical
husband is a beautiful support and really helps out with the kids and the
washing so I can keep up with the food etc. We have seen some remarkable
changes but there are still some things that concern me though.
After 3 weeks on
elimination, our first challenge was salicylates and
we had a severe day 3 or 4 reaction, stopped on day 5 and I think we were just
starting to come good after about 6 days from stopping when we had a friend's
birthday party the next day. We had been so strict, everything to the letter
and the girls’ attitudes toward the diet was so amazing that we thought we'd
have a day off and give them a "treat". The party food wasn't as bad
as it could've been. A lot of home cooking. But they
did have some lollies, fruit and chocolate. The girls
couldn’t believe it after about 5 weeks on the diet! Anyway, behaviour
started that evening and it was pretty foul for about three weeks. We also made
the mistake of giving her Nurofen for a sore throat
in the week following the party but apart from that we were back to 100%
failsafe the day after the party. So
after about 3 weeks of reaction type behaviour she
started to become progressively better but still with some D.F.Asleep
(down to 1-2 hours) and still to many times of defiance and aggression etc.
amongst the good behaviour. We are now 4.5 weeks
after the party and 5.5 weeks after the end of our salicylate
challenge and I feel like we are not yet back to how it was in the first three
weeks. – from a country failsafer [this family is now doing well]. Their
problems included daily Sakata rice crackers, accidental exposure to lawn fertiliser, and Nurofen. Although
Nurofen doesn't contain salicylates,
most salicylate sensitive people have cross
sensitivity to it and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as naproxn and diclofenac. You can
regard one dose of aspirin or Nurofen as the
equivalent of a week’s salicylate food challenge,
ref: Jenkins C and others, Systematic review of prevalence of aspirin induced
asthma and its implications for clinical practice, BMJ. 2004;328(7437):434.For
more possible reasons for diet not working, see Checklist of Common Mistakes]
[560] Reaction to aspirin (May 2007)
Our 13-year-old daughter
suffers extreme sensitivity to salicylates and our
12-year-old son suffers mildly (or so I thought). During Easter we had
relatives visit and I had gone for a walk with the younger children. My son had
a growing headache when I left, and our care for that is a warm carob and lying
down in a quiet room. While I was gone he asked if his aunty had anything for a
headache. (Incredibly irresponsibly!) she gave him an aspirin. By the time I returned from my half
hour walk he had developed severe swelling of the eyes, upper lip, ear lobes
and generally puffiness of his face; also urticaria
over his whole body centred on his neck and under his
jaw line. At first I didn't know about the aspirin. After much questioning,
research and deliberation I came to the conclusion that it could only have been
the aspirin. He became very agitated, very frightened, and very unlike his
usual self. It took over 48 hours for all the symptoms to disappear. Needless
to say, my children have never been given aspirin before, and it will never be
allowed in my house again. – by email, see Salicylates factsheet for the aspirin-salicylate
connection.
[559] ‘Ultra-healthy’ diet led to asthma and debilitating
health issues (May 2007)
My mother and I have known for
years that we are allergic to aspirin. We both react with ringing in the ears, nausea, vertigo, lethargy, and I even lost
consciousness once. I avoid salicylates in cosmetics and toiletries at all costs, but
my health has steadily declined (I am 24). My mother and I both have had
doctors mystified for years with strange and debilitating health issues. They
told my mother oh you have lupus, no you don't, yes you do,
no ... so on and so on. Now they have decided that we both have fibromyalgia. None of my doctors have ever mentioned that salicylates are in foods. After coming across this
information I realised that almost every diet change
recommended to me by the doctors has caused my salicylate
intake to be astronomical. It's no wonder I've been in and out of emergency
rooms.
Everyone made fun of me
calling me a "health nut" because of the supposedly ultra-healthy
diet I was on. I was trying to follow the USDA guidelines and eating lots of
fruits and vegetables - especially citrus, broccoli, and spinach. The heart
healthy recommendations include lots of processed tomato products and using as
many different herbs as possible (to give flavor instead of salt). I also was
trying to eat as many "naturally sweetened" things as possible. I was
eating a lot of fresh oat granola, but it was loaded with honey, almonds, and
pretty much anything that comes up high in the sals.
I also was using olive oil for cooking, salad dressing, and with herbs instead
of butter on bread.
It's no wonder that I was getting
worse. I was having so many migraines that I only had about two days a month
that I could function without excruciating pain in my head, I had chronic
tendonitis, chronic fatigue, if I ever did get to sleep I felt more tired when
I woke up than before I slept and I was still gaining weight. Now that I am on
the right track I have only had two migraines in two months, and I have only
had a tendon problem one day. I was diagnosed with adult onset asthma and was
using an inhaler every day and now I only have to use it when I get exposed to salicylates. My mother and I have both been improving so
drastically that everyone is asking us what is going on. – from
the
[558] Muscle spasms (May 2007)
I am a 55-year-old woman
who recently worked out for myself that I have a
muscle spasms as a strong reaction to 220 (sulphites)
and minor reactions to others which I haven't identified yet. The muscle spasms
are usually in the limbs and are worst when I sleep. I am a very fit and active
person, so when I finally sit in front of the TV after tea and relax, this is
when I feel the spasms. When mild it is usually any one muscle at a time in my
legs and usually every 30 seconds. The affected muscle tightens or twitches and
can occasionally jolt my leg or finger etc. When I have a worst reaction during
the night, again it is like a tightening of, possibly, a muscle in my chest, or
hip, or shoulder, head etc. When it is in the chest, some times it actually
knocks the breath out of me as I awake with a jolt. Have you ever had the
electrical impulses on your body when you are at the physiotherapist and a
muscle tightens - that is how I feel. Sometimes of a
night I feel as if I have a "motor" running in my chest or sometimes
my head (sounds crazy doesn't it!) I can also quite often get a tingling (or
motor sensation) feeling down my legs.
I went to four doctors last
year and not one knew what was wrong, with one referring me to a neurologist. I
become hyperactive in the evening – full of energy when everyone else is wanting to go to sleep - and have constant insomnia. When
I am at my worst my muscle spasms (during sleep) wake me every few minutes and
I experience hallucinations or bad dreams. Strong sleeping tablets don't
eliminate these muscle spasms. It wasn't until I realised
the 220 preservatives were in the "healthy" foods: dried apricots,
sultanas, most yoghurts - that I was able to get my health back into order. It
took me nearly a year to work out what was wrong with me. Since watching my diet I am sleeping so well
it is unbelievable; I haven't slept like this for possibly 7 years and only
have mild muscle spasms resulting in bad sleeps occasionally when I'm not aware
of the preservative in the food. I guess I am still finding it hard to check
everything before eating!!
The last 12 months have
been very scary for me when I didn't know what was wrong - I feel so strongly
for our children who also must be suffering and unable to communicate how their
body feels. - by email,
[557] “Giving up the victim role”: a story of salicylate intolerance (May 2007)
I have been so inspired by
the stories of others that I felt the desire to share my "salicylate intolerance discovery" story. I had been
sick for many years and when I think about it probably since birth. Back in
those days not many topical products had herbals in them so my salicylate intake was confined to food and aspirin
products. And my symptoms were mainly digestive, brain fog, and numerous bouts
with asthma. When I grew up and flew the coop things became increasingly worse.
For years I have been in and out of the doctor’s office (I am in the military
health care system) and all tests ran negative, of course. And so the multiple diagnoses began - arthritis,
mental illness, fibromyalgia and so on. A few years ago one of my co-workers
disclosed to me that she had fibro and referred me to the guai-support
website. I knew that it would be hard to
convince the military doctors to put me on the Guaifenesin
treatment so I decided that I would pay for it out of my pocket if it would
give me back my quality of life.
On any given day I was
experiencing 10-15 symptoms daily and was hardly functioning - it was very,
very difficult. There were days I could not walk and my husband had to carry me
to the bathroom. Just lying in bed was painful - the good days were marked with
a raging fever, flu-like feelings, and a ringing headache. I did get to a point
where I got used to the pain and learned to live with it - I really had no
other choice - live with it or kill myself.
For some reason I knew deep
inside that I didn't have fibro, it didn't seem right. But I reasoned what do I
have to lose and on a long holiday weekend I set upon the closet to remove all
topical sal-full products from my life. Within a week
I felt incredible. When I talked to my co-worker she said maybe I didn't have
fibro at all but a sensitivity to salicylates
I was quite stunned. A few weeks had passed and I felt better and better but I
still had some digestive tract symptoms so I went back to the guai-support site and re-read the information and one line
jumped out at me - that you did not have to worry about salicylate
in food as the body would break it down and it would not interfere with the guaifenesin. That led to another Google
search and to other sites. I never had to beg the doctors to put me on the guaifenesin protocol as removing sal-full
products and food from my life relieved all of my symptoms (listed below).
But there was still a
period of "struggle" for me. I
am a gardener by hobby and trade so I had to learn to cover up my body and wear
gloves to eliminate contacting plant salicylates. I
also have been growing and eating my own food for years. That was the hardest
part and I went through the denial stage for while - abusing my body with foods
I knew I could not tolerate. How do you grow vine ripened tomatoes and perfumy exotic melons and not eat them?! The mind would say - oh come on a few bites
won't matter - but it really did matter!
So I finally decided to quit seeing my "problem" through the
eyes of a victim (poor me, why me? why am I being punished?) and changed my
point of view to a position of personal power. What a huge difference. So I
can't eat some food and wash my hair in botanical goodness - so what. When I
totally eliminated the foods/products that caused me trouble I felt so great
that I could not believe that I could deal with that much pain. And I never
want to feel that pain ever again!
The nice thing about giving
up the victim role is I could reclaim that negative energy and put it towards
something else - last year I bought myself a motorcycle and began riding -
something I had been wanting to do for years (I rode trail bikes as a kid and
loved it) but couldn't do when I was ill. Regaining my quality of life and
being able to work, exercise and play again (and I am quite sure my husband is
happy that sex no longer hurts) is worth giving up "bad" foods.
For all you new to this I
know it can seem just miserable - take it one day at a time, be gentle and
forgiving with yourself, and know that life can be rewarding and fun without
some pleasures of food, drink, and beauty products. Wishing you good health - by email (with
permission from another group)
Mind, emotion and behaviour
symptoms: accident
prone • anxiety • anger for no apparent reason • blankness • brain fogging •
clumsiness • confusion • depression • detached/unreal feeling • difficulty
waking up/getting out of bed (due to lack of sleep and aching muscles) • disorientation
• dyslexia • hearing without comprehension • inability to think clearly •
indifference • irritability • memory loss • mental exhaustion • mood swings •
panic attacks • poor concentration & memory reading • restlessness • slow
to process information • slurred speech • suicidal feelings
Physical symptoms: abdominal pains (thought I might have IBS) • acne • asthma
& wheezing, tightness of chest • athlete's foot • bad breath • bloating
(lost three dress sizes when I gave up the sals) •
blurred vision • breast pain • constipation • crawling/burning sensation on
skin • diarrhea • insomnia • itching • joint pain, stiffness & swelling •
fatigue & lethargy (thought I might have CFS) • menstrual problems,
pre-menstrual pain • metallic taste • migraines • mouth ulcers • muscles -
aching, weakness, tremors & cramps nausea palpitations & racing pulse •
poor balance • rashes • difficulty in swallowing • dizziness • eczema •
excessive thirst • feeling drained • flushes - both hot & cold • frequent need
to urinate • headaches • restless legs • sensitivity to light & noise •
sleep disturbances • sore, itching, puffy, burning eyes, stiff neck •
temperature fluctuations • ringing ears • weight problems.
[556] An adult food reaction (May
2007)
I'm 51-years-old. Tonight I
went to Subway and purchased a Chicken Bacon Ranch Wrap. I hadn't eaten a low-carb tortilla in sometime and had forgotten the affect one
had on my stomach. It wasn't until I finished eating that I, unfortunately,
remembered. Every time I eat one, I have severe spasms in my stomach, with some
nausea and gas. Tonight, it was so severe it felt as though a knife was cutting
into me. I see your web site focuses on, mostly, children. I just want someone
to be aware to the fact adults can have the same intolerances as children. – by email [see the Subway ingredients list on http://subway.com/subwayroot/MenuNutrition/Nutrition/frmUSIngredients.aspx).
[555] Vanillin is an absolute avoid-at-all-costs additive
(May 2007)
Our oldest son reacts to
Vanillin. His reactions are behavioural. He stops listening or following instruction
and becomes disagreeable. We also see really distinct rough behaviour
towards his younger brother. We usually notice a reaction the next day and it
lasts for quite a while compared to his other reactions. After Marshmallows it
lasted a week! It also doesn't seem to
take a very high dose to start the reactions. For us it is an absolute
avoid-at-all-costs additive, we never compromise on this as we do with other
things. It is simply not worth it.
I've heard so much
conflicting info about this additive, so many people
seem to think it isn't a bad additive. Sadly, I must disagree – Ruth, by email.
[554] All three children got asthma
at the same time (May 2007)
My daughter, now in her
late 20s, first got asthma in her early teens. Recently she told me the story
of her very first asthma attack. She was away from home camping with friends,
when they treated all the children to a soft-serve ice-cream. Within a short
time she was having troubles breathing. The other adults identified that she
was having an asthma attack, severe enough that they were contemplating taking
her to hospital. Prior to having this first attack, my daughter did not have
many additives in her diet. I just didn’t let my children have lollies, cordials, snack foods, etc as I didn’t think they
were healthy, and I did a lot of home cooking. Soft-serve ice-cream was just
not something that she had ever been given. Over the years, she noticed for
herself that if she had soft-serve ice-cream, or drinks and lollies
with a certain yellow colour in it, that this would
quickly trigger an asthma attack, and that if she
didn’t consume these things that the number of her asthma attacks were less.
With hindsight (isn't it a
wonderful thing) all of my children have got asthma as a result of additives.
It was only watching your "Fed Up" DVD that let us work it out. My
daughter already knew that certain ice-creams and 102 gave her asthma, but we
hadn't realised that other additives, that don't give
such an immediate effect, could also be involved. Asthma is in their father's
family and their grandmother gets bad asthma, so I was expecting that at least
one of my children would get asthma as well. When none of my children had any
symptoms of asthma I was relieved. That was, until all three of them got asthma
about the same time. My daughter was aged about 13 and the two boys were about
10 and 8. It was very confusing at the time as why all three would suddenly get
asthma when none of them had had any symptoms previously. The only thing that
changed about that time was that all three of them were getting access through
their friends to types of foods that I had never allowed them to have before,
like processed snacks that I have now learned are high in additives. At the
same time as this, realising that I was not going to
be able to stop them from eating whatever they wanted to when they weren't at
home, and because of other family pressures, our diet was changed at home so
that the snacks, foods and drinks that I now know are full of additives began
to be consumed at home. The change was therefore from a largely additive-free
diet to the average Australian additive-packed diet. So three
asthma-free children changed to three asthma-prone children who all needed to
be put onto medication. If only I had known then what
I know now. – by
email
[553] Food additives in the
I am a New Zealander living
in the
[552] A psychologist comments on story [539] (May 2007)
I'm just reading the latest
FIN newsletter (#51) and came across Reader's Story [539] “The school counsellor … went on to tell me that it is coincidence that
withdrawing a food substance or chemical would have a positive effect on our
daughter. She then proceeded to tell me that Lily probably has Aspergers and that the paediatrician
probably didn't want to tell me that. I am feeling so enraged. She hasn't even
met Lily.”
As a Psychologist who used
to work in education, I am so disappointed for this family. There seem to be a
number of responses that I would hope were the exception rather than the rule
of a counsellor's professional practice. Diagnosis
should never be made without interaction with the person in-question. Theory
and empirical-based study are important, however that "importance"
should be balanced with a few other thoughts - 1) the causes/criteria for illness are
frequently "refined" over years despite each change being based on
the alleged omniscience of empirical data, and 2) life on earth has never been
100% contained and explained by research based theory - there are always
exceptions, and to dismiss the possibility (particularly when the individual
has possibly never done a literature search on the topic themself)
is to choose ignorance. Carl Jung made a profound statement on this -
"Learn your theories as well as you can, but put them aside when you touch
the miracle of a living soul." I know the difficulties I face getting
parents and other professionals to even consider diet as a factor in their
children's behaviour and/or learning challenges. I
want to commend and encourage these parents for their intentional pursuit of
their child's wellbeing. Perhaps a respectful suggestion to visit (or provision
of) the extraordinary list of research links on the FIN website might open the
eyes and mind of this counsellor. In the end, it is
still our responsibility as parents to make decisions (albeit informed
decisions) for our children - not doctors, not teachers and not counsellors. Well done for standing firm. – Psychologist,
by email (Note that we now have a number of failsafe-sympathetic psychologists
on our list of health professionals – you can obtain the list by emailing
Howard: confoodnet@ozemail.com.au)
[551] IBS: Some failsafe tips but not enough (May 2007)
I have just read the IBS
misdiagnosis story ([537], Jan 2007). After countless
examinations, a colonoscopy, a couple of (very nice) women's physios, being told by a "bum specialist/surgeon"
to lose weight and get fit (I lost 13kg, got fit), I still have my IBS.
The basic solution I was offered by a specialist physio
was to reduce stress, avoid cream, butter and rich, spicy food - a couple of
failsafe tips there, but not enough. Yet another '"bum
specialist/surgeon", not gastroenterologist, suggested a good dose of
Epsom Salts to clear any backlog (not a regular occurrence, just when needed)
and glycerine suppositories to relieve constipation.
I and my kids have some other signs of food intolerance. Looks like I'm in for
a rough time until I adopt the full failsafe regime and find out what our
intolerances are – by email.
[550] IBS: ‘nice, big, healthy bowel’ needed dietary
modification (May 2007)
I have been aware of the RPAH
diet for over 10 years and largely stuck to it during that time to help with
symptoms of MS (multiple sclerosis). I have also suffered bowel issues for many
years, predominately constipation but sometimes diarrhoea.
My symptoms primarily include bloating, constipation and terrible pain.
Initially, I thought it was the cause of my MS (bowel and bladder disturbance
can be a problem) so just figured I had to live with it. When my lower bowel
pain became quite severe - particularly after eating wheat and despite being
failsafe - I decided to consult my GP again. She referred me to a
gastroenterologist who preceded to do a colonoscopy to see if some inflammatory
bowel disease was present and an endoscopy so she
could take a biopsy and take a definite diagnosis on whether I had Coeliac disease or not.
Fortunately, all my results
came back clear and the gastro told me that after examination she concluded
that I had a 'nice big healthy bowel' (I guess that's a compliment to the
gastro fraternity!) As she had eliminated all other possible diseases, she
further concluded that I simply had IBS which has no real treatment. She said
that dietary modification could help however, and referred me to a bowel
dietician.
The dietician explained to
me about fructans (a natural sugar) found in the
onion family, wheat, chicory and asparagus. Having been failsafe, I knew about
the amine and salicylate intolerance I have but
thought that eliminating fructans could help
considering I found leeks, spring onions and wheat appeared to affect me
despite them all being failsafe and despite my not having Coeliacs.
This all really helped so now I have refined my diet again and have eliminated
all the trigger food chemicals (MSG, Salicylates, Amines) as well as fructans
(leeks, spring onions, wheat, asparagus). This has helped my IBS greatly. I am
now just trying to give up percolated coffee every morning as that appears to
trigger IBS symptoms. This fructans information may
just be another piece of the puzzle for some people who suffer IBS. – by email.
[549] IBS: “strict gluten free diet for 9 months with no
improvement” (May 2007)
In reply to the Reader’s
Story [537] about salicylate intolerance misdiagnosed
as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, in June 2004 I was referred to a
gastroenterologist in with symptoms of IBS to check for coeliac
disease. I had had IBS symptoms for 15 years. I also had a SIGA (immunoglobulin A) deficiency which
made diagnosis of coeliac from blood tests more
difficult; and lots of other symptoms not connected with digestive tract
including fatigue, recurrent sinusitis, joint/muscle pain, skin rashes and urticaria. I had a gastroscopy
and biopsy and two pathologists reports were both positive for Coeliac disease, although the gastroenterologist was not
sure that the tissue changes were completely typical of coeliac.
I was diagnosed with coeliac disease and followed a
very strict gluten-free diet for 9 months with no improvement in my symptoms
and was eventually given a blood test checking for gene markers HLA-DQ2/8. The
results were negative and made coeliac a very very unlikely diagnosis.
In May 2005 the
gastroenterologist finally referred me to a dietician to do the RPAH
elimination diet and we discovered that removing salicylates
and preservatives from my diet improved most of my symptoms. He must have been
aware of the possibility that IBS symptoms could be related to preservatives
and other food chemicals. The help that I got from the dietician put me on the
right track but the Food Intolerance Network website, Sue Dengate’s
books and the RPAH cookbook were much more helpful in providing detailed
information about foods and food chemicals and managing the diet. The dietician
did not refer me to those resources but I found out by doing my own homework
and searching on the internet – by email.
[548] IBS: gf diet did not clear
up stomach pain, constipation and bloat (May 2007)
I have stumbled upon your
latest newsletter in the search for what might be wrong with my daughter and
found the brief note about IBS and salicylates. My
daughter (15) has had gut problems for over a year starting with what we
assumed was a gastro bug. A biopsy confirmed Coeliac disease however, a gluten-free diet did not
clear up her symptoms of stomach pain, constipation and bloat and she lost a
lot of weight and ended up in hospital for re-feeding (and no she is not
anorexic!). She was also put on pain medication which doesn't seem to help. We
are about to start eliminating salicylates from her diet
under the guidance of a dietician, and will keep you posted on the result. She
has always loved fruit and vegetables! – by email.
[547] Patchy baldness and the gluten connection – reader’s
stories (April 2007)
Allergy clinic didn't know about connection: I recently had my appointment with
the Allergy Clinic and they didn't know anything about the connection that your
website mentions between gluten intolerance and alopecia. I first had alopecia
back in 1995 very badly and I do remember my diet being very poor and high in
wheat and gluten products, I have only been told that it was probably caused by
stress but am interested to learn more. I have had small patches ever since,
and my general intake of wheat has been much lower than in 1995. I am now doing
the elimination diet for the second time and it has been going better. I failed
the wheat challenge on the 3rd night and am interested in the connection with
alopecia to gluten as I still have some joint, lethargy and lack of focus
issues.
Discovered the cause of alopecia areata
by accident: I
suffered from alopecia areata on and off for many
years without having any clue about what caused it. It was very embarrassing
and difficult for my self confidence. I only stumbled across the answer by
accident after I found out about bread preservative 282 - that was where my
journey started. I was staying with people who ate preserved bread so it was
easier for me to eat rice cakes instead, and I noticed my alopecia improving. I
have been gluten free now for three years and have had no more problems with
alopecia.
Led to diagnosis of coeliac disease: Your mention of alopecia areata
and gluten in "Fed Up" led to my being diagnosed with coeliac disease. No one else seemed to know anything about it, so I really
wanted to say thank you. It has led to a huge improvement in my quality of
life.
Another association besides stress: The information on your website
about alopecia areata and gluten is the first bit of
useful advice I have received suggesting that alopecia could have another
association besides stress.
[546]
One-liners (January 2007)
- "If no one's told you recently, thanks so much for all the
work you do - you have changed our lives! It's good to have a asthma free,
medication free, tummy ache and diarrhoea free child after many wasted
futile hours and $$$$ spent in specialist surgeries!! And even now I've
found the answers (thanks to you), still the
doctors are not interested in hearing about it. That's what I find so hard
to believe! - Fran, NSW.
- "We've just had Christmas day down at my nanna's who is very very supportive, her traditional christmas
"feast" of things processed, bought ready made to save her work
went out the window in 06. We went
totally failsafe for everyone and you know no-one missed out, we had what
the kids could have and everyone had a top time not like Christmas 05 with
it ending it tears etc - email,
NSW.
- I am a mother of five children who has recognised the benefit of a
failsafe diet. My kids were never
really 'bad' just a bit naughty sometimes, and having trialled full
failsafe we are now on a preservative, additive, flavours etc free diet
and all doing well. – email, Qld
- My five year old son was a ‘bread brat’ as you describe in your
books - as soon as he stopped eating preserved bread and started drinking
magic cordial he changed.- email, Tas.
- I work in health and am constantly amazed that there is not more
connection made to food related reactions as I can recognise them a mile
off - asthma, eczema and so on. – email, NSW.
- Thank you so much for everything, without your work my family would
still be wheezy, itchy, rashy, cranky and doped up on medication for all these
ailments! – by email
[545]
Failsafe Vacation Care program (January 2007)
At present I'm doing Vacation Care for children aged
6-12. I have done this program for the last two holidays and this year I have
changed the program so that we provide morning and afternoon tea. From my
results so far - a week and a half - it has been fantastic, and the difference
in the children is amazing. The parents have been very understanding and have
not complained about the extra $1.00 charge per child per day. We cook things
from your Fed Up book and the children love the food. When they bring things they
shouldn't, they put it back in their bags. We can have up to five children with
ADHD or behavioural concerns but now you wouldn’t know they were in the
program. – Nicole, NSW
[544] "parlate dell'introduzione in
Italia
Ho sentito che oggi parlate
dell'introduzione in Italia del farmaco
Ritalin per i bambini con ADHD.
Prima o invece di dare Ritalin ai bambini, e' opportuno fare un
"elimination diet" per individuare eventuali intolleranze a salicilati, ammine, glutammati (che sono "natural food
chemicals"). Inoltre, sarebbe
un controsenso dare Ritalin
a un bambino che continua a bere
bibite colorate! Anche l'annatto, un colorante
giallo naturale, ha un forte effetto
sul comportamento di molte persone.
In Italia siamo
piu' tutelati rispetto all'Australia per quanto riguarda gli additivi
alimentari, ma poco tutelati
riguardo alle sostanze inutili aggiunti nei farmaci.
- by email,
[543]
Covered in eczema at age of three (January 2007)
By the time she was three, my daughter was covered in
eczema and watching videos all day as she couldn’t keep up with other children.
We now have a healthy five-year- old after one year on the diet. Her energy
improved within three weeks of starting the diet. Reading your book was a
comfort as I thought I knew lots about allergy and eczema. She had been on the
healthiest foods: wheat free, sugar free, chiropractors, Chinese medicine,
acupuncture, biocom, skin specialists … I was
exhausted and pretty fed up when I started learning about failsafe foods. One
year on we have a clear picture of what we can have and it is expanding every
month. Sulphites, benzoates and salicylates are our main problems, but we stay
off any preservatives and colours. Thank you for helping us. Reading your book
helped me feel not so alone and laugh at some of the crazy mistakes I made. – by email,
[542]
Palpitations and MSG (January 2007)
Having suffered panic attacks and palpitations
on-and-off for years I started seriously looking at the foods and additives I
was stuffing into my system. I can now tell you that the prime trouble maker
for me is flavour enhancers. As others have done before me I visited doctors
and hospitals after bad attacks only to be sent home with a "nothing wrong
with you" report. Then one day, I had taken a double dose (flavoured corn
chips and kebabs) which well-and-truly landed me in hospital. The interesting
point to this story is the specific effect the MSG had. While I was on the
heart monitor (for about 12 hours) the doctors and I could see what my heart
was doing and we were able to determine the safety of the situation.
The sinus node (the electrical trigger) was firing and
was firing regularly. This was a good thing! The troublesome aspect was the MSG
was somehow interfering with the distribution of the signal around the heart.
This meant that although the heart was beating/pumping,
it was doing so at a reduced flow rate. That is, the contractions weren't as
strong as they should have been. Although it was pumping enough blood to keep
me lucid/conscious, a beat could not be felt by me in my chest, nor could a
pulse be felt at my wrist. NOTE: it felt as if my heart had stopped but in fact
was just beating weakly. I tried to convince the doctors this was MSG-induced,
but they just closed their ears, their eyes glazed over, and told me they
couldn't understand why my heart was behaving the way it was.
Now I know what my heart is doing, I no longer have
panic attacks triggered by a few 'missed beats'. The difference is knowing that
the ectopic beats aren't going to kill me, and even though I can't feel the
beats, I reason that if I'm still alive and not suffering chest pain etc. then
I'm just having another 'episode'.- by
email
[541] Unable
to focus eyes properly after additive-laden treats (January 2007)
I have excluded artificial colours and preservatives where
possible and this seems to work with my children however I noticed some
reactions over these holidays as I have let them have some treats. Corn chips
caused a really silly reaction in my 5 year old son, he was even not able to
focus his eyes properly, and the same reaction from a BBQ meatlovers
pizza. – by
email
[540]
Heading towards a diagnosis of autism before - the difference in him is so
dramatic the paediatrician was in shock (January 2007)
When I originally wrote to you, my three-year-old son
had a severe speech delay, many behavioural problems, refused toilet training,
was having upwards of 6 dirty nappies a day and the paediatrician was heading
towards a diagnosis of autism.
The first two weeks on the elimination diet were
"HELL". My son’s behaviour was so bad I was in tears when the day was
over and he was in bed asleep. My husband and I were determined to give this a
go and we stayed strong together to get him through the rough patch. Four weeks
after starting, his behaviour improved each day, the tantrums decreased
dramatically, he became calmer, his attention span increased, he was happy to
try sitting on the toilet for me, the autistic traits stopped, he would sit and
do activities with me and the most impressive of all in one week he said -
"Dad", "Mum" and his own name "Sam". He has never
called me mum & it brought tears to my eyes - he has since then said love
you mum and tries hard to string words together.
The difference in him is so dramatic the paediatrician
was in shock, he is a non-believer of diet having an effect on children,
however, after seeing the difference in Sam he was blown away. He said he was
pretty sure after the last visit he would end up making a diagnosis of autism
for him, now after seeing him six months later he is thinking it is just speech
delay and is not so worried about the minor autistic traits. We are focused on sticking to the diet
especially with the progress Sam is now making. He does on occasions slip on
behaviour - but he is only three. We feel we have our beautiful little man
back. – by
email, Qld
[539]
Possible autistic spectrum if not failsafe (January 2007)
My husband and I have two lovely children. We have been
through the whole thing of oppositional, erratic and violent behaviour and for
us the worst part was insomnia and extreme restlessness at night. No-one ever
got a rest. This all was cured with the invaluable assistance of your books,
and a profound response to the elimination diet especially for our youngest
child who is a 7 year old girl, Lily. She is extremely sensitive to everything
– salicylates, amines, chemicals - you name it. Our son is affected, but not as
badly.
At times I have wondered if Lily perhaps has Aspergers, or is somewhere on the autistic spectrum, but we
had her assessed at age 4 (after being failsafe for three months) and were told
that she is bright, possibly gifted, and that she can be extremely anxious
because she is clever enough to be able to think about things and therefore
worries about things. We prepared her very carefully for school and so far have
had no problems - until this month.
Twice this month Lily has lashed out at school, due in
part to chemicals. She started swimming lessons every day and the other thing
was a class party with heaps of bad food which no-one helped her to avoid.
Today she has been "red-booked "and placed on detention for the
second time, for hurting someone. The school counsellor who was called in told
me "there are NO studies that prove that food intolerances are in any way
related to behavioural disturbances". She went on to tell me that it was
all in my head, and that it is coincidence that withdrawing a food substance or
chemical would have a positive effect on our daughter. She then proceeded to
tell me that Lily probably has Aspergers and that the
paediatrician probably didn't want to tell me that. I am feeling so enraged.
She hasn't even met Lily.
We follow the failsafe lifestyle to the letter, and
are eternally grateful to you and your family for sharing your stories, and for
your tireless work. Our family wouldn't have survived without Fed Up and how
some one can say the things that this counsellor said belies belief. Our son
who is now 13 is easily able to make good food choices and knows only too well
what bad choices do to him. He was shocked at the response of the school
counsellor. My husband - who was a total sceptic 4 years ago - was absolutely
livid with that school counsellor. He knows how bad it was here, and how much
work I have put in to making our little family happy and calm. I guess we will
just keep soldiering on and spreading the word, but this person nearly got the
better of me. – by
email, NSW (see comment on this
story at [552])
[538] My three sons (January 2007)
I have 3 sons, aged 11, 10 and 6. I started the elimination
diet about six months ago and have seen a great improvement in my two younger
sons. The middle son is by far the worst effected by all the things that you
say to avoid. At times he will have things he shouldn’t and for the afternoon
he is off the planet. When he settles down I ask him how he felt and he'll say
he knew what he was doing but could not control it. Now he even tells his
grandmother “No, I can’t have that”. Even a friend of his grandmother’s noted
how quiet he was. Last month my mother-in-law gave the three boys an icecream as a treat. She is from the old school and didn't
really believe what I had said. Within minutes the two youngest were off their
tree, so this was a real wake up call.
[537] Is there anyone else with salicylate intolerance
misdiagnosed as Irritable Bowel Syndrome? (January 2007)
I have completed the elimination diet and found that I
have an intolerance to salicylates. My father is a
gastroenterologist and when first had symptoms of this intolerance (stress,
constipation, headaches, sinusitis etc) he thought it was Irritable Bowel
Syndrome (IBS). He referred me to his colleague, who also stated the diagnosis
was IBS. Both of these
gastroenterologists never considered that the problem may be related to diet,
and they didn't even know what salicylates were! I might add that both of them
are very professional doctors and have both been head of the gastroenterology
department at hospital - so you would think they would know something about it.
It took my dad a long time to recognise that salicylates exist - I had to show
him websites and papers that linked it to behavioural problems for him to
really believe me. He just thought I was on some crazy diet and that there was
no real basis to it!
My concern is this – that there are many people out
there, particularly young women, who may have this food intolerance and be
provided with the easy diagnosis of IBS.
As you would be aware, an IBS diagnosis really doesn’t help anyone
because there isn’t much you can do for it. And unless you keep searching for a
solution (which I did, and my GP eventually came up with it) then you may never
know you have an intolerance because salicylates are
in everything!
Do you know of many other people who have been
provided with an incorrect diagnosis for this food intolerance? I only know of
one other person, and if there are more, then I think this
should be brought to the attention of the national body for
gastroenterologists. – by email [if
you are in this category, please write to suedengate@ozemail.com.au with your
story]
[536] PMS,
period pain and diet 1 (January 2007)
Replies to
the question in newsletter #50 – “My almost 15 year old daughter who has had
monthly cramps but no period for 4 years suddenly got her period. We have been
on the elimination diet for 3 weeks. Is this a coincidence?”
I too have had lots of success in regards to the diet with
my whole family but the main improvement for me was dealing with PMS. I am a 28
year old woman and have had two children. As a teen I had very irregular
periods and would sometimes not have a period for 3 or 4 months, quite often
becoming physically sick when the period did come, not to mention the cramps
and mood swings, and I always had PMS symptoms when I was due, whether the
period came or not. Having children actually seemed to help my symptoms, but
without realising, I was eating differently through my pregnancy and then
afterwards because I was breast feeding.
Two years ago all my symptoms started again and six
months ago I figured out why. I had gone back to work and was relying on prepackaged food a lot more where I always used make my
own, and as a result my whole family suffered. My then six year old had all
sorts of trouble emotionally and my then two year old turned into a monster. My
husband was diagnosed with irritable bowel and I had all my former problems
including depression. Now thanks to a friend who recommended failsafe I am
pleased to say we are now back on track and I can safely say that it is all
down to food. We tried, through trial and error, all different sorts of
treatments to help all our ailments, but simply changing our diet has helped us
all. -
by email
[535] PMS,
period pain and diet 2 (January 2007)
I read in the newsletter that you were interested in
reports about improvement in PMT and infertility and the diet. Prior to failsafe I was having irregular
cycles, really really bad irritability for almost two
weeks prior to my period and bleeding which sometimes lasted for three weeks
for each cycle. I had sore breasts from about day 17 of each cycle,
sometimes they were so bad I couldn't hug my little boy without being in
pain. Since being on the diet I no
longer have sore breasts prior to my period.
I only have very mild irritability about a day or two prior to my period
and I am having 27 day cycles every month with bleeding only lasting about 5 or
6 days and no clotting. Also, my period
pain has lessened a great deal too.
I have been trying for 2 and a half
years to conceive and I'm now hoping I will be able to get pregnant if I stay
on the diet. It took 13 months to become
pregnant with my first child. My PMS
seemed to become worse after I had my son.
– by email
[534] Soy
and depression 1 (January 2007)
Stories
[534-532} are replies to the question newsletter #50: “my daughter has tried
soymilk several times but it makes her depressed, intrusive, argumentative and
very negative (feels the whole world is against her). She seems totally unaware
of this occurring, even when pointed out. Is this a reaction you are aware of?”
Whenever my son drinks soy or eats soy products he
spends most of his time crying ….often about nothing that he can pin point. He
becomes resistive to discipline and is reluctant to do his work at school. He
becomes tired and will often fall sleep in the afternoon. I’m obviously not 100%
certain that this is what it is but it sure does seem coincidental… - email, Qld
[533] Soy
and depression 2 (January 2007)
Just responding to question in newsletter #50 about
depressive reactions to soy - my daughter reacts the same to cows’ milk as to
soy, even small amounts of soy in anything.
Exactly as the question in the newsletter said, "it makes her
depressed, intrusive, argumentative and very negative (feels the whole world is
against her). She seems totally unaware of this occurring, even when pointed
out". – reader, Vic
[532] Soy
and depression 3 - unexplained “fevers” and hallucinations (January 2007)
As a baby and toddler, my son had constant unexplained
“fevers” as part of his never ending list of reactions. It wasn’t till he was 6 years old and he had
had a few unexplained fevers with hallucinations that we found these came from soya beans. He has
always been “picky” with soy products, usually refusing them himself – but mum
didn’t always trust him fully - now I know they do him no good!
His hallucinations were shocking to witness – they
happened only in the evening or night, usually just after falling asleep or
when disturbed in sleep, e.g.picked up for toileting.
He often didn’t have a high temperature according to the thermometer but woke
in an unconscious way with eyes open and talking and listening. He saw terrifying things around him and
removal to another room with comfort helped a little but only usually for
seconds. The only solution that worked properly for us was cool wet towels for
reducing fevers round his neck and forehead whilst cuddling him. He usually
dropped off to sleep again with these. On a bad night this continued again
after a couple of hours.
As usual doctors here were at a loss to explain these
and claim them to be most probably fevers related to viruses. They suggested continued treatment as we do
perhaps with paracetamol too keep it at bay. It was only after that I connected
intake of soya beans 36 hours previously on the last
occasions and I tested it with a very small intake which showed a minor
reaction - still hallucinations but for a much milder and shorter period.
Consequently soya beans are off our menu and I
respect my son’s taste buds when he refuses foods – he is usually allergic or
intolerant of them. Allergy specialists here avoid giving soy milk to milk allergics as much as possible due to the close connection
of the two allergies and the fact they believe soy allergies develop quicker in
such cases. – reader,
[531] ODD
reaction to spring flowers and Floriade (January
2007)
A reply to
the question in newsletter #50: my oppositionally
defiant amine-sensitive daughter is having a hard time at the moment and I am
wondering if it might be due to spring flowers?
The question about ODD and spring flowers in the last
newsletter rang a bell with me. My daughter Louse also gets really cranky and
her ODD symptoms worsen during the period when all the wattle begins to flower,
and then in early spring when the flowers start to bloom in abundance.
Unfortunately, this also happens to be the exact time when she has to be most
in control of her temper and emotions due to her Irish dancing commitments -
the state and national championships.
This year was particularly bad - there seem to be so
many more wattle trees around here now, and they started blooming at the start
of July. Louise was extremely bad-tempered - her quality of schoolwork
declined, her spelling declined (even though she is now a voracious reader) to
the point of going backwards, maths dropped back to grade 3 level (age-wise,
she is year 8) and there have been many arguments and temper tantrums with all
family members. It got to the point where I was beginning to doubt my sanity! and also, whether she was sneaking non-failsafe food from
other sources - but I know my friends wouldn't give her anything unsafe, and
her friends just don't like her behaviour when she deviates from the diet, so
that wasn't a factor.
I was thinking that the culprit might be pollens. It
was totally validated when we went to
It's getting better now, I've cracked down on a few
infractions, and she is asking her friends not to spray their deodorant near
her (and at dancing, spraying deodorant, hair-spray or perfume inside the hall
is now banned) and she's taking a claratyne daily to
help with the pollens. She's definitely a reactor when it comes to pollens and
spring! – reader, Vic
[530]
Salicylates are our nemesis (January 2007)
We have been on the elimination diet for 6 weeks using
a dietitian from your list and she has been great.
Salicylates, well that's our nemesis - I get cranky, stressed and short
tempered, my 8-year-old daughter gets teary at the drop of a hat - crying,
stressed and the “what ifs”.... . My three year old is
extremely sensitive to amines - defiant, disruptive and hyperactive.
Antioxidants don't affect her behaviour but her cheeks flare so something isn't
right. More than 5 plain Sakatas or LCM bars send her
off the planet.
It’s hard as you would know trying to ensure they have
food without the nasties. I am educating Day Care and they are trying to buy
failsafe foods as they are sure other children are affected as well, not just
my daughter. Next my challenge is going out to Little Athletics where they only
sell "crap" icy poles when it is a stinking hot day. – failsafer, NSW
[529] 635:
Hives from 635 and swimming (January 2007)
For the last month, my daughter has been suffering
from hives on average about every two days. It is driving me crazy not to
mention how she is feeling. It started when we went to a friend’s place for
swimming lessons, something that we had done every week for three months. She
broke out in hives all over her body, arms, legs, chest, vagina, and bum,
everywhere; luckily, it did not affect her breathing. I took her to the doctor
straight away and he thought it must be from the chlorine in the pool, my
friend then told me that it was a salt-water pool, so then we thought it must
have been something that she ate. Four
days later Emma got hives again on her arms and thighs, this time after eating
salted peanuts. Two days later again at
[528] “When
we started the diet to help our daughter, we didn't realise it would help our
son’s asthma too …” (January 2007)
After years of friends and teachers telling me that my
child needed medication (she was a "Jekyll & Hyde" according to
one teacher) and doctors who just assumed her problems were hormonal, a girl
guide leader noticed my 9-year-old daughter’s behaviour problems (fighting,
defiance, stealing etc) after eating certain foods and suggested failsafe
eating. Within weeks, apart from a few withdrawals, everyone noticed an
improvement and now, nine months later – what a difference! When we decided to
do the diet to help our daughter, we didn't realise it would help our
6-year-old son’s asthma too but he hasn’t had an attack or been hospitalised
since we started.
Unfortunately my doctor is not very supportive, but I
have found a great paediatrician. As she said in the last appointment, the food
companies market all of these so called good foods to our children, but she
ends up dealing with the backlash e.g. behaviour problems etc.
My son and daughter are now at the stage where they
don't ask for "bad” food any more because they know what it does - at a
friend’s workplace recently he bought them a huge packet of lollies, to which
they politely stated "No thank you". When he persisted as to why a
couple of 9 and 6 year-olds didn't want lollies, they said "Because I choose
to be healthy" which is what they have learnt to say when teased at school
about having to be on this diet.
I know now that what I thought was healthy, e.g bread, devon,
tomato sauce etc, wasn't healthy for them. During the challenges, my daughter
reacted to amines, colours and preservatives. My son reacted violently to the
colours with his asthma mostly but hasn’t had an attack since we started
failsafe. My son couldn't care less what the kids at school say anymore. When
they open their packet coloured foods, he says "my mum makes better
anyway". When we had a fete at
school in September, we had a failsafe sweet stand and the kids loved it. My
daughter's 9th birthday went wonderfully - no hyped up kids, a few kids didn't
want to come because of the "diet" food, but they missed out. The
parents commented on how well they all behaved, even the magician I'd hired
couldn't believe how well they played, participated and listened.
My Mum and Dad, Before and
After School Care, Church and Girl Guides have been totally supportive of my
children’s diets. If they have a party/special day etc they always phone me and
either ask me to make food (which I'm more than happy
to do) or they will ask for certain recipes and all the kids cook. My mother-in-law‘s "let's not tell mummy
and daddy" attitude towards little surprises changed very quickly when she
saw how my 9 year old reacted after a "Happy Meal". Ironically, not
such a happy time was had!
We have a wonderful restaurant round the corner from
home which we used to go to once per month as a treat for the kids – after the
diet I phoned them, feeling a little silly, but as long as I tell them what
they can make, skinless chicken, sauces etc, they are happy to do it and we
haven't had a reaction yet.
At school, even though she has come such a long way in
9 months, my daughter is still being stereotyped by certain teachers, and sadly
even the principal thinks she's not being given a fair go. So, we are starting
off at a new school in January 2007 and are all looking forward to this change.
So many people told me not to be stupid, not to do all
of this work etc, just put her on medication - I work full-time, plus do the
normal mum and wife things in the home, but no matter what happens, we won't go
back to "normal" eating ever again.
I know it mightn't work for everyone, but it has worked for us.
I would like to say to all parents and caregivers, THE
EXTRA HARD WORK IS WORTH IT!!! If you
slip up, these things happen, just keep going!
It has made our lives soooo much happier. To
the Schools: help us parents out - stop having so much processed crap to sell
the kids, they get used to having homecooked food
without the nasties in it and your days will go much smoother. – ‘Maitland mother’, NSW [Maitland
mother would like to get in touch with other failsafers
in the Maitland area, please email via suedengate@ozemail.com.au]
[527] Maya’s
story (January 2007)
One mother reported that her two year old daughter
Maya was a “huge dried fruit eater”, consuming two or three packets of dried
apricots or similar and two or three fruit bars per week. At three packets of
dried fruit per week that’s roughly 250 mg per day, or 20 times the Acceptable
Daily Intake for an average two year old (0.7mg per kg bodyweight or half a
dried apricot for a 2 year old) set by the World Health Organisation. Sulphites
are associated with both asthma and cough.
Maya had been diagnosed with suspected bronchiolitis
at nine months. “Ever since then, she has had bouts of coughing on a regular
and frequent basis, often only two or three weeks apart, usually with a cold
but occasionally following a slight fever,” wrote Maya’s mother. “The coughing
can last all night at its worst - but usually is about 40 minute bouts every
few hours. There is no apparent wheeze, although sometimes doctors have found a
slight wheeze with a stethoscope. Very occasionally, it will resolve gradually
after a week or two but usually becomes worse and requires antibiotics”. When
Maya’s cough was diagnosed first as asthma, then as hypersensitive cough
receptors, “the paediatrician advised that there was no link to diet and that
she would probably grow out of it”. Although her mother had never noticed any
connection, since avoiding sulphites Maya has been free of cough – reported by phone.
[526] Diet
has been a lifesaver (January 2007)
We have had excellent results with diet for our five-year-old
daughter who had severe asthma attacks with daily singulair,
ventholin, atrovent and
also 3 lots of prednisilone within the space of about
3 or 4 months at the beginning of 2006. Since going failsafe in August,
not even a cough. I attribute a big part of this success to eliminating
both sulphites and artificial colours in particular.
I always felt that there was something more we could do, but just didn't know
where to start. My children had what I thought to be such a healthy diet, no
cordials, lollies and lots of fruit and dried fruit for snacks. Now I know
better.
If telling our story assists in being a catalyst for
positive change for other families in situations like ours, that will be
wonderful - Monica, NSW
[525] “a
second lease on life” (January 2007)
Without sounding corny, it is like my daughter has
been given a second lease on life.
Our youngest daughter was diagnosed with asthma at 3
years of age and we then spent many times in and out hospital, with still no
improvement. She missed so many days of Preschool, could not run without
puffing and requiring her asthma puffer all the time, she also had permanent
grey colour under her eyes. We really did not think we would be able to send
her to school.....it was that bad.
Then a friend of mine from work went to a Sue Dengate
talk … and the light went on. I contacted my husband immediately and told him
about it, cause we had been so worried and that night
I cleaned out all my food cupboard and fridge and made it additive-free.
Our daughter is now 6 and is going into Year 1 and has
not been in hospital since the month we stopped the additives. We have a liitle girl who runs, jumps for ages on the trampoline, has lost the grey under her eyes and very happy parents.
Abbey knows that she can't have food with additives
and has had to make a lot of sacrifices, but when she said to me a few months
after stopping all of that, that she feels better then I know it is all worth
it - Kathy, NSW
[524] Open
neglect by medical establishment (January 2007)
COURAGE AWARD STORY FOR JANUARY 2007 NEWSLETTER
Criminal.
It's the only word that comes to mind when I realise that, from the age of 10,
I have suffered terribly from asthma; and yet, over the next 23 years, not a
single - I repeat NOT A SINGLE - so-called "doctor" ever once asked
if my condition might be due to environmental factors", or that it might
be caused by the food that I eat... All they ever did was pop a stethoscope on
my back, and fill out a prescription for ventolin...
"See ya next time, Mark!"
I am so angry and frustrated at the modern medical
establishment for their open neglect. For years, almost every morning I would
wake with an awful wheeze and a fit of coughing... And it only got worse as my
20's progressed!
When I think back to those days (although I never made
the precise connection myself at the time), it got to the point where I would
need my puffer after almost every meal! Macca's.. Pizza... Pies... even good 'ole home
cooked meals like curries, stews & roasts! As you can imagine, I
became very depressed.
I will also confess that I was indeed a smoker as well
(I know, I know), but I gave them up around 3 years ago thinking that IT was
the main *cause* of my asthma... Oddly enough, I was
wrong ... the daily ritual wheezing-fest continued unabated. I was, by then,
needing up to 20 puffs a day and my depression worsened. I remember thinking:
"I've given up the damn ciggies, so why aren't I any better?! What's wrong
with me?" I began to accept that I would NEVER recover from this ailment.
Then I discovered your website, "Fedup!" ... And oh what a
life changer!
I bought the video a few months back and have read much of the material on the website,
and with what I now know about salicylates, amines, preservatives and additives
of all kinds, it finally all makes sense!
So far, my family and I have managed to stop the
intake of preservatives and additives (That's the EASY part!) with noticeable
improvements too, I might add, especially for my asthma! However, I have not
completely recovered yet, and my eldest son - although improved - still has
temper problems; so, over the last two days we have finally started tackling
the salicylate/amine issue... It's harder I'll admit, BUT, I can already see
definite positive-changes from my first-born son, and
in my own well-being as well.
It's been around 6 months now since we actively started amending our diet, and
overall, my asthma is now highly manageable... (I now use the ventolin only rarely, and the morning-wheeze is completely
gone!) But, it's not just that: I finally feel "in control" for the
first time ever; I feel that there is now real hope that it could perhaps, go
altogether! I really do.
Thank God for you, Sue. Thank you for caring enough
about human beings in general, to do what you do. Alright, I'm falling to tears
now... so I best go - Mark & family,
Vic