I haven’t mentioned this publicly, but Charlie has an allergy/intolerance to red dye. It doesn’t seem to matter which red dye (#40 is in most things, but not in M&M’s which also causes his episodes), he ingests; within an hour he’s a complete psycho. Our pediatrician agrees that this is most likely an issue, but doesn’t test for it (I would have to pay independently for the test he thinks). I was searching the Internet and found a few things that confirm both my, and the doctor’s suspicions…
First, there was this comment left on a message board post:
“RED DYE! I had the same problem, and recognized that 30 minutes prior to my daughter’s pick up time was SNACK TIME! We found out that Red Dye #40 (in most of her snacks/drinks) causes extreme problems, which mimic a psychotic episode. Removing the red dye (and Yellow#5) entirely from her diet brought out a completely different child. Online, researcing red dye’s effects, the explanation was ‘psychatric outbursts’. My childs seemed to come out of nowhere, started from anything OR nothing!! Look up Dr. Feingold online for help – you have to really look at ALL labels…you’d be surprised at what has red dye in it. TRY IT! It can’t hurt. =) good luck.”
You can view the entire post here:
http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/showarticle/CA/768
Then, on a blog that I stumbled upon from another blog I found this:
“Let’s talk about how Red Dye 40 affected my daughter, Amanda. A year ago, I was having a really hard time with Amanda. She just wasn’t doing well. Things would set her off. She would start throwing temper tantrums that would last for 20 minutes. She couldn’t sit still. She would often cry uncontrollably. She would rage like a crazy person. She would try to hurt herself. She banged her head on the floor. She was defiant and hyperactive. She just looked tormented. As a parent, I felt this wasn’t normal 2 year old behavior. As a parent, I could see that there was something terribly wrong.
I started reading books like “The Difficult Child” and the “Out Of Sync Child”. I began getting really afraid that she might have Sensory Integration Disorder. She just couldn’t seem to control her behavior. On top of the raging, she seemed to exhibit reckless behavior too. Everything was pointing to a long and miserable childhood if I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. My intuition told me that something was making her behave like this. She was always a high needs baby, but she was never like I’ve described as a baby. I could tell that she had changed.
Finally, at my sister’s urging I changed our diet. I took all the dye out of the kid’s diet. I wasn’t always into healthy, organic food. They used to have Fruit Loops before breakfast every morning, for crying out loud! Within 2 days, she was a different child. She was the child I knew I was supposed to have. She doesn’t rage anymore. She is happy now.”
http://fourtimesthefun.blogspot.com/2007/02/feeding-our-children-petroleum-food-dye.html
For all the posts on red-dye you can visit here. There is even a great video of one of her daughter’s post-red dye episodes. It’s not pretty, but it’s very true…
http://fourtimesthefun.blogspot.com/search/label/red%20dye%2040
Finally, I found this:
http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=228903
I cannot even begin to tell you the behavior issues we’ve had with Charlie in the past. The uncontrollable outbursts, screaming, crying, and overall meanness. I have banned him from eating red dye (which is hard because it’s in EVERYTHING!) and he’s a totally different kid. He’s sweet, kind, caring, calmer, follow directions, and is learning. The problem (as stated in the video) is that there is no physical reaction which is why I’ve heard it often brushed off. Charlie’s teacher even brushed it off at first. I can tell when they’ve given it to him at school, because his “behavior tag” is on “warning” and he talks back and yells at me. He also bangs his head on things and won’t cooperate with his teachers. There are no hives or breathing difficulties, only complete and under psychosis. Chris even noticed it when we went to a birthday party and Charlie had cake with red dye in it. I was hoping there would be a minimal amount, imagine my horor when I saw the cake for the first time:
Birthday Cake
Even the smaller cake had red dye in it (Red + White=Pink). I was afraid of what my son was going to trun into. At first, he just acts hyper, like any kid that has sugar. Unfortunately, that soon turns into Mr. Hyde as the dye begins to affect his brain. I am convinced that it causes some sort of impairment, or misfiring in his brain because he acts like a complete JERK.
I used to get very angry with him, because his behavior is unimaginable. However, now I understand there is actually a problem I try to just handle it as nicely as I can. Luckily he didn’t act out much at the party because he was tired. Thank God he had run around so much he was exhausted because I don’t know if I could have handled him otherwise. When I asked him if he wanted water, he started to cry and whine-This is the first sign of his meltdown. He cries for no reason at all. He talks and makes no sense sometimes. He’s very emotionally un-glued. He screams, he throws tantrums, he bangs his head of things, and he never listens. Maybe you can understand why I avoid the red dye. He’s not like that at all when he doesn’t have it. He’s the child I know he is inside, that other child is just a deranged monster on steroids. Charlie and Ruthie fight a lot less too. They used to fight constantly and she was always biting him because he took “__insert toy name here__” or hit her, yelled at her, etc…They still fight, but a lot less. I’m less stressed, and Charlie has less bite marks and bruises.
I want to make clear that I am not making excuses. I have not just cooked this up in my head as a way to explain my son’s occasional outbursts. Charlie still has moments where he doesn’t want to listen, still cries, and doesn’t listen. He gets disciplined for those times. However, since avoiding red dye these moments are down to MAYBE once a week instead of several times a day. Chris and I used to say he cries all the time, now, he doesn’t. Our pediatrician told me it would be like this, and I never would have believed it. I’m so grateful I came across these blogs and articles or I never would have known.
It’s a difficult to find sweets and treats without red dye, but we have found a few. It will make sorting candy post- trick or treat more interesting next year, as well as birthday parties, school parties, and other events. I won’t not let him have cake, but I will prepare myself for the enraged beast that he will shortly become.
I will leave you with a comparison shot from the party last week:
Before Red Dye
After eating pizza, before cake
After Red Dye
Whining already after cake
Which boy would you rather deal with? The sweet, mild mannered good boy, or the deranged monster red dye unleashes?
-Sabrina
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