ADD/ODD teenage agression - fixed!

Hello everyone. I am a new member even thought I have been reading everybody elses stuff for a couple of days now. Donnal asked me to share my story with you so here goes. We have a lovely l5 year old daughter who was diagnosed ADD at age 4, tentative ODD diagnoses was made 3 years ago. She has attacked us and other kids at school, with the violence escalating within the last 2 years. I read Karen Seroussi's book, "Unravelling the mysteries of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)" and instantly recognized my daughter. She's not ADD she's Autistic. We immediately instituted the Dairy and Gluten Free diet and within 3 days the aggression was gone. It has now been 2.5 months and I have an absolute angel on my hands. After years of Ritalin and Prozac and Psychologist and Behaviouralists and a 13 specialists this kid is calm and happy! We had "Interro" testing done in Toronto and a hair analysis indicating that she has toxic levels of metal poisons. She fit Dr. Paul Shattock hypothisis perfectly. She received her MMR vaccine in l986 and then the new one in l987. She is currently detoxing for lead, aluminum,copper, calcium and magnesiun in toxic levels. She has toxic allergies to tons of food including pork, dyes, a lot of fruit, all vinegars , acetone, molds and mildews, etc. There is a fabulous bakery that ships to the US and Canada called Kinnikinnick Foods, wwww.kinnikinnick.com. they make the "alta" line of dairy and gluten free baked goods and they are fabulous. Especially their cinnamon and tray buns. Stephi can't wait for her package to get here. I think the most important thing I want get across is to all parents with an ADD or ADHD diagnoses you must investigate all the Autism websites and information available. ADD and ADHD are one of the Autistic Spectrum of Disorders. After l4 years of asking for help from all the "right" areas I finally found everything myself with a push in the right direction from Karen Seroussi. This new diet has proven perfect for the entire family. We are all (l hubby, me, 3 daughters) now dairy free and mostly gluten free. Amazing my diagnoses of Irritable Bowel Syndrom is gone and all three girls are much "brighter". Conversations are faster and comebacks are much quicker. I love the new improved IQ's. Teachers and tutors have all noticed and commented. I have washed my hands of medical doctors. We now have a Naturapath who is fabulous and a medical Dr. on standby in case someone needs stitches or starts oozing pus! Stephanie also has a pediatric chiropractor who has been wonderful. She had 2 undiagnosed scoliosis curvatures of the spinal column. If your child is "Self-medicating" on Macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese sandwhiches and pizza and pasta please read the websites fully about the opiates produced by the incompletely digested enzymes these foods produce and how the impact the serotonin levels in your childs brain. Amazing information is available. Thanks for listening everyone.

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At home mom of 3 daughters, middle one ADD/ODD, happily married 23 years, Holistic, with big Akita dog and small cat!

 

I truly hope you have given yourself a pat on the back for being your child's hero. I too am going in the same direction you have already been I have a 5 year old son who has had tantrums and rage sice he was 15 months old. There are so many other symptoms that he has manifested through the years, but no medical professional has been able to help me. I came to this web site three weeks ago and thanks to the help of two other moms like you - I have been pointed in the right direction. I need to have my son tested - but at their suggestion, I began a diary of his food intake and moods and definitely see a correlation - I believe he is seriously allergic to corn products. In the early years his symptoms were rather like those of autism, but he did interact with me. In fact he was diagnosed with Regulatory Disorder which is often found in Autism. Just about of month ago he was diagnosed with ADD and the recommended treatment was Ritalin - It is too controversial, and frankly I am not convinced he has ADD. I too purchased Karen Seroussi's book and I have cried with the knowledge that THIS IS IT!!! I thank you for posting the links that you have - I will visit each one of them. Congratulations on being a fantastic mom!

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Me - Katie, 35
Him - John, 41
Johnny, 18 easy child from prev. relationship (born when I was 17)
Scott - 5 - ADD, ODD, Regulatory disorder
Jenny - 3, easy child

 

[moonglow]

I say YEA! to you! Great job figuring this out. My son was also raging and almost diagnosis bipolar because of his mood swings. If I hadn't gone this route also he would be on tons of medications by now. Unforuently I have not beable to find a local dr that does the testing like you had on your daughter. All I know is what he is allergic too and keep those things out of his diet...the cause for his allergies...both food and airborne is yet to be found. Do you think your daughter had the heavy metal problem to do the MMR shots?

I have read alot about the vaccantion and am determined to not let Nate have anymore of them...I think they have caused alot of damage...which I will be posting more about from an article in Redbook mag I was reading. I will be sure to check out the websites you have listed...thanks for the information! We sure can't have donuts let alone cinammon rolls around here! I have a hard enough time finding some eatable yeast free bread for Nate that he will eat...most of it is awful. Of course he has no milk products either. He was also diagnosis with a regultory disorder which in our case lead to the sensory intregration disorder....but I think as his body heals alot of these other disorders will suddenly vashise too.! Thanks ...its nice to know this have worked for another mom!

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Julie with son named Nathan which mean a gift from God. Some gifts are hard one. Is allergic to eighteen different airborne things including mold, some grass, trees and dogs.Also food allergies: milk, eggs, soy and yeast. Motto: There is light at the end of the tunnel, you just have to find the right tunnel.
Nathan my difficult child, diagnosis with a senory intergration disorder and disruptive disorder, autiory processing disorder, gross and fine motor delays. Allergies medications only., now four yrs old. Ketcup makes him rage..now know because of the vingear in it (yeast)
Me, mom currently no medications. 39yrs old, an older mom but don't seem to be any wiser.
DEX: Nate's dad sitting in jail where he belongs.

 

Thank you soooooooooo much for posting this. We are currently looking into all of this for Kevin. His mood swings and overall behavior has taken a horrible, unrelentless turn for the worse. We are so at our breaking point. We are also completely frustrated at the "right" docs. I think we're on doctor #8 at the moment. For anyone interested, I just sent away for a packet of info. from the Autism Research Institute. I found a list of doctors who practice the DAN! (Defeat Autism Now!) protocol. We are anxiously waiting for this material. I found three docs who follow the DAN! protocol who are within an hour from us. We are gathering info. to have tests run on Kevin. A great source of info. is from Lisa Lewis's book "Special Diets for Special Kids" - Understanding and implementing special diets to aid in the treatment of autism and related developmental disorders. It contains tons of info. on tests, possible causes/treatments, websites, and about 150 gluten free/casein free recipes. Again, thank you so much for posting. Your success is the light at the end of the tunnel that we so desperately need to see!!!

Jo183

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Joanne, mom to:
Julie, 10, great kid
Kevin,7, difficult child, atypical autistism (Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)) and ADHD (we're not sure about the ADHD part).
Amy, 3 1/2, sweet little girl when she's not imitating Kevin!
Married 13 yrs. to funny guy John.
Shadow, the cat who must dodge Kevin at every turn.

~~ STOP GLOBAL WHINING ~~

 

Tracey, I am happy you have found the solution. I have a question though. I thought that autism was where children did not speak or talk, they were in there own world. Are there other symptoms that mimic ADD & ODD without the silence. I am very interested in following up on this as our daughter had many ear infections, was allergic to milk, and irritable as a child. Any help on understanding the symptoms of autism would be appreciated.

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Me:mom - lost & tired
difficult child: 16 year old daughter - severe depression, bipolar, ODD testing for AD/HD
Current medications: Tegratol, Topamax, Seroquel, Klonopin

 

Wow! Thank you, thank you , thank you. You people hhave made me feel terrific. Now, you need a naturapath to help you through this. A good test of one - If they try to sell you anything on the first visit - Exit real quick! Insist on checking their credentials and SEE their degrees for yourself. Make sure they carry a pharmacutical line of product (Jarro, Genestra, Thorne, etc) not the stuff you get at the health food store. The Interro testing eliminates the need for "elimination" and "Provocation" testing. This is very difficult with children who are already so angry they could just explode. Please try to remember they don't hate you they hate themselves. Stephi, just lastnight said to me, "This disease has ruled my life for far too long, Im in control now!" She has decided to get her social workers degree and work in the prisons as she feels they are probably packed with people like her who just need the correct diet to try and overcome the damage from the MMR vaccine. Please, when you read Dr. Shattock interview pay very very careful attention to the dates involved. Stephanie was obviously one of the very first children to receive the combined MMR vaccine. In fact, I remember the Dr. saying words to that affect. Her troubles started immediately and when I contacted the Dr. he said "give her Tylenol, she must have had a cold coming on anyway"! I have been thrown out of offies, sneered at and jeered at, and called a nutcase and worse. My own sisters have refused to talk to me for 3 years because they felt I "created" Stephi with my aggression and insistence that we find out what was wrong rather than take the drugs and shutup and appease the medical and education bureaucracy. My late mother was my best and only (next to dearest husband , husband) booster and I lost her before she could see the results. She would have been thrilled and jumping for joy. You also have in America a wonderful product called Vance's Dari Free, a milk substitute. I bring it up mail order. My kids love it and it substitutes in cooking perfectly. Canada is 30 years behind the times when it comes to nutrition and medical so fixing Stephi really was against all odds.Be prepared for set backs but once the child is "onboard" it gets easier and easier. We took Stephi to the toughest group home in the area and she realized very quickly that she would lose her beautiful room, no privacy, no internet, no pets, no car access, etc and she jumped on the diet willingly. I pull no punches and my kids know that! There are some really good rice breads, look for rice flour, potatoe starch and tapioca starch in the list of ingredients. The reason I push the Interro testing is that you can use or eliminate eggs or egg whites almost immediately if you don't know. thank you all for your wonderful responses. If anyone also needs nutritional information for cats and dogs I do nutritional counselling across Canada for Akita Alumni, our breed specific club. Our Akita dog and Himalayan cat have been fed raw meat for 5 years now and are both fabulously happy and healthy. They were both at the point of being put down due to terrible health problems.

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At home mom of 3 daughters, middle one ADD/ODD, happily married 23 years, Holistic, with big Akita dog and small cat!

 

Just a quick add-on. Kinnikinnick foods line of "Alta" is totaly dairy and gluten free. Your diet challenged kid can eat these tray buns, donuts, bagels, hamburg and hotdog buns, cinammon rolls, etc. with abandon. It's perfectly safe and tastes incredible! They break down all the equipment 2 times a month clean everything and then bake dairy and gluten free! I have my order 2 days after they bake it via the Expresspost. they have a large clientele in the US as well. You are right also. STOP ALL CHILDHOOD VACCINATIONS NOW!!! If there is any kind of autoimmune, psychiatric or cancer anywhere in either the male or female family trees these children are high risk vaccinations candidates. Especially the MMR. These vaccinations are being implicated in cancers, diabetes, Multiple Sclerosis, Lupus, Rheeumatoid arthritis , bi-polar, schezofrenia (spelling!?) and the major mental diseases! We have probably vaccinated ourselves right into extinction. But the germs haven't! Oh, yes, My daughter was chronic diahrea from the time I weaned her at l year. she had her first normal bowel movement 4 weeks ago - at age l5!

 

Thanks Tracey, I'm so glad you share your happiness & knowledge with all the parents on this board.
It really is amazing how food & environmental allergies can alter the brain & everyday skills.
I took my difficult child for the Interro testing yesterday & was totally amazed at how fast & efficiant it was. All of allergies I already new about (only 1/2 a dozen) showed up in the test along with 55 others, no wonder I didn't get very much of a response all those years ago when I eliminated them from her diet, she was still full of toxins.
Candida (yeast) is another biggy & this can be a very important part of our childrens poor health.
When I took my daughter off of dairy products, her severe ezchema disappeared.
Now that I know how all these other foods react I will on the move to implement this diet right away.
Thanks again Tracey, hope everyone spreads the word, and at least gives it a try.
Donna

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Beautiful difficult child-15 y/o going on 21 girl, odd, not sure what else?
easy child - 18, greatest son ever, loving & caring.
easy child - 23, beautiful lovely daughter, great friend to Mom.
Me Mom - 43, stressed, & tired but still looking for help with difficult child. Found out about difficult child diagnosis in June 2000 after 7 years of hell. Not much for help here in the great white north.
Cache 9 y/o easy child/female - Yellow labrador retriever, my very best friend!

There's a special place in heaven for a parent with a difficult child!

 

I keep hearing the Interro testing - but have no idea what it is! I have searched the web for it and come up with only 2 references - one from the manufacturer and one from a doctor that says it is for "Quacks" I also noticed that both posts referring to it are from Canada - is it available in the US? And how does it work - I'll come to Canada if I have to!!!

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Me - Katie, 35
Him - John, 41
Johnny, 18 easy child from prev. relationship (born when I was 17)
Scott - 5 - ADD, ODD, Regulatory disorder
Jenny - 3, easy child

 

Wow everybody, thank you for your kind and generous words. Interro testing is done privately, not medically, but I would suggest a Naturapath to guide you through the process. How to find a good one - do the Naturapathtest. If they try to sell you anything on the first visit - run for the exit! Do I think Stephanie is MMR vacinne damaged? Absolutely, beyond a shadow of a doubt. She was one of the unlucky ones Dr. Shattock (osiris/sunderland website) refers to in the l985-l986 birth years who got the monovalent vaccine first at age l and the combined MMR at age 5. This is when we realized she was losing her speech and language skills. We had her to a speech pathologist for 4 months. I signed out the "conscience" portion of the government form from my chiropractor 2 years ago and stopped any further vaccines on any of them. I grew a brain late, but better late than never. Speaking of chiropractors, Stephi improved immensly when we started seeing a Traditional Peadiatric Chiropractor. It is very important you make this distinction. Regular Chiropractors treat injury claims. Dr Ogi Ressel (written a book , due to be released by Barnes and Noble soon and booked on Oprah!) is our chiropractor and he's wonderful. He recommended our Naturapath, who is a real sweety. She told Stephi she's never had a patient like her and she presents and incredible challenge to her skills. Part of Stephi's disability is her inability to process drugs. Any kind of over the counter medecine has alcohol in it and this comes from grain, therefore it's gluten contaminated. Homeopathic remedies can't be taken as they are distilled in grain alcohol, hence gluten contaminated. Only herbal, chinese medecine, sacral-cranial and accupuncture. Her response to accupuncture has been jaw-dropping amazing. This is definately a way to go and explore. Stephi has read through this site and wants me to implore all of you to get your kids dairy and gluten and dye free! She told me, "this disease controlled me for the last l4 years, I'm firmly in control now!" This house is now dairy free and quickly (when I empty the freezers!) going gluten free. You Americans are so lucky to access to Vance's Dari-Free. I have had to ship it up at a tremendous amount of damage to our Visa! I am still waiting (back-ordered 3 months!) for Lisa Lewis's book, Special Diets... but I have managed to redo most of my recipes using Bette Hagman's flour. Stephanie, after alot of initial fighting and whinning, has totally accepted the fact that this is now life. She has learned to trust her stomach and bowels. She can have 3 french fries and tell you if the fryer oil has broken down. I send food on sleepover and makes sure I do the key to making this work. TELL EVERYONE. People sabotage on purpose and by accident. She has gradually lost her taste for dairy. Each time she has dairy she has to go through "withdrawal"again. and it's withdrawal. The sweats, migraine, vomiting, high fever. This is frightening to be part of. But you get a terrific kid at the end of it. thank you for putting up with me. I'm so excited I can hardly sleep!

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At home mom of 3 daughters, middle one ADD/ODD, happily married 23 years, Holistic, with big Akita dog and small cat!

 

Wow, Tracey, thanks for posting.

My child is only 7 & normally I wouldn't even have pulled up your post, as it talked about teenagers & I wasn't real interested, but I'm kinda bored right now. Actually, I don't want to clean my house.

My child was also diagnosed with severe ADHD. I just did the diet in November (from other sources, not Karyn's book). I didn't know that it would help older kids, so thanks for posting.

Would you please start posting with some of us on the Natural Treatments board? I am very interested in the meals you fix (I could used fresh ideas.)

I hope Dogchopper sees this & archives it in Natural forum. Have you seen Moonglow's thread to Chinakate? It has a ton of info that we all have shared.

Straw

 

Tracey, I forgot to mention that I am also interested (& hadn't heard of) that interro testing, so please post about what that is & all... what labs do it, what it is, etc.

I think you can teach all of us some things. Since your daughter is older, would she mind posting on this forum? My child is 7, so he told me that his stomach used to always hurt before he had a BM. He isn't real good at expressing himself & how he feels, etc, but I would like to hear from your daughter about the physical symptoms & the changes, etc. I bet Moonglow, chinakate & others would be interested, too, cause their children are much younger, too.

In fact, I don't even post about gluten free/dairy free to kids over 8 or so, cause I thought maybe it wouldn't work on the older kids, whose body is already so out of whack. You have given me hope for the older kids. Thanks again.

Straw

 

Hi everyone. I posted a big reply on the Natural Treatments Board as Strawberryisland requested. Questions on Autism are very interesting. ADD/ADHD are on the spectrum of Autistic disorders. They are merely apart from each other by degress of severity. Any research on ADD should include Autism which is broken down in autism, (mild, moderate and severe) Aspergers, high functioning, and a new level that is still under a great deal of discussion and which is where I think my daughter fits which is called "extremely high functioning autistim". These are the kids that just don't "quite fit anywhere". Eye contact could be less than good, body langugage is defensive, watch for toeing in and "tippy-toeing" when child is learning to walk. Body language also consists of ignoring obvious cues both verbal and body, passive-aggression, etc. "stymming" is a toughy. Autistic kids stymm through repetitive motions like rocking, watching wheels go round or through stimulating pain response (I hurt, therefore I am) head banging, etc. My daughter "stymmed" by arm slashing at times of extreme stress and removing all her body hair through excessive plucking or shaving. Both rather nasty and unacceptable. This has stopped completely with the introduction of her new diet regime. I have found that very few doctors will even discuss autism with me based on the fact that Stephanie is highly articulate and has always gone to a regular school and been in regular placement, even through she was identified at age 5 with a fully implemented placement in the class. Her psychologist still has problems with it. Reading Karen Seroussi's book was like turning flood lights on in my head. I recognized Steph. I have been researching ADD/ADHD for l0 years and yet I "found" her in my first autistic book! I have totaly given up on doctors. We got nowhere with l5 over them over the past ll years. My chiropractor was the turning point by remarking that ADD was on the Autistic Spectrum Disorder! I must have looked like a dumbstruck idiot! Dosen't matter, Stephi won her war! We won her war too! Plus we got a fabulous Naturapth now. Please check out the websites I posted on somebody else site. I can't remember where now as I seem to have put my 2 cents worth in all over the place. All you people are probably sick to death of me now! Bye.
Tracey

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At home mom of 3 daughters, middle one ADD/ODD, happily married 23 years, Holistic, with big Akita dog and small cat!

 

Tracey,

I don't know if I mentioned it to you, but my child is only (yeah, right) severe ADHD, but he had really no autistic behaviors (and I've asked all his professionals). Sometimes he does put his shirt in his mouth, but I wouldn't say it is that often.

I started researching the autistic stuff because I felt that his behaviors as an ADD kid were on the autism spectrum, just not as severe. Like, getting too close to people & not respecting another person's personal space (when he was younger). He also couldn't read body cues (like ADD kids) and was/is pretty literal, & doesn't understand the nuances of speech, like "Crack the window" means open it a little. I've had to explain all those things, but he is so smart, he understands it after you explain it. He just doesn't pick it up unless you explain it first. He has probably all the severe ADHD symptoms, though (much, much better, since the diet). Also, the rages that most ADHD kids don't have, he had 4 to 5 hrs. or so after ingesting gluten. I finally figured it out after keeping a food/behavior diary, then I came across all Lisa Lewis's writings & decided I'd try all that stuff, even though none of the doctors thought he was autistic, I figured if these things can help an autistic kid, they surely can help my child. That reasoning has really been the key. His rages ended when we eliminated gluten (we had already eliminated casein) and the opposition totally lessened 4 days after a BM, getting the last of the gluten out of his body. (sorry to be so descriptive).

I hope I can find a naturopath here to help me. Thank you for all your help. Was your acupuncture NAET? by any chance? Tell us more! Many of us are very interested in your posts. And, don't feel like you are a broken record. I'm the only one who should feel like that. AFter 1300 posts that are mostly all the same (diet related stuff) I'm sure I've worn out my welcome many times over. My reason for plowing through is that I wish that I had a mom who had been there done that when I was searching for answers instead of it taking me the 3 plus years it took for me to read all the books (and discard many) and figure it out, a little here, a little there. Luckily God gave me the direction & the smarts to put the bits & pieces from here & there together & design a diet (I did it all before Karyn's book & honestly, although I have Karen's book, I haven't read it all yet, but I recommend it as it gives a lot of info in a small, easy to read book).

I'm going to click on your name & I think I can then pull up all your posts & copy & paste. That is a way you can find the posts that someone made without reading through every thread.

Please continue to share & educate us. We need your knowledge.

Straw

 

Tracey,

When you read one of your posts on a thread, do this. See the first little box on the top line that has like question marks on it? It is on the same line as the date & time you post. Anyway, if you click on that, you see your profile. Then, at the top of that profile box, it says something like, "search all postings by this user" or something like that. When you click on that, wait a minute or two & it will find your last 200 or so posts.

I just thought I would tell you that in case you are looking for someone's posts, or your own, in case you want to go back & edit, or whatever.

You can also edit your own posts or delete them, etc. Also, like right now, when I'm typing in this box, look to the left of the box while you are typing. If you see "smiles legend" it tells you how you make smiley things in your posts, if you want to

It's kind of fun to do that.

I usually add the colon & capital D by my name, cause I love that smile with the teeth

. I just started doing it, & now my fingers automatically type Straw

. I sometimes have to erase it if I realize I've responded to someone whose relative has just died or something sad.

Just thought you might be interested in some of these things since you are new!

 

This is all so darn interesting to me!! And Yes Im gonna get this archived!!
Tracy.. I have more questions for you than I can even think of right now!!
I honestly think that part of my girls' problems has to do with vaccines. She had a few.. EXTRA UGGH it's a long story. But she seemed to be more cranky with each one. Of course I had no CLUE that was the problem back then. Boy I wish I had a computer then!!!
Anyways, A naturalpath.. I would love to find one!! BUT.. I cannot afford one

SO I am stuck with regular doctor's that are totally useless!!!
I had thought about doing the gluten free diet on my girl just to try it? But I CANT COOK and so I chickened out when I couldnt find prefabed food

(Shame on me)

SO any advice, recipies.. A basic COOK BOOK with breakfast lunch and dinner

would be nice!! (or you can just airmail me the food

)
Just kidding!!
but please do post on the natural treatment board, Im gonna keep buggin you !!!

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7 yr old girl Bipolar/ADD/ODD
Currently on a new natural treatment (wish me luck)
off ALL medications!!
Fav. Funny quote- "Yesterday I was a dog. Today I'm a dog. Tomorrow I'll
probably still be a dog. There's so little hope for advancement."
- Snoopy

"With out God, my life would fall apart"