ADHD and Food Allergies - A Common Source of ADHD Behavior
The connection between ADHD and food allergies is often overlooked, but can actually be a major cause of ADHD behavior. Understanding the link between allergies and hyperactivity will help you manage and often eliminate ADHD symptoms.
Allergies in children can be difficult to understand. Sometimes a child will feel sick or be extemely hyperactive but on other days, he will feel and behave fine. The phenomenon can be compared to a barrel, according to Doctor Rapp.
That is, each child can be seen as holding a barrel. If the barrel is either empty or only partially full, then the child will experience no problems. However, if the barrel fills up, then the child will indeed have problems.
Allergies and Hyperactivity - Reducing the Cause and Effect
When used to illustrate the connection between ADHD and food allergies, the barrel analogy is subject to variations. If the child is allergic to peanut butter or chocolate, then these items will only partially fill the barrel. If he or she only eats chocolate or peanut butter at different times, then the barrel will be partially full.
No problems so far. However, if the child decides to combine multiple allergens, the barrel quickly fills to overflowing and the connection between allergies and hyperactivity begins to show itself, sometimes in powerful ways. The combination of allergens will create havoc and the child will be hyperactive, unable to focus and relate in healthy ways.
The barrel is also subject to changes in size. If the child has flu for instance, the barrel becomes smaller because the child's immune system is weakened and therefore, he is more likely to develop a reaction. Also, if the child is dealing with nutritional deficiencies, the connection between food allergies and ADHD becomes more evident.
After some clarification with this dilemma in diagnosing food allergies, we need to outline a method that might come with some results.
Diagnosing Allergies
The provoke and neutralize approach is one method encouraged by Doctor Rapp. For instance, say a child is having problems after he eats eggs. As a practitioner will administer the child an injection in his skin with egg extract. If this injection causes the same symptoms to break out, then the child is indeed allergic to eggs.
To further understand the connection between ADHD and food allergies, visit our treatment of hyperactivity and allergies page.
The Mechanism to Treat an Allergy
One helpful treatment for allergies in children is the use of the antibody, IgG. Some food allergists have reportedly identified the correct allergy by using IgG, although common modern practice usually avoids this method.
Some allergists are nevertheless willing to make use of allergy shots to see whether they identify the right symptoms. This produces low levels of allergen and allows the physician to determine if any allergy is present, by measuring the IgG level.
The dose is slowly increased until it reaches an optimum value for the patient to tolerate and not develop any reaction to the allergen.
The exposure to low levels of allergen produces a reaction in the body that isn't detrimental to the health of the child. However, the antibody deactivates the allergen, thus minimizing the symptoms of allergies and hyperactivity in adhd children.
Food allergies in children is an often overlooked cause of hyperactive behavior. However, eliminating it as a possible problem at the very beginning of an ADHD diagnosis can greatly simplify the ADHD treatment.
You can find more than the barrel issue on our food allergies and the relatinship with add page.