The Experiment, Part 2

Beginning this lifestyle is not an easy feat. It takes months of planning and preparation. The good news is that most of that has already been done for you, you just need to know where to look. I can help with that, which is the purpose behind these posts. I want to help all the other families who have children with ADHD and do not want to put them on meds. Have faith, it can be done.
The first thing you need to do even before taking your child off their meds is to give them Omega 3 supplements and a multi-vitamin with iron for one month. (Side note, most people who suffer from ADHD are also anemic, hence the iron.) I know the pills are HUGE, but if my 3 kids can learn to swallow them, yours can too, believe me. Briley and I take 2 each morning and the rest of the family only takes one in the morning, plus our vitamin. I noticed improvement with the Omega 3 after 2 weeks:)
Next comes a little harder part, take your child off their meds and continue the supplements for two weeks. You may not think things are so bad for the first week because the meds are still in your child's system, but the second week will be trying. Be patient, and remember that school may be difficult. (If you can do this over a break, it will help you out a lot).
This next part is the hardest, first PRAY, then Pray again, you will need every ounce of strength you can muster because your whole family is going to detox. You may experience headaches, fatigue, soreness, extreme irritation, and terrible breath and gas. Just warning you! This is when you start the elimination diet. It is best to eliminate everything at once because more often than not, most children will have a reaction to more than one thing. Sanford Newmark calls it the "Two tack theory" in his book. He says if a person has two tacks in his foot and only removes one, his foot will still be in pain, but if you remove all possible allergens, you are sure to find the culprit. In my next post, I will give suggestions on meal plans and recipes.
During this detox phase your ADHD child will double any symptom you have ever seen and you may think they have been possessed by the devil. There were things that happened in this house that I dare not repeat in case I suffer nightmares for the next week. Needless to say, it was extreme and it was ugly. We did attempt to do school for those 3 days, but it was impossible. We all ended the day worn out and fed up. By the second day, I called my husband and told him that I couldn't do it and we were coming off it. "We're on our way to McDonalds and nobody better get in my way." But, he convinced me to hang in there just a couple more days "for the sake of our son". Don't you love the guilt trip he laid on me? Was he here dealing with this monstrosity? Did he not realize that I was on the brink of a nervous breakdown? Give me back my meds!!!!
Day 4, I woke up expecting the splitting headache, but it was finally gone. Hallelujah! The demon of yesterday came out of his bedroom and said, "Good morning, mommy. I love you." Hallelujah! We had finally turned the corner and had an excellent, fantastic, very, very good day. It was like we were all back on our meds, but we weren't. Life was good. Thank you, Lord.
After one week of enjoying this peaceful freedom from medication and irritation, I began to doubt that it was actually related to what we were eating and more to the fact that we had finally gotten all of our meds out of our system, so I made a terrible error.
I decided on Sunday morning to cook biscuits and gravy with eggs and bacon. Yummy! It was good! Then off to church we went and dropped our precious son into the hands of unsuspecting saints (I call them saints because they did not kill my child) and off we went to big church. My stomach was rolling, my head was aching, and when we went to pick up Briley, they glared at us as they threw our son into our arms and unloaded the terrors of the morning. Ooops! The rest of the day was torturous misery, but thankfully Mark was home to witness the demon I had tried to explain previously. What happened? Biscuits--gluten, gravy--dairy, eggs--eggs, bacon--nitrates. The next day we started back our elimination diet and by Tuesday, Briley was back to the precious lovable child we adore.
The above scene happened again when Briley was given some M&M's by a well meaning friend. The rest of that day and the next were the worst we had ever seen. Words were said. Objects were thrown. Tails were popped. Tears were shed.
Does food make a difference? Absolutely! Without a doubt! You could not convince me otherwise. I have seen the fruits with my own eyes. God has answered my prayers and the prayers of my little son and we are both thankful.
A year ago, you could not have even aroused my curiosity to tell me that food causes behavioral problems in children--Hogwash. It is just food. It is not what goes into a man that defiles him, but what comes out. Now, I am aware of how out of context I took that verse. Food matters and it matters greatly.
Sidenote--I am losing weight without trying. Let's just pray that it continues.