Don't give PANDAS kids chocolate or false sugar, Cotton Seed oil..

[Mom_me]

PANDAS kids are sensitive to sugar.

Please listen to this video.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm_NcC_9C70

Edited October 18, 2011 by Mom-me

[hootie]

I did not listen to the whole message yet but she does say she does not know why candy can cause

an exacerbation of PANDAS symptoms. Here is my idea of why...

 

--Sugar causes inflammation and depresses the immune system.

--Chocolate is high in a certain amino acid (arginine???) that can cause viruses to flair.

 

My son will act strange/irritable with artificial flavors and colors. This occurred years before he

ever had strep or PANDAS and still happens now.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited October 18, 2011 by hootie

[Mom_me]

  On 10/18/2011 at 8:07 PM, hootie said:

 

--Sugar causes inflammation and depresses the immune system.

--Chocolate is high in a certain amino acid (arginine???) that can cause viruses to flair.

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

I didn't know that, thank you so much!

[jaybam]

I agree with this for us....this is exactly the same for my daughter.....prior to pandas she could eat a ton of sugar w/ no problems....but, since it all started she has had her WORST return of pandas symptoms if she eats a lot of sugar...I have wondered if it was a type of ocd fear of sugar or if it was actually the sugar. She eats dark chocolate and little bits of sugar....but, I won't let her eat a ton of candy anymore. I am really nervous about Halloween...I am going to have to really limit her and it's going to be sad for her.

[norcalmom]

Pay her for her candy. We let our kids go alittle nuts for a couple days - they when they are sick of it - we give them $ for the stash! Like 25 cents a peice for good stuff etc. I'm also planning on giving DX some advil for a couple days.

 

The other thing is to introduce "the Sugar challenge" right after halloween - we've done this withboth kids before - for 30 days they have to read labels and not eat any sugar, reward at the end. They learn alot about what has sugar in it and what sugar is called on labels if nothing else!

[beeskneesmommy]

norcal - that's cool! My DS5 LOVES to save $$ in his "secret spy strong box" and I always feel so rotten taking most of his candy away! My son does OK on moderate ammounts of sugar - my theory is that it's the dyes and artificial flavors and preservatives that he reacts to when he gets too much. However, your idea is really great although I will let him keep some chocolate, as that is not as much of an issue for us...this will be the 1st Halloween that he has been on a restricted diet, so the cash trade will come in handy! Thanks, Kath

[philamom]

Great idea - my dd is always looking to earn a buck. Be careful of label reading if your child is dealing with ocd. At one time, my daughter was fixated with reading labels and consuming sugar. She was constantly checking foods/drinks and then would refuse it if contained any sugar.

[airial95]

I appreciate the suggestions, but I disagree with the absolute tone of the video. We've cut off sugar before as a test and saw no change in our son. We are a classic texbook PANDAs case. We ended up having a long discussion with our medical team, which includes Dr Murphy, about it since one of my sons obsessions is with donuts. We were eliminating them because we were trying to regulate diet, in hopes of mitigating symptoms. We were told that modifying diet can help some children, but not all, it's about 50/50. If we saw no improvements with the change in diet after a few months (close to 6 in our case), we may not be helped.

 

For us, the he'll of not giving him donuts at all, far outweighed the he'll of the actual symptoms. We see no change in symptoms with sugar (or other diet modifications) at all. We still limit it, but no more than a normal parent who is worried about sugar intake. We're the family that throws out the Easter candy cause haloween is approaching (which reminds me, I have some dumping to do.). So we don't give a ton of sugar to begin with.

 

From our experience, it hasn't made a bit of difference. I may be taking the tone of this video a bit wrong since it comes on the back of the huge Lyme debate where everyone said advice should be referenced to research or a particular doctor or "in our experience" type statements vs.absolute statements Saying "keep your PANDAS kids away from all sugar" may be heartfelt advice, but it can also send frighten new parents who are trying to figure things out one step at a time.

 

I hope I'm not coming off confrontational, that's not my intention.

 

On another note, another suggestion of what to do with the halloween candy, we allow our kids once piece of Halloween candy per day fornone week following Halloween, then it goes into a "treat bucket" for special occasions (blood draws, good grades, etc).

[airial95]

  On 10/18/2011 at 9:52 PM, norcalmom said:

Pay her for her candy. We let our kids go alittle nuts for a couple days - they when they are sick of it - we give them $ for the stash! Like 25 cents a peice for good stuff etc. I'm also planning on giving DX some advil for a couple days.

 

The other thing is to introduce "the Sugar challenge" right after halloween - we've done this withboth kids before - for 30 days they have to read labels and not eat any sugar, reward at the end. They learn alot about what has sugar in it and what sugar is called on labels if nothing else!

 

We have local dentists in Tampa that have buyback events where they pay $1 per pound, and then they send the candy over to the troops. Its a great program!

[jaybam]

I like the money idea...but, I agree...my ocd daughter would never eat if I had her read labels....but, normal kids...yes, that would be great.

The video does seem to mention that all pandas kids would react to sugar...but, I doubt it's the case. However, for my daughter it is not hard

at all to see the connection....I just still wonder if it's part of her ocd fears. Prior to pandas i would talk about eating healthy to stay healthy...i never wanted to ever bring up anything about weight or fat...just stressed healthy....so part of me thinks it could be that she is

fearful of sugar b/c it's not "healthy". Either way, it for sure is a trigger to her increase in Panda symptoms.

[PhillyPA]

My children have zero reaction to sugar or anything else food related. The only thing I do, which has nothing to do with pandas, is that I scrape off the giant amount of disgusting icing on cupcakes.

[JAG10]

Ditto, no food reactions either. And I gave examining different diets a good try years ago, but no difference. Just try to model and teach them balanced, healthy diet principles.

[beeskneesmommy]

Yes, we cut out the dyes/preservative, artificial flavors because we figured that it couldn't hurt. We are moderate about it, however, because it hasn't contributed to major behavioral changes. We still let him have cake at b'day parties, etc. We just don't let him go wild on the kids cereal and fruity candy because we think there has been some hyperactivity when he has loaded on it. I have to agree, however, that there have not been night and day significant behavioral changes....may be which came first, chik or egg?! Still, I appreciate the idea for Halloween because we really would prefer he doesn't chow down on all that loot!

[PhillyPA]

Sadly, it is I who am the biggest offender of eating the Halloween candy. The only side effect for me is guilt and a spike in glucose which makes me sluggish and tired.

[dcmom]

My kids also have no correlation with sugar, candy and behavior.

 

We have always tried to eat healthy and organic. Since pandas struck- we really try to do EVERYTHING, including our diet, in moderation. So- we never have candy around the house, but yes- I make cupcakes and cookies for them. For halloween, they can eat a few pieces that day, and the rest is given to them in their lunch, one piece a day.

 

(phillypa- I am guilty of paring down their loot by snacking on candy, myself!)

 

If we found a correlation- we would change things up. But- after having two girls with pandas, going on three years- one of my most important goals for them is to have a normal, happy, carefree childhood. For us, luckily, this includes eating Halloween candy.