Any particular foods that cause meltdowns or depression?

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malya2006
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21 Sep 2009, 12:08 am

I have noticed that my 5 year old son had a serious meltdown/depression on two occasions. Tonight, we went to a birthday party. He was really overwhelmed by a lot of people talking really loudly in tight quarters. Even I wanted to get out asap. I calmed him down a bit by letting him use the computer which he enjoys a lot. The problem is he's a very picky eater and refuses to eat other peoples food, unless it's cookies or the birthday cake. I tried to make him eat rice and chicken because he only ate breakfast and a snack that day but he ended up gagging and throwing it up so I stopped. He ate nothing but cookies and cake all day, all junk! When we got home it was late so I tried to get him to go to bed. I put on a movie which usually calms him down but he was jumping around on the bed pretending to sword fight. That's fine with me because I knew he had to let all his energy out. Then towards the end of the movie I saw tears in his eyes. I kept asking him what was wrong. He kept whining. He said, "my brain is electrocuted." He started making unusual noises and silly faces and said, "I am acting DUMB!" I asked him if someone said that to him and to tell me who they are so I can tell them off and preceded to tell him how smart he was etc. He said he wishes life was a movie, I asked him why he didn't like reality and if there's something I can do to change or help him? No real response from him. Finally he had a drink of water, some warm food and dozed off.

The other time he was like this was when we went to visit his new school and had an "ice cream social." There was a lot of kids and parents in the gym and we had a huge bowl of ice cream. Before that I gave him a cookie after he was good and finished his meal. His father didn't realized I had already gave him a cookie so he gave him another one. After we came home from the ice cream social he had a meltdown. It was similar to a panic attack. He got depressed, saying bad things about himself, he's normally pretty confident about himself and never talks down on himself. I noticed these too occasions stem from sugar overload and also social overload. He cried like he was depressed, not a tantrum cry or I-want-my-way cry. He would say negative things like "loser" or "dumb" when he never usually says those words because they are "bad" words to him.

My question is, have any adult autistics felt this way before? Can a sugar high cause such depression and unusual behavior? Besides making sure he doesn't eat too much sugar, what else can I do for him?



Dilbert
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21 Sep 2009, 1:10 am

Oh yes absolutely. I came here to post "sugar" but I see you've figured it out. :)

Too much sugar makes me depressed. I begin to question my existence, purpose in life, etc... Sugar is my enemy.

A cure after a sugar overload, other than time, is physical activity.



malya2006
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21 Sep 2009, 1:24 am

Omg that is exactly how he feels! Depressed, questioning life, putting himself down etc. I NEVER thought sugar would make him feel that way, I only heard of hyper activity after eating sugar. People are always talking about gluten or casein but hardly ever sugar. Thank you so much. I'm glad it was just the sugar, I was beginning to think he was bi polar or something.



southwestforests
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21 Sep 2009, 1:26 am

there are adults that happens to - I won't give the name of who I know. :wink:

http://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/10/us/he ... avior.html

Quote:
HEALTH; New Data on Sugar and Child Behavior
By JANE E. BRODY
Published: Thursday, May 10, 1990

Yale University medical researchers have found hormonal evidence to support the popular but controversial belief that sugar can provoke abnormal behavior in some children.

The physicians, who presented their preliminary findings yesterday to the annual meeting of the Society for Pediatric Research in Anaheim, Calif., showed that a concentrated dose of sugar resulted in a dramatic increase in blood levels of adrenaline in children but not in adults.

In the 14 healthy children tested after being given a sugar dose equivalent to two frosted cupcakes for breakfast, adrenaline levels in the blood rose 10 times higher than they were before the children ate the sweet. No such dramatic rise in adrenaline was noted in the nine adults similarly tested, even though blood sugar levels in the adults were comparable to those in the children.

In the course of the five-hour test, nearly all the children complained of feeling weak and shaky, while only one adult had similar complaints.


Quote:
Released Under Stress

Adrenaline, also known as epinephrine, is produced by the adrenal glands and is released in increased amounts when a person is under stress or threatened. Adrenaline is responsible for the sensations a person feels immediately after a near-accident or sudden fright - weak knees, racing heart, rapid breathing and shakiness.

Adrenaline prepares the body for a fight-or-flight response to emergencies. It helps to keep blood sugar levels from falling too low, raises the speed and force of the heart beat, constricts blood vessels and opens the airways. It can also cause tremors and nervousness.

The researchers, Dr. William V. Tamborlane, a professor of pediatrics and director of the pediatric endocrinology division at Yale School of Medicine, and Dr. Timothy M. Jones, a visiting scientist from Perth, Australia, said the results of their study suggested that children experience a greater hormonal response to sugar than adults. Dr. Jones said the raised levels of adrenaline after a sugary meal could lead to anxiety, difficulty concentrating and crankiness.

'May Tip the Balance'

''If a child is prone to have difficulty concentrating, the adrenaline response may tip the balance,'' Dr. Jones said.

Countless parents have described hyperactive, irritable or aggressive behavior in their children after the consumption of sugary foods or beverages. But various studies, both in normal children and in those diagnosed as being hyperactive, have shown conflicting effects of sugar on the behavior of children.

Most of the studies that involved disguised doses of sugar found little or no difference in behavior after the consumption of foods containing real sugar or artificial sweeteners. But few if any of these studies administered the test dose on an empty stomach and monitored the biochemical response.

The Yale researchers are planning another, more realistic, study of children who will be given a breakfast of orange juice and doughnuts.

Typically, an American child from 5 to 12 years old consumes 134 grams of sugar a day, the amount that the child would get by consuming a quart of milk, a 12-ounce soft drink, 4 ounces of orange juice, one apple, one plain doughnut and one chocolate bar.


A version of this article appeared in print on Thursday, May 10, 1990, on section B page 15 of the New York edition.


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capriwim
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21 Sep 2009, 5:41 am

Personally, I find that junk food and processed food make me feel sensorily overwhelmed, much in the same way as fluorescent lights do. To function at my best, I have to eat very simply and healthily. It's not so much what I can't eat as what I can. I can eat fruit, salad, yoghurt, nuts, cheese, rice, lamb, fish. Those are the best foods for me. I had to start off very basic and add foods to experiment with what worked and what didn't. I avoid wheat too. And I can't overeat.



ChangelingGirl
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21 Sep 2009, 6:22 am

I have never noticed any particular foods cause meltdowns, but since many here mention sugar, I'm going to try to figure out if that's the case for me too. From what I know, there is little scientific evidence behind sugar causing depression/meltdown except in certain cases of oversensitivity/allergy, but it is of course possible that many here have a sensitivity to sugar.



Tim_Tex
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21 Sep 2009, 7:19 am

I don't have this issue.


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malya2006
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21 Sep 2009, 9:07 am

Thanks for everyone's responses and experiences.

southwestforests, thank you so much for that article!! It explains so much with my son and that is exactly the answers I'm looking for! He really doesn't eat much sweets daily besides pancakes or cereal in the morning and apples for snacks and an occasional cup of juice. He's a water drinking, rice and bread eating type of boy. I'm going to have to bring my own food to birthday parties lol. Everyone will be very offended if I do that but I'll have to sneak it in. I just have to be really careful about what he eats now, party or not.



kc8ufv
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21 Sep 2009, 9:26 am

I know people thought this was weird, but when I was a kid, I had to have sugar to get the Ritalin to react with me the way people wanted it to. If there was no sugar, the stimulant would do what you would expect stimulants to do - energize. I suspect this may be why. I know when I wasn't on the drug, sugar would result in my being quite energetic. Now, I have to have sugar to get through my day. Seems to actually fight the headaches.



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21 Sep 2009, 11:31 am

I would also add to sugar the green colouring E142 used in some sweets, the colouring for icing and mushy peas.

It took me years to work out that I became depressed on days when tinned or mushy peas were served in the canteen.


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Dilbert
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21 Sep 2009, 1:30 pm

capriwim wrote:
Personally, I find that junk food and processed food make me feel sensorily overwhelmed, much in the same way as fluorescent lights do. To function at my best, I have to eat very simply and healthily. It's not so much what I can't eat as what I can. I can eat fruit, salad, yoghurt, nuts, cheese, rice, lamb, fish. Those are the best foods for me. I had to start off very basic and add foods to experiment with what worked and what didn't. I avoid wheat too. And I can't overeat.

Yes that too. I can't overeat or else I become depressed. Sugar is by far the fastest way to depression, at least for me. Ice cream is particularly bad in that regard. Chocolate is not. :) :) ;)

I avoid wheat as well, but not because of AS. I'm alergic (apparently).



elderwanda
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21 Sep 2009, 2:16 pm

iceb wrote:
I would also add to sugar the green colouring E142 used in some sweets, the colouring for icing and mushy peas.

It took me years to work out that I became depressed on days when tinned or mushy peas were served in the canteen.



My AS son gets kind of manic when he eats a certain artificial flavoring, I believe. Unfortunately, here in the U.S., artificial colors and flavors (or colours and flavours, if you like), aren't listed with specific designations, like "E142". It just says, "artificial flavor". There are a few foods that do this to him, though, and I suspect they all contain the same artificial flavorings.

Personally, I recently discovered a sensitivity to gluten. If I eat gluten, I have dizzy spells the next day. Plain old cane sugar has no affect on me or my kids.



Zsazsa
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21 Sep 2009, 2:19 pm

Avoid anything "white"...white sugar, white flour and all processed foods. There is very little nutritional value in these items.



ouinon
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21 Sep 2009, 2:27 pm

Gluten.

I have almost no meltdowns since excluding gluten, and have completely eradicated depression, mood-disorder, chronic anxiety, and major irritability.

It is not the "tiny minority" thing people used to think it was. 10% of the population have gliadin-antibodies, ( gliadin is the bit of gluten which the auto-immune system reacts to ), and 90% of gluten sensitivity/intolerance occurs in the absence of gastrointestinal symptoms.

The most common effects, other than GI, are dermatological, ( skin problems ) and neurological, eg. impaired cognitive function, ( "brain-fog" of various kinds ), and disturbed mood, aswell as some very serious neuropathies, affecting sensory and motor function.

Food intolerance is very often associated with addiction too; you crave the very food which is upsetting you. And suffer "hangovers" ( comatose, irritable, headachy, maybe even suicidal, etc ) in the morning until get your hit/"hair of the dog" at breakfast!

.



zombiecide
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21 Sep 2009, 3:14 pm

I get depressed (or very aggressive) when I have low blood sugar after having my blood sugar skyrocketing before: after eating too much sugar, the combination of sugar and white flour or - artificial sweeteners. Same goes for when I'm really hungry and the circumstances (read: other people) make it impossible for me to eat. I'm sure it's my reaction to low blood sugar.