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Environmental toxins and aggressive children

by Janice
(Brisbane )

I have a 7 year old daughter who was the perfect baby. She slept through at 7 weeks of age, cut teeth without fever or illness, toilet trained in 48-72 hours, went from cot to bed with only 1 night of interrupted sleep. All of her milestones were so easy, we were very spoiled.

The past 12 months, I have watched her behaviour become more and more erratic and surprising. And more worrying. I don't think I am a soft mother. I follow through on 'threats'. She has time out, loses privelages etc - even gets a smack on the behind now and again. Now she is getting older I encourage her to talk about what she has done etc.

Her behaviour became quite violent and combined with my own pre-menopausal symptoms, we didn't manage her behaviour well at all. I am now on natural progesterone and feeling well.

Her behaviour can be cheeky, manageable and normal for her age but without any warning, she can go out of her way to pick a fight, hit me, kick me and then when I lose my temper, we sit and talk about it and she cries for what she has done. She cried because she doesn't know why she has acted in the manner that she has? It is distressing for me and my daughter, our whole family in fact. It is beyond the 'pushing boundaries' with children.

Could progesterone help her - is it worth while getting her saliva tested at the tender age of 7?

We have seen a child psychologist - that is not the problem. She has no ADHD or Aspergers or anything like that? Maybe? Just maybe?

Any direction would be enormously appreciated.

Comments for Environmental toxins and aggressive children

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Jun 21, 2011
Environmental toxins and aggressive children
by: Wray

Hi Janice You could have her tested for progesterone, the age of puberty is decreasing alarmingly, with many children starting at age eight. But I feel her problem could be a lack of vitamin D. You live in Brisbane. Australia has a policy of covering up when in the sun, a dangerous policy to my mind. We need the sun, it's our only source of vitamin D, bar a tiny amount from fish liver oil. And who takes much of this? But as fish liver oil comes with too high an amount of vitamin A, it's not something I'd advise anyone to take. Vitamin D is blocked by vitamin A. Vitamin D has a profound bearing on behaviour, on brain development when a foetus, when growing, and as an adult, see here. An enzyme called tyrosine hydroxylase is needed for the production of serotonin. If there's insufficient enzyme, serotonin levels will be too low. Vitamin D increases levels of this enzyme. The amino acid tryptophan is the precursor to serotonin, a lack of tryptophan in the diet leads to aggressive behaviour. Tryp is found in very small amounts in veggies, it's highest in game. Interestingly, a lack of vitamin B3 also leads to mental disturbance. Tryptophan is also the precursor to B3. Please have a vitamin D test done on your daughter, I might of course be wrong, but it's certainly worth following it up. Many Australians have a shortage of vitamin D, see here and here. Plus the link I've given above. For more info on testing see the Vitamin D Council and GrassrootsHealth websites. This is an excellent video to watch too, see here. I've run out of space, so will start a new comment below. Take care Wray

Mar 16, 2012
Aggressive children
by: Anonymous

These symptoms can be caused by sugar. For those susceptible, sugar can cause a person to become aggressive and lose control temporarily. My daughter would act in a similar way after eating sugar (honey never affected her this way). It can also bring on depression. It's easy enough to test this out for yourself. Give the child sugar and then observe. Remove sugar (and hidden sugars in processed foods) for a week and see if by the end of the week the behavior has improved. There really is such a thing as 'sugar rage' and 'sugar blues' in the percentage of people affected by sugar in this way. When this is the case, don't add Ritalin - just remove the sugar.

Mar 19, 2012
Aggressive children
by: Wray

Hi there Thanks so much for mentioning this, it's something I forgot to do. Sugar is a toxin which none of us should touch. Very few acknowledge that behavioural disorders can be caused by it. Correspondence I've had with a psychiatrist who treats bi-polar children with nutrients rather than drugs, have found over 80% of his patients are not, they are just super sensitive to sugar. Take care Wray

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