- milk or what?
18 Feb 2010 Adam is a highly articulate and thinking adolescent. He and his parents worry about a number of minor issues – he talks too much, is lively and almost fidgety, and is not very like a number of other young people. Why?
His parents took him from the local state school and sent him to an independent school nearby. This was a reasonable thing to do – he can talk for Britain but not about the topics that normally interest young boys. At this school he is happy and successful. He sings in the choir and goes to various clubs – Adam describes himself as happy. But he has reached the stage where he thinks about himself a lot, how he looks, how he behaves, how others consider him, and whether he should change.
His mum had two concerns – how to enable him to focus? [teachers say he is so clever but writes little down] and how to help him to be quiet? Hyperactivity or liveliness or lack of concentration might be due to all sorts of things, the last of which is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Syndrome. Bright children are often horribly lively because they are bored and that is a possibility here, but perhaps even more likely is a sensitivity to some foodstuff. It seems that Adam eats a lot of cheese and yoghurt and drinks milk a lot. Parents had noticed that he goes all squirmy when he is allowed chocolate which further supports the idea of a milk sensitivity. People who are sensitive to some foods tend to eat more of them – as if their body is eating more of something to make up for whatever it can’t derive from the product itself.
So it was agreed that Mum would a] try to give Adam some milk free chocolate and see if he can eat this without going fidgety, and b] try him on milk-free for five days and see whether his concentration improves.
That was easy. As was the other. Adam readily agreed to try and stop talking as much. Deep down he realises that this might wind some people up and he doesn’t want to annoy. And if the milk-free diet is a success, it will be quite easy for him to follow the second suggestion and see how it feels and where it goes. I’m looking forward to our next appointment.
His parents took him from the local state school and sent him to an independent school nearby. This was a reasonable thing to do – he can talk for Britain but not about the topics that normally interest young boys. At this school he is happy and successful. He sings in the choir and goes to various clubs – Adam describes himself as happy. But he has reached the stage where he thinks about himself a lot, how he looks, how he behaves, how others consider him, and whether he should change.
His mum had two concerns – how to enable him to focus? [teachers say he is so clever but writes little down] and how to help him to be quiet? Hyperactivity or liveliness or lack of concentration might be due to all sorts of things, the last of which is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Syndrome. Bright children are often horribly lively because they are bored and that is a possibility here, but perhaps even more likely is a sensitivity to some foodstuff. It seems that Adam eats a lot of cheese and yoghurt and drinks milk a lot. Parents had noticed that he goes all squirmy when he is allowed chocolate which further supports the idea of a milk sensitivity. People who are sensitive to some foods tend to eat more of them – as if their body is eating more of something to make up for whatever it can’t derive from the product itself.
So it was agreed that Mum would a] try to give Adam some milk free chocolate and see if he can eat this without going fidgety, and b] try him on milk-free for five days and see whether his concentration improves.
That was easy. As was the other. Adam readily agreed to try and stop talking as much. Deep down he realises that this might wind some people up and he doesn’t want to annoy. And if the milk-free diet is a success, it will be quite easy for him to follow the second suggestion and see how it feels and where it goes. I’m looking forward to our next appointment.