Asthma, allergies, and “A.D.D.-like” Behavior

Some of you may already know that I home school our kids. There are a number of reasons we have chosen to go this route, but in the interest of saving time and not boring you, I won’t go into them in too much detail right now.

One big reason why we pulled our kids out of school was because one of our children was exhibiting “A.D.D.-like” behavior. His teacher at the time told me she “didn’t want to scare me” but that she saw many signs pointing to Attention Deficit Disorder in our child. Now I knew this child was squirmy and couldn’t have cared less about sitting in circle time or focusing on a specific task. But I also realized he was in kindergarten and was a boy. And I truly believe not a lot of boys that age want to be doing those things, either. This poor boy’s spirit was being broken every day after failing time and time again to do what the teacher was asking of him.

After much consideration, we decided to pull our two school-aged kids out of public school and see if we could meet their needs better at home. Our other son was having the opposite problem, and was bored out of his mind in class.

After teaching our kids for a few months, I got to see first-hand the fidgety-ness, the tapping of pencils, the unfocused learning, and the constant redirection our son struggled with. Along with these things, he suffered from terrible asthma and allergies. He was on 5 medications and allergy shots from November through June just to keep him “functional.” He would snore so loud at night, we heard him across the house. His nose was constantly stuffed up and we had many nights of Albuterol treatments. We had emergency room visits due to his asthma and he had eczema over his arms and legs. In addition, people who have chronic allergies and related illnesses can benefit from Sublingual Immunotherapy, which can be helpful for those who aren’t able to comply with allergy injections.

And then, about a year and a half ago, after Superman  was finally diagnosed with Celiac Disease, we found great help through a homeopathic doctor. We discovered our son was allergic to dairy and soy. This doctor informed us if we cut dairy out, we would most likely be able to drop all his medications. I was skeptical, to say the least, but willing to try anything. Shortly after this, we decided to start eating a Paleo diet and cut out all grains, dairy, legumes and sugar. The results were astounding.

Our son, our dear boy who had been suffering since birth from a myriad of breathing and skin issues, and had had his adenoids removed (which made no difference) and whose conventional doctor suggested surgery to widen his nasal passages, was off ALL his medications! For the first time in his life, he made it through the whole winter season without one asthma problem…without any allergies…his snoring went away, his eczema went away…and guess what? He started to be able to focus! It really was a miracle.

Now, don’t get me wrong. This dietary change didn’t turn our son into some perfect angel child with a yearning for academia. He will always be my little skateboarding musician. But boy, oh boy, is it sure much more of a pleasure to teach him! He can actually think clearly and not look like he’s struggling just to connect two thoughts.

So, that’s my story of full belief in this lifestyle. Not only did Superman improve dramatically (that’s a story for another day), but our son, who I thought was just “born with” those issues, was healed! It’s now been a year and a half, and he has still not been in need of prebiotics for allergy symptom relief or asthma meds since we changed his diet. It’s amazing. And soooo worth it.

Some people feel this type of dietary change is just too much to handle. Why live, they ask. Well, I say, why live miserably? Sure, we’re all going to die. But what kind of quality of life do you want? I would rather live to be 75 and feeling darn good physically then live to be 95 and struggling mentally and physically. To me, it’s all about quality of life. I want to know I treated my body the best I could, and when the good Lord wants to take me, I’m good with that. I just want to feel healthy and clear-in-mind for as long as I can. And my son is living proof that making these dramatic changes is so worth it!

*Disclaimer: Although I truly feel this diet would benefit nearly anyone, I also understand it may just be too much for some. And not everyone may experience “complete healing” like our son did. But, I truly believe even little changes can go a long way…buying quality meats and produce is a huge step in the right direction. I always tell people, “Try it for 30 days. If at the end of 30 days, you don’t notice a dramatic improvement, you can just go right back to the way you were eating.” But I’m pretty sure that won’t happen. Here’s a great program to help you get started: Whole30. Check it out and see if it’s up your alley.