A few weeks ago, Lee and I were speaking at an adoption agency about adopting special needs kids – something we do several times a year with another couple who focuses on transracial adoption. We’ve been co-speaking with our friends, Kiara and Andy, for several years now and we’ve built up a special bond with them as we’ve both embarked on our adoptive journeys. They’ve really helped us understand some of the transracial adoption issues we have unexpectedly experienced with Cody and we’ve helped them along in their unexpected special needs journey. Every time we get together to present, I notice that we take new little nuggets of wisdom and insight home with us.
This last time, Kiara was talking about some struggles one of her kiddos has with hunger and behaviors and Lee and I couldn’t help but notice that they were very much the same issues that we’ve had with Cody and food ever since we brought him home. Near panic attacks whenever he feels hungry, lashing out and saying things like “you never feed me” or “I’m going to die!” and becoming aggressive and extremely irritable are just a few of the particular things we noted as being very familiar. Kiara mentioned that one of their nutritionists had suggested Prenatal Nutritional Deprivation might be to blame, so I made a mental note to check this out as soon as I got home.
The next morning, I quickly Googled it and was blown away. Every article I could find on it pointed to a link between it and schizophrenia. We knew that schizophrenia was bio family factor so my attention was definitely peaked. I made a few phone calls and got a hold of an old family friend who is a leading researcher in the field of schizophrenia and the biological aspects of it and was assured that yes, this is a real thing. I was also given some very helpful information and advice. What they are finding in many of these kids that have these behaviors because of being nutritionally deprived in the womb (due to many factors), is that they have a constant deficiency of choline and omega three fatty acids. Choline is an essential nutrient found most readily in meat and eggs. Our family friend suggested that we try to keep Cody on a well-balanced diet high in protein and fat, as this would more likely get the needed amounts of choline into Cody’s system the most regularly. He suggested trying to get meat into his system at least twice a day, if possible. We also needed to either get Cody eating salmon a couple of times a week or get him supplements for the omega three fatty acids.
That week we started making sure that Cody got meat in some form with his breakfast, to start the day off with a more balanced meal in his system. Every morning for the last couple of weeks, we have given him an omega three fatty acid supplement (we all take the Mega Red supplement) and we have had him eat one or two sausage patties with his breakfast (our friend assured us that the meat does NOT have to be organic or high quality to be effective), and we have actually seen a big difference. His moods are more stable, especially in the morning, and we are having less emotional melt downs the rest of the day when he gets his meat. It hasn’t been an easy adjustment for Cody, who craves carbs like crazy and prefers waffles with Nutella and/or peanut butter for breakfast, but he’s managed to stick with it and for the most part cooperates willingly. He seems to be sleeping better as well.
Our family friend also cautioned us about head injuries, as it seems that people who have high risk factors for serious mental illnesses seem to develop them more often after head injuries. Just something to take note of.
So we just wanted to share that information with any of you who might find that helpful. Not that it applies to EVERYONE exhibiting these behaviors, but just in case it might be a possibility. We’d never heard of it at all before now.
No comments:
Post a Comment