Feingold and Sickness

If there was any doubt that this food plan was making a huge difference for Elijah, there is none now! After a week or so of getting used to a calmer, less impulisve and downright sweet 6 year (the other day I teasingly asked him if he would cook dinner for me and he replied, "I would be delighted too.") we saw a dramatic change over the weekend. More "mini-fits" and crying over little things. He had trouble completing his homework that he missed last week. His handwriting was messier. And then it dawned on me...the antibiotic.He was home from school last week for a few days and diagnosed with strept throat on Friday. By Saturday morning, the old behaviors began creeping in. You might be thinking, "Well, of course, he was on edge, he was feeling sick." I would agree except that the days he was sick before going to the antibiotic were fine. I even made a FB comment about how I was enjoying having him at home from school those days.  So, I did some research. I knew before I even read the ingredients online that it had to contain something that is not on the diet. I had asked both the pediatrician and the pharmacists about dyes and they both didn't really know, except that there were no dyes listed in the ingredients. I didn't think to ask about the other stuff. To make a long story short, the antibiotic he is on, Cefdinir (because he has a penicillin allergy), contains artificial flavorings, artificial preservatives and salicylates. I was so discouraged. This was week 4 of our trial week...the week before I knew we would have some infractions because of our trip to California. He is on the antibiotic for 10 days and while I am going to leave him on the rest of the diet as far as food goes, I can't count this as a trial week because one of the variables has changed! I feel like I will need to start over when we get back from our trip. Because this is an elimination diet, the substances are supposed to be totally gone from their system before beginning to add the salicylates back in. And he was so looking forward to his first cup of apple juice after we got back from our trip. Anyway, in the future I am going to explore using a compounding pharmacy as recommended by a friend who follows Feingold. They can mix the drugs there without the added stuff. Then then question is...would he take an antibiotic that doesn't taste like strawberry cream. After all, that is the reason for the additives.