Medical Maladies – Page 8 – a hippie with a minivan

What a day….

Last night Simon was called into work… he wasn’t even on call but on Saturday morning there was an electrical problem and an electrician died and there was a small fire in his building…They had to transfer the system and the people that were on call were called in and needed to sleep so Simon had to go….

This morning he arrived at 9:20 and we left soon after for a friends birthday party at an indoor play area… we got there at about 11:15 and the boys disappeared in the tunnels and slides… Khéna didn’t want to go so Simon watched over him as he went around the arcade games… I was talking to another mom and I turned around to see Simon with Khéna in his arms and full of blood… I tool him and headed to the reception desk and asked for help… his face and shirt and hands were really covered in blood and looked for what was bleeding and found a long and deep gash on his forehead… Simon explained that he was just running along and feel and hit his head on one of the arcade games…

The girls at the reception desk called 911 for an ambulance… we applied pressure and cleaned up most of the blood and the gash stopped bleeding… the police arrived before the ambulance with a small emergency kit and stayed until the ambulance arrived, and as we thought, a trip to the emergency room was needed…

Khéna cried and screamed not wanting to go on the gurney… but the minute we got in the ambulance he was OK… looking out the back window and naming the things that he saw… trucks, cars, trees… it felt good to see him a bit more calmed…

We got to the emergency room and went right into Triage… the nurse asked a few questions and then came to the dreaded question… “are his vaccines up to date?” To which I responded that we don’t vaccinate… she said “OK” and then whispered… “I don’t vaccinate either”… and then she warned me that they might push the tetanus vaccine but that it was my choice…She said that the wait would be a few hours and they put a wet compress on his forehead so that the wound would stay soft and clean…

I got Khéna into a Wheelchair because he was heavy and a bit groggy… and went downstairs to get something to drink and get him a stuffed animal at the gift shop… he was happy and choose a stuffed cat that he has almost not let go of since…

I was able to keep him in the wheelchair for about 2 hours until he decided he had energy again and was wanting to walk… and then we walked and walked all over the small portion of the emergency room while we waited… about 2 1/2 hours later he finally sat down and nursed a bit…a few minutes later he was asleep… and they called… we went and waited in the suture room until the doctor came… when he got the he again asked the same questions.. what happened? how old is he? are his Vaccines up to date? I answered that we don’t vaccinate and he just said Ok… and left it at that… he looked at the gash and decided that glue was the best thing for it.. a nurse came in to help hold him while the doctor glues his wound and within a minute it was done and though he cried a bit because he was scared, he let them do what they had to do and the minute it was done he was OK…

I got him ready and headed outside with my little Khéna back to normal besides the wound on his forehead… I called Simon who had since gone to the house of the friends who were having the birthday with the boys. and they came and picked us up… we were at the hospital for more that 5 hours…

We just got home and he is asleep on me…and now we all are heading to bed… What a long day…

Progression of a strawberry mark…

I have been thinking about showing the progression of Khéna’s haemangioma for a while now and after a conversation with Annie the other day, I thought it would be a good time… ( I know that I would have liked to see something simular when I saw that he had one)

First… what is it? (you might not imagine how many times I have had to answer this out in public)

Infantile haemangioma (American spelling ‘hemangioma’) describes a benign (non-cancerous) condition affecting cutaneous blood vessels. It is also known as proliferative haemangioma because it is due to proliferating endothelial cells; these are the cells that line blood vessels.

Infantile haemangiomas are proliferative lesions that usually develop shortly after birth. They are distinct from vascular malformations, which are usually present at birth and are less common.

Over 80% of infantile haemangiomas occur on the head and neck area. They grow to 80% of maximum size in the first three months and most stop growing at about 5 months. However, they may keep growing for up to 18 months.

After that, they undergo regression or involution. This can take as long as 3-10 years. Nearly all flat infantile haemangiomas eventually involute and disappear without treatment. However, regression of bulky haemangiomas tends to be incomplete, and they may leave an irregular atrophic (thin) scar or anetoderma (a dented scar) in at least 50% of cases.

From here…

though you don’t see it, he had an even bigger one under his hair but it grew quicker and faded completely by 18 months…

(you can see all of his pics here)

3 days old (no sign of it)

2 weeks old (you start seeing it)

1 month

2 months

3 months

from 5 months to about 14 months it was at it’s most intense… it was really thick and looked like it could burst….

(this is at about a year… it was more raised than this for a few months)

From 13 months to 18 months it pinked up…

14 months

15 months

At 18 months the middle became flesh coloured and it was no longer as raised and squishy…

second birthday… you can see it is fading more…

2 years 3 months….

3 1/2 years (he now also has a scar right next to his mark after falling)

4 years old

4 1/2 (he is showing the bump he got on the playground)

5 years old

7 3/4 years

cough… cough…

I have been coughing for more than a week now… I first had a cold and then the coughing started.. I am pretty sure it is bronchitis.. something that I used to get a few times a year… when I was younger I was dragged to the doctor only for him to say that there was nothing to be done… or give antibotics which couldn’t help anyway because it is most often caused by a virus… So I am waiting it out… days are getting easier and I am coughing less but nights have been hard… the coughing has been waking me up and my lungs hurt and all the muscles around my torso hurt… At least no one else has it though…

FDA urged to ban some food colorings

WASHINGTON — A consumer advocacy group called on the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday to ban the use of eight artificial colourings in food because the additives may cause hyperactivity and behaviour problems in some children.

Controlled studies conducted over three decades have shown that children’s behaviour can be worsened by some artificial dyes, the Center for Science in the Public Interest said. The group noted that the British government is successfully pressing food manufacturers to switch to safer colorings.

Over the years, the FDA has consistently disputed the centre’s assertion. The agency’s Web site contains a 2004 brochure that asks the question: “Do additives cause childhood hyperactivity?”

“No. Although this hypothesis was popularized in the 1970s, well-controlled studies conducted since then have produced no evidence that food additives cause hyperactivity or learning disabilities in children,” the agency said.

Julie Zawisza, an FDA spokeswoman, said Tuesday that colour additives undergo safety reviews before approval for marketing and that samples of each artificial colouring are tested. She said the agency reviewed one of the studies that the centre cites in calling for a ban.

“(We) didn’t find a reason to change our conclusions that the ingredients are safe for the general population,” Ms. Zawisza said. “Also note that the European Food Safety Agency has a similar view as FDA’s.”

Dyes are used in countless foods and are sometimes used to simulate the colour of fruits or vegetables. The additives are particularly prevalent in the cereals, candies, sodas, and snack foods pitched to kids.

“The purpose of these chemicals is often to mask the absence of real food, to increase the appeal of a low-nutrition product to children, or both,” said the center’s executive director, Michael Jacobson. “Who can tell the parents of kids with behavioural problems that this is truly worth the risk?”

The center’s petition asks the FDA to require a warning label on foods with artificial dyes while it mulls the group’s request to ban the dyes outright.

The colorings the centre wants banned are: Yellow 5, Red 40, Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Orange B, Red 3, and Yellow 6.

Link

What colour are white marshmallows?

Wanting to make some homemade snack bars that the boys love… (made with cereal, granola, nuts, seeds, dried fruit and a few chocolate chips and held together with marshmallow) I picked up some marshmallows at the grocery store over the weekend…

Xavier has been asking me to make them since then…

So this morning I get out a few things and just as I was about to open the bag of marshmallows I noticed the ingredient list…

“colouring”

Why I didn’t check while at the grocery store? I don’t know…

If you have been reading here for a while, or have read the archives a bit we have been avoiding food colouring for the boys for about a year and half… Colin has physical reactions and Xavier has behavioural…

Dr Feingold and the diet he promotes has been telling families with hyperactive children to avoid food colourings (along with other foods and additives) for a long time believing that they are linked to behaviour problems…. and these diets have helped many families dealing with ADHD and an array of other problems… and though I have never read any of the books and don’t follow the diet I do think that there is a lot of truth in his ways of thinking…

however… for many the link between a cracker or a yogourt and behavioural problems is something that is hard to grasp and the fact that food colouring is in so many foods makes it really hard to avoid even when you eat mostly whole foods…

I hadn’t seen but last year there was finally a study…

Though Feingold was proved to be right that food colouring can aggravate the symptoms of ADHD… and that avoiding them can have great effects… the link had never been made officially between “normal” kids and behavioural problems linked directly to food colouring and additives.. until now…

Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3-year-old and
8/9-year-old children in the community: a randomised,
double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial

Background
We undertook a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, crossover trial to test whether intake of artificial food colour and additives (AFCA) affected childhood behaviour.

Methods
153 3-year-old and 144 8/9-year-old children were included in the study. The challenge drink contained sodium benzoate and one of two AFCA mixes (A or B) or a placebo mix. The main outcome measure was a global hyperactivity aggregate (GHA), based on aggregated z-scores of observed behaviours and ratings by teachers and parents, plus, for 8/9-year-old children, a computerised test of attention. This clinical trial is registered with Current Controlled Trials (registration number ISRCTN74481308). Analysis was per protocol.

Findings
16 3-year-old children and 14 8/9-year-old children did not complete the study, for reasons unrelated to childhood behaviour. Mix A had a significantly adverse effect compared with placebo in GHA for all 3-year-old children but not mix B versus placebo. This result persisted when analysis was restricted to 3-year-old children who consumed more than 85% of juice and had no missing data . 8/9-year-old children showed a significantly adverse eff ect when given mix A or mix B when analysis was restricted to those children consuming at least 85% of drinks with no missing data.
Interpretation Artificial colours or a sodium benzoate preservative (or both) in the diet result in increased hyperactivity in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the general population.

I know that there are some that brush this off because their kids might not become more active after eating food additives or either don’t believe it or just don’t care… Think if the bad rep that sugar has gotten as parties and how it has been proven to not be the cause for the hyperactivity… what if it was the all of the food colouring and additives that have really been the culprit all along… the fact that food additives that have NO other function than to make a food look prettier and can have such an impact on behaviour is scary at best and I know for sure that I will never be able to turn a blind eye…

and the white marshmallows…. I called the number on the back of the package to ask what colouring was used… they have blue… but couldn’t say whether it was #1 or #2….