Childhood Arthritis And The Feingold Program

Mrs. Jane Hersey the author of "Why Can't My Child Behave?" knows all to well of the effects and struggles with a child who has arthritis.

I myself have suffered from an undiagnosed arthritis type, and I fear my now 6 year old son may have a type as well. There are times when he aches so bad that he can't move and says that his legs hurt. I tell him that I understand and then help him with whatever he may be doing. It is mild, but I fear as times goes by it will get worse. I just hope that it doesn't.

My arthritis began when I was 14 years old. It started in my knees and is now in every joint in my body. Oh how painful it can be. I do take medication for mental issues, and they are Lexapro, Abilify, and Trazodone. I am starting my third week on Abilify, and it somehow has helped with arthritic pain and muscle tension.

Mrs. Hersey's then 5 year old son was dealing with arthritis in a way that he couldn't function day to day until his mother introduced her family to the Feingold diet. She had found the solution and here is her story from the book:

"I have three children ages 6, 5, and 3 years old. They have always been sick children, but my 5 year old son was especially sick. Ever since he was 6 months old he would wake up crying, and there was nothing we could do except hold him.

At one year old, he would try to stand up after he had been sitting; but he would hold his legs. Only asprin and massaging his legs would put him to sleep. He also started having bronchitis and pneumonia or croup twice a month. One time when both the croup and leg aches were especially bad the doctos put him in the hopsital. They ran tests for everything, including leukemia,cancer, and they eded up telling me that they thought it was all in his head and that he just wanted me to come into his room at night!

Well, this continued, and we changed doctors, and he was tested for everything again. By this time, he was getting sick every time he got off the antibiotic. The doctors said to give him 3 to 4 baby asprin every night for the leg and arm aches.

On his 4th birthday-- one hour before his party-- his neck became stiff and he could not move it at all without screaming. We took him to the emergency room and the doctors said they could not find anything. Eventually the aches spread to his elbows, fingers, and feet. He started having swelling in his joints. It was so bad when he woke up in the mornings he could not walk and had to be carried.

The doctors diagnosed this as rheumatoid arthritis, and ran tests for it. The tests came back negative, but they said that in a young child it was often common to have negative results and still have arthritis. We were told that all we could do was to increase the asprin to 3 to 4 in the morning and at night.

He began to get sicker, and became so sore it was painful to have anyone touch him. The huge bruises he got made it even more impossible to dress him. The pneumonia and bronchitis became more severe; and he had nosebleeds that were so bad, one day he hemorrhaged and er had to have his nose cauterized.

At our insistence, the doctors finally agreed to send him to a specialist at Johns Hopkins University, and at the same time they told us to put him on the Feingold diet because he was becoming hyperactive too. Well, to our complete surprise, the diet helped immediately. We discovered he is allergic to aspirin, and it was causing his coughing seizures. When we stopped the asprin, the coughing stopped. We eliminated all other 'non safe things' and the leg aches stopped. It was one miricle after another and our children ( whose illness had up to the doctors on an average of twice a week) have not been sick since April 28, 1980-- the day we began the Feingold diet.

The only time his legs hurt is when he goes off the diet. One month later we were well into the diet when the day came for up to keep our appointment at Johns Hopkins. The doctor there examined him and told us he was a specimen of good health. By then we knew the doctor was not going to find anything wrong because we had already found the problem!

Our relatives and fried are amazed how well our children are. For the first time in three years he is off aspirin, with no pain. Now I speak with my doctor only when he calls to chek on how he is doing.(He's amazed!)

Needless to say, his behavior had improved a lot. We had tried to encourage him to dress himself, but even at age 5 he found the whole thing to frustrating. He wouldn't even try to undress himself. We couldn't interest him in washing himself when he was in the tub. Two weeks after we began the diet he proudly announced that he had given himself a shampoo; and how he now dresses himself with ease."

Such a wonderful story, and how so many people can relate to such a story. Thanks for reading as always