[1652] Salicylates: “Life soon improved for everyone” (January 2023)

My daughter is now 23 years old and no longer has effects due to food intolerances. From a very early age in fact I believe from birth she showed signs of food intolerances. (Of course this is what I know now).
 
Monique cried a lot as a baby and suffered with severe asthma from just a few months old. I sought doctor's advice - there was not much support with the excessive crying but she was prescribed medication to treat the asthma. The medication did relieve the breathing but it hyped her up and caused agitation. I did not know what to do, she was having trouble breathing and I needed to help her. At about the age of two I took her to a different doctor for what reason I can't remember but she was really sick and he even considered that she may have Cystic Fibrosis due to the severity of the condition.
 
I breastfed and I now believe due to her food intolerances that breastfeeding may not have been the best option for her. Our diet often consisted of tomato based pasta dishes, and also fruit and vegetables that I now know have a high salicylate content, which of course would have filtered to the baby.
 
As the years passed we were dealing with behaviours of agitation and frustration. The outbursts and nature of the behaviours was much like the description on a child with some of the conditions that have been given a name these days. (eg. A-D-D and A-D-H-D). I never at any time considered that she suffered from these conditions and as a mother I always felt compassion and concern, and desperate to find out what was causing this behaviour and severe agitation in this beautiful little girl. The agitation and anger often started with her rubbing her nose and just a shift in mood which I learnt to recognise. If I caught it early enough I found sometimes milo drink would neutralise the effect so that I could reason with her and help. However many times she was anxious and agitated before I realised what was happening and then she would refuse the milo.
 
I knew she did not want to be like this. On the rare occasions that I would address the problem with a doctor in many ways I was relieved that a diagnosis was not offered because I did not want her on medications that are usually prescribed for the aforementioned conditions. Nor did I believe that medication was the answer.
 
After years of patience and understanding, dealing with the situation, I also saw the development of some social difficulties, things like feeling targeted and being extremely sensitive. When she was 10 years of age I decided I needed to address this once again.
 
Here is what turned out to be the answer:
 
I had made a doctor’s appointment to have one last go at getting to the bottom of this. I once again hoped the doctor did not suggest medication because even though I wanted help I really did not feel comfortable going down this road.
I was finishing my preparation to leave for the appointment and on the radio I heard Sue Dengate talking about food intolerance. Sue mentioned SALICYLATES, immediately I found a pen and wrote it down in the best spelling I could create.

The doctor still really did not have much to offer. So I asked him "have you ever heard of salicylates?" He said he had, so I further asked he had any lists of the foods that contain salicylates which fortunately he did and gave it to me.

Reading about salicylates and learning where they are helped me to eliminate the foods from her diet and this was the answer. Life soon improved for everyone especially Monique, including no more asthma. This is my story and I wish to express my gratitude and thanks to Sue for her wonderful work – Annie (from 2011)