Could It Be MSG?
June 2nd, 2010 | 
Author: Last week we had a reasonably good week with Corey or at least about as good as you can get with Coreys behavior issues. He wanted a sleepover on Friday night so he was trying hard to be good so he could have the sleepover which he did have. All day Saturday he was reasonably well behaved too. Until…….
Saturday night we decided to go and get Chinese for dinner. The change in Corey was incredible. We’ve never been able to pinpoint any exact food that seems to set Corey off until now. It’s possible that he’d been good for a week so was due for a bad change anyway, so perhaps it may have happened and it wasn’t the food, but it is strange that the timing of it was just after he’d eaten Chinese for dinner.
It didn’t take long for him to start being naughty. He was naughty but quiet too, between naughty moments he would go and lie in his room and watch TV. Then at bed time, about three or four hours after dinner, he went crazy. He was at his worst. It was incredible and I’m surprised to know that his behaviour still surprises me at times. Perhaps it surprised me because we had had a reasonably good week with him and then this just came out of the blue. He screamed, yelled, screamed, banged his head, threw things around, screamed some more and well you know how it goes! And there was really absolutely no reason for this meltdown, it just happened because it was bed time.
So could it have been the MSG?
Is it a coincidence that his behavior had been reasonably good and then once he ate MSG he became very bad? Today is about four days since the Chinese dinner and he has been pretty awful for the last four days. Today his anger seems to have subsided and he is having a ’silly’ mood. I wonder if this is the end of the reaction to the MSG, if that’s what it was.
So today is grocery shopping day and I’m taking my list of additives and preservatives to avoid from the Sue Dengate book ‘Fed Up’ and I’m only going to buy foods without those additives and preservatives and in particular MSG. Let’s see if I keep him off MSG for a while whether it will make any difference.
My older son Ben, he felt really sick after eating the Chinese. He picked up fairly quickly, but he did lie down on the sofa for a while after dinner because he felt sick, so perhaps a reaction from him to the MSG also.
Posted in Behavior Problems, Corey, Sheryl, food intolerance | 
Tags: ADHD, aspergers, child behavior, child behaviour, ODD
Hi there, just found your blog so thought I’d say hello. We’ve just found out that our 4 year old has Aspergers and possibly ADHD so I’m trawling the internet for any information that I can find. Are you based in the UK (if you don’t mind me asking)? We are trying to work out what the ‘process’ is for getting relevant help. So far we have a partial diagnosis but nothing else and are rather confused. I’m trying to find as many UK blogs and information sites as possible so we don’t feel quite so overwhelmed.
With regards to MSG, well you just never know with additives do you. Far better to avoid them if possible. My husband loves chinese food but generally won’t eat it unless he makes it himself as he always feels dodgy afterwards. I try to avoid additives if I can. I know that Nipper’s behaviour is just him and isn’t being caused by chemicals (though there could be a ‘natural food’ cause I suppose – though he is very faddy with his food so that would be a surprise).
P.S. Meant to say that I have a blog charting our journey with Nipper at http://non-neurotypicalnipper.blogspot.com and another one on general family life with bits of knitting and sewing along the way at http://tillytatas.blogspot.com
MSG can have some terrible effects. Since I’ve been doing the EveryOtherDayDiet I have been really watching what I eat and the ingredients in the food I eat. I have felt much healthier and I believe that one reason for this is that I have eliminated many preservatives including MSG.