Watermelon and Grandchildren

Lilja · Post by **Lilja** » Sat May 21, 2016 1:17 pm

Hi,

I'm so happy each time my granddaughter says to her parents that she wants to visit grandmother for an overnight stay. I do my utmost to find both the activities and the food she likes. She is 5 years old. By the way she has some "tics" that we don't speak about. She nods, or bows, her neck all the time. Well... We had a wonderful time, playing in the park, visiting her father's kindergarten, shopping, eating. She is not allowed to have any salt at home, so when she visits me I let her dip her finger into my little sea salt pot, and she loves it.

We bought some watermelon for dessert, and we actually ate a lot of it last Thursday. After that I have been running to the toilet. I hope it's not a flare, only an allergy reaction to watermelon. It's green and watery.

Is watermelon known to be an allergy trigger?
Is there any theory as to children's tics and nutrition?
She is a very smart girl, and there are no problems other than these noddings/bowings of her head, which I feel is like a "ritual" or compulsary thing.

I appreciate your thoughts on this.

Lilja

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Sat May 21, 2016 2:25 pm

Watermelon is very high fructose (sugar) and quite fibrous
the combo of both, and having a large serving is what caused the D

I will do some research for the nodding/bowing
i have some initial thoughts but want to check some things

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Sat May 21, 2016 3:08 pm

most of the reading i have done, for most children any tic type behavior normally goes around age 5

nutritionally - muscle spasms are linked to deficiencies with Vit E, magnesium, calcium, potassium, B5, biotin

as she smart - ongoing tic behaviour could be an indicator of Aspergers
(and of note for aspergers it is encourage to follow gluten and dairy free eating plan!)

Post by **tex** » Sat May 21, 2016 4:40 pm

Lilja,

Watermelon would do me in every time I tried it, so I haven't tried it in many years. In my case I suspect the high sugar content is the main problem, but I recall discussing the watermelon problem at some point in the past, and I seem to recall that it has some chemicals that don't go over very well with MC.

I agree that Aspergers could be a possibility. Does she have any other "rituals" that she does repeatedly, or some routine that she just "has to go through" every day?

Tex

Lilja · Post by **Lilja** » Sun May 22, 2016 2:33 am

Thank you both Gabes and Tex,

No, she does not have any compulsary things or rituals she has to do. I suspect she is insecure, she has some overachieving "perfect" parents, who I find constantly comment on everything she is doing, and it is heartbreaking to observe. She follows them from the corner of her eye even when she is watching children's tv as if she is thinking "where are they now" or "what will they comment on now".. If this is the case I will never be able to address the problem, since one should never criticize parents' behaviour or how they are bringing up their children.

I asked her only once why she would bow her head, and said that each time she felt like nodding again, she should think "I don't HAVE to bow my head", and she answered "Yes, it hurts my neck". I will never mention it again, but thought I would let her know this once that she can control it herself if she is aware of it.

My MBs are normal today, so I expect it must have been the watermelon.

Thank you for listening. I will invite her over as much as I can, and serve her some healthy meals and let her dip her finger in the sea salt as much as she wants

And now I feel terrible talking about this behind their backs...

Lilja

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Sun May 22, 2016 8:51 am

Hi Lilja,

Tics are very common in childhood and are almost always of no significance. You are doing exactly what is recommended......ignoring them!

Polly

dfpowell · Post by **dfpowell** » Sun May 22, 2016 11:01 am

Polly,

Good to see your post! My daughter is planning on going into pediatrics, she is finishing up her PHD and will return to medical school this fall.
It was your post that got me started on cholestryamine, and I continue to take it. I've tried decreasing and discontinuing but my MC symptoms get worse, so guess I will continue with it until I can figure something else out.

Hope all is well with you,

Lilja · Post by **Lilja** » Sun May 22, 2016 2:29 pm

Thank you, Polly!

That was my initial thought, i.e. just ignore it. Her father (my son) had some similar tics with his hair that fell into his eyes and he would blow it away constantly.. I decided to ignore it back then, in 1988. If he mentions medications one more time, I will tell him about his own tics back then, and how I ignored it, and how it resolved by itself.

Lilja

Lilja · Post by **Lilja** » Sat Jun 25, 2016 10:01 am

Polly wrote:Hi Lilja,

Tics are very common in childhood and are almost always of no significance. You are doing exactly what is recommended......ignoring them!

Polly

Polly,

It's hard to ignore them these days because they have increased in number, she is nodding her head all the time, as well as she "has to" jump. She can stop in the middle of a sentence, or when she has to go to the toilet, she stops to jump, and then nod her head a few times.

I mentioned this to a friend who is a dental surgeon, and he proposed dystonia after my description.

It hurts to look at her

I would love if it was something we could do nutritionwise...

Lilja