Is Your Christmas Tree Causing Meltdowns? Healthy Solutions to Keep the Holidays Happy
Manufacturers use isolated terpenes to produce the flavors and scents of lots of every day products and solutions, this sort of as perfumes, system products and solutions, cleaners, and even food items. In point, pine-scented cleaners are normally derived from 95% terpenes. And for this spouse and children, the fragrant oils that give pine trees their fantastic odor were the trigger of their child’s behavior, mood, and sleeping concerns.
One more compound that can cause difficulties and that are in some sturdy smelling oils are phenols. Phenolic compounds come in quite a few sorts such as synthetic petroleum-based foods additives, and salicylates located in vegetation and meals like strawberries and spices, as very well as some necessary oils this sort of as cinnamon, clove, thyme, and oregano. In the wintertime, a lot of people today (which includes me!) diffuse these important oils and blends and/or use soaps that involve clove and cinnamon. Or some men and women simmer water on the stove with cinnamon sticks and clove buds to scent their homes. And to complicate items even more, some varieties of pine trees can also have phenols in addition to terpenes! This time of yr can be 1 in which we are uncovered to a lot increased quantities of phenols.
When phenols are not in a position to be broken-down and detoxified (by a procedure identified as sulfation, which is reduced in quite a few young children with autism and ADHD), they can bring about lots of indicators which includes irritability, crimson cheeks and ears, hyperactivity, aggression toward self and other people, “stimming,” sleeping issues and a lot of additional. Terpenes are also processed in a related biochemical way, further depleting this detoxification pathway and the corresponding vitamins and minerals.
If you know your kid is delicate to salicylates, terpenes, or phenols (see my salicylate report), you’ll probable want to stay away from a conventional Christmas tree and artificially scented products and solutions. If you are not sure about their sensitivity to salicylates: you may check with you if your youngster is frequently hyper, irritable, or has pink cheeks, and other typical salicylate signs, or irrespective of whether they crave salicylate-prosperous foods this kind of as berries, grapes, apples, and ketchup. If so, discover salicylates more.
In actuality, because so a lot of youngsters with autism and ADHD respond to salicylates (in my nourishment practice I locate an overwhelming the vast majority react negatively when consuming or being uncovered to also quite a few), I’d advise a cautious tactic to getaway decorating for all households of a youngster with autism or ADHD. I’ll share some strategies below.