My daughter is emotional. And when I say emotional I just mean emotional. She does not have an emotional behavior disorder she just has heightened emotions. They are good and they are bad. She is a very loving kid. She gives hugs and says sweet things all of the time. She cries, sometimes with purpose and sometimes even she doesn't know why. And we can't forget about the anger! When she runs cold it is Mt. Everest! She is an only child so I don't have anything to compare her too but often wonder if this has anything to do with the Hypotonia.
Last year I met a mother of 4 and her daughter had Hypotonia. She made a comment to me about how emotional her daughter was and it got me thinking. This mother of 4 obviously has 3 other children to compare her too and she is the only one who is this emotional so perhaps it has something to do with Hypotonia? I don't know.
Are kids with Hypotonia more Emotional? Is this just par for the course? It doesn't make any sense that they would be related but curious.
I would love to hear from other parents.
I have a daughter with hypotonia who is now 6 and she is definitely very emotional. She would have fits of rage (not tantrums because she would respond when I talked to her) when she was younger and kick, scream, scratch, and really act like an animal. We used to live in an old cape cod and her bedroom was on the 2nd floor where there was a half-wall for the staircase. One day she lost it and threw every single toy that she could lift over the half wall, including her tent that was set up. I video-taped her once when she was 4 and screaming and hitting for her doctor to see because nobody believed that she did those things. When she was tested for early intervention at age 3, she scored in the 5 year old range for language and communication, so it definitely wasn't a language break down.
ReplyDeleteI suspected that she had an allergy to red dye. Everyone thought I was crazy. Doctors told me that it wasn't a real thing, so I doubted myself. We were making cookies one time and she got the red sprinkles on her hands and into some dry cracks. About an hour later, she had a rash. If that's what was happening to her skin on contact, imagine what was happening to her internally! After I cut out dyes, she was a different kid. I also magically cured her excema by getting rid of the pink body wash she was using. She knows that she shouldn't have red dye, but when there are school parties and cupcakes she eats them anyway. When I pick her up on those days, I can tell the second I see her that she had something with dye. She looks like she has ADD on crack.
She had hypotonia because I had an undiagnosed partial placental abruption/clot that caused her to have IUGR and led to a complete placental abruption when I thought I was in labor. Luckily, we were in the hospital at the time and they were able to get her out quickly. She still needed to be resuscitated and had apgars of 3 and 5 and was very "floppy." I'm not sure if the oxygen deprivation caused her hypotonia or if it was the IUGR. I did find out that I have the MTHFR gene mutation, which is a fancy way of saying that I can't break down and absorb b vitamins properly. When that's not treated, it leads to clots. Because that's genetic, I have her on broken down B vitamins (l-methylfolate, methylcobalamin, and pyridoxal-5-phosphate). When she takes them consistently, her mood and energy level is great. When she misses her vitamins for a few days, she's very disorganized, tired, moody, and can't focus. I think you're onto something with your posts about nutrition. I think that these kids work so hard at everything that their bodies have a hard time putting in the effort to use nutrients properly. I think that the sprouted bread worked well for your daughter because it had vitamins in usable form. All processed foods are mandated in the US to be fortified with synthetic vitamins because they're cheaper to make. If their bodies have to spend the time and energy to break down vitamins using the methylation process, it's just one more thing to do. So I think the leafy greens and proteins really are the best bet for these kids.
I came here because I was looking for shoe recommendations since my daughter "graduated" from her sure steps. Thank you for your post on that. I haven't read all of your posts, but I will work on that this week. I hope your daughter is doing well in kindergarten. That was a huge change for my daughter because she was still napping 2-3 hours a day. I hope your daughter comes home with a little bit of energy so that you're able to spend some time with her in the evenings.
Thanks so much for all of your insight. I've found that not a lot of kids JUST have hypotonia, and while your daughter has a genetic difference, it sounds like hypotonia is her biggest struggle. It's good to see some suggestions for kids who are cognitively intact and trying to fit in with typical peers.