7 year old boy with sugar issues?

[myfishy3]

My little brother has MAJOR problems with sugar craving. My mom has taken him to our pediatrition and asked about it, but then again this is that same doctor who doesnt want anything to be wrong. she says that its just him needing protien but craving the sugar.
Okay, im sorry, but after dealing with this since forever, it. is. NOT. a protien problem.
it is just so extreamly uncontrolable. this is not your average tantrum. it might start out as one,  but it quickly escalates to extreams. he will not show any sign that he hears you and just says the same thing over and over again.
it will go on and on no matter how many times we give him an answer. Its not just the screaming and crying, he will go under the bed and refuse to come out, hits and kicks (or whomever is trying to stop him from breaking stuff) he will throw and punch and slam stuff. he is the reason our fridge door doesnt close right, and will break things.


he normally trys to stay up late but ALWAYS is up at 6:30. latest hes ever slept in till 8:00am

it wont happen at school, only around us. my mom doesnt want to believe anythings wrong, only when he knows he has something to loose (such as being at a sleep over at grandparents house or at school)

he finally snaps out of it if we can seriously distract him (once he starts winding down) or when he breaks something expensive.

our lives have to revolve around him now. we cant eat certain foods because of him. cant go certain places because of him.
one question my grandparents have, why doesnt he go to that extream with them but he does with us.

and certain things (normally about sugary foods or video games or computer) just set him off.
he is not growing out of it (like my mom thinks) and his fits will last for easily an hour. he went on and on in a car for 2 whole hours! we are just so fed up right now. we are desprate for help, and were afraid of how bad he will hurt us when he gets older.

[MLWTR]

Your mom might consider asking the pediatrician whether your little brother is anemic (has low iron levels). That can be checked with a simple blood test. Anemia can often cause extremely severe sugar craving. In fact, with the doctor saying that he needs protein but craves sugar, I wonder if he hasn't already been diagnosed as anemic? If so, iron tablets can help a lot. It wouldn't happen overnight, but the sugar craving typically decreases once iron levels get back up into the normal range. However, it is also important to identify what is causing the anemia by ruling out conditions such as celiac disease.

Now clearly there are other behavioral problems going on, and I'm sure Dr. Kennedy will address that in his reply, but you want to rule out physical issues, too.

[myfishy3]

This is my parents third child, they have tried almost everything regarding child behavior management. Its just that he is so out of control that he becomes unresponsive to what they have to say until he gets tired enough to become distracted or calms down after an hour or two. As far as getting labs done. hahaha good luck convincing my parents anythings wrong. They live in their perfect happy world and now i cant even talk to them about any issues any more.

But thank you for your imput, it means a lot :)

[myfishy3]

Thank you for that suggestion, i will tell my mom about what you said :)

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

From a medical pespective, it would be wise to do some basic lab work to rule out that anything is amiss. If it is, it can be addressed. If not, the reassurance is important. The matter should not be dismissed with the coclusion that everything is fine. The lab evidence will tell if evrything is fine.

The behavior itself, reardless of the medical iussue, needs to be managed and your parents are not showing the requisite competence in that arena. An evaluation by a pediatric menatl health professional would be prudent. Another option is for your folks to learn and apply the techniques that Lynn Clark details in his excellent book about managing childhood behavior, SOS Help for Parents (see www.sosprograms.com).