Eat Junk Food, Go Blind, Blame Someone Else

[Ranb]

Mom blames healthcare system after her son went blind from diet comprised of french fries and Pringles

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/mom-blames-healthcare-system-her-204000918.html

The mother of a British teen who went legally blind after eating a diet of potato chips and french fries says she blames the U.K.'s health care system for her son's illness.

Kerry James, whose son, Harvey Dyer, developed a rare form of malnutrition-based blindness in his early teens, made the comments on the U.K.'s ITV channel Tuesday morning.

Surprising to see this in a developed country.

The 18-year-old also suffers from a rare eating disorder called avoidant-restrictive food intake disorder, which likely contributed to his pickiness early in life. The disease makes it difficult for people to stomach certain foods based on sensory traits, such as smell, texture or flavor.

"If they'd done the blood test then and realized [his] vitamin A was so low, they could have given him the vitamin A injections then," James said.

James added that doctors gave Dyer nutrition shakes and other health products to try, but he refused to stick with them.

If the doctor knew the kid was not eating right, then perhaps a test to determine if he had deficiencies was in order. But why would anyone allow their child to eat crap for so long?

How are they getting their son to eat properly now? Or did they decide he can't get much worse?

Ranb

 

[Roboramma]

If the doctor knew the kid was not eating right, then perhaps a test to determine if he had deficiencies was in order. But why would anyone allow their child to eat crap for so long?

Is it possible that she tried to impose a healthy diet but wasn't successful? It's not very easy to force someone to eat something if they refuse, which is why hunger strikes can be successful.

 

[mgidm86]

Is it possible that she tried to impose a healthy diet but wasn't successful? It's not very easy to force someone to eat something if they refuse, which is why hunger strikes can be successful.

Ya his fat Mom tried to impose a healthy diet while her chips, soda and cookies or whatever it was that made her fat were in the kitchen cabinets. Fat kid, fat parents. Fat parents, fat kids.

So they have a "condition" for kids that won't eat their veggies but will eat anything full of fat and salt? How do you spell that again - Bad Parenting?

Oh sorry am I fat shaming? Well then let's blame the doctors - oh wait, even they have to be careful how they say it. "Hey lady, you and your kid are f'n fat."

 

[Ranb]

My doctor was like "You're fat, lose weight or you're gonna die". So I lost some weight, gained it back, lost it, gained it and losing it again. He's not telling me I'm going to die anymore though.

 

[Venom]

Ya his fat Mom tried to impose a healthy diet while her chips, soda and cookies or whatever it was that made her fat were in the kitchen cabinets. Fat kid, fat parents. Fat parents, fat kids.

So they have a "condition" for kids that won't eat their veggies but will eat anything full of fat and salt? How do you spell that again - Bad Parenting?

Oh sorry am I fat shaming? Well then let's blame the doctors - oh wait, even they have to be careful how they say it. "Hey lady, you and your kid are f'n fat."

I don't know about the "health care system", but to attribute everything to bad parenting is just gratuitous these days imo. If we're going to blame the parents we should look at the possibly inherited personality traits, even things like how receptive the kids are to discipline and advice.

Some children just will flat out not eat certain things and poor, weak, or underprivileged parents might just feed them anything to keep 'em full.

 

[angrysoba]

My doctor was like "You're fat, lose weight or you're gonna die". So I lost some weight, gained it back, lost it, gained it and losing it again. He's not telling me I'm going to die anymore though.

Unfortunately, you still will. When that happens is another issue of course.

 

[arthwollipot]

The child had been diagnosed with avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder which is an extremely serious eating disorder which needs to be managed very carefully. It sounds like it wasn't. That said, I would be hesitant to assign blame to just one party for this. The parents should have been working very closely with mental health experts, who should have assisted the parents to manage the disorder so that tragedy might have been avoided.

 

[Puppycow]

The child had been diagnosed with avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder which is an extremely serious eating disorder which needs to be managed very carefully. It sounds like it wasn't. That said, I would be hesitant to assign blame to just one party for this. The parents should have been working very closely with mental health experts, who should have assisted the parents to manage the disorder so that tragedy might have been avoided.

Like everyone else, my first instinct was to blame the mother, because that's how the "outrage bait" headline writers set it up. I mean, who could read a headline like that and not immediately jump to the conclusion that it's all the mother's fault. It's not until the 11th paragraph that readers are informed that the boy had an eating disorder (past where most casual readers will read).

To be sure, she probably shares some blame, but the circumstances were more complicated than the headlines and opening paragraphs would lead you to believe.



Now, some might question this "eating disorder". Is it just a fancy way of saying that the child was a picky eater? Can't kids be trained to be less picky? Perhaps the mother needed to be stricter, and not give in to the child's preferences. Hell, if I was allowed to only eat what I preferred when I was a young child, I would have chosen cake and candy and ice cream, not vegetables and other proper food. Parents are supposed to make their kids eat a healthy diet, and that may require putting your foot down and not allowing the child to rule you.

 

[Puppycow]

To put it another way, could this eating disorder have been "nipped in the bud" at a young age before it developed into a serious problem?

 

[Tolls]

The child had been diagnosed with avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder which is an extremely serious eating disorder which needs to be managed very carefully. It sounds like it wasn't. That said, I would be hesitant to assign blame to just one party for this. The parents should have been working very closely with mental health experts, who should have assisted the parents to manage the disorder so that tragedy might have been avoided.

Good luck with that.
It's really a postcode lottery.
We spent years pushing and pushing for sod all to happen about it, simply because there were no resources in the area.

To put it another way, could this eating disorder have been "nipped in the bud" at a young age before it developed into a serious problem?

It's what one of our kids has and no, it isn't something you can nip in the bud.
Something happens that buggers up their ability to eat outside of a narrow band, and they will (even at a very young age) starve themselves rather than eat something else.

Our doctor at the time told us that was the answer (just force him by not giving in)...

 

[Roboramma]

Good luck with that.
It's really a postcode lottery.
We spent years pushing and pushing for sod all to happen about it, simply because there were no resources in the area.



It's what one of our kids has and no, it isn't something you can nip in the bud.
Something happens that buggers up their ability to eat outside of a narrow band, and they will (even at a very young age) starve themselves rather than eat something else.

Our doctor at the time told us that was the answer (just force him by not giving in)...

Just out of curiosity, how do you deal with it? Try to make nutritious foods more palatable? Try to find nutritious foods that he/she isn't averse to? Supplement with vitamins? All of the above or something else?

Seems like a pretty difficult problem to me. Maybe as the child ages making him/her aware of the importance of a healthy diet can help, but it's pretty hard to rely on that in a child.

 

[arthwollipot]

Now, some might question this "eating disorder". Is it just a fancy way of saying that the child was a picky eater?

No. It is a diagnosable mental disorder in the DSM-5. It goes way beyond being merely picky. See the Wikipedia page I linked to for more information, including diagnostic criteria.

Can't kids be trained to be less picky? Perhaps the mother needed to be stricter, and not give in to the child's preferences. Hell, if I was allowed to only eat what I preferred when I was a young child, I would have chosen cake and candy and ice cream, not vegetables and other proper food. Parents are supposed to make their kids eat a healthy diet, and that may require putting your foot down and not allowing the child to rule you.

As a mental disorder, an approach other than mere discipline is required. ARFID in children is treatable by a carefully managed treatment program based on systemic desensitisation, or in adults by cognitive behavioural therapy. In either case the support of a mental health professional is essential to avoid further complicating the problem. Again, the Wikipedia page provides more information. I recommend reading it - that's why I posted the link.

 

[Roboramma]

Thanks, arthwollipot, I missed that link originally, but it is interesting.

 

[arthwollipot]

Thanks, arthwollipot, I missed that link originally, but it is interesting.

No worries. If even one person has learned a little bit more about mental illness, then I'm happy.

 

[GlennB]

It's what one of our kids has and no, it isn't something you can nip in the bud.
Something happens that buggers up their ability to eat outside of a narrow band, and they will (even at a very young age) starve themselves rather than eat something else.

Yep. I worked for a few years with Aspergers teenagers and a few were just like this. But the vitamin issue has been anticipated well before their teens and they were given sweet and/or liquid supplements. The lack of supplements is what amazes me here. If the shake supplements were being refused why didn't they try something else? Just sprinkle a little vitamin powder on the crisps or fries?

 

[arthwollipot]

Good luck with that.
It's really a postcode lottery.
We spent years pushing and pushing for sod all to happen about it, simply because there were no resources in the area.

Yes. If we had a perfect world then everybody would have the resources they need for the mental health care they require. Unfortunately, the world is not perfect and these resources are insufficient and unevenly distributed. And the results can be tragic.

 

[Checkmite]

Yep. I worked for a few years with Aspergers teenagers and a few were just like this. But the vitamin issue has been anticipated well before their teens and they were given sweet and/or liquid supplements. The lack of supplements is what amazes me here. If the shake supplements were being refused why didn't they try something else? Just sprinkle a little vitamin powder on the crisps or fries?

It's possible the actual doctors weren't aware that the shake supplements were being refused. If they prescribed/suggested the supplements, and he and his mother agreed to take them, and they didn't come back until three years later when he was going blind after they had privately decided not to keep up with the supplements and went back to business as usual all that time, how would the health provider know they needed to try giving him something else?

 

[arthwollipot]

Yep. I worked for a few years with Aspergers teenagers and a few were just like this. But the vitamin issue has been anticipated well before their teens and they were given sweet and/or liquid supplements. The lack of supplements is what amazes me here. If the shake supplements were being refused why didn't they try something else? Just sprinkle a little vitamin powder on the crisps or fries?

ARFID is frequently associated with kids on the autism spectrum. The linked article does not say whether Harvey was on the spectrum or not.

 

[Tolls]

Just out of curiosity, how do you deal with it? Try to make nutritious foods more palatable? Try to find nutritious foods that he/she isn't averse to? Supplement with vitamins? All of the above or something else?

Seems like a pretty difficult problem to me. Maybe as the child ages making him/her aware of the importance of a healthy diet can help, but it's pretty hard to rely on that in a child.

Supplements as best you can.

We were lucky to some extent, as he would eat yoghurts (not bits, though) and drink smoothies, so that covered a lot of bases. He was never under threat of being undernourished. He's a skinny sod, though, but weighs almost as much as me at 16. I assume dense bones.

 

[Roboramma]

Supplements as best you can.

We were lucky to some extent, as he would eat yoghurts (not bits, though) and drink smoothies, so that covered a lot of bases. He was never under threat of being undernourished. He's a skinny sod, though, but weighs almost as much as me at 16. I assume dense bones.

Thanks And glad to hear things are going well.