Oh yes... the dreaded red food dye #40. We finally figured that one out when he was four and got a single, red, heart-shaped sucker after dinner on Valentine's day. (about the size of a quarter!) He changed from his normal, active self to this latte-fueled energizer bunny. It was serious like someone had given him a triple shot of espresso! He was chattering so fast that he stopped pausing between words to breathe and his sentences began to run together until they were jibberish. Then he started running laps around the dining room table. He could not stop moving. Four hours later, he was laying in bed, twitching at 11 pm, completely unable to get to sleep. He kept saying, "Mom, my head is spinning too fast!"
There is also a preservative in most processed food called BHT that my son reacts to in much the same way. That might be what is in the Cheetos?
I'm really curious about this stimming. (I've never heard of this before.) My son's teacher found that he had to have something in his pocket to fiddle with during the day to get rid of some of his nervous energy. I will have to read up on this. Thanks for the tip.
