Effect of Diet Treatment on Enuresis in Children with Migraine or Hyperkinetic Behavior

Abstract

Twenty-one children with migraine and/or hyperkinetic behavior disorder which was successfully treated with an oligoantigenic (few-foods) diet also suffered from nocturnal and/or diurnal enuresis. On diet, the enuresis stopped in 12 of these children and improved in an additional four. Identification of provoking foods was by sequential reintroduction of the foods that were avoided on the oligoantigenic diet. In eight of the 12 children who recovered on the oligoantigenic diet and in the four who improved, reintroduction of one or more foods provoked a reproducible relapse of the enuresis. Nine children were subjected to a placebo-controlled, double-blind reintroduction of provoking foods. Six children relapsed during testing with incriminated foods; none reacted to placebo. Enuresis in food-induced migraine and/or behavior disorder seems to respond, in some patients, to avoidance of provoking foods.