Adrenaline and Toxic Heavy Metals in Children with Autism, ADHD, and Challenging Behaviors
Updated: Nov 13, 2025
Erika is skilled in restoring health naturally, after overcoming over 30 chronic medical symptoms and conditions. Erika specializes in chronic illness, unique behavior, and exceptional children. Erika has a special interest in coaching children who have autism, ADHD, and other conditions with challenging behaviors.
What are some examples of toxic heavy metals? Toxic heavy metals such as mercury, aluminum, cadmium, lead, copper, arsenic, and more are a real problem when it comes to not only our overall health but especially behavioral health. These metals end up in the brain and wreak havoc. Toxic heavy metals are always present in the brain in children who have Autism, ADHD, OCD, Anxiety, Depression, Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder, and more. The truth is, no one is exempt from accumulating heavy metals. Heavy metals can be found in air fresheners, colognes, perfumes, scented candles, pharmaceuticals, laundry detergent, dish soap, hair products, metal pots and pans, aluminum foil, pesticides, fungicides found on produce, tap water, and more.
The reason children who have Autism and ADHD can answer questions correctly one day and incorrectly a different day is specifically determined by the location, amount, new exposures, and temperature of heavy metals in the brain. This does not mean that the child has lost the skill or understanding of a subject.
When children with Autism or ADHD get overstimulated, it is often a result of the location, amount, new exposures, and temperature of heavy metals. There can also be a trigger such as staring at a phone, tablet, or television for prolonged periods of time, although in many cases it does not take very long for overstimulation to occur during screen time.
Overstimulation typically involves adrenaline being released. Adrenaline is also brought on during screen time, when eating a high-fat diet, not getting enough hydration, or eating something high in sugar, caffeine, artificial colors, or flavors. We can also release adrenaline when we have unbalanced blood sugar, which can result from a lack of glucose, mineral salts, or potassium, as well as from not eating enough calories or eating frequently enough throughout the day.
Other triggers may include, but are not limited to, strenuous tasks that take a lot of effort for cognitive processing such as homework problems, gross and fine motor activities, working on daily living skills, other children or technology within the same space, crowded rooms or places, and more.
Challenging behaviors such as aggression, anxiety, OCD, tantrums, vocal outbursts, and elopement are often a result of, you guessed it, toxic heavy metals and adrenaline. An external or internal trigger may also play a role in the behavior. Did something not go their way, or were they unhappy about something?
When a challenging behavior occurs, assumptions arise such as the child is tired or the child had a difficult day. While those theories may be true, something deeper is happening. Other questions we can ask instead might be, What toxic exposures has the child been around? Was the child overstimulated? What did they eat before the behavior occurred? Was it high in fat, such as pizza or macaroni and cheese? Or was it high in processed sugar or artificial colors or flavors? Was it high in both fat and sugar, such as cookies or ice cream? Or did the child not eat enough calories at all? When we do not eat enough, we run on adrenaline.
Next, let’s discuss the main concerns. How do we remove toxic heavy metals? And what can we do to reduce adrenaline overload? What can we do to de-escalate a challenging behavior? Aside from waiting it out, using coping skills, and using distractors such as a sensory toy, what more can we do?
The top three suggestions I have for consistently removing toxic heavy metals are drinking the Heavy Metal Detox Smoothie, drinking celery juice every day on an empty stomach, and incorporating foods, herbs, and supplements that help remove heavy metals such as apples, wild blueberries, cilantro, spirulina, barley grass juice powder, sea vegetables such as dulse, parsley, apricots, and sweet potatoes.
My top four suggestions for reducing adrenaline overload are to reduce overt fat content, make sure children are eating enough calories throughout the day, stay hydrated, and incorporate Adrenal Snacks that provide glucose, mineral salts, and potassium. When reducing overt fat, we should limit nuts, seeds, avocados, oil, animal products, beans, etc. Ditch the artificial juice, and hydrate children with lemon or lime water with honey, coconut water, fresh juices, or at least store-bought juice that does not contain additives, preferably organic when possible.
Lastly, I want to discuss a few foods and supplements that can help while trying to de-escalate a child who is having challenging behaviors. A few of my favorite foods that help bring calm to the body are mangoes, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. You can keep mangoes and sweet potatoes on hand for when a behavior arises. The most important thing to offer children at the time of a challenging behavior is natural glucose from fruits and vegetables. Depending on the behavior, children may not be accepting of foods while they are escalated. A few of my favorite supplements to bring calm to the body during times of stress are Lemon Balm, California Poppy, and Magnesium Glycinate. Remember that not all brands of supplements are created equal. It is best to ask a trusted practitioner for the best high-quality supplement brands and children’s dosages.
After reading through this article, I hope you have a broader understanding of the underlying factors that may be contributing to your child’s challenging behavior. Everything I mentioned is helpful when trying to reduce the frequency and duration of challenging behaviors. I am not discrediting any techniques that you may find helpful. I simply want to give parents a broader picture of root causes that may be hindering their child’s behavior, such as the role of adrenaline and toxic heavy metals.
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Read more from Erika MacTinger
Erika MacTinger, Holistic Health and Behavioral Coach
Erika is a Holistic Health and Behavioral Coach and the owner of Holistic Hope and Healing. Erika created her health coaching business after healing herself of over 30 chronic medical symptoms and conditions by changing her lifestyle, and utilizing, fruit, vegetables, wild foods, herbs, supplements, and techniques to strengthen the mind and heal the soul.
Aside from coaching how to overcome chronic illness, Erika has a passion and specialty in coaching children who have, autism, ADHD, anxiety, OCD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and other conditions that express challenging behaviors or special needs. Erika works closely with parents, offering holistic health guidance and emotional support as their children begin a healing journey.
References:
Ten questions concerning air fresheners and indoor built environments - ScienceDirect
Fragranced consumer products: exposures and effects from emissions - PMC
Enhanced olfactory sensitivity in autism spectrum conditions - PubMed
EWG Tap Water Database | The Dirty Secret of Government Drinking Water Standards
