Kelly,
I think the hyperactivity that everyone sees in children is due to excess
adrenaline being secreted to try to pump out the toxins through the
kidneys.  I have wheat allergies and it is actually my worst allergy.
From reading the celiac list (gluten intolerance) I've learned that wheat
allergy/intolerance is very complicated to pin down.  Depending on the type
of immune reaction (immunoglobulin G or E?) it can be allergy, intolerance
or celiac disease.  If it is celiac, then it is eventually life threatening
because it increases the risk of intestinal lymphoma.  I don't have all the
details memorized so I'm speaking from memory.  The actual details can be
found in the list archives or by subscribing and requesting info.

From experience:  Allergies may not take your life literally but it
influences your life tremendously especially if you are a child.
I have very vivid memories of my childhood (allergic since weaned at six
months) and now I realize how much my allergies created what seemed to me
to be a traumatic life.
My parents never realized, until I told them this year, that I was fearful
much of the time as a child.  No one could tell, (not even me because it
was all the experience that I had ever known).  The traumas included
excessive shyness (most but not all the time - depending what I'd eaten)
bedwetting at age 4 and the shame and fear of punishment that goes with it,
nightmares that are still vivid today.  I seemed normal and even excelled
in school.
Most people don't realize that in addition to being difficult to live with,
an allergic child with behavior problems finds himself difficult to live
with.

I'm sorry that I rambled so long, I don't want to sound preachy but I want
to convey that I wish I could live my early formative years over and avoid
all the allergens.  I wonder what I would be like.  What would a "me" with
pleasant childhood memories be like?  Even a slight allergy can have a
tremendous influence on a mind that is just being formed.
Maria