Our son is almost 4 and we just returned from Disney World.

Up to this point we haven't stress dosed for emotional stress. However, I am starting to re-think the issue. Being at Disney was an emotional roller coaster with him. He was just awful. Typically he is active and a little high maintenance, but generally a pretty well-behaved and polite kid. He typically has a complete tantrum/melt-down once or twice month. At Disney he had multiple melt downs per day.

This is kind of hard to explain because I don't want it to seem like I advocate drugging him up every time he is ill behaved - but when he really melts down it is very different from just  being difficult. He totally loses it, gets all shaky, and is completely irrational. It is beyond normal nearly- 4 yr old behavior.

I have noticed in emotionally charged situations, like Disney, his meal patterns get out of sinc and his diet becomes less healthy. I have a strong hunch the food quality and frequency is the cause of his lack of emotional control. He seems very sensitive to timing of food and how healthy it is. (Actually, I tend to be the same way.) I suspect his cortisol is drained more quickly dealing with all the exitement (physical and emotional) and thus there is less cortisol left to help control his blood sugar levels. 

We just had labs done and I haven't heard the results yet. If they come back showing he is undersuppressed my theory may be shot - but I thinkhis levels will be right on or a little oversuppressed. If so, I will start doing small increases (2.5-5mg) for extreme situations and see if there is a difference.