My son has lots of diarrhea for 6 months. He already did the headbanging when he's frusterated.
I feel like the leaky gut theory applies to him, so I started him GF/CF with hopes that this will help the autism. His diarrhea has gone from 6 diapers a day to 2-3, with only a week of GF/CF. I'm hoping with doing this we can clear him out and then he'll be able to pay attention to therapy.
Oh well another night of withdrawals. I have him in an epsoum(sp?) salt bath. It was recommended to me, and it can't hurt him, so I'm giving it a try with hopes he'll get rest tonight.
Thanks for your reply.
Little Byrd is very knowledgable about this. She did post an explanation about why behaviors can get worse after starting the GF/CF diet before they get better.
http://www.autism-pdd.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=21235&am p;PN=1
Something else to consider is yeast. Sometimes going on the gfcf diet you are eliminating many of the things that yeast like to feed on such as simple carbs and sugar. When yeast die, they release toxins that are not healthy to the body. If a bunch die at once, then the child is getting a large dose of toxins which can cause behavioral issues and health probs. Here is some more info on yeast.
Yeast overgrowth – leaky gut
http://www.autism.org/candida.html
http://www.stillpointhealth.com/Page.html
http://www.stillpointhealth.com/AntifungalParadeTreatment.ht ml
http://www.healing-arts.org/children/antifungal.htm
http://www.autismwebsite.com/ari/newsletter/candida.htm
http://www.autismndi.com/gut.htm
http://www.greatplainslaboratory.com/yeast.html (you can also order testing here)
http://www.expertwaterproofing.com/html/autism.html
http://www.enzymestuff.com/conditionbacteria.htm
http://www.yeastconnection.com/
http://osiris.sunderland.ac.uk/autism/durham95.html
Yeast Books:
Biological Treatments for Autism and PDD (Revised 2002 Ed) by William Shaw
Children with Starving Brains (2007) by Jaquelyn McCandless
Biomedical Assessment Options for Children with Autism and Related Problems (2005) by SM Baker, MD and Jon Pangborn, PhD
These books are not directly related to autism, but have great information:
Yeast Connection Handbook (1999) by William Crook
Yeast Connection, Medical Breakthrough (1987) by William Crook
Yeast Connection Cookbook; Guide to Good Nutrition and Better Health (1989) by William Crook
I feel for you !!! hugs
IMHO
I would check out that there is no medical problem - my little one started head banging 2 weeks ago and I thought it was her meds and now I figure she has a sinus infection and am treating that and head banging stopped . We also went dairy free 7 months ago and we saw a great change and improvement in behavor. I have heard the gluten takes longer to see the change.
And maybe this is not for him - what made you change his diet?
It is the worst to watch helpless as they are in pain . ( tears)
We stopped milk 2 weeks ago and went GF since friday. My son has spent the last 2 nights screaming, sweating, red faced. Last night he fell asleep on the floor. Tonight he started headbanging. My DD held him for a while and then I took him and held him while he screamed and then he fell asleep.
OMG I feel like I'm watching someone going through DTs. It's horrible.
Couldn't you use Yogurt? or is that not considered Casein free? I always heard yogurt was good for yeast. I know that they sell the powder with the cultures if your kids can't or won't eat yogurt. I'm looking at doing a candida cleanse on Daniel/I both. How do you get the antifungals from a dr. Daniel did that when he had thrush as a baby.