GFCF Diet - updateHere's my original post- from September 17,2005 When DS was diagnosed at 18 months, We, like everyone else started reading about Autism- both books and on the internet. Everywhere you look, you will find information about the GFCF diet. After reading about it, it didn't quite make sense to me, but I heard these incredible stories of progress and recovery. The question "what if?" kept popping into my head. Finally after DS's 2nd birthday we tried the diet. We tried gluten free and casein free first then added soy free. We even cut out most corn from his diet. We tried it for 6 months. At 21 months, DS had started an ABA program and was making great progress. On the diet he continued to do well. But we didn't see any dramatic change so after 6 months we stopped. Well since we have stopped ( about 6 weeks ago), DS has started speaking in sentences, making great eye contact. Just wanted to share my experience. O.k. I did something similar. I put my daughter on a strict gf/cf diet and only did it for 2 months before I felt like I was losing my mind. I then took her off because we went on vacation, I had truly seen no change...no change of personality, speech, bowels, nothing;however, I did notice that once she ate gluten or casein that she went bonkers for about 15 minutes (maybe sugar rush?) not one of typical symptoms, but nothing else; I am still limiting her intake, while awaiting an appointment at a DAN Dr., but I have noticed that she is extremely weepy nowdays..I don't know if hypersensitivity is a sign or not. I have a feeling that once I see the DAN Dr. that I will be back on the diet....we shall see. Wow, I am impressed that he is back to improving already with the diet. How many days has he been back on it? I figure the diet can't hurt them, so why not use it? We do plan to take Jadengrace off it for a few days, to be sure it is working. It's hard to tell wth a child who never had any loose stools, etc... Maia, I had a similar experience. We allowed our son to have gluten for 4 weeks so that the GI doc could do testing for Celiac Disease (which came back negative, btw). We did not allow dairy, though, because he reacts very quickly to dairy in his system and has since birth (messy, foul smelling bms - ugh!, plus rashes and behavioral issues). Ds did real well with the gluten for about 6 weeks, then started regressing and developed eczema, stimming, etc. Apparently, that is how long it took for gluten to build up enough in his system for him to have a reaction. This is also not all that uncommon of a response. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. The gut had an extended period of time to heal, then you go and reintroduce gluten and it takes a little bit before the damage is done again and the child begins to react. HTH, Vic I agree, i think the gluten takes time to build up and that's why we see the regression a few weeks after stopping the diet. Danielle i found a website not sure if it will help but check it out if you want www.glutensolutions.com i got a catalog from them yesterday and the prices seem to be pretty resonable and they tell you for every item what it is free ofLuke has been casein-free for about 3 mos and we're now starting him on a gluten-free diet. He seems to be much more alert, affectionate, and interactive when he doesn't eat gluten ... we notice this in just a little over a week. Is it coincidence? I don't know ... but the final remnants of the red circles under his eyes have gone. It came back briefly when we gave him his anti-bx (he had an ear infxn last week) and I suspect it had red dye #40 in it (be/c it was red). No more dyes for him either! He's going to be one of the healthiest kids on the block (diet-wise)! Hey has anybody heard or know about any relationship between dyes and children behavior? I had heard it does.We were letting our daughter have popsicles this summer and one of our therapists said they have dye in them which could make her behave badly. I don't know if I can believe her or not. She is pretty ditsy.[QUOTE=Hugs4Lovebug]Hey has anybody heard or know about any relationship between dyes and children behavior? I had heard it does. We were letting our daughter have popsicles this summer and one of our therapists said they have dye in them which could make her behave badly. I don't know if I can believe her or not. She is pretty ditsy.[/QUOTE] I love the last sentence of your post!  Dyes have in fact been found to cause poor behavior in some kids. Red dye in particular. I wish I had a link for you but I don't.  [QUOTE=Hugs4Lovebug]Hey has anybody heard or know about any relationship between dyes and children behavior? I had heard it does. Absolutely! Any artificial ingredients, whether they are colorings or flavorings, can cause problems for our kiddos, but the dyes can be particularly bad. There have been a number of studies linking food dyes with ADHD symptoms/behaviors, and by extension, to ASDs because they share so many symptoms. Here are some links to good sites that explain the relationship between artificial colorings/dyes and behavior: http://diet-studies.com/adhd.html http://www.chem-tox.com/pregnancy/artificial.htm http://www.mothering.com/articles/growing_child/education/ad hd.html http://borntoexplore.org/allergies.htm http://www.deliciouslivingmag.com/magazine/index.cfm?fuseact ion=article&articleid=671 Vic |
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