Is anyone on a gluten free diet?

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Permalink Reply by Heather Tyler on March 10, 2011 at 8:00am

My son has been on a gf/cf/egg free diet for almost 2 years now.   Almost immediately we saw a difference in his attention span.  He is generally 'happier' - Ben never says if he is feeling ill or has a tummy ache or anything so it is hard to know if he was feeling ill while on a typical diet.  His allergies have completely gone away, his eczema is gone, and he has not even had a cold for 2 yrs.  A dietary change has a very positive effect here!

 

Heather

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Permalink Reply by Michelle Abbott on March 10, 2011 at 9:58pm

I don't know where to begin...  My daughter does the GF/CF/SF (soy) diet and we see a signficant change in how she feels.  My daughter has a lot of gut issues and it plays a large part on how she feels.  For instance, two weeks ago I did a food challenge test and let her have anything for a whole weekend.  I didn't see a huge difference that night except for some running to the bathroom BUT a few days later...it was misery for her and everyone around her.  She screamed, tantrumed, self insured, etc.... it was getting intense.  I called her GI doc and said "should I clean her out" and he said "yes."  I got magnesium sulfate and clean her gut out and resumed the special diet.  Her behaviors and distress steaming has stopped.  In addition to the behaviors, her language seems to decrease as well as her attention and focus when she consumes certain foods.  For us, it also includes some fruits and vegtables which I know sounds weird.

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Permalink Reply by Leah Pereira on May 17, 2011 at 7:18pm

Our whole family is GF at this point and yes, it makes a huge difference here.  Both girls are on the spectrum and keeping their diet GF has changed their behavior and their health for the better.  I highly recommend it!

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Permalink Reply by Courtney Fauvel on May 17, 2011 at 7:43pm

Hello :o)

My son was on a gluten/casein free diet for almost three years. There were many positive changes including better attention and eye contact, which was a huge achievment for us. We recently switched to a ketogenic diet however, to control seizures. The gfcf diet was difficult to follow, because sometimes gluten and casein are hidden in foods that claim to be gfcf. For example, rice dream rice milk claimed to be gluten free and after about 6 months of using that brand, I discovered that barley was used in production... not enough that it had to be listed as an ingriedent, but not all traces of it were removed. That makes a big difference. Towards the end of our use of the diet however, I was a pro at being a gluten and casein detective and trips to the food store weren't so terrifying. In my opinion the hardest part of the diet was weaning my son off of gluten and casein, and having him go through the withdrawls. I would recommend this diet to anyone, the benefits are huge, and even though it seems like they won't, kids adjust to the diet well. When we switched to ketogenic (no sugar, high protein) my son absolutely loved rice milk and wouldn't touch regular cow's milk. My point is that there's going to be challenges with everything. It helps to have a group like this for support and ideas too, I didn't have that when I was gfcf :o)

Take care and best of luck :))

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Permalink Reply by Gayle Provost on May 20, 2011 at 10:05pm

We went Gluten free about 1 1/2 years sgo and saw a HUGE change, it was like my son (diagnosed with autism at 2 years 4 months) came out of a fog.  My son began to make eye contact, he began to notice peers, he started to speak spontaneously, he stopped waking in the middle of the night screaming, he began to play with toys with purpose, he began to pretend and his staring episodes improved.  When we eliminated Casein his Pica completely stopped.  We have found if my son gets gluten accidently he is almost guarenteed to wake in the middle of the night screaming.  My daughter (who is 17 months younger than her brother) has been GFCFSF as well and we find her constipation issues will worsen if she gets gluten.  She was recently diagnosed with Aspergers and it was brought up that we wonder if her symptoms of autism would be more severe if she wasn't GFCF (especially because my sons improvement was so dramatic).  We are now organic, GFCFSF and my kids are healthier now than ever!  We also use supplements under the supevision of a doctor for both children and have seen some amazing improvements in health and behavior with these as well.  I hope this helps!  Best wishes!

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Permalink Reply by Patricia A Cook on May 21, 2011 at 10:20am

We tried the gluten free casein free diet for 6 mos and unfortunately, we did not see improvements.  My understanding it does work for some children and not others and you see more improvements in the children who do have digestive issues.

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Permalink Reply by bbryant on May 24, 2011 at 9:37am

It is surprising what certain foods can do in your body. My nephew had eye tics. He now avoids foods with magnesium antagonists. Now that he is getting more magnesium in his diet, his tics have completely gone away. I wonder if his behaviors would be affected if he switched to a GF/CF diet? I wonder if people who are not on the spectrum would benefit from diet changes?

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Permalink Reply by Gayle Provost on May 24, 2011 at 4:36pm

It's my understanding that the GFCF diet originally was for children with ADHD.  I have heard many stories about children and adults who have gone GF/CF and have had improvements in their health too!  It isn't for everyone though.  Remember the saying, "When you've met one child with Autism, you've met ONE child with Autism."  What helps one child may not help another.  It's all about finding what that particualr child needs.

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