Was she "glutened" or something else?

[gigismom]

For once I am posting about someone other than ds!  My dd (age 11 years) was diagnosed via muscle testing more than a year ago now with gluten sensitivity.  This really came a shock to me at the time because I had never thought of her having any food issues at all.  She had always been "high need" and had difficulty with emotional control.    As a toddler, she was the one having tantrums at the grocery store. As she got older she was still emotionally intense but we just chalked this up to her personality as she is also very bright and caring and responsible and lots of other postive things.  She started to have trouble in school in 4th grade and had difficulty with concentration.  She was tipping toward depression and was definitely anxious at times.   Anyway, we removed gluten and she became a new person emotionally.  She is now very stable, reliable, happy and solid as a rock emotionally.  She is a leader in her class and is not anxious about school.  She has no more problem concentrating and has to study about half as much as she used to.  She has essentially been on the GAPS diet for the past 10 months with these results.  In the past few weeks she has been wanting bread and asking for it more and more.  I purchased some gluten free bread for her to try.  She went a bit overboard and ate a whole loaf in a couple of days (including some that was toasted in the toaster where regular bread is also toasted).  She has been a MESS the past 2 days.  Crying, tantrums, depressed, difficulty concentrating, headaches.....  VERY difficulty and moody!  Is this cross contamination from the toaster or maybe she accidentally had some gluten somewhere else (though we can not figure it out yet)?  or was her gut just not ready to handle the sudden introduction of other grains after having been grain free for so long?  Clearly, she is back on GAPS (and glad to do it as she hates feeling this way).   So what do you think.... 
 

Also, what can I do to get her through this as quick as possible?  She is currently taking mag and I increased her vit c. She is also taking vit d, b12 and folinic acid and, of course, probiotic and fclo.  I have been telling her to drink lots of water.  Anything else?  Maybe an epsom salt bath?  She would probably love that as long as I could keep ds out of it!

thanks

jen

[rhesp1212]

I'm so sorry she's having an issue right now!! Sounds like you guys were doing really well. If it truly was the gluten that caused it, you could try giving her something like Bentonite clay to help absorb the toxins. You said that she has really been craving bread lately.....and she's 11. Any chance that she is nearing puberty and her first menstruation? Perhaps that could also attribute towards her mood swings as well. Either that or what kind of gluten free bread did you buy her? Does it have corn in it? Lots of kids get like that with a large amount of corn as well (mine does).

Hope she's feeling better quickly!!

Valerie

[gigismom]

thanks for the reply... the bread did have a lot of corn.  I had considered this too.  I don't think she is nearing puberty.  She does not have any of the pre-puberty signs.  Still looks like a little girl to me.  She is better today.  She also has a slight cold so this may have also contributed to over-all feeling of yuckiness but something else definitely was up with her.  She was CRAZY for 2 to 3 days.  She told me she is done with gluten free bread for now and when we decide to try again she is going to go very slow and we have to buy her a new toaster.  I think this is a good plan.  jen

[rhesp1212]

So very wise for her age!!! That sounds like a good plan and for what it's worth, it's wonderful that she is so aware of how she is feeling and it's link to foods. That will help her tremendously as she gets older and more independent!! Way to go Mamma in teaching her those life skills!! Hope I can do the same with my little one!

[danipoppins]

Corn is a major source of evil in our house (we're also gluten, dairy and peanut free as well as low phenols and two of us can't have soy).  Corn causes insane behaviors, as does too many phenols. 

The way we deal with the toaster issue is to get a 4 slot toaster.  When I was with my ex, the gluten bread went in one side while the non-gluten bread went in the other.  Now that no one in my house eats gluten, I got a new toaster and the whole toaster is gluten free.  My mom even has a 4 slot toaster at her house with two slots dedicated as gluten free.

Glad she's feeling better.  My DS is 9 and he's just starting to "get it"  in terms of the connection to when he eats something (usually high phenol foods) and he can't control himself emotionally.

[gigismom]

thanks for the replies... it is nice when kids start to take on more personal responsibility for their food choices.  This is certainly not the case for my 6yo.  She reacts to dairy but would eat milk chocolate all day long if I let her!  She definitely gets the connection with her eczema and does not enyoy suffering. She just loves her chocolate!  Ds (3yo) now knows that he is allergic to certain foods and does not have an issue if other people eat his allergy foods in front of him. 

dd1 is much better now... almost back to normal again.  thanks again for sharing your thoughts

jen