MAJOR behavior changes through diet!!!

[LaLa]

I just had to share for anyone who may be in the boat we were in.

my bean was exhibiting bizarre behaviors taht only seemed to fit in with autistic children, yet she was not autistic.

she was said to look adhd by 3 education specialists, yet she does not have adhd.

she was said to have SID, yet she does not seem to fit the bill for that either.

I don't recall how we stumbeled onto this, exactly, but through much effort we came to learn she has a SLEW of allergies and food sensitivities.
I had her tested through Immuno Labs and found out that not only is she reactive to
-Gluten
-Dairy
and
-Soy

she is also reactive to
-Corn
-Egg

Since removing these things from her diet, she has changed dramatically.
I am confident that she will be happy and ready for school.

She no longer poop smears.
She is no longer tense all the time.
She no longer averts eye contact.
She no longer ignores people talking to her and she will even answer your questions now when she is in the middle of her own games.
She lets her family members hug and kiss her now and enjoys sharing hugs with her grandparents and friends.
She is happier.
She sleeps better.
She is better behaved.
She does not suffer from diaherra any longer.
She now enjoys playing with other children (used to just want to be alone)

This test cost us $400 and implementing the new diet has been a big struggle, but let you me tell you, it has been worth far more then the cost!
I am so happy and i Just want to share this with you mamas because I believe that the AP mamas here at MDC struggle so hard to know their children inside and out and to hear them when they are struggeling. I felt such depression at not being able to fix whatever was ailing my little bean for two years of struggles. And now I can do something to help her and to help everyone who shares her friendship and love.

For anyone who wants to chat about this more, let's keep this thread going! I know that there are many children who are acting out in ways that society would like to slap labels on and when it can be so simple as tracking down food sensitivities and getting them on a diet...well it is worth trying!

Also, the vaccinations she received are very likely a cause in her egg allergy (as we have been told by her doctors at this time).

Sending love to the mamas of
auctistic
aspergers
add
adhd
sid
spirited
sensory seeking
celiacs
and all other special needs

[pamelamama]

wow!

[bionicsquirrel]

Lala, thank you for posting this thread. I am in the middle of moving in with my MIL and her grandson who is labeled ADD. He is wonderful and very trying at the same time. DH and I have been helping them the past couple of days and really noticed just how badly he eats. I have always wondered how much of his "issues" are diet related, but do not want to push this on MIL for fear of making her feel that she is not doing a good job raising her grandson. I read the Mothering article on the Feingold Diet and have been interested in this issue since because I know personally how much additives in food affect my abilities, but never thought of allergies in foods causing the same things. I always thought of allergy problems being more internal, less emotional/mental. Thank you for opening my eyes to this and I am glad that you were able to find out what was happening to your bean. I can only imagine the relief you must be feeling.

[MyBaby'sSmile]

Wow Lala that is fantastic! It is such a powerful feeling when you gain that knowledge and insight into what is causing your child harm and you learn how you can help them. When you begin to see with your own eyes how your baby improves day by day it is an amazing feeling. Hugs to you for perservering and helping your little girl

There was a fantastic book I borrowed from the library last year. I can't recall the name at the moment, but I am headed there later on today so maybe I can find it. It was the story, told by the mother, of a family whose 3 year old was diagnosed with Autism. The mom and dad both had science backgrounds, and they did a lot of study on food and it's impact on the body. I do remember that one of the main support people in the author's life was a lady by the name of Lisa Lewis. Apparently she had a great website at the time. I haven't done any searches to find it yet. Anyway, the book describes the author's son's amazing progress, and the progress of other children. It is quite specific as to giving food guidelines as well.

Does anyone know this book?

My own son, 26 months, had severe reactions to egg whites. He has just started eating them again with no obvious reactions YAH! He is lactose intolerant, and cannot tolerate gluten products. He recently had the blood test (I can't remember what it was called) to test for gluten allergy, but it came up negative. I have heard that this really isn't a good predictor anyway. In the next few weeks I plan on testing certain gluten foods to see if it is just wheat or if it is gluten in general.

My son has always had toddler diarreha. I just couldn't accept this as a baby "phenomenon". He would wake up at 3 am screaming for toast! He absolutely loves it. But when he has gluten his energy level skyrockets and he likes to throw things etc.

Thank you for sharing your story Lala, and I hope that you don't mind that I shared mine. I have learned more being a mommy in the last two years than I ever did in six years of university LOL!

[LaLa]

oh please do share your stories mamas!

As for the tests for gluten...none are 100% accurate.

The blood test on a baby/toddler is not a great choice for accuracy.
There is a biopsy surgery that general doctors like to do to check for celiacs specifically, but that won't allert you to gluten sensitivities that may not be destroying villi.

Enterolabs does a stool test that is well respected among the celiac community and Immuno Labs does a food allergy testing. Bean tested for 3 of the 5 gluten containing grains, so we took her off gluten all together and we saw huge changes right away.

When she snuck one cracker, she got diaherra. Then no diaherra until she snuck about 7 cheerios and then diaherra again.

My bean also had what her doctor referred to as "toddler diaherra" as well as a non stop allergy ring and tons of rashes since birth.

Well, when her diaherra got so bad we were cleaning up messes every half an hour, that is when I decided to get drastic adn start changing her diet.
I took out dairy first and juice. She only gets about 8oz of juice a day, mixed with additional water (too much sugar previously).

That helped, but still trouble, so we took out soy. That helped, but the diaherra started up again pretty badly and that is how we first realized wheat/gluten was her main culprit. IT took us the longest to figure that out.
Then we did the ImmunoLab test and found out about the egg and corn.

What a relief to have that information!!!

I have read that some children cannot process the proteins in gluten and dairy (hence what is referred to as the autism diet of no gluten or dairy in a simplified way of saying...) and it transfer somehow into their systems and reacts similarly to a drug or mind altering chemical that reflects behavior changes. This was another big factor in us going gluten free because her poop smearing behavior seemed to be very directly linked to her eating gluten. When she was off gluten, she stopped and when she was on she started again and we took her off and she stopped almost immeadiately! I could find NO help for that problem in the 2 years that she exhibited the behavior!

Most importantly to me, bean is so much happier and healthier and we will be nipping what could have been long term health problems in the bud by getting these foods that are toxic to her body OUT of her system at such a young age.


I also read that Mothering Feingold diet article and I think it is a great idea for any child to get those dyes and artifical junk out of the system!

[LaLa]

You know, for anyone really interested in searching out your child's allergies, there is a way to do it at home without paying $$$

There is the elimination diet, but you have to eliminate SO many foods up front and then reintroduce them. That is the hard part. May people cannot fathom what to eat for a full day if you eliminate all the foods bean is allergic to.

Basically you need to eat a produce based diet of
fruits
veggies
non processed meats
beans
rice
quinoa
millet


that is a huge change for much of america, but it can be done! Trust me I'm living proof!


I will look for the website...
of course your child could get quite sick if they are very sensitive to a food and you take them off it and put them back on it, but if they are eating it now anyway, it may be your only chance to figure out the connection!

Also, some moms have success with kineseology/muscle testing for food allergies. We tried that and I think that it may be a good guide, but that it isn't the "answer".

For example, they told us bean was allergic to wheat, dairy, egg, corn, adn other gluten grains so the kineseologist was on the right track, and we took those things out of her diet, and when tested a month later they no longer showed up (maybe becuase they weren't in her system?) so they said to put her back on those foods...well that is when she got sick again.

So, not a fool proof appraoch, but possibly a good starting guide.

If I would have known then what I know now, I would not have reintroduced the gluten grains or dairy.
And as it stands I will not reintroduce any of her allergen foods anytime within the next year or more and definetly not until she has been entirely free of symptoms for a long long time! She still struggles with major sensitivities and reacts to even trace amounts of gluten, so cross contaimination is something we battle...

sorry to go on and on!

[PurpleBasil]

Originally Posted by LaLa

The blood test on a baby/toddler is not a great choice for accuracy.

But Immuno Labs uses blood to test for these food allergies in babies/toddlers, yes? So are you saying this isn't accurate? Thanks.

Such a wonderful story you've shared - thank you!!

Testing information
A. Prepare the testing specimen as follows:
1-3 tests require one full SST tube
4-6 tests require two full SST tubes
7 or more tests: 3 full SST tubes

That's a lot of blood from my toddler, I don't think he could handle it. What did you do? He would probably need more than 1-3 tests.

[MyBaby'sSmile]

We have been diarreha free for a week. DS grabbed a cracker off the table at our weekly playgroup yesterday. He had one nibble. Maybe an eight of an inch was gone from the cracker - horrible diarreha first thing this morning. Of course cross contamination of the rice cakes he was eating probably contributed some.

I had read in a celiac article that millet is usually not tolerated by most celiacs as it is often grown in the same fields as wheat or something to that effect. Ds loves millet and we eat it a lot, but I haven't given it to him in the last few weeks. I will have to try it again and see what happens.

[wholegrainmama]

Wow, thanks for this information!! I have really been wanting to look into this more, my dd has a lot of those characteristics, especially averting eye contact, not really wanting to be hugged or kissed, and not playing well with other children. We are most definitely cutting all dairy, eggs, and processed foods, and I'd really like to try a gluten-free diet, too. It all seems so overwhelming, though.. especially when everyone else in our family can eat a seemingly "normal" diet and is fine. Not that we all wouldn't benefit greatly as well, but still. It's such a paradigm shift for my dh.. it has taken him a lot longer to get out of the "I grew up on that stuff and I am fine" mindset.
Anyway! Thanks again for the info. I am so glad to hear that it's working so well for your babe!

[LaLa]

playdoh, it is a different type of blood test then what your doctor will run when they are checking for celiacs.

The immunolabs does a culture with the blood for each of the foods they are testing and then they read antibody levels in how they react to each food (or don't react)

then they send us a report with her reactive foods and level of severity for each food as well as a list of foods she did not react to and a sample rotation diet for 4 days to try. Of course, that is not fool proof as it says she can eat oatmeal, but like millet, oatmeal is processed with barley and she gets diaherra when she eats it.
But it is a great starting point!


Mrpeabody'smom I have read that too about millet and we havent' tried it in a while! It took me a while to see that oatmeal was a culprit, so I suspect millet could do the same! I'm sorry about your little one getting sick!

wholegrainmama, you can sneak the gluten free diet in on your hubby with replacement foods. There are mock foods for almost everything from bread to cheese!
You still want to avoid hydrogenated oils, but look at sites like Missrobens.com
Ener-G.com
glutenevolution.com
and others.

You'll see there are a TON of answers for the eating problems. You will likely find resources at local grocery and health food stores...you'll just have to really search them out!

My dh doesn't like the idea of being gluten free etc, but he doesn't mind at all when I serve a meat, potatoe, veggies and some fruit dessert.
He doesn't even realize we are "missing" anything.

YKWIM?

And they make fantastic pasta noodles out of rice

[PurpleBasil]

Sorry, I should have included that my quote was from the Immuno Lab website. Those are their instructions for testing for food allergies, not celiac disease only.

I just completed a blood test (finger prick) for 150 different foods as my IgE levels were very high as well as my other symptoms after dairy and wheat indicated food allergies.

But my son has never had a blood draw (NO heelstick or anything) and I'm concerned about that. He is very, very sensitive.

What was the blood draw for your daughter and how was that performed?

TIA.

[thoesly]

Originally Posted by Mrpeabody'smom

There was a fantastic book I borrowed from the library last year. I can't recall the name at the moment, but I am headed there later on today so maybe I can find it. It was the story, told by the mother, of a family whose 3 year old was diagnosed with Autism. The mom and dad both had science backgrounds, and they did a lot of study on food and it's impact on the body. I do remember that one of the main support people in the author's life was a lady by the name of Lisa Lewis. Apparently she had a great website at the time. I haven't done any searches to find it yet. Anyway, the book describes the author's son's amazing progress, and the progress of other children. It is quite specific as to giving food guidelines as well.

Does anyone know this book?

The book is Unraveling the Mystery of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder: A Mother’s Story of Research and Recovery by Karyn Seroussi. She and Lisa Lewis publish the ANDI newsletter and they have a website, too. Lisa Lewis has two books -- Special Diets for Special Kids (I and II). All three books are good for getting the basics of the science and some starter recipes, but I never use them anymore because only a handful of recipes turned out really well for me.

A good resource for food allergies and elimination diets is Is This Your Child? by Doris Rapp. And Living Without (magazine and website) is a good all-around food sensitivity source, though it started out as a celiac publication.

A search of threads here at Special Needs will pull up even more information for you. It's pretty rare to encounter a mama whose child has autism, ADHD, sensory issues, etc who hasn't tried dietary intervention.

The only warning I offer people is to not be disappointed if it's not a miracle solution. For most of us, dietary interventions are necessary to improve our child's quality of life, but they don't produce the miracle turnaround illustrated in Seroussi's book. My own son has to be gluten-free, casein-free, soy-free, yeast/mold-free, and dye-free or he suffers physically, mentally, emotionally, behaviourally, cognitively, etc, etc. But following the dietary restrictions doesn't make him less autistic. And even when he went on a food strike for several days, he was still autistic. Diet is powerful, but not a cure-all for most.

Good luck,

Tara

[MyBaby'sSmile]

Yes, that the one I just returned from the library and (gotta love the small libraries) I was able to find it again.

A wonderful cookbook that I am using 95% of the time, and DH loves the menus I make from it, is called Wheat-free Recipes and Menus by Carol Fenster, Ph.d.

What I am trying to find ideas for though is how to replace yogurt and cheese. I don't think rice cheese is suitable for cooking is it? And DS loves yogurt. I wish there was something I could substitute for that. He only ate plain, organic once in a while with some added fruit.

[Unreal]

you can cook with rice cheese, but it is $$$ and it has casein in it, if that is an issue. If not, it is good on pizza, grilled cheese, quesadillas, etc.

an alternative that has worked great for my family is nutritional yeast. It is great on EVERYTHING you would put cheese on. I make a quick cheesy sauce for macaroni by adding nutritional yeast, olive oil, and rice milk to the pot o' pasta. I don't measure, but basically follow the boxed mac & cheese ratios.

I also have a recipe for cheesy-sauce made from nut. yeast, if anyone wants it. It is good for lasagna/baked ziti, pizza, and even for veggie dip


eta: I totally forgot to say YAY LALA!!

I've always had food allergies/sensitivities and hoped I could avoid passing them on to my kiddos. Ds1 seems to have real problems with foods with coloring and that sort of stuff, but that is really all. Ds2, however, seems to have all my problems but even more pronounced than mine are/were
It must be such a relief to have a system down with safe foods. I always feel so bad when ds has a reaction to food--since most times I know I could have prevented it, and I know how cruddy it feels to get sick from food

[MyBaby'sSmile]

Is nutritional yeast the same thing as Brewer's Yeast?
I would love to have the recipe for the cheese sauce.

[Unreal]

nope--definitely not the same.

Here is a link from bulkfood about nut. yeast.
http://www.bulkfoods.com/yeast.htm

I'll go grab my recipe and type it up and some other info

[sohj]

T

Unreal, please post them on Good Eating!

And can you estimate with the quantities for the "cheese" sauce? Like, umm, 1 handfull of yeast....or whatever.

[Hope'smom]

Re:

Have you read the book IS THIS YOUR CHILD? by Doris Rapp?
In it, she talks about all the various reasons that kids act up and have sleep problems and behavior problems due to food sensitivities.
I have it and love it. My dd has DSI (some call it SID).
You can get this book used on Amazon.com.

Glad to hear that diet is helping.

[Unreal]

link to cheesy sauce recipe

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...44#post1772844

and, for the quick sauce, for about a pound o' macaroni I guess I use about 1/2 cup of nut. yeast flakes (a big handful) and then about 2 Tbsp olive oil and enough milk to help it coat everything...hmm maybe I'll try measuring next time

[MyBaby'sSmile]

Glad I asked :LOL

I can just picture DH's face biting into a brewer's yeast lasagna!

I'll have to hunt that down. I have read about it before, but thought it was brewer's yeast and didn't try the recipe.