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Post by DanielsMomNDad on Oct 28, 2004 15:06:45 GMT -5
Ok, we are nearly at the end of our rope!
DS is 8 and diagnosed with aspergers (high functioning autism) and bipolar subtype (Amen Clinic, August 2004). He was first diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 5. We have tried Ritalin, Adderal, chlonodine, celexa, and now Abilify. All with disasterous results! The last was the scarriest by far. He started coughing, then wheezing and throat started to swell. We rushed him to the emergency room and he is fine now.
We have tried elimination diets before and didn't see any change but after that experience decided that we should try again. If he is having so many reactions to these drugs there must be a good chance he is also reacting to food. We started a GF/CF diet last week and have seen some progress.
I bought the book by Karen DeFelice "Enzymes for Autism and other Neurological Disorders." It is great. I just ordered Houston Enzymes today and hope to see some improvement with them.
Does anyone have any ideas for my highly sensitive boy??
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Post by rosyred45 on Oct 28, 2004 18:40:07 GMT -5
"We started a GF/CF diet last week and have seen some progress."
Can I ask what a GF/CF diet is?
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Post by DanielsMomNDad on Oct 28, 2004 19:35:49 GMT -5
The diet is gluten free and casein free. Gluten refers to protein from small ceral grains such as wheat, barley, rye and oats. Casein refers to protein in dairy products. In his book, "A user Guide to the GF/CF diet," Luke Jackson explains, "people on the autistic spectrum do not completely break down gluten and casein. Because these proteins are not broken down properly, they end up as little bits called peptides. These peptides pass through the wall of the stomach, which is often damaged and "leaky" in kids like me. Gluten breaks down into a peptide called gluteomorphine and casein breaks down into a peptide called caseomorphorphine. These peptides whizz around the body and cause people to become literally addicted to them. As you can guess by the name, these have the effect of morophine (or heroin). By removing the offending foods from your child's diet, the production of these peptides stops and so the 'heroin" effect stops too, resulting in changes in behaviour." There is a ton of information on the web, but try www.gfcfdiet.com. The first couple of days on this diet was very challenging considering DS drank at least 3 glasses of milk (whole organic) everyday! He was very upset not to get his milk to say the least. But, by day 3 we started to see a change. He was not as emotional or irratable. We actually went for a few days with no fighting between he and his brother.  I am learning that enzyme supplements can help with the digestion of food that cause allergic reactions or food intollerances. Check out www.houstonni.com. It is all very interesting . |
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Post by catatonic on Oct 28, 2004 23:33:36 GMT -5
I've heard many positive reports about the digestive enzymes. I ordered some from Houston for my son and we gave them a trial period and found that he doesn't do well with them. They caused very unpleasant behavioral reactions along with some digestive problems. GF/CF may be very helpful for autism or aspergers. The clinical research on it isn' very good or very conclusive, but the anecdotal evidence is very convincing. I know that a number of families use GF/CF in conjunction with the Feingold diet with excellent results. Feingold helps dramatically with the acting out type of ADHD behaviors. It's certainly restrictive to combine both diets, but since drugs haven't been successful for your son, it sounds like you're going to have to walk the hard road. I'm really sorry. Those anaphylactic reactions are truly terrifying and that must have been an awful experience for you. Take a look at the Feingold website at www.feingold.org and browse some of the scientific research links on autism/pdd/asperger's. One study I found particularly interesting postulates a link between autism and the inability to metabolize certain types of foods, including the high-phenol foods, in addition to the gluten/casein issues you're already addressing. |
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Post by rosyred45 on Oct 29, 2004 6:54:16 GMT -5
Thanks for the clarification, now (((((((((((hugs)))))))))) for you all. One thing that I remember from an allergist was that a true food allergy may be present, but the child also has nasal allergies as well. Sorta makes sense, but from all of the kids that I work with, one can't have peanut butter. Not because of life threatening consequenses, but because of behavior  I had never heard of that before her, but she lives down the road from us, and she has changed dramatically since eliminating PB  Keep us updated on what works with this diet. |
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Post by DanielsMomNDad on Oct 29, 2004 15:45:55 GMT -5
Thanks for the hugs and support!  |
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Post by rosyred45 on Nov 1, 2004 12:23:01 GMT -5
How's everything going so far?
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