New with questions

June 26, 2001

Hi, Penney;

After reading Seroussi's article in Parents magazine in Feb.

2000, I had my son tested for gluten and casein only. The

screening showed a high intolerance to both. I then put him on the

diet. After more research, I put him back on gluten for awhile,

tried cod liver oil (no results), then did a full range of testing

for allergies and yeast. He again showed problems for gluten, casein

and eggs and some other somewhat elevated scores. He also had a

yeast problem. Over the course of the next year, I removed many more

foods that my son became intolerant of, plus had him on the Feingold

and Candida diet.

My son started the HNI enzymes about nine weeks ago. My intent was

to use them with the diet for occasional infractions. After eating

restaurant food with the enzymes and observing no reactions, I

quickly changed my mind and gave the enzymes with every meal. Within

two weeks, we saw many improvements which were confirmed by school

personnel. I continued to allow planned diet infractions.

Gradually, after feeling confident that no behavioral reactions were

surfacing, I added back a variety of foods. After several weeks; I

realized my son was no longer eating rice crackers; garbonzo bean

cookies; and egg-free, yeast-free, vinegar-free rice bread. In fact,

he was eating only " regular " foods. I did not admit for awhile that

I allowed him completely to eat the foods I so recently viewed

as " poison " ; it transpired so much quicker than I intended. I think

I moved through this process rapidly because my son's food reactions

in the past were so obvious and consistent. Therefore, I was

comfortable making the assessment that he was not having any food

reactions once on the enzymes.

I would encourage you to plan out your course of action carefully. I

think remaining on the diet at first while on the enzymes is

advisable in most cases. If your son has a reaction to the enzymes,

you want to be sure of the source of the problem. Once confident

your son can tolerate the enzymes, then you could consider adding

back a variety of foods.

My son's behavior has improved in many ways and he also looks so much

healthier. You can read about him in the " Success Stories " located

in the " Files " section you can click on to the left in the yellow box.

Please keep us updated whatever the outcome may be.

Kelley

> Hi:

>

> I am brand new to the group as of today. First I'll give

> you a little background before the questions. My son

> was diagnosed autistic at two. He will be five next month.

> We have done ABA/VB therapy for two years. We have been

> chelating him for toxic metals for exactly one year and

> have been doing FGF(Fibroblast Growth Factor)injections

> for nine months. He has been treated on many different

> occassions for yeast and also clostridium. He has been

> on the GFCF diet for 19 months. I had the test done

> on him. He is basically intolerant to almost everything.

> He's not suppose to have gluten, casein, soy (IMPOSSIBLE),

> rice, yeast, eggs, peanuts and other nuts, and I can't

> even remember everything else right now. Even with all these

> interventions, he is still cognitively at maybe two years old.

>

> The diet is the most frustrating and difficult part of

> his autism right now. I think we would both be so much

> happier if he could eat whatever. I had only given him

> Kirkman's Enzymaid when he got something by accident.

> The diet never showed any major changes for us. I do

> think casein is and always will be a problem. I've never

> really did a challenge with the diet other than accidents.

> But I'm really frustrated with it. All he will eat are

> french fries, corn chips, Kosher hot dogs and apple juice.

> Saturday my daughter had two friends over. During the course of

> the day Kenzie got a poptart, two oreos and a graham cracker.

> These foods are generally pretty well hidden and prohibited and

> my girls arent' allowed to eat them in front of him. Well of

> course, he was diggin' that good stuff and now he's constantly

> wanting me to open the pantry and get these foods.

>

> Finally, my question. I'm wondering how many of you have had

> your children tested and showed they should be on the diet but

> are using digestive enzymes successfully with the forbidden foods.

> What enzymes are you using and how many per day? I'm so afraid

> to take him off the diet for fear of eventual regression but I'm

> so sick of him not eating anything and wanting what's bad for

> him. He's not good at trying new " safe " foods but always willing

> to go for the bad stuff. I just don't want to throw away 19 months

> of this diet and yet I would love to get information that says

> with the enzymes it would be ok. I am working with a holistic

> physician who completely believes in the value of the diet.

>

> Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

>

> Thanks

> Penny

June 26, 2001

Your son sounds EXACTLY like mine. My son reacts to ALL foods

except maybe 6, but I have never had him tested, I just learned

everything by trial and error. If you go to the files section on the

left here, go to success stories, and then Dana, you can read my son's

story. The HNI enzymes do help him with most foods, but not all, and

I do have to be careful about the balance of foods I give him,

especially foods high in phenols.

I use the Peptizyde for gluten/casein/proteins, and the Zyme Prime for

carbs/fats/other stuff. One capsule per meal, sometimes more if I

know he will be over-eating " problem " foods.

I would recommend you begin with enzymes while still gfcf, for about a

week or two, to see if your son does okay with them. Then if you

would like, you can do infractions. I am still trying to figure out

certain things and foods my son can eat with the enzymes, but I have

found that I can give at least one meal per day with gluten/casein, so

long as it is not too much gluten/casein. My son has been gfcf for 18

months, and the introduction of gluten/casein last month has not

brought me any problems, provided like I said before that I monitor

just exactly how much of it he eats per meal. My biggest problem now

is phenols. There are some highly phenolic foods that my son just

cannot eat even with enzymes. But some he can eat in small amounts.

But that sure is better than eating only the 6-7 foods I was giving

him before. I introduce one new food every 2-3 days, I tried honey

first, then potatoes, then bananas, etc. Those foods were okay. The

peanut butter was a definite NEGATIVE. Also he did not do well with

apricots and cantalope, which are both orange so therefore high in

phenols, but then so are bananas so go figure. Anyway introduce new

foods that your son previously reacted to, one at a time.

For your first g/c infraction, you can do casein instead of gluten,

because if the enzymes don't help your son, at least all the casein

leaves his body after 3 days anyway. Then if that works okay, try a

little gluten, like maybe one cracker or something, and see what

happens. Do give the infractions with an entire Peptizyde capsule

tho, and open it first instead of giving the whole capsule, because

they take too long to dissolve. That way you have the best chance of

seeing if the enzyme will allow you to have infractions or whatever.

I think there is also information in the files section on how to give

the enzymes too.

Well good luck to you.