Re: Older Kids/Was just a few questions...

[Guest guest]

, thanks so much for the encouragement. I do hope I can stay the course

and do the tests and get her back on the diet. Cheerleading and wrestling

are about over with the other kids, so maybe this can become my new " hobby " .

Did your first year on the diet differ alot from other's experiences

because your child was older???? Were you dealing with SIBs? Are you doing

supplements as well and if so, did you start the supplements before or after

the diet?

April from SE Pa.- Simona's mom

[Guest guest]

> , thanks so much for the encouragement. I do hope I can stay

the course

> and do the tests and get her back on the diet. ... Did your first

year on the diet differ alot from other's experiences

> because your child was older???? Were you dealing with SIBs? Are

you doing

> supplements as well and if so, did you start the supplements before

or after

> the diet?

There doesn't seem to be a typical response to the diet, so this is

hard to answer. But whether there is a quick response or a slow,

steady one, I believe the diet is worth a 100% effort for as long as

possible. Just my opinion.

I began supplements before the diet, but Ian had a strong gag reflex,

so the diet was well underway before we got up to speed with CLO,

SNT, TMG, and some other stuff. He is very verbal and was very ill

and depressed when we started, so he understood that I was trying to

help him with the diet and he put up with the changes. He also cried

a lot, went through casein withdrawal, said he wanted to die. It was

terrible. Then things got better until 3 weeks in, which I put down

to gluten withdrawal. (And then there was the nystatin episode, the

rice withdrawal, the wheat paste incident, and so on....)

We went cold turkey, 100% gfcf overnight after seeing his test

results and meeting with a DAN doctor. I stayed up all night,

reading books on the diet and studying info on the internet. This is

not the preferred method! By morning, the cabinets were cleaned

out, and I was off to the store.

We also cut out aspartame/nutrasweet, reduced phenols, and use

transdermal secretin. In late August, we started mercury chelation.

Some testing that showed that we both have a heavy viral load, so

we've added monolaurin (via coconut oil) and are looking into

transfer factor. I use " we " because I became chronically ill a few

months before Ian starting being frequently ill and descended into

autism. I think there's something similar happening in us, and I

follow the diet and chelate, too, with good benefit and the support

of our doctor.

I feel presure to do everything I can NOW as we started combatting

autism late in the game. In addition to speech pragmatics & social

skills at school, Ian gets 15 hours with a therapeutic aide after

school and on Saturday to work on social skills in the community.

Ian's dramatic change has been noticed by the sped district office

personnel, two of whom now are quietly lending out copies of

's book and suggesting that parents call me.

Sorry this is long, but I feel strongly that newbies to this list

should know that older children can - and do - benefit from

interventions like the diet and chelation. I look forward to the day

that Ian joins the list of recovered kids.