Our Experiences of the Benefits of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet

[Guest guest]

I wonder if our SCD experience will help? We wrote this summary

awhile back. Our little boy, Eddie, has been SCD about 5.5 months

now and his progress has continued very well indeed. We are

following the DAN guidelines but we are sure SCD helped. And as

you'll see below, Eddie was GFCF from 4 months for allergy reasons

and he still developed autism. Only changing his diet to SCD made a

noticeable difference (and what a difference!).

Very best wishes

Sandy (mum to Eddie early onset autism 2 yr 5 mo SCD about 5.5 mo)

Our Experiences of the Benefits of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet

Our son, Eddie, was gluten-free and casein-free from the age of four

months for allergy reasons (milk caused eczema and he had an

anaphylactic reaction to his first contact with wheat). Despite this,

Eddie still developed autism which we eventually identified when he

was about 18 months. At the time, he was relying heavily on soya

milk; was a very fussy eater (nothing with any texture, and only a

limited set of tastes and colours - mostly pudding); was a very poor

sleeper; and would stim for long periods, kicking his heels on the

floor. He was also very slow to learn to walk, was anxious (often

hysterical) in unfamiliar surroundings and no language skills had

even begun to develop.

Following the DAN protocol, we knew that it was necessary to remove

soya from his diet as soon as possible. We did this with great

difficulty as he was actually deriving most of his nutrition from the

soya milk and hardly digested real food at all. The benefits were

obvious within days, however, and so we were determined to stick with

it. His sleeping improved and his stimming reduced almost

immediately. His behaviour and general awareness improved also, but

we still saw a great deal of scope for improvement. Notable worries

were that he was getting very lethargic after every meal; his poo

indicated that he was clearly not digesting his food properly; and he

was losing weight at an alarming rate.

Around four months ago, we went a stage further and made Eddie's diet

100% SCD. This was difficult again, removing potato, rice, etc. but

has resulted in the most dramatic improvements that we have seen to

date. His once paranoid anxiety has reduced; stimming is now a

distant memory; language is beginning to emerge; he always willingly

feeds himself now; he greets us, gives us kisses and wants us to play

with him and he is so much more involved with the world around him

than ever before.

We are in no doubt that a gluten-free, casein-free, soya-free diet

alone would not have allowed Eddie to recover. It is obvious now that

he had a highly infested and damaged gut. Along with regular pro-

biotics, the specific carbohydrate diet has been an essential factor

in reducing Eddie's intestinal fungi, healing his digestive system

and reversing his decline into autism. We highly recommend everyone

with an autistic child to give the SCD a serious trial. It's not easy

but it's also not as hard as you think it will be (you soon find ways

of speeding up the cooking and preparation) and the rewards can be

tremendous.

Tim and Sandy (Mum and Dad to Eddie)

>

> I am new to this group, and I will admit that I have not yet

invested

> in the book. My 5yo son is on the spectrum with yeast/leaky gut

AND

> anaphylactic reactions to pnuts and tree nuts.

> Life is a roller coaster where we do well for 2-4 months and then

> regress for no apparent reason.

> We have tried GFCF twice with no obvious results. I am trying to

> decide if I can muster the energy/money to try SCD without any

nuts.

> Can you convince me/encourage me to try it? How long before I can

> expect to see results?

>