Re: When does the clock start ticking?

[Guest guest]

For us it took probaly 6-7 months into the diet to start seeing the die off

of the gluten. One big thing that started happening was my son had the

horrible gas. When casein left the system that's when he language and

communicating exploded but when the gluten left that's when he could really

reason with us and understand what we were saying and we could understand

him. As it has been said before just a little bit of gluten is like a little

bit of cocaine. It is still going to give you that high and you won't go

through complete withdrawal of it until it is something you no longer use.

Yes, it is very, very, very hard. I cried and cried the first few months of

this diet but for the wonderful results I have gotten all that crying and

frustration was worth it. We are all here to help and no question is a

stupid question. Good luck and let us know the progress.

MA

[Guest guest]

At 01:12 am 7/13/01 +0000, you wrote:

>My son has been on the GFCF diet since mid-May, but has had a

>few slip ups where some gluten or casein has made it into his body.

My son 's been CF since Thanksgiving day and GF since mid-December.

Slip ups and cheating episodes used to be common; now he's doing his best

to stay on the diet himself but certainly there must be times he's getting

stuff he shouldn't.

How old is your son? was 4 when we started.

>As casein seems to leave the body fairly quickly, we have been able to see

>the reaction when he gets an overload of dairy products.

Shortly after went on the diet he snuck a few bites of a bagel and

cream cheese and some milk. He pooped 4 times that day... we couldn't

remember the last time he did that; probably as a baby. Of course digestive

problems weren't a major problem in our case; all of our kids seem to be

different in ways but for me this seemed an unexpected weird type of

confirmation that the diet was having some sort of effect.

>My question is this... When calculating the 3-12 month timeframe, do

>you start from the beginning date of the diet or the time since the

>last contamination?

Good question. I'll share my opinion and am anxious myself to hear that of

others. I think you begin from when first starting the diet. The only

exception to this would be if the diet was totally stopped for an extended

period of time. Then you'd have to start from scratch. But infringements

caused by not knowing about a food or cheating - both have happened to us

numerous times don't count as ending the diet.

>I have to admit that some aspects of this diet doesn't make sense to

>me. For instance, I don't understand how trace amounts can cause as

>much if not more problems than the levels before the diet was instituted.

Except the effects are shorter lived. To make sense of this, substitute the

work 'opiate' for the words gluten and casein. The theory behind the diet

is that for our children those nutrients literally turn into drugs that go

into their bloodstreams and brains. It's well known that people develop

tolerance to opiates very quickly. Therefore after a time on the diet, the

tolerance has had a chance to diminish. So a very small dose will after

long enough on the diet cause a very noticeable effect on behavior, and it

typically seems to take a week to all play out.

Which is a very hard situation in my opinion. But then what's easy about

this? Except knowing as parents we want to try to do the best we can?

> Regardless of the answer to this, we are going to keep

>plugging along, no matter how difficult it is (unless it takes me 3

>years to reach my 3 months!).

good luck; please wish the same to my family.

Best,

Marty

[Guest guest]

Hi Marty,

is 4 (turning 5 next month). He is doing pretty well on the

diet, but is far from self-policing. You're lucky that is so

cooperative.

The diet is getting easier to follow, but I'm worried that we are

missing something. NEVER had problems with loose stools until

we started the diet. He's also started to have problems with sleep,

language seems to be more difficult for him and his stims have

increased. In the last month he's started to have a BM at least

every day, if not 2-3 times a day and they are very loose (to say the

least). Before starting the diet he only went every 3-4 days, but

was not constipated.

Did you notice any negative changes when you started the diet?

Chris

> >My son has been on the GFCF diet since mid-May, but has had

a

> >few slip ups where some gluten or casein has made it into his body.

>

> My son 's been CF since Thanksgiving day and GF since mid-

December.

> Slip ups and cheating episodes used to be common; now he's doing

his best

> to stay on the diet himself but certainly there must be times he's

getting

> stuff he shouldn't.

>

> How old is your son? was 4 when we started.

>

> >As casein seems to leave the body fairly quickly, we have been

able to see

> >the reaction when he gets an overload of dairy products.

>

> Shortly after went on the diet he snuck a few bites of a bagel

and

> cream cheese and some milk. He pooped 4 times that day... we

couldn't

> remember the last time he did that; probably as a baby. Of course

digestive

> problems weren't a major problem in our case; all of our kids seem

to be

> different in ways but for me this seemed an unexpected weird type

of

> confirmation that the diet was having some sort of effect.

>

> >My question is this... When calculating the 3-12 month timeframe,

do

> >you start from the beginning date of the diet or the time since the

> >last contamination?

>

> Good question. I'll share my opinion and am anxious myself to hear

that of

> others. I think you begin from when first starting the diet. The

only

> exception to this would be if the diet was totally stopped for an

extended

> period of time. Then you'd have to start from scratch. But

infringements

> caused by not knowing about a food or cheating - both have happened

to us

> numerous times don't count as ending the diet.

>

> >I have to admit that some aspects of this diet doesn't make sense

to

> >me. For instance, I don't understand how trace amounts can cause

as

> >much if not more problems than the levels before the diet was

instituted.

>

> Except the effects are shorter lived. To make sense of this,

substitute the

> work 'opiate' for the words gluten and casein. The theory behind

the diet

> is that for our children those nutrients literally turn into drugs

that go

> into their bloodstreams and brains. It's well known that people

develop

> tolerance to opiates very quickly. Therefore after a time on the

diet, the

> tolerance has had a chance to diminish. So a very small dose will

after

> long enough on the diet cause a very noticeable effect on behavior,

and it

> typically seems to take a week to all play out.

>

> Which is a very hard situation in my opinion. But then what's easy

about

> this? Except knowing as parents we want to try to do the best we

can?

>

> > Regardless of the answer to this, we are going to keep

> >plugging along, no matter how difficult it is (unless it takes me 3

> >years to reach my 3 months!).

>

> good luck; please wish the same to my family.

>

> Best,

>

> Marty