I'm new with some questions!

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone!

I'm so glad to find this list! Sorry to jump right in with some questions,

but I hope someone will be able to help me out.

I have a 6 year old son with Asperger's. We've been on the GFCF diet for

about 3 weeks now. We went cold turkey as soon as I read Seroussi's

(sp?) book and it made so much sense to me. He is extremely

high-functioning, high IQ, very handsome and good speech. His big issues

are behavior -- mostly non-compliance and serious tantrums when he doesn't

get his way. His behavior wasn't that great at school to begin with, but

now that we've started the diet, it's literally been hell. His behavior is

escalating into dangerous stuff -- running down the halls away from the

teacher and out of the school, bigger, longer and more frequent tantrums,

and now even biting and hitting. The crazy thing is that he is fine at

home. So, I'm a bit confused. Does this sound normal to anyone?

Anyway, I 've heard that introducing the diet can cause a worsening of

behavior, but how long does it typically last? My impression was a few

days, but he's been bad for two weeks straight at school. It's not that I

want to blame the behavior entirely on the new diet, but is there some kind

of typical length before behavior starts to improve? This could be critical

because if he doesn't improve soon, I'm afraid they will try to move him to

another school - something we don't want.

Also, we went to a nutritionist and the preliminary results came back that

he was outright allergic to wheat, although dairy showed okay. Since the

proteins are similar - we are sticking with the CFGF diet no matter what.

We are starting a complete vitamin therapy on Oct. 22, but the nutritionist

started us right away on 5 mg. of Lithium a day. She told us that it should

help his hyperactivity -- but I've noticed the opposite effect. It makes

him even more hyperactive about 30 minutes after I give it to him. Does

anyone on the list have any experience with Lithium?

Lastly, does anyone have a good recipe for bagels? I tried Miss Robesen's

bagel mix and it was too lumpy for my son. I also tried the ANDI

wonderbread bagels, but they were too cakelike on the inside. I'm looking

for one that is hard on the outside and chewy on the inside. Also, are

there any good substitutes for Cheerios?

Thanks in advance!

Cz.

_________________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

,

Actually I can't help you with, well, anything :-), but welcome. Have

you found gfcfdiet.com and gfcfrecipes.com? They are wonderful,

especially when just starting. I don't know how long it will take

your son to adjust. Just hang in there. It has helped our daughter

immensely. Maybe the nutritionist or dr. could write a note to the

school explaining your son is on a special diet that might cause some

different behaviors for a while???

Janelle

Jane 2 PDD-NOS

1 NT

[Guest guest]

,

I forgot about the bagels. I, personally, am a bagel snob and have

only one acceptable kind I will eat. Since the company has no stores

in my state, I am in luck as that is one less temptation. But anyway,

I remember seeing a recipe posted a month or so back. It was either

on this site or gfcfrecipes. com. It was for bagels. I tried it, but

it didn't work-but dont' let that stop you. I am the unMartha

of the group. I ripped the recipe out of my binder so don't have it

to tell you. I give it one shot. Anyway, check the archives. type

bagels and see what appears.

Janelle

Jane 2 PDD-NOS

1 NT-starting to say some words, everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest guest]

,

Welcome to the list. Behaviors---could be a few more weeks of bad

behavior--this is a big change for the body. Meds--remember they work

differently on each of us. has been on Zoloft and Ritalin--they both

make him hyper which we do not want. On to the next med. Sorry no recipe

for bagels. Good luck and stuck it out things will get better.

& Garry, parents of (11 ds), (9 ds), JJ (7

ds/autism/celiac), (7 ds/ADHD/Celiac), and Esther (4 ds). All adopted.

[Guest guest]

,

There are many reasons why your son might be worse at school - it's more

stressful there, it may be more chemically polluted, noisier, smellier, etc.

You could try the epsom salt solution applied to the skin to help with cleaning

fumes, perfumes, etc. he may be exposed to. Is he having a BM everyday to get

the toxins out? Is he drinking plenty of water?

You didn't say how the timing of the lithium introduction meshed with the

withdrawl from gluten, casein. All I know is that my daughter is eliminating

tons of lithium in her post-chelation urinalysis, so supplementing lithium would

be bad for her, and she has been really hyper in the past.

Also consider that sometimes substitute foods can cause problems, e.g. if you've

introduced soy and he's allergic, you'll have problems. If he's eating any high

allergen food, consider getting it out of the diet for now. We've had good luck

with muscle testing by a kineseologist to help with isolating food allergies.

Maybe a local chiropractor can help.

Are you treating for yeast (e.g. Nystatin)? Taking probiotics? Is his gut

distended? This also can help.

If the bad behavior continues, they'll likely want to place him in a Behavior

Disorder classroom, which isn't all bad news I suppose.

Good luck, K.

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Glad to have you aboard...our son has been GFCF since January and we are

very pleased with the progress he is making. Besides having a son with

PDD-NOS, I am a speech pathologist working with special needs students in

the public schools here. What you are saying is disturbing to me...it sure

makes me wonder what's going on in the school. Email me privately if you

want to...I be happy to talk more with you about it if you like.

Once again, welcome. I have found this group to be not only helpful, but

like extended family. I hope you will feel the same.

Fondly,

J--mom to Graham (7 yrs, PDD-NOS, hyperlexic) and Hayley (11 yrs,

mild ADD/anxiety issues)

I'm new with some questions!

> Hi everyone!

>

> I'm so glad to find this list! Sorry to jump right in with some

questions,

> but I hope someone will be able to help me out.

>

> I have a 6 year old son with Asperger's. We've been on the GFCF diet for

> about 3 weeks now. We went cold turkey as soon as I read Seroussi's

> (sp?) book and it made so much sense to me. He is extremely

> high-functioning, high IQ, very handsome and good speech. His big issues

> are behavior -- mostly non-compliance and serious tantrums when he doesn't

> get his way. His behavior wasn't that great at school to begin with, but

> now that we've started the diet, it's literally been hell. His behavior

is

> escalating into dangerous stuff -- running down the halls away from the

> teacher and out of the school, bigger, longer and more frequent tantrums,

> and now even biting and hitting. The crazy thing is that he is fine at

> home. So, I'm a bit confused. Does this sound normal to anyone?

>

> Anyway, I 've heard that introducing the diet can cause a worsening of

> behavior, but how long does it typically last? My impression was a few

> days, but he's been bad for two weeks straight at school. It's not that I

> want to blame the behavior entirely on the new diet, but is there some

kind

> of typical length before behavior starts to improve? This could be

critical

> because if he doesn't improve soon, I'm afraid they will try to move him

to

> another school - something we don't want.

>

> Also, we went to a nutritionist and the preliminary results came back that

> he was outright allergic to wheat, although dairy showed okay. Since the

> proteins are similar - we are sticking with the CFGF diet no matter what.

> We are starting a complete vitamin therapy on Oct. 22, but the

nutritionist

> started us right away on 5 mg. of Lithium a day. She told us that it

should

> help his hyperactivity -- but I've noticed the opposite effect. It makes

> him even more hyperactive about 30 minutes after I give it to him. Does

> anyone on the list have any experience with Lithium?

>

> Lastly, does anyone have a good recipe for bagels? I tried Miss Robesen's

> bagel mix and it was too lumpy for my son. I also tried the ANDI

> wonderbread bagels, but they were too cakelike on the inside. I'm looking

> for one that is hard on the outside and chewy on the inside. Also, are

> there any good substitutes for Cheerios?

>

> Thanks in advance!

>

> Cz.

>

>

>

> _________________________________________________________

>

>

[Guest guest]

I would have to say he is going through the difficult withdrawel phase.

Unfortunatly the length of that period varies between children greatly but

it can take a few weeks-and it can happen in spurts-we had a small one at

the start one at three month mark and one at 6 month mark-several days of

regressive behavior followed by a gain. I have heard the longer one has been

eating gluten ond casein the longer it takes to get it all out. As far as

him acting out at school-I kind of equate that to a short fuse-I watched a

fried of mine kick the smoking habit and it made her very irritable-more or

or less things that would not normally upset her did in a big way-if you

look at gluten and casien as drugs you can see how it may make them

irritalble or on a short fuse till they are used to bieng without- Then you

have the added consideration of school-is he " cheating " while at school and

the tantrums happen lets say after lunch???? This happened when I tried the

diet with my older son-he would not follow his diet at school and his

behavior was worse after " cheating " during lunch. And of course are they

giving him anything that may be off diet and not knowing it=he is older but

playdough is a big one people dont think about because you dont eat it-but

even skin contact can affect them. Hang in there-It can help in my opinion

and the fact he is havig worse behavior is actually a good sign-it usually

means it is working-if you live through the withdrawels you are on your way

to better days. Good luck>F

I'm new with some questions!

> Hi everyone!

>

> I'm so glad to find this list! Sorry to jump right in with some

questions,

> but I hope someone will be able to help me out.

>

> I have a 6 year old son with Asperger's. We've been on the GFCF diet for

> about 3 weeks now. We went cold turkey as soon as I read Seroussi's

> (sp?) book and it made so much sense to me. He is extremely

> high-functioning, high IQ, very handsome and good speech. His big issues

> are behavior -- mostly non-compliance and serious tantrums when he doesn't

> get his way. His behavior wasn't that great at school to begin with, but

> now that we've started the diet, it's literally been hell. His behavior

is

> escalating into dangerous stuff -- running down the halls away from the

> teacher and out of the school, bigger, longer and more frequent tantrums,

> and now even biting and hitting. The crazy thing is that he is fine at

> home. So, I'm a bit confused. Does this sound normal to anyone?

>

> Anyway, I 've heard that introducing the diet can cause a worsening of

> behavior, but how long does it typically last? My impression was a few

> days, but he's been bad for two weeks straight at school. It's not that I

> want to blame the behavior entirely on the new diet, but is there some

kind

> of typical length before behavior starts to improve? This could be

critical

> because if he doesn't improve soon, I'm afraid they will try to move him

to

> another school - something we don't want.

>

> Also, we went to a nutritionist and the preliminary results came back that

> he was outright allergic to wheat, although dairy showed okay. Since the

> proteins are similar - we are sticking with the CFGF diet no matter what.

> We are starting a complete vitamin therapy on Oct. 22, but the

nutritionist

> started us right away on 5 mg. of Lithium a day. She told us that it

should

> help his hyperactivity -- but I've noticed the opposite effect. It makes

> him even more hyperactive about 30 minutes after I give it to him. Does

> anyone on the list have any experience with Lithium?

>

> Lastly, does anyone have a good recipe for bagels? I tried Miss Robesen's

> bagel mix and it was too lumpy for my son. I also tried the ANDI

> wonderbread bagels, but they were too cakelike on the inside. I'm looking

> for one that is hard on the outside and chewy on the inside. Also, are

> there any good substitutes for Cheerios?

>

> Thanks in advance!

>

> Cz.

>

>

>

> _________________________________________________________

>

>

[Guest guest]

His behavior wasn't that great at school to begin

with, but

> now that we've started the diet, it's literally been hell. His

behavior is

> escalating into dangerous stuff -- running down the halls away from

the

> teacher and out of the school, bigger, longer and more frequent

tantrums,

> and now even biting and hitting. The crazy thing is that he is fine

at

> home. So, I'm a bit confused. Does this sound normal to anyone?

Going cold turkey may have affected him very strongly, you might want

to back off a little, to see if it does affect his behavior. However,

if it happens only at school this badly, I would suspect there is

something going on at school that has upset him. Please do check into

that.

>

> Anyway, I 've heard that introducing the diet can cause a worsening

of

> behavior, but how long does it typically last? My impression was a

few

> days, but he's been bad for two weeks straight at school. It's not

that I

> want to blame the behavior entirely on the new diet, but is there

some kind

> of typical length before behavior starts to improve?

My son did not have aggressive behaviors, but he did have withdrawal

behaviors for about three months.

This could be

critical

> because if he doesn't improve soon, I'm afraid they will try to move

him to

> another school - something we don't want.

Does your son have a behavior plan in his IEP? If not, you need to

get one included there. A behavior plan, or a modification of his

current plan if it is no longer working, would be a first step, before

a recommendation to transfer him to a new school.

>

> Also, we went to a nutritionist and the preliminary results came

back that

> he was outright allergic to wheat, although dairy showed okay.

Since the

> proteins are similar - we are sticking with the CFGF diet no matter

what.

> We are starting a complete vitamin therapy on Oct. 22,

I would introduce each new supplement, whether vitamin or otherwise,

one at a time. My son reacted very badly to several supplements, and

if I had started them all at the same time, he may have had to go to

the hospital.

but the

nutritionist

> started us right away on 5 mg. of Lithium a day. She told us that

it should

> help his hyperactivity -- but I've noticed the opposite effect. It

makes

> him even more hyperactive about 30 minutes after I give it to him.

Does

> anyone on the list have any experience with Lithium?

My lithium experience was that it made my emotions so level that I

stopped caring whether I lived or died. If the lithium is for

hyperactivity or bipolar issues, I would recommend what helped me,

reduction and/or removal of high phenol foods.

http://home.pacbell.net/cscomp/phenol.htm

>

> Lastly, does anyone have a good recipe for bagels? I tried Miss

Robesen's

> bagel mix and it was too lumpy for my son. I also tried the ANDI

> wonderbread bagels, but they were too cakelike on the inside. I'm

looking

> for one that is hard on the outside and chewy on the inside. Also,

are

> there any good substitutes for Cheerios?

You can check in my online foods and recipes section, I hope you find

something here to help you.

http://home.pacbell.net/cscomp/parentin.htm#onlinefood

I hope that helped.

Dana