BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Autism Spectrum Disorders Gluten Free Diet?

Hi I was just wondering how many readers have tried their children on a gluten free diet? If so have you seen improvement?

I know we had a discussion on this once upon a time, but I can't seem to find it - so it must have been a while back...

I have not done the full gluten free with my son, just cut back on sugar and caffeine, but several parents in my local support group do use the gluten free diet and say they have seen amazing results. Mostly in behavior, it does not seem to affect speech or other communications, but does seem to cut down on tantrums and rages.

We tried the fll GFCF diet and didn't see a real benefit with our kiddo. We now sort of use a modified approach. Our DS has gone through allergy testing and is allergic to wheat. So we've removed wheat from his diet. He's also allergic to lactase (milk sugar), and we've removed milk from his diet. He's also on reduced sugar and caffeine. We haven't seen changes in behavior (tantrums and rages aren't are issues, our primary issue is anxiety and withdrawl). We do see an improvement in some of the gastric issues (and many kiddos on the spectrum seem to have some sort of gastric issue). All of our docs believe the GFCF diet is still unproven; but most support a trial based on the fact that it might have some impact on overall health if nothing else.

Those of you with Autistic children, Do you think it's a result of vaccines? I'm researching Vaccines and have heard alot about Autism and Vaccines. Just wanted your opinions. Thanks! Paisleygirl

I'm no doctor, certainly, but the more people I hear about and meet with autism issues makes me feel that autism isn't an actual "disease" in the sense we think about diseases and illnesses, and that's why when someone finds something that works for them, and then it doesn't work for someone else, it's debunked as "not a cure."

But I don't think there IS one cure. I don't think autism has one cause. I suspect autism is more of a defense of the body to some sort of negative stimulus. Instead of dying, the body simply closes off to the world to spend all it's energy on just surviving. So maybe for some, it's vaccines, for some gluten, for some casein, for some heavy metal exposure. Whatever it is. So if one can find the trigger, things may improve. But the same thing isn't going to work for everyone.

Now keep in mind I may be totally off my rocker and have no idea what the heck I am talking about. But it's just a suspicion that seems to tie together the bits and pieces I have picked up from parents of autistic children and various reading over time.

Does that resonate with anyone at all, or am I just a nutjob?

By the way -- for info on GFCF and autism, there's some free articles at www.deliciousandhealthy.com as well as a cookbook for a 2-week gluten free dairy free diet (needs a bit of modification for casein free, but not too much, which may be enough time to see if there is any improvement. I have a friend who created this site, and it's wonderful.

Nicki

Autistic kids are really gassy? Hannah is really gassy! Interesting. She drives us nuts with her gas. LOL Could be worse. Her stomach hurts quite a bit - I have her on a milk-free diet since she is allergic to milk proteins. That has cut down on some of her gassiness, but definitely not all of it.

Hannah is going to see a pediatric g.i. tomorrow about her tummy hurting all the time.

She has been tested for celiac disease and tested negative.

My daughter's Pedi GI is having Hannah retested for gluten intolerance (she had a blood test for it in January) based on the fact her stomach hurts a lot and she is very very thin. She is also running a lot of other tests. We'll see what the outcome of this is.