GFCF/autism/infant symptoms?

[MomOf2DisneyKids]

Hi! Just wondering if any parents of kids with ASD have had their kids tested for a gluten/casein allergy, and if they do have to be GFCF, did they have any digestive type problems as infants? Thanks for any replies!

 

[LMC]

My DS11 has SID, autistic tendancies, and has GI issues his whole life. When he was a newborn he would have BM's every HOUR!!! Yes, at least once per hour. It slowed down a bit but until 3 weeks ago he would have at least 8 per day. He has been tested for all food allergies, celiac, etc. They couldn't find anything but I know I'm not imagining him going potty 8-12 times per day. About 3 weeks ago, after trying fiber for a month and it made things worse, they put him on IBS meds. He takes it before each meal and voila! it seems to be the magic bullet. I don't know if he truly has IBS or not and I don't care as long as the meds work. He goes twice per day now and it is not nearly as messy. SORRY for the descrip! It's like a miracle to me after 11 years. If he forgets to take it, he is running to the bathroom within 5 minutes of eating. Hope this gives you a little info.

 

[1stluvispooh]

My DD 6 is high functioning autistic. When she was 4 and on the waiting list to see a developmental specialist I read somewhere on the web about GFCF diets and that it helps with some of there symptoms like eye contact and focus ect. Well I started it the diet with her and notice a big change in her. Unfortunatly I didnt have great info so she would occasionally get something that she shouldnt and boy could I tell. Anyway long story short after a weekend of "reactions" I took her to an allergist (who at one point thought about being an autism specialist) Come to find out the DD was physically allergic to casien but not to glutien. So her sujestion was to try glutien and see what happens. She was fine. After being 2 years casien free her last test came back negative on casien as well. I have tried to put some milk back into her diet but unfortunatly the results have not been good GI wise. If she has a little. Like a piece of pizza or some regular ice cream and shes ok but more than one and she has diareah for 2 days. Ugh Im still convicing DH of this but I thinik this morning may have conviced him. I cant say that she had the bowel issues as an infant though

 

[tiggerUK]

hi joe is 9 and has been diagosed autistic since age 2. he has been gluten, casein, masg and sweetener free since age 4.

we had a urine test done at the university of sunderland in the UK. the test looks for peptides in the urine, which indicate that the child has a leaky gut and too many wheat and dairy proteins are getting through the gut wall, turning into opioids and affecting the brain. this is a very simple explanation as i'm not very good at science!!! basically the opioids have a similar affect on the brain as heroin or morphine - that is the theory.

joe's urine test from sunderland showed up positive so we put him on the diet and WOW he has made tremendous progress. he was very severely autistic, non verbal, lots of terrible meltdowns. he now can talk, read, do addition and some subtraction, he has a lot less meltdowns and they are much less severee, he interacts with us, gives us hugs etc. it is lovely to see. he will be on this diet for life as whenever he gets things that he shouldn't have his behaviour is appalling - though he can't control it.

a good website to look at is autism medical (.com) you add the w's and leave out the spaces!

joe didn't really have any bowel problems before the diet except for bouts of diarrhoea occasionally. when he went on the diet the diarrhoea became more frequent, but we give L-glutamine, once a day and joe's bowel movements are now normal.

hth

 

[VirtuallyMe]

My son is 18 and has asperger's syndrome. He did the the GL/CF diet for about 2 years when he was 10-12. That was the age when his symptoms were most severe and he also had trichotillomania at the time as well.

The diet seemed to diminish some of the AS symptoms but really helped with the Trich- he stopped pulling out his hair unless under extreme stress and then would respond better to behavior mod techniques.

He chose for himself to stop the diet and any and all medications he was taking the summer between 6th and 7th grade- and has done pretty well- he starts college next week and the only thing we are worried about with that is he was recently hospitalized with mono and we are worried he won't have the energy to walk to all his classes.

As far as bowel problems as a kid- he used to have extensive problems with constipation -probably until he was about 6 or so years old. As an infant it was really bad- but he really hadn't had any problems since then