Celiac/adhd

[Guest aimees]

My 6 year old son, Andrew, was Celiac cofirmed(blood test) in mid April. The year before while in Kindergarten his teacher and pediatrician diagnosed him as ADHD. I thought he was a little high spirited but not ADHD. After 6 months of not putting him on any medication, I finally consented. (Concerta 18mg) He did calm down a little but it wasn't a dramatic change. I think the Celiac has a bigger effect on him than anyone knows. Does anyone else have a situation like this? Were you able to stop giving your child the meds? How long did it take? My pediatrician told me up front she did not know enough to tell me. Which I appreciate more than just being looked over or given a random answer. The pediatrician we have now is not the same one who gave us the meds for ADHD. Please help!

Aimee

[Mom22]

Hi Aimee,

I'll share our experience with you. Our son is 9 years old and was diagnosed with celiac disease in February this year via biopsy. Our son was diagnosed with ADHD at age 4 and has been on medication since age 4. This was diagnosed via a psychologist and our son has taken the TOVA test with medication and without. At the time our son was diagnosed with celiac, he was taking 27 mgs. of concerta daily and was doing wonderfully in school and at home. However, once on a gluten-free diet, he could not fall asleep at night. He would be awake for 2-3 hours once he went to bed and then we could not get him up in the morning. We felt as though the medication was overstimulating him and possible that he did not need medication anymore. We went 1 week without medication and did not tell his teacher. I did speak with her at the end of the week and asked how our son has been doing. I did not disclose to her why I was asking and presented it more how was he doing since we wanted to see if there was a difference with him being gluten-free. She advised he was doing really well up until that week. The week without meds, he was very talkative in class, hard to keep on task and loud. I contacted our pediatrician and we lowered his dosage to 18 mgs. daily and he is doing very well again in school and he is able to sleep at night. Also, we noticed that the older he gets that boys actually mature and aren't as "active" as when he was a toddler.

Mom 2 2

Pamela

[kyss]

Aimee,

My 7 1/2 year old has had a rollercoaster ride since she was 2years old. She was a difficult infant and toddler...always very weepy especially when it came to feedings. As far as behavior now...she has been diagnosed with ADHD and Bipolar Disorder. BP does run on her father's side, but I always thought her behavior always rotated around food and when and what she ate. Her pediatrician (1st one) pretty much told me I was wrong that wasn't possible. I have been around diabetics and hypoglycemics most of my life...and my youngest is awful if you don't give her something every 2-3 hours. She is currently on Trileptal 150mg and Strattera 18mg twice daily(because Concerta, Addreall etc made her worse hyper wise and anger wise). Her new pediatrician listens when I tell her that food triggers either the hyper or anger in her. Right now the Trileptal helps with the rages she has and the Strattera helps with the hyperactivity. She is under a psychiatrist care, but that psychiatrist is moving and I am left to find another one. This will be her 3rd psychiatrist and a year worth of meds. I do see the difference when she is on them, and right now she isn't gluten-free yet because the blood tests for her IGA TTG were somehow cancelled and we had to redraw yesterday. She has always had reflux and chronic diarrhea as well as being very small (finally weighs 50lbs at 7 1/2 years -- a very difficult feat to obtain). But back to behavior....my oldest 12yrs old has been diagnosed as ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder) since she was 7years old, and now at 12 she is on 200mg Zoloft a day for depression and suicidal thoughts...her blood test came back negative and no biopsy was done. I still think there is gluten sensitivity if not intolerance, but again I am being told it isn't food that makes her act out. I have found a few articles on ADHD and Bipolar and Depression and some say food is the cause.....I haven't tried taking anyone off meds yet...I myself am on Zoloft for depression....I was taking 75mg per day and now after 2 weeks of being gluten-free I had to lower my dosage to 50mg per day....My mother who will have my kids for the summer is gluten-free too and she will observe the changes in behavior....

I have rambled on and I'm don't know if this helps...but that is my household at this time.....a pretty crazy place to be. I hope your child can come off the meds. Keep me posted on how things go...

Kelly

[Terri-Anne]

Aimees,

Here is our experience.

My 12 year old son Jesse, has been diagnosed ADHD and is a wonderful, pleasant child to be around........when he is on his medication, which has recently been switched from the 20 mg slow release Ritalin, to the 36 mg Concerta. If he happens to forget his medication, he can't help himself, and drives everyone around him crazy with his behaviours. He also makes very poor impulsive choices which almost always result in him getting into much trouble.

I suspect he has some food allergy/intolerance, but I have not been able to narrow down what the offending food is.

My four year old son is "allergic" to wheat. The pediatrician gave him one blood test for celiac which came back negative (though he had been off wheat for over 6 weeks when he got the blood test). When we successfully keep wheat out of Logan's diet, he is an average 4 year old. When he accidentally ingests wheat, he is extremely out of control hyper-active Tazmanian devil in fast forward!!!!

I wouldn't describe him as having ADHD, rather that the hyperactive behaviour is part of an allergic reaction, like hives. He is a completely different, laid back child when the wheat is kept strictly out of his diet! Even microscopic trace amounts set him off. I once used the same spoon to stir regular "wheat pasta" then since the spoon looked completely sparkling clean, with no visible pasta bits on it, I stirred his "rice pasta", which resulted in the Taz child from hell appearing at the school Christmas concert we were in the audience of!

I don't know if that helps answer any questions you had in your mind, but I hope it confirms that food can definitely cause hyperactive behaviour in some children some of the time.

[Guest aimees]

Thank you guys so much for your posts. Andrew had a gluten accident after two weeks of being gluten-free, and he was a brat at school. He was ugly to his teachers and threw a book. He NEVER behaves this way. His teacher is one of my dear friends so she knows what is going on. It was actually her thought about the possibility of him having a gluten accident. It really is amazing how food affects you so much.

Aimee

[Roo]

We have been going through some tough times since my son has gone gluten-free. Has anyone else had any similiar experiences?

My son was diagnosed with ADHD about 2 years ago when he was 11. He has since been on Concerta 27mg and everything has been great. He is a very good student all A's and B's.

He is completely asymptomatic so we found his Celiac quite by accident. He has now been gluten-free for one month. I've read some of the posts on gluten-free and ADHD and have been expecting these big changes in his personality (for the better) we were still seeing the signs of the ADHD at night when the Concerta wore off. Well we've seen some changes but definately not for the better! I feel as though we are back to square one with his behavior (the way he was before he was on the Concerta) he is fresh, moody and enjoys pushing his sisters and our buttons, he just doesn't know when to stop. We have gotten some calls from his teacher and he has gotten 3 C's.

He has a really positive attitude about the diet and is excited to stay on it as he wants to grow taller and knows this will help him. So I really don't think his behavior is him rebelling to the diet. I'm wondering if now that he is gluten-free is it possible that maybe he is not supposed to be on the Concerta and that him misbehaving before being gluten-free was just a reaction to the Gluten? We are going to try and take him off the Concerta for a few days and if that doesn't work maybe he should be on it but just a lower dose. Does anyone think it's possible that now that his intestines are healing, he is absorbing the Concerta more and the dose is too high? And one more question, does anyone know if you don't have ADHD and you are on medication can it have an adverse reaction on you like we are experiencing?

Sorry for rambling, does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Roo

[Guest ajlauer]

Concerta (and the ADHD drugs) are stimulants. In ADHD kids, it fulfills their need for stimulation, so they can focus on other thing. For a non-ADHD person, it stimulates them. I'd say it is highly possible that, with the new diet and the changes in his body, his medication would have to be adjusted as well. In my own experiences with my son though, too much medication made him sort of depressed and withdrawn. It de-stimulated him *too* much. You should see the doctor and speak with him/her about the medication change. I think that a change in dosage (or even a different drug) is likely, but as for an increased dose or a decreased dose, your doctor would best be able to address that.

[rattaway]

For those of you who may not know, meds can sometimes contain gluten as a binder. If you are unsure if your or your childs meds contain gluten, it is important to contact the manufacturer. My family has battled with this from time to time. Rian