Angry Boy!

[jetiduncan]

I certainly feel for everybody with a child with behavioral outbursts relating to Gluten Exposure.

Keep in mind also that it's not just from the gluten. Many of our children with Celiac Disease have major nutritional deficiencies that we need to find and fix. My 7 year old is very aggressive when gluten is involved and he has become somewhat aggressive w/out it too. We figured out that he had elevated histamines which can also cause aggressive behavior.

When we did his IgG this past August it was OVER 100. It is now down to 7!!!!! That is awesome and we are still working through other nutritional deficiencies. It is almost impossible in our neck of the woods to find a truly experienced pediatrician in the area of celiac disease. Our last one just decided that putting our child on an ADHD drug was the answer IT was FAR from the answer. IT was terrible and we reverted back to going with natural remedies.

We have really been striving to get him back to being non-aggressive through diet and supplements and we are seeing some good results. Just wish the school could see that having a gluten free environment would be a good thing all around. Instead, our child sits in a class with gluten all around him. So, he's bound to have some issues that come up and while I want to be supportive of his educators, they sure need a lesson in support of celiac disease kids.

[Ms Jan]

Really feel with all of you struggling with food intolerant kids. I just have a niece with behavioral symptoms, but it's heart breaking to watch. Coming from a family ripe with schizofrenia and the like - and having struggled with my own share of problems before self diagnosing - I've become convinced about the connection between celiac/food intolerances and 'brain' symptoms.

Here're some interesting links:

Giving some scientific bacground -

Open Original Shared Link

For those for whom the gluten free diet isn't enough, Elaine Gottschall's 'Breaking the Vicious Cycle' on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), developed ia, for autistic kids, might be useful -

Open Original Shared Link

And pecanbread is the site for the SCD particularly aimed at parents with autistic children (but can be helpful I believe for all 'food problem' children) -

Open Original Shared Link

In any case, it seems food sensitive kids are very often highly sensitive to most if not all carb's, to sugar as well as additives, so if you haven't already done so, it might be worth checking some of those items, maybe through an elimination diet.

We have a thread on the SCD going in the 'Other Food Intolerances, Leaky Gut etc' Forum. It's more aimed for adults, but some of you might find it useful, as it seems to be helping a lot of us celiac sufferers for whom going gluten free just isn't enough.

Hope you all find a workable path.

[ligeia]

Behavioral problems are one of my daughter's only symptoms. When she eats gluten she gets SO moody, irritable, and doesn't seem to be able to control her emotions/reactions very well at all. I picked up on it immediately because I feel the same way when I get glutened.

[2GirlsMom]

Yeah, I hear ya! My daughter had BIPOLAR type of symptoms that actually went away imediately after stopping gluten. I was trying to help her behavior at daycare by providing my own snacks for her without any artificial colors, etc but I was loading her up with whole grain bars... uggg... lots of gluten. Then she's got removed from daycare due to her behavior. Going Gluten-Free changed her behavior within the first week.

I've even been able to STOP my Effexor and I was on 230 mg since getting off of gluten. I just did it because it was easier to eat what she eats.

Here's my and my daughter's story. So many people asked that I just put it on a webpage. It truly has been a complete life change (for the better).....

Open Original Shared Link

Hopefully our story can inspire others!

[taweavmo3]

Don't have time to read all of the responses, so I'm probably repeating what everyone else said!

In a nutshell....my 5 year old's primary symptom is behavior. He had something a couple of weeks ago with gluten, and he was AWFUL. He became hateful, he was biting, hitting, screaming, name calling (bad names, saying terrible things). He honestly becomes like a psychotic child, which feels awful to say, but he does.

A week later, he is back to his angelic self. Saying "yes maam", being helpful, sharing, playing like normal.

It is honestly scary how mean he gets on gluten and milk, and I'm so thankful I knew to take those foods out of his diet, otherwise he probably would have ended up on some psych meds down the road. Trust your instinct......you aren't seeing things!