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Behavior And Attention Issues

I hate gluten

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I hate gluten Apprentice
I hate gluten
Posted

Just wanted to see what kind of behavior issues you have seen improvement on with your child since starting the gluten free diet? How long did it take before you said wow I am really seeing a difference on the behavior side. My son and I have been on the diet alittle under a week now, I feel sooooooo different. I am not asking for a miracle over night and realistically I am giving it 6 months . His blood test were all normal and I wanted to try it any way because he fits the bill for Celiacs in many way, and so do I. I feel like I have just woken up from a fog and its only been less than a week. I am not turning back even if my blood test comes back neg. My sons attention span is horrible and I hope the diet helps him concentrate. His teacher at school said he knows how to do the work and will start the work but just gets distracted at any minor thing. (5 year old by the way ) you could be in a quiet room and he be concentrating on his legos and you uncross your legs or turn a page in a book and it catches his attention enough that he goes and does something else. Parking lots are the worst! I never would put a leash on my child but my golly he is going to kill himself, its like he just forgets whats going on. It is scary. I started him on DHA tabs also. Just wanted to see if anyone else had the Celiac diet help their child with attention issues/ behavior issues.

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mommida Enthusiast
mommida
Posted

The gluten free diet helped my son. He was like a wound up little toy and an emotional wreck. Now he is awarded certificates at school like Mr. Manners, student of the month, and such.

You may want to be casein free too.

I hate gluten Apprentice
I hate gluten
Posted
  • Author
The gluten free diet helped my son. He was like a wound up little toy and an emotional wreck. Now he is awarded certificates at school like Mr. Manners, student of the month, and such.

You may want to be casein free too.

I am not to sure what casein is. If I start seeing improvement with gluten but not fully, I may dig deeper. If Casein is milk I have had him off it in the past and he did well, and I put him back on it with out a problem. One step at a time right now, I will research it, thanks for the advise. What benifits have you seen from Casein free and gluten free.?

sugarsue Enthusiast
sugarsue
Posted
I am not to sure what casein is. If I start seeing improvement with gluten but not fully, I may dig deeper. If Casein is milk I have had him off it in the past and he did well, and I put him back on it with out a problem. One step at a time right now, I will research it, thanks for the advise. What benifits have you seen from Casein free and gluten free.?

Hi! I am glad you are seeing help from gluten free!!

My dd (7) has negative gluten testing (celiac and allergy) but I removed her from gluten in december. Her itchy skin and leg pains have improved and her behavior has improved as well in the 2 months since going gluten free. Her doctor strongly recommends going casein free (dairy free) too and believes that her remaining behavior issues are from casein.

Her doc has her taking L-Theanine and Magnesium for calming since she has adhd behaviors and it is helping so much too.

When people ask my dd why she is gluten free, she says "Gluten makes me act really bad". She can feel it working in her system and it "takes over my brain" she says.

Good luck to you!

susan

shayesmom Rookie
shayesmom
Posted
What benifits have you seen from Casein free and gluten free.?

About 1/2 of people with Celiac/gluten intolerance end up having a problem with dairy as well. Gluten and casein are very similar in structure.

Also, without getting too far into things.....it has been my observation that many times when parents and children consistently test negative for celiac disease, that often, there's an underlying enzyme problem at work. The hyper behavior is often a symptom of improper digestion. And it just so happens that gluten and casein are two of the most difficult foods to digest.

I don't know if you've ever read "The Kid-Friendly ADHD & Autism Cookbook by Pamela J. Compart and Dana Laake", but I believe this is touched upon in it. And I can say from experience that both digestive and protoelytic enzymes have helped us immensely with the behavioral end of things. I also find that I do much better when my diet is as close to raw as possible. But THAT, is a bit difficult to do with a 5 year-old, so perhaps a broad spectrum enzyme would be best.

Some of the best reading I have done on this has been when I've researched the topic of autism....especially the biomedical research and the information on the children who respond best to the Gluten-free Casein-free diet. I'm not suggesting that this is your son's problem (just as I'm not saying this reflects my dd's...it doesn't). But I do feel that there is an overlapping issue at work as far as how the body is NOT processing these foods. In the case of celiac, an autoimmune reaction is damaging the intestine and preventing digestion (as well as the production of certain important digestive enzymes). In gluten sensitivity, something else has damaged the gut and is basically doing the same thing. Either way, food isn't being broken down properly and behavioral issues often ensue. Open Original Shared Link

There are other mechanisms of action at work in all of this....but it's all a bit overwhelming when you're first starting out on the diet. I'd encourage you to spend time on the other boards here and also read up on the research articles that are on this site. Oftentimes, the posters on this site provide some wonderful and informative links that you'd never find on your own. ;) It's like being "fast-tracked" through school. lol!

debmom Newbie
debmom
Posted

It took a full six weeks for my daughter's pain to go away, and slowly the other issues with gluten resolved as well. Most people said that we would see major improvement in a week, but one of the doctors who seemed the most knowledgeable said to give it two months and that we would continue to see more improvement for two years. She thought my daughter's health was really bad by the time we discovered it was a gluten intolerance and not one of the myriad of other diagnoses she had been given by traditional doctors-- endometriosis, Crohns, IB, etc.

I hate gluten Apprentice
I hate gluten
Posted
  • Author

WoW!! This is sooooo overwhelming. After writing that I did not know what casein was, i got to thinking how well my son did on a dairy free diet a few years ago. Like I said before though it never truly help completely clear up his skin, but when I look back- IT DID HELP. Heck i know how to go dairy free and still have all my info on it so I am going to try it again. Either way its a healthier living.

i wish I could walk into every resturant and they would have a allergy free menu. How great would that be, or have all the ingredients writen in a way all people could understand them. Some of these ingredients look like medication names not food. I guess it will just take time to get use to. I dont know about everyone else who is casein free but it was much easier to me than gluten free!! I got alll my info on ceisin from food allergy and anaphalxis network and it help greatly. I may try them for gluten info also. There I go again RAMBLE!

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dilettantesteph Collaborator
dilettantesteph
Posted

My son was diagnosed at 10. Had problems at school. Hated all his teachers. Would forget everything and swear that no one ever told him. He'd forget to do his homework, forget to bring it home, do it but forget to hand it in, etc. Started the diet in December 2007, was still sick a ton until the end of the school year in June 2008 because there are so many unexpected sources of gluten, we kept glutening him. Finally in October 2008 we became a gluten free household. Since then it has been so much better. Now he takes care of all his homework himself and no more trips back to school to get stuff he forgot. And last report card his grades were good. So all in all, it took about a year. Good luck and hang in there.

dilettantesteph Collaborator
dilettantesteph
Posted

My son was diagnosed at 10. Had problems at school. Hated all his teachers. Would forget everything and swear that no one ever told him. He'd forget to do his homework, forget to bring it home, do it but forget to hand it in, etc. Started the diet in December 2007, was still sick a ton until the end of the school year in June 2008 because there are so many unexpected sources of gluten, we kept glutening him. Finally in October 2008 we became a gluten free household. Since then it has been so much better. Now he takes care of all his homework himself and no more trips back to school to get stuff he forgot. And last report card his grades were good. So all in all, it took about a year. Good luck and hang in there.

dilettantesteph Collaborator
dilettantesteph
Posted

Sorry, messed something up.

Forgot to mention that he eats a ton of cheese without problems.

I hate gluten Apprentice
I hate gluten
Posted
  • Author

I have noticed minor to no improvement on behavior but I will give it time. But to my suprise last night , my son wrote three words plain as day for the first time. I almost cried and so did his teacher apon showing it to her this am. I am more than excited. After emailing out a sheet from two weeks prior and the sheet he wrote last night, I actually got a response from my biggest sceptic of encourgement. Even better. The other two sceptics wrote it off. But my son can write just like all the other kids in his class after only 1 week. I can only imagine what the future holds!!

RiceGuy Collaborator
RiceGuy
Posted

I think most of the neurological effects I had were from candida, though at the time, neither candida nor Celiac appeared on anyone's radar. The brain fog and inability to concentrate were very intense at times. I figured out the candida thing first, and once I got that resolved, the improvement was amazing, even though Celiac was unfortunately still lurking.

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