Child Behaviour On Gluten

[Mummyto3]

For those who's children were diagnosed and now on gluten free. Were there any noticeable behaviour problems/improvements? I've read about kids misbehaving quite badly on gluten and I know my daughter has bad moments, so wondering if anyone has experience of this.

[Cara in Boston]

When my son gets "glutened" my husband refers to him as a "glunatic" because his behavior is so bad. Our usually "high-spirited" 6 year old will have tantrums and meltdowns at the smallest provocation, everything is "boring", etc. etc.

He's no angel when he's felling good, but you can definitely tell when he is in control and when he simply cannot help himself.

The last time it happened the behavior only lasted about three days, then gradually got back to normal.

Because it is so irrational, no amount of reasoning (or even consequences) makes any difference to him.

He has absolutely no other symptoms other than a rash around his mouth . . .

Cara

[domesticactivist]

Our son has behaviour problems when his seasonal allergies or other allergies act up. He gets hyper, bumps into things, talks a blue streak and generally drives us crazy. He also experiences severe dyslexia and inability to focus. When he gets glutened he gets joint and bone pain, stomach aches, extreme brain fog and fatigue.

You can imagine the lovely mix of behaviour we were experiencing before we figured these things out. Since going on GAPS, eliminating all sources of cross-contamination in our home, and ceasing to ever eat foods prepared out of our own kitchen, we basically only have to deal with seasonal allergies now.

[Mummyto3]

I'm looking forward to having a better behaved child once she's gluten free. I've always said, that there's naughty and then there's her behaviour (I have two others to compare with). It appears to be a level above 'normal' bad behaviour. I feel bad having to keep her on gluten until biopsy :0(

[Roda]

Before gluten free my youngest son would have bad temper tantrums and had this strange fixation (borderline OCD behavior) over his shoes. It was a daily battle to get him to put on his shoes. He would lie down and throw temper tantrums over them because they felt funny, he didn't like the shoe strings/velcro, they were to loose/tight, the list goes on. I wasn't sure if any to that would improve gluten free or not and I didn't see drastic changes, it was more gradual. After about 2.5 months I realized that the shoe obsession went away and there were very few temper tantrums. Gluten aside anytime my boys get a strep infection I can tell by their behavior also (like I said this has nothing to do with gluten). The end of March we did a gluten challange on him and within 12 hrs the moodiness set in (look at him and he would cry, feeling hurt easily etc.) and the temper tantrums started back up. The challenge only lasted three days when my hubby called it quit due to the behavior. He did have other symptoms like his stomach hurting and constipation. He was given two Kellogs prepackaged rice crispy treats at summer ESP last Friday morning(GRR) and that afternoon he had a melt down from heck. Sat. he seemed fine so I thought we were in the clear. Sunday the irrational fixation on the shoes surfaced again. He is now fine but yeah, it is like I have a different child when he gets glutened.

[Darn210]

Just so you know that it's not always the gluten, my daughter's behavior stays the same . . . only GI symptoms surface when she's been glutened.