Withdrawel? what is it like?
We have been on the diet for about 3 weeks, first with casein andthen decided to add gluten. I knew we were supposed to do themseparately, but my son has just been diagnosed, at age 3 3/4, aftergetting lots of run around and waiting lists for about 2 years, anddidn’t want to wait on something that might help. Anyhow, his majorissues are speech and language, tantrums, attention, eye contact andoccasional flapping. His eye contact seems to have improved-longergazes, more focused and he seems more chatty than ususal with longersentances, wishful thinking this early??
So, we are hoping it is working, but are worried about his behavior.Lately, he has been flapping a lot and his tantrums are the worse wehave ever seen. But, in between melt downs he seems more focused.I am keeping a journal, but some days he seems great-improved, andothers-awful. Is this typical? or should they get better each day?I also was wondering how you all deal with relatives and feedingissues..I am getting lots of heat b/c they think I am torturinghim. They claim it is making him worse…no one bothers to learnabout it, but they sure feel like they can offer their strongopinions. And they certainly don’t mind eating pizza in front ofhim..Ugh. If only they lived our lives 
Lizeth Loosli said,
Wrote on April 16, 2007 @ 6:56 am
Thanks for posting. I also jumped into the GFCF with both feet whenwe started last year. We had to wait till age 4-1/2 for Dx and didn’twant to delay either. I saw the same sort of improvement as you -inconsistent at times but definite improvement overall in eye contact,commication, and general awareness. Also, our son’s BMs really firmedup good and he potty trained completely within 3 weeks of starting thediet, which was a HUGE benefit for us. As far as the increasedtantrumming, in our case it might have been due to other medicaland/or dietary issues starting to show up, or just a reaction to thestress of any major change.
As for family, we had to deal with a lot of skepticism at first. Mysister-in-law is a PhD biochemist and, while she was very diplomatic,I could tell she thought we were nuts. The hardest part was thegrandparents, who really thought we were being cruel at worst andcrazy or self-deluded at best. Time the best evidence, because nowafter almost a year on the diet we get almost no flack for it fromfamily. I just bring “his foods” and prepared dishes with me wheneverwe visit family, so he doesn’t have to go without and “letting” himhave what the others are having (as if!) doesn’t become an issue.
You could try suggesting they read “Children with Starving Brains” orKaryn Seroussi’s book (is it “Facing Autism?”) to understand thetheory better. That way either they understand why you’re doing thisor, if they’re not willing to read it, they have to defer to yourgreater knowledge and research. Good luck!