new article "Autism May Improve with Elimination of Gluten and Casein"

[Jody]

I have a new article on empowher.com called Autism May Improve with Elimination of Gluten and Casein

I'm posting it because I know there are many with autism in their families, and many who have questions to do with autism.

 

[Frickly]

Good article...

Since my son is on a gluten free casein free diet I know first hand that it can help tremendously. Also, phenols and artificial coloring can be an issue and I have heard that taking these out of the diet can reduce tourettes symptoms. I am going to start looking into this and see if removing this can help my son. It is amazing how greatly food can effect behavior. Haven't heard from you in a while. Hope you are well.

 

[Jody]

Thanks Frickly.

Nice to hear from you too.

Seems like the few times I've been on lately, you were off and not doing too well yourself. We're having a little reunion here.

I was actually thinking about you and your son as I was writing that article. I was having a hard time getting it together. It kept coming out sounding like some dry piece of crap that nobody needed to read. Really.

Then I thought, if I had a child with autism, what would I want to know about? I knew you've already been well into the diet stuff, and there really wasn't anything new here for you in this topic. But ... I started writing to you, and ... it just flowed.

 

[Frickly]

Awwww......

That just makes me smile. I don't think I have ever been an inspiration! I think your article gave your readers some valuable information. It is so difficult to understand/beleive that food could have such a huge impact on behavior. Once you see it happening you want to tell everyone. Hopefully someone will read this and..... think.

 

[Jody]

Frickly,

You are more inspirational than you think. It's not the first time you've inspired me.

It is hard to understand at first. But you would think by now the powers that be would be getting it through their thick heads. And yet ... there is such resistance in high places to what is obvious to the parents doing this with their kids. I mean, the thing works for so many of them. That should be enough but ... well you know better than I ... it apparently is not enough proof for them.

When I was reading up on this to write about it I was disgusted by so much material out there calling this nutrition business bunk. Made me so mad.

So we just keep doing what we can. You keep healing your kid. I'll keep writing about it.

 

[glenp]

I would not have believed it

I have had food intollerence testing, one of the foods I am to avoid is casein. I had some by mistake and noticed a reaction within 20 minutes, another I am to avoid is lima beans, it may be common to some of you too

 

[Jody]

Glenp,

Alot of us have food issues of different types, as we've discovered over the course of various threads here on the forums.

For myself, gluten is a definite culprit. It can at times make me go from feeling pretty good to sick, weak, shaky and light-headed and unable to think clearly in record time. It can also bring on anxiety attacks and a feeling of impending doom. Weird as that sounds.

Whether it's casein I'm not sure but something in milk causes me gastric problems and a general unwellness if I drink much of it. I'm okay with butter and cream so maybe it's not the casein. Either way though, I have personal experience with how I can be raised or lowered depending on what I'm eating.

There is so much to learn in the food area. Time the medical community got on with it too.

 

[dannybex]

Since my son is on a gluten free casein free diet I know first hand that it can help tremendously. Also, phenols and artificial coloring can be an issue and I have heard that taking these out of the diet can reduce tourettes symptoms. I am going to start looking into this and see if removing this can help my son.

Hi Frickly: Just wondering if you've tried No-Fenol and/or Peptizide? The first one is supposed to help with phenolic foods (and in my case, when I can afford it, I think it really does...less anxiety, better concentration) and the latter with gluten and casein foods. In fact some kids have been able to eat 'regular' foods again after using the enzymes, after suffering through strict GF and CF diets...a google search will turn up lots of info.

Great article too Jody, as always. Glad you posted it here in the forums as CFS/ME/etc. is considered an autism-spectrum disorder in some circles, and food intolerances can sometimes make a decent difference. Especially delayed food sensitivities, symptoms of which (is that bad grammar?) can come on 1-3 days after eating the 'wrong' food.

Sometimes a flare or a crash may be due not to a virus or bacterial issue, or a 'herx', but in fact, to delayed food sensitivities or outright allergies to certain foods.

XChocholic's posts about her improvements are just one testament to this possibility.

thank you!

d.

 

[Jody]

Dan,

I didn't know when I started working in the Brain and Nerves section of empowher.com, just how useful it would end up being for me personally.

I end up researching stuff that I would not even look at normally. And I keep seeing similarities to my own symptoms and those of many other people with cfs. I keep wondering, is there a common thread between cfs, autism, alzheimers, ms ... and what is it?

More and more I'm seeing there are so many supposedly incurable or supposedly mysterious conditions that will respond at least somewhat to getting rid of the toxic chemicals in our foods and environments. And to the elimination of foods that are toxic for us -- no matter what the food pyramid and political lobbies spout.

I have now come to the point where it wouldn't surprise me one bit to find that we were connected in some way to the autism spectrum. Not one bit.

As to the kind of havoc gluten, for instance, can cause -- I know I have had short and long crashes that were specifically due to the food I was eating. If only the local food bank could stop majoring on carbs, I would be in better shape. But I can say for certain that I've had physical, mental and also emotional reactions brought on by foods that I'm sensitive to.

 

[Frickly]

Dannybex

I buy all my son's supplements from a friend of mine who is a nurse and receives a discount. Just this last Sunday she was telling me about some enzymes made specifically for phenols. She said the company she buys from makes a whole line specifically for certain foods. I am going to try it on my next round of ordering. They do cost alot.

Hi Frickly: Just wondering if you've tried No-Fenol and/or Peptizide? The first one is supposed to help with phenolic foods (and in my case, when I can afford it, I think it really does...less anxiety, better concentration) and the latter with gluten and casein foods. In fact some kids have been able to eat 'regular' foods again after using the enzymes, after suffering through strict GF and CF diets...a google search will turn up lots of info.

d.

 

[Frickly]

Jody

I think you should write an article about the simularities between all these diseases. I also beleive that, one day, we will find that not only is autism and CFS connected but many diseases such as MS, RA, Parkinsons, ect. The simularities are too great to totally dismiss, yet doctors and researchers do it every day. sigh.....

 

[xchocoholic]

4 minutes and counting till OZ ..

Jody,

I really enjoy reading your blogs. You have a very easy to understand writing style.

I wasn't sure what phenols were so I googled it and found this. I think I'm good here ... whew ...

http://www.danasview.net/phenol.htm

With your writing style, doing a piece on how CFS and autism are related is a great idea ... um, I wrote one 2 years ago on braintalk. I was a newbie then but some of the links might help you. Believe me, I'm not trying to be pushy and if you find this useless that's ok too ... I'm easy. I just thought this might save you some google time ...

http://brain.hastypastry.net/forums/showthread.php?t=22098

FWIW ... From what I've been reading on the web and from my own integrative doctor, holistic doctors believe that the "root" cause of many chronic illnesses, CFS, MS, lupus, etc etc is leaky gut. Leaky gut leads to food intolerances and provides the perfect environment for parasites and bacteria to multiply.

Oops, gotta go get my soda and popcorn ready ... just kidding ... I'll have an apple with sunbutter ... tc ... Marcia

 

[Jody]

I think you should write an article about the simularities between all these diseases. I also beleive that, one day, we will find that not only is autism and CFS connected but many diseases such as MS, RA, Parkinsons, ect. The simularities are too great to totally dismiss, yet doctors and researchers do it every day. sigh.....

Frickly,

That is in the back of my mind believe me, the idea of writing something about all these illnesses. It's going to take awhile for it all to mesh for me, and I am going to need to go over alot more information for it to happen. But yeah, I think about that with each new brain-related article I write.

 

[Jody]

4 minutes and counting till OZ ..

Jody,

I really enjoy reading your blogs. You have a very easy to understand writing style.

I wasn't sure what phenols were so I googled it and found this. I think I'm good here ... whew ...

http://www.danasview.net/phenol.htm

With your writing style, doing a piece on how CFS and autism are related is a great idea ... um, I wrote one 2 years ago on braintalk. I was a newbie then but some of the links might help you. Believe me, I'm not trying to be pushy and if you find this useless that's ok too ... I'm easy. I just thought this might save you some google time ...

http://brain.hastypastry.net/forums/showthread.php?t=22098

FWIW ... From what I've been reading on the web and from my own integrative doctor, holistic doctors believe that the "root" cause of many chronic illnesses, CFS, MS, lupus, etc etc is leaky gut. Leaky gut leads to food intolerances and provides the perfect environment for parasites and bacteria to multiply.

Oops, gotta go get my soda and popcorn ready ... just kidding ... I'll have an apple with sunbutter ... tc ... Marcia

Marcia,

I have to write in an easy to understand style. I have to break stuff down into easy pieces when I write this stuff because that is the only way I can understand it.

Thanks for the link, I'll definitely check it out. I appreciate it.

Leaky gut and as I hear it from my naturopath, overburdened liver. Which is probably connected directly to leaky gut. And too many toxins in our present day world.

Those probably cover most of these types of illnesses. Too bad conventional medicine can't get a clue.

 

[xchocoholic]

That's funny. Most of the time, I just sort of type without giving it a lot of thought ... it probably shows, eh ?

http://www.msgtruth.com/images/Theory of Autism-Simplified.pdf

Here's an interesting (comic ?) visual on what body parts are affected by glutamates ... ie gluten, dairy, soy and corn .. oh and MSG of course ... unfortuntely, there's more to leaky gut that just what damage glutamates do. There's the body wide clean up of all those toxins ...

My liver has definitely been affected by all the toxins I was eating. It took me 3years on this diet and possibly giving up all high oxalate foods to even be able to drink warm lemon water in the am or take supplements.

I gave up on traditional doctors helping me heal from this DD finally. As a matter of fact, I just saw my gastroenterologist a month or so ago and asked him why if my biopsy was good, am I still having malnutrition problems. The fact that taking supplements is helping is a big clue here ...

He's really nice and just said he didn't know ... and that he only deals with what he's been trained in. I get the same answers from my gyno too. At least my traditional doctors and I understand each other now.

Looking forward to your next blog ... tc ... Marcia

 

[JillBohr]

My kids are somewhat casein free.

I use goat milk instead of cows milk and they appear to digest it much better. If my oldest son has ice cream or cows milk, he actually starts to become violent and gets diarrhea. I guess I should mention here that both of my children have autism for those that are not aware. The problem with gluten free is that it is much more difficult to implement. It is in everything and many parents that I speak to tell me that children get better immediately when going casein free but it takes at least 8 months to see improvements when going gluten free. It is also really expensive.

When looking at the connection btwn CFS and autism, they both appear to have begun at the same time. I am going by memory here but I think the first CFS outbreak was in Los Angeles around 1935 at the LA General Hospital. With autism, the first report cases began in the early 1940's.

Another thing that is interesting is that many people with CFS do recover within 2-3 years. I have no idea what the percentage is but this trend is very similar with autism as well. According to a David Kirby piece on the Huffington Post, about 37.5% of children that were diagnosed with an ASD, actually shed the diagnosis. I will link that article below.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/autism-rate-now-at-one-pe_b_256141.html