Gluten can take awhile to get out of the system and for some children, there is an immediate reaction, for others it is subtle and slow. The reactions could be from a few things:

* you are finally seeing withdrawal.

* you are seeing the results of a gluten infraction

* it's not uncommon to see a reaction from another food once the offending food is out of the system. It may be that he is finally free of the gluten and now you are seeing him react to something else. Casein and soy are two of the most common but not the only ones. Keep a food diary and see if you can figure it out.

* you may be seeing something else out of balance. Again, the opiate-like reaction may have been hiding some other imbalance.

* You may be seeing the result of nutritional deficiency. When you pull gluten, you pull a major source of the B-vitamins. Is he on a multivitamin?

* Overly emotional responses can be the result of yeast overgrowth. It's not uncommon to see this once offending foods are removed. I'm not sure why this happens but it may be the result of pulling the offending foods and finally being able to see some other underlying issues. In general, pulling foods does not *cause* yeast overgrowth.

What does the rest of your son's diet look like? Is he particularly fond of other foods? Does it seem like he's "stuck" on or overly fond of some foods?

* for some children, gluten, casein, soy and other foods can act as opiates and cause certain senses to shut down or not develop "normally". When the offending food(s) are removed, these senses begin to come back online and the child has to learn how to cope with these new sensations. It can cause a temporary setback. Be patient and supportive while they try to get used to their new environment. Keeping up or increasing OT can be very helpful at this point.

What is different over the past few days?: swimming? new children? day camp? added or removed a food? flowers blooming/rain? vacation? schedule? paints or art supplies? shampoo/lotion/sunscreen/bug spray? new/vacation house? illness? added/removed supplement?


Anna in MD