I have a 4-year-old boy that has SPD. In March, I started a GF diet for him after doing extensive research. There have been no infractions in the last 4 months (that I am aware of). He has not been tested for Celiac or shown any specific intolerance, however, I felt that changing his diet might help with his sensory issues. He is a sensory seeker, tactile under-responsive (most of the time).

The last few days have been really difficult. He has been crying over every little thing (things that normally would not elicit such a response) and I am not sure why. He has no illness that I can see. He usually has his "sensory days" as I call them, when he has more tactile & auditory sensitivity than usual, but it isn't every day. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between "typical" 4-year-old behavior and SPD-driven behaviors.

I know with GF it can take as long as 6 months to see noticeable changes, but I haven't really seen any differences in his behavior thus far, and I am questioning myself on why I even attempted this in the first place. We are at the 4-month mark and I hate to stop GF if I am only 2 months away from seeing improvement. I guess my question for anyone is: should I continue with GF or is it time to throw in the towel?

He had weekly OT during the school year, but now that school is out he is in daycare and I cannot afford to pay for private OT sessions. I provide as much OT at home as I can.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Sharon in NJ

If you have been solidly GF for 4 months and haven't seen even a small difference then it is doubtful that Gluten is part of your son's problems.

If you suspect allergies or sensitivies for some reason then it is worth getting tested formally.

Does your son have a weighted blanket or coat? It might help him with the sensory seeking on days when the world is sensory beating him up by putting on the coat or wrapping himself up in the blanket.

He does have a weighted blanket that he uses to sleep at night. Has never used it during the day though. Thanks for the advice about gluten - I have read many success stories from other parents that have gone GF and I truly thought it might help (even though he has not been formally tested for celiac). Guess I was wrong on that one. My husband has gone along with the GF diet but has not really believed that it would change anything. I dread having to hear him say "I told you so"!

Today is day 4 of his recently different behavior and I am thinking perhaps he is not getting enough input (since his formal OT sessions ended 2 weeks ago). I'll try to increase the heavy work and see if he improves.

Sharon in NJ

(06-23-2010, 07:56 PM)beck7422 Wrote: If you have been solidly GF for 4 months and haven't seen even a small difference then it is doubtful that Gluten is part of your son's problems.

If you suspect allergies or sensitivies for some reason then it is worth getting tested formally.

Does your son have a weighted blanket or coat? It might help him with the sensory seeking on days when the world is sensory beating him up by putting on the coat or wrapping himself up in the blanket.

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

Thanks for responding, Anna. The only things that have changed are the end of school (thus the end of his OT classes), new daycare situation (which he says he really likes), and he has been taking an antifungal medication for a fungal infection on his skin (he has been on it for 3 weeks). He has one week of this med left and the rash is just about gone.

As far as GF goes, he has had no infractions. He does eat a variety of foods such as turkey, chicken (grilled, not nuggets), fish (grilled), small amounts of veggies such as carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, corn, and artichokes; bananas, oranges, and applesauce for fruits; almond butter, cheese, yogurt, fruit/veggie juice (watered down), GF pasta, GF pancakes, chicken meatballs, bacon, and a few GF snacks like crackers. He doesn't drink milk. He does get a multi-vitamin daily in addition to probiotics. His diet is much more varied now than before we started GF (which is a great thing) but I have not really seen improvement in his impulsive behaviors or his extreme hyperactivity. He does like some foods more than others, but does not get "stuck" on any specific foods.

Sharon in NJ

(06-24-2010, 10:08 PM)aletaw Wrote: 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

Okay...well now that I lost my original reply...I'll try again:

Whatever you and/or the provider can do to keep up with OT will help keep things moving forward.

I assume the provider is aware of the diet...are you sure he/she is not unintentionally giving illegal foods or products? This would include such innocuous things as art supplies, playdough, temporary tattoos, etc. Do you provide all the food? Apologies if you are already up on all this...when "meeting" someone for the first time, it's always hard to know how experienced a parent is when it comes to the diet...

Is the antifungal topical or oral? Some of the recent behavior sounds like a die-off reaction. If this is oral I would definitely look into a yeast/bacterial problem as one of the underlying issues behind the behavior in general.

The impulsiveness and especially the hyperactivity could be related more to his inability to process salicylates, phenols or other compounds in food. Have you heard of the Feingold or Failsafe diets?

http://www.feingold.org
"Why Your Child is Hyperactive" by Ben F. Feingold

http://www.plantpoisonsandrottenstuff.in...lsafe.aspx
“Fed Up” by Sue Dengate


One way to figure out if any of this is an issue is to put his foods into rotation, having a food group every 4 days. Keep a food journal as you do this and you may find that certain days are worse than others. An inability to process the salicylates "typically" shows as red ears/cheeks and/or hyperactivity after eating. It can also show as poor behavior.

Have you tried epsom salt baths? These add an easily absorbable form of magnesium to the body and can help the body process the salicylates/phenols. Starting low and slow, it should be a very calming experience for the child. Typically, it's one-quarter cup salts to a tepid bath filled to the belly button and soaking for as long as the child is willing. Consider it bathtime playtime perhaps. (Some people can soak their feet but a 4yo is unlikely to comply with this option!) You can rinse him off at the end or not...each person is different.

http://legacy.autism.com/medical/researc...gstudy.htm
http://www.enzymestuff.com/epsomsalts.htm#3

If he is a positive responder to the baths then you have a clue that phenols may be a problem. This can be addressed by reducing his phenol load during the day, adding digestive enzymes specifically targeted to phenols (there are a couple that I know of), adding magnesium to his daily supplements and making ES baths part of your routine.

You may also find these books helpful. While they both talk about autism, children with just SPD suffer from some of the same systemic failures and benefit from the same treatments. The parents of one of the sensory forums I'm on really relate to Bock's book. I personally find Jepson's book highly informative. Bock's book is also informative on the systemic relatedness.
“Changing the Course of Autism: A Scientific Approach for Parents and Physicians” by Dr. Bryan Jepson with Jane Johnson
“Healing the Childhood Epidemics:Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies” by Dr. Kenneth Bock

What packaged foods is he getting?

Lastly, a deficiency of magnesium and B6 are common in children with hyperactivity. Pulling gluten further reduces an easy source of the B-vitamin group as a whole. You might want to consider adding a B-vits in addition to his daily supplements. Not that I am paid by or a spokesman for Kirkman Products, but they do sell a multivitamin that is higher in the B-vitamins than most others. You can get a trial size.

http://www.kirkmanlabs.com/

Anna in MD

Hi Anna,

Thanks for all the detailed info. His behavior has improved quite a bit from where we were a few weeks ago. I think it was probably yeast die-off. The daycare facility he is in is aware that they cannot give him anything other than what I send in (and I do send in all of it). Although I am sure whatever art supplies they have are not GF, so that could be a contributing factor. I have been doing ES baths for about a year (every other day). The only packaged foods he gets are GF crackers and occasionally GF cookies. I will try the food journaling and see what I come up with (even though his behavior has improved). Thanks again for all your help.

Sharon in NJ

(06-28-2010, 11:38 AM)aletaw Wrote: Okay...well now that I lost my original reply...I'll try again:

Whatever you and/or the provider can do to keep up with OT will help keep things moving forward.

I assume the provider is aware of the diet...are you sure he/she is not unintentionally giving illegal foods or products? This would include such innocuous things as art supplies, playdough, temporary tattoos, etc. Do you provide all the food? Apologies if you are already up on all this...when "meeting" someone for the first time, it's always hard to know how experienced a parent is when it comes to the diet...

Is the antifungal topical or oral? Some of the recent behavior sounds like a die-off reaction. If this is oral I would definitely look into a yeast/bacterial problem as one of the underlying issues behind the behavior in general.

The impulsiveness and especially the hyperactivity could be related more to his inability to process salicylates, phenols or other compounds in food. Have you heard of the Feingold or Failsafe diets?

http://www.feingold.org
"Why Your Child is Hyperactive" by Ben F. Feingold

http://www.plantpoisonsandrottenstuff.in...lsafe.aspx
“Fed Up” by Sue Dengate


One way to figure out if any of this is an issue is to put his foods into rotation, having a food group every 4 days. Keep a food journal as you do this and you may find that certain days are worse than others. An inability to process the salicylates "typically" shows as red ears/cheeks and/or hyperactivity after eating. It can also show as poor behavior.

Have you tried epsom salt baths? These add an easily absorbable form of magnesium to the body and can help the body process the salicylates/phenols. Starting low and slow, it should be a very calming experience for the child. Typically, it's one-quarter cup salts to a tepid bath filled to the belly button and soaking for as long as the child is willing. Consider it bathtime playtime perhaps. (Some people can soak their feet but a 4yo is unlikely to comply with this option!) You can rinse him off at the end or not...each person is different.

http://legacy.autism.com/medical/researc...gstudy.htm
http://www.enzymestuff.com/epsomsalts.htm#3

If he is a positive responder to the baths then you have a clue that phenols may be a problem. This can be addressed by reducing his phenol load during the day, adding digestive enzymes specifically targeted to phenols (there are a couple that I know of), adding magnesium to his daily supplements and making ES baths part of your routine.

You may also find these books helpful. While they both talk about autism, children with just SPD suffer from some of the same systemic failures and benefit from the same treatments. The parents of one of the sensory forums I'm on really relate to Bock's book. I personally find Jepson's book highly informative. Bock's book is also informative on the systemic relatedness.
“Changing the Course of Autism: A Scientific Approach for Parents and Physicians” by Dr. Bryan Jepson with Jane Johnson
“Healing the Childhood Epidemics:Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies” by Dr. Kenneth Bock

What packaged foods is he getting?

Lastly, a deficiency of magnesium and B6 are common in children with hyperactivity. Pulling gluten further reduces an easy source of the B-vitamin group as a whole. You might want to consider adding a B-vits in addition to his daily supplements. Not that I am paid by or a spokesman for Kirkman Products, but they do sell a multivitamin that is higher in the B-vitamins than most others. You can get a trial size.

http://www.kirkmanlabs.com/

Anna in MD

We had to elmiminate soy and food coloring in addition to casein and gluten before we saw results.