20th January 2004
My son had no obvious gut issues when we started the gfcf diet- with tremendous results(see my other posts)- his only visible symptoms outside of severe behavior were red ears, bone skinny, pale, straw like hair and rashes-
as for sleep I got no more than 2-3 hour spirts until he began zrytec for allergies- knocked him out cold- I had no idea I was suffering from sleep depravation until I actually got a whole nights sleep.
We have started using an over the counter digestive enzyme supplement to help break down the foods- pineapple is a natural enzyme- cool for fruit eaters!
After the fearless hyper stage began to pass, Jacob has/had anxiety issues that began to seriously interfer with the quality of his daily living- afraid of dark and shadows to the point where on the sunniest day he would no longer play outside cause he stairway exit was in the shady side of the house. Couldnt use a public restroom with the door closed- or elevators- for go several class trips to Howes Caverns. The doctor prescribed buspar which worked wonders- he only took it for a couple of months but it helped him rationalize his fears. He also takes serzone regularly - it is an antidepressant.
The biggest advantage to a developmental pediatrician that I can see is that as they enter grade school- a pediatrician can help identify the difference between developmental delay issues that are often processed as oppositional defiant behaviors- ex- my son it turns out has a written langauge disability but for six years he was disciplined and stressed to point of needing restraint becasue he said as best as he could- I cant, I dont want - and the diet has every thing to do with the clarity of his writing- any infraction and it blocks the neroreceptors in the writing pathway -good luck explaining that one- especially four years ago when no one even knew that there was any validity to this diet. at one point he was so regressed in the winter and the discipline in the special ed class was such that he was being restrained and injured daily that the doctor actually pulled him out of school for two weeks! When a lawyer accepted our case, the school finally evaluated his functional writing going into fifth grade as below kindergarten level. Yet his IQ and concrete scientific langauge was four years advanced as was his fine motor!
as for sleep I got no more than 2-3 hour spirts until he began zrytec for allergies- knocked him out cold- I had no idea I was suffering from sleep depravation until I actually got a whole nights sleep.
We have started using an over the counter digestive enzyme supplement to help break down the foods- pineapple is a natural enzyme- cool for fruit eaters!
After the fearless hyper stage began to pass, Jacob has/had anxiety issues that began to seriously interfer with the quality of his daily living- afraid of dark and shadows to the point where on the sunniest day he would no longer play outside cause he stairway exit was in the shady side of the house. Couldnt use a public restroom with the door closed- or elevators- for go several class trips to Howes Caverns. The doctor prescribed buspar which worked wonders- he only took it for a couple of months but it helped him rationalize his fears. He also takes serzone regularly - it is an antidepressant.
The biggest advantage to a developmental pediatrician that I can see is that as they enter grade school- a pediatrician can help identify the difference between developmental delay issues that are often processed as oppositional defiant behaviors- ex- my son it turns out has a written langauge disability but for six years he was disciplined and stressed to point of needing restraint becasue he said as best as he could- I cant, I dont want - and the diet has every thing to do with the clarity of his writing- any infraction and it blocks the neroreceptors in the writing pathway -good luck explaining that one- especially four years ago when no one even knew that there was any validity to this diet. at one point he was so regressed in the winter and the discipline in the special ed class was such that he was being restrained and injured daily that the doctor actually pulled him out of school for two weeks! When a lawyer accepted our case, the school finally evaluated his functional writing going into fifth grade as below kindergarten level. Yet his IQ and concrete scientific langauge was four years advanced as was his fine motor!