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I posted that because it held special irony for me.  At the time it was
published, I was working at a residential treatment facility for
emotionally disturbed children.   We also had some pre-adjudicated
youths. The focus of the treatment was changing their behaviors through
behavior mod.

I especially remember the two brittle diabetics whose blood sugars
fluctuated and who were accused of manipulating both their diets and
their insulin dosage, the 12 year old who messed his pants whenever he
got stressed or frightened, &  the young schizophrenic who only ate
bread and milk because that's what his "controllers", i.e., the voices
he heard in his head, told him was safe to eat.

I don't know that the lives of these kids are any better now having been
through behavior mod.  I certainly wonder how their lives would be if
they had been screened for celiac disease.

In my town, we have that residential treatment facility, and also an
educational facility that addresses the needs of MR children, Down's
syndrome children, and is now opening an autism unit. What we don't have
is celiac awareness to fully address these children's medical needs.

Maybe there is not hard evidence addressing  the incidence of gluten
intolerance among schizophrenics - though my uncle was diagnosed schiz
in the '50's, and I have a daughter with pervasive developmental delay,
an autistic disorder.

But we do know that there is a link between celiac disease and juvenile
diabetes, any kid who lives on just bread and milk is going to suffer
from nutritional deficiencies, and that there is a demonstrated
incidence between DS children and CD,  & that there is a high incidence
of thyroid problems among us celiacs
http://thyroid.about.com/health/thyroid/library/weekly/aa040700a.htm

and there seems to be some linkage between thyroid and intelligence in
offspring and thyroid and hyperactivity:

http://www.thyroid.org/press/pr990819.htm

http://www.mel.hcn.net.au/news/cuttingedge/17mar.htm

In the end, there is a huge diversity of gastro functioning even on this
list!  We have symptomatic celiacs, and asymptomatics.  We have people
who can celebrate the veagn life, and those of us who have difficulty
metabolizing corn, soy and even rice.  We have the lactose intolerant
and the casein intolerant

The great thing about this list is that we are all welcome to it.  It's
just hard to make a generalization, any generalization because in the
end, all we have in common is that shared intolerance to gluten in our
diet.

But my thanks to Natalie and Vance.  The birth defect aspects of
undiagnosed celiac disease have not been fully addressed.  This issue
should not be swept under the rug.  Just this morning in my local
newspaper, there was an Associated Press article about the validation of
a marked increase in diagnosis of kids with behavioral problems.  It's
being attributed to the increasing number of  poor and/or single parent
households, but when is maternal health/diet going to be looked at?  You
can't make a healthy baby on junk and convenience food. And what about
the undiagnosed  asymptomatic celiac mom?

I think I'll stop now.  You all know where my concerns lie.

Bec

Erie, PA

P.S.  I mentioned that I had gone to that autism conference where Dr.
Rimland spoke.  I was able to ask him how many studies have been done
re: thyroid .  He answered, "Not enough."  Perhaps this is our common
bond.


Bec

Erie PA


-----Original Message-----
From:   natalie shaw [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]

The book chapter which vance cites was posted last March, by Rebecca Markle,
to the list.  I've forwarded it again, so that people can visit the site
themselves, and read the whole text.