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I'm a 50 year old Celiac with 2 children who are also Celiac and 2
grandchildren who are not diagnosed but are suspected. My 4 year old
grandson does have behavioral changes with the ingestion of gluten. We've
tracked it. He becomes aggitated easily, does not listen to what he is being
told and has diminished concentration after gluten ingestion. It is usually
within a couple of hours and sometimes the effects last days. His changes
are enough for my daughter to have decided to omit gluten from his diet.

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Clinical research on a subject with so many factors influencing observed
data (in this case, kids' behavior) makes it dificult to tease out the
effects of one compared to another, particularly over a broad population.
Some behaviors can have a variety of causes. In such circumstances, where
the potential remedy in question (food choices) has few if any bad side
effects compared to pharmaceuticals, I think parent observations of their
child counts a lot.

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I have a 13-year old, and a 9 year-old with gluten intolerance. My
9-year-old is also dairy intolerant. It took 3 years to diagnose my son,
13-year-old, with Celiac Disease. He almost died. Afgter elimination of
gluten, he was soooo much improved. I notice depression, irritability,
lethargy, fatigue, headaches, joint pain, and stomach pain/diarrhea when he
ingests gluten (accidentally, of course). My 9-y.o. daughter also suffers
from Celiac Disease - gluten intolerance, and well as a dairy allergy. Her
symptoms include hyperactivity, irritability, headaches, and stomachaches.
In addition, if that's not enough, I suffer from Celiac Disease also. My
symptoms include depression, irritability, headaches, fatigue, nausea, joint
pain, and diarrhea with the accidental ingestion of gluten. It took 35 years
for them to diagnose this. I was written off as a patient with mental
problems. What a difference withdrawal from gluten has made. We are healthy,
gaining weight, and much less depressed and irritable as in the past. A
small slip, however sets us back 3-5 days. In addition to the treatment of
depression in myself and my 13-y.o.son, my daughter is also being treated
for ADHD with Concerta - also a well-known side effect of Celiac Disease.

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I've definitely seen the link between behaviour and gluten in my kids. Much
more aggressive behaviour in one child when he was on gluten, he's far
mellower when off it.

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My grandson is now seven years old. He appears to have Attention Deficit
Disorder, but he no longer eats wheat, and he is doing well in school. In
fact, he received the outstanding speller award because he was able to
concentrate while studying his spelling lists, and he usually got 100 % on
the spelling tests. He works at the computer for an hour or longer without
interruption.

His little brother is a celiac, but he decided to go wheat-free to support
his brother. I think it was a blessing because it also helped his attention
span.

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My son gets something the neurologist calls "migraine with episodic
dyscontrol", and the drug cocktails only made it worse. The gluten free diet
is the only solution. We used the Feingold diet for about 11 years before
shifting to Stage II, and now we still feel best sticking with that concept
of only eating natural foods and avoiding the colors, flavors and
preservatives (I notice I get weird dreams if I eat things with
nitrites...). Had we not known about dietary triggers, my son would probably
be institutionalized at this point. Instead he is leading a normal life,
albeit gluten free.

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My nine year old has a wheat sensitivity that was self diagnosed when she
was 5. She had the behavior of a 2 yr old, crayoning on the walls, not
listening, easily crying. Very impulsive. When asked why she did something
when she knew she shouldn't, she'd say (crying) she didn't know. I was at my
witts end when I discovered a book at the public library "Raising a
difficult child" (I think??) It's about the feingold elimination diet. We
did this (a marriage buster as my husband would say!) diet as recommended,
and with the reintroduction of wheat, her cheeks flushed. The more she ate,
the redder they got. She had been fighting eczema up to this point. After
changing her diet to gf, it went away.

My husband hasn't been totally sold on the connection w/wheat & behavior. My
pediatrician's response was to make a note in her file, & offer me very
minimal resources. He did not mention a blood test, which I feel would
convince my husband better. Her behavior before diet modification was
similiar to that of Adhd. She still shows characteristics, but they are
lessened.

Friends & family members noticed the difference immediately!! Some would
actually come up to me (that didn't know about the diet) & say, "what
happened to your daughter, she's not hyper anymore?" (She used to physically
run into the walls!!)

My husband took my daughter off her diet a yr ago when she was 8. She was
really complain about the diet, & he felt we were depriving her. That fall,
after school started, she asked to go back on the diet. We greatly loosened
up on "sweating the small stuff". She occasionally has Doritos, etc. We are
also Catholic, & she now has been receiving communion once a week for a yr &
a half. Up to this point, she had been free of eczema. It is starting to
return on her arm. It's hard to interpret sometimes her reaction to foods.
It's not always clear-cut.

When my daughter was off her diet last year, her cheerleading squad leader
said she noticed she wasn't paying attention as well, compared to this year.

The school has been adaptive to her needs, as far as parties, treats, etc.
She doesn't buy lunch. The school nurse was paranoid at first about her
forgetting her lunch, & what they should do.

My daaughter has never been on medications (other than an herbal for
attention).

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The following is a bit of a tangent but it may give credence to the food
sensitivities/behavior changes since that is thought to be such a subtle
connection by many people and practitioners.

In Dr. Jonathon Wright's first book I believe( Dr. Wright's Book of
Nutritional Therapy), he presents a case of food allergies and bed-wetting
connection. This is a not so subtle connection yet it is quite removed from
the typical reactions of food sensitivities.

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