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sorry all, had to tweak this some--the list serve keeps rejecting the
summaries for length--and this one got rejected because list members aren't
allowed to post more than five messages per day--again, thanks for all the
help!!!

Chris

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--Your child's current age, diagnosis, and age when diagnosis was first
made? 2 1/2, never officially diagnosed so they refer to it as food
intolerance or sensitivity, I discovered the problem with dairy when she was
a few weeks old and the problem with wheat when she was 13 months.

--What led you to explore the food/additive connection with behavior? AT
first, we were aware of vague physical symptoms (diaper rash, constipation,
ear infections, then viruses that landed in her throat). Once we eliminated
dairy and wheat, we saw remarkable changes in her behavior.

--How did you investigate? Did you do blood testing, food challenges, both,

something else? When she was a few weeks old, she had a rash on her face.
From one of my favorite baby books by Dr. William Sears, it sounded like a
milk allergy. Also, my older daughter had intolerances to dairy. I brought
her to the pediatrician who said it was more likely the detergent I was
using on my clothing or the soap I was using, since I was breast feeding. I
stopped consuming dairy and did not change my detergent. The rash went away.

She suffered very badly with recurrent ear infections. When she was 8 months
old, we had tubes put in her ears. After the tubes, the ear infections
stopped, but then she was getting recurring sore throats. The pediatrician
said they were due to viruses which my school age child was bringing home. I
never was comfortable with that explanation.

During this time, she had a constant mild diaper rash. The pediatrician
blamed it on sensitive skin and said not to worry about it. I had been
feeding her whole wheat bagels, whole wheat toast, whole wheat waffles. When
we went on vacation, the diaper rash cleared up completely. The only thing
that was different was that we were not giving her whole wheat.

When I went to the ENT for a follow up, I told him of her sore throats. I
said that while the tubes prevented the infections in her ears, I felt these
sore throats were caused by the same thing that caused her ear infections.
He said it was possible that it was related to food allergies and explained
that he used to be a pediatric allergist. He said if dairy was already out
of the diet, the next food to try would be wheat. We took wheat out of her
diet completely and saw an amazing change in her personality. She was much
happier, did not cry as easily, was not as aggressive (not as much hitting
biting, banging of her head, etc). She was also calmer and slept better.

As I did some research, I heard about the connection between wheat and dairy
and behavior.

--What were the results? What are the "trigger" foods/additives (if any) for
your child? She has gotten much better, but at one time, we felt dairy,
wheat, orange juice/citric acid, and possibly some red dyes were triggers.

--How does your child react to these triggers? I see an increase in
aggressive behaviors -- she will hit, bite, bang her head against the floor
or wall, tear things up. She is also more hyper. She will wake up in the
middle of the night and act as though she has had 3 cups of coffee, talking
a mile a minute, running around, totally unable to sit still. During the
day, she is also much more active and unable to settle.

--What role did your child's physician/care provider play in addressing the
food/additive connection? I finally found 1 pediatrician in our practice
that is very understanding and sympathetic. He referred us to an allergist,
but told me in advance that they probably wouldn't come up with anything. He
listens to what I have to say and does the best to work with it. We have
also taken her to a homeopathic physician, who has recommended a natural
homeopathic remedy. This remedy (she receives a few drops 2-3x a
day) has helped her to handle more of the foods that bother her with minimal
reaction. It also seems to help her calm down and relax.

--How supportive is your child's care provider? My child will start
preschool 2x a week this week. With the help of the remedy, she can have
some small amounts of wheat and dairy. I've told the teacher to allow her to
have anything for snack and I will be more careful of her diet at home. We
will watch her and see how she does.

--In what ways are you modifying your child's diet? Initially, we had
removed all wheat and dairy. Now, she can handle some of both. She doesn't
eat any bread, unless it is made from Spelt. For special occasions, she can
have cake and cookies. If ice cream is served, I try to bring her Rice Dream
brand ice cream substitute. She drinks rice milk instead of dairy and has
dairy free cheese.

--How has modifying your child's diet affected his/her behavior or symptoms?
The change has been amazing. Many people commented about how much calmer she
was after the change in her diet, even though they didn't know what was
happening. Again, she was visibly calmer, happier, and not as
confrontational.

--If mature enough, does your child participate in monitoring his/her diet?
She's only 2, so not really. However, I will tell her some foods will give
her a tummy ache or diaper rash. Sometimes that is enough to make her leave
it alone.

--Any other comments? It can be very disheartening to go through this. When
my daughter was an infant, I was told it was her personality. After she had
the tubes in her ears, I was told it was a learned behavior -- she learned
when she was in pain and screamed that way, we reacted, so she continued to
scream to get attention and to manipulate us. I could never be convinced
that a baby less than 1 year old could be so manipulative. I believed in my
heart she was in pain and now I know she was in pain.

When I took her to the allergist, I thought we were just doing a skin test
on 4 foods that I suspected were a problem. They ended up doing the full
panel (40 foods) and told me she had no allergies because she did not have
an appropriate reaction in the office. The allergist also told me that I
should talk to my doctor about autism and behavior modification because of
the extreme behaviors (my doctor thought that was as ludicrous as I did!)
While my daughter did not react in the allergists office, she had a full
blown reaction for several days later -- she got a sore throat and was
hoarse, she had a runny nose, horrible diaper rash, severe constipation, she
became very cranky, and very aggressive. The test said she had no allergy,
but it confirmed for me that food reacts with her in a very different way
than for most people.

###
I do not have kids with ADD, autism, hyperactivity or learning issues, so I
cannot speak to that. What I can say is that for years I had a moody little
guy who always had a frown between his eyes- you know that deep crease. It
came from chronic discomfort due to headaches, rectal itching and abdominal
cramping and diarrhea. He has been GF for a year, and the frown is gone, and
he has been known to catch me in his little arms and waltz me around the
apartment! He is 12 now, and feels so good that he manages keeping to the
diet himself- I do not have to argue or persuade him to eat right. What a
relief to see him smiling.

END

* Visit the Celiac Web Page at www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html *