Caryn

"This 2005 video by Gary Null entitled “The Drugging of our Children” questions the validity of medicating so many children for symptoms of ADHD. This video will show how school-aged children in the U.S. are increasingly given ADHD meds for symptoms of ADHD as a first step. Doctors need to look at other conditions to rule out other causes before prescribing ADHD meds."

BikeWP, Our son has been GF for almost 4 years. We originally found out he had a problem with gluten through an allergy/intolerance blood test. We immediately took him off of gluten because he was suffering from chronic multifocal ticcing (doctor's dx) and had signs of emerging OCD. At that time we did not screen him for celiac disease (who would have thought?) but we eventually did stool testing and genetic testing and now he has an official celiac diagnosis. I don't know your exact details with your child, and I can't speak for every child with gluten intolerance, but I can tell you what our experience was like. Initially we saw an increase in ticcing and a period within the first few months where our son's reactions to gluten exposures were pretty severe, unlike when he was eating it every day. It is a weird phenomena that other GF families have also experienced (I won't say all, but others I am in contact with have had similar experiences as I did with my son. He puked after eating things that were 'cross contaminated' with gluten or had minute amounts of gluten in it (like seasoning on potatoes). He would get explosive watery diarrhea after eating something accidentally that had gluten in it. Then we would see ticcing with very mild exposures. With celiac there is a lot of gut damage and possible problems with fungi or digestive bacteria that can further hinder digestion. But the good news is that after the digestive system healed my son's symptoms became less severe, then occasional, and after two years they ceased altogether. But it took two whole years of healing. It didn't happen overnight. We really educated ourselves about how to safely eat gluten free and my son does not cheat. So my answer to you is don't give up, yes it can get worse, but it will most certainly eventually get better. Just be sure to feed your child food that is easy to digest, healthy, and prepare it in a safe kitchen free from cross contamination. Once the body heals and the antibody levels drop into the normal range you will notice a huge change.

Ah, yes! I saw this too. Pretty lousy and typical of the CRA. It is a pity, too. Fructose is crystallized corn sugar. Many avoiding corn syrups use it. So educated customers will be avoiding corn all the more when it's true source becomes totally ambiguous. I wish there was a law against this. I now have neighbors with kids on regular diets w/o allergy or neuro issues actively avoiding HFCS. "A rose by any other name is still a rose."

Abbe, There is a new coconut milk in the refrigerator section at WF. It is really good. Goes great on cereal. You can do almond milk too. We like Bob's Red Mill Brown Rice Cereal. It is like farina. I make it with milk now but used to use coconut milk or almond milk when my son had leaky gut problems. You can make it with water and then add a touch of milk after to cool it and make it creamy. Add your favorite sweetener. We like maple syrup or honey. Get ghee at WF (is expensive but tastes a lot like butter and makes a nice spread over GF toast). A new company just came out with a really good GF bread. It is called Rudi's. They are out of Colorado. Their breads contain egg whites. Is your son allergic to the whole egg? Mine was allergic to the yolks but now eats eggs no problem (three years later). His egg reaction was quite low initially. I can't remember if you are watching yeast or not (it has yeast) and sorghum which can be problematic for some on GF diet (especially initially when they are in recovery). But you should try it if you can find it. I think it is a good transition bread. It is the first GF bread to inspire my hubby to take it to work like a real sandwich. When he got home that night he said, "Wow, where did you get that bread from?" Another good bread is EnerG Light Tapioca Loaf. Here's what you do with it: wet a paper towel, wring it, and wrap the slices in it (don't stack the slices, make sure that each slice is covered by the towel on all sides.) Heat in microwave for about 20 seconds. Now you have a nice soft bread for sandwiches. (Eat immediately-- not as good if it is packed in a lunchbox). Kids love it as a sunbutter and jelly sandwich. That same bread makes a great toast. It is gluten free, wheat free, dairy free, nut free, and egg free. They say don't freeze it, but it is a big loaf and doesn't last long after you open it. Keep in fridge afterward. As long as you micro and toast it the stuff will be fine for about three days. I just got a recipe for a dairy free chocolate pudding and hope to post it up soon. The secret ingredient is avocado! Lunches--- There is a product called Food for Life Brown Rice Tortillas that we use. Ingredients: Whole Grain Brown Rice Flour, Filtered Water, Tapioca Flour, Safflower Oil, Rice Bran, Vegetable Gum (xanthan, cellulouse), Sea Salt. Okay, again, this is one that you have to wrap in wet paper towel and nuke in micro to make it soft and pliable (like 25 secs, maybe more.) If you nuke it longer it will get hard and crunchy. But it makes a nice wrap for rolling up in the lunch. There are a lot of brands that make gluten free marinara (spaghetti sauce not so much), and we buy GF rice noodles all the time. Check to make sure the brand you pick is also egg free. But there are loads of noodle brands to choose from. Don't choke your GF noodles. Be sure to boil them in a nice big pot of water. Boil the water first and then throw them in at a high rolling boil. Give them exactly 15 minutes and drain in a colander, running cool water over them. This is important. GF noodles are a MUSHY mess if overcooked. They do not hold up like the wheat ones do. They also get sticky. This is why I like to run the cool water and toss a little before I add them to the dish. Glutenfreeda is a nice company that sells gluten free oatmeal in individual flavor packets. Just add water. My kids love them. We buy Hormel lunch meat in prepackaged boxes from our local grocery store. They are GF and advertised as natural (have brown cardboard boxes with red). Can't buy deli meat, you know that? Anyway-- they are really good. We do roll ups with them. Kids love them. Trader Joe's has an all beef hotdog and they will eat those too. I just cut them into round slices and mix with ketchup, heat and throw in a thermos. Sounds gross, I know, but they love them. Trader Joe's also sells a lot of potato chips and off brand Cheetos type stuff all labeled GF and many are dairy free too. Check it out for barbeques, etc..... Your best bet is to ask for concierge at WF or Trader Joe's next time you are there. They have sheets with listings of safe GF foods. TJ's also labels everything GF. It is easy peezy there. My three year old learned how to shop GF in just a couple of trips. Ohh, and almost forgot-- Udi's makes a really nice oatmeal granola made with GF oats (tested and certified) and honey. Anyway, you can serve that for breaky with coconut yogurt and fresh blueberries and strawberries. My kids love it. They think it is a dessert. Caryn Sounds like you are busy. Good luck with the book!

abbe, You can do it! What are his favorites? Lemme see if I can help you phase it in.... You would be surprised at how many alternative products there are out there. Also, did your doctor RULE OUT gluten intolerance? If not, I highly suggest doing gluten free too, at least initially. It isn't that much harder but if the crux of the problem is gluten then the wheat avoidance might not show a recovery like it should. Caryn

It took us almost two years after we started my son's strict diet before the tics finally went away completely. Hang in there. Don't stop the diet. If he is reacting to corn that strongly then you know you are on to something. You have to remember that antibody levels rise and fall SLOWLY. So it could be that your son has very high anti corn antibodies right now and so his tolerance is non-existent. It could take 6 months to two years to get those antibody levels down to the normal range. We have seen this with our son's gluten antibodies and the stool testing we do annually. After two years he still had elevated antibodies, although they were really close to the normal range. Don't quit, don't quit, don't quit. Now my son can have minimal corn without any tics. The diet takes time. That is all I can say. We monitor and limit the corn to 'special' occasions and he seems fine. We do NOT do any corn byproducts, syrups, or any artificial colors at all. I want to add that corn syrups, in particular HFCS, has mercury in it. Might be a factor with all these kids having neuro flare ups when they eat it regardless of corn allergy. Caryn

Cheese is bad because it is moldy. Your daughter probably has a fungal problem. That is common with these kids. I would eliminate dairy for a while unless it is fermented (kefir). I would also look into getting her tested for fungal infection. Also, cheese is loaded with corn. We deal with corn allergy here (corn is very fungal, too, BTW). We now use cheese but have to shop carefully and don't use it as a staple at all! You may have a corn intolerance that is appearing like an inconsistent dairy allergy. BTDT! If it is corn the process of elimination is pretty tough but well worth it if you can eliminate it completely. Do heavy probiotics too to help if fungus/mold is her issue. (30-50 billion).

As per fighting mold, We have had great success with a very high dose of probiotic coupled with an anti-fungal diet and use of Candex. We did not use a prescription for it but our doctor said that he would prescribe it if the Candex didn't work. On the high note, if you are diligent with the protocol and wait until it is eradicated they can eat a more varied diet in time. I have found this to be true with both my boys. Just go slow and only expose the allergen once every four days and in small doses. We have been amazed after three years to see small signs of tolerance in our oldest son. We tried so many times but kept getting reactions. I thought he would never 'out grow it' as they say. But for him the recovery period lasted over two years. We do not do corn syrups at all and don't do maltodextrins either. We have experimented with xanthan gum and recently citric acid without incident. I have also tried corn starch and did not see a reaction. Hope this helps. The probiotic we used was between 50 and 75 billion. I gave the probiotic at night.

I am glad to hear your son's IgE results have improved and his gut is healing. Just a caution on IgG testing. Doug Kaufman of "Know the Cause" television show was one of the original developers of the IgG allergy testing. BTW, we used that same test for our son 3 years ago. According to Doug the test is fatally flawed because the patient is most likely reacting to moldy specimens. This is why a group tested in the same batch could similarly end up with little allergens and that same group could test much higher with a subsequent testing on another test date. If the specimens are contaminated (as is often the case) then the patient would react more heavily to the mycotoxins present on the food rather than just on the food itself. We are dealing with a corn allergy over here, too. Corn is infested with mycotoxins more so than any other food source in the U.S. So be very cautious with corn if your son is allergic to mold. The Corn We Eat is Infested with Mycotoxic Fungi If he has/had fungal overgrowth problems then I highly suggest you be VERY cautious reintroducing corn, nuts, wheat (even gluten free), and dairy. They are high in mycotoxins and can set you back in the healing process if consumed too much, or even at all, if fungus is an issue for your son.

Wombat, From the daily mail: The great autism rip-off ... How a huge industry feeds on parents desperate to cure their children Fairly scathing article but gives names and addresses of DAN docs in U.K. Caryn

If he gets runny stools then you know you've over done the magnesium. If his stools are normal then you are fine.

Great news Carolyn.N Am happy to see the results have been good and quick. In our experience with Tigger we never did NAET or the BAX treatment. We too have seen a tremendous reduction in allergic reactions to HFCS, food dyes, and corn in general. He does not tic any longer with minor exposures. He actually hasn't had symptoms in over a year, knock on wood. We are still on a very strict gluten free diet and have greatly reduced the supplements too in the last year. Of course many of you know that our son was pretty chronic at onset and it was not long after his preschool vaxes. Maybe the NAET is a quicker way to get there or a way to go in lieu of a restricted diet?

And I might consider seeing a dentist, too if I were you. I've been getting my old fillings removed this week and was amazed to learn what bad silver fillings can do to you. I am suffering from the "band around my head" squeezing me like a vice sensation too. You may have an abscess, a cracked filling, or have old worn fillings that are leaking toxic metal vapors in your mouth. It will make you tired and can cause depression. My old fillings are 'hot' to the touch while my new fillings are the same temperature as my natural teeth. I have a metallic taste in my mouth and my sense of taste is off. I salivate more than what is considered 'average' and my tongue is swollen much of the time. I am sensitive to hot and cold food and beverages too. By Thursday they will all be gone and then I will be able to tell you whether the hangover headband headache is gone too. (BTW, that is a classic symptom according to a couple of books I am reading on the subject.) My father's good friend had all his silver amalgams removed 10 years ago by the same dentist and he said that his chronic back pain stopped immediately after they were removed. I had 12. I now have 6 left. I will be happy if removing them would stop the headaches. Although they aren't really headaches in the sense that my head actively hurts. It is a constant squeezing pressure on my head. Pain killers don't alleviate it either. Some times my neck is sore too, and I take magnesium for that. It seems to help a little. I've needed dental work for a while and have put it off too long. It seems like the symptoms crept up on me and really got bad when I cracked my filling last winter. If you decide you need to have your teeth checked out do make sure you make an appointment with a dentist that specializes in safe mercury removal practices. My dentist takes them out in big chunks and has a special high powered vacuum system. He also wears a gas mask. There is only a couple dentists in my area that do this and I live in a big city. I agree with Cheri that a chiropractor is important with violent neck ticcing. I do not have any ticcing myself. My son did have neck ticcing several years ago and the chiropractor really helped him get realigned after an injury (he slid into a cabinet while playing Spiderman). In our case my son's ticcing did not stop until we made dietary changes too. His symptoms were multifocal and he had a touch of OCD too. He does not have any fillings in his mouth, btw.

Oh, I figured.... I've been picturing a handsome hunk with long wavy light brown hair around the shoulders and eyes the color of the deep blue ocean..... LOL No, honestly-- The fact that you opened a can of mackerel and doused it with cream and tomato sauce gave you away in the first two sentences. That is definitely a man meal.

My oldest's corn allergy greatly affected his handwriting when he was reactive a few years ago and very ticcy. His handwriting is age appropriate now but can get sloppy when he doesn't want to do the work. I just make him erase it and do it over again. This is enough to make him keep it neat. But bad attitude or 'opiate effect' and physical limitations are very different things. So you have to first figure out exactly what you are dealing with here. Doris Rapp talks about poor handwriting phenomena in her book, Is this Your Child. She also includes images of examples of how handwriting gets worse and improves based on hidden allergies. In her examples the writing is poor from a coordination standpoint as well as content. What we saw in our son was a sort of "ADHD" slop job, which is much like what she showed in her examples-- kids with disconnected ideas and handwriting. This is different from what Faith describes as an OCD-like handwriting tic, in which the child continually erases or writes over a letter and has obvious perseverations during the writing process. In my experience it was more like 'intoxicated' versus 'sober' school work. In our case the diet helped the handwriting tremendously, to the point where the samples look like they were done from two different kids-- to the point where you would think one kid's sample was from a much older child than the other.

Canned mackerel has metals, and especially if it is an old can. The metals move and soak into the fish over time gradually increasing the metal load of the food. So an old can packed two years before you eat it will have much higher metals in the fish than a can packed yesterday. Think of it like a sponge on a wet counter. Over time the sponge (fish) gets saturated with the metal vapours (water). Metals are toxic, especially mercury which is not for the human body and is present in canned fish. There are studies that prove this. Not all fish oils are created equal. Source matters. My son reacted badly to coromega. Many fish oil companies used farmed fish. You have to know the brands. We use Nordic Naturals. Also, not all dairy is created equal. Our son has a severe corn allergy and tolerates corn-free, chemical free dairy in moderation. Does the cream you used have carrageenan? That could be a problem. We only use organic dairy products and if we can't pronounce the ingredients on the label we don't buy. Our cream says "heavy cream" as the only ingredient on the label. There is such a thing as a carrageenan allergy. And back to the metals issue, it has been proven that High Fructose Corn Syrup has a high mercury content as well. I do better on low carb diets but I have to include simple carbs with every meal. You can't just eat protein and fat on it's own. We need carbs for mental well being. Try to do meat the size of the palm of your hand, and then fill the rest of your plate with fresh veggies and fruit, keeping in mind the sugar content of the fruit should be low. Are you also taking vitamins? If you have rage issues with the Paxil you should let your doctor know asap. That is a common side effect and you probably should discontinue and go another route if it is a known problem this early on. Don't take chances with your mental well being. If fish is a problem, and fish oil, it may be that you have an underlying metals problem, especially if canned fish gives you an immediate reaction. (Could try the mackerel on its own again w/o the cream and tomato sauce to see if you get as sick again.) Metals are a neurotoxin and if your body is carrying a heavy metal load and has problems with sulfation then you will be symptomatic with exposures. I am learning much about this at this time as I am in the process of getting my many amalgams removed finally. Metal toxicity can cause depression too.

Sahm, yeah. I hear you. I couldn't agree more about the diet stuff. I didn't even know how to cook when this all started and we ate out A LOT. Once the labs come back you will have a clear picture. Just remember what I said when things get tough (and they will). It really does get better in time. Caryn And, BTW, we saw the same thing in our house, onset after a vax.

Sahm, I humbly disagree with the allergist on getting a false negative after a few weeks on the diet, especially in regards to gluten. Maybe that is possible with milk, I don't know. Is this a RAST test you are doing or an IgG? If it were me I would look at testing for underlying fungal or bacterial overgrowth issues as a primary focus. This is just hindsight and experience talking. I have done allergy testing and can tell you that the IgE and IgG results will vary even if given to the same child on the same day. So treatment based solely on allergy results is faulty in my opinion. Allergies are a symptom of another underlying problem in my opinion and do improve if you get rid of the source of the gut imbalance. My son tested positive for 17 allergies (IgG) in the beginning. He now only avoids gluten, corn, too much sugar (we really limit it to special occasions and rely on using honey and stevia at home) and he also avoids yeast as he is prone to fungal infections. My opinion on this has really evolved over time. My feeling is that if the problem was solely an allergy problem then there would not be a neurological problem in addition to the allergy symptoms. What agent has broken down the blood brain barrier? There has to be a breakdown in the digestive system of some sort, or at the very least presence of another agent-- heavy metals, bacterial or fungal infections, virus that would lead to an exasperation of neuro issues. I will tell you what I tell many folks who do GFCF only. It could be that there is another food intolerance that is causing significant symptoms in your child. For example, if the problem is fungal, then corn and peanuts are very problematic, as is, of course, sugar and yeast. But how would you know that without testing for fungal overgrowth first? I completely understand your frustration. From my perspective two weeks in treatment is nothing. Dairy takes 7-10 days to be eliminated from the body (so they say) but that is only if you are doing it 100% correctly, which is hard because it is in so many things and unless you copy and carry around a sheet with all the alternative names for dairy how would you know? Gluten, on the other hand can take 6 months to 2 years to clear, especially if your child has Celiac, which is an autoimmune response to gliadin. Our son is doing great over 3 years after the diet and has no neuro symptoms anymore but he still had antibodies in his stool test 2 years after we started the diet (they were low but not yet normal). I guess what I am trying to say is that you have to get it right with the ingredient listings, first of all, and secondly, you really have to have faith that you are doing the right thing and patience to let time slowly heal the damage. And believe you me, it takes a long, long, long, long time if the gut and intestines have been compromised. We saw reduction of symptoms after three months and a real turn around after 9 months. Two weeks is a flash in the pan IMO. I don't know if you are doing any kind of supplemental program but that was key for us in the beginning because my son was not absorbing nutrients in his diet, even with the new restrictions and we relied on high doses of specific supps to help him function without terribly bad symptoms. We used Bonnie Grimaldi's supps for quite a while and really felt that they were necessary while his body was healing. He still ticced daily but his mood and symptoms were much better on her supps. We phased that out to do a special compounded vit/supp program with Pfeiffer Treatment Center that included chelators. We did that for six months. After the nine months he was on the mend in a good way but still had neuro reactions to accidental ingestion. Now he does not ever tic with accidental ingestion. He may get a headache or feel 'off' but the severity is much lower. We do not eat regular meat anymore or regular eggs. We do pasture fed organics and lots of veggies and fruit, low grain. He loves his diet and will get corn free cakes and sweets for special occasions so we strike a balance. But if this is truly your problem then unfortunately you have to be in it for the long haul. A good test for fungal/bacterial/nutrient absorption levels is the OAT test from Great Plains. We have used it with more than one family member here through our general practitioner. He found it very useful. Caryn

Just an FYI, Many honey farmers are feeding their bees High Fructose Corn Syrup. Not all honey is created equal and you really need to be careful with honey brands in the U.S.: From my article-- Corn Sugars 101: What you might not know about how corn sweetens our food If it was bad honey you son could have been ingesting high fructose corn syrup every day and that was causing the tics, not the apple cider vinegar. If you feel brave enough, try the ACV on its own to see if he still reacts to it.

Brandy, Doug has lit my fire on fungal studies. We've seen a lot of weird symptoms subside-- like "North American Red Ear" and "Flushing" where the ears get really hot and red and so do the cheeks. We could never pin point the culprit--- but it mysteriously disappeared when we started the anti-fungal diet. So did the frequent urination problems that were causing day accidents and night wetting. After he interviewed me for his show last November (he found an article that I wrote last summer about mycotoxins in corn and his producer called me and asked if I would agree to be interviewed). I was honored. As a thank you they sent me all his books on audio and I have listened to them repeatedly. It is fascinating stuff. Particularly interesting for you all would be the chapter on Mental Health in Volume 1 of the Fungus Link entitled, "The link between Fungi and Brain Disorders" One of the chapters in that volume also talked about mycotoxic overload and how a diet rich in yeast and sugar can cause the afflicted person's body to produce it's own alcohol--- is called auto brewery syndrome. 69% of folks who ingested pop had ethanol in their bloodstream about 1 hour after ingestion. You walk around every day in a constant hang-over. At onset our son used to have serious Cerebral Allergy symptoms when he would accidentally ingest foods with contaminated corn. Once we gave him organic corn on the cob in the beginning, after he had been on the diet two months. He went cuckoo for coco puffs afterward and acted like he was on drugs or something. We used to call it the 'Tigger' effect. He would be happy, goofy, distracted, silly, annoying, repetitive, and then after a few hours or a day he would 'come down off of it' and get really moody, nasty, disagreeable, ticcy, and I would up the supplements in the regime and wait patiently for the wax on to pass....... He doesn't wax anymore. We no longer see this pattern. Now, three years later, when he is exposed to corn he doesn't have neuro symptoms. He gets headaches and sometimes stomach aches. I really truly believe in it because I saw first hand the symptoms and results long before I ever met Doug, read his books, or heard him speak. In that chapter he mentions a book, Clinical Mycology, that has proven certain fungi, including Candida Albicans, can invade the spinal cord and cause mental dysfunction. Diet has been proven as a factor in many cases of ADD. Caryn

Cerebral Allergies could also be indicated too. I would check the additional ingredients on the bottle. It is possible that there is an allergen to another ingredient that your child reacted to. My son was very reactive to corn when he was sick with the neuro issues and had the multifocal ticcing behaviors. We did many things for a long while that improved him but it wasn't until I got down to the nitty gritty with the corn allergy issue that we saw a turn around. My son used to tic when I gave him any form of Vit C because he was reacting to the citric acid-- which I learned is often corn-derived. I found a form that was in a green powder w/o citric acid and he had no problem with it. Also, The Kid's Calm magnesium made him tic too. I learned after having used it for a while that it was also corn-derived. So I stopped using it and looked for a corn-free magnesium product (not easy to find) and he responded well to it. It could be that the magnesium taurine itself was the culprit, as the acetyl L carnitine. I wouldn't know how that would play out from a biological perspective. I just wanted to share that sometimes it can be a completely different thing altogether than what we originally thought to blame. This is also very true for fish oil brands.

There is a huge connection to fungal overgrowth and allergy/immune related issues. Fungi produce mycotoxins that confuse the immune system and create allergy like symptoms. I am not sure if anyone bought any of the videos from the Tic/Tourette Syndrome, Depression and OCD conference in Dallas, but Sheila has them on sale here. At that conference Doug Kaufman lectured about fungi and many of the dangerous imbalances in the body when they are allowed to overpopulate. Antibiotics are fungi. If you have a child on long term antibiotics then it is possible that over time they will develop a fungal problem and the increase in mycotoxins in their little bodies will begin to wreak havoc on their immune systems, causing other additional problems that they did not originally have when the antibiotic was curing their original bacterial infection. I am not sure if many of you know how fungi and bacteria behave in the body. We should have about 6-8 lbs of friendly bacteria in our lower gut, equal to about 85% of all organisms in our bowels. This is why our ancestors ate and enjoyed many cultured foods for generations. The remaining 15% of organisms should be fungus or yeast. Fungus is an aggressor, much more powerful than bacteria-- that is why doctors prescribe antibiotics for bacterial infections. They ARE fungi. Fungi have no antibodies to protect themselves so they produce very deadly mycotoxins which are anti-bacterial poisons. When Fleming first discovered penicillin it was on a discarded petri dish. He had gone on vacation and when he returned he noticed that one of his dishes had grown mold all over it, and amazingly had also killed the bacteria that he had cultured there before he left for vacation. He discovered that fungus is a natural enemy of bacteria and scientists have been using different varieties to kill off unwanted or dangerous bacteria ever since. But doctors have been doing this for many years, not realizing the inherent danger of disrupting the delicate balance of digestive flora. It has led to a dangerous increase of fungus in our bodies. Once the fungus takes over the bowels and conquers all remaining friendly bacteria it migrates upward until it conquers the small intestine where digestion and assimilation of all nutrients takes place. When fungus fills the small intestine food and nutrients are no longer digested properly or assimilated. Now the patient needs major doses of supplements as their labs sow major depletion. Organs and glands are deprived of its building blocks and systems begin to fail. Bad digestion and assimilation is now the result. Eventually the symptoms reach the central nervous system and depending on the person's genetic makeup, various neurological symptoms result. In various Autism sites it is common knowledge that many of their kids suffer from bacterial, fungal, and viral problems and need holistic treatments that can return the body to a healthy flora in a natural way. They use medication, diet, chelation, etc.... I think that is a good protocol. Of course, there are many lab tests that need to be done to find out what organisms are overgrown so you know what you are dealing with. Fungal overgrowth is difficult to overcome and takes a very long time. The dangers of using antibiotics long term is that it trains the bacteria to become more virulent in the patient's body in order to survive. I know a virulent strain of bacteria needs to be fought with antibiotics. I am not against antibiotics. I am merely just imparting a bit of what I have learned after having dealt extensively with bad fungal issues in our house, starting with myself. I will tell you that from personal experience my many allergy issues are non-existent after being on a sugar-free low fungal diet. My issues with inflammation are gone. My many digestive issues are resolved. My energy levels are way up. My skin issues have cleared up. My kids allergies have gone way down.....

Our son started the diet at 4. We did it as a whole family and made all the food in the house safe for him to eat so that he didn't feel weird or that he was being denied anything. My hubby kept a wicker basket above our top cabinets for 'illegal' stuff that he wanted after the kids went to bed. We have been doing it that way for 3 years. I think when you deny the food and then he sees everyone around him eating like that it can cause a complex about food and eating and you don't want that with a 5 year old child. They just don't have the maturity to understand why they are being denied something. It feels like they are not good enough or loved even though the real reasons are quite the opposite. Each kid is different. My eldest likes structures and rules and is fine with it. He has also tested the rules and eaten things he shouldn't over the years. When he does he has a reaction and although he no longer has tics he still has reactions to corn products (last time he got a migraine headache) so the effect is enough to make him not want it. Now he is 7 1/2 and at that age he can reason why he doesn't eat certain things a lot better than when he was 4 and 5. Just make a rule that no one can feed your son but you. Everywhere he goes make sure you send him along with a snack box and plenty of yummy stuff for him. For times when you are in a pinch (late getting there to pick him up, etc...) you should have MREs (meals ready to eat) stored in a freezer that the caregiver can just heat up in the microwave. I make extra pancakes and freeze leftovers for that. I make a huge tray of Lasagna and then freeze half for babysitter night. At school-- Our son's teacher is given a snack bag every couple of months full of appropriate treats for birthday celebrations and other parties. Works perfectly for him. He doesn't care that he isn't getting the same treat. Other parents sometimes want to get a treat that he can share (impossible, really) and I tell them not to worry because at this stage he really doesn't care anymore. That's what a couple migraine headaches, a puking episode, or weeks of chronic ticcing will do for a kid-- destroy the appetite for being like everyone else. For your folks-- I went out and bought condiments and snack items and wrote my son's name on it and kept it at their house for when we visit. I always bring a snack bag when we come too. Now my mom knows his brands and shops for him confidently. So in time it will be like second nature for you all. For your son-- Don't ever punish when he eats a forbidden thing. He needs to know it's not about control. Be frank with him and honest and let him know that it could make him sick and reactive. Teach him to eat healthy by teaching him the value of nutrients and about the chemistry of food. At 5 he will absolutely love learning about that stuff.... lycopene comes from Tomatoes, avocados are high in good healthy fats and make frosting a pretty green color......My middle child w/o a dx and with no apparent allergy issues wants to be a chef when he grows up and own a restaurant someday-- all because of our lifestyle and our kitchen. And I have my dxd son to thank for that!

Kevin, Here is a quick link to pinpointing Celiac based on lab test results: http://www.labtestsonline.org/understandin...sease/test.html Just an after thought on my part to include a link. Caryn

Kevin, Just thought I would chime in quickly-- I think joint pain can be indicative of auto immune/ inflammatory response. When his joints ache are they also swollen? The best test would be to see if a ring fits one day and then is too tight the next. If opening a jar is painless one day and then impossible the next-- that sort of thing. Does he complain of headaches, stomach aches? What are his bowel movements like? Are the shaped well, soft and well formed? What color are they? Does it hurt just prior to making a bowel movement? Do they sink or float? Does he commonly have undigested food in his stools? Common abnormalities in the bowel movements can pinpoint digestive problems, which in our case were the crux of our son's neuro issues. We too saw much sleeplessness in the beginning. He would lie awake for up to 2 hours at night just blinking away. I have had problems with inflammation on and off for years myself. We practice a strict diet over here out of necessity. Celiac is rampant in my family. At the time of my son's onset he was eating a lot of dairy and wheat. The recovery process for him was slow and we did do many tests on him before learning that one of his major contributing factors was undiagnosed Celiac disease and later we learned that he also had probable fungal overgrowth issues. Corn is very detrimental to his system and corn syrups used to be major triggers for him neurologically. All the suggestions you have gotten from previous postings are excellent. This is just one more thing to rule out in the event the others test negative. In a younger child (ages 4 and under) a false negative is common for Celiac and usually the doctor and family prefer to use genetic screening and trial diet rather than biopsy. You don't need to test for it either. Many folks just decide to do a trial gluten free diet for six months or so to see if there is an improvement in symptoms. Gluten is not like milk and it takes months, years even, for the antibody levels to drop into the normal level. My son still wasn't in the normal range two years after we started the diet (but he was very close). How is he now, three years after the diet? Symptom free. Things to look for on the CBC that would point to possible need for Celiac testing: anemia (low iron stores) Low IgA (which would result in a FALSE negative on the Celiac antibody test, so I would do a genetic screen instead if I were you). Low blood count If you do urinalysis like the OAT test from Great Plains and there is major nutrient deficiency in B vitamins, magnesium, etc.... then I would also look at a Celiac screen. The OAT test will also show you if there is bacterial or fungal issues involved. Caryn