My Son’s Journey with ADD – an update
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A few weeks ago I introduced you to one of my sons and his journey with ADD. As I mentioned in that post, we made a few changes to his diet to help alleviate his symptoms. First, we took him off his medication and we also removed gluten and dairy. Today I am writing to update all of you on how things are going.
I will say that removing gluten, while scary and overwhelming at first, was really easy to do. Fortunately he eats lots of things, so he hasn't missed sandwiches at all. Foods with gluten in them are easily replaced with alternative ingredients. He enjoyed the grain free pancakes that I would make at home and buckwheat pancakes discovered at a restaurant!
I will say that eating out at restaurants can be challenging at first, but he is pretty flexible. He was able to get his cheeseburger – he just ate it without a bun and he was happy.
That being said, my boy missed dairy. He LOVES cheese. Pizza is easy to do without gluten. But hard to do without dairy. He didn't miss milk so much, but he really wanted some cheese.
Bad.
He was patient. He knew that he would get it again, so he was willing to wait a while.
I will admit I didn't want to tell him that he may NEVER have it again based on how he did. I am sure the possibility of that would totally overwhelm him.
The two weeks since the elimination diet started have been amazing. We have a different child. Happy and lovely to be around. He does what I ask of him without a struggle. He and his brother get along. I don't think they have had a single fight for 2 weeks. His anxiety has all but disappeared. He doesn't seem to be picking his skin anymore, so his wounds are healing. School has been going well. No issues there. Well, other than forgetting his homework – but that has been a struggle since he started 1st grade! 🙂
At the two week point we decided to give dairy a try. I wanted to do it on a day that he was home so that I would notice any obvious changes. He has been “back on dairy” for a week and so far it is going well. I haven't noticed any major changes. The real test will be in the classroom. I don't know how long I will keep gluten out of his diet before adding it in for a trial. Probably at least 2 months, maybe more. Definitely after the Holidays (which will be REALLY hard), but I want to give it a while.
We have a good thing going here. I want to see where it can take us. Bottom line is, something that we are doing is working and we are going to stick with it. I will continue to keep you posted on his progress and any challenges we will face. Also, it is my mission to find and make a killer buckwheat pancake recipe. If you have a favorite, please share!
If you are wondering what gluten intolerance looks like, read 10 signs of gluten intolerance to find out more!
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I have a great gluten-free sourdough buckwheat pancake recipe I just posted for you. http://whirlingleaves.blogspot.ca/2013/12/sourdough-buckwheat-pancakes.html. I’ve been making it at least weekly for 8 months, often more frequently, and it’s always a hit.
Thank you!!!
We did the same for my sons add…removed gluten and it has been a godsend. We tried to put him back on it to take an allergy test but we had to remove it again after a few days due to behavior issues. Bobs Redmill make a great gluten free pancake mix…yummy!
welcome to the club! We went gluten free when my eldest stared kindergarten. ou can read more about our experience here: http://www.tessadomesticdiva.com/2012/08/gluten-add-sharing-our-experience.html
It has been a long haul, but keeping gluten out of her diet has helped her so much. every time we get an exposure its a major escalation in behaviors. We have her on all sorts of gut healing supplements and high doses of Omega 3’s too. She is in third grade now and still relatively successful…it is more here at home we have more of the issues and headaches still.
So hang in there…you are most definitely not alone If I can help in anyway, let me know…all my recipes are gluten free and most are top 8 free.
There is a book called Grain Brain…I have read some of it and it is very informative. I know I have to remove my daughter from gluten as well as my self. I have a lot of the skin allergies with gluten as well as well grain brain, I have become very forgetful and have trouble with crowds and such. I never realized it as a younger person because I was always on a ketogentic diet…My father kept me on it. At the time I just thought he was being mean, but honestly, looking back on it now, he was on to something..lol. Now I follow a paleo diet and don’t eat gluten at all. Sour dough only, and I make my own sourdough starter, which is easy believe it or not and if you don’t want to make it yourself you can get it here http://search.kingarthurflour.com/search?w=sourdough%20starter&af=type:products. If you would like the recipe I will gladly send it to you. You can just email me at the email above.
Oh and the reason you can use sourdough is because the process of making sourdough is that you are literally souring the dough and it changes the constitution of the dough as well as the fact that the “bacteria” that it develops kills the glutens in the flour. (I am a Pastry Chef and learned all this in college. Just incase you were wondering.)
It can only be made with sourdough starter though not the kits you get at the store because those have a sour flavoring added to it as opposed to developing the good bacteria that kills the glutens in the dough.
Hope this helps!!!
I am so pleased to hear this Kelly! It is so encouraging. I may try to take my daughter off dairy soon…I just can’t bite the bullet! But reading this has given me hope that it might be worth a shot. Thank you for posting your story!
So glad you found something that works. We took out artificials (colors flavors sugars) and some preservatives and have seen a huge change in my son’s ADHD (see Feingold.com for more info). So glad a friend turned me onto your recipes – can’t wait to try them!
I salute you for being a loving mom to your kid and I admire how you face this situation with your head on.
Interesting!