Re: Gluten free for OCD?

April 17, 2009

Hi Judy,

I did a gluten free diet for my daughter for 3 months. It really worked well and

I did feel it helped with her OCD, but she is 12 and would go to a friend's

house and eat a brownie, etc. After 3 months of doing it I guess she had enough,

and I can't control what she eats at school etc, so I decided to stop. I told

her when she is ready to go back on it and feel better, we will start it again.

Hugs

Judy

________________________________

To:

Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2009 10:58:28 PM

Subject: Gluten free for OCD?

Has anyone tried a gluten or dairy free diet for their children w/OCD? I've been

reading some very positive things about the results people have had with this.

Any input? Thanks! Judy

April 17, 2009

Boy that is a tough one for me. . .Letting Josh live with the consequences of

his choices, when they affect him negatively. It's hard to watch them feel

yucky, when you know there is something that helps. And when they are

suffering, they whole family pays. Yet, I understand your daughter having a

hard time being on such a restricted diet, especially being around other kids or

being at their home, where there are goodies. At least you know OF something

that can make a difference for her, if and when she is willing to try it again.

It's nice to have that " tool " .

Hugs to you, Judy.

BJ

April 17, 2009

Judy,

I told you about my experience with the GF/CF diet already. I didn't mention my

other daughter's experience with it.

She is 13 and used to be diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder. When she

is on the GF/CF diet, she is " normal " . She does cheat sometimes when she is not

at home and the whole family suffers when she does, because her ODD behaviour

comes back. I have not given her the choice about staying on her diet when she

is living with me, because it is so awful when she acts that way. I tell her if

she can't be trusted to stay on her diet, she will have to stay home and she is

restricted for a while after she cheats.

As I said before, it hasn't necessarily helped my daughter with OCD but it has

been such a miracle for my other daughter's ODD and my undiagnosed anxiety/OCD

that I think it would be worth trying.

I felt so much better that I could tell by the first or second day that I would

not eat gluten again. I had been taking Lexapro for my anxiety and was able to

start tapering off from it pretty quickly by the second day with no problems.

April 17, 2009

All this talk of gluten-free is getting me wondering! My MIL has Celiac's

disease she cannot digest her food properly and gets very, very ill if she has

any gluten at all. My daugher was tested for Celiac's at 3 yrs and again at 5

yrs due to her small size (below the 3rd percentile for both height and weight).

Both times came back negative for Celiac's but it's the blood test which only

shows up if the Celiac's happens to be active at the time of testing.

My nephew is also small for his age and was recently diagnosed with Asperger's

(which causes him to have some very OCD-ish behaviors). I wonder if both kids

could have inherited some gluten sensitivities from my MIL without having the

full-blown Celiac's at this early age. My MIL wasn't diagnosed until she was in

her mid-50's and suddenly dropped down to 89 lbs (from 110). She's an itty

bitty little thing and struggles to keep her weight above 95 lbs now (she's 77

years old now).

Hmm . . . definitely food for thought. I'm not sure we're ready to go

gluten-free but maybe we should give it a go?

Beth

April 17, 2009

I recall either someone telling me or reading about having Celiac and how

sourdough bread helped them lots. So I just googled sourdough, Celiac and

here's one article (of many) that came up.

http://www.gofrolic.org/gofrolic/food_blog/Entries/2008/11/22_Sourdough%2C_Glute\

n_and_Weston_Price.html

More on above info:

http://westonaprice.org/moderndiseases/healing-celiac-disease.html

I'm a bread lover, but I guess white or grain bread. I recall trying sourdough

bread (homemade) from someone and not really liking it. But that was years ago,

I might try it again.

Couple other links/info that turned up:

http://www.glutenfree.com/files/recipes/Celiac%20Sourdough%20Bread.pdf

http://www.cheeseslave.com/2009/03/31/top-10-reasons-to-eat-real-sourdough-bread\

-even-if-youre-gluten-intolerant/

>

> All this talk of gluten-free is getting me wondering! My MIL has Celiac's

disease she cannot digest her food properly and gets very, very ill if she has

any gluten at all. My daugher was tested for Celiac's at 3 yrs and again at 5

yrs due to her small size (below the 3rd percentile for both height and weight).

Both times came back negative for Celiac's but it's the blood test which only

shows up if the Celiac's happens to be active at the time of testing.

>

> My nephew is also small for his age and was recently diagnosed with Asperger's

(which causes him to have some very OCD-ish behaviors). I wonder if both kids

could have inherited some gluten sensitivities from my MIL without having the

full-blown Celiac's at this early age. My MIL wasn't diagnosed until she was in

her mid-50's and suddenly dropped down to 89 lbs (from 110). She's an itty

bitty little thing and struggles to keep her weight above 95 lbs now (she's 77

years old now).

>

> Hmm . . . definitely food for thought. I'm not sure we're ready to go

gluten-free but maybe we should give it a go?

>

> Beth

>

April 17, 2009

*********

The sourdough fermented breads lost about ninety percent of the added gluten . .

..

.. . . Again, to clarify, this was gluten-free bread contaminated with small

amounts of gluten, not bread originally made from gluten grains.

*********

I think that is a key in this article . . . my MIL cannot have ANY gluten. It

is not an allergy or a " sensitivity " in her case but truly that the presence of

any gluten destroys the cilia in her intestines which inhibits the absorption of

nutrients. She cannot have any breads (fermented or otherwise) with " added

gluten " . . . cannot even have oatmeal or other grains that are produced on the

same equipment as gluten-containing grains (wheat, rye, etc.). It is very

restrictive.

It seems, though, that those of us without full-blown Celiac's disease might

benefit from a reduction in the gluten in our diet. Very interesting article!

Beth

April 17, 2009

In my experience, the blood tests for celiac disease are not necessarily

accurate. No one in my family (husband, 2 daughters, myself, my mother) has had

a positive blood test. My mother also had the endoscopy for celiac disease.

All of us feel better on the gluten free diet. I also have a neice and nephew

that do better on the GF/CF diet that didn't test positive. My husband is the

least strict with his diet and can eat some gluten when traveling but even he

notices when he eats too much. We only knew about it because my grandmother had

celiac disease and my daughter with OCD had stomach problems when she ate

gluten. She had numerous tests from age 1 - 8 that were all negative. Finally,

we tried the gluten free diet and her tummy troubles went away.

April 19, 2009

Thanks BJ!!!!!

Hugs