SCD for ASD for how long?

[Guest guest]

, I just looked at my responce to your question and I'm afraid

it looks like I just snapped back a reply. How insensitive of me. I

remember how frazzled I was when I began this diet and if someone had

spoken to me like that I would have been crushed. Yes, it does seem

like a daunting task but really our kids respond so well (for the

most part) that after time it is easy to see that the benefit

outweighs the frustration. I daily curse the foods I can no longer

feed my son. I cringe every time he says he's hungry and I can offer

him peas, again. I hate that the sweetest thing he's eaten since

Easter is a pear. It frustrates me to no end to see all variety in

the GF/CF things that I can no longer give him, that 6 months ago I

thought was limited.

I hope you don't take my words as unkind as I'm afraid they

appear. I know you are very busy and really need encouragement and

support now. Please forgive my insensitivity Hang in there. It

will get better.

Helen

[Guest guest]

Here is the story of one of the first children who did SCD.This might

help you figure out how long this diet would need to be followed.

http://lyris.dundee.net/read/messages?id=259549#259549

Mimi

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Hi there,

Here is the story. I didn't have a science to it--as I was the first

mom of

a child on the spectrum to try the diet. I basically did a trial and

error.

First, I tried meats and veggies. We added nut flour after a month and he

would start laying around lining up trucks again....we knew it was too

soon.

So, I went back to meats and veggies for three months. We added fruits on

the fourth month. After month five, we cut out all supplements and finally

tried goat yoghurt. We were so brainwashed from the last diet. He did

great

on the yoghurt. Huge growth and development improvements. He stayed on the

det for 1 1/2 years.

We've tried to go off of the diet 2 times since. He does not do well

off of

it for too long. His villi are healed and he never goes back to the

old days

(autistic behavior, diar.), but he gets hyperactive if he is off it. My

belief is that it's because of the metals. He has 7 toxic metals. We are

using C and zinc only right now. I don't want to do anything that violates

the diet. He is currently on Ester C, zinc with B, and the quinn be strong

and A LOT of probiotics. We use Lucy's now. He didn't do well on it at

first

but he does now.

I say this: Don't do as I say. Each child is different. Colin had such

severe Dia. at first I had to cook his veggies for months...fruits at

first

two. He really didn't do well on raw foods for a while. He also had

troubles

(breathing) with eggs and any trace of cow milk at first--and an

aversion to

beef. He now can have beef and eggs too. It takes time to heal. Get to

know

your child one food at a time. I believe the yoghurt and probiotics

are key.

Also, chelating the body is very taxing on your system. I wouldn't

have ever

tried it on Colin in the early days. He wasn't strong enough. He is so

healthy now.

Colin's development is good. He has friends, he's caught up to grade

level,

and he has a vivid imagination (pretend friends). He is also extremely

emotional. He is 6 and the light of my life! He just learned to read; read

me his first book yesterday. Hang in there. Colin is still not 100% healed

but he is almost there. Please be extremely patient every step of the

journey.

Luv,

Jen

> I want to know if this diet, which we are on day 2 of, is a lifetime

> necessity, or can kids on the Austism spectrom return to a regular

> diet at some point?

>

>

[Guest guest]

>> I want to know if this diet, which we are on day 2 of, is a lifetime

necessity, or can kids on the Austism spectrom return to a regular diet at

some point? <<

,

When I went on SCD about two and a half years ago, I read the part in

Elaine's book about how her daughter stayed strict SCD for two years, and

then gradually returned to eating " normally " . Elaine typically recommends

strict SCD for one year after the last symptom has disappears (for gut

disorders). For ASD, we only have about two years worth of data, so it's

hard to say. <grin> We have seen some miracles, though!

I loved whole wheat bread, and whole wheat pasta and brown rice, and

thought that giving that up was going to be hard, hard, hard.

I figured I would go on the diet, get my gut in order, and then get back to

real food.

Well, this autumn, I'll be hitting my third anniversary on SCD.

Know what? I have NO desire to go back to the way I once ate. I won't deny

that it's a nuisance to have to make sure I have half & half yogurt cheese

on hand to make ranch salad dressing, or to need to remember that I have to

use the mayonnaise-based remoulade dressing / sauce up within two weeks and

that I have to remember to use a clean utensil dipping it out.

But I like the taste of my homemade food better. And I don't have to accept

some faceless manager somewhere deciding what spices I will like on my food

this week.

Harry (my husband) and I are eating better than we ever have. Because we're

no longer buying expensive processed stuff, we're able to afford free-range

meats, seafood, vegetables and eggs from our local Farmer's Market. I like

this -- the idea that not only am I getting better quality food, but that

my food dollars are going directly to the people who actually did the work

of raising my food, not some middleman.

My sister, who went SCD despite not thinking she had any gut problems, has

so much energy it's insane. (She has a husky, and takes the husky running

for ten miles every day, rain or shine. She's now working a farmer's market

near her home in Ohio.)

My niece, who was told that because of her gut and thyroid problems, she

would probably never be able to get pregnant, let alone carry to term

without major medical interventions, went on SCD, and four months later,

she was pregnant. Young Master Liam just passed his 3 month " birthday " .

My mother, who is not SCD, but who is on a low-salt diet for her congestive

heart failure has benefitted because I have learned so MUCH about food

preparation! I now make her a salt-free honey-mustard salad dressing, and

do gourmet meals on Mondays for my parents. I also make a salt-free chicken

salad spread which she uses for sandwiches when she goes some place where

she can't be sure the food is safe.

My husband, who is about 97% SCD (he uses wheat bread for his lunch

sandwiches five days a week) has discovered that SCD has significantly

reduced his chronic fatigue. I'm betting if he'd go 100%, he'd see a

complete amelioration, but he hasn't QUITE reached the point where he's

willing to give up ALL bread.

Not only is my gut healing (I was sick for 25 years: urgency, soft, mushy,

stinky stools, constant embarassment, etc. etc. etc.), but my ADD symptoms

have all but vanished.

The point I want to reach is where I can eat out and not have to be QUITE

so concerned about whether they are using a commercial spice mix for the

Cajun seasoning, or if a little flour happened to cross contaminate my meat

on a grill.

We've seen lots of reports from kids who are reaching this point --

exposure to a food that in previous times might have meant miserable days

or even weeks for both child and parent not longer has an effect, or has a

minimal effect.

For myself, I plan to stay SCD for the rest of my life. When I was on Day

Two, I couldn't imagine feeling this way. Now I can't imagine why I was

ever addicted to grains and processed foods in the first place.

-- Marilyn (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA)

Undiagnosed IBS, SCD 2.5+ Years

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

[Guest guest]

> >> I want to know if this diet, which we are on day 2 of, is a lifetime

> necessity, or can kids on the Austism spectrom return to a regular diet at

> some point? <<

>

> ,

>

> When I went on SCD about two and a half years ago, I read the part in

> Elaine's book about how her daughter stayed strict SCD for two years, and

> then gradually returned to eating " normally " . Elaine typically recommends

> strict SCD for one year after the last symptom has disappears (for gut

> disorders). For ASD, we only have about two years worth of data, so it's

> hard to say. <grin> We have seen some miracles, though!

>

> I loved whole wheat bread, and whole wheat pasta and brown rice, and

> thought that giving that up was going to be hard, hard, hard.

>

> I figured I would go on the diet, get my gut in order, and then get back to

> real food.

>

> Well, this autumn, I'll be hitting my third anniversary on SCD.

>

> Know what? I have NO desire to go back to the way I once ate. hday " .

>

Except for the fact that I have no husband named Harry our stories could have

been written by the same person.

SCD has made a good cook of me too, one with spontaneous imagination and a sense

of adventure. Others who taste my SCD food find it better than conventional too.

Carol F.

****

There is no substitute for the right food!