With gluten, we saw some small, positive changes within the first few days. With dairy.... you need to go dairy-free for six weeks to get it all out of your system. Tom had withdrawal seizures two weeks into our DF experiment. At the time, I didn't know they were withdrawal seizures; I was just disappointed. The seizures were much milder and shorter than what we had been seeing, but they were seizures. But, I had committed to the six week experiment, so we kept going. After eight weeks DF, we let him indulge for Claire's birthday. He was sooo hyper afterwards, but we blamed it on the sugar (doughnuts for breakfast). It wasn't until Monday morning when his teachers demanded to know what I had given him, that I realized dairy did affect him. His teachers said they would tell him to sit, and he would, but then he'd immediately jump back up. He threw his work on the floor. OT was a waste of time. He was not behaving like they were used to. It took three days for him to calm back down.

It took me a bit before I felt comfortable reducing his seizure meds. We went slowly and we had lots of "guess what Tom did today?!" conversations. (And yes, I did consult with his ped neuro before reducing meds. He thought we would see seizures, but if we felt the side effects of the meds outweighed the benefits he would support us. He's been pleased with Tom's seizure control and has not suggested going back on meds.)

Anyway, going GF started up the "guess what Tom did today?!" conversations again. Although, it was more of Mr. Kay: "Look what he's doing!" Me: "It's the gluten." (Mr. Kay wasn't thrilled with going GF. He now agrees it is worth it.)