If you're good at remembering other people's trivia, then you'll recall that my picky eater is now gluten-free, dairy-free, and corn-free. When we one-by-one removed each of these things from his diet, his behavior or other things in his life got dramatically better. He had been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome and with sensory integration dysfunction, but removing dairy from his diet made 95% of the sensory integration problems vanish, and removing corn made the last of the behavioral problems vanish. His endless complaints about stomach aches vanished then, too, and his poops became normal for the first time.

He is still a really picky eater, though, and I am worried that the lack of variety has created a new food sensitivity.

This is maybe what they call "too much information," but, over the past month or two, his poops have started looking like strange "food allergy poops" again. At meals, he often stops eating early, complaining that he feels sick. The food seems to be what makes him feel sick. His behavior has fallen apart again -- he is crabby, impulsive, obnoxious, and he bangs his body into sofas and walls and things, almost like his entire body *itches* inside. All these problems were problems for years in the past, but they disappeared for months when we first removed gluten, dairy, and corn from his diet. But now they are back, and getting worse, just in time for the start of the schoolyear. And, worse, he has now developed some paralyzing new fears that scare him silly at bedtime every day. It takes 3 hours of terrified whimpering child to get him to sleep every night. He used to have awful problems getting to sleep before we first took gluten out of his diet, but removing gluten made a dramatic difference in his ability to get to sleep. Until a few weeks ago.

No doctor has ever been any help with figuring any of this out, so I don't feel that I can turn to our doctor for any help at all. As far as I can tell, she thinks the whole food-behavior connection is my way of denying that my kid has Asperger's. But the difference in my son when he first stopped eating all these foods was dramatic and long-lasting. Even though our doctor doesn't believe me, I am completely convinced that food was the key.

But now I'm at sea trying to figure out what to try next. He eats so few foods and is already so food-restricted that it's hard to even think about taking anything else out of his diet. I don't think he is getting any accidental gluten, dairy, or corn in his diet. Our house is gluten-free and nearly dairy-free, and we are very careful about what he eats. He's been home from school and camp for a few weeks, so he hasn't been doing much eating anywhere but here with us parents. But he is still clearly reacting to something.

The people in this group have been a great source of help in the past. If anybody has any words of wisdom, we are really struggling here and could really use some advice.

Anonymously signed,
me too