My DD is 8 and has been diagnosed as Cognatively Disabled. Somedays she is really on the ball and others not. She does very little talking but communicates well non-verbally. She has some autistic tendancies but no one would ever call her autistic. But she is very picky, likes things done just so, a lot of times can't make up her mind. She walked really late and has always been behind.
She was 5 lbs 16 inches at birth and is 42 lbs, I think about 45 inches now...but 6 of those pounds have been put on in the past 5 months. An important point too is her feet havent grown alot in the past few years.
She has always had a tender belly, everything will produce loose stools--it used to be that only Capri Sun juice boxes made them green though, but I have noticed lately that her poop is a lot of times green, but will go from loose to firm in hours. (sorry if it is TMI) so I started doing some googling and came up with this, I do have a call in to our Ped. because we are doing some genetics work next week and would like to test for glutan intolerance too.
Another very important note is we have a STRONG family history of Chrones, but something in me is pulling me towards this...
So has anyone had similar children and noticed a difference after pulling wheat?
Thanks Amie

many with autism are also celiac or gluten intolerant ... the autism spectrum is VAST I know I am on the high end thou growing up the dr called it front and side lobe disfunction

Chron's disease, I believe, can develop in a person eating gluten and suffering from undiagnosed celiac's disease.
It sounds like your daughter could benefit from going gluten free. I hear enterolabs does a stool test that is highly regarded by those who had difficulty getting a dx with traditional blood tests. If you need to know get the testing done asap and then begin the diet. Otherwise, I would suggest just starting the diet and 'see how it goes'--
We are gluten free 9 months now in our house and ds is doing fantastic. Does your daughter also suffer from tics at all? I am just wondering because ds was dx'd with a tic disorder last year and it is virtually non-existent now due to the diet.
June

June-

Actually Yes she does have tics which have been controlled with Prozac, but If changing her diet could take care of it...I am all for that...we are running the Celiac panel this week when we do some Genetic testing. My cousin who is 10---(younger then my oldest) has pediatric Chron's and I think we will push to see his gastro. being she knows part of the family history already. I think we will be going gluten free, I just need some guidance in doing it....I scares me that we won't get all the nutrients we need...but I am reading lots...

Keetmommy,
Is the prozac for depression? Our ds was dx'd with pyroluria just prior to going gluten free. It is a nutrient imbalance that often causes depression among other symptoms. This was in addition to the tics. He also had attention problems and hyperactivity. We began treatment with vitamin/mineral supps but after six months on the gf diet he doesn't need them anymore. His attention and hyperactivity have also subsided. We are also doing a corn free diet, as he tested allergic to corn as well.
I am thinking about starting a support group online for parents of children with tics that choose to treat them through a gluten free diet (some are doing casein too). I have made contact with a handful of people (seven) and hopefully, if they all would like to participate, we could learn from each other. Let me know if you are interested. Just send me a private message.

The Prozac is for Anxiety, she has LOTS of anxiety issues--she also has senosry issues, and the more reading I am doing the more I wonder if it is something in her diet...

I agree with June. My dd was diagnosed with Tourett's. She was always very emotional and broke down often. In addition, she often had diareah and lots of bloating. Her stomach was hurting all the time. My pediatric doctor was just telling us that this is the way her body works. Finally, during her kindergarten, she started to have horrible stomach aches after every breakfast and she vomited often. She had some other emotional issues. I noticed that she was on the smaller side in her class. The same doctor just told me that if she would weigh any less, then it would be time to worry. I got tired of listening to this doctor and took my dd to allergy specialist. Results were showing for her to be non-allergic to any food. Then I started to experiment with vitamins and diet. I read this forum, Bonnie Grimaldi's website and other sources. I excluded all tyramine foods, colors, prservatives, msg and gave her extra magnesium among trying other additional suppliments. To make our story short - we are on gluten-free diet for a few months now. Her stomach works normal. She does not break down emotionally anymore. Her tics are gone. We are staying on gluten-free strict diet but started to relax more with tyramine and other foods. Occasionally, she gets some candy (full of colors and othe chemicals) at school. Sometimes, we forget about vitamins. Then I usually see some slight tics returning but nothing like before. Personally, I think that gluten and tics maybe related but there is no double-blinded studies to be sure, so I would recommend to reaseach and try gluten-free, tyramin-free, chemical-free diet for a few months at least to see if it helps.

Well her test came back negative. I am not totally convinced it isn't something in her diet, still very possibly wheat...we are going to make a food diary and go from there, hopefully see the gastro in the next few months...I want to do a little more research and see where it gets me....I have an aunt with Chrones that is going wheat free now...so we will see where it gets us....

I know it's been a while since you posted that your daughter's blood test for celiac was negative, but I wanted to remind you that the gold standard for diagnosing celiac is a small intestine biopsy - sometimes the serology is negative and biopsy is positive. Also, there is a primary immune deficiency disease called hypogammaglobulinemia - most people with this deficiency have hypogammaglobulinemic sprue, which acts much like celiac, even looks like celiac on biopsy, and people frequently improve on a GF diet - but the blood work for celiac disease is always negative in this particular sprue. The gastrointestinal tract is the largest organ to regulate our immune systems - just because one has GI symptoms, that doesn't mean it didn't start somewhere else.

I wish you good luck in tracking down the problem... ~~Allie

In autisme it is the proteins in wheat and casein that are not broken dosen properly , and in addition the leaky gut, and heavy metal not being processed normally that is the problem.
Just type in Reichelt and gliadin or gluten into a search engine, or autism gliadin or casein and a zillion websites should pop up.

We here have gliadin attacking our brain. (very very short description) but we also discuss everything else like autism etc.

nora