A Question for Adult Aspies and Auties

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Hi....
My name is Jennifer and i am mom to a beautiful autistic 4 year old named Graham. He is such a joy! He's in an autism specific preschool and loves it. (i can tell, even though he's non-verbal) However, he seems to be lagging behind his classmates, all of which are on gluten and casein free diets, supplements, etc. Graham never had stomach issues, so i never put him on the diet. My question is to autistic and asperger adults: did you ever try the diet and what affect did it have on you? I'd like to hear a first hand account if its possible.
Thank you for reading this!
Jennifer (mom to graham)

Long before I ever knew of Aspergers and was dx'd with it, I had allergy testing and it had me down with a gluten sensitivity, did the gluten-free diet for three months, couldn't stand it so went back, it didn't really change much of anything for me.

I'm gluten-free but it's a food allergy not an intolerance. It didn't particularly affect my mood to go on the diet.

we're going to give it a go....i've heard some people have had success with it, and some others have not....it's worth a try, i guess.

I found with my sons that a diet that eliminated artificial colors and additives helped some.

wow! that must be quite difficult...i can't imagine switching my kids to that now that they're older...i suppose if i had tried that when they were younger they wouldn't have put off quite a fuss ~ so far, they've been somewhat complacent about the changes because of the GFCF diet. The strongest objections they've had so far are that: 2 of them don't like soy milk, and none of us like the bread..........i'm also finding that products i wouldn't even have thought of having dairy or gluten in them, do....did you know that non-dairy creamer has sodium caseinate in it ? ( a milk product)

For its mega brain-boosting powers right across the board, I would also recommend fish oil. You can get it in all kinds of appealing flavours.

Coming from a sandal-wearing vegan that's a big recommendation.

i've heard from some others that it works, but haven't tried fish oil yet....time to go get some, i suppose

We haven't tried it, but a friend of mine started it when her daughter was four. She said her daughter finally started talking. She now uses these pills instead of the diet. I can't remember the name of them, but she swears by them and now the whole family can eat whatever they want instead of going GFCF.

What is GFCF? I've never heard of it.

Gluten Free Casein Free..........basically, it omits all gluten from your diet as well as all Dairy products. I can't say that it has made much of an impact for anyone in the family except for me. oddly enough, after all of these years drinking dairy products and consuming tons of cheese ~i've found that i feel better not having dairy....i tried yesterday to have a cup of coffee with regular creamer ( thought i'd treat myself)~wasn't much of a treat , though~ i started to itch and my eyes started to water, and my nose filled up completely. so strange !

I went on a strict Gluten free, wheat free, sugar free, dairy free diet for 18 weeks and I had never felt better in my life. I felt like I actually controlled my emotions and my brain as a whole. However, the diet itself was horrible. I ate brown rice and broccoli for 18 weeks and now I can't be around the stuff.

I am an adult aspie and I know that when I stay away from gluten and artificial coloring and flavors, I feel much better.


It can't hurt to try.

Tallgirl.

With GFCF anecdotally I've heard the earlier you start the better. In adults it just tends to reduce anxiety symptoms.