Gluten-Free Society Home › Forums › All Gluten Free All The Time › Pediatric Bi-Polar Disorder and Gluten withdrawal
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Theresa.
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June 2, 2011 at 12:45 am #8016
Theresa
MemberOk fellow gluten free warriors my DD will be reading this forum looking for some much needed advice and encouragemnet. She finally started my 8yr old grandson on the gluten free diet hoping to help get a handle on his bi-polar disorder that is raging out of control inspite of the many meds. 1st week was very promising but now into week 3 things are much, much worse. Child is combative, aggressive, non-compliant, frustrated, irritable, etc. etc. Actually DD states this is the worse he has ever been. There have been 2 mistakes where gluten was given. The first caused a major meltdown the second vomitting. I believe the behavior issue is a withdrawal type reaction but am wondering if anyone here can give her any ideas and/or encouragement. Is there anything she can do or take to help get him (and herself) through this? On the positive side he actually fell asleep tonight.which is very unusual for him as he usually does not!
June 2, 2011 at 1:56 pm #9179Peter Osborne
KeymasterYour suspicion about withdrawal is most likely correct. It is very common for those with concommitant gluten sensitivity and psychiatric disease to have severe withdrawal symptoms much like an alcoholic or drug addict suffers from.
Hang in there and be sure to stick with the diet.
June 2, 2011 at 7:23 pm #9182Theresa
MemberI'm glad you concur Dr. O.! Is there anything that could help? Supplement of some kind? Would Max Digest or something similar help if used regularly for a while? Espiecially while DD gets a better understanding of the diet. Can I even get it across the border to her in Canada? Force fluids? Aroma therapy maybe? Any ideas? Any idea when the “worst” will be over?
June 3, 2011 at 9:57 am #9185Peter Osborne
KeymasterVitamin D (4,000 units/day)
Vitamin C 5 grams/day
Niacin – 2 grams/day
Ultra Immune IgG
Biotic Defense
Max Digest
Perform spectracell nutritional testing to rule out other deficiencies.
Yes, you can get these to Canada.
It is critical to ensure no gluten exposure is present during this time. Food should be controlled very rigidly.
All the best,
Dr. O
June 4, 2011 at 9:08 pm #9192Charlie
MemberI'd like to hear how an all-grain-free diet works here.
June 4, 2011 at 10:15 pm #9193Theresa
MemberSpoke with my DD today. Alex has had 2 days (in a row!!) with no major upheavals or meltdowns. He has also slept at night which is very unusual for him.
I'm pretty sure he's not totally grain free at this point as my daugh. is a bit overwhelmed with the changes. Baby steps I guess, but at least in the right direction. She has cut out all obvious grains except rice and probably corn derivitives as these can be so tricky with all the synomyms/acronyms that they are disguised as. She is aware of the whiplash effect and will be looking out for it. I try to tell her that there is a learning curve, mistakes will be made and better to assume an accidental glutening than assume the diet “doesn't work”. Other folks spend yrs. thinking they are gluten free when they are not so I guess she's still ahead of the game as she'll know what the next things to eliminate will be when the whiplash effect eventually happens.
Many of you have probably heard the excellent multi-part interview Dr. Osborne did with psychiatrist Dr. Charles Parker availabe on our You Tube Channel. Well, I found some podcasts of Dr. Parker's on something called “Cinch” at http://www.cinchcast.com/drcharlesparker
Stay tuned for the next update.
June 7, 2011 at 8:55 pm #9200Theresa
Member1st day ever, ever for Alex to get zero negative comments/remarks on his school daily log!!! Teacher said he was VERY cooperative, concentrated, and even replied to questions and commented on subject showing he was actually engaged and listening!!!! WOW!!!
June 8, 2011 at 5:09 pm #9203Peter Osborne
KeymasterThat is absolutely wonderful! Thank you for sharing with us!
Dr. O
June 8, 2011 at 7:28 pm #9204farmwife67
MemberWow that is wonderful, thank you so much for posting this. I know it will help many people!
June 11, 2011 at 9:11 am #9211Theresa
MemberJust finished listening to 2 very interesting interviews with Dr. Demiti Papolos (author of The Bipolar Child). He has just received funding for a study for a subset phenotype group of what he believes to encompass about 30% of children with bipolar who have a thermo-regulation problem. Here's the link to the first of the 2 interviews. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thecoffeeklatch/2010/11/22/alissa-bronsteen-dimitri-papolos–child-bipolar I do believe my grandson fits this phenotype as my daughter often refers to him as her “little furnace” and he has always slept with a fan and taken melatonin.
I am now wondering if gluten intolerance plays a part in thermo-regulation? Before I went gluten free I also considered myself to be very “hot natured” but attributed this to my age, weight, and “hot flashes”. In retrospect I think this symptom abated quite early on, long before I could have attributed it to the weight loss. Could this be why my grandson is sleeping easily and soundly for the first time in his life? Even after having a muti-colored slurpee that I thought for sure would have him climbing the walls! Fascinating, and would be so much healthier to be able to regulate body temp with a gluten free diet vs Ketamine HCL!!!!!
June 11, 2011 at 8:59 pm #9212farmwife67
MemberWhen I went true gluten free, my hot flashes stopped! So did my restless leg syndrome!
June 11, 2011 at 9:29 pm #9214Theresa
MemberFarmwife, glad you mentioned RLS. My grandson has that too. I'll have to ask my DD about that too. This is so fascinating. I was actually very excited about the new study this Dr. was discussing until I realized the drug he was talking about. Used as an animal tranquilizer and already used and abused on the streets! Granted the study would use a very mild form as a nasal spray I think but still…scary
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