gluten-free, casein-free diet for Bipolar

robp

New Member
Has anyone tried/had success with the gluten-free, casein-free diet for Childhood Bipolar?

Me - age 34, Bipolar Type II, take Zoloft currently
husband - no issues
DS Pookie - age 5, ADHD & Mood Disorder-not otherwise specified
DS Bubba - age 2.5, no issues
 

Josie

Active Member
Some of my daughter's diagnosis'es were mood disorder-not otherwise specified, ODD, depression, Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED). Not bipolar. Her therapist and I thought she would end up with that, though.

Putting her on the girlfriend/CF diet made her into a typical kid. It didn't just treat the symptom. Eating that food caused the problem.

Even for me, the girlfriend diet got rid of my undx'ed anxiety, irritability, fatigue, brain fog, and more.

I would encourage you to try it. I think you have to be very strict and not allow any restuarant food or food with traces of wheat or milk while you are trying it. After a while, if it works, you can loosen up a little and see if you have to be so strict.

The first time I tried it, I didn't worry about traces of gluten and couldn't tell a difference. The next time I tried it, I was very strict and could tell by the second day that it made a difference.

difficult child 1 and I were both able to stop taking Lexapro since we started this diet. difficult child doesn't even go to the therapist any more. We've been doing it almost 4 years now.
 

JJJ

Active Member
Yes! I would 100% recommend trying it. The difference in my children was amazing.

We started slowly by adding in gluten-free, casein-free foods (changing to rice pasta, then to soy milk, etc.) It took about six months to figure out which gluten-free, casein-free products the kids would eat. Then we eliminated dairy (caesin) 100% for a month and then dyes/preservatives/high fructose corn syrup/etc the next month and then by month #3 we eliminated gluten and we ate gluten-free, casein-free/All Natural for 6 months.

Then we challenged each food type. We found that even a small amount of gluten is very bad, that we can use butter and sour cream in our cooking but a glass of milk or milk-based ice cream is too much, any high fructose corn syrup causes a problem but an occasionally artificial ingredient is okay.

I have found that cooking from scratch is the least expensive way to stay on the diet and the food tastes better too.

Be very careful going to restaurants that say they are gluten free. Ask them how they protect against cross contamination. We have found the steak places (Outback, Texas Roadhouse) to be the best. There is also a restaurant called Noodles & Co that will cook with rice noodles and put an allergy alert on your order. Pizza places are the worst (they advertise gluten free crusts but make the pizza on the wheat covered counters - ugh). We do have one pizza place near us that has a separate girlfriend station and even a girlfriend oven.
 

maxeygirls

New Member
We tried it for about a year with no change to difficult child's behavior. Discussed it with her psychiatrist when she was diagnosed and was told that with how young (3 years) and extreme difficult child is, she isn't surprised but did say to try again in another year or two. Our home is dairy free except for difficult child's cheese sticks and a couple other treats due to easy child's severe allergy and I do notice that difficult child does somewhat better without the dairy. There really is something to be said about how things we eat can have a powerful impact on our bodies!
If you need any info for recipes please let me know, a friend of mine has shared several resources with me.
 

maxeygirls

New Member
Oh and I can't remember the website off the top of my head but Stephanie O'Dea's site Crock Pot 365 is great, her family is girlfriend with young children and she makes it a non-issue. Most of her stuff is dairy free too. Sorry, Im a crock pot junkie. I think we'd starve if I didn't own 5 of them!
 
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