ADHD, Depression, Tics and Dementia....Dietary Impact?

[DDD]

Last night on the Public television channel I watched a Dr. ?? who lectured inbetween the requests for donations to support public educational television. Have no idea who he was as I was nodding off BUT I assume he is well qualified or he would not have been given an hour or more. Makes sense to me, lol.

Anyway the Dr is a neurologist and he stated that all patients with neuro issues can be greatly helped by eliminating as much sucrose, sugar etc. as possible AND also eliminating as much Gluten as possible. He showed brief before/after film clips of patients who were able to eliminate medications due to the diet change. About 45 years ago I did my best to eliminate artificial colors, additives and sweeteners in hopes of helping GFGmom calm down. It did help but since she ate "treats" away from home it was not all that successful. Gluten, on the other hand, I've always associated with Celiac disease which none of us have, thank heavens. Now I'm wondering if any of you have tried the diet change for neuro issues.

During part of his presentation he named four items and asked which was the worst. I think the items included white bread, multi grain bread, ?? or two spoons of white sugar. His answer was the multi grain bread...by far. Geez, lol, it has taken me two years to program myself to eat multi grain in lieu of white bread. Yikes. Just wondering if anyone has really "lived" this diet and seen results. DDD

PS: He also said there is a test that can be given (I assume blood test) to see if you are sensitive to gluten or not. I didn't know that either! Seems like the older I get the less I know.

 

[InsaneCdn]

There are so many variations on this. But some people lately are saying - and this is my experience - that the problem with bread isn't the gluten... it's the gliadins (sp?), the "modern proteins" added to modern wheat. I do much better on "ancient wheat" strains - which means I have to make everything from scratch, but I can still enjoy bread.

 

[Josie]

I do the girlfriend diet and don't have celiac disease. I did a test with Enterolab.com. We do have a family history of celiac disease. When I first got on the girlfriend diet, 8 years ago, I noticed an immediate improvement in the way I felt. I would say it helped with ADD issues and anxiety, but I was never officially diagnosed with either. It is only when I saw the improvement that I realized I must have had something like that.

I noticed the following:

I could have a conversation in the car with the radio on. Before, if I was talking with someone, the radio had to be off.

I could decide what housework to do without getting overwhelmed by what to do. (Looking back, I am amazed that I was so bothered about that before.)

I could handle multiple people talking to me at the same time without getting annoyed. At the time, I had two small children who both liked to talk.

I lost my constant sense of what I called stress but I now realize must have been anxiety. I was always planning for the worst case scenario. Now, I am possibly almost too laid back.

I no longer needed a nap every day. I used to be thinking about going to bed right after dinner and would get in bed hopefully by 9. Then, I would still need a nap. After I changed my diet, I could go to bed at midnight, wake up refreshed at 5:30, and not need a nap. No matter what time I went to bed, I woke up feeling refreshed not groggy. I also stopped feeling sleepy when I was driving a long distance.

If I have gluten by mistake, I am irritable, sleepy, and on edge for weeks. I have not been willing to have some intentionally to test the limits of how much or if I could have ancient wheat.

The test I did was a stool test. I ordered it myself off the internet. I was able to stop taking an antidepressant. My oldest difficult child daughter was able to get off her a/d and became a easy child, if she stayed on the diet.

 

[Josie]

I will add my youngest daughter has given up all sugar due to insulin resistance. She has also been girlfriend for years. She started taking some thyroid medicine this year as well. Whether it is the lack of sugar or the thyroid medicine, she is much less stressed out over school this year. She used to have stress attacks over homework regularly and that has stopped with no change of psychiatric medications.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Hope... that "sleepy" effect... is exactly what I get with modern wheat, and I don't get it with ancient wheat. But not all ancient wheat is the same, either... I don't do well on spelt or kamut.

 

[HMBgal]

To add an experience to this thread. My daughter is a dental hygienist and works for a wonderful woman with a child that has run the gamut of diagnoses and medications, to no great effect. She decided to start from the ground up and do blood work, use diet, and see how it went. First, he tested positive for Lyme disease. He's an outdoor kind of fellow, since he climbs the walls indoors. They put him on antibiotics for a bit and the tics reduced greatly. Now that he's on his diet (Feingold, girlfriend? not really sure) and he's improved even more. This mom was being called to the school constantly to help the staff peel her son off the walls, and now? He is functioning so much better. They just bought a new car and even three weeks later, when he is in the car for more than about 20 minutes, his tics start up really bad. Interesting, I think.

 

[Bunny]

I've been doing some research about thyroid disease recently, and one of the things that surprised me was that a lot of experts suggest going gluten free. I'm still trying to figure out exactly why they feel that going gluten free is best for problems with the endocrine system, but I am going to speak to my doctor about when I go for my next visit.

 

[Josie]

My husband is girlfriend because of his thyroid. He has Graves Disease and feels being girlfriend keeps it in check. The rest of us were girlfriend and he was not a believer until he went on a trip and ate non-girlfriend and ended up needing his thyroid medicine again. It might have been a coincidence, but he does think it helps. I am not sure his endocrinologist agrees but my functional medicine doctor probably does.

 

[DDD]

How really interesting. DDD