Below is a quote from an anonymous post on the blog found HERE:
"Unless you have celiac disease, there are no health benefits from a gluten free diet. Quit promoting this myth! What a joke..."
The following was my response:
"I'm not sure what myth you think I'm promoting and I'm sorry if I have somehow offended you in sharing my experiences in gluten free eating- I do this because my life depends on it. I do have Celiac Disease, as well as the associated Dermatitis Herpetiformis. I don't limit my blog to only a Celiac audience, as the treatment for Gluten Intolerance or Gluten Sensitivity is exactly the same. Pre-diagnosis, I was always skeptical of the people who used a GF lifestyle to manage Autism and behavior disorders, but I am not here to pass judgement on the choices of others. I just want to share what I have learned with others who are going through similar experiences."
I just left this reply to him/her:
ReplyDeleteWow, I'll jump in and jump UP on my soap box to MR/MRS Anonymous for this one. I'm a mom of a child that for 8 years struggled with finding a diagnosis for SOMETHING that I knew was just not right. Not a single doctor would put a label on her, but many would speculate.... I had opinions and ended up doing 8 years of legwork, research, testing and many trips to specialists, doctors, indy, you name it...all on my own as her mother to figure out what was going on.
In the summer of 2010 I was working one on one with her on a very comprehensive computer training program that is to help with auditory processing disorder. It was during this time that I sat with her day in and day out and watched my child live, struggle and try to walk through this fog in her head. I knew she had problems with focus. This wasn't focus. This was like someone needed to take a shovel and scoop away gunk from her brain b/c she just couldn't think. Yet the next day it could very easily be a little bit better. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the severity of change. During this same time she had what appeared to be an extreme sinus infection. I was at the point of making a doctor appointment for it. Gunky noses for this child were an every day thing, though. They had been since the age of 18 months. They were just ever present. I'll spare you the disgusting details and just tell you that there was nothing I could do, but just live with the fact that it looked like she had an ever present horrible cold - her entire life. So, as I sat with her as she worked on this computer program and I stared at her in this fog and I stared at her extreme drainage something clicked in me. I thought, what if this is food related? What if that is why some days it's worse than others? The first thing that popped in my head was to research Gluten b/c of the connection I'd heard about with Autistic children and this is the diagnosis that I as her mother, had been chasing for 8 yrs.
So, on my own I thought I'd give a GF diet a try. In 4 days her nose was bone dry. Her nose had NEVER been dry for as long as I could remember. I also noticed the fog clear away from her eyes. It was amazing. You could just see the extreme difference it made in her. She was a different child.
My daughter does NOT have celiac disease and I GUARANTEE YOU that a gluten free diet is NOT A JOKE. Maybe a little research would help you a little bit before you spout off about things you don't know so much about... and if a GF diet isn't part of your lifestlye or even a concern to you, then move along why bother leaving such uneducated nonsense?
***stepping off my soapbox now***