The Spawn of Satan; Going GFCF Again

I took Hutton to a new doctor this morning. Before we could leave the house, I had to deal with the new demon in my life: The Spawn of Satan Who Used To Be Known As Harrison. TSOSWUTBKAH started out screaming for me from his room this morning at 8 a.m. I went down and cheerily asked if he wanted a diaper change and to eat breakfast, and that afterwards we'd take Hutton to the doctor.

TSOS: "No! Pajamas on!"
MOMMY: "OK, let's change your diaper then..."
TSOS, wriggling angrily on changing table: "NO! ARGGGH!" Spits blood and venom. Well, maybe not the last part.
MOMMY: "Do you want to wear your train sweater? Here!"
TSOS: "NO! Pajamas on!" Wrestles out of shirt I attempted to put on. Pulls pajama top back on.
MOMMY: "Sweetie, we have to get dressed and eat breakfast if you want to go with me and Hutton to the doctor. We don't have much time!"
TSOS, with more blood and venom: "No breakfast!"
Moments later:
TSOS: "Eat yogurt!"
Immediately after:
TSOS: "No breakfast! Pajamas on!"

This continued for a looonnnng time. Hubby had gotten out of bed by this point and also attempted to get TSOS to put clothes on, eat his breakfast, or at least, stop screaming.

Finally, after 45 minutes or so, in which TSOS ate some breakfast, screamed more, and refused to get dressed, Hutton and I headed out to the car. As soon as I opened the garage door, TSOS appeared, wearing only a diaper. "Go to doctor!" I told him he'd have to put his clothes on quickly or we'd be late. TSOS, changing before my eyes into Harrison, a real, live, human boy, quickly put on his clothes with my help, and ran to his carseat. He was happy boy again. TSOS, please stay away from my kids. A normal 2 1/2 year old is challenging enough.

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We headed to Seattle to see the new doctor. The boys were so well behaved, even though the appointment was over an hour long, involving the new doctor getting to know everything we'd ever done with Hutton in his life. While we were in the waiting area before the appointment, another woman commented on how good the boys were. That made me feel good. Plus, I thought back to Friday afternoon, when I took them both to the grocery store and they acted like angels for 45 minutes. This tells me two things: 1) I'm insane to take two young boys grocery shopping with me, my least favorite chore, on my least favorite day to go out, with pouring rain to boot. 2) Even though I'm insane, having kids who behave makes things so much easier.
Oh, I just figured out: 3) I've jinxed myself to a bad rest of the month for bragging about my kids being well-behaved.

Anyway, the doctor gave us a bunch of lab stuff. We've done some of these tests before -- they involve sending blood, urine and stool to a lab. Yep, getting these from a 5 year old is as fun as it sounds. Well, at least that was the case when he was three. The doctor also wants Hutton to go back to a Gluten and Casein Free Diet (GFCF). This is a common diet for kids with Autism. Many can't digest gluten and/or casein, and it leads to Leaky Gut Syndrome. That, too, is as fun as it sounds. Gluten is in wheat, and cross-contaminates most processed food items and other grains like oats. Casein is dairy protein. We did the diet for several months when he was 3, and it made a difference, but it's very hard to do properly, without any infractions. Pretty much any "regular" processed food is off limits, as are most restaurant foods. You can still find ridiculously expensive GFCF processed foods at specialty stores (think pasta, bread, crackers) but the cheapest and easiest thing is to make everything from scratch. Yep, that's the easiest. Ironic, no? Plus, you always run the risk that foods that were once GFCF may be reformulated, or that they'll be processed on the same lines as gluten-containing foods. A big event with friends of mine, whose kids are GFCF, is when it was discovered that McDonald's french fries, the mainstay of any healthy kids' diet, weren't gluten and casein-free after all. They'd long claimed they were GFCF, as they are fried in different vats from the chicken and other glutenous/gluttonous stuff, but apparently some of their special fry addict flavorings contain gluten and casein. So, this wasn't an issue for us, until now. We were off the the diet when this discovery was made earlier this year, and Hutton was happily eating his, "French fries, chicken nuggets and lemonade!" at least once a week after speech therapy, in the half hour we have to get home and get lunch before school. Sniff, I'll miss you, Micky Ds! I better go watch Super Size Me to get over this, fast!

When we first did the diet, I think we did it long enough that Hutton's gut was able to heal, then, when we followed with dietary enzymes for several months, that helped as well. On the advice of our old doctor, we started gradually re-introducing foods with gluten and casein, and there weren't any noticeable problems. Believe me, you notice Leaky Gut problems. Hutton still has food allergy and yeast issues, I'm sure, so I'm willing to try the diet again while we run some tests and before we tackle new biomedical treatments, like chelation. Hutton practically lives on cheese, though. I was expecting this, and have been weaning him from cheese. I bought nutritional yeast to make fake mac and cheese, stopped buying string cheese, and keep it off his tacos when we go to the Fresh Mex place. The problem will be with those fast and easy dinners I rely on so often: frozen pizza and frozen spinach ravioli. Tonight I made beef and vegetables in the crock pot, but I get bored very quickly with meat and vegetables. Guess I better go find some more GFCF recipes! Oh yeah, and the holidays will be so fun. We're going away for two weeks, staying with family. Fortunately my mother still asks if Hutton needs any special food whenever we visit, but I may just say we'll do the diet officially on January 1st!