From Susan:
Congratulations Leah!!!! No flaming here-we chucked the diet at the very first opportunity lol!!! I intended to start out adding foods slowly-but it worked so well my daughter has gluten and casein several times a day now. Its just wonderful!! Its such a nice thing to just see her eat and enjoy it again. Loved your dog stories-my sister and I did that to our dauschaund when we were kids lol. I'm so happy for you and your son!!! These enzymes are just amazing.
From Cindy:
My son is 8 ½ years old, diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome and started taking the Peptizyde and HN-Zyme Prime enzymes from Houston Nutraceuticals one year ago on April 21, 2001. The short version is, the gfcfsf diet helped, the enzymes helped more, being off the diet and on enzymes helped the most. The long version follows.
Before starting the Houston enzymes, my son had been gluten-free, casein-free, soy-free, corn-free, egg-free and off of numerous other foods over the course of the previous year. The diet helped my son with many areas of development.
At two weeks after starting the enzymes, his teacher and speech therapist observed an increase in awareness, class participation and humor. At four weeks, the teacher called me to report a large increase in problem-solving skills, improved socialization, an increased enthusiasm for learning and generally a happier temperament. During this time, we had gradually expanded our son's diet to include some of the previously banned foods including gluten and casein. The teacher said, "It's like something out of the movie 'Awakenings'" I was familiar with the movie based on Dr. Oliver Sacks patients who come out of a catatonic state due to a new medication. I remembered how their awakening did not last, though, and I was afraid my own son's awakening would not either.
A few weeks later, our son was off the diet and doing better than ever. The following areas showed steady improvement over the next weeks and months while on the enzymes and off the diet: eye contact, sound tolerance, initiating conversation, obsessiveness, affection, empathy, self-stimulatory behavior, self-injurious behavior, transitioning, desire for physical activity, skin color, adherence to routine, stools, interaction with brother, waking up, awareness, problem solving, short-term memory, humor, vocal pitch, natural rise and fall of speech, rate of speech, disposition. At six months on enzymes and still off the diet, I went through all the evaluation deficits from testing a year before which qualified my son as meeting the educational criteria for Asperger's Syndrome. Out of 58 weaknesses, the teacher and speech therapist responded that only 2 were still an area of concern, 10 were now only a mild concern, and on 2 they didn't know if there was a change or not. So 54 out of 58 prior weaknesses were either no longer a concern or were only a mild concern.
Since starting the No-Fenol two weeks ago, he seems even happier, more affectionate, is eating more, and is better able to tolerate some phenolic foods, particulary artificial colorings. I do not notice a decrease in stimming with the No-Fenol. My son's stims can be distracting at home, but are not observed at school.
Last week I asked the speech therapist if all improvements since enzymes have been maintained. She said the improvements were still present and her only concern was sometimes our son is quiet and appears on occasion not to be listening, but always is and knows the answers to questions. She said he is the only student that notices when their class is in the hall lining up for lunch, yet this doesn't interfere with his attention to the task at hand. She said he does not initiate a lot of conversation, but will do it when asked and participates appropriately. She said he looks out for the group and encourages them to follow directions. She has no big concerns about his vocal pitch, although it gets high when he is excited. It is more of a concern to me than to her, but I think he controls it better at school and the speech therapist and I both agree it is so much better than it was that it is best left alone for now. She said his pragmatic language (social language) is appropriate now; his problem solving and common sense is "perfect". He has a few articulation errors, but has maintained the improvements with the previous numerous errors.
I asked the classroom teacher the same question a few days ago and she agreed that all progress is still present and he is doing well. She said he is quiet, and at times seems to not be paying attention, but always is because he answers all questions correctly. She told me on several occasions throughout the school year that he is "doing great". At his school Valentine's Party, she shared with me that he is liked by the students and fits in well. Last November, when it was apparent that the enzymes were responsible for so many changes, I asked her if she would describe my son as someone having any characteristics of Asperger's or autism. Her answer was, "No."
I observed on a field trip last week that the other students seem to like my son and his interaction with them was excellent. At one point when the class was running up a hill, I saw him shake and twist his hands for a few seconds on two occasions, but otherwise, he appeared "typical". When he runs, he sometimes stims like this, but no one seems to be bothered by it. My son has continued to interact with his brother since starting the enzymes. Before enzymes, I would force him to tell his brother "Goodbye" in the morning, but now he does so willingly and they often tell each other, "Goodbye, I love you forever!" Before enzymes, he tolerated his brother for very short spurts of time and otherwise yelled at him to "Go away, baby!" They usually sleep apart each in their own rooms, but after starting enzymes, beg to sleep together on weekends to have what we call, "Brother Slumber Party". Recently, I've given in more and let them sleep together during the week, too, although then they stay up too late. They fight now, too, but they are acting like brothers which is something I had given up on ever seeing before starting the enzymes. Before the enzymes, my youngest son would ask, "Why does my brother hate me?" The youngest does not ask that any more.
The year we did the diet was difficult. My son was high functioning and not very happy about altering his diet. In fact, he would ask, "Why are you doing this to me? Why can't I just eat regular foods?" I kept removing foods and he kept developing sensitivities. The diet helped him function better, so I knew I had to do whatever it took to keep going. The keeping going part was getting treacherous, though. It seemed running out of "safe" foods was a possibility.
Trying to produce foods that matched what was being served the next day for birthday treats, classroom food rewards, and student council doughnut sales was all-consuming. I was either cooking, cleaning up from cooking, planning the next meal or treat, researching safe foods and recipes on the internet, or driving around town to buy special foods. Over time, my son could not tolerate anything made from a mix, so everything was from scratch. I finally asked the teacher to send a note to all parents requesting a day's notice on any treats they would bring to school. Many nights I would be up late trying to duplicate the goodies from a description given to me by a parent a few hours earlier on the phone. I finally learned the easiest way to handle my son's distress over his treat never looking exactly like the others was to make a large batch for the whole class. So I was often making large batches of cookies, doughnuts or cupcakes, not to mention lunchbox foods, breakfast foods and dinners. Sometimes I would pay my son money to make up for things not being exactly fair or would offer to pick him up early from school so he could have extra TV time at home while the other kids ate special treats at the end of the schoolday.
Everything got better with the enzymes and it got better fast. My son was eating "regular" foods, we no longer battled over the diet, I was free to leave the kitchen, we got to eat at restaurants and relatives' homes, and my son transformed into someone happier, healthier, and more connected to his world. My son still has somewhat of an awkward gait at times, he sometimes stims at home or at unstructured activities, he still prefers not to talk about social situations although he handles them well, some days the eye contact is less than others, he talks a little slow at times and his voice gets too high when he is excited, but he is overall functioning very well and is perceived by others as "typical". He is concerned about what others think and feel and wants to fit in and indeed he does fit in.
His own summary of the enzymes today: "I think the enzymes help me a lot because when I was 6 or 7 ½ I felt like a different type of normal and then when I took the enzymes I felt like I just saw a great movie or got a great new toy. When I didn't take the enzymes I couldn't eat other kinds of foods but when I took the enzymes I could eat other foods and I felt so happy that I didn't have to worry about any other thing again." Thank you.