GF diet - what side effects did you see at the very beginning?

[blueShark]

I know there are lots fo threads on this diet but I can't find this info...we started on it last week, DS tested intolerant to gluten and cows milk (thankfully he didn't on soya as he has been on soya milk for 2 y).

To make life easier the whole family is on the diet and apart from the fact that is really hard and commercial gluten free products (pasta and bread) don't taste very nice I'm experiencing meltdowns at everything I stopped them doing (both sn and nt sons). even myself, my stress levels are so high and not only until I cheat with some nice bread while they are in school I calm down.

So what side effects did your dc experience at the beginning? I'm not asking for how long as every child is different. Planning to cut the milky products as well (oh noo, no feta cheese :() in few months and then try Gaps in summer so I'm only just warming up for more tantrums to come.

That's really interesting that your stress levels are high! I wonder why?

I guess DS and DD were more stressed - but I thought it was them being cross that they weren't allowed to eat what they wanted to.

And of course DS is always stressed, so not sure that I'd know what was diet related and what wasn't........

Maybe because I'm always hungry? I had 2 paninis at costa yesterday and felt happier than ever :) and food has never dictated my happienss but I suppose for all the active daily activities around the kids and the bf I need the calories...

This is why I decided we all go on the diet and I don't have any gluten products in the house to avoid the meltdown around who is allowed to eat what and not the other thing...

first 2 weeks were quite bad, b/c of cravings, then there was quite obvious initial improvement, but later some weird symptoms appeared that were mostly due to various deficiencies and poor digestion/absorption.

Whatever they put in the commercial breads is what makes us crave them, there is a lot of salt plus the texture plus the carb-high due to insuline release that then needs another carb fix. I had to be v strict with my ds, but I was not as strict myself (out of his sight) for ages, but eventually I realised how much better I felt and a number of problems I thought I had for life have gone away (eg getting up at night and blood in urine). My hair had never been as good as now.

I think you should be OK with goats/sheep's cheese in small amounts, we have also been using goats butter.

Thanks nightcat. I'm allergic to goats anything, my grandma made me drink it when I was little claiming it was the healthiest and I would be covered in spots all over my body the next day and then she would make me drink more for my spots to go as goats milk was supposed to cure it all now I get goose bumps when I see it in the supermarket :)

What were the weird symptoms? I can't go on the diet properly as I'm bf my 3 months old but as son as starts weaning I promise not to cheat!

I can see what you mean with dairy :o
I hate milk per se (in fact I would prob throw up if I had any) but can stomach some fermented versions OK, eg kefir. So the GAPS advised on femented foods as they are already partly-digested by bacteria, so it's like probiotics. When I read about helminths (the pig worm), well, they basically digest the stuff that people can't and it seems to help - strange lenght to go to imo though.

Weird symptoms were prolonged and widely spread fungal infections that often looked like rash, mostly in moist places (also where you find lymph nodes), I am sure this was his lymph nodes clearing candida/fungal stuff that thrives on undigested wheat in the gut; nose bleeds (low vit K), stretch marks, cracked skin and even fisures (poor connective tissue state due to Zn deficiency). His hair also changed to more shiny. Looking back, he was going through a detox big way and this can cause extra stress/irritability.

As he was self-resticted veggie before the diet, we slowly had to build up on protein, I then realised that he was restricting as wheat suppresses digestive enzymes so he basically couldn't digest meat (or dairy).

Enjoy your little one and make it easy for yourself for now :)