Brian's diagnosis

This year we had a great Christmas. Matt was home to celebrate with us which made it so much better. His parents also made the long car journey from Florida to celebrate with us. We were very glad that they were able to join us. Before I start into our holiday, I would really like to mention a wonderful blessing we were able to experience with Brian. Brian was diagnosed with having high functioning Asperger's Syndrome..in other words, autism/PDD (Pervasive Developmental Disorder)...at the age of 3 about a month before Matt deployed to Afghanistan last year. He's been going to school and receiving services such as speech therapy and occupational therapy. We see improvements in him every day. Everything that we do normally and do not think about like having a conversation or even going to the bathroom, yes I said it..peeing and pooing..is difficult for those who are autistic. One day in October, I picked up a book by Jenny McCarthy called "Mother Warriors." Her son has been undiagnosed from autism so I was curious. After reading "Mother Warriors" I craved to know more. I then bought her book "Laugh Out Loud" and was glued to it and like a sponge I absorbed the information. I then researched what I could on the internet about a diet she mentions called the GFCF (gluten free casein free) diet. It all seemed a bit confusing at first and I was overwhelmed. I gave my eyes and mind a break for a couple of weeks just to let things sink in. I took Brian to a doctor appointment to get him set up to receive services here in MD for speech and OT and I mentioned to the pediatrician that I would like a referral to see a DAN! (Defeat Autism Now!) doctor. He looked at me with a puzzled look and then said, "I have a lady who's 9 year old son is a patient and has autism. She is very well versed and has seen some great success. I'll have her call you and she may be able to connect you with some support." I said "great" and off we went. A few days later, I received a call from this lady he had mentioned. We talked a bit and as soon as I mentioned the GFCF diet, she went into full detail about where I could go and who I could call. She mentioned a support group nearby that she was part of that had a DAN! nurse. I was very thrilled to hear this. Matt and I loaded up the kids one Sunday and headed over to the meeting. We were the first ones to arrive. We were greeted by a lady with open arms. She introduced herself and said that she was a DAN! nurse. I broke down and started to cry. I was overjoyed and filled with so much hope at that moment. Hope that maybe one day Brian will be able to be undiagnosed. That one day he will be able to function "normally" as any other person without a label. I finally had guidance and someone/somewhere to go to to answer questions that I don't know the answers to. It was sheer relief that someone knew what I was feeling; what I was facing. A couple more families came in and we were greeted. The DAN! nurse was wonderful and just so full of knowledge. She made sure that everyone that was there left with information that they wanted/needed. Matt and I walked out with a huge stack of information that I still have yet to get through. I had my information to start the GFCF diet. I removed all dairy from Brian's diet first. This was not that difficult. He really enjoyed his milk but I was able to replace it with rice milk or almond milk. Brian had some eczema and I found out that it was because of the milk he was consuming. Once the dairy was cut, his skin seemed to improve. Next was the gluten. This is a little more difficult. I slowly replaced his gluten foods with gluten free items starting with his waffles. He likes Eggo waffles in the morning and I replaced them with Van's waffles. I found gluten free cereal and pancake mix. I bought a cookbook that really seemed to confuse me but the DAN! nurse gave me a guide of what gluten and casein is so that I could avoid those ingredients. A lot of items have gluten which almost makes the grocery store seem like the enemy. I read EVERYTHING on the ingredients of everything I buy. I've learned how to make muffins with pureed meat and veggies in them so he will eat them. So far, Brian has been gfcf for about two weeks and we've already seen some improvement. He seems to be more involved with us and those who surround him. He's talkative and quite funny. He has a great sense of humor. I took him to the neurologist and he went up to her and told her that he wasn't frustrated. The neurologist looked at him and said that she was glad he wasn't frustrated and he rebuttled with, "my mommy and daddy are frustrated." I didn't even know he knew the word frustrated. Our biggest miracle/improvement with him being on the diet is his potty training. I thought he would never ever get the hang of it. About three days into the diet he has started to go to the potty on his own. We had quite of few days of him being able to pee in the potty but not poo. He would do that in his pants and Matt and I would be "frustrated" that he didn't go to the potty. One day though out of the blue, he told me he needed to go poopy on the potty. I told him to go and he did it!!! It was a joyous moment. He was so happy that we were happy that he kept going and going. He even got disappointed when he would try to go and nothing would happen. We would tell him it was okay and that he could get up but he said he needed to stay so he could go poopy. Nana told him that it was okay if he didn't go anymore today and that he could probably go again tomorrow. He was satisfied with that answer and the next day, there he was in the hallway, pants down to his ankles going to the bathroom to go poopy. It was like he was addicted to pooping. :) No more accidents and he even stays dry the entire night. Hooray for Brian!!! What a nice thing for our wallets too...no more pull-ups!!! Another great thing that has happened for him since changing his diet is his awareness of self. He is able to express himself a little bit more. He plays with his siblings and not beside them. He also has friends at school that he plays with. This is huge!! He also told me this morning that he was a new person. He said this several times for me today and I haven't quite figured out what he means yet. Matt and I have questioned him different ways but still haven't gotten to the core of what he means. I'm thinking that maybe he's feeling that the fog is finally clearing up but I truly don't know. Maybe he'll have an answer for me one day. I'm just thankful that I have renewed hope.