Fortunately for us, while Joel was in medical school, he learned enough about the affects of dairy on our little ones that he convinced me to take dairy out of Justin’s diet when he was about 1 ½ years old. I remember that was when Justin “woke up” in our eyes. He made leaps and bounds of improvement. It took a lot longer for Joel to convince me to go gluten-free with Justin. Now that I look back on it, I kick myself for not doing it sooner.I remember thinking that this was going to be the “Miracle Cure” and that Justin was going to be calm, a good listener, sit still long enough for me to hug him, etc. Not the case. The first week was the week from hell!
Two days into the diet, Justin was getting really angry. He wasn't sleeping; getting into everything; saying every bad word he could think of (like stupid mommy and shut up and you poop); breaking things; and ripping things. Just really angry.
He even managed to do this to his room during "naptime"...
The fourth day was even worse. He started repeating things over and over like "the birdie says hi, the birdie says hi". Just random things. By the end of the first week, he was off the charts B.A.D. He acted like I gave him CRACK. He was soooooo high, I couldn't believe it. I was in tears and ready to give him as much gluten as I could find just to get him to stop.
We were driving and amongst the angry screaming, yelling and throwing shoes at me, I heard a small voice that said, "remember...I'm in this with you. If you would just ask, I'll help you". I got quiet for a moment while driving and desperately asked God for help with what to do.
We got home and I took Justin into a room and sat him on my lap. I looked in his eyes and noticed something I haven't seen since he was a baby--NORMAL PUPILS. Justin has had massively dilated pupils since he was one year old. Every doctor noted it and was concerned but didn't know what it meant. Could this be a sign that the "drug effect of gluten" is wearing off?
I then took Justin outside for a walk. Families were taking their dogs to the greenbelt to let them burn off energy so I thought I would do the same for Justin. This is a child that can't walk 10 paces without getting tired. So I thought I would tire him out quickly and put him to bed. Wrong!!! The sprinklers were on (this is a mile-long greenbelt) and Justin took off for them. I wanted to run after him, but I just sat back and observed. It was glorious!
This child of mine who gets tired out easily and who hates water sprinkling on him (he says ouch) was running through the sprinklers screaming on the top of his lungs "woo-hoo". He even took his shirt off and let the sprinkles hit his skin. HE DID THIS FOR AN HOUR. He looked and acted like he had been let out of a cage. Truthfully,He has! He's been in a mental cage for so long it probably feels so good to be free. On the way back, Justin could feel the wind blowing on him and he was giggling and screaming "the wind, the wind, I love the wind". In the past he hated the wind. He would say the wind was hurting him.
That night, Justin didn't go to bed until 9:00 pm, 2 hours past his bedtime. He was so wired that when I gave him a bath, he was spinning in circles as fast as he could in the bathtub. He was so excited. It truly was a miracle to watch.
I thank God for giving me a different perspective in which to look at that day. I thought Justin was just making my life miserable, but that was because I was only thinking of myself. When I was able to look at it from Justin's perspective, I was able to see that he was so excited to be free that he wanted to enjoy every moment of it.
When I asked Joel why Justin would get worse if this diet was supposed to make him better, he said it's because he was going through withdrawal. Just like someone addicted to drugs. They go through withdrawal, and are very angry, then they feel great.
It's amazing to see a complete transformation in Justin's FACE...
And tickles me pink to capture a true, loving hug exchanged between brothers!
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