The tale of the poisonous cat biscuits!

We are in full swing of the Wheat/Gluten and Dairy Free diet and Ellie is making slight improvements in terms of eye contact and speech, though a lot of other symptoms such as climbing, flapping, moaning still remained. I was also reading a book by Actress Jenny McCarthy (married to Donny Wahlberg of NKOTB fame) about her autistic son and what happened when she cut wheat, gluten and dairy from his diet.  It was an almost carbon copy of our experience with Ellie.  I remember reading it in tears. It’s a great book, called ‘Louder Than Words’ if you’re wondering.

Despite our best efforts, we found out pretty quickly what would happen if Ellie had an infringement on the diet.  

Ellie and I were at a friend’s house on a ‘play-date’ and whilst chatting over coffee, I looked around to find Ellie eating biscuits from the cat bowl!  Was she really craving wheat that badly that she needs to get a ‘fix’?

What happened next was quite unbelievable.

It happened around four days after the cat biscuit incident.  I remember it was a Sunday evening and we put Ellie to bed at 7.00pm with no drama.  At 8.00pm she woke up crying and moaning and throwing her arms around all over the place – literally thrashing around.  Hubby and I then spent the next two hours holding her tightly so she couldn’t hurt herself and trying to comfort her. We took a video of her which I showed my GP at a later date. I wish I still had that video – it was on some old phone and not great quality but if I ever find it on some hard drive somewhere I’ll upload it!  

Over the next three days, Ellie would get these episodes on and off throughout the day and each time the pain would be shorter. They became less frequent and by the fourth day, it had completely stopped.

The same thing happened every time Ellie had something she shouldn’t have – usually grabbing something at a birthday party or play date when I wasn’t looking! Mum and I would watch her like a hawk at playgroup when the biscuits went round and we’d have to constantly explain to parents why she couldn’t eat them which would be met with disbelief, shock and “will she grow out of it?”  At this point, we had no idea.

I remember once running frantically through a party as she was about to pop a Cheesy Wotsit in her mouth (other cheese puff brands are available).  The parents must’ve thought I was a complete lunatic!  I remember someone making a clever comment trying to be funny, obviously not understanding what was happening and probably thinking it was all bullshit… much like the consultants we saw!  

But that’s for another blog….

Until next time. 

Love & Hugs,

TOMD xxx

Author: Linda Meek

So, I've started a blog... mainly about everyday things... usually to do with Austism (Aspergers) and having a Tween with it. I'm blogging for me, as a form of therapy I suppose, but if I can help anyone out there, then that would be amazing. I'm a mother of two beautiful kids... who give a lot of joy and laughter and also drive me up the wall! Thank god for wine, that's all I can say! View all posts by Linda Meek