Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Bizarre Meeting at Kroger

The hot water heater died tonight.

Hubby sent me to get a long, flat pan to catch the last drips as he drains the tank, one of those disposable foil pans.

I went to Kroger. I rarely shop at Kroger. Kroger does not stock many of the items I need for my GFCF+++ girl. (I have to say, Kroger is getting better.) But, tonight, it was convenient.

At the checkout, I rather obviously eavesdropped on the conversation the cashier was having with the customer ahead of me. The cashier was working her first evening in a long time, mentioning how unusual it was, how different it felt. The customer works for the USPS and commiserated, mentioning she'd had her hours changed, too. Both mentioned that they are happy to be working, pretty upbeat for having their schedules changes so drastically.

My turn came, "is plastic okay?" she asked me, followed by, "do you work?" to continue the conversation from the previous customer. I sighed, said, "I homeschool a child with autism," and was going to whine say, "and tonight I'm buying a pan because our water heater died" but was cut off by the cashier.

When she heard the word "autism", she interrupted my thought and told me the name of the diagnosis of her son. He's in his 30's now, she told me, but his seizures began at the age of eight. He's on many medications, she said.

I felt tears rising to the surface and I stuffed them down. "Have you considered any diets?" I asked her, with a ketogenic diet first in my mind, gluten free, casein free, second.. Go HERE for a thread on GFCFkids where parents were discussing gluten and seizures in the past week or so. I'm sure there are other threads about the topic, too. GFCFkids is a good place to search any term you might think of regarding developmental delays and diet, if you want to hear from parents before you talk to your doctor (always talk to your doctor -- GFCFkids does not offer medical advice and neither do I).

Her mouth dropped open, her eyes widened, as she said, "Someone else just asked me that!"

No, they haven't tried dietary intervention. Of course they haven't. He's in his 30's. Dietary intervention is relatively new, and is certainly not mainstream. She says he's picky, doesn't eat a big variety. Oh, if she only knew how many mothers have said those exact words and learned that a restrictive diet is often a clue that changing the diet may make a huge difference.

I suggested she google it, gave her my e-mail addy and by blog addy. I have some information I'd like to share with her, especially since I rarely go to Kroger but I went tonight, which happened to be the first night she's worked in a while.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The diet works, regardless of the age. Even if "studies" say they don't, my child is so much happier, healthier, and more "normal" when he is doing the gluten free casein free diet.

Mary Beth said...

It's an amazing world with so many connections!

Although the diet did not help my son (who has Fragile X Syndrome and autism), I do not regret trying it at all (he was on the GFCF diet for about 8 or 9 months). I know many affected by autism who are very positively affected by the diet and a few w/Fragile X and autism who were positively affected. I highly recommend it to any person on the autism spectrum! It's worth the time and effort to see if it'll help (much better for you than meds - we tried it before my son began meds to see if diet intervention would help instead of meds). Good luck!

Autismland Penny said...

God is good all the time!

Stephanie said...

Guess you were in the right place at the right time last night, Penny! Although it is true that the diet doesn't work for everyone, it does help so many kids AND adults, and it's never too late to try! There is such a huge connection between the gut and brain, and medications often just mask the symptoms, they don't help with the underlying problems like dietary and nutritional supplements help. I hope this mom will look into it more and follow up with contacting you for more help!

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