The following was submitted to Vance's Foods by one of our customers, Rima Regas. It exemplifies the fact that dietary intervention often is an effective and non-intrusive means to better health. We appreciate Rima's submission to us so many others may learn about her experiences.

"When the cough and runny noses and rashes just don't go away..." - By Rima S. Regas

My daughter was eighteen months old when she had her first fever. She soon had her first cold. It seemed to go on forever. It eventually went down to her chest and the cough lasted for weeks. After several such episodes and continually busy sinuses, the Pediatrician said she's allergic. She was started on an antihistamine. Within two weeks it was apparent that the Claritin she was given wasn't helping much. She was switched to Zyrtec, which seemed more effective, but she still had trouble getting over colds and coughs. Within three months her doctor declared her asthmatic and, eventually, she was put on a daily cocktail of seven asthma inhalers, pills and syrups.

When her cough did not improve with regular usage of the inhalers, two more were prescribed. No noticeable relief came as a result. Her cough was at its most violent at bedtime, usually about an hour after taking her bottle of warm milk. Often, her cough was so violent that she would vomit by two in the morning. What came up usually included what she had for dinner, and it was so distressing to see that it was undigested. It was very upsetting for us as parents to see her frightened face.

She remained on the asthma medication during the year and a half that followed her asthma diagnosis. On average, she was also prescribed antibiotics once a month. Every few months, the doctors would find that she had a persistent sinus infection and she was put on an extended course of antibiotics. I was told there was nothing remarkable about this. Lots of children are in her situation and they eventually grow out of it.

December 2000 was a landmark month for my daughter. She came home from school with a pretty severe case of intestinal flu. This wasn't the first time, but it was the most severe case she'd suffered thus far. We immediately stopped giving her dairy products and fruit juices, as you are supposed to with the onset of diarrhea. Amazingly, her sinuses and lungs were perfectly clear during the two-week intestinal flu period and she seemed to feel and act the best she'd had in months. At the end of this two-week period, when her diarrhea symptoms completely cleared up, we gave her a glass of milk. Within minutes she turned bright red and started coughing. Soon she was wheezing terribly. We administered her inhalers. There was no improvement. It was clear to us that her asthma attack was caused by the milk she drank. Nothing she ate that evening could have caused it. She had some baked chicken and plain white rice. I gave her a dose of antihistamine followed by Pediapred (a steroid) and, sure enough, her symptoms started to subside.

We immediately scheduled her to see an Allergist and she was tested for dairy, spices, dust, molds, and other environmental elements. We were shocked to see, and those were skin prick tests, that all of them were negative. We had seen first-hand what effect drinking milk had on her. We were not about to start her back on a diet that included dairy.

That awful night was the last time we knowingly gave our daughter any dairy products. Sure, soon after, there were times when some well-meaning friend or teacher accidentally gave her some cheese or butter, and the reaction was immediate. She turned bright red. Once, she drank strawberry milk at a neighbor's house. She had a bright red rash on her face and chest and coughed for the next two weeks.

With the elimination of dairy from her diet, her digestive problems disappeared. She no longer had problems with constipation or hard stools. She was no longer sluggish during certain times of the day. There were remaining problems. While they weren't nearly as severe as the so-called asthma, it took several more months to pin them down.

It was around the time of our discovery of her milk allergy that we were receiving constant complaints from her teachers at school that she seemed disoriented and stumbled a lot. They also complained of her lack of focus and, at first, suggested then asserted that she suffers from ADD. We brought up the complaint about disorientation and clumsiness to the allergist and asked him whether her antihistamine, Zyrtec, could be the cause. He immediately switched to another medication. Within a few days, we received reports from her teachers that she was much improved. She was surer on her feet and more alert. They still complained about her lack of focus and insisted she had ADD. They even had her observed by a specialized social worker. She declared that ADD must be the problem. We disagreed. My husband has ADD and we knew what ADD was like. We just did not see it in her. We took her to see a child psychologist. He was appalled that any teacher or social worker would make such determinations at all. He himself did not diagnose children with ADD until first grade. He observed her, spent time with us and with her. In his report, our psychologist wrote that while it was impossible to predict the future he did not see the precursors of ADD or ADHD in our daughter. He did follow-up and caution us that it very well could be that this might change by the time she reached the age of five or six, but it seemed doubtful at this stage.

So far, it seems that he is right. A few months later, during the summer of 2001, we finally discovered what is different about our daughter. She has Sensory Integration Dysfunction (DSI). DSI is a central nervous system disorder that affects motor, auditory and visual processing functions and usually causes the child to be highly distractible - just as in ADD. However, there are key differences that set apart an ADD patient from DSI, and those can include defensiveness when being touched, or when hearing loud noises, problems with textures (eating and touching), and a host of other issues. Treatment for DSI consists of occupational therapy of different types, while ADD is treated with drugs.

It is said that between 25-30% of children of kindergarten age have this to some degree. It is also said that about the same number of children, or more, are misdiagnosed with ADD/ADHD instead of DSI. Both disorders share a number of characteristics.

In the fall and winter of 2001, I began reading any books I could find on this disorder and eventually happened upon Karyn Seroussi and Lisa Lewis's excellent books. That's when the final pieces of our allergy puzzle fell into place. Our daughter is sensitive to the same things that Karyn Seroussi's son and other autistic-spectrum children must stay away from. Gluten, bananas, apples, red grapes, food dyes and preservatives all affect our daughter adversely. That and overly dry hair and eczema she was diagnosed with a year ago disappeared within two months of going on a gluten-free diet. She still craves gluten, but with the help of Karyn Seroussi and Lisa Lewis's books, that is changing and she is getting accustomed to eating differently. She ³relapsed² once, when she pilfered and consumed three hot dog buns. It took over a month to restore her skin to health. The sometimes ³drunken² behavior she would exhibit disappeared as soon as she stopped eating bananas. The extremes in her levels of energy evened out as soon as we discontinued red grape and juices that contain dyes ­ especially reds number 3 and 40.

Living without dairy has not caused her any adverse effects. Before we learned about Dari-Free, our way of making sure she receives enough Calcium and vitamins A and D was to give her two glasses of Kerns' fortified Apricot juice mixed with a crushed calcium pill. Now, we give her chocolate Dari-Free or fruit smoothies with plain Dari-Free mixed in. She also eats a well-balanced diet with plenty of vegetables and fiber. So far, her pediatrician is very pleased and says that her blood tests have come back in the excellent range. There are no consequences to living without gluten and there are plenty of substitutes.

My personal conclusion is that whatever the scientific reasons, it is clear that the Autism Diet not only applies to children who are autistic, but probably to all children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD's) and certainly children with ADD/ADHD and DSI. The GF/CF (Gluten Free/Casein Free) diet has certainly changed our daughter's life dramatically. She still requires occupational therapy and she still suffers from DSI, but she is now a healthy child.

Rima Regas is a writer and technical editor of computer how-to books. She is now dedicating the majority of her time to the causes of diagnosis and treatment of DSI and related disorders. She is currently hard at work maintaining an online community at http://www.sensoryintegrationhelp.com. You may reach her via email at rima@sensoryintegrationhelp.com