Isaac's Diet- Update

Well Isaac has been on his new diet about 3 weeks now. We aren't seeing a significant change in the seizures. I'm not sure that we will. This diet is actually intended to help children with ADHD, but it CAN and HAS helped children with their seizures. We decided to try this diet first because it was the easiest to do with the least amount of change. Since we don't know the cause of his seizures, we don't know what we need to eliminate or what we need to increase. It's tough. However, that's not to say we haven't seen ANY changes. In fact, we've had some pretty positive results to a point that we are considering trying the diet on Jared as well. Basically, the diet has 2 stages- Stage 1 and Stage 2. You have to stay in Stage 1 for 6 weeks, then you can start adding certain foods back into the diet to see if your child has a reaction or not. For most people who are on this diet, the changes come in the forms of behaviors. We decided that we would try the diet for 6 weeks before changing anything. 

In the past week we've noticed a sudden and significant change in Isaac's reactions to things he doesn't like. For example, last Saturday night it was time to leave from Larry's Quest rehearsal. Isaac did not want to go. He threw himself on the ground and screamed bloody murder.

Before you begin judging our parenting, just know that we've tried that. Whatever you're thinking, we've tried it. Isaac entered the "Terrible Ones" and we've been trying things for 3 1/2 years now. Gentle parenting, traditional parenting, spanking, hugging, time out, time in, you say it we've tried it. And yes, we've tried consistency. It doesn't matter. He always feels bad after, but the fact is, Isaac is and always HAS BEEN emotional. He wears his emotions on his sleeve whether he's happy, sad or angry. The thing we found to work the best was loving him. When he would get sad we would hug him, hard sometimes to keep him from hitting or kicking, and we would tell him we loved him, that it's ok to be sad, but he cannot throw or hit things when he's angry. 

The medicine made all of these tantrums worse. A lot worse. At least before the medicine I could contain him. He would go to time out and he would cry, but he was manageable. I still remember one Sunday morning about a week after he'd started on the medication. I was in charge of picking up Isaac from his classroom at church. I had Jared in my arms and Larry had gone out to get the van. Something simple set Isaac off. He threw himself on the ground and screamed and cried and thrashed his body around. I couldn't put Jared down and I would not let anyone touch Isaac, not that they wanted to. But I could not bear that someone would get hurt. I just had to talk to him until I finally was able to get him picked up with one arm while I continued to carry Jared. People asked if he was ok. I had to explain that he was on a new medication and was uncontrollable right now. I think about that anytime I see someone's child acting out now. You never know what that person is going through. I cried a lot that day. I was so torn. I hated the idea of punishing him for a behavior that was not his typical self and was not his fault, in my opinion. However, I also knew that we had to make it clear to him that he could not act that way if he was upset because eventually he would be used to or off of the medication and I could not allow him to think that kind of behavior was ok. 

Parenting is hard.

But wow, this week has been life changing for us. Suddenly, when he gets in trouble, he's sad, and he cries, but he does what he's told. At the park the other day he was throwing wood chips. I told him to stop. He did it again. I told him if he threw wood chips again, he would go to time out. I explained that he could hit someone and it would hurt them. A few minutes later, the wood chips went flying. I told him we had to go sit on the bench. I automatically surveyed the path between us and the bench. I began making a strategy- I knew I might have to set Grayson down and carry Isaac to the bench. I knew he might scream and kick. I knew people might stare at us. I started trying to figure out how I would get the 2 other boys to the van if we needed to leave if Isaac couldn't calm down. But none of that happened. He walked next to me. He did say, "Aww but I don't want to go to time out!" But I didn't have to hold his hand or drag him or anything. We just went to the bench and sat down. After a couple of minutes I asked him why he went to time out. He tried distracting me with silliness, but I continued to ask what he did that was the wrong choice. He told me he threw wood chips. I asked why he wasn't allowed to do that. He told me he could hurt someone. I was so proud of him. He was bummed to be sitting there, but he did it without making a scene. I explained that if he did it again we would go home. He didn't throw the wood chips again and we had a great time the rest of the afternoon. 

There have been several other instances the past few days where things could have gotten ugly. Times when he made the wrong choice and we knew that this could get bad. But it didn't. We've been praising him up and down after the incident is dealt with and telling him that again, it's ok to be sad or angry. We're proud of him for walking away for a minute, or taking a deep breath, or using his words to tell us how he feels. Life. Changing.

In addition to that, he made a craft for his nanny the other day for Valentine's Day. He colored his hands and it was the most coloring he's ever done. Ever. Also, my boy who never ate is eating so much more now. That alone makes me want to cry. He ate two sandwiches for dinner tonight plus watermelon and chips. 

So we'll keep going on the diet. I'm so happy with the results so far, even if they aren't impacting the seizures. We've also been screen-free for the past week. That's not necessarily making the seizures go away, but we have noticed that we haven't had any really bad days like we would before. The screen-time definitely makes the seizures worse, though no screen-time doesn't make them go away. 


For more information on the diet he's on, visit www.feingold.org or google Feingold Diet. We'll continue to post updates. This is definitely a journey and it's not one where we are saying "No medicine." It's just for now, we have to try some other things. I also need to note that he is not in any danger with his seizures. He shouldn't swim or climb things, which we make sure of. But the fact is, he was having seizures while on the medicine, which is why we couldn't do it anymore. There were too many side effects for the medicine to not work. Larry and I talk so much about this. We both know the medicine he was on was not good for him, but we also both accept that this diet will probably not be the answer to the seizures and we'll have to take different steps in a few weeks. Whether that means supplements, a new diet, or a new medicine, we aren't sure of yet. It will depend on what we see over the next three weeks. We have to wait the full 6 weeks before we can be sure that all of the changes that the diet can impact have had time to work. The positive news about the seizures is that they are no worse than they were. 

For the next 3 weeks we will continue to reflect and listen for God's will. We will keep you posted!