GF/CF diet (for Aspergers) – June, 2008

This post explains how my GF/CF diet is going and any progress I am making after about 7 months on the diet.

After about 6 months on the diet I did experience a second rush of improvements but it was disappointing. It mainly took the form of more regular bowel function and by becoming more focussed and decisive. This was a kind of repeat of the improvements I got after the first few weeks on the diet.

However, in the intervening period I felt I had slipped back, becoming indecisive again, my bowels function going backwards and my becoming depressed.

It’s not surprising I have become depressed again. There is nowhere I can receive support while on this diet. I once saw an NHS Dietician through my GP and she had never even heard of Aspergers! A local charity which supports adults with Aspergers Is not really interested in the Gluten free diet as it would put them out of business as all their service users would improve so much they’d need a lot less support! They also seem sceptical about the diet’s efficacy. But very few people actually go on this diet and, more importantly, stick on it for a significant length of time so its usefulness is hard to judge.

Also I have received hardly any feedback from this blog apart from a few parents expressing interest. I guess most adults with Aspergers are still self-censoring due to their fear of stigma, lack of self-awareness and misconceptions about what Aspergers is (i.e. they think it’s all terrible and hopeless, depressing and too hard to face up to).

Another reason I’m getting depressed might be that I’m experiencing neuro-Typical symptoms like loneliness and also losing my Asperger ability to gain enjoyment from my hobbies and obsessions. I do feel more aware of my aloneness and do seem to seek out the more sociable people to chat to at the place I do voluntary work. This place is full of undiagnosed Aspies and being around them is probably depressing me. You can’t tell them about their Aspergersas they’d run off in fright. Also I’m beginning to see how dead and socially unresponsive they are. In a way my sociability and social skills are being stifled in this situation.

As regards my hobbies and interests: I can no longer be bothered to play the guitar as much, only playing it once or twice a week instead of 4 or 5 times with a drive and keenness to develop it which I seem to have lost; musical expression is probably an Asperger thing and I seem to be losing it. I hardly paint pictures at all now; I had lost interest before and now I have even less.

I’m more interested now in possibly getting a job and improving my life situation and trying to focus my activities on things which could help me move forward such as improving my computer skills, rather than frittering my time away on my artistic pursuits which are leading me nowhere really.

In recent weeks I think I maybe showing signs of further improvements.

The quality of my sleep seems to have improved as evidenced by my recall of extremely vivid dreams every morning. I think I’m probably going into dream sleep and the into deep sleep more often than previously. I’m slightly less tired. So the problems of terminal insomnia, which is experienced by people with Asperger Syndrome, may be receding.
Also I have noticed I’m no longer anaemic. You can test for anaemia by looking at the inside of your eyelids: they should be all red indicating healthy blood rich in iron. Previously my eyelids were only intermittently red during the day, now they look red and healthy all say long. This would seem to indicate better absorption of iron through my gut due to the GF diet.

Also my bowel function is even more regular.

These physiological improvements would appear to show that it is worth sticking on the GF diet. Hopefully all these improvement will become cumulative and I will achieve things like good sleep, more energy, good ability to focus, make decisions, concentrate, suffer less from depression and anxiety and generally be better able to cope with life in a positive manner. These are the kind of areas where I expect to see further progress from my experience of this diet so far. It is questionable whether I will see fundamental changes to my core Asperger personality (although as I have indicated there are some signs of possible changes). I don’t think I have noticed any improvement in multi-tasking or ability to handle stress; and I still can’t filter out background noise and am still fairly sensitive to noise.)