I can't believe I didn't think to post this before about enzymes. Has anyone here tried enzymes instead or in addition to the Gluten-Free Casein Free diet? I bought some last year when I heard about them. I had to do a little research and price comparison first, but I decided to get two different kinds, one for gluten and casein digestion and one for bean, grain, and vegetable digestion. Now that my son is eating a broader variety of foods (this year), I am going to give these another try. Here are the brands I tried:

AFP-Peptizyde from HNI: Houston Nutraceuticals, Inc., Using Nature's Science for Better Health

V-gest from Enzymedica

Other companies make enzymes including Kirkman Labs, a bio-med company that is popular with the ASD set.

I heard that V-gest is extremely mild and a good enzyme to start with. But I also wanted to get an enzyme that really addressed the GFCF diet. I tried the AFP Peptizyde loose powder for sprinkling over food. I found that it does have a very, very slight savory taste. The drawbacks are that it says not to get it on your skin or inhale it. That's just impossible. Also, it tends to make sauces runny--it seems to draw the moisture out of Mac n' Cheese so that all of the enzyme is sitting in a runny pool of cheese and I wonder how much enzyme is actually getting into my child's system.

Here in Southern California, and elsewhere, I feel that there is a growing peer pressure among parents to try bio-medical therapies. In part, I think this is due to feelings of frustration and helplessness. Parents desperately want their children to succeed. The feelings of guilt that we are not doing every possible thing out there to help our child are overwhelming. When we hear incredible stories of near "recovery" from autism, we want that, too. The dark side to all of this is that I often get the feeling that I am not "keeping up with the Joneses." Also, I worry that some of these things are just so much "snake oil" to deplete my bank account because because of my vulnerability. I don't want to offend anyone, I am just trying to be honest about my feelings.