Tobys New Journey

So Toby has been gluten and dairy free for two weeks now. I cannot even tell you how beneficial it has been for him. (As well as the rest of the family) Wow...where do I even start???
Toby is a happy kid. Like...a REALLY happy kid...till he's not. There are two Toby's. There is the sweet, kind, easy going and happy kid that he is when he is around most people. And then, there is crazy Toby. And this Toby only comes out at home. Anything at all could set this Toby off. A TV show being turned off, me telling him to do something simple like get dressed, or even a tower of legos falling down and breaking when he wasn't ready for it to. These are normal life things that happen. Things that normal kids can handle. But sometimes Toby just could not handle life. He would have the worst melt downs. When he throws a fit, I mean, he takes things to a whole new level. He screams...SO loud. Cries hysterically without any chance of calming himself down. He would cry and scream for so long that he would give himself asthma attacks. He would be coughing and hyperventilating, gasping for air. He would scream irrational things over and over like "I just want my door open" when it was open. He would go on like this, flopping and rolling all over his room, running into walls, kicking and hitting the walls. Hitting himself in the head saying "I'm an idiot" over and over. (I am in tears right now as I right remembering some of the worst ones where by the end of 30 minutes we would both be sobbing and I would be begging God to help us just get through this) One day, after a really bad one, I asked him what I could do when he was like this. I felt like there was nothing I could do to help him. He looked at me with the saddest eyes and said to me "Mom, just pray for me". He went on to tell me that he hates throwing hissy fits and just wishes God would help him stop. As a mom, my heart was broken. My kid does NOT want to act like this. He does NOT just need to be spanked/disciplined. He could NOT control himself. He needed help.
After lots of thinking,praying, and researching, I realized that the times that he acted the worst, was when he ate something he was allergic to. He is highly allergic/sensitive to red food dye and he always seemed to be the worst after ingesting some of it. Even waking up with a fever one night after giving him a bite (yes, a bite!!) of red velvet pancake. It was affecting his body. And now it was affecting his mental health. It was time for a change.
*After two weeks of gluten and diary free I am so happy to report: The hissy fits have stopped completely! We have only had had 2 melt downs (mini hissy fits)in the two weeks. One happened after church one Sunday. I was really discouraged till I realized I forgot to tell the people at church that he couldn't have snack and he ate goldfish and pretzels (both use red dye no. 3 as a preservative) He literally came home from church, laid on his bed crying, flopping back and forth repeating "I don't want to go to sleep, I don't want to go to sleep, till he eventually passed out after 10 minutes later. The other happened after church because they gave him red koolaid. (which is gluten free but again red food dye). We spent all day waking on egg shells around him because everything made him cry. He even said to me "Leave me alone mom. Im grumpy and just sick of myself" I cannot BELIEVE how much the food he is allergic to affects his mental health. And it gets me really sad for all those "bad" kids out there, whose behavior could be completely changed with small diet changes. (But thats a whole different blog.)
*His asthma has also been non existent since he's been gluten and dairy free. Not one asthma attack in two whole weeks!! That might not seem like a lot, but he needed it almost every day before. Especially when the weather goes from cold to hot like it has been. He has even been out running around twice for over 20 minutes (which again, might not seem like a lot but that is a long time to be running around for an asthmatic kid) and I would go grab his inhaler because in the past he would have needed it, but nope, he didn't. Its been AMAZING.
*He has been so happy, so much more of the time. He still has has moments, where he gets upset or agitated, but it is manageable. I can talk him down, where before nothing could talk him down. When I tell him to do something, he jumps up and says "ok mom". It catches me off guard every time because before when I would ask him to do something, I would brace myself to get ready for battle. But no battles, the worst he does now, is ask me if he can do it in a minute when he is done with whatever he is doing. WOW...such a change.
*He is sleeping better. Over 12 hours a night without waking up. He had stopped taking naps in October, but has napped, without complaining 5 times in the last two weeks. He even put himself down for those naps!! Even he sees how much this diet is helping. It was actually a blessing that he got the foods he was allergic to those two times because I was able to point out his behavior after he ate those foods. He understands. So he doesn't complain when he cant eat certain foods. I tell him they have gluten in them and he doesn't ask again. He sees how much better he feels. Our house is SO much more peaceful. I am SO thankful that certain information and experiences have been put in my path so that I was educated on this stuff. I am so greatful to everyone who gave me support,tips, and their knowledge when I was researching this stuff. Everything is coming together and feeling much more normal after two weeks. Praise the LORD!