Turmoil

We have had quite a time with Elise lately. She seriously was beginning to seem as if she was diving off the deep end. She was waking during the night with violent tantrums that could go on for hours. She was spending entire ABA sessions screaming. She was displaying lots of irrational seeming fears, such as becoming terrified whenever she'd see something outside the front window. She began placing strange demands like her blinds had to remain open at night, she didn't want the video monitor in her room (she threw that across the room in one of her fits), I had to be standing up, not sitting. It was bizarre and incredibly difficult. She seemed to be in so much turmoil that I felt like she was in a living hell. She smiled rarely, if ever, had dark circles under her eyes, tuned us out and liked to lie down in the fetal position. She also was chewing her hair a lot. Fortunately, we have had a really good day today and I'm hopeful that we are past the worst. Here's my theories on this awful behavior phase:

1. We just this week removed gluten from Elise's diet. She may have been experiencing some withdrawal symptoms since the theory is that gluten & casein has an opiate effect on some autistic children. She was no longer receiving her "fix".
2. Elise has been using B12 for the past 5 weeks. We had given her some higher doses. Some children become very stimmy and hyper on B12. Elise was stimming more and was very irritable. Her doctor thinks it may have just built up in her system over time.
3. Often when Elise was waking in these rages, we noticed that she would start to calm, sniffle & then become enraged again. Then, yesterday evening, we noticed that she was fussing with her ear. We also remembered how her brother A used to wake in rages before we started giving him allergy medication (he no longer needs to take it).
4. Elise spends a LOT of time in her bedroom for therapy. She's always loved getting out of the house for adventures. She may be getting stir crazy being so confined.

OK, given the above theories, here is what we have done (corresponds by number):

1. We have continued the diet because if the above is true then that means diet is a big factor for her and we need to push through this withdrawal.
2. We have discontinued the B12 after speaking with the doctor who recommended it.
3. We started giving her Claritin in case she is having problems with allergies or a cold.
4. We spoke with her parent trainer about making sure that Elise gets out during her sessions to play outside or go for a walk at the very least.

We have one day of success with these interventions. We will see how things proceed from here. I can hardly declare victory after one successful day, but I'm hopeful. Elise played red light green light with her brother B tonight. She was stopping and running appropriately with little intervention from me and was really happy. It was good to see her happy again. I hope that the hell in which she's obviously been living lately is beginning to see the light of better things to come.