We went to see Alex's paediatrician recently. He's suggested that we consider a new drug therapy for Alex called 'atomoxetrine', brand named as Strattera.

As you may know, we tried Alex on a version of ritalin some time ago (called Equasym). We weren't particularly happy with the effect this had on him. It seemed to change his personality - it was like he wasn't Alex any more, coming across as very doped up.

It was that experience that lead us into investigating alternative therapies - which eventually lead us to looking at gluten intolerance and dietary interventions for autism. To cut a long story short we had Alex's urine tested through a programme run by Sunderland University. This identified that Alex as likely to be gluten intolerant. We tried Alex on a gluten free diet (this is some years ago now) and it was a complete disaster. Typically for a gluten intolerant, Alex craves gluten rich foods (and orange juice). Life without gluten for him was intolerable. We had to find something different.

The key book for us was Enzymes for Autism by Karen DeFelice. (I'll post a link to this on Amazon later when I'm back at my home desktop). This made us realise (and it was Deb who did all the research on this) that we didn't have to go gluten free to tackle the problem. So for the last few months, Alex has been on a cocktail of digestive enzymes before every meal.

They've worked really well, but now Year 3 and the change to junior school is starting to loom. His concentration and ability to focus is still poor and basically we're worried. So we're considering a drug therapy again. The enzymes have certainly had an impact, but I don't know whether it's enough to get him through the next 12 months.

There have been some reports on the BBC site (again, I'll add some links later) linking strattera to all sorts of worrying side effects. But then so did ritalin.

Time to go for now. I'll update with what we decide and how we get on later.