63 replies to this topic

[Skylark]

I found Natural Factors sublingual 1000ug methylcobalamin tablets at my local health food store at $10 for 90 pills. The carrier is lactose so it won't work if you're lactose intolerant. After slugging it out with Riceguy over safety he convinced me at a little more wouldn't hurt and might help with this stupid brain fog and fatigue.

[elucia]

I wonder why so many people who can't have gluten have insomnia. My daughter has had severe debilitating insomnia for about 20 months. We have gone to so many specialists and no one has been able to help her. She went gluten free in October after finding out that she tested positive through Enterolab. We still haven't seen any improvement. She is on several supplements (B12, B6, zinc, b complex to name a few) and nothing is helping her.

It is so bad that I had to pull her out of school last fall and have been teaching her at home. It is even difficult for her to learn at home. She can never fall asleep before 3:00 and often not until 4 or 5. Then she wakes up pretty much every hour and can't get back to sleep. I let her stay in bed until 10:00 but she still isn't getting very much sleep. It is so difficult for her to get through the day.

Any more suggestions?

I developed insomnia a few years ago but late in life I was in my 60s. I took sleeping pills for several months but they were addicting so I don't take them any more. After going to a sleep doctor and taking all kinds of test I was told that some people change and need less sleep that before. That's me. I get usually don't go to sleep before one and often 3 or 4 in the morning. I may feel tired in the morning and sleep in but sleeping in only means that I will have more trouble getting to sleep the next night. The doctor said get up early each morning no matter how late I fell asleep. Keep busy, do not take naps and hopefully I will get to sleep an hour or more earlier that the night before. I have adjusted and do fun quiet things in the evening now and just enjoy the extra time I have. Good luck

[TKing1]

Hi, I to am new to this forum. I have had Celiac for over 12 years now and have had all kinds of problems to over come. In my journey through this life long disease I also had problems with sleep. I found that there were many reasons why I always felt bad and couldn't sleep. Stress as well as the wrong foods and also the medications I took were contributing to my never feeling well. I stayed off all gluten including, oat, soy, rye, wheat, barley. And as I went along I found that there are so many hidden things and ingredients in foods that I really had to watch for especially soy. It is in almost every thing. I have to read every thing I buy. So be very careful when you buy products that are in cans or bottles, and get familiar with the other terms and wording that are also gluten. Such as modified food starch etc. I finally went to a naturpathic doctor in Phoenix and he had found that my adrenals were completely exhausted. That is why I was unable to sleep. I woke up all hours of the night. He put me on medications that would stimulate my adrenals and it took some time but finally worked. Now I sleep all night and feel rested and not foggy headed. I hope that every one who reads this and is apart of the celiac family will find heath and happiness.
Looking forward to talking to all of you soon. If you have any Questions or problems that you cant seem to over come maybe we can work together to find some answers.

Take care all of you. I have enjoyed being able to share my journeys with you.

[jobwabe]

Char,
You didn't mention sublinqual B12 supplements but most people using this forum do. If B12 is absorbed by the colon, how does taking it sublinqually help?

I have been diagnosed for over 20 years and have started B12 sublingually about a year ago. For me, it has greatly increased the calming effect of the vitamin.

[Mirra Lune]

I've had insomnia since I was around 7 till I went gluten free 9 months ago. I never really thought much of it till I was able to fall asleep quickly after two weeks gluten-free. I always thought that going to bed around 9 not falling asleep till 12 and waking up at 3 was normal till 9 months ago.

[lovesaceliac]

Wow hpymomof3 - my heart really goes out to you. The sleep schedule you describe is almost identical to that of my husband in our last year of college (almost ten years before we found out he was gluten intolerant.) His big issue at the time was restless leg syndrom, which when we found requip was controlled and now is sleep is just bad instead of awful. His sleep was so bad he couldn't work a traditional job and our whole life plan had to change. It was incredibly difficult and frightening, but we ended up starting a small business that gave hime the flexibility to work around his health problems (which are so much better under control now that we've gotten rid of gluten.) It's hard to be the spouse of an insomniac, I can only imagine how hard to be the mother. You so despirately just want them to sleep. Your post is old - but how are things going now?

[chislev]

I am so happy to find this website. But am very saddened to hear how many people have insomnia that must be from gluten intolerance. Especially since there are young children involved. I am still in the process of being diagnosed, but I have all of the symptoms. I have had insomnia for about 3 years. And I have noticed that they best way to sleep is to eat a lot of calories with fat in the evening. This is just from experience and I am not offering advice. But I saw an old post on this website that discussed the same thing. I know this is an old post and don't know if anyone here is still reviewing it. I wonder now if the previous people who posted here found relief by going gluten free?

[love2travel]

Still no relief whatsoever from going gluten-free six months. It is so rare for me to sleep well - probably about once every ten days or so. So, I do not know for certain whether it is due to my celiac disease OR mainly due to my chronic pain. It is very difficult for me to get into any comfortable position to sleep. I wake up about 25-50 times a night easily from pain. I sooooo hope this will change!

[Kurly]

I have been so hyper at night and unable to sleep (been very productive at 2 or 3 in the morning) but on the other hand, I really should be sleeping and it has been going on for a long time. I didn't associate it with my gluten intollerance until I saw all these postings and read everybody else's expierences! I was diagnosed with Grave's disease almost 15 years ago (autoimmune hyperthyroid), then had the thyroid removed a few years later, and now on synthroid. I did check that it was gluten free when I discovered my intollerance. I already do B12 injections, I'll try to up the dose and see if that helps with the insomnia. Thanks for all the advice and knowing I'm not alone at 3am!

[lwatsonz]

I read a book entitled "Zapped, Why your cell phone shouldn't be your alarm clock" and after reading it I quit keeping my cellphone by my bed to recharge at night, it now recharges in the kitchen overnight. I replaced the compact fluorescent bulb in the lamp next to my bed with an incandescent bulb (or you could use an led bulb). I moved the power strip where I was charging all my electronic things overnight away from my bed to the far side of the bedroom. I had my husband replace the old crt tv in our bedroom with a new lcd tv. After doing all these things I have slept much much much better. Oh and I don't keep any computer in my bedroom any more either, it stays in the living room now, mostly, and I mostly use it only on battery power, not plugged in while I'm using it. For me sleep wasn't because of food so much.

[gatheringroses]

I had chronic insomnia for around two or three years before I went gluten-free... I could only sleep from around 5 am to 8 am some days. I was on a whack of sleeping pills.
Now, I get tired at normal times, I sleep at normal times, and I wake up feeling well-rested. It took about three days to work for me.
If I have even so much as a crumb of gluten (or, the other day, I had 1/6th of a table spoon of beer), I can't sleep...

I hope you feel better soon. My diagnosis was the best thing that ever happened to my health.

[gatheringroses]

Also - if you can tolerate dairy, I find eating a little bit before bed makes me really sleepy!

[BeFree]

Before going gluten-free I never knew what to expect at night. I made excuses to stay up at night because I didn't want to go to bed. I was plagued with restless sleep, nightmares, insomnia, night-time anxiety attacks, sleep walking and talking, night-time leg cramps, and I never slept through the night. I think this was all related to the gluten causing malabsorption of magnesium, which is necessary for restful sleep.

Now my nights are SO calm and peaceful, I actually look forward to going to bed at night. It's the most wonderful thing ever. I wake up in the morning feeling peaceful and rested.

[Mayflowers]

That's really interesting because gluten acted like a sleep drug on me. I was always sleeping from it. I'd fall asleep watching tv all the time. Lethargy, no energy..couldn't wake up in the morning.. Now since I'm off gluten, so much better..even in the morning I can wake up better. I can stay awake to watch a movie, and I have more energy to do things when I get home from work, and I can and more importantly feel like exercising. No depression anymore, no more irritability! The best part is that my nightmares stopped when I went gluten free! Who'd a thought that?

I know ya'all would agree with me. The hardest part is not getting contaminated..

[BeFree]

"I'd fall asleep watching tv all the time. Lethargy, no energy..couldn't wake up in the morning.. Now since I'm off gluten, so much better..even in the morning I can wake up better."

Me too...that's what used to happen to me also, falling asleep on the couch, low energy etc. I think that was because I was having such poor quality sleep at night.