Dealing With Depression

[ABQ-Celiac]

I'm 21 months past my diagnosis. The first few months saw great improvement, but now almost 2 years later I still have terrible fits of crippling nausea. All I can do is lay down and wait for it to pass. I have diarrhea 2-5 times a month, all through the night, clammy, sometimes cold sweats.

 

I've had to miss some work because of this. And during the bad times, my depression is really really deep. I confess that during the worst of it I just think that life is not worth living.

 

Now, on a good day, and there are some, maybe 2-4 good days a week, I feel great, am active, and do all the things I love. But because I know what can or will happen, those good days become clouded with fear. I can't possibly eat that, can I? And my diet, because of the fear has been reduced to the few "safe" foods, I've found: eggs, ham, rice, chicken, jello. (Don't ask. Yes, I've tried everything else.)

 

What do you do when you're dealing with an ongoing depression during the bad times, and a crippling fear the rest of the time?

 

[ravenwoodglass]

It sounds to me like you may be getting glutened some where or perhaps reacting to one of your 'safe' foods. Do you have a significant other that consumes gluten? If so do they brush their teeth well before kissing? Do you have pets that eat gluten food? Do you work around gluten? Do crafts with products that may contain gluten? 

Have you had your antibodies checked, if you were diagnosed with positive blood work? If not you may want to have them checked and if those levels have gone down perhaps you doctor can help you figure out what is going on.

Do add in some fresh or frozen veggies and fruits. those are going to be for sure gluten free and you need more than just protein and carbs in your diet. 

Wtih the way your symptoms are hitting a food, symptom and activity log may be very helpful. Some reactions can be delayed. It sounds like your body is purging itself every few days and it may take another few days for the reaction to build up again. The log may help you see a pattern in something you are doing or consuming.

I hope you are feeling better soon.

[ABQ-Celiac]

Hi. Thanks for all the thoughts. I had antibody tests and endoscopy to confirm diagnosis. My antibody's went from >225 to 10 and have remained. I'm awfully sure I'm not getting glutened as I'm a neat freak and a nut about keeping things separate, but of course it's a possibility.

 

Veggies don't do well with my stomach, causing flatulence and bathroom time! I am trying to get a few carrots and peas into the mix, but they always give me trouble. Fruits, too, except for ripe bananas.

 

Trial and error, I guess. I do keep a daily food diary and login everything in and everything out. Patterns sometimes seem to develop but then fall apart. Plain boiled chicken is great for a week, and then 3-5 hours after eating it I'm laid out.

 

I've just found ANOTHER new GI/Celiac doc in a neighboring state who I'll start seeing soon, and I hope to get some new perspectives. (Had to give up on New Mexico doctors as NM has 2nd worst access to medical care generally, and even my own primary care and GI doctors often take 12-15 weeks for an appt.)

 

Thanks again.

It sounds to me like you may be getting glutened some where or perhaps reacting to one of your 'safe' foods. Do you have a significant other that consumes gluten? If so do they brush their teeth well before kissing? Do you have pets that eat gluten food? Do you work around gluten? Do crafts with products that may contain gluten? 

Have you had your antibodies checked, if you were diagnosed with positive blood work? If not you may want to have them checked and if those levels have gone down perhaps you doctor can help you figure out what is going on.

Do add in some fresh or frozen veggies and fruits. those are going to be for sure gluten free and you need more than just protein and carbs in your diet. 

Wtih the way your symptoms are hitting a food, symptom and activity log may be very helpful. Some reactions can be delayed. It sounds like your body is purging itself every few days and it may take another few days for the reaction to build up again. The log may help you see a pattern in something you are doing or consuming.

I hope you are feeling better soon.

[NatureChick]

Others seem to have already covered the gluten aspect of this issue, so I'll pose alternate ideas. 

Nausea and depression could both have causes other than gluten. If you haven't already, I'd head back to the doctor and get other tests done, specifically to see if there is something off with your hormone levels that could be a sign of thyroid disease, and because it is a good starting point to indicate other possible problems, get tested for other vitamin deficiencies.

I've also seen people comment in the past about trying to introduce some foods that are completely new to them to see if they are well tolerated. For instance, if you haven't eaten quinoa in the past, give it a try.

Sorry that a food diary hasn't helped so far. It is still possible that you might be experiencing additional intolerances, but perhaps haven't narrowed in on them yet. For instance, I have a touch of fructose intolerance, which could turn up in all sorts of different foods but doesn't mean that you can't have fructose, just have to balance it out with other food types. And right after I went gluten free, I had an allium intolerance, though that seems to have gotten better. There are also some odd allergies out there, such as to a chemical that is found in fruit and veggies, but it only occurs in high quantities if the fruit or veggie is picked before it has finished ripening. I'm not saying any of these are your issue, but perhaps you simply haven't stumbled upon the information about the right intolerance or allergy to have your food diary make sense ... yet.

Also, it may help to consider different timing for food reactions. Are your reactions to the foods you just ate, or to the foods you ate the day before? That would vary from person to person and from intolerance to intolerance. Some foods cause problems once they hit the small intestines, others the large, etc.

The FODMAP diet is supposed to be good for eliminating some common intolerances, if you haven't tried that yet.

I'm a big believer in food as medicine so I do hope it doesn't take too long to for you to get back to the point where you can eat your way to better health. In the meantime, I'd probably buy some ginger to make ginger tea which is supposed to help calm nausea. You can also google foods that are supposed to be good for depression and see if any of them are on your safe list.

I do hope that this at least gives you some ideas for things to try or to research while waiting for a doctors appointment.

[ABQ-Celiac]

I thank you so much for the ideas. I have had the thyroid tests and been tested for vitamin deficiencies.

I also have intolerances for soy and dairy but completely avoid them. All I eat are eggs, ham, rice, chicken, and hello.

[ABQ-Celiac]

What about anyone else. Does anyone suffer from depression because of celiac? How do you get out of a terrible day?

[GF Lover]

Hi ABQ and Welcome to the Forum.

 

If your eating as cleanly as you say then the depression may not be from Celiac?  Did you suffer from this before your diagnosis or did it start after?  Are you depressed because you only eat 5 foods?  Do you have other health conditions?

 

You can try learning "Mindfulness",  exercising more, guided meditations, calming music, buy yourself some flowers.  You may want to consider seeing a therapist.  Aside from "talk" therapy, they can do other therapies like "EMDR".  If your depression becomes too severe you may have to consider a mood stabilizer.  You can start taking a good fish oil supplement now.

 

For the food issue.  Are you taking a probiotic?

 

Colleen

[ABQ-Celiac]

Hi Colleen! I've been on the forum for about 20 months and I can't tell you how many times I've picked up life-altering suggestions on all manner of Celiac conundrum. I'm so grateful this community exists.

 

And, I really thank you for your thoughts below. These are all great suggestions that I'm going to spend some time on. 

 

As for the probiotics, I've gone through a bunch and ended up using Accuflora which really did change my life. It regulated my digestive system in a way none of the others did. I'm so grateful it exists.

 

And again, thanks again.

 

My best.

 

 

Hi ABQ and Welcome to the Forum.

 

If your eating as cleanly as you say then the depression may not be from Celiac?  Did you suffer from this before your diagnosis or did it start after?  Are you depressed because you only eat 5 foods?  Do you have other health conditions?

 

You can try learning "Mindfulness",  exercising more, guided meditations, calming music, buy yourself some flowers.  You may want to consider seeing a therapist.  Aside from "talk" therapy, they can do other therapies like "EMDR".  If your depression becomes too severe you may have to consider a mood stabilizer.  You can start taking a good fish oil supplement now.

 

For the food issue.  Are you taking a probiotic?

 

Colleen