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Mental Health Improve Going Gluten Free?

JesikaBeth

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JesikaBeth Contributor
JesikaBeth
Posted

Hello all. I was wondering if anyone's mental health has overall improved since going gluten free.

 

Especially wondering if those with diagnoses of bipolar disorder, anxiety, and/or ADHD.

 

Thanks in advance :)

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GF Lover Rising Star
GF Lover
Posted

Hello all. I was wondering if anyone's mental health has overall improved since going gluten free.

 

Especially wondering if those with diagnoses of bipolar disorder, anxiety, and/or ADHD.

 

Thanks in advance :)

 

Hi Jessica,

 

I think you are my twin...lol.  I do suffer with Bi-Polar, Anxiety, ADHD, a few others.  I can tell you that after I started gluten free very many of body symptoms improved greatly.  I had been diagnosed with Fibro, Bursitis, Sacroiliitis, Arthritis, Connective Tissue Disorder, Sicca and a few other suspected AI's.  My body pain was the first thing I noticed getting better.  That was the end of cortisone shots, Desensitizing Meds,.  Pain and Muscle relaxer meds went from daily to as needed.  As far as the Mental aspect.  Some of the improvement came from just feeling better.  My OCD lessened after a time.  My attention increased as Brain Fog decreased.  Memory still sucks as I had ECT treatments that wiped out much of my memories of when I was young and when I was raising my kids.  As far as the Bi-Polar, The Depressions have not been as low and as long  as before which is great.  The Highs do not last as long.  Basically I became a rapid cycler.  I was able to cut down my Psych meds to only 3.  I do know some people report complete resolution of Depression, anxiety and such but I don't know if they are diagnosed Bi-Polar or not.  I still take Ativan daily and take Trazadone nightly for sleep.  I saw on your other thread about your sleep study.  I havent been able to sleep for more than 2-3 hours on my own for at least 10-15 years or so.  Trazadone puts me out for a good 4 hours on a half dose and 7-8 hours on my full dose. 

 

Gosh, that was a ramble...lol.  Hope it helps in some way.

 

Colleen

BlessedMommy Rising Star
BlessedMommy
Posted

I'm diagnosed with GAD with OCD symptoms and it could be just my imagination, but I think that my episodes of anxiety are much less since I became strict about cracking down on CC issues and making sure that trace gluten wasn't sneaking into my diet. 

across Contributor
across
Posted

I have never been diagnosed with any mental health issues, however, I had a pretty good case of continual anxiety and mild depression going most of my life and didn't even realize it because I thought it was my normal personality. When I got off of gluten, both of these cleared up and I almost had an identity crisis because I had never been without them -- I didn't know quite who I was in such calm brain! :-)

 

This happened for me very quickly. As a matter of fact, neuro symptoms are the first symptoms for me that I've been glutened.

JesikaBeth Contributor
JesikaBeth
Posted
  • Author

Hi Jessica,

 

I think you are my twin...lol.  I do suffer with Bi-Polar, Anxiety, ADHD, a few others.  I can tell you that after I started gluten free very many of body symptoms improved greatly.  I had been diagnosed with Fibro, Bursitis, Sacroiliitis, Arthritis, Connective Tissue Disorder, Sicca and a few other suspected AI's.  My body pain was the first thing I noticed getting better.  That was the end of cortisone shots, Desensitizing Meds,.  Pain and Muscle relaxer meds went from daily to as needed.  As far as the Mental aspect.  Some of the improvement came from just feeling better.  My OCD lessened after a time.  My attention increased as Brain Fog decreased.  Memory still sucks as I had ECT treatments that wiped out much of my memories of when I was young and when I was raising my kids.  As far as the Bi-Polar, The Depressions have not been as low and as long  as before which is great.  The Highs do not last as long.  Basically I became a rapid cycler.  I was able to cut down my Psych meds to only 3.  I do know some people report complete resolution of Depression, anxiety and such but I don't know if they are diagnosed Bi-Polar or not.  I still take Ativan daily and take Trazadone nightly for sleep.  I saw on your other thread about your sleep study.  I havent been able to sleep for more than 2-3 hours on my own for at least 10-15 years or so.  Trazadone puts me out for a good 4 hours on a half dose and 7-8 hours on my full dose. 

 

Gosh, that was a ramble...lol.  Hope it helps in some way.

 

Colleen

Hi Colleen! Good to see you again. Yes it does appear we have very similar stories! Thank you for sharing. I too take ativan daily, and for sleep I'm on Seroquel. My sleep is still awkward though. I'm interested to see how my overall health - physical and mental - is impacted by going gluten free.

JesikaBeth Contributor
JesikaBeth
Posted
  • Author

BlessedMommy & Across ~ Thank you for sharing your experiences with me :)

  • 3 months later...
cap6 Enthusiast
cap6
Posted

Before going g.f. I was diagnosed bi-polar, depressed and on three different meds.  I had been on meds for many years.  At year two of being g.f. I felt so much better, and lacking other words, just felt alive and so talked to my dr about going off the meds.  With her caution we started on a plan.  It took two years to completely wean off of all my meds as we went very very slowly!  To date I have been off all meds for 8 months. 

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  • 9 months later...
ch88 Collaborator
ch88
Posted

I used to have many mental health issues including strong anxiety and obsessive thoughts, anger issues, depression, and autistic symptoms etc.  before I went gluten free.  Now I feel great. 

  • 4 weeks later...
Seifer Rookie
Seifer
Posted

Yes immensely, but it takes a long time for many people like myself. My brain had pretty much been addicted to gluten for all my life and to completely change that was a long process. If I  would eat some pasta now it basically causes some sort of mental breakdown for 24 hours where I get brainfog, signs of schizophrenia, random temper tantrums, addictive eating, sleep problems, adhd etc. certainly not worth the trouble. 

  • 1 month later...
etbtbfs Rookie
etbtbfs
Posted

If gluten is killing your thyroid, then getting some of your thyroid function back WILL help mental health, esp. Anxiety and depression.

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