Any Ideas?

[ch88]

Here is my story. I am not sure if anyone is going to believe this as it has not happened to anyone as far as I know in the history of the world. Growing up I had, what I am convinced was high functioning autism. I had very intense an narrow interests, mild sensory issues, avoided eye contact, and had communication problems and all of the other symptoms of autism.

One day I came back from exercising at the gym. I was hungry and I ate some breaded fish from walmart. I also drank a mike's hard lemonade.  As I ate the fish I started to become very very happy (it was very extreme....like I had overdosed). I couldn't stand still. I was jumping up and down and hugging my pet cat. Something changed in my brain within those couple minutes. Weird things changed in my brain...including how people looked to me. I had a totally totally different personality than I did before the incident.

Since then my verbal skills have slowly been improving and I have been loosing my autistic traits. My brain changed a whole lot very quickly during the incident, and it has also been changing since that time. Autism is not supposed to change ever, and it is not caused (as far as I know) by an allergy to gluten. I still notice that I have traces of being autistic but they are very minor compared to what were before. I am %100 percent convinced that I was autistic.

I know the incident was some how related to being allergic to wheat. In the couple weeks before I and forgotten to buy bread. I also noticed that I had not eaten any top ramen noodles and had picked mike's hard lemonade instead of regular beer. Since then I have learned that I am allergic to wheat (I get extreme anxiety whenever I eat wheat.) I also know that both fish oil and salt have huge impact on how my brain functions. I take both regularly which seems to help. 

It gets even weirder....I have acquired music savant syndrome and have something similar to perfect musical pitch. I can play along with just about any tune on the piano, even if I haven't heard it before. I couldn't do this before the incident. I found an article online about an Isreali savant who has similar abilities...although no name was given and he didn't say how he got his savant abilities. I don't have a perfect memory, but I think I have other savant musical abilities.

I am wondering if anyone has any ideas about what could have happened. Also if someone is allergic to wheat, and has been for all of their life, would they have diarrhea every time they eat wheat? I don't know if my allergy to wheat happened suddenly or if I have had it my whole life. This whole thing is very very weird to me and I can't really make any sense out of it.

[1desperateladysaved]

I believe you.  I think that my Functional Medicine Nurse uses diet with autism.  I realize that one of my family members would get hyperactive due to diet, while I seemed to get depressed from the foods that made this family member active.  These are mind responses, I think.  Not sure I can relate to or shed light on the whole story, but that is my two bits.

 

Dee

[RMJ]

There is an article in the most recent Scientific American about people who suddenly become savants.

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[SMRI]

Autism does change--or at least your functioning abilities can change with practice and schooling.  There are a lot of people that connect what was "Aspergers Syndrome" but is now "high functioning autism" with various food allergies/Celiac.  It would probably be worth your time to get tested and see if you are Celiac or have a wheat allergy.

[ch88]

I have heard of the Gluten and casein free diet.  Some people with autism can be allergic to wheat like I was. I don't however think this is very common. There was a large study about the effects of a wheat and casein free diet on autism and the results were negative. 

 

People with high functioning autism are able to hide, to a certain extent, their symptoms and to blend in with the rest of the world. They may learn, for example, how to hold eye contact. Life is still a huge struggle for them. I am different though...things that were extremely painful and difficult for me are now enjoyable and just come naturally. I don't think that has happened to anyone before. I know this isn't very believable but that's what happened.  

 

I haven't gotten tested for Gluten intolerance, but I know I have huge anxiety problems whenever I accidentally eat wheat. My mind does not, however, go back to functioning the way it did before the incident. 

[GFinDC]

Congrats on doing better! That's great!

 

You could ask your doctor to do the celiac antibodies panel on you.  It works best if you are still eating gluten (wheat, rye, barley).  There are different types of antibodies and they tend to cause different symptoms.  Allergies are caused by an IgE immune reaction.  Celiac is caused by either IgA or IgG immune reactions.

 

Gluten (wheat, rye, barley) is in many foods other than bread and cookies.  So is dairy.  Check out the newbie thread linked below.

 

Some starting the gluten-free diet tips for the first 6 months:

Get tested before starting the gluten-free diet.
Get your vitamin/mineral levels tested also.
Don't eat in restaurants
Eat only whole foods not processed foods.
Eat only food you cook yourself, think simple foods, not gourmet meals.
Take probiotics.
Take gluten-free vitamins.
Take digestive enzymes.
Avoid dairy if it causes symptoms.
Avoid sugars and starchy foods. They can cause bloating.
Avoid alcohol.
Watch out for cross contamination.

Helpful threads:

FAQ Celiac com
https://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/forum-7/announcement-3-frequently-asked-questions-about-celiac-disease/

Newbie Info 101
https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/91878-newbie-info-101/

 

If you try the celiac antibodies panel and allergy tests and don't get any answers, One tool that may help you is an elimination diet.  They are simple but your have to stick with them for a while.  You would pick out 5 foods to eat only those 5 foods for 2 weeks.   You write down any symptoms you have each day.  By the end of 2 weeks if you are eating foods that are safe for you your symptoms should be gone.  If they aren't gone then you know one of those 5 foods is a problem for you.  So you swap out the one you think is bad.  If things are ok then you can proceed.  You would then add one new food every 3 days.  Keep writing down symptoms.  If a food causes a reaction you put it on the bad list.  Eventually you'll build a list of safe foods for you to eat.  This is something to try if the doctors can't come up with any good answers after their testing is done.

[ch88]

Okay, thanks for the responses. 

 

 

Since I get strong anxiety and since my chest hurts on the couple occasions when I have eaten gluten on accident I am pretty sure that I am allergic to wheat. From what I have read if you go gluten free (which I have for a few months now) that could give a false negative if I were to get tested. Since the gluten free diet seems to be working I am going to stick with it. I have tried eliminating casein, as well as a few other things just to see if they had an effect. I wasn't able to notice much of any difference though so I think it is just the gluten. 

 

I was looking at a web page about the different kinds of immune system responses, and different types of antibodies, and it turns out they play a role in autism:

 

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[GFinDC]

Hi Ch88,

 

You are right and sorta not right on the testing.  If you are talking about celiac disease testing you are right, the tests aren't reliable if you are already gluten-free.  If you are talking about an allergy test, the tests should work regardless.  Well, work as well as they would anyway.  Some types of allergy tests are a bit imprecise.

 

Foods are kinda funny.  I have celiac disease and I can't eat wheat, rye or barley.  But I also have problems if I eat oats, soy, dairy, carrots, potatoes, etc.  But other people with celiac disease may be able to eat those foods just fine.  We tend to develop reactions to other foods on an individual basis.  We aren't all the same in our food reactions.  I don't see any reason to think our symptoms would not vary also, and in fact they do vary a lot.

 

Here are a couple articles for ya.  Schizophrenia is thot to be associated with gluten antibodies in some patients.

 

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n Open Original Shared Link it was found that individuals with recent-onset psychosis and with multi-episode schizophrenia who have increased antibodies to gliadin may share some immunologic features of celiac disease, but their immune response to gliadin differs from that of celiac disease.

In this very clever work done by Samaroo and Dickerson et al, published asOpen Original Shared Link, immune responses and celiac disease biomarkers were tested in schizophrenics. It turns out that schizophrenics tended to have a lot of anti-wheat antibodies floating around in their systems, but these antibodies were nearly entirely different from the ones that people with celiac disease have. That means that the usual test for gluten issues, the tests for celiac, wouldn't come up positive in schizophrenics, even though they have unusual immune reactions to wheat.

...

 

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And this article talks about gluten ataxia, which can cause brain damage and difficulty walking.

 

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Abstract

Gluten ataxia is an immune-mediated disease triggered by the ingestion of gluten in genetically susceptible individuals. It should be considered in the differential diagnosis of all patients with idiopathic sporadic ataxia. Early diagnosis and treatment with a gluten free diet can improve ataxia and prevent its progression. Readily available and sensitive markers of gluten ataxia include antigliadin antibodies. IgA deposits against TG2 in the small bowel and at extraintestinal sites are proving to be additional reliable and perhaps more specific markers of the whole spectrum of gluten sensitivity. They may also hold the key to its pathogenesis.

 

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There also articles about gluten and opioid recepters in the brain floating around the web.

[ch88]

I don't think I was schizophrenic. I know quite a few people who think I am autistic, but I don't know anyone who thinks I'm schizophrenic. (That or maybe I am just imagining them all There is a lot of overlap between schizophrenia, some immune disorders, autism and the possible effects of wheat. One of the overlaps is anxiety which makes it kindof confusing.  Autism describes the way my mind worked (and in some ways still works), though, really really well. Fortunately the anxiety has gone away. 

 

My coordination did not appear to be at significantly altered by any of this. 

 

I am thinking it may possible have to do with the blood-brain-barrier. Wheat has a protein called galdin which causes the creation of a third substance which in turn can open the blood-brain-barrier. The other possibility is that it is related somehow to my immune system and the creation of immunogoblin. I found one study where someone was cured of autism by administering of immunogoblin by an IV.

 

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[GFinDC]

Sorry ch88, I wasn't trying to imply you were schizo.  The point I was trying to make is that it is known that gluten can affect some people's brains.  The affects are various.  This isn't an area that has had a lot of research, so there may be many unknowns still.  My thinking on it is simple.  If gluten can affect a persons walking ability and muscle coordination, and increase mental symptoms in others, why couldn't it cause other affects in people?   Quite a few people on this board have reported problems with insomnia and depression for instance.  Or uncharacteristic anger or other mental symptoms.  We sometimes talk about people having "brain fog" on the forum, which refers to a mental state of being forgetful, or fuzzy or even losing balance at times.  The symptoms of brain fog are fairly wide I think.  But it's another example of possible mental/brain affects of gluten or the immune response to gluten.

 

I don't doubt you can have negative affects on your mental function due to gluten.  I think it's silly for the medical field to deny the possibility of various mental/brain affects.  Just because a big grant hasn't funded a relevant study doesn't mean something isn't true IMHO.

[ch88]

Sorry ch88, I wasn't trying to imply you were schizo.  The point I was trying to make is that it is known that gluten can affect some people's brains.  The affects are various.  This isn't an area that has had a lot of research, so there may be many unknowns still.  My thinking on it is simple.  If gluten can affect a persons walking ability and muscle coordination, and increase mental symptoms in others, why couldn't it cause other affects in people?   Quite a few people on this board have reported problems with insomnia and depression for instance.  Or uncharacteristic anger or other mental symptoms.  We sometimes talk about people having "brain fog" on the forum, which refers to a mental state of being forgetful, or fuzzy or even losing balance at times.  The symptoms of brain fog are fairly wide I think.  But it's another example of possible mental/brain affects of gluten or the immune response to gluten.

 

I don't doubt you can have negative affects on your mental function due to gluten.  I think it's silly for the medical field to deny the possibility of various mental/brain affects.  Just because a big grant hasn't funded a relevant study doesn't mean something isn't true IMHO.

 

Oh, okay yeah that makes sense.

 

I have been looking around on the site to see if anyone had a simliar experience. Although a number of people were effected in strong ways by gluten, I haven't found anyone who's experience was the same as mine, which I find kindof odd.

 

[nvsmom]

We (husband and ped) think our oldest son is very mildly autistic (what would have been mild Aspergers) but he was not diagnosed because we homeschool and he did not need special school accommodations or medication. Anyway, his behavior changed a fair bit when gluten-free and casein free.  He could concentrate better and tolerate things much better than he could previously.  He started having dairy again and we noticed that his behaviour was slipping again.  Now that he is once again gluten-free and cf, he is a much happy and more relaxed guy...  I know it's not the same as your experience but I thought I'd mention how the diet change has appeared to have helped him.

 

Best wishes to you!

[GFinDC]

Here's a few more links that might interest you CH88.

 

Dr. Hadjivassiliou does research on gluten ataxia in people.

Nuerological symptoms without gastro symptoms
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Dietary treatment of gluten ataxia
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Ubo's, Epilepsy And Celiac
https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/20198-ubos-epilepsy-and-celiac/?hl=%2Bunidentified+%2Bbright+%2Bobject

Anger, Quick Temper, Depression
https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/34917-anger-quick-temper-depression/

A brain in the head, a brain in the gut NY Times  (serotonin, gut depression link)
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