Jump to content
  • You are not alone. Join Celiac.com for trusted gluten-free answers and forum support.



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):
    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):

Extreme anxiety


Crispy chick

Recommended Posts

Crispy chick Explorer

Hi. I am day 11 gluten-free. Been having some odd withdrawals. Been fed up, off my food and low. But now I have intense anxiety. I'm shaky, feel awful and nauseous. Dizzy. 

Anyone else experience extreme anxiety giving up gluten??? I just need to hear from others who have gone through it. 

Thanks in advance x


Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



Ennis-TX Grand Master
11 minutes ago, Crispy chick said:

Hi. I am day 11 gluten-free. Been having some odd withdrawals. Been fed up, off my food and low. But now I have intense anxiety. I'm shaky, feel awful and nauseous. Dizzy. 

Anyone else experience extreme anxiety giving up gluten??? I just need to hear from others who have gone through it. 

Thanks in advance x

Yeah, it was worse around those times. I still have some issues to this day but use a solid regime I built to my needs. 
B-vitamin complex, neurological support, from Liquid Health, Magnesium Calm or Magnesium Glycinate twice a day, I also take Hemp Paste to deal with extreme depression and bad thoughts.

healthysquirrel Enthusiast

Sorry you are feeling badly Crispy Chick. I have been taking high dose cbd oil  and it helps so much. Not sure it is legal where you are though. If you can, try meditating. If not, breathing exercises help a lot. I still have anxiety, but what you describe sounds like gluten withdrawal. Hope you feel better soon! 

 

  • 2 weeks later...
ch88 Collaborator

There are  a number of people on this forum who have experienced gluten withdrawal symptoms.  

Make sure you are avoiding cross contamination. I would do a whole foods based diet,  with just fruit and vegetables (excluding nightshades). That may help speed up the healing and reduce inflammation. You could rotate your foods to see if there is a problematic food that you are still eating.

pikakegirl Enthusiast

Yes. I had no after care after diagnosis. Mine stopped when I had a vitami  panel done and found my folic acid crashed as well as D3, B2 K2. Others to check are B12, B6, Magnesium. Processed foods have lots of vitamins added and a sudden lack while the GI is still damaged can cause havoc. Also check your genetic marker for MGHFR if your folic acid is low. No amount will help and it can hurt. I found I have to take 3000mg L-methyfolate daily because my body won't convert folic acid. Some other vitamins come in the converted form to help absorption too like B6 as PDP. I also found side effects afrom medications for panic/anxiety made it harder for my brain to handle pain and caused more anxiety and less natural endorphins to be produced. Instead I made a flashcard with ways to get through panic attacks with 10 different exercises. They helped until my GI and vitamins balanced me. As my GI healed they subsided and are gone.

  • 4 months later...
Glutendha Rookie
On 4/27/2019 at 12:39 PM, pikakegirl said:

Yes. I had no after care after diagnosis. Mine stopped when I had a vitami  panel done and found my folic acid crashed as well as D3, B2 K2. Others to check are B12, B6, Magnesium. Processed foods have lots of vitamins added and a sudden lack while the GI is still damaged can cause havoc. Also check your genetic marker for MGHFR if your folic acid is low. No amount will help and it can hurt. I found I have to take 3000mg L-methyfolate daily because my body won't convert folic acid. Some other vitamins come in the converted form to help absorption too like B6 as PDP. I also found side effects afrom medications for panic/anxiety made it harder for my brain to handle pain and caused more anxiety and less natural endorphins to be produced. Instead I made a flashcard with ways to get through panic attacks with 10 different exercises. They helped until my GI and vitamins balanced me. As my GI healed they subsided and are gone.

I am not officially diagnosed. Lot of GI, neurological issues and figured it might be gluten . It's been only 2 weeks gluten free. I am having lot of anxiety. Can you please kindly share the exercises that helped you. 

pikakegirl Enthusiast

Glutenda. I also have Hypothyroid from Hashimoto's and advise everyone with anxiety/panic to have thier thyroid checked. Here are the 10 exercises for stopping a panic attack.

1. Breathing technique. Breathe in through nose down to stomach ( not chest) at count of 8. Hold for 8. Out through mouth slow for 8. Repeat and lengthen count if you can.

2. Focus on a mechanical object or complex object and take it apart piece by piece in your mind. Or ask yourself lots of questions about its function.

3. Repeat a movie, song, periodic chart or long list in your mind. I love the 50 states song I learned when I was a child.

4. Make yourself cry, scream into a pillow or start a very long monologue outloud.

5. Hug yourself and ask "What if the worst that can happen" and go over how you will work through that. Remind yourself this feeling is adrenaline and I  5 to 10 mins it will flush out of your bloodstream.

6. Exercise or do a physical task.

7. Change your environment. I go outside in the yard or go take a hot shower.

8. Turn on loud music and dance.

9. Get mad. I get mad at my PTSD and adrenal system for betraying me and making me feel weak. You can't be mad and afraid/panicked at the same time. I read this.

10. Call a friend/family member. Let them know to distract you with anything that gets you outside yourself.

For years I took valium and saw psyc with no help. I found these I in books. I had to try all 10 sometimes before it stopped. But now I don't have them maybe because subconsciously I know I can stop them?


Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



Laurie61 Newbie
On 4/15/2019 at 11:33 AM, Crispy chick said:

Hi. I am day 11 gluten-free. Been having some odd withdrawals. Been fed up, off my food and low. But now I have intense anxiety. I'm shaky, feel awful and nauseous. Dizzy. 

Anyone else experience extreme anxiety giving up gluten??? I just need to hear from others who have gone through it. 

Thanks in advance x

Maybe. It wasn't right away, it was about 1.5 years after I developed extreme anxiety, nausia, etc.  Mine responded to a medication with HCl in it- it had identical HCl content to an otc antihistamine so over the years since, and during a time I stupidly disregarded my diet, I've taken it for a 1-2 days and get better. So many things have wheat that I just don't eat out or buy prepared food anymore. Histamine elevated is immune reaction, like an allergy, gives the fight or flight response maybe to cue the brain into getting away from the allergen.

Laurie61 Newbie
(edited)
On 9/1/2019 at 1:16 PM, pikakegirl said:

Glutenda. I also have Hypothyroid from Hashimoto's and advise everyone with anxiety/panic to have thier thyroid checked. Here are the 10 exercises for stopping a panic attack.

1. Breathing technique. Breathe in through nose down to stomach ( not chest) at count of 8. Hold for 8. Out through mouth slow for 8. Repeat and lengthen count if you can.

2. Focus on a mechanical object or complex object and take it apart piece by piece in your mind. Or ask yourself lots of questions about its function.

3. Repeat a movie, song, periodic chart or long list in your mind. I love the 50 states song I learned when I was a child.

4. Make yourself cry, scream into a pillow or start a very long monologue outloud.

5. Hug yourself and ask "What if the worst that can happen" and go over how you will work through that. Remind yourself this feeling is adrenaline and I  5 to 10 mins it will flush out of your bloodstream.

6. Exercise or do a physical task.

7. Change your environment. I go outside in the yard or go take a hot shower.

8. Turn on loud music and dance.

9. Get mad. I get mad at my PTSD and adrenal system for betraying me and making me feel weak. You can't be mad and afraid/panicked at the same time. I read this.

10. Call a friend/family member. Let them know to distract you with anything that gets you outside yourself.

For years I took valium and saw psyc with no help. I found these I in books. I had to try all 10 sometimes before it stopped. But now I don't have them maybe because subconsciously I know I can stop them?

interesting that you are also hypothyroid.  For various reasons I don't go to doctors, anymore. I've been doing slow heavy metal detox. But right after gluten-free, I lost hair, my outer eyebrow, body hair and after a decade or so my personality changed. Recently, I had no energy, plus noticed a thicker neck. I'd read iodine helped with detoxing so I was curious as to why I'd could be depleted. I had eliminated all supplemented sources without realizing. I'd switched to sea salt - not iodized, could not tolerate gluten-free cereal or bread, milk cause me asthma, and due to fear of more heavy metal, I avoided fish.  Vitamins often made me feel worse, too. But, then came iodine. It right away made me feel alive again- but then I tapered off since too much is harmful, and iodized salt and fish are back in my diet. I didn't have a typical goiter appearance of hypothyroidism as would be expected. But,a month or so after I took the iodine and changed diet, I can see thyroid reduced enough to see wrinkles in the skin that were not there. As an added benefit, my tinnitus went away and I use that now to judge when my iodine level is low. Doctors typically do not test for iodine unless there is an epidemic of hypothyroidism, and then it is a public health thing to add it to the local food, like milk.

Edited by Laurie61
grammar correction

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Celiac.com:
    Donate

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):
    Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):





    Celiac.com Sponsors (A17-M):




  • Recent Activity

    1. - xxnonamexx posted a topic in Post Diagnosis, Recovery & Treatment of Celiac Disease
      0

      Breakfast ideas besides oatmeal as Avenin can be gluten?

    2. - RMJ replied to Ginger38's topic in Coping with Celiac Disease
      5

      The Struggle Has Overtaken Me

    3. - Aretaeus Cappadocia replied to Ginger38's topic in Coping with Celiac Disease
      5

      The Struggle Has Overtaken Me

    4. - Aretaeus Cappadocia replied to Xravith's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
      1

      Gluten challenge - Need some guidance

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):
  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      134,180
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      10,442

    Nancy sirois
    Newest Member
    Nancy sirois
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):
  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.7k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):
  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • xxnonamexx
      I read gluten-free oatmeal Avenin can cause gluten like symptoms. I read Bobs Redmill gluten-free creamy buckwheat cereal and Millet are good alternatives with ultra low heavy metals, mold but it seems it takes longer to prepare the minute oats. What have you changed your breakfast to.
    • RMJ
      Ginger38, that sounds very difficult.  Each dietary restriction makes it harder to figure out what to eat. Before my celiac diagnosis I already watched out for my cholesterol level and migraine triggers, but those are much easier than diabetes restrictions. One “bad” meal isn’t that much of a problem for cholesterol levels, and my migraines only happened if I consistently ate the triggers. After many years I’ve figured out how to bake gluten free but I think many recipes have more starch which wouldn’t work for diabetes. If you go with the elephant eating analogy, I think the first portion to work on would be the diabetes, since the immediate consequences of not being careful (passing out from low blood sugar, or diabetic coma from high blood sugar) are so severe. The next portion would be celiac. The serious consequences aren’t as immediate, but if you have celiac disease, I think of eating gluten like a booster shot - revving up the immune system, but to attack yourself leading to long term damage. It sounds like you are experiencing this damage now. I did a google search on “gluten free food for diabetics” and a number of sites with advice came up.  If your insurance will cover it and you can find one, a registered dietician who knows about both diabetes and celiac disease might help you figure out what to eat safely. Hopefully my post will both scare and encourage you, as requested, with a big dose of compassion because this sounds very difficult and you are clearly suffering.
    • Aretaeus Cappadocia
      Reading the original post on this thread made me think of "How To Eat An Elephant". The key point is that a whole, big problem can seem insurmountable but if you break it into bite-sized pieces it is much easier to accomplish. Here is the google description. It's not bad: If you're facing a daunting goal, you can use these steps to "eat your elephant": Identify the Elephant: Clearly define the large project or goal that feels overwhelming. Break it Down: Divide the major task into smaller "bite-sized" pieces. If a piece still feels too big, break it down further. Prioritize: Decide which "bite" to take first based on necessity or impact. Focus on the Now: Instead of worrying about the whole animal, focus only on the single step you are taking right now. Maintain Consistency: Progress comes from taking the "next right step" every day until the task is complete. Celebrate Small Wins If I understood Ginger38's post correctly, you are facing the prospect of a gluten challenge, but you are already eating gluten on an intermittent basis. It also sounds like many of the symptoms you attribute to gluten consumption are in full expression. Step back and take a deep breath. Get a notebook and start a gluten-related diary. Don't try to make it perfect; just record what you can about food intake and what you experience as you go along. Talk to your Dr's office (nurse, Dr, whomever) about the challenge. The most rigorous challenge is for someone who has already gone truly gluten free but now needs a clear diagnosis. Someone who is already eating gluten should not need as much "challenge". Even at that, google describes an example challenge as 1-2 slice of bread or 1/2 cup of pasta a day. If that describes your existing diet you are already there. For the moment, try to focus on getting past the challenge and test. Once you have the results, start planning accordingly.
    • Aretaeus Cappadocia
      I don't know the answer to your question any better than a google search, but I am sure someone else will step up and answer. I am popping up to recommend that you keep a careful diary (in case you weren't already). Try to catalog what you are eating and experiencing. Bring a copy to your next visit (and if you have access to the Dr, also send a copy a couple days in advance). Don't assume that they will read it. They might, but they also might be under tremendous time pressure and not get to it. Two other suggestions: if your healthcare provider has a web portal, sign on and search for "gluten challenge". They may have a standard page and Dr assumed you would find it on your own. If that doesn't work, call the Dr's office and ask the office for their official advice. You probably wouldn't need to speak to the Dr directly. There should be some nurse or staff member who could answer that
    • Xravith
      After few months going gluten free, I decided to reintroduce gluten in my diet so I can do a proper diagnosis for Celiac disease. During the gluten free period I felt incredibly good. I stopped having hypoglycemia symptoms, I gained some muscle (Still, I am considerably underweight) and my anxiety totally disappeared. I felt totally like a new person. Now, I almost reached the second week of gluten challenge and all my symptoms are progressively coming back. The first days I was ok, just a bit of acid reflux I could control with medicines. However, after the first week I started to feel real stomach pain and tiredness, my face is growing acne and sometimes (specially when I walk) i feel painful migraines.  I am afraid If I am eating too much gluten or not enough, the "4 slices of bread" indication confuses me. I am actually eating 20 g of bread, 3 biscuits and 40 g of croissant each day. My doctor was not very specific when he gave me the medical order for the gluten challenge, so I invented my own daily gluten menu. Do you have any suggestions? 4 weeks will be enough to do the blood test with my current gluten intake?  Thank you
×
×
  • Create New...