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Emotional Rollercoaster

jojoe72

By jojoe72
in Coping with Celiac Disease

Recommended Posts

jojoe72 Rookie
jojoe72
Posted

Quick question for you veterans. I'm still very new to this disease (only about 3 months into it) and was wondering about the mental aspect of this disease. I've been getting these days where my emotions are totally out of whak. One hour I can feel great then the next I feel painfully depressesd and then back to normal again. It scares the hell out of me. I don't think it's clinical depression or anxiety because it doesn't last all day. Also, it's not like this all the time and usually I can trace it back to a mistake on the diet. Is this normal? I've personally never been a believer in antidepressants and don't want to take that route. I've been taking magnesium (thanks thomas3000) and that seems to help. If anyone has experience with this I'd really appreciate hearing from you. Will it ever go away?

Joe

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carriecraig Enthusiast
carriecraig
Posted

Yes, this also happens to me. I was really depressed before I was dx'd, and lashing out on my poor husband. It also happens when I've had a slip-up.

jerseyangel Proficient
jerseyangel
Posted

I had anxiety and depression before I was DX. I had pretty much lost intrest in most things, especially those that included going out or being around people outside my immediate family. Both began to lift slowly after going gluten-free. I saw definate improvement during the 4th. month. Now, if I get glutened by accident, I get a bit short tempered and anxious. The difference is now I know that it will only last a few days or so.

jojoe72 Rookie
jojoe72
Posted
  • Author

Thanks for your insight. I'm trying to do everything I can to stay gluten-free but I keep making stupid mistakes. Like during Christmas, it's a family tradition to eat these wafers with honey before dinner (an Italian thing I can't remember the name for) and I never associated it with gluten. 2 days later I'm feeling really strange but thankfully it went away after a couple of days. I just don't know how you guys do it.

Thanks again,

Joe

Guest katzmeow21
Guest katzmeow21
Posted
Thanks for your insight. I'm trying to do everything I can to stay gluten-free but I keep making stupid mistakes. Like during Christmas, it's a family tradition to eat these wafers with honey before dinner (an Italian thing I can't remember the name for) and I never associated it with gluten. 2 days later I'm feeling really strange but thankfully it went away after a couple of days. I just don't know how you guys do it.

Thanks again,

Joe

Just want to let you know that I have the same type of "an hour or so where you feel like someone dropped you into a horribly depressed state and then suddenly there it goes. Comes and goes in waves. I would even wake up with this at night a lot. It is a horrible feeling, I know.. But I have been gluten free since august (6 month) and have seen a huge improvement .. Have also had a few glutened times where I experienced it again but mildly so.

It will get better

regards mj

key Contributor
key
Posted

Yes, this sort of happens to me. Not as much hourly, but more for a day or two and then gone. It was more constant when eating gluten. Now it is when I get gluten. AT least now I know why and can trace it to accidentally getting gluten. It is challenging, but as time goes on it does get easier and you won't make as many mistakes. Sometimes it takes learning the hard way, by getting gluttened and being sick.

Hang in there and try as much as possible to check all labels and call if unsure. Even sticking to foods that say gluten-free on them can help. Wal-mart brands are great now.

Monica

jknnej Collaborator
jknnej
Posted

Hi Joe,

I've been gluten free for one year now and I never had depression before. I had mild anxiety, but only because I'd suffered from stomach aches my entire life.

Since going gluten-free, I went from symptoms like you described where you just get down for a bit, to full blown depression. Again, I've never had depression before in my life.

I've posted about this many times: I firmly believe something changed in my body chemistry after going gluten-free and it caused a chemical imbalance. Otherwise, why would I get depression all of a sudden? I went from mild to wouldn't leave the house, having morbid thoughts.

I also never believed in anti-depressants. My doctor recommended them twice before I agreed to even take the prescription home; it was about a month before I filled it. At that point my husband said I needed to do something because I was worrying him. I only agreed to a low dose as well.

They take about 6 weeks to get going. I started them in July. It is now January and I am doing MUCH better. No more depression and very, very little anxiety. I feel like a new person. I am very thankful that I let myself take the drugs. You don't know what it took to get me to do that; I was very against them. But, if it wasn't for them, who knows where I would be now? Since I am on the lowest dose I will probably have little difficulty stopping them but my doctor recommended staying on it for a year. So, I am.

I don't know what it's all about, but once gluten-free it hit me very hard.

I forgot to add: I tried every natural anti-depressant known to man! Yoga, meditation, exercise, 5-HTP, Gaba, you name it. None of it worked, unfortuantely.

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jknnej Collaborator
jknnej
Posted

I bumped my thread on Effexor...it is under "Related Disorders....Anxiety Meds." It was interesting to read after 6 months! Boy was I suffering then. I didn't realize how much until I read my last post that read.."I haven't had a bad day in 4 days...a record lately." Wow.....

About the Xanax..my dr. had given me some for anxiety attacks and I took 1/4 of a pill about 3 times. It wasn't the xanax that you take daily. My dr. would not prescribe that as he said it is highly addicting. It didn't help me; I would take 1/4 of a pill and feel relaxed but it all came rushing back about an hour later! That's when I realized I needed an actual anti-depressant. It took me a long time to work up the nerve to take the Xanax as well.

When I started taking Effexor my dr. warned that I would feel crappy for a few days. He was right. It was weird and I felt pretty out of it. It all cleared up, though, and now the side effects have gone and I am like my old self once again:) Thankfully, says my husband:)

jerseyangel Proficient
jerseyangel
Posted

I'm glad it all worked out for you. It helps so much to hear of a real person's experience. I still have an anxiety issue--nothing like before gluten-free. Hopefully, I won't get to the point of having to take something, but you have set my mind at ease in the event that it ever happens.

Lisa Mentor
Lisa
Posted

Life sometimes gives you roller coaster rides, in addition to gluten issues.

My husband retired about five years ago. He was gone 3-5 days of the week and I was here raising two girls for 20 years. He was used to traveling 575 miles per hour, and I feel today that he travels at that speed since retired :o

My daughter is getting married in six months. We run three households for those who cannot.....uh, there is point here?

Oh yeah, life has it's own stress and celiac explodes them all. My celiac went in to high gear through a period of high stress so my new doctor thought that a small dose of anit-depres. would help the healing process/or not irritate it. Reluctantly, I started with Lexipro. I have had a great response to it.

This has worked out to be helpful to me and it has helped to "center" my life and choose my priorities, and deal with them in a controlled manner.

I hope that this will be helpful.

Lisa B

sneako Rookie
sneako
Posted

Eh, I was diagnosed with chronic depression when I was 9 (13 years ago), ADD when I was 10, Bipolar Schizophrenia when I was 16, doc laughed that off when I was 18. Tried Paxil, Zyprexa, Seroquel when I was 18. Been on Prozac since 9, now 22. Ridalin from 10 till 15, Dexedrine from 15 to 19. Now on Prozac and Seroquel (I am unfortunently dependent on the Seroquel now, and I only started about a month ago on it). I feel that none of the drugs ever did anything for me (cept for the Seroquel...mmm what a high!@ then..you wake up..) The way my mom put it is "they (doctors) spent the last 13 years treating my symptoms and never the cause" relating to Celiac. Diagnosed with Sleep Apnea in July of 2005, Eczema, Latex allergy, Dermatographia in October 2005, Celiac in late November 2005. All in all 2005 sucked horribly for me :D .

detox Rookie
detox
Posted
Just want to let you know that I have the same type of "an hour or so where you feel like someone dropped you into a horribly depressed state and then suddenly there it goes. Comes and goes in waves. I would even wake up with this at night a lot. It is a horrible feeling, I know.. But I have been gluten free since august (6 month) and have seen a huge improvement .. Have also had a few glutened times where I experienced it again but mildly so.

It will get better

regards mj

When i start to feel myself going down hill i take a B-vitimin complex and a ginko within an hour I feel fantastic, I truly have not felt this well in at least a year and a half untill i did some reading that celiac for some affects the absorbtion of B vitimins. So i tried it and wow. It brings me out of the gluten depths and my brain fog which i havent really had to deal with in at least 3 months. Perhaps its somthing to try for those of you who feel the need.

Scott

cathangell Newbie
cathangell
Posted

My daughter has been on a gluten free diet since June. She is bipolar ( as well as mother, brother, sister, and both my grandchildren ). What I find very interesting is that since going on a gluten free diet she has not had a manic episode. She still has alot of depression and anxiety but I see her moods stabilizing. I have to wonder if all of the family mood swings are aggravated by celiac disease?

She had a negative blood test but immediate improvement in GI symptoms on the diet. She has had to eat alot of organic foods as well as going gluten-free. She smokes and has had to go to American Spirit ciagrettes. Over the years we have tried numerous different medications for bipolar disorder ; she could not tolerate most of them. She has ended up on thorazine and cymbalta. All other meds make her dizzy and nauseous.

Toothpaste used to cause burning and pain in her mouth plus little blisters until we changed to organic.

My daughter and seven year old grandson live with me and I think the whole household will have to go gluten free. Many years ago I had a terrible spastic colon, which for some reason hasnt really bothered me in the last 15 years or so but I suspect I could have celiac's as well as my grandchildren.

This has been a tough road but now I feel like my family is making progress. Perhaps my experience so far can help someone els. Cathangell

Packard Newbie
Packard
Posted

My symptoms are not as bad as some of yours' are but bad enough.

I directed most of my frustration and anger at my gastroenterologist(s). Basically they deserved it as I thought then (and now) that they basically failed me. That they should have made a diagnosis much earlier and they did not consider celiac in their thoughts. They like surgery. They make money on surgery. They make money on tests. They don't make money on celiacs.

That remains our biggest problem. We do not represent a profit center to the doctors and we will always be an "also ran" in their thoughts.

Do I still sound angry?

I am able to lead a reasonably normal life. No alcohol because of the methotrexate and the Embrel I take for my psoriatic arthritis (which might account for my having fewer celiac problems lately).

I'm still upset with the gastroenterologists. This was their field; this was their job to find; and I had to find it on my own.

laurelfla Enthusiast
laurelfla
Posted

i had giant mood swings coming off of gluten (i'd get really unreasonably angry or sad and tearful for a few hours, out of nowhere). it slowly got better until a couple of months into the diet when i started to feel more stable. now i'm back to being me. :) i'd never had any problems with depression or anything before, but all last semester i was kind of a hermit and felt down. and i couldn't necessarily trace the episodes to gluten ingestion. but now it's a brand new day. i hope you get the rollercoaster evened out soon!

Judyin Philly Enthusiast
Judyin Philly
Posted
Diagnosed with Sleep Apnea in July of 2005, Eczema, Latex allergy, Dermatographia in October 2005, Celiac in late November 2005.

HI There

I did a post yesterday on Sleep apnea and the new nasel pillow mask. It never made it to the main page of posts --don't know why but my question is --what kind of CPAP mask do you use and do you like it if it's like mine"

Judy in Philly

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