PTSD and Celiacs

[MiriCatLady]

Hey guys! This is my first time posting and Im currently working on creating my masters thesis for psychology. I've recently learned that PTSD and c-PTSD can cause autoimmune issues such as Chrone, MS and go figure Celiacs. 

I personally suffered severe domestic violence months before developing my celiac symptoms. No one in my family has ever had celiacs or any gastro issues at all. So the topic became a lot more personal to me.

I just was curious how many of you think ptsd beforehand might be linked? 

[cristiana]

Hello MiriCatLady and welcome to the forum

Your masters sounds very interesting.

I hope others will be able to help you but I can say that the worst of my symptoms started at a time when I was extremely stressed about a project. Its success depended on on others "doing their bit" but no one was helping. My mother always said to me that it was the worry of that project that triggered things.

That said, I'd had other symptoms years before that, including including bad outbreaks of mouth ulcers and aura migraines, but the stress led to the final showdown - being: severe anxiety, tingling, twitching, anaemia and finally terrible diarrhea and stomach pain.  

[knitty kitty]

@MiriCatLady,

Yes, I think they are linked.  

Emotional stress can cause a higher demand for energy.  The brain uses as much energy thinking as doing physical labor.  Without enough thiamine (Vitamin B1) to provide that energy derived from our food, depression, anxiety and PTSD and a host of autoimmune diseases can occur.

I suggest you start with these articles.

Vitamin B1 Intake in Multiple Sclerosis Patients and its Impact on Depression Presence: A Pilot Study

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7551277/

And...

Neurological, Psychiatric, and Biochemical Aspects of Thiamine Deficiency in Children and Adults

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6459027/

And...

Adjuvant thiamine improved standard treatment in patients with major depressive disorder: results from a randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled clinical trial

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26984349/

And... This site features articles by Dr. Derrick Lonsdale, a leader in the research on thiamine...

https://www.hormonesmatter.com/?s=MS+thiamine

 

More of my research is on this post, as well as my personal experience....

I would be glad to help with further investigation.

Kitty

[MiriCatLady]

4 minutes ago, knitty kitty said:

@MiriCatLady,

Yes, I think they are linked.  

Emotional stress can cause a higher demand for energy.  The brain uses as much energy thinking as doing physical labor.  Without enough thiamine (Vitamin B1) to provide that energy derived from our food, depression, anxiety and PTSD and a host of autoimmune diseases can occur.

I suggest you start with these articles.

Vitamin B1 Intake in Multiple Sclerosis Patients and its Impact on Depression Presence: A Pilot Study

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7551277/

And...

Neurological, Psychiatric, and Biochemical Aspects of Thiamine Deficiency in Children and Adults

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6459027/

And...

Adjuvant thiamine improved standard treatment in patients with major depressive disorder: results from a randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled clinical trial

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26984349/

And... This site features articles by Dr. Derrick Lonsdale, a leader in the research on thiamine...

https://www.hormonesmatter.com/?s=MS+thiamine

 

More of my research is on this post, as well as my personal experience....

I would be glad to help with further investigation.

Kitty

Oh thank you so much!!!! 😁 I've found so many different links to things like chrones, fibromyalgia, celiacs its been so fascinating to me and just blows my mind!!

[knitty kitty]

12 minutes ago, MiriCatLady said:

Oh thank you so much!!!! 😁 I've found so many different links to things like chrones, fibromyalgia, celiacs its been so fascinating to me and just blows my mind!!

I found some research that explains that the thiamine transporter gene is turned off during thiamine deficiency and that genes for autoimmune diseases on the same chromosome begin to turn on.  Autoimmune diseases such as Celiac, MS, Crohn's, Diabetes (Type I and II)....

It's in the Thiamine, Thiamine, Thiamine post....

What I found most disturbing in my journey towards proper diagnosis was that NONE of the psychiatrists, therapists, etc. that I went to for help with depression, anxiety, PTSD, etc. did any basic tests for vitamin and mineral deficiencies.  Many of the eight B vitamins when deficient present with anxiety and/or depression.  Many people with Celiac express their first symptoms are anxiety or depression.  Many more serious mental health disorders are improved with B vitamin supplementation or a diet free of gluten and dairy (even though they are not Celiac).  

Vitamin and mineral deficiencies are very common in Celiac because the damage done to the first part of the small intestine is where most of those vitamins are usually absorbed.  

 

 

[cristiana]

I agree Knitty Kitty - what is it that puts the medical profession off testing for these deficiencies?  When my pre-diagnosis anxiety was at its height - and it was crippling - I started to notice a marked difference in how I felt when I drank a vitamin B complex drink, sometimes within hours of drinking it.  Do you think that B vitamins can work that fast?  

[Perri]

18 hours ago, MiriCatLady said:

Hey guys! This is my first time posting and Im currently working on creating my masters thesis for psychology. I've recently learned that PTSD and c-PTSD can cause autoimmune issues such as Chrone, MS and go figure Celiacs. 

I personally suffered severe domestic violence months before developing my celiac symptoms. No one in my family has ever had celiacs or any gastro issues at all. So the topic became a lot more personal to me.

I just was curious how many of you think ptsd beforehand might be linked? 

I am in agreement with you at the link of PTSD & C-PTSD being the catalyst for autoimmune diseases such as coeliac disease, thyroid disease, Ms, lupus & others being a C-PTSD sufferer of 50 years myself & recently being diagnosed with Coeliac disease, Thyroid disease &  fibromyalgia. Being in a constant state of high anxiety with high levels of cortisol must be detrimental to your mental & physical health & well being. It is a pity that some Doctors do not realise.

[trents]

"The catalyst" or "a catalyst"?

[knitty kitty]

9 hours ago, cristiana said:

I agree Knitty Kitty - what is it that puts the medical profession off testing for these deficiencies?  When my pre-diagnosis anxiety was at its height - and it was crippling - I started to notice a marked difference in how I felt when I drank a vitamin B complex drink, sometimes within hours of drinking it.  Do you think that B vitamins can work that fast?  

I begged my doctor to test for Vitamin D deficiency.  He only agreed after ascertaining that my insurance would cover the cost.  My Vitamin D level turned out to be so low it surprised my doctor.   I remember him saying "Dead people had higher Vitamin D!"  He promptly prescribed synthetic Vitamin D2 which didn't work as well as natural D3.  When I begged him to test for other vitamin deficiencies, he refused saying that he couldn't make any money prescribing vitamins and stormed out of the exam room.  Thus began my own research and supplementation of vitamins and minerals.  

 

My anxiety was also crippling.  My depression was so bad I cried all day and night.  I was so nonfunctional I lost my job, my career.  My friends and even my relatives wrote me off as crazy.  I was shunned.  There is great stigma attached to mental illness where I live. 

Yes, B vitamin supplementation will work that fast!  Thiamine supplementation had me feeling better within minutes! 

It seems so simple, to give the body the essential building blocks it needs to heal itself and function properly.  For  essential vitamins and minerals to be dismissed in favor of money making pharmaceuticals is horrendously shameful.

 

Edited September 22, 2021 by knitty kitty
Typo

[cristiana]

7 minutes ago, knitty kitty said:

Yes, B vitamin supplementation will work that fast!  Thiamine supplementation had me feeling better within minutes! 

So interesting... actually, I did say within hours but actually there were a few instances when I remember it taking much less time than that.   So sad that so many people are unaware of this connection.  To think that a vitamin drink can make such a difference. 

[Scott Adams]

Welcome to the forum, and you've chosen a very interesting topic for your thesis!

This article is a bit old, but may be helpful:

 

[MiriCatLady]

10 hours ago, knitty kitty said:

I begged my doctor to test for Vitamin D deficiency.  He only agreed after ascertaining that my insurance would cover the cost.  My Vitamin D level turned out to be so low it surprised my doctor.   I remember him saying "Dead people had higher Vitamin D!"  He promptly prescribed synthetic Vitamin D2 which didn't work as well as natural D3.  When I begged him to test for other vitamin deficiencies, he refused saying that he couldn't make any money prescribing vitamins and stormed out of the exam room.  Thus began my own research and supplementation of vitamins and minerals.  

 

My anxiety was also crippling.  My depression was so bad I cried all day and night.  I was so nonfunctional I lost my job, my career.  My friends and even my relatives wrote me off as crazy.  I was shunned.  There is great stigma attached to mental illness where I live. 

Yes, B vitamin supplementation will work that fast!  Thiamine supplementation had me feeling better within minutes! 

It seems so simple, to give the body the essential building blocks it needs to heal itself and function properly.  For  essential vitamins and minerals to be dismissed in favor of money making pharmaceuticals is horrendously shameful.

 

Oh wow I think i got really lucky with my last two doctors. Both of them on my first appointment tested me for Vitamin D deficiency. They also found my B12 low the second time running a panel. These are pretty common in those with pain disorders like myself with Fibro or Ehlers Danlos.

[knitty kitty]

1 hour ago, MiriCatLady said:

Oh wow I think i got really lucky with my last two doctors. Both of them on my first appointment tested me for Vitamin D deficiency. They also found my B12 low the second time running a panel. These are pretty common in those with pain disorders like myself with Fibro or Ehlers Danlos.

Keep in mind that both Vitamin D and B12 can be stored in the liver for long periods of time.  By the time these two vitamins show as deficient, other deficiencies may exist as well.  It's rare to have a deficiency in just one or two vitamins.  

The eight B vitamins all work together.  They are water soluble.  B12 is the only one that can be stored for a long period of time in the liver.  B12 (cobalamine) needs riboflavin, pyridoxine, folate and thiamine to work properly.  Deficiencies in the other B vitamins are not routinely tested for, perhaps because they are utilized inside the body's tissues and blood levels don't accurately reflect a deficiency.  

Celiac Disease results in damage to the part of the small intestine where most of the B vitamins are normally absorbed.  While wheat (barley and rye) containing products are required by law to be enriched to replace the vitamins removed during processing, the gluten free facsimile foods are not required to be enriched with vitamins.  

Another article for your reading list....

High-dose thiamine improves the symptoms of fibromyalgia

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3669831/

Hope this helps!