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Terrible Neurological Symptoms


HectorConvector

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knitty kitty Grand Master
(edited)

@HectorConvector,

Please try adding Niacin to your supplements.  Low Niacin has a connection with suicidal ideation.  Been here, done that.  Niacin made me feel better mentally and physically.  Omega Three fats will help, too.

For pain, Thiamine, B12 and, Pyridoxine B6 have been shown to have analgesic effects when taken together.  I know this works because I've cracked some vertebrae and this combination relieves the pain.  I was prescribed opioids, but couldn't function or poop, so... I can highly recommend these vitamins for pain relief.  

I adopted a paleo diet, the Autoimmune Protocol Diet which has been shown to improve intestinal health.  Improving intestinal health improves mental health because of the gut brain-axis.  Important neurotransmitter Serotonin is made in the digestive system.  

Please Read...

Association between dietary niacin intake and suicidal ideation: mediating role of C-reactive protein

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40859220/

Mechanisms of action of vitamin B1 (thiamine), B6 (pyridoxine), and B12 (cobalamin) in pain: a narrative review

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35156556/

Edited by knitty kitty
Typo correction

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trents Grand Master

Hector, have you had a follow-up biopsy to check the progress of small bowel villous lining recovery after going gluten free?

knitty kitty Grand Master

@HectorConvector,

Here are some articles about "dry Beriberi" and neuropathy.  I hope you've been able to acquire thiamine hydrochloride or Benfotiamine.  I'm concerned.  

Dry Beriberi Due to Thiamine Deficiency Associated with Peripheral Neuropathy and Wernicke's Encephalopathy Mimicking Guillain-Barré syndrome: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30862772/

Dry Beriberi Manifesting as Acute Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy in a Patient With Decompensated Alcohol-Induced Cirrhosis

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7707918/

A Rare Case of Thiamine Deficiency Leading to Dry Beriberi, Peripheral Neuropathy, and Torsades De Pointes

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10723625/

HectorConvector Enthusiast

So I've been eatin no carbs in the evening and only a bit for my lunch so a big reduction. Well, made no difference, in fact it's actually got even worse. So everything I do makes it get worse. I said this to the doctor. He said he definitely thinks it's a neuroplastic pain condition where I've sensitized my nerves to max volume and now the pain has outgrown the medication max dose even though there is nothing physically wrong with my body. A bit earlier I had violent shocking evil burning nerve pain that made me nearly pass out and want to die again, also noticed this seems to be associated with sudden water retention. I've made hardly any pee in nearly 12 hours and despite drinking loads. Mouth is super dry.

On 3/3/2026 at 7:37 PM, knitty kitty said:

@HectorConvector,

Here are some articles about "dry Beriberi" and neuropathy.  I hope you've been able to acquire thiamine hydrochloride or Benfotiamine.  I'm concerned.  

Dry Beriberi Due to Thiamine Deficiency Associated with Peripheral Neuropathy and Wernicke's Encephalopathy Mimicking Guillain-Barré syndrome: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30862772/

Dry Beriberi Manifesting as Acute Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy in a Patient With Decompensated Alcohol-Induced Cirrhosis

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7707918/

A Rare Case of Thiamine Deficiency Leading to Dry Beriberi, Peripheral Neuropathy, and Torsades De Pointes

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10723625/

I am getting the "correct" sort of this when I've finished the current ones, so not long now. Can only get it on the internet here. Then I can say how it might change anything.

HectorConvector Enthusiast

This may seem non-relevant but I thought I'd add it here anyway to see what anyone thinks. Many might dismiss it but that's OK.

I went through the entire history of this condition from its onset in 2010 or so, including the things that flare it up, and the timeline of what made it worse, the medications that worked and didn't, in ChatGPT (rolleyes I know lol)  and supplied it with all the clinical evidence I've had from tests etc.... After hours of "discussing" with it and finding research it "concluded" it's a chronic neuroplastic sensitization syndrome but of course said I should only get a proper diagnosis from a  doctor. When I saw the doctor on 9th February because this got worse he looked through all my medical history and the course of the "condition". I didn't tell him I'd used ChatGPT or mention what I thought it is because I still don't really know until I have a formal diagnosis. He came with the same conclusion as ChatGPT. Just thought it was an interesting co-incidence perhaps.

As for myself, I'm not forming any conclusions til I can really know exactly what's happening and why and what stops it. Only then can I truly know.

knitty kitty Grand Master

@HectorConvector

Have you tried taking 500 mg of the Thiamine Mononitrate that you have left?  

Thiamine Mononitrate may not be as helpful as other forms of thiamine, but since that's what you have on hand.   

Thiamine is safe and nontoxic even at high doses needed to correct thiamine deficiency.   No harm in trying it.

Neuroplastic changes in the brain may be caused by thiamine deficiency.   These changes can be seen in Wernicke's encephalopathy and Korsakoff's syndrome, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

I googled "Neuroplastic Sensitization syndrome and thiamine pubmed" and see for yourself what it says.  

Try taking 500 mg Thiamine Mononitrate and look for health changes.

HectorConvector Enthusiast
10 hours ago, knitty kitty said:

@HectorConvector

Have you tried taking 500 mg of the Thiamine Mononitrate that you have left?  

Thiamine Mononitrate may not be as helpful as other forms of thiamine, but since that's what you have on hand.   

Thiamine is safe and nontoxic even at high doses needed to correct thiamine deficiency.   No harm in trying it.

Neuroplastic changes in the brain may be caused by thiamine deficiency.   These changes can be seen in Wernicke's encephalopathy and Korsakoff's syndrome, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

I googled "Neuroplastic Sensitization syndrome and thiamine pubmed" and see for yourself what it says.  

Try taking 500 mg Thiamine Mononitrate and look for health changes.

Yeah I can increase the amount to 500mg/day and see what happens. I know I haven't been consistent enough in supplementing vitamins. 


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Scott Adams Grand Master
On 3/6/2026 at 5:16 PM, HectorConvector said:

So I've been eatin no carbs in the evening and only a bit for my lunch so a big reduction. Well, made no difference, in fact it's actually got even worse. So everything I do makes it get worse. I said this to the doctor. He said he definitely thinks it's a neuroplastic pain condition where I've sensitized my nerves to max volume and now the pain has outgrown the medication max dose even though there is nothing physically wrong with my body. A bit earlier I had violent shocking evil burning nerve pain that made me nearly pass out and want to die again, also noticed this seems to be associated with sudden water retention. I've made hardly any pee in nearly 12 hours and despite drinking loads. Mouth is super dry.

I am getting the "correct" sort of this when I've finished the current ones, so not long now. Can only get it on the internet here. Then I can say how it might change anything.

Severe nerve pain and symptoms like barely urinating for many hours, dry mouth, and sudden swelling are definitely things a doctor should know about as soon as possible, especially if they’re new or getting worse. Neuroplastic pain can be very real and intense even when tests don’t show clear structural problems, but it’s still important that your doctors keep evaluating you and monitoring these symptoms. It’s good that you’re staying open-minded and waiting for proper medical guidance—hopefully the upcoming treatment changes will give you some clearer answers and some relief.

Tobo Newbie
On 11/21/2021 at 1:26 AM, HectorConvector said:

Hello.

34 year old man. In 2010, I was tested for celiac disease due to having a sister who had it. I never suspected I'd have it as I had more or less no symptoms then. The antibodies were present in the blood test and the gastroscopy revealed the typical damage. 

I immediately went on a gluten free diet, which I've maintained in the 11 years since.

Back then, I had mild shooting and tingling in my feet and sometimes hands. Over most of the next 8 years or so this was manageable and at a low level. It always seemed to get worse after eating, however. The more I eat (of anything, all gluten free), the worse it would get. 

I am also chronically underweight, and so when I try to gain weight, my nerve symptoms get worse.

However, in the last 2 years my neurological symptoms have totally gone out of control, for no obvious reason. I have multiple violent attacks of nerve pain in my feet mostly, every day. It gets violent after meals of any kind, and terribly violent in the evenings. I get stabbing, crushing, burning pains in both feet and sometimes hands. I also started developing painful stabbing headaches behind my eye area and in the frontal part of head. All this gets worse with food intake. 

I've been seeing doctors about this and been on multiple medications to control the pain. Carbamazepine, Gabapentin and Pregabalin, the anti convulsants, had been useless. Duloxetine has been the best so far, and I'm going back on it next week. 

I had a skin biopsy to look at small fibres but the result was normal. There is no diabetes, as all that was tested and I test myself with a blood sugar meter several times a year, everything is normo-glycaemic. 

I don't know why this has got so out of control in the last two years despite being gluten free. My immune system is reacting to everything I eat giving me terrible nerve pains that are getting worse by the very month. I don't know where this will end. Things that trigger the pain include food obviously, heat (I have to sleep with my feet outside of the bed or they burn like hell), dehydration, concentration and excitement of any kind. It's hard to work on anything as the pain will get intense. 

Somehow I get no digestive symptoms at all but I get awful nerve pain every day. Is the the celiac disease do you think, or something else. If it is, why is it so bad after 11+ years on a gluten-free diet? Everything I read about suggests it would get better. Yet it was barely there at diagnosis and now it's extremely violent and far worse since going gluten-free.

Does anyone else have this problem?

I'm 63 and was diagnosed in 2010. Prior to diagnosis I was suspected of having to strokes and medicated according each time. A neurologist called me in to discuss my scan. From that discussion I had a camera down and celiac disease was confirmed. I suffered continued pain and numbness down my left side and was offered amitriptyline, and antidepressants that was also diagnosed for nerve pain. I said no as I didn't want the stigma of being on antidepressants. Seven years later I begged my GP to prescribe them and my life was changed almost immediately. If I'm glutened accidentally whilst eating out then my nerves pain/symptoms get worse but it's nothing compared to taking the medication and feeling a little drowsy every now and then. 

The best of luck for the future.

knitty kitty Grand Master

@Tobo,

Have you been checked for nutritional deficiencies?  Do you currently take a multivitamin or other vitamins or supplements? 

Amitriptyline is one of the medications I was  prescribed.  Amitriptyline is one of the drugs that can cause thiamine insufficiency by blocking thiamine uptake and preventing thiamine from entering cells. 

Fatigue, drowsiness, are symptoms of thiamine insufficiency.  Thiamine is Vitamin B1, one of the essential vitamins our bodies need every day.  

Clinical trial: B vitamins improve health in patients with coeliac disease living on a gluten-free diet

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19154566/

HectorConvector Enthusiast
On 3/8/2026 at 10:50 PM, Scott Adams said:

Severe nerve pain and symptoms like barely urinating for many hours, dry mouth, and sudden swelling are definitely things a doctor should know about as soon as possible, especially if they’re new or getting worse. Neuroplastic pain can be very real and intense even when tests don’t show clear structural problems, but it’s still important that your doctors keep evaluating you and monitoring these symptoms. It’s good that you’re staying open-minded and waiting for proper medical guidance—hopefully the upcoming treatment changes will give you some clearer answers and some relief.

I think it's just part of the natural water retention/release cycle that happens, just in my case the retention part hurts my hyper-sensitive nerves. So its just another thing to add to the huge list of "irritants" rather than the cause. I tend to underhydrate a bit by habit. I don't have any health conditions according to any testing other than celiac disease, at least nothing serious (I have Gilbert syndrome but it's harmless apparently). 

With central sensitization, what should be normal changes in vascular contraction etc... (so including with exercise, and temp changes, changes in blood viscosity etc...) triggers pain in me, generated in the brain, which it doesn't in "normal" people.

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    • HectorConvector
      I think it's just part of the natural water retention/release cycle that happens, just in my case the retention part hurts my hyper-sensitive nerves. So its just another thing to add to the huge list of "irritants" rather than the cause. I tend to underhydrate a bit by habit. I don't have any health conditions according to any testing other than celiac disease, at least nothing serious (I have Gilbert syndrome but it's harmless apparently).  With central sensitization, what should be normal changes in vascular contraction etc... (so including with exercise, and temp changes, changes in blood viscosity etc...) triggers pain in me, generated in the brain, which it doesn't in "normal" people.
    • knitty kitty
      Can you tell us about your experiments?  Are you consuming dairy, too?  
    • knitty kitty
      Human Leukocyte Antigens are coded for in our DNA.  They act like street signs on cells so the body knows that they are "Self".   Tissue typing in organ transplantation looks for donors with "Self" street signs similar to the recipient's in order to prevent rejection of the transplanted organ.   The HLA DQ genes code for immune cells.  Some immune cells are encoded to recognize certain protein strings when that protein string attaches to the receptor on its cell membrane.  Originally, these protein strings were found in the cell walls of harmful viruses and bacteria.   I like to think of these immune cells as patrolling police with orders to "be on the lookout for armed and dangerous suspects matching your cell membrane receptor description".   However, segments of these dangerous protein strings are also found in the carbohydrate storage protein Gluten.  During digestion, Gluten segments bind with Tissue Transglutaminase, an enzyme that builds and repairs structural components of our "Self" cell membranes in our bodies.   This Gluten-Transglutenaminase globule fits into the receptors on the patrolling police immune cells and sets off an alarm.  Mother immune cells begin producing antibodies (anti-tissue Transglutaminase antibodies ie, tTg antibodies) against the Transglutaminase-Gluten globule.   Unfortunately, we have tissue Transglutaminase in the structure of all our cell membranes.  The antibodies attack healthy cells in our digestive tract, damaging them, causing them to signal to nearby cells "I'm sick, get away from me so you don't catch it!".  Spaces appear between cells.  The tight junction between cells is lost.  Gastrointestinal permeability is compromised.  This allows for other Transglutaminase-gluten globules to leave the intestinal tract, enter the blood stream, and travel to other organs and cause problems there.  All the while, more police immune cells are alerted along the way with more mother cells producing more antibodies.  Sort of ends up looking like a "Smokey and the Bandit" movie in my mind, but with more than one "Bandit" driving around.   So, people with a genetic predisposition (they have HLA DQ genes known to code for Celiac Disease) can go for years without developing Celiac Disease.  There needs to be a trigger that turns the genes on.  Triggers can be physical stressors like having an infection (like the flu or the common cold), or an injury, or an emotional stressor (like losing a loved one or abuse).   There's some scientific proof that Thiamine insufficiency triggers autoimmune diseases.  During times of illness and emotional stress, the body requires additional Thiamine to provide the energy for the increased metabolic demand that comes with physical and emotional trauma or stresses.  Athletes have higher metabolic demands.   People who work outside in sunshine have higher metabolic demands, too.  This is because light (sunlight or indoor lighting) breaks thiamine down, denatures it, so that it cannot be used.  People who drink alcohol need more thiamine because alcohol will cleave thiamine in half making it useless.  People who eat a diet high in carbohydrates have a higher metabolic demand for thiamine and the other B vitamins needed to turn food into energy.   Mitochondria are involved in producing energy, ATP, from Thiamine Vitamin B 1.  When there is a thiamine deficiency inside a cell, the mitochondria can no longer make energy ATP.  This is relayed to the DNA.  On the DNA, a switch is thrown to signal there's no thiamine, and another switch is turned on.  This is the switch that turns on the DQ autoimmune genes coded for in that DNA.  Whatever autoimmune genes are on your DNA start turning on.  Thiamine Vitamin B 1 is needed to turn food into energy for the body along with the seven other B vitamins and minerals. Thiamine and magnesium make life sustaining enzymes.  Thiamine does stuff by itself, too, like regulate the immune response, and prevent mast cells from degranulating histamine. Thiamine influences which bacteria grow in our microbiome.  Thiamine deficiency allows Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO).  Immune responses and inflammatory cytokines are higher in thiamine deficiency.   Thiamine cannot be stored long (18 days).  Thiamine insufficiency or deficiency can occur within three days if stores are depleted due to high metabolic demand and depleted stored thiamine.    The majority of people with Diabetes have been shown to be deficient in Thiamine.  People with obesity who plan gastric bypass surgery have been found to have insufficient thiamine.  People Hashimoto's (autoimmune thyroid problems) have been found to improve with thiamine supplementation.  People with autoimmune arthritis have been shown to improve with thiamine supplementation.  People with MS have been shown to improve with thiamine supplementation.    Blood tests are not reliable measures of thiamine level.  The brain controls the amount of thiamine in the blood stream.  The brain will order tissues to release their stored thiamine into the blood stream in order to keep a constant supply going to the brain, heart, and lungs.  So, there can be organs with depleted thiamine stores, while blood levels stay constant.  This results in a localized deficiency within the organ or tissue.   The best way to tell if there's a deficiency is to take thiamine hydrochloride for several weeks and look for health improvements.  Higher amounts of thiamine are needed to correct thiamine insufficiency or deficiency.  This helps replenish thiamine stores inside cells and tissues as well as meet increased metabolic demands.   Processed foods containing wheat are required to have vitamins added to them to replace the ones lost with the removal of the germ and bran.  Food manufacturers use Thiamine Mononitrate, a cheap, shelf-stable form of thiamine that is not easily absorbed nor utilized by the body.   A diet high in ultra processed foods, high in sugar and simple carbohydrates requires additional thiamine to turn the carbs into energy for the body.  Excess carbohydrates and low thiamine encourages SIBO.  For every 1000 kcal of carbohydrates the body needs an additional 500 mg of Thiamine.  The RDA is based on the minimum amount required to prevent disease.  This was set in the 1940's, when people ate very differently.   Early symptoms of thiamine insufficiency include depression, anxiety, impulsivity, and changes in mood and cognitive function, digestive problems, nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, fatigue, muscle cramps, high blood pressure, tachycardia, blurry vision, insomnia or other sleep disturbances.  All so easily overlooked or attributed to daily stresses.    
    • Lotte18
      Got it.  Thanks Aretaeus.  
    • xxnonamexx
      As I have been mapping what I eat etc to eliminate what gluten-free foods give gas/bloating and I have eliminated protein bars with sugar. I have switched to RX bars that don't have any added alcohol sugars and what a difference it has made. Its hard to find good protein bar w/o added sugars but this has been the best I have found that doesn't cost so much.
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