Extreme fatigue and brain fog

[Elbee]

Hi all,

I just tested positive for Celiac Disease (bloodwork) and am waiting to see a GI for endoscopy/biopsies.  I feel terrible and have for quite some time.  I know I have to keep eating my regular gluten diet until the biopsy.  Is there anything I can do to help alleviate symptoms until I can go gluten free?  I am taking vitamins and other supplements recommended by my doctor, but the fatigue is crushing and the brain fog is interfering with my work.  I can barely string a sentence together.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Elbee

[trents]

Welcome to the forum, Elbee!

Sorry, but I don't know of anything that will alleviate your symptoms while remaining on gluten. But the following information might be valuable to you:

The Mayo Clinic guidelines for a pretest gluten challenge leading up to a biopsy is the daily consumption of two slices of wheat bread (or the equivalent) for two weeks before the day of the procedure. So, this information may allow you to cut back some on the amount of gluten you are eating or go on a gluten hiatus until closer to the biopsy date.

[Elbee]

Thanks trents.  I am hoping I have it soon so I can just move on from this.  Good to know what the minimum is.

[knitty kitty]

You could try taking Benfotiamine, a form of Vitamin B 1 that has been shown to promote healing in the intestines.

[Elbee]

I’ll try that, thanks!

[Wheatwacked]

Celiac Disease causes malabsorption. Malabsorption and deficiencies in diet cause all sorts of problems. No reason to not take steps to correct the deficiencies while continuing gluten for the testing.

Thiamin Deficiency is difficult to determine. Fastest way is to supplement and evaluate your response. It can cause all of your symptoms, but it is unlikely to be the only one you are deficient in.

For energy here is what I take.

500 mg each of B1 (Thiamine), B3, B5, 1 mg B12, and Taurine. It is safe to take as much as you want. Several time a day will build up your reserves quicker.

Choline 500 mg for fat digestion, mitochondria membrane structure, brain fog, liver and gall bladder problems. I take 840 mg of phosphatidyl choline. The side effects of body odor and lower blood pressure are rarely seen at less than 7000 mg a day but the FNB, Federal Nutrition Board, has set the Tolerable Safe Upper Limit at 3500 mg.  Choline Fact Sheet for Health Professionals

Vitamin D, in terms of disease I think the most important. I take 10,000 IU a day, but what is most important is to raise your 25-hydroxy vitamin D to 80 ng/ml. That is our body's homeostatic level and it fluctuates seasonally with UV light. Low vitamin D is found in virtually every disease studied.  Why do we get sick more in the winter? The sufficiency level of >29 ng/ml is a cruel joke.  

While getting all of your nutritional needs through food is best, if you were able to to that you  would not be sick. They are not medicine, they are essential nutrients. There are actually around 20 vitamins and minerals that can be affected by Celiac Disease malabsorption. These are the ones that will have the greatest benefit to you in the shortest time.

•  
• Don't consider this as medical advice. It is nutrition, and doctors do medicine, not nutrition.
• Ekwaru et al reported on more than 17,000 healthy adult volunteers participating in a preventative health program and taking varying doses of vitamin D up to 20,000 IU/d. These patients did not demonstrate any toxicity, and the blood level of 25(OH)D in those taking even 20,000 IU/d was less than 100 ng/mL.

The choice: Sunshine: Skin Cancer or autoimmune>

1. The 2022 estimates were for 197,700 new cases of melanoma diagnosed 
2.  Celiac disease affects at least 3 million Americans
3.  It is estimated by the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) that as many as 50 million Americans are living with an autoimmune disease 

Quote

 

• A lifeguard study that found vitamin D levels in the 70 ng/mL range up to 100 ng/mL (nature’s level) were associated with no adverse effects;
• Data in patients with breast cancer showing a reduction in the incidence of new cancer with postulated 0 point at 80 ng/mL;
• Colon cancer data showing a reduction in the incidence of new cancer (linear) with postulated 0 point at 75 ng/mL;
• Bruce W. Hollis, PhD, director of pediatric nutritional sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, has conducted vitamin D research for more than 30 years. Fear of vitamin D overdose should not be an area of concern for physicians because in all his years of experience he has yet to see one, he said.

https://www.healio.com/news/endocrinology/20120325/surge-of-information-on-benefits-of-vitamin-d-but-no-interventional-trial-data-exist-yet-to-ensure-s

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 10, 2023 by Wheatwacked

[Alwiene]

You might want to try Mucuna Prurienes. My experience is that when I get glutened my dopamin levels drop causing a part of the exhaustion and brain fog. Mucuna contains L Dopa which will up your dopamin levels. For me it helps to feel a bit less exhausted and depressed and clear up my mind a bit when I get glutened so maybe it can help you with the brain fog.