Anxiety around food

[Jean Carrithers]

Hello all, I've been gluten free for about a year now after getting diagnosed and while it was a slow process I am generally feeling much better.  However around the time of my diagnosis I developed really bad anxiety around food, eating, and my health.  And unfortunately the physical symptoms of my anxiety mimic the side effects of gluten on me.  I've been working on it with a therapist and my doctor and seen some improvement, but it just sucks.  I'm just so tired of feeling this way.  I have such a hard time feeling safe and hyperfixate on any body sensations/ health worries.  Does anyone else have bad anxiety problems triggered by their celiac?  How do you deal with them?  Did you/are you recovering? 

[knitty kitty]

@Jean Carrithers,

Hello!  I'm sorry you are having such difficulties.  Yes, I have had to deal with anxiety like you're talking about. 

Doctors frequently forget to treat the vitamin and mineral deficiencies that occur as a result of malabsorption in Celiac Disease.  Difficulty absorbing nutrients due to damage to the small intestine from Celiac Disease can result in malnutrition.  Marsh scores reflect how seriously the damage to the small intestine is.

There are eight B vitamins that are essential for our bodies' health.  Without them our bodies cannot make essential enzymes that keep us alive.  

Thiamine deficiency is frequently the first deficiency to show up because Thiamine cannot be stored for long.  Thiamine deficiency symptoms can appear in as little as three days.  We are Thiamine contingent, like Jurassic Park dinosaurs were Lysine contingent.  Without sufficient Thiamine, we get sick and can die.

Thiamine deficiency symptoms include fatigue, weight loss, loss of appetite (anorexia), and difficulty digesting food, and diarrhea and/or constipation. 

Gastrointestinal Beriberi is Thiamine deficiency in the gastrointestinal tract, causing gastroparesis, diarrhea and/or constipation, and bloating.

Anxiety is a symptom of Thiamine deficiency.  The brain uses as much Thiamine just thinking as muscles use running a marathon.  Without sufficient Thiamine, the brain is affected and ataxia can result.  Thiamine deficiency ataxia looks the same as gluten ataxia.  

Since all eight B vitamins get absorbed in the same area, deficiencies in the other B vitamins can occur as well.  The B vitamins all need each other to function properly.  Without one or two, the others cannot do what they do, too.  Thiamine also needs magnesium to make enzymes that keep our bodies alive.  Difficulty absorbing minerals like magnesium, iron and others can affect our health and our brain function and mood as well. 

I had several doctors ask if I was drinking alcohol. I have never been able to tolerate alcohol.  Doctors learn Thiamine deficiency occurs only in alcoholism and Third World starving populations.  This is incorrect. 

Thiamine deficiency can occur in malabsorption syndromes, when we are physically stressed such as being sick with an infection or autoimmune disease, or after surgery, during pregnancy, in times of emotional trauma such as death of a loved one or divorce, and if we are physically active, especially outdoors during very hot weather.  Thiamine deficiency can occur in high carbohydrate diets where more carbohydrates are eaten without sufficient B vitamins to process them. 

Thiamine deficiency symptoms can wax and wane mysteriously because a 20% increase in dietary thiamine causes an 80% increase in brain function. 

Because I said I didn't drink, those doctors threw up their hands and walked away saying I was just crazy.  Dementia is a severe form of Thiamine deficiency called Wernicke's Encephalopathy.  

Having studied nutrition and microbiology, I knew there were vitamin deficiencies involved.  I started supplementing with high dose Thiamine.  

The World Health Organization (WHO) has a field test for Thiamine deficiency.  See if you can rise from a squat.  I could not.  

WHO says if thiamine deficiency is suspected, give 500-2000 mg daily of Thiamine and look for improvement.  I took 500 mg and had improvement within an hour.  

With continued supplementation with Thiamine Hydrochloride and Benfotiamine, my symptoms resolved.  Benfotiamine is a form of Thiamine that has been scientifically shown to promote healing in the intestines.

Of course, I also supplemented with a B Complex because all eight essential B vitamins need each other to work properly.  I also supplemented with Magnesium glycinate to work with Thiamine.

Because blood tests don't accurately reflect vitamin levels inside cells and tissues, it's better to take a B Complex and look for improvement.  If not needed, extra B vitamins are excreted easily through urine.

Deficiency in Pyridoxine Vitamin B 6 has been linked to obsessive compulsive disorders.  Pyridoxine is another B vitamin frequently found to be deficient in newly diagnosed Celiac patients.  Deficiency in Niacin Vitamin B3 has been linked to low stomach acid and not being able to digest foods well.  

I found this scientific research paper very helpful.  You may want to discuss it with your doctor, therapist and nutritionist.

The Role of Vitamins and Minerals in Psychiatry

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3046018/

Please let me know if I can help further.  

[Jean Carrithers]

Thank you!!! I'm going to try taking some B vitamins and supplements.  I recently moved and am still looking for a permanent doctor and dietician, but once I find them I'll bring this up with them as well.  You've been very helpful with this incredibly thorough reply, and it is also just a relief to hear from someone who has gone through similar things.