Nightmares

[fedora]

hey,

Has anyone else noticed a correlation between gluten intolerance, being gluttened and nightmares. I just started thinking about this the other day. My DD gets nightmares and has some other symptoms of gluten intolerance. We are awaiting test results. I Have had nightmares on and off my whole life. Thinking back on it, I had more during times of greater illness. This past winter I was eating way more gluten than I usually did- EVERYTHING in my life got worse, including nightmares. I was also sooo depressed, joints hurt, starting getting D(was always a IBS with constipation girl), my rash came back, and I itched everywhere. This week I think I got gluttened (or have another food problem) cause I got terrible joint pain, upset stomach, fatigue,And nightmares!

Just wondering if it is just me. I definately know it affects my behavior and mood....VAST improvement off gluten and no more PMS

[MELINE]

Well...

For the last 2 years (that is when my gluten problems bacame more severe) I kept having HUGE trouble with nightmares. I mean huge......I could not sleep, kept having dreams with dead people and my x boyfriend would send me sleep in my house cause I would usually wake up 4-5 times/ night screaming and crying. He also had that feeling I should visit a shrink....anyway.....

Now I've been gluten-free for 4 months and ALL THE NIGHTMARES went away. So yes I really think celiac was the problem..And 3 weeks ago when I glutened my self by accident for 3 days (....) I noticed that my mood was exactly like "I am going to kill everyone right now, stop having fun all of you"......and it was not because I was in pain, cause I was not in pain.....It was just the effect of gluten on my nerves.

Hope you never see any bad dreams again.....

[Ursa Major]

Yes, I used to have nightmares all my life, for 50 years! There have been times when I would have ten nightmares a night, and be afraid to even go to bed. They were evil, and I woke up terrified, usually as something or somebody was killing me.

They stopped when I eliminated gluten. Now I only get nightmares after I have been glutened.

My youngest daughter (who is gluten intolerant) also used to get horrible nightmares.

I KNOW the nightmares and gluten are connected, there is no doubt in my mind.

[hdc0008]

For me, I think the two are related. I used to have nightmares constantly. They got better when I was on antidepressants and medicine for anxiety, but I still had them from time to time. I have been gluten free since October 2007 and no longer need the antidepressants or the anxiety medication. The only nightmares I've had since then have been when I've been accidentally glutened. I know everybody's range of symptoms is different, and for me, my mental state is affected the most when I'm glutened. I am insanely irritable, moody, depressed, I cry at the drop of the hat, can't concentrate, feel worthless, etc. I tend to think that my nightmares are a result of my anxiety and depression from being glutened, not from the gluten itself. If that makes any sense.

[fedora]

yes, that makes perfect sense. I have so much anxiety, depression, mood swings etc. Now that I am off gluten I feel kind of stale. No mood swings with their low lows and terrific highs. But that is fine by me!!! I am glad some have found relief like me. I hope it helps my daughter too.

[itchygirl]

Considering the enormous variety of neurologic complications linked to celiac, nightmares might be expected

http://www.csaceliacs.org/library/neurocomp.php

[fedora]

I checked out that link

"the immune changes in celiac disease are unlikely to play a role in Alzheimer's disease. In control groups none was positive for anti-endomysium antibodies."

FINALLY some good news

[Skaylan]

Crazy! I recently got glutened about 4 days ago. Since then, I have had intense nightmares, usually 3 - 4 "episodes" per night that I can vividly remember. I don't really let them get to me be but it does seem to be affecting my sleep... There must be some sort of link!

[Jonny B. Good]

On 3/21/2008 at 2:55 PM, fedora said:

hey,

Has anyone else noticed a correlation between gluten intolerance, being gluttened and nightmares. I just started thinking about this the other day. My DD gets nightmares and has some other symptoms of gluten intolerance. We are awaiting test results. I Have had nightmares on and off my whole life. Thinking back on it, I had more during times of greater illness. This past winter I was eating way more gluten than I usually did- EVERYTHING in my life got worse, including nightmares. I was also sooo depressed, joints hurt, starting getting D(was always a IBS with constipation girl), my rash came back, and I itched everywhere. This week I think I got gluttened (or have another food problem) cause I got terrible joint pain, upset stomach, fatigue,And nightmares!

Just wondering if it is just me. I definately know it affects my behavior and mood....VAST improvement off gluten and no more PMS

 

According to WebMD 50% of all people have nightmares sometimes. 2-8% of adults experience it as chronic.

They go on to mention many different causes of nightmares. Some interesting causes: withdrawal and anxiety.

Could it be that you're having nightmares due to changes in your lifestyle? Possibly due to anxiety caused by this health problem? Its worth consideration. I know I've felt a little withdrawal type symptoms while changing my lifestyle and I definitely experienced a little anxiety due to it all.  

Source: https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/guide/nightmares-in-adults#2

Edited July 10, 2018 by Jonny B. Good

[cshav10]

100% correlation. Horrendous nightmares. The only time I have nightmares is when I eat wheat. Worse, when I wake up my mind is bombed from terror and in a paranoid state. It's like being drugged. I learned to meditate to restore sanity. I will get out of bed and go sit in meditation - breath has the power to drain off all the insanity produced by wheat reactions. Sometimes it takes 2-3 hours to get my brain back to normal. This reaction has nothing at all to do with what's going on in my life. It has to do with my body's reaction to being poisoned.

Edited July 22, 2018 by cshav10
addition to comments

[mikki7494]

I tend to get nigtmares, several a night, after being glutened! This can go on for several months after being contaminated! I also deal with insomnia after being glutened, so you can imagine how fun it is to be fighting for some sleep, and then when you finally get some, you are bombarded with nightmares. This vicious cycle goes on and on for months after being glutened. I also have noticed that the nightmares are more detailed, strange, and vivid. I can wake up from a nightmare, go do something to clear my mind for over an hour and if I actually fall back to sleep, I will pick up in my nightmare from where I left off! I find this strange/ odd! Does anyone else have this issue?

[knitty kitty]

Yes, I've suffered from insomnia and terrifying nightmares after being exposed to gluten.  I found taking magnesium (500mg), Vitamin B6 (100mg), and tryptophan (500 mg) will help me.  The insomnia goes, I actually feel sleepy, and I have deep restorative sleep without nightmares. 

Serotonin is produced in your intestines and then goes to the brain and is used as a neurotransmitter(one of the feel good neurotransmitters).    After being glutened, your inflamed intestines may not produce enough serotonin.  Low levels of serotonin in the brain will cause nightmares, anxiety and depression.

Serotonin is made from tryptophan. Tryptophan is in such foods as turkey and milk.  Tryptophan in turkey is blamed for making you sleepy after that Thanksgiving dinner.  And warm milk has been used as a remedy for insomnia for ages.  Unfortunately, Celiacs may not tolerate dairy, and after a glutening may not properly digest and absorb nutrients from foods like turkey well. 

Magnesium and vitamin B6 are also necessary in the production of serotonin.  Tryptophan, magnesium and B6 are all needed to make serotonin.  After a glutening and the resulting inflammation, your body could have difficulty absorbing these nutrients.

Giving your body the ingredients for serotonin in supplement form will help your body produce more serotonin so you can sleep and not have nightmares.  

Tryptophan, B6 and magnesium are supplements I take after being exposed to gluten and suffer insomnia and nightmares and anxiety and depression.  This works right away without side effects.  (Not like antidepressants which have to build up in your system for several weeks before they work nor like sleeping pills which may have lingering aftereffects.)  Tryptophan and Vitamin B6 are water soluble.  What your body doesn't need is flushed out.  

I'm not a doctor.  I'm a microbiologist.  This is what works for me.

If you are currently taking an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) antidepressant, consult your doctor before trying this.  Taking tryptophan and SSRI's can result in having too much serotonin in your brain resulting in unpleasant side effects (serotonin syndrome).  

Hope this helps,

K

On 1/7/2019 at 6:12 AM, mikki7494 said:

I tend to get nigtmares, several a night, after being glutened! This can go on for several months after being contaminated! I also deal with insomnia after being glutened, so you can imagine how fun it is to be fighting for some sleep, and then when you finally get some, you are bombarded with nightmares. This vicious cycle goes on and on for months after being glutened. I also have noticed that the nightmares are more detailed, strange, and vivid. I can wake up from a nightmare, go do something to clear my mind for over an hour and if I actually fall back to sleep, I will pick up in my nightmare from where I left off! I find this strange/ odd! Does anyone else have this issue?

 

[cristiana]

It might also be worth looking at any medication that you are taking.

I don't make regular use of it but sometimes I have to take reflux medication now and again after gluten exposure or when taking certain medication.   I notice I get incredibly vivid dreams that are fairly disturbing if I take a ppi and go straight back to sleep. There is no effect if I take the ppi earlier in the day.

[veggiebabe]

Just throwing this out there in case......Anxiety is a big problem for me when glutened but the extreme NIGHTMARES showed up when my thyroid levels were too low.  Muscle aches are also one sign of low thyroid medication. These are both autoimmune disorders and having one makes it more likely to have the other. I understand the horrible feeling of nightmares. For me they disappeared once my free T4 and Free T3 levels were normal ( notice I did not say TSH levels).  May you figure this out as quickly as possible and get a good night’s sleep.

[Scott Adams]

Interesting, I don't remember my dreams very often at all. I wonder if there are any studies on thyroid levels and how they might affect dreaming, and remembering dreams?

[Chris233]

Hi. I think I experience nightmares when exposed to gluten. It could be an illusion... Confirmation bias or something of that sort. Perhaps gluten exposure leads to anxiety which leads to nightmares. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences here.

[Wheatwacked]

Hi Chris233, welome to the forum.  This is an older thread so you may not get many replies.

It is not an illusion.  Exposure to gluten puts stess on the immune system, lowering the already borderline vitamin D.

An estimated 31% of adults in Australia have inadequate vitamin D status (serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25-OHD] level < 50 nmol/L), increasing to more than 50% in women during winter–spring and in people residing in southern states.

******      Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Vitamin D Is Not as Toxic as Was Once Thought"The evidence is clear that vitamin D toxicity is one of the rarest medical conditions and is typically due to intentional or inadvertent intake of extremely high doses of vitamin D (usually in the range of >50,000-100,000 IU/d for months to years). ..."Ekwaru et al recently 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. (equivalent to 250 nmol/L"  *****

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The normal state of vitamin D in our blood is 200 nmol/L.  That is the amount our bodies maintain if we get enough through sunshine and diet.  Raising your D intake will improve your dreams and general sense of well being.

 

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   Why do so many trials of vitamin D supplementation fail?     vitamin D has been found to have many effects on virtually all human tissues and not just on bone health, while mechanisms affecting the actions of vitamin D at the cellular level are increasingly understood, but deficiency persists globally. Observational studies in humans have shown that better provision of vitamin D is strongly associated, dose-wise, with reductions in current and future health risks in line with the known actions of vitamin D. Randomised controlled trials, commonly accepted as providing a ‘gold standard’ for assessing the efficacy of new forms of treatment, have frequently failed to provide supportive evidence for the expected health benefits of supplementation. Such RCTs, however, have used designs evolved for testing drugs while vitamin D is a nutrient"

     This is why you're having vivid dreams every night right now     "Vitamin D is imperative for serotonin production, which is vital for maintaining that important sleep-wake cycle and keeping our levels of melatonin production in check.

"Furthermore, this lack of vitamin D can also trigger Seasonal Affective Disorder, which has been found to be a main reason for sleep disturbances, vivid dreams and nightmares."Which brings us onto… Seasonal Affective Disorder

 

    

 

 

[Scott Adams]

Others on this forum have reported nightmares when they eat gluten, as you can see by this search:

https://www.celiac.com/search/?&q=nightmares&search_and_or=and