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Celiac - Depression & Anxiety

wilem008

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wilem008 Contributor
wilem008
Posted

Hi guys!

Im new to celiac and have not been formally diagnosed yet. In fact, im having trouble getting my doctor to listen to me (he thinks I have IBS and is refusing to test me for celiac!!)

Im off to see a specialist (soon I hope!!)

Anyway, im pretty sure I have celiac...I suffer from: constipation/diarrhea, fatigue, headaches, cramping, bloating, flatulance, foggy brain, anxiety, irritability and depression. (the list goes on...)

I just want to know....do many other celiac (pre or post diagnosis) suffer anxiety and depression? How bad did it get before you went gluten free? Are you better now that you're gluten free?

Im just having a hard time dealing with all the emotional stuff at the moment...I could handle feeling physically sick if I wasnt emotionally sick aswell but its all starting to take its toll...I need an answer and a solution ASAP!

Please help...I need to know im not alone with the depression!

Thankyou

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Lisa Mentor
Lisa
Posted

Depression can be a big symptom of Celiac Disease. Although not a guarantee, many people here have left their depression with the gluten free diet.

If your doctor refuses to test you for Celiac, I would suggest that you find a new one. And, should it be your choice not to pursue testing, you need no doctor's prescription to begin the diet. A positive dietary response is a diagnosis in itself.

Here is an interesting article:

https://www.celiac.com/articles/21547/1/The...tion/Page1.html

I am sure that others will post.

Kaycee Collaborator
Kaycee
Posted

I have suffered from blue days. I won't call it depression, as I have never been diagnosed with it.

It would come and go all my life. A day here and a day there. Then there would be the occassional stint of a week of feeling very blue. I've always said, tomorrow I will feel better, and most of the times I did.

Only now looking back can I appreciate how debilitating the moods were and how they interferred with my life. I had times where I thought I wasn't worth anything. There always seemed to be an impending sense of doom, as if the debt collector was about to pounce on my door. I Would have the weight of the world on my shoulders. I had people calling me moody. My husband would comment that I was miles away. I think I felt disconnected with life.

But being gluten free has made a big difference. I don't look miles away anymore, I don't get the blue days, I feel I can cope with anything, I communicate more, and I'm not such a worrier now. But whenever I get glutened, those feelings come back, not immediately, but they build up over a couple of days, along with the stomach issues, and I feel such a wreck and it feels like everything is on top of me, and I get a bit teary, and hide from people, I just can't cope. Luckily it doesn't happen much anymore.

Cathy

wilem008 Contributor
wilem008
Posted
  • Author

Cathy,

That is just how I feel.

I dont like calling it depression either - I havent been diagnosed with it.

I do have hope for the future, I do want to live but I just have my 'blue days'...or 'blue weeks'.

It just feels like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders and like you, some days I feel very disconected from my life.

Im really hopeing going gluten free will help me.

Im lucky to have a supportive family, boyfriend and best friend.

BRUMI1968 Collaborator
BRUMI1968
Posted

I've not had too much trouble with depression in my life, but the anxiety...whoa! I was diagnosed with "Generalized Anxiety Disorder", which means I would have anxiety attacks at random times. (Actually, it turns out almost always they showed up right after eating). These attacks were terrible. I would suddenly get clammy hands, have to poop emergenty, get tingly, especially in my groin area and down my legs to the knees, sometimes I would not know anyone around me (even though one of them was my mother, for example, or my partner of 17 years), and I was completely afraid of an unknown something or other. I would shake uncontrollably. Well, I could control it, but only for moments at a time when it would take over again. I felt utterlly untethered to the earth or to my own body. You get the picture.

Since quitting gluten (and 'perfecting' the diet), I have had exactly ZERO of these attacks. In fact, I can tell I have been glutened by any of the above symptoms. (Now that I know what it is, the absolute stress of the attacks has gone down, and I've not had a full one. ) The other day I got just CC'd very lightly, and got the tingly thing and fear of throwing up (I have a terrible fear of throwing up). No real tummy ache per se, but the absolute terror of vomiting. I had to lie in bed perfectly still with my knees elevated until I fell asleep.

I've told my therapist (not so much for anxiety but for relationship issues) that he should suggest to all his patients with anxiety that they be tested for celiac. He thought so too, having celiac disease himself.

Sherri

CuriousOne Apprentice
CuriousOne
Posted

Definitely get depression from gluten. Thats the way it seems at least. If I eat too much gluten, it builds over a few days and suddenly I just want to die. Its really bad for me. I think its just worse when your already under stress...because you feel so awful and feel like there is no possible way you can cope AND be under stress etc etc. Thats my experience. Last time I was glutened was some weeks ago, and it seemed to take a week to get out from the fog once again. So weird...so weird. Because its such a part of you...that even if you can reason that the depression is from gluten it doesn't seem to matter that much.

Guest tamedandfoxed
Guest tamedandfoxed
Posted

Hey there,

Yes, I've had depression and anxiety both for a very long time. I definitely noticed a difference right off the bat. My first few weeks off gluten i felt fantastic. But there is a different kind of grief that came with not being allowed to eat things i've eaten my whole life. THAT IS HARD. I find Sugar and Carbs (gluten or not gluten) really intensify anxiety / agitation for me. Sugar is a depression trigger. But I have other things going on too, you might not be so sensitive.

hope that helps!

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kayavara Rookie
kayavara
Posted

I was depressed as well.I blamed it on too much "stuff" going on in my life.My parents moved in with us about a year and a half ago.My Dad has congestive heart failure and my Mom has Lewy Body Demetia....It's like Alzhiemers...but much "darker".She stays confused and is a daily challange.Dad's a trooper at 85 and is no problem.So,I blamed it all on my life going from...do whtever you like ...to do whatever you must to care for them.I would have stayed in bed alot of mornings if it were not for the strict schedule we have with their medicine,meals etc.I didn't want to leave my house.We rode motorcycles every chance we got...but I suddenly had no desire to ride.I made excuses to friends who asked us to dinner.I was a total bummer for anyone to be around! But...as of now,that has pretty much gone out the door with the wheat and gluten.It's been less than a month but I feel like it has made a huge difference in mental and physical complaints.

MelliDuff Rookie
MelliDuff
Posted
Definitely get depression from gluten. Thats the way it seems at least. If I eat too much gluten, it builds over a few days and suddenly I just want to die. Its really bad for me. I think its just worse when your already under stress...because you feel so awful and feel like there is no possible way you can cope AND be under stress etc etc. Thats my experience.

That is exactly how I feel when I get glutend...Major depression is my first sign of being glutened. I want to die - my first tip off.

tipnpat Newbie
tipnpat
Posted

Hi, I'm knew to the Celiac world as well. I have had depression bordering on bipolar at times for the ten years prior to figuring all of this out. I chalked it all up to post-partum depression when my son was born 10 yrs and I did definitely have that, but looking back, now I can see that it was there before as well. I was a withdrawn and moody child at times and others I couldn't shutup. And anxiety... wow, crippling!

I came upon Celiac as a fluke really. My son has always been a spirited odd bird whom I love dearly but the older he got the more problems we were starting to see. I had read some about the gluten-free/CF diet with behavioral issues and Autism and I thought it would be impossible to do so I forgot about it. Then, with each year becoming worse and worse and fearing what the future might hold for him I decided to go for it. A girl at work said her life changed when she gave up gluten. So, to learn how to incorporate it into his diet, I incorporated it in to mine. I have to admit, I was hoping for some kind of miracle or bright shining light that would lead me on the path to bliss and endless energy. I didn't think anything was happening but after a month or two I started to feel like I was slipping out of this dense fog. Simultaneously, the severe neck pain that I refused to get seen about because I didn't want to get the dx of fibromyalgia or degenerative disc disease went away. My migraines went away. If I got up to go to the kitchen I could actually remember what I went there for. I felt like getting down on the floor and playing with my kids! And just in case none of this was real, I ate gluten again because, man, I wanted some pizza!

Ouch! I got such a stiff neck and shoulders and such a bad headache that I was nauseated. It was like white hot pain. Then two days later my mood slumped and then another day and my muscles were tired and achy and I didn't feel like standing up straight or using good posture. And now, that's the cycle and while I never eat gluten on purpose anymore (because of the pain and blues I detest) I can always tell when I've eaten it by accident.

So, while I have no intestinal biopsy to say officially that I have celiac I have the lab work and the gene. I just count myself lucky that I decided to try the diet out for my son because I uncovered a wealth of clues about my family history, i.e. autoimmune hepatitis and Grave's disease in Mom and some things about my Dad.

Having licked the depression and mood swings has been the best by far and my son is improving too. I'm thinking about doing the gene test for him and sending off his blood work.

Thanks,

This was my first post

lilypad23 Explorer
lilypad23
Posted

Depression and axiety were a huge problem for me before. My anxiety was so bad at one point I could barely leave the house. Riight before I was diagnosed, the depression had gotten so bad that I didn't want to live. Since I've been gluten free, its cleared up a lot. I still have my down days and anxiety sometimes, but not nearly as bad as it used to be.

I hope you start to feel better soon.

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