Unusual Dreams, Heavy Sleep And Day Exhaustion

[MLK]

For years I've had trouble sleeping. Tossing and turning, sweating, and nightmares that sometimes made me wake up so violently angry I'd leap out of bed growling and uttering nonsensical curses in a demon voice. I went gluten-free a month or 2 ago, and at first I really responded well; I could actually sleep at night. I actually didn't hear my boyfriend's alarm through my earplugs a few mornings! Bathroom, mood, and sleep issues got better, then I guess I started reacting to contamination, and I keep having issues.

I guess I got glutened again a few days ago, and I feel as hopeless and miserable as before. The dreams/nightmares feel like daydreams, like I'm not in deep sleep when they happen. It's like I am awake and conscious of tossing and turning the whole time, and I only know I was "asleep" because of the weird dreams.

I feel like I might be an extreme case, because I've been a vegetarian for 20 years, and if you are what you eat, my brain and nerves were mostly built from wheat protein.

[Marilyn R]

  On 5/13/2011 at 11:19 AM, MLK said:

For years I've had trouble sleeping. Tossing and turning, sweating, and nightmares that sometimes made me wake up so violently angry I'd leap out of bed growling and uttering nonsensical curses in a demon voice. I went gluten-free a month or 2 ago, and at first I really responded well; I could actually sleep at night. I actually didn't hear my boyfriend's alarm through my earplugs a few mornings! Bathroom, mood, and sleep issues got better, then I guess I started reacting to contamination, and I keep having issues.

I guess I got glutened again a few days ago, and I feel as hopeless and miserable as before. The dreams/nightmares feel like daydreams, like I'm not in deep sleep when they happen. It's like I am awake and conscious of tossing and turning the whole time, and I only know I was "asleep" because of the weird dreams.

I feel like I might be an extreme case, because I've been a vegetarian for 20 years, and if you are what you eat, my brain and nerves were mostly built from wheat protein.

I got glutened a few days ago too. That night, I slept normally. The night after, I didn't get one wink of sleep. (I tried relaxed breathing, meditation... everything.) The next night, I slept like a bear in hibernation. I'm wondering what tonight will bring.

Wishing everyone a good night's rest,

(That's me with my blinders on because of the full moon!)

[Nireen]

  On 3/12/2010 at 3:38 PM, GReilly said:

This is my first post, so far so good on the gluten free diet but I'm still getting the hang of it.

Since going gluten free two weeks ago I've had both positive and negative changes in my sleep habits (which have been one of my main concerns). Firstly I've been sleeping more deeply, however I've also been experiencing unusual dreams every night where I am getting in car accidents or being followed by people I need to kill. They're waking me up in a cold sweat and I believe leaving me to be exhaused through out the following day. Has anyone else experienced dreams similar to these? Is there anything that can be done to aleviate these (eat less of something, more of something, vit. etc?) Thanks for your help!

Hi, I have recently went gluten free (Two weeks now) I just wanted to let you know I too have been having strange dreams!!! Anxiety ridden one's too. Boy I tell you this is ruff go for me here, but I know this is the root of my issues and won't give up. I am exhausted from these dreams and not sleeping very well at all, but yet in some ways when I am sleeping it seems to be a deeper sleep. I read someplace that when we are dreaming we are in the deep stage of sleep, so this could be one of the positives to our dreaming? :-)