Gluten And Memory Loss

[revenant]

I'm wondering if gluten can cause memory loss, through it's "foggy headedness". I ask because I don't remember most of life up unto the age of 11, and what I do remember seems very disconnected from me, but I do clearly remember long car rides and the feelings they brought, and on car rides I wouldn't eat for days because I get car sick. I'm wondering if the lack of memories from my childhood may have been hazed out by the gluten? Does anybody relate?

[Celiactapper]

Of course, there is no way to know for certain; however, recent studies have shown that the frontal lobes of celiacs' brains don't receive enough oxygen and that plaques can form throughout the brain during childhood. This information was presented at the recent Gluten Intolerance Group's Annual Conference in Minneapolis.

[ravenwoodglass]

I am the same way. I have a lot of 'blank spots' and in the later years before I was finally diagnosed had such serious issues that I couldn't even read any longer. I have ataxia, which causes brain lesions or UBOs, that developed in childhood but was never recognized. I was just thought to be clumsy. I don't know if the lesions had to do with my memory problems but I do know my ataxia and memory issues have improved greatly. It did take awhile but my brain now functions well enough so that I have been able to go back to college to finally finish up my degree.

[GlutenFreeManna]

Do other people remember a lot of their childhoods?! I'm seriously asking. I have never had very many memories from childhood. I only remember traumatic things like when my great aunt died. I thought it was just normal to not remember that part of life. I'm only thirty and I can only remember things back to college age and a little bit of high school. Even in high school I remember that I couldn't remember much from childhood. Right before diagnosis I had such bad memory that I couldn't read either. I couldn't recall a line right after I read it. I'm working on going back to grad school and I'm terrified I won't be able to retain enough information to do well on tests. But I do know that my short term memory is getting better the longer I'm gluten free.

[ravenwoodglass]

Do other people remember a lot of their childhoods?! I'm seriously asking. I have never had very many memories from childhood. I only remember traumatic things like when my great aunt died. I thought it was just normal to not remember that part of life. I'm only thirty and I can only remember things back to college age and a little bit of high school. Even in high school I remember that I couldn't remember much from childhood. Right before diagnosis I had such bad memory that I couldn't read either. I couldn't recall a line right after I read it. I'm working on going back to grad school and I'm terrified I won't be able to retain enough information to do well on tests. But I do know that my short term memory is getting better the longer I'm gluten free.

I actually remember more from before the age of 5, when I was impaled and my celiac was likley triggered, than I do for the 3 or four years following. I remember trips with my family, visits to my grand and great grandparents, my first pets and what happened to them, places I lived, etc. From the time of 5 until I was in 5th grade I have no memories at all. Not of school or friends or anything good or bad.

As far as going back to grad school, stay hopeful, take subligual B12 and if you think it might help there are websites where you can do memory 'excercises' that may be helpful in giving you a bit of confidence. I hope things go as well for you in classes as they did for me. I should say that I did try to go back 2 years ago but had really not recovered enough and ended up withdrawing. I have been amazed at how well I have done this time around. So if you do have trouble don't think it will last forever, try again if you need more healing time.

[GlutenFreeManna]

I actually remember more from before the age of 5, when I was impaled and my celiac was likley triggered, than I do for the 3 or four years following. I remember trips with my family, visits to my grand and great grandparents, my first pets and what happened to them, places I lived, etc. From the time of 5 until I was in 5th grade I have no memories at all. Not of school or friends or anything good or bad.

As far as going back to grad school, stay hopeful, take subligual B12 and if you think it might help there are websites where you can do memory 'excercises' that may be helpful in giving you a bit of confidence. I hope things go as well for you in classes as they did for me. I should say that I did try to go back 2 years ago but had really not recovered enough and ended up withdrawing. I have been amazed at how well I have done this time around. So if you do have trouble don't think it will last forever, try again if you need more healing time.

Thanks for the encouragement Raven. I remember things like family vacations, but only because of the photos. Anything that my family talks about or refers back to I remember, but in an odd way as if I wasn't really there. I only know what I see in the pictures and what they tell me about. My gap in memory is from about 3rd or 4th grade to 9th or 10th grade. The only thing I remember about 5th grade is I had trouble with math. I had to sit in a separate desk in the corner with high dividers to take my math tests because I couldn't focus on the numbers if there was any distraction. They would get all jumbled up to me. I think I had a form of numerical dyslexia (without any diagnosis). I always had trouble with math and remembering numbers and depended strongly on a calculator in high school and college. The strange thing is it has started to get better with gluten free. I can look at a number once and remember it for a few minutes or longer if I repeat it to myself. Before it was like the number went into my head and would not come out in the same order. I couldn't repeat it in my head because it would get mixed around in there. I always had to write the number down, sometimes in multiple places on a page. Anyway sorry to hijack the topic for a minute there. The only other thing I remember in my gap years was that my mom put me on "a diet". I don't remember being fat (I don't think I was as a child), but my mom wanted to lose weight and she took me to her Weight Watchers meetings and made me follow the diet with her. I have vague memories of some of the meetings because I never wanted to go. And I remember my mom pointing out an obese child in my class and saying, "Do you want to be fat like her?" It was a form of abuse I believe that she did that to me. That's all I remember from those years. SO I have always thought maybe I blocked it out because I didn't want to relive other things, but I also thought maybe it was just normal to not remember most of childhood. Now that you mention it I have a TON of memories from when I was five years old---things like getting a puppy and visits with my grandparents, games I played and clothes I wore, even details like what my room looked like when I was five, etc. But I can't bring up any of those things in my mind from the period when I was around 8 up to 16 or 17.

[ravenwoodglass]

Thanks for the encouragement Raven. I remember things like family vacations, but only because of the photos. Anything that my family talks about or refers back to I remember, but in an odd way as if I wasn't really there. I only know what I see in the pictures and what they tell me about. My gap in memory is from about 3rd or 4th grade to 9th or 10th grade. The only thing I remember about 5th grade is I had trouble with math. I had to sit in a separate desk in the corner with high dividers to take my math tests because I couldn't focus on the numbers if there was any distraction. They would get all jumbled up to me. I think I had a form of numerical dyslexia (without any diagnosis). I always had trouble with math and remembering numbers and depended strongly on a calculator in high school and college. The strange thing is it has started to get better with gluten free. I can look at a number once and remember it for a few minutes or longer if I repeat it to myself. Before it was like the number went into my head and would not come out in the same order. I couldn't repeat it in my head because it would get mixed around in there. I always had to write the number down, sometimes in multiple places on a page. Anyway sorry to hijack the topic for a minute there. The only other thing I remember in my gap years was that my mom put me on "a diet". I don't remember being fat (I don't think I was as a child), but my mom wanted to lose weight and she took me to her Weight Watchers meetings and made me follow the diet with her. I have vague memories of some of the meetings because I never wanted to go. And I remember my mom pointing out an obese child in my class and saying, "Do you want to be fat like her?" It was a form of abuse I believe that she did that to me. That's all I remember from those years. SO I have always thought maybe I blocked it out because I didn't want to relive other things, but I also thought maybe it was just normal to not remember most of childhood. Now that you mention it I have a TON of memories from when I was five years old---things like getting a puppy and visits with my grandparents, games I played and clothes I wore, even details like what my room looked like when I was five, etc. But I can't bring up any of those things in my mind from the period when I was around 8 up to 16 or 17.

I had the same sort of issues with numbers. I was in eighth grade before a teacher realized I really did have a problem. I was told I was lazy etc from 5th grade on. I can now add numbers in my head and I almost cryed when I got an A in my Business Math class this summer. Almost all algebra and I never thought I would be able to remember the formulas. It is amazing how much gluten can impact. It really makes you wonder about all the 'learning disabilities' that are being diagnosed.

[Ahbee]

I'm wondering if gluten can cause memory loss, through it's "foggy headedness". I ask because I don't remember most of life up unto the age of 11, and what I do remember seems very disconnected from me, but I do clearly remember long car rides and the feelings they brought, and on car rides I wouldn't eat for days because I get car sick. I'm wondering if the lack of memories from my childhood may have been hazed out by the gluten? Does anybody relate?

I have memory loss to the point I had to retire as a school teacher. My doctor calls it Mild Cognitive Impairment. I couldn't spell or remember what I was talking about. Sometimes I get so confused I can't drive. I have two gluten intolerant genes and pernicious anemia. I don't know which hit my brain first. A good book to read is "The UltraMind Solution" by Mark Hyman MD. It will answer a lot of your questions and give some good advice. I was just recently talking to another Celiac, and he was also commenting on "Brain Fog." There are articles on the web about this also. Ahbee

[txplowgirl]

WOW! I thought it was just me! I can remember from 4 to 8, then had a traumatic episode where my mother tried to kill herself with a butcher knife in the bathtub, she cut her throat and both wrists. I'm the one that found her. Have sketchy memories from then on until I was 14.

Cousins will ask me "hey, you remember the time when?" I go no, sorry. I also have had problems with numbers too. I have better memory recall now than I did before I went gluten free.

All, this time I thought I was weird. Lol

[GlutenFreeManna]

WOW! I thought it was just me! I can remember from 4 to 8, then had a traumatic episode where my mother tried to kill herself with a butcher knife in the bathtub, she cut her throat and both wrists. I'm the one that found her. Have sketchy memories from then on until I was 14.

Cousins will ask me "hey, you remember the time when?" I go no, sorry. I also have had problems with numbers too. I have better memory recall now than I did before I went gluten free.

All, this time I thought I was weird. Lol

Nope, you're not weird. Your one of us! Unless, maybe we're ALL weird.

ETA: I'm so sorry you had to see such a traumatic thing as a child. I meant to say that first, but I wanted to make you laugh first.

[aeryn]

I don't know yet if I have a gluten issue or not, but memory is hazy for me too. There are a few specific events that I remember from my childhood, but mostly what I "remember" is from pictures and family stories. Even the events I do remember are as if watching a movie, not like I was really there. For me it's not just my childhood...I couldn't tell you what I did a couple weeks ago, unless I really think about it, or have something else to trigger the memory.

[Guest cbphl]

Hi All -- yes, yes and yes! I'm 38 years old and was recently diagnosed with Celiac...and now some of the life-long memory issues I've had/have are making sense. It's only really within the past 5-years that I've become acutely aware of the challenges of living without long-term memory - work, school, relationships, socializing, and on, and on!

I did reasonably well academically, but had no recall once I took test or handed in a paper. In fact, I have an MBA and recently thought about going back to school again for a career change -- allied health -- but am rightfully concerned about retaining large bodies of information. I can tell you barely anything about my MBA program, other than a select experience or two. Don't ask me to recall any of the content. I barely recall the classes period. In retrospect, I essentially wasted $70k. However, it does look good on the parchment...that's about it! The worst part is that I can retain enough short-term material to test reasonably well, but then poof, it's gone. Forget cumulative exams...too much information for me to recall. I'm surrounded by very bright people and am able to inset bits of material and use my wit and humor to interact effectively with others, but don't ask me for details, complex theories, etc. Most of what I talk about is recent -- events, books, experiences, etc.

In fact, someone in the thread was talking about their childhood and how they recall very little. That me to a 't'. My step-father was the worst, so I lived in a constant state of anxiety, which certainly didn't help. I gather though that the anxiety, exacerbated by Celiac, made forming memories very difficult. I have vague impressions of my life, without much detailed recall. I recently attended my 20-year high school reunion and marveled at the level of recall some of peers have. Me, I would just laugh and insert jokes when appropriate.

It's really quite frustrating at times. I'm now trying to figure out - again - what I want to be when I grow-up, 'cause corporate life is the pits for me. I feel like the bar has been lowered to degrees I never thought of...

I have the drive to go back to school again to do something that is truly meaningful, but don't want to find in the end that I don't have the requisite recall to perform the job. No fair!

[Lady Sky]

My gap in memory is from about 3rd or 4th grade to 9th or 10th grade. The only thing I remember about 5th grade is I had trouble with math. I had to sit in a separate desk in the corner with high dividers to take my math tests because I couldn't focus on the numbers if there was any distraction. They would get all jumbled up to me. I think I had a form of numerical dyslexia (without any diagnosis). I always had trouble with math and remembering numbers and depended strongly on a calculator in high school and college. The strange thing is it has started to get better with gluten free.

This is soo strange, I know this is an older post but this is called Discalcula It is a form of dyslexia and I have it. I also have missing years of my childhood and foggy memories. My Mother took me for tests but nothing was determined. I was branded Lazy and unmotivated. My condition worsened during the school year because public schools are bathed in gluten. "wheat germ paste" and "chalk" of the black board kind are two very big culprits of gluten.

I thought this was weird because I am now just researching the effects of my celiac disease on my past and what it will mean for my future. I have been mis and undiagnosed until 3 years ago.

Thanks

Peg