Dealing With celiac disease And Being An Addict

[glutenfreejenny]

I just recently decided to join NA. After I realized I had celiac disease I had a few months of really good feelings and was really happy. Somewhere along the way I lost that. I started taking Benedryl to help me sleep, and I'm pretty sure I became addicted. I started taking more and more. I think what started this all was when I got a medical marijuana card. I would smoke on days when I was sick, and it would help a lot. Recently I have come to the conclusion that this is not healthy. Since deciding to stay free of anything "mood altering" I've been having a really hard time---and this has been without having any brushes with gluten. It scares me to think of what I'm going to do on the days that I am sick. I was self medicating...and there is no medicine to help.

I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem? A lot of the problem is I spent 25 years ill and when I got healthy I didn't know how to cope. I had been dealing with all my health problems, and once those had an "answer" a lot of other things I hadn't dealt with came to light.

Thanks.

[sahm-i-am]

Hi GFJenny - I am so sorry you are going through all this! I have no wonderful words of wisdom or advice, but wanted to let you know that we are hear and this forum is a wonderful place for support. Come here anytime to vent and rage and also celebrate!

[ksymonds84]

I am so sorry that you are dealing with this issue but you are not alone. Celiac disease in itself can cause mood disturbances, depression, and anxiety. A friend who has celiac had a hard time with depression and anxiety and mostly self medicated with Vodka. When he was in a situation where he felt nervous and couldn't find anything safe to eat, he would just do Ciroc (a grape vodka) or gin and tonic and get totally smashed. Of course the next day the cycle would be repeated with depression ect. A couple years ago he decided to take charge with his depression and anxiety with celiac and a doctor put him on a low dose of prozac (20mg) with therapy. He was also given something for the anxiety which most are addictive but he's been able to only use them when he gets super anxious (the freeway was another situation that set him off). Now five years gluten free, he takes a 10mg dose of prozac for maintenance and rarely uses the other. He is newly married and very happy. His poor celiac beaten body just needed time to heal and the heavy duty vodka wasn't helping his intestines or mental faculties get any better real quick.

I'm not saying that you need a prescription drug. If you are in a good NA group you should receive some excellent one on one counseling. Be truthful and careful to your gluten free diet because that will help so much for your healing. An accidental glutening can set you back. If my friend accidentally gets glutened he will only lay around on the couch for 2 days and not want to socialize ect, so he's very diligent with label reading and only dedicated lines and facilities ect for food.

Hang in there and use this forum as your support for getting better. We are here for you!