Experienced/ Educated Advice Needed.

[GAD.. AKA unsure....]

My first post - and bordering a plea.

I will spare you the details - I just hope some people have similar symptoms and are feeling good now!

2002 - At university - noticed I had much worse hangovers than friends, would last 2 days (now 3!) - aged 20

2002 - First Anxiety attack - strong physical pain, confused, disorientated. Continued almost daily for 3 months.

2002 - spent 6 months being tested for cluster migraines, tumours, stress, neurological diseases

2003 - Self diagnosed with Anxiety and began citalopram (anti depressant) - helped reduce physical pains

2003 - 2008 - coped with daily physical symptoms - sharp head pains, numbness, pins and needles, bad stomach, joint ached, muscle spasms endless list that supported anxiety. - Still on anti depressant but changed to Sertraline - 100mg daily now for 7 years! - Thinning hair = MORE anxiety!

2008 - broke arm whilst lifting weights in gym - humourous snapped doing a bench press - unheard of. Aged 26

2008 - contact with mother after 18 years and discovered she was a celiac - no further thoughts.

2009 - Mother gave 'Eat right for your blood type' - Blood group O avoid wheat.

2010 - Still taking daily 100mg of sertraline - still battle feeling crap most days. Aged 28

Past two months - past blood in stool. Decided to alter diet and loose some wheat. Last week went on cabbage diet and after 3 days felt great! Although hungry. Ate a chinese curry - FELT Crap!

Now - Back on wheat free diet and after 4 days I find myself in A&E last night for the first time in 4 years with an almighty panick attack. I have become an expert at controlling these but this was BIG and didn't want to be surpressed. Needless to say vitals were fine.

Today - tired, weak and confused - with muscle spasms going crazy between my eyes!

My doctors have been crap. Every diagnostic I have made and have NEVER in 8 years of every 2 months been given anything apart from medication and advice to see a councellor. Hence my Generalised Anxiety Disorder AKA unsure name tag.

I have had enough and just want to feel free from back aches, head aches, cruddy feelings, anger and mood swings.

I read somewhere about withdrawal from gluten - could this be it?

Has anyone else been diagnosed with Anxiety, given meds and then to find that they have an intolerance to wheat and then recovered?

Not so short but please if you are knowledgable and have an opinion please share.

Kind regards

[sb2178]

non-traumatic fracture in your twenties?? other symptoms are also possible celiac/gluten intolerance possibilities

1) get testing prior to gluten-free diet. A GP/PCP can do a blood panel and should. You can find tests listed here but basically:

IgA total

IgA AGA or DGP

IgG AGA or DGP

IgA TTG

EMA

2) if you are already gluten free and unwilling to consume gluten, get the genetics and follow-ups based on a celiac diagnosis. i.e. nutrient status, bone density, thyroid testing

3) stick faithfully to the diet.

[txplowgirl]

Hi Gad, Welcome to the forums.

There are a lot of us on here who have a lot of your symptoms and more and recovered. I had social anxiety disorder and clinical depression since I was 8 years old. Like a lot of us, I went through dozens of dr's who thought I was trying to get attention, all in my head, hypchondriach, etc. Been on so many different meds, not even funny. Skylark on here has recovered from almost life long bi polar symptoms.

It wasn't until the age of 44 that I found out about celiac. 6 months in AFTER I took out gluten, dairy AND soy, I am no longer in depression and my anxiety disorder is gone. No meds whatsoever. It can be done. When I get any of these 3 everything comes back and lasts anywhwere from 2 hours to 4 days depending how much I ingested.

Yes, you definetly can be going through withdrawals.

Hang in there and give it time, unless you want the tests. Then you have to be eating a full gluten diet and even then the tests are notorious for giving false negatives.

Read, read read, you will be amazed at the caring people here and all the information. Good luck and I hope you get to felling better.

[GAD.. AKA unsure....]

Thanks both - really appreciate.

Just waiting for the brain fog to clear and muscle spasms to calm down.

Really hoping to find some balance and have decided to remove dairy also - Is there any cheese I can eat? I know just from life experience that my gut reacts badly to milk so will exclude that as of today.

I hope that this is just an issue of changing parts of my diet - would be amazing if I could feel good for Christmas!

Best wishes

[psawyer]

There are two things in milk that can cause problems: lactose and casein. If you are reacting to casein (milk protein), then you must avoid all dairy. If you are reacting to lactose (milk sugar), then you may be able to eat some products, such as hard cheeses, where the process removes the lactose.

Many newly diagnosed celiacs who are lactose intolerant find that, once the villi heal, they can again tolerate lactose. The enzyme required to digest lactose is produced in the tips of the villi.

[GAD.. AKA unsure....]

Thanks Psawyer

I plan to cut out Gluten, dairy and Soy for 2-3months and see how I feel.

I am excited and hope that this is a new chapter for me.

Best wishes

A

[zeta-lilly]

This of it this way, you've suffered through hell (like most of us have), and found out that you have the power to cure yourself. It's a very empowering way to look at things!

Yes, it does sound like gluten could be the key. You said wheat free, but make sure you're taking out all forms of gluten, not just wheat. Also, things like MSG and artificial sweeteners can really do a number on people too, so watch the chemicals in your food as well.

Personally, I suggest removing one thing from your diet at a time to see what is doing what. If you take several things out at once, you won't really be able to separate them out. I suggest first gluten, then dairy, etc.

And yes, I struggled with anxiety for years, was on a TON of meds and everyone just kept telling me to snap out of it. People really don't have an understanding of anxiety. They think you can just talk yourself out of being anxious. After a year and a half of being off anxiety medications and not displaying any symptoms of anxiety, I think my parents FINALLY believe that I have gluten intolerance and that it was causing it in the first place. Lol, oh the journeys we take!

[GAD.. AKA unsure....]

Hi Zeta_lilly

Really great to hear from you - and really encouraging to hear that you have come off the meds, really well done! This is my ultimate goal. My anxiety has come through almost completely physical symptoms and I pray that these subside and I can reduce the meds gradually.

If this works for me I will be the happiest man alive! To live a good healthy life is all I can wish for.

Peace and love.

[divine1]

Have been gluten free for about 7 weeks now after 10 years of being told I had IBS. Was hospitalized a few times with digestive problems and have ALWAYS known where every bathroom in every store, restaurant, etc was. Even had emergency keys for several houses in town. After seeing a nateuropath in October, I went gluten free, dairy free and yeast free and felt almost instantly better. After being dizzy for 3 years and developing a panic disorder I find that all of these symptoms are subsiding. I no longer feel like I am looking through someome elses eyes, my mind has cleared and my confidence is starting to come back. Yippee! So, after all of this, my Drs still look at me like I have two heads, cannot get in to see a gastroenterologist till May 2011 (have been waiting since March 2010), and have never had any scopes done. I know for a fact I don't have two heads. Lol. The clincher: was in the city on Friday for christmas shopping and appointments. Had NO time for any special food (I usually order a burger and eat it without the bun with a knife and fork) so ordered and ate a big Mac. Well, let me tell ya, lesson learned. Have been down and out for 3 days now with major cramping, gas, nausea, and diarhea, and the symptoms didn't start until 24 hours later. I will now look at my Drs as if they have two heads, because nobody knows my body like I do, I have have known for years things weren't right.

[India]

Hi there,

My anxiety used to be much worse than it is now. I've been gluten free for a year and it did take some time. I think giving up soy also helped. I'm certainly better than I was.

From your email, you sound as if you're in the UK. Have you been tested or asked for testing for coeliac disease? I don't think a GP could refuse as you seem to have several symptoms which suggest you may have the condition, plus a genetic link. This document by the UK's National Institute of Clinical Excellence on the recognition and assessment of coeliac disease may be useful. It includes flowcharts of who should be tested for coeliac disease - Open Original Shared Link

To be tested, you'd need to be eating gluten again for several weeks first. For me, this was definitely worth it, as I now have the satisfaction of pointing out to my doctor that I am not just a crazy lady

[T.H.]

Hoping it is continuing to improve for you!

My anxiety is raised when I get gluten, but not so severely, but my daughters sounds on par with yours. Here's almost always hits 1-2 days after she gets gluten (sometimes the day of, if she gets it early in the day) and it's bad, and takes a few days to recover from. I very much hope that the same can be found for you.

So sorry the doctors have not been helpful. That looks to be far too common among our group of folks. My daughter and I were diagnosed, but not my son. However, he's had issues since birth, and when we took him off of gluten anyway, they've gone away. Makes me angry that such a simple thing could have helped him out, and yet it was never looked at.

At least there's the internet, thank goodness!