Jump to content

  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):

    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Anxiety And Vulnerable Feeling When Glutened

rustycat

By rustycat
in Coping with Celiac Disease

Recommended Posts

rustycat Rookie
rustycat
Posted

I had an incident with accidental cross-contamination this week. When I realized what had happened, I watched carefully to see what was going on with my emotions because I had always suspected that there has been a major change in my emotions since going gluten free.

From 5PM when the incident happened, I tracked the following:

-felt fine until bedtime at 10PM

-woke up feeling a little vulnerable and sensitive

-by about noon, I was convinced that everyone I work with thought I was a hopeless incompetent and an awful person. This made me withdraw and feel very defensive.

-by late afternoon, the full anxiety hit full force and didn't go away until about 9PM. The anxiety is debilitating and makes it hard to make logical decisions.

-the next day I felt fine

Wow, I can't believe I spent most of my life feeling that way. I had no idea how abnormal it was to feel so much anxiety. I get excellent ratings at work, so my thoughts were far from the truth.

Has anyone else experienced that similar changes in their emotions with/without gluten?

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


Skylark Collaborator
Skylark
Posted

Yep. I used to be bipolar from the effects of gluten on my mind.

Nowadays if I get into gluten I wake up at 3 in the morning frightened of a noise in the house or I can't stop worrying about something stupid.

Muffy Rookie
Muffy
Posted

I have also been CC'd this week and noticed the big change in my mood. I get anxiety with hopeless dark moods as well. And I also get really paraniod and have serious brian fog. It gets increasingly severe if I get CC'd frequently and don't have a lot of time to get it out of my system in between - a cumulative effect. dry.gif

eatmeat4good Enthusiast
eatmeat4good
Posted

That has been my biggest relief on going gluten free: Finding out that the internal angst, underlying sense of despair, and a grief-stricken sense of loss for no reason have all gone away. Anxiety no longer happens unless I get glutened.

rustycat Rookie
rustycat
Posted
  • Author

Yep. I used to be bipolar from the effects of gluten on my mind.

Nowadays if I get into gluten I wake up at 3 in the morning frightened of a noise in the house or I can't stop worrying about something stupid.

That's something else that I used to have, now that I think of it.

I have also been CC'd this week and noticed the big change in my mood. I get anxiety with hopeless dark moods as well. And I also get really paraniod and have serious brian fog. It gets increasingly severe if I get CC'd frequently and don't have a lot of time to get it out of my system in between - a cumulative effect. dry.gif

Paranoid feelings have been with me from the gluten, as well. I was scared to share that with anyone because I don't think I ever wanted anyone else to know how bad it was and the paranoia, of course, made that all worse. Cutting back on gluten made it less severe, but it didn't go away until the gluten was banished.

That has been my biggest relief on going gluten free: Finding out that the internal angst, underlying sense of despair, and a grief-stricken sense of loss for no reason have all gone away. Anxiety no longer happens unless I get glutened.

I thought those types of feelings were a part of my being. It's all that I had ever known. Now, I just need to learn coping skills for when cc happens again.

Now I find out that I'm actually a pretty happy, upbeat person. Who knew? :)

revenant Enthusiast
revenant
Posted

feeling vulnerable... woah! I have a fear of vulnerability, I can look back on my childhood and feel a horror filled vulnerable feeling for no reason, and have always wondered where it came from.. But, looking back, I always felt that way too!! Thankyou for sharing :) Good that it only lasted a day

  • 1 month later...
OasisFlyer Newbie
OasisFlyer
Posted

Yep. I used to be bipolar from the effects of gluten on my mind.

Nowadays if I get into gluten I wake up at 3 in the morning frightened of a noise in the house or I can't stop worrying about something stupid.

How interesting! I'm new here (untested and undiagnosed, hoping to change that at the doc tomorrow), but have been diagnosed with bipolar in the past (currently untreated) and wonder if going gluten free could help with my mental troubles as well. This forum is amazing!!!

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


txplowgirl Enthusiast
txplowgirl
Posted

Ever since I was a kid I had had a knot in the pit of my stomach. Social anxiety disorder, clinical depression, no matter what kind of anti depressants I was on that knot never went away. After kicking out the gluten, soy and dairy everything went away even the knot that I thought was natural. 6 months after kicking everything out of my system I tried to do a gluten challenge. Oh lord, everything came back with a vengeance even the knot, except mine lasted a whole week. I never want to experience that again.

  • 2 weeks later...
aliasyncope Newbie
aliasyncope
Posted

Oh my Goodness!!! There are people out there like me!!! I just started switching from gluten filled food to gluten free food. I noticed almost right away that I can control my emotions and not get confused, angry, cry, and every other unwanted emotion in the world. I am so amazed at what not eating Gluten filled foods have changed my life!!! I have two other people who witnessed this change as well. I used to get upset if I couldn't find a hair tie at times and other times panic because of someone not wanting to speak to me or something so irrational it wasn't even funny. The days or following day after eating gluten filled foods, make me more able to cry if someone says something that is hurt full. It is amazing how "normal" I act after trying to avoid gluten. Milk doesn't seem to have any effect on me as of yet when I do have it. If I eat a little gluten I can at times still control my emotions but I have to be so careful now with it. I think my Mother is gluten intolerant too. Not eating gluten has changed the darkness into light so far. I am about two weeks into this food restriction and feeling great!!! I was looking on a nutritionist Guru Gary Null's website www.garynull.com. It said that those with bipolar most likely need to reduce gluten and dairy if not totally cut it out of their systems. I have yet to try anything else yet. But this has helped me so far and I am slowly working up to adding the vitamins and minerals that I need to help this disorder. Just with these to things being carefully limited has made an incredible different in my life. I am just amazed.

eatmeat4good Enthusiast
eatmeat4good
Posted

Welcome! I'm so glad eliminating gluten is doing good things for you! It is important for you to know that once it is out of your system, you might become ever more sensitive to it. Many of us have had this happen. So limiting gluten may not be enough. You will need to watch for cross contamination and even a little speck of flour dust can make you have a reaction if your are truly gluten intolerant. Limiting it helps, but being really strict about it helps even more. I just wanted to warn you about this because it may not be obvious to you that it could be tiny cross contamination happening if you do start to react again.

Yes! There are people out here like you! I'm so glad you found out about gluten. It will change your life and certainly your emotions for the better!

  • 4 months later...
Sheriinwi Newbie
Sheriinwi
Posted

I wanted to reply to this post because for years I have been going back and forth about the whole gluten thing. First of all, I have been constipated for nearly all my life and it was detrimental for me as a child because I never felt like I was like everyone else. Things started to change at age 25 when I had my son. There were periods of time when I would eat and I would be so sick and nauseous that all I could do was rock back and forth to try and eliminate it. I finally headed off to the GI specialist where he told me I had IBS. I was always a very thin person up until I had my kids and now I am so much heavier and miserable. This brought me to try the South Beach Diet where I eliminated all carbs for 2 weeks. I felt really great up until I started adding in "healthy carbs." Immediately after eating a healthy bagel did I realize it wasn't going down so well. I did at one point get tested for celiac but was avoiding it and it came back negative. Overall, I have avoided gluten because it makes me feel so much better but every now and then I will fall off and eat gluten. You think I would learn by now but no. As of right now, I am going through terrible irritability and can't even stand myself and my throat and ear hurts. I can't wait until this is over. Also when I eat it, especially at night, I will wake up with the sorest tender stomach and I can't even touch it. My medical history also includes endometriosis (hysterectomy at 31) and thyroid nodules. I am wondering if anyone else suffers from severe PMS when on gluten. My daughter has really bad PMS also where she is paranoid, moody and it really affects her.

  • 2 weeks later...
Austin Guy Contributor
Austin Guy
Posted

I recently dealt with CC and while driving was paranoid that I would die in an auto accident. I was scared of every car on the road.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Celiac.com:
    Join eNewsletter
    Donate
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):
    Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):



    Celiac.com Sponsors (A17-M):



  • Recent Activity

    1. knitty kitty
      - knitty kitty replied to lizzie42's topic in Post Diagnosis, Recovery & Treatment of Celiac Disease
      2

      Son's legs shaking

      @lizzie42, You're being a good mom, seeking answers for your son. Cheers! Subclinical thiamine deficiency commonly occurs with anemia. An outright Thiamine deficiency can be precipitated by the consumption of a high carbohydrate meal. Symptoms of Thiamine deficiency include feeling shakey or wobbly in the legs, muscle weakness or cramps...
    2. Scott Adams
      - Scott Adams replied to Paulaannefthimiou's topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & Medications
      2

      Bob red mill gluten free oats

      Oats naturally contain a protein called avenin, which is similar to the gluten proteins found in wheat, barley, and rye. While avenin is generally considered safe for most people with celiac disease, some individuals, around 5-10% of celiacs, may also have sensitivity to avenin, leading to symptoms similar to gluten exposure. You may fall into this...
    3. knitty kitty
      - knitty kitty replied to SamAlvi's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
      6

      High TTG-IgG and Normal TTG-IgA

      @SamAlvi, It's common with anemia to have a lower tTg IgA antibodies than DGP IgG ones, but your high DGP IgG scores still point to Celiac disease. Since a gluten challenge would pose further health damage, you may want to ask for a DNA test to see if you have any of the commonly known genes for Celiac disease. Though having the genes for Celiac...
    4. trents
      - trents replied to SamAlvi's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
      6

      High TTG-IgG and Normal TTG-IgA

      Currently, there are no tests for NCGS. Celiac disease must first be ruled out and we do have testing for celiac disease. There are two primary test modalities for diagnosing celiac disease. One involves checking for antibodies in the blood. For the person with celiac disease, when gluten is ingested, it produces an autoimmune response in the lining...
    5. SamAlvi
      - SamAlvi replied to SamAlvi's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
      6

      High TTG-IgG and Normal TTG-IgA

      Thank you for the clarification and for taking the time to explain the terminology so clearly. I really appreciate your insight, especially the distinction between celiac disease and NCGS and how anemia can point more toward celiac. This was very helpful for me.
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):

  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      132,868
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748
    LMGarrison
    Newest Member
    LMGarrison
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):

  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.5k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):

  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • knitty kitty
      Son's legs shaking

      By knitty kitty · Posted

      @lizzie42, You're being a good mom, seeking answers for your son.  Cheers! Subclinical thiamine deficiency commonly occurs with anemia.  An outright Thiamine deficiency can be precipitated by the consumption of a high carbohydrate meal.   Symptoms of Thiamine deficiency include feeling shakey or wobbly in the legs, muscle weakness or cramps, as well as aggression and irritability, confusion, mood swings and behavior changes.  Thiamine is essential to the production of neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine which keep us calm and rational.   @Jsingh, histamine intolerance is also a symptom of Thiamine deficiency.  Thiamine is needed to prevent mast cells from releasing histamine at the slightest provocation as is seen in histamine intolerance.  Thiamine and the other B vitamins and Vitamin C are needed to clear histamine from the body.  Without sufficient thiamine and other B vitamins to clear it, the histamine builds up.  High histamine levels can change behavior, too.  High histamine levels are found in the brains of patients with schizophrenia.  Thiamine deficiency can also cause extreme hunger or conversely anorexia.   High carbohydrate meals can precipitate thiamine deficiency because additional thiamine is required to process carbohydrates for the body to use as fuel.  The more carbohydrates one eats daily, the more one needs additional thiamine above the RDA.  Thiamine is water soluble, safe and nontoxic even in high doses. Keep in mind that gluten-free processed foods like cookies and such are not required to be fortified and enriched with vitamins and minerals like their gluten containing counterparts are.  Limit processed gluten-free foods.  They are often full of empty calories and unhealthy saturated fats and additives, and are high in histamine or histamine release triggers.  It's time you bought your own vitamins to supplement what is not being absorbed due to malabsorption of Celiac disease.  Benfotiamine is a form of Thiamine that has been shown to improve intestinal health as well as brain function. Do talk to your doctors and dieticians about supplementing with the essential vitamins and minerals while your children are growing up gluten free.  Serve nutritionally dense foods.  Meats and liver are great sources of B vitamins and minerals. Hope this helps!  Keep us posted on your progress!
    • Scott Adams
      Bob red mill gluten free oats

      By Scott Adams · Posted

      Oats naturally contain a protein called avenin, which is similar to the gluten proteins found in wheat, barley, and rye. While avenin is generally considered safe for most people with celiac disease, some individuals, around 5-10% of celiacs, may also have sensitivity to avenin, leading to symptoms similar to gluten exposure. You may fall into this category, and eliminating them is the best way to figure this out. Some people substitute gluten-free quinoa flakes for oats if they want a hot cereal substitute. If you are interested in summaries of scientific publications on the topic of oats and celiac disease, we have an entire category dedicated to it which is here: https://www.celiac.com/celiac-disease/oats-and-celiac-disease-are-they-gluten-free/   
    • knitty kitty
      High TTG-IgG and Normal TTG-IgA

      By knitty kitty · Posted

      @SamAlvi, It's common with anemia to have a lower tTg IgA antibodies than DGP IgG ones, but your high DGP IgG scores still point to Celiac disease.   Since a gluten challenge would pose further health damage, you may want to ask for a DNA test to see if you have any of the commonly known genes for Celiac disease.  Though having the genes for Celiac is not diagnostic in and of itself, taken with the antibody tests, the anemia and your reaction to gluten, it may be a confirmation you have Celiac disease.   Do discuss Gastrointestinal Beriberi with your doctors.  In Celiac disease, Gastrointestinal Beriberi is frequently overlooked by doctors.  The digestive system can be affected by localized Thiamine deficiency which causes symptoms consistent with yours.  Correction of nutritional deficiencies quickly is beneficial.  Benfotiamine, a form of thiamine, helps improve intestinal health.  All eight B vitamins, including Thiamine (Benfotiamine), should be supplemented because they all work together.   The B vitamins are needed in addition to iron to correct anemia.   Hope this helps!  Keep us posted on your progress!
    • trents
      High TTG-IgG and Normal TTG-IgA

      By trents · Posted

      Currently, there are no tests for NCGS. Celiac disease must first be ruled out and we do have testing for celiac disease. There are two primary test modalities for diagnosing celiac disease. One involves checking for antibodies in the blood. For the person with celiac disease, when gluten is ingested, it produces an autoimmune response in the lining of the small bowel which generates specific kinds of antibodies. Some people are IGA deficient and such that the IGA antibody tests done for celiac disease will have skewed results and cannot be trusted. In that case, there are IGG tests that can be ordered though, they aren't quite as specific for celiac disease as the IGA tests. But the possibility of IGA deficiency is why a "total IGA" test should always be ordered along with the TTG-IGA. The other modality is an endoscopy (scoping of the upper GI track) with a biopsy of the small bowel lining. The aforementioned autoimmune response produces inflammation in the small bowel lining which, over time, damages the structure of the lining. The biopsy is sent to a lab and microscopically analyzed for signs of this damage. If the damage is severe enough, it can often be spotted during the scoping itself. The endoscopy/biopsy is used as confirmation when the antibody results are positive, since there is a small chance that elevated antibody test scores can be caused by things other than celiac disease, particularly when the antibody test numbers are not particularly high. If the antibody test numbers are 10x normal or higher, physicians will sometimes declare an official diagnosis of celiac disease without an endoscopy/biopsy, particularly in the U.K. Some practitioners use stool tests to detect celiac disease but this modality is not widely recognized in the medical community as valid. Both celiac testing modalities outlined above require that you have been consuming generous amounts of gluten for weeks/months ahead of time. Many people make the mistake of experimenting with the gluten free diet or even reducing their gluten intake prior to testing. By doing so, they invalidate the testing because antibodies stop being produced, disappear from the blood and the lining of the small bowel begins to heal. So, then they are stuck in no man's land, wondering if they have celiac disease or NCGS. To resume gluten consumption, i.e., to undertake a "gluten challenge" is out of the question because their reaction to gluten is so strong that it would endanger their health. The lining of the small bowel is the place where all of the nutrition in the food we consume is absorbed. This lining is made up of billions of microscopically tiny fingerlike projections that create a tremendous nutrient absorption surface area. The inflammation caused by celiac disease wears down these fingers and greatly reduces the surface area needed for nutrient absorption. Thus, people with celiac disease often develop iron deficiency anemia and a host of other vitamin and mineral deficiencies. It is likely that many more people who have issues with gluten suffer from NCGS than from celiac disease. We actually know much more about the mechanism of celiac disease than we do about NCGS but some experts believe NCGS can transition into celiac disease.
    • SamAlvi
      High TTG-IgG and Normal TTG-IgA

      By SamAlvi · Posted

      Thank you for the clarification and for taking the time to explain the terminology so clearly. I really appreciate your insight, especially the distinction between celiac disease and NCGS and how anemia can point more toward celiac. This was very helpful for me.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.