Can Gluten Contamination Cause Seizures

[Tig]

Its been a decade now since I've been having seizures. I've seen many great neurologist who have prescribe me over six anti-epileptic meds and none seem to work. I've gotten MRI's and catscans done and they find no abnormalities in my brain. So now I'm desperate. I figured it maybe something I'm eating that my brain doesn't like. When I go to a nutritionist she tells me I have gluten allergies. In my country our main foods are either made with wheat or barley. She says all these years I've been depriving myself from nutrients. Basically I'm malnutritioned. So when she does this food allergy test she tells me I'm allergic to gluten, corn, and soy. So what, am I posed to starve to death? And could this gluten allergy thing be the real answer to my seizures?? Please help me figure this out

[lovegrov]

Gluten allergy or celiac, which is an autoimmune disease? The two can cause different problems (although I think seizures, while possible, are rare with either one).

richard

[weluvgators]

I know of three people in my small community that get seizures from gluten. One is a classic celiac diagnosis - she was sent by her neurologist to a disbelieving GI who was shocked to find that she was "the worst case" he had ever seen! She had been suffering from idiopathic seizures until they figured out the celiac disease. That was quite a struggle as she is a mother of three young children who was often the sole care provider for them! The other two people that I know who get seizures from gluten are a mother and son. It is quite evident for both of them that gluten exposure (even "just" CC) sends them into seizure. And again, it is a mother of three children (none of whom can drive her home if this happens when they are out!!) that suffers from this horrid side effect of gluten contamination. For the second family, I believe that idiopathic, fatal strokes at relatively young ages also appear in their genetics. The other family has fatty liver disease (amongst alcohol abstainers), thyroid and parathyroid dysfuntion that has also presented.

[GlutenFreeManna]

Its been a decade now since I've been having seizures. I've seen many great neurologist who have prescribe me over six anti-epileptic meds and none seem to work. I've gotten MRI's and catscans done and they find no abnormalities in my brain. So now I'm desperate. I figured it maybe something I'm eating that my brain doesn't like. When I go to a nutritionist she tells me I have gluten allergies. In my country our main foods are either made with wheat or barley. She says all these years I've been depriving myself from nutrients. Basically I'm malnutritioned. So when she does this food allergy test she tells me I'm allergic to gluten, corn, and soy. So what, am I posed to starve to death? And could this gluten allergy thing be the real answer to my seizures?? Please help me figure this out

What country are you in? Perhaps there is somethign being lost in language translation. There is allergy to the gluten grains (wheat, barely, rye) and there is celiac disease or gluten intolerance. These are two different things. Celiac disease is an auto-immune reaction, not the same thing as an allergy. It would be good if you can get your tests to find out which tests they ran to find out about this "allergy". If they did not run a celaic panel then you will wan tot have that done BEFORE you go gluten free. If they did a celaic panel and it was positve then you need to be gltuen free regardles sof whether the seizures are caused by the gltuen. The gluten is making your body starve because it is not allowing you to absorb nutrients from your food. Eat simple gluten-free foods like meat, vegetables, fruit, plain rice, potatoes, etc. you will not starve tryign to eat gluten-free.

Now all that said, I had seizures prior to going gluten free and have not had one since. My seizures were not for as many years as you and were not severe/long lasting ones. Seizures can be caused by many things,so gluten may not be the cause for you. In my case the drs think it was gltuen attacking the brain or related to severe malnutrition somehow. Very little research has been done on the neuological reactions to gluten and seizures are a rare reaction. You can trial a gluten free diet and see if it helps you. Do not expect to see immediate results however. It may take many months to recover from neurological issues caused by gluten if that is the cause of your seizures.

[Reba32]

have you tried a ketogenic diet to control your seizures? Open Original Shared Link

[lovegrov]

Three in one small community? Wow. I was diagnosed 10 years ago and have never personally met anybody who has seizures from wheat, at least nobody that's told me they do. I've heard of a few online and had a friend who told me about somebody he met.

richard

[weluvgators]

I have only researched this for others, so not very well. But here are some links if you want to read more:

https://www.celiac.com/articles/116/1/Epilepsy-and-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

That was what I found with a quick Google search. Hope it helps! I never considered it that unusual.

[T.H.]

I never considered it that unusual.

I wonder, too, if we tend to meet more people with severe reactions when we have more severe issues with gluten ourselves. Everyone who is not having too much trouble probably doesn't go searching out answers and support as often, I imagine.

[lovegrov]

Of course I'm not saying there's no link, just that its not real common. I've had contact with all sorts of folks with celiac.

richard

[mushroom]

In our highly symptomatic family only one member has ever been tested and the diagnosis was positive for celiac. Several members have passed on and can never be tested. One sister refuses to be tested. Another sister and I eat gluten free because we would not go back on gluten to be tested. My brother, who had massive digestive problems as a baby, failure to thrive (took Human Growth Hormone ultimately when he was a bit older), and had the family "digestive problems," developed a seizure disorder later in life that had the doctors diagnostically stumped and no medication controlled it. It was not severe but it did ultimately lead to his death from complications of a seizure. This is anecdotal only, but I would bet dollars to donuts that it was gluten-related.

[jebby]

There have actually been quite a few case reports in pediatric and neurologic medical journals over the last few years showing that celiac disease can lead to seizures. I will try to post some links later on. I do have a co-worker whose seizures went away once she was gluten-free, and she is now off all of her anti-epileptic medications.

[jebby]

References linking celiac disease with seizures/epilepsy (from pubmed.gov):

1. Pediatr Neurol. 2007 Mar;36(3):165-9. Increased prevalence of silent celiac disease among Greek epileptic children. Antigoni M, Xinias I, Theodouli P, Karatza E, Maria F, Panteliadis C, Spiroglou

K.

2. Mov Disord. 2009 Oct 30;24(14):2162-3. Gluten sensitivity presenting as myoclonic epilepsy with cerebellar syndrome. Sallem FS, Castro LM, Jorge C, Marchiori P, Barbosa E.

3. Neurologist. 2006 Nov;12(6):318-21. Epilepsy and celiac disease: favorable outcome with a gluten-free diet in a patient refractory to antiepileptic drugs. Canales P, Mery VP, Larrondo FJ, Bravo FL, Godoy J.

4. J Assoc Physicians India. 2010 Aug;58:512-5. Intractable seizures and metabolic bone disease secondary to celiac disease. Maniar VP, Yadav SS, Gokhale YA.

5. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2009 Jun;80(6):626-30. Epub 2009 Feb 24. Hippocampal sclerosis in refractory temporal lobe epilepsy is associated with gluten sensitivity. Peltola M, Kaukinen K, Dastidar P, Haimila K, Partanen J, Haapala AM, M√