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Glutened And Anxiety

kittty

By kittty
in Coping with Celiac Disease

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kittty Contributor
kittty
Posted

Hi All,

Before I went gluten free I frequently went through episodes of extreme anxiety and panic attacks, sometimes lasting for several months at a time. The panic was mostly irrational, but would increase over any little piece of stress life threw at me. This anxiety was so bad that I would gladly replace it with the worst physical pain I had ever felt.

When I went gluten-free the anxiety went away after about a week. I felt awesome - no more D, no more anxiety, lots more energy, no more migraines, no more brain fog, etc. But last week I was glutened and some of the symptoms came back. First, I had D(which includes passing lots of undigested food), then I had a bad migraine, and then I was sick with flu-like symptoms for about two days. And then the anxiety set in, and it hasn't gone away.

I'm assuming that after being glutened I wasn't absorbing any nutrients (because of passing undigested food), which lead to a mental imbalance. But my question is; how do I get that balance back as quickly as possible, and what can I do to prevent/shorten the anxiety after being glutened?

Is there a vitamin complex or a certain food that can help fix it ASAP? The problem is that, even after a week, I'm still seeing a lot of undigested food in my stools, so this probably means that I'm still not absorbing anything properly. Will it take my body long to fix itself? Does it just depend on the person?

I'm just so sick of being anxious and not being able to calm down. Now I'm anxious about being anxious.

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JoyK8 Newbie
JoyK8
Posted

I've found that my gluten-induced anxiety is related to magnesium deficiency. Magnesium binds to undigested fats so is quickly depleted with malabsorption. The easiest way to boost magnesium levels is to absorb through the skin. Epsom salts are actually magnesium sulphate. 1 to 2 cups in a warm bath for 20 minutes helps to reduce the anxiety immediately. Good luck!

kittty Contributor
kittty
Posted
  • Author

I've found that my gluten-induced anxiety is related to magnesium deficiency. Magnesium binds to undigested fats so is quickly depleted with malabsorption. The easiest way to boost magnesium levels is to absorb through the skin. Epsom salts are actually magnesium sulphate. 1 to 2 cups in a warm bath for 20 minutes helps to reduce the anxiety immediately. Good luck!

I love taking hot baths, so I'll definitely be trying that idea!

I used to take low-dose Xanax, but it didn't do much. It helped me sleep, but the anxiety would still be there when I woke up. The only thing that has ever helped is going gluten free.

There's an old thread that came up in a search that recommends taking daily fish oil. That makes a lot of sense, since I'm not absorbing as much fat and the brain needs lots of healthy fats to function.

Just hoping these gluten reactions go away quickly.

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