huevo-no-bueno

Thanks LoriG,

Allergies are an immune response, and of course if your immune system is under attack the adrenals are working overtime. I'm on the path now of trying to remove as many aggravations to my immune system as possible and give myself a chance....

As I read through this, it keeps making more and more sense....A couple hours after eating gluten the mental symptoms are as follows: social anxiety, slight dizziness, "down" feeling, both wired and tired at the same time, my inner critic gets really super loud...

I tested negative for celiac disease but was dx gluten intolerant and told to eliminate it. I've tested as having extremely low neurotransmitter levels, and have been on high levels of St. John's Wort (herbal serotonin booster) and amino acids to address the deficiency, for over a year. I know this was caused by gluten, because when I go off of gluten, it is like taking a happy pill; in about two days I start to feel "normal" again. And then after about 4 to 5 days I feel like the sun is shining and I finally know what it is like to actually be happy--and not in a constant self-berating, groggy funk. I liken this effect to a garden hose with a kink in it--you remove the gluten, you take the kink out of the hose, and everything flows as it should.

It was a relief to get to stop gluten (I was eating it in anticipation of a possible biopsy and I was totally miserable).

I can identify with every single mental/emotional symptom described here. And I used to be a total wheat freak. It was all or nothing for me. I'd go off of it for a few months, and then a day would come along when I would say, a little bit won't hurt. Sooner or later I had to have it every morning to feel "up." On some level I knew it was making me unwell, mentally.

And you know what I think? I'm no doctor, but for what it is worth: just because medicine doesn't have a test to measure the damage gluten does in some people's brains, does not mean that it isn't every bit as serious as celiac disease. It just happens to manifest in some people as one, or the other, or both.

So, as I understand it from reading the articles I'm linking to below, the theory is that the peptide chains in gluten don't break down in the gut. These large opioid peptides go into the brain, and jam into one's opiate receptors. Much like the toxins in our environment that mimic hormones in our bodies and jam themselves rudely into our hormone receptors, the key fits, but not quite. It is like jamming a square peg into a round hole. This places the "kink in the hose." Gluten comes in, and your own endorphins can't go into your receptors, so maybe your poor little natural endorphins give up and go home or something....And eventually the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis gets out of whack, and that's when physical effects of all sorts may ensue. Like adrenal fatigue, PMS, sleep problems, so-called emotional problems.

Anyway, here are the articles I found a while ago when I was googling this topic. If you've already seen them, I apologize; if not, I hope they are helpful for someone. I hope there is someday a test to see who has this "brain allergy" (an overly mild term, in my opinion) so that they can avoid all the confusion I had for years.

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Georgie,

Thanks for that link. I don't think that's what I have since my thyroid is fine. I have a relative with Hashimoto's, so I forwarded the link to them. I believe this person is an undiagnosed celiac.

With adrenals, even the subclinical can feel reeeeeaaallly bad....

huevo_no_bueno- (great name btw..yo amo el espanol ) Try coconut milk in your baking. This keeps gluten-free recipes moist, although I can't speak to egg free ones. My cousin is also allergic (we learned that the hard way with an anaphylactic reaction at the Passover table when she was a baby...poor kid) but she can have gluten. I've never baked without both.

How terrible for your cousin! I found out through standard food allergy testing.

Coconut milk--I'll try that. I am starting with recipes that don't call for eggs (from Gluten Free Vegan by Susan O'Brien and Gluten Free Kitchen by Robin Ryberg) but I need to replace some of the flours (no cornstarch, potato starch, or bean flours for me).

I'd also like to find a 1-1 baking substitute mix (home-mixed) for wheat flour that I can use with my old cookbooks. I have one cookbook, Small Batch Baking, which calls for wheat and eggs, but the batches are so small that I think I would be able to successfully make them with a rice and/or coconut flour mix and replacing the single egg most of the recipes call for. Many of the recipes also call for just a few tablespoons of flour.

What do you think coconut flour is most like? The bean flours, because of the protein?

I'm going to look around on the site for flour mixes......

I'm new and would also like to learn more about coconut flour.

I can't have eggs at all, and don't do so great with bean flours or potato or corn starch.

If I could figure out what proportions of rice flour, coconut flour, and perhaps arrowroot...or quinoa...or millet...or sweet rice flour....any combination of these (!) that I could use to substitute cup for cup in egg-free baking recipes, my life would be nearly complete....

Coconut flour is supposed to absorb a lot of water, and my egg-free experiments were dry, crumbly rocks that did not rise. Xanthan gum only made them into something that was oddly crumbly and spandex-like at the same time.

Could a mix with sweet rice flour help keep it moist?

When working with coconut flour, would there be an advantage to using baking soda & acidic liquid as the leavening agent, instead of baking powder? (Baking powder was what I used with my flops.)

How about 1/3 brown rice, 1/3 sweet rice, 1/3 coconut? Does it have to have tapioca or white flour?

I'm curious if anybody has tried something similar....I would be grateful...

Thanks for your support here....

I'm still waiting; and this is a three-day weekend so I'm hoping that I get my results in the mail on Tuesday.

In the meantime, I am eating gluten, and I am so bleeping tired and even a bit weepy.

My appointment with the gastroenterologist is Feb. 27. That's not the biopsy, that is just the first appointment. I'm hoping that after I get the bloodwork back I can get in sooner, so I can get all of this over with. I absolutely cannot tolerate being this tired, bloated, etc. The headaches are nauseating. C alternates with D and alternates with "ribbony." I am in a haze at work; I haven't gone to the gym since before the Super bowl; I have this weird sense of doom. The worst part is being so tired, like I can hardly drag myself around.

Ugh.

Cross your fingers that I'm able to get biopsied and through this mess by the end of the week! I know that's an ambitious wish but I want relief!

This is a very interesting and informative thread. Thanks

I have a question. I have had adrenal issues for a long time--eventually the bovine adrenal cortex quit working for me and I was still very tired.

I was prescribed bio-identical cortisol, 5mg three times per day. I have been taking it for a week.

Normally, whenever I would resume or increase my adrenal cortex supplements, I would feel better in about two days! But I am not noticing much at all with the cortisol.

1. I am wondering if it is absorbed differently than the adrenal cortex, or if it takes longer to kick in--which doesn't make intuitive sense to me, because straight cortisol should be stronger and more direct than the adrenal cortex supplement.
   
2. I read in this thread that if one is an unhealed celiac, cortisol can be dangerous. I'm wondering if I am just not absorbing it. (I am currently eating gluten and am in the middle of the diagnostic process.)
   

Thanks for any information you might have!

If you have been eating a lot of gluten for three years, and have limited gluten for three weeks (but weren't really entirely gluten-free), and have been eating it again for these past days, you probably will still get accurate test results. Just make sure you get the whole panel done.

If you want to get the biopsy as well, you will have to continue eating gluten until after the biopsy.

Seeing your bad reaction to gluten, you probably should stop eating it again right after the biopsy (without waiting for results first), as at the least you are obviously intolerant to gluten.

Thanks. I'm getting the full panel this time. I'm fairly certain it will lead to scheduling the biopsy. I feel way worse after re-introducing gluten than I felt while I was on it. I don't think I can do this much longer. I'd rather stay in bed Hope I can get that done as soon as possible. I'd like to stop eating gluten after the blood test, but I won't.

Thank you for the links. I will print them out and show them to Dr.

I am new here.

There is a lot of discussion on celiac and gluten intolerance having a connection to autoimmune thyroid disease.

I am wondering about the connection to autoimmune adrenal issues--it just makes sense!

Take a look at this link if you wish. Open Original Shared Link It discusses adrenocorticol autoantibodies and 21-hydrozy enzymes.

Thanks for chiming in!

Hello, I'm new, and sorry if my post is redundant.

I am getting the celiac panel blood test tomorrow. My doctor, who is generally very well informed and up to date, said I don't have to be eating gluten before the test.

I was IgA-gliadin positive four years ago, but due to all-around ignorance, I was not given the rest of the panel. I was gluten-free for less than a year, and decided to eat it again because I only had the one test. I have now been on gluten for three years.

About three weeks ago, I drastically limited all grains in my diet in an effort to clear up my skin--my whole gluten free experiment from '04 was the last thing on my mind. A bunch of telltale symptoms improved. I told my doctor. She ordered the celiac panel for Monday. This was last Thursday.

During my two weeks without much grains, I ate wheat on two of those days and felt awful. Since Thursday, I've been eating wheat at every meal, since I hadn't had any in about a week or so prior. I feel awful, and I'm wondering if it is bad enough to not get a false negative. Mind you, I'm eating a lot of wheat right now, and prior to my recent almost-gluten-free experiment, I was eating a lot of wheat for three years.

What do y'all think?

By the way, I'm also very allergic to eggs--hence the forum name.