SO after the last year and a half of suffering and two seperate docors telling me there was nothing wrong with me, I think I have pinpointed gluten as the problem. All the high night time cortisol, insomnia, gut pain which I thought were parasites, but never got any out ( except candida), burry vision, hypoglycemia, bone and joint pain- my endo said i was too young to do a bone density scan, can you believe it? and referred me to a nuerologist, pyschiatrist- didnt even do any hormone level testing, just for diabetes. I had been getting baaad muscle cramps, then discovered magnesium and realized i was severely deficient in that. And my acidity level which stayed around 6. All the collagen wasting, muscle loss, it all makes sense.
About 2 to 3 months ago, I decided to go raw vegan. The first thing I noticed was my digestion improved immediately. the next day, normal stool. Then one day after doing 3 huge green smoothies before 2, I realized it was 8 pm and I wasnt hungry, no hypo and i slept 8 hrs that night, no drugs. People said I looked better. Well I work in a restaurant and it is near impossible to keep up the number of calories unless you are UBER prepared, and even then you cant stop and eat, so after about a month I decided to eat" regular food" again, just to make it through my shifts. Well the the glassy, blurry eyes with th horriffic brain fog came back, and i thought maybe the meat is too hard on my liver. The pain I was feeling that I thought was my liver may very well be the duodenim/gallbaldder area becaus after ingesting hella magnesium ( in addition to th fact i drink lots of lemon water all day long) I had a 3 day stint in the bathroom, with what i think were stones all floating on top, hundreds, some were green, i never saw anything like that before. During this time i was resarching osteoprosis and it kept coming back to celiac disase so i finally read about it, took a day to go gluten free and sure enough I was clear as a bell. So I did it 2 more days, and even with little sleep I felt 100 times better, I dont get that ovrwhelming fog exhaustion. It was not the meat being hard on my liver.
There is a test for celiac (I am scandanavian with blood type O) but in order to do it you start eating gluten again. I have children and its hereditary so i probably will do it. It is lifelong autoimmune, which would explain my hypo diagnosis at 15, lifelong exhaustion, mood disorders, and of course my drinking was the worst thing i could have done. Once again, I have not been tested yet but this will be day 4 and last night I went out bowling after 4 hrs of sleep and working all day and last night I slept pretty good. I drink chammomile tea to calm any intestinal inflammation before I go to bed. I am still juicing a lot, even more now that I know my poor body was just starving for god knows how long. I am very concerened about my bones still, I will have to fight the doctor on that one. i really hope this is it and the war will be over and I can finally get my life back.
That is great. Celiac and Gluten sensitivity is on the rise here in North America as I'm sure it's the same around the world. Many people experience body breakdown symptoms, not just gut issues but anything under the sun. The problem is it interferes with digestion and so many things can go wrong as a result.
Definitely stay off the gluten. I've been off of it now for 2 years straight, but had suspicions and cut down on it bigtime around 4-5 years ago.
I will never go back. A while ago I had the celiac antibody test that came back negative. This was when I was still eating it. That confused the heck out of me until I found out more about gluten intolerance and that you may not have full blown celiac but could be ultra sensitive. Just recently I had an Alcat test done which showed Moderate allergy and to avoid it for 6 months. Well, I've avoided it for longer than that and still am very sensitive to it because I've had a few accidental happenings with gluten and felt like garbage for weeks.
That's the problem, when the sensitivity is strong, it can screw you up from a few days to a few weeks or more.
Even if I get rid of this allergy, I most likely will not ever deliberately eat Gluten again.
It would be nice to know that I don't have to be so careful to avoid the slightest drop of it. That's something I look forward to, but I'm so used to washing my hands and being very careful with ingredients that it's become a part of my life and I'm so much healthier now than I have ever been. To replace all the wheat products I've ventured off and found all sorts of foods I would have never eaten. I'm grateful for that and look at it like it's a blessing in disguise.
Thank you. I know it is going to take a long time to heal, but I would rather know now than to not know for another 10 years. I dont know if I am more angry at or feel sorry for all the people who choose not to educate themselves and refuse to listen because it is not something a doctor tells you. How many times have I heard "did a doctor tell you that?" and "get off web md". One day they will be sick and suffer needlessly because they are not procative about their health. It is a very lonely road, and I have gotten almost 0 support and one failed relationship over this. I am almost afraid to get tested because if it does come back negative I will have to hear about that. Not that other peoples opinions matter. Just frustrating as hell when no one has your back.
It goes with the territory. When you heal, you heal alone. It has taken a while for my family and friends to actually take it seriously but with an evergrowing market of gluten-free foods and mainstream pizza joints like Domino's going gluten-free along with famous celebrities and athletes, I think everyone will be well versed in what it all means. There was a time when people had a hard time pronouncing GLUTEN. I could see they refused to say the word or learn anything about it because it seemed foreign and distant. Besides, it hinted at giving up all those guilty foods we've been addicted to since we were kids and no one wants to hear any of that!
As time goes on and people figure out their problems, it will soon be common knowledge.
If not yet, then very soon everyone will atleast know someone affected by gluten.
Awesome! Beware that gluten tests are often not reliable, especially because if you have a sensitivity instead of full blown intolerance. Listen to your body. Consider the elimination diet to look for other sensitivities as well. Good Luck!
Congrats on your finding. It may not be the only issue going on, but if you can clearly see it then it'll help you get there.
I'm realising that I really do need to go gluten-free. Maybe I can have small amounts later on (such as a wrap) but not now.
I'm pretty interested in your feedback as it sounds fairly similar to my story.
I'm pretty healthy now for adrenal fatigue, but still some issues. The days I have medium carbs (or more), especially late at night, I don't sleep well and wake up tired. Low carb (100g or less) and I wake up feeling good. In fact, great.
I've been paying attention to gluten recently -- it's kinda forced the issue. I've known I have a milk & gluten/wheat issues since I was a teen. Milk/lactose is easy to avoid, no problems there, I think. Wheat on the other hand is everywhere. And since it's hard to avoid I'll have it once in a while. Past week I've had it twice and been grumpy/tired for two days. Noticing the exact timeframe for that is new, as until some months back I had waaay to many conflicting signals from too many things going on to figure it out.
Also, when in the post-gluten blahs, I have low discipline so eating low-carb etc. is fairly hard.
The main signal for gluten for me is pretty obvious, the bloating and lots of gas. That happens a few hours after. My left side (not right!) bloats up all the way to the chest. If it's a fair amount of gluten, then spasms start near my heart which I've concluded is my guts not being happy, but feels like the adrenaline boost from a semi-panic attack. I'm not sure which affects which but it's definitely uncomfortable.
Love to hear if others have what I mentioned in the last paragraph. I've done some research and it doesn't seem that common.
I really think I need to get gluten back off the menu again for good, THEN focus on lowish carb for the hypo. Heck at that point maybe I won't even need it :D
I'm SO glad I found this thread as it gives me hope of not every going through what I've been for the past 4 weeks! I had suspected a problem with wheat for a long time, particularly since I read the blood type diet books as I'm type O (+) and Os should not eat it. At first it was just some water retention, that one became very obvious when I went on the Atkins diet the 2nd time (after years from the first) and my face changed and looked much better after 3 days. Next, it was nasal congestion which eventually was also affected by eating dairy (butter excepted). I knew my father was a celiac but I didn't know it was hereditary until around the year 2000 when I began reading about it onlline, that was the same year I was diagnosed with "hypothyroidism" which I'm sure is really Hashimoto's Thyroiditis.
Precisely because it's everywhere and because I didn't seem to react to rye even when I stopped wheat I'd sometimes have rye crackers. Also, when I discovered that during the winter I could eat wheat, cheese, etc. and not get my nasal congestion worse I began eating it but as the years went by I realized I could no longer get away with that. I remember how many times I'd have a "panic attack" and wonder what the heck was wrong with me. Eventually I discovered that mold (and its mycotoxins) was my main enemy and became the reason to stay away also from other things I loved like peanut butter. And sometimes when I indulged I'd almost right away have an "attack" which resembled a hyperthyroid state, so sometimes I wondered if it was my thyroid cycling from hypo to hyper. However, on one occasion a cyber-friend suggested it sounded like"an allergic reaction" and immediately I realized I'd recently eaten ice cream and on another occasion when I'd had a similar reaction it had been cheddar cheese (not just dairy but also aged and full of hidden mycotoxins...). Still, I didn't quite learn and ketp cheating and paying the price because sometimes I could not relate my symptoms, which kept changing to what I'd eaten.
For example, in 2010 after going through some stress I had a bad attack and had to go to the ER because my awful irregular heartbeats would not allow me to sleep day or night, not even after taking a tranquilizer. They, of course, didn't find anything but my b/p high and also my weight had gone up in a rather short time. I believe I abstained after that episode for a good long time but somehow wasn't convinced and after several months, precisely when I felt good, I'd cheat again. And the trick is that at first I would not feel any different, the symptoms would come later... until last year, on two occasions I got bad colics at night that would last for hours, and of course, I'd stop. But unbelievably I repeated the same cycle of "behaving" for months, getting bored with my diet, and precisely at the worst time (after a stressful period) I'd cheat again. Last year around August I began feeling fatigued and depressed and by the time I stopped the cheating they were overwhelming, I also just felt sick/toxic. I'd fallen back into sleeping during the day and when I tried to fix my hours by staying up later every day for like 2 weeks all that stress precipitated an thyroiditis attack, with sweelling that would compress my windpipe when I lay down on either side, also palpitations, etc., but with some home remedies (apple cider vinegar in water and soaking my feet in Epsom Salt for about an hour) my heart calmed down (that was some time after my thyroid's inflammation had began to go down).
You'd think I'd finally learned my lesson because I'd read that celiac, which as the OP said is hereditary, raises antibodies that can attack the thyroid and other organs, so nasal congestion or digestive distrubance was NOT the worst of my problems, but feeble-minded or maybe stubborn human that I am, back in February when I was low in funds I chose to buy whole wheat bread and later cheddar cheese to make sandwiches with it rather than spend 3-4 times as much for gluten-free bread and/or goat cheese. I didn't mean to continue but I'd come up with the twisted idea of taking Claritin when I ate the forbidden foods and most of the time I got away with not getting the aggravated nasal congestion so that gave me the "illusion" that I was safe and by the time I stopped I was already feeling down and more tired than usual. It just kept getting worse and ended in the WORST thyroiditis attack ever! This time I became sure my adrenals and liver were involved and at least 3 times I wondered if I should go to the ER because of how scary the symptoms got, but the memory of them not doing anything for me and then getting stuck with a debt I couldn't pay kept me from going. I chose to go to a free clinic which proved to be mostly useless, the only thing I got from my 2 visits was to confirm it was my thyroid as they found my TSH high, and also that my liver enzymes were still (or again) high.
I got advice here about practicing breathing exercises and the moment I became conscious of my breathing and slowed it down some of my symptoms began to abate and it's been now more than a week since my last "attack", during those I'd get like a colitis pain, especially on my left side, the moment my heart began to pound, then I'd have to have a b/m, and for as long as the attack lasted I'd keep having more, one day up to 5, but the stool was thin which I knew was a sign my colon was "strangled". I also urinated a lot, not really in proportion to the water I drank, sorry if it's too much info but that has freaked me out and now I'm the one wanting to know if anyone else has had similar "attacks". Ibegan having discomfort around my liver area so I began applying castor oil packs, I've concluded I probably have gall bladder stones as one night I began having a very bothersome ache/pain in the liver area while I had the pack on, I left it overnight as I usually do and it took hours for it to go away, then when I woke up I felt better; I'd had a similar ache after heavy meals last year and the packs always made them go away but this was the first time I got one after putting the pack on, I'm guessing I began to pass a stone and it got kind of stuck. I then bought a bottle of milk thistle and I think it's already helping too.
Needless to say that now that I've seen that others have had similar problems thanks to eating gluten I won't be playing the same "game" anymore, this time it's out for good! The fact that this time the attacks have been more, more intense and with new symptoms and that even my thyroid swelling lasted longer is like a last warning for me to lay off or hit a point a point of no return, my recent sufferings and the still lingering depression, anxiety and fatigue have scared me into permanent compliance.
The part I found most interesting, I think, is that you kept on going back to wheat again and again. I do the same. It may not make sense but I found when I'm healthy I "forget". I can stay wheat free for days, weeks or even months if I'm focused on it. But when I reduce focus as that as a main priority of life, I forget and boredom (for lack of a better term), gets me having the wheat again. Sometimes before that though social circumstances, and me not wanting to be a PITA (again) to friends, causes the issue.
I'd like some kind of nagging device on my smart phone that would tell me I'm about to cheat and maybe zap me to train me out of it thorugh immediate pain (as opposed to delayed but lengthy pain thereafter).
Anyway, I have realised in the real world that there is a hierarchy for eating health, at least for me:
1) Get mentally stable. Yup, I'm good for that for now mostly, as opposed to say 2 years ago.
2) Get off Wheat. This is my focus for now.
3) Do low carbs. I won't try this til I'm wheat free for a few weeks. I just can't do both at the same time, at least with social circumstances and with my family/friends I do a lot of social eating.
3 fails if 2 does. 3 and 2 fail if 1 does. So also, I need to keep on the meditation/yoga/sports etc. to keep 1 in order.
Thanks for that post. I was reading some of your symptoms, like the thin stool, which I had too and never put all my symptoms together before the lighbulb went off. It is only day 8 for me, but i think I am terrified enough to never touch the stuff again. People are already telling me how much better I look, and I still dont sleep worth anything. I wish you luck in your journey, and hope you update frequently. I dont know how long it takes to heal but anything is better than what I just went through. Absolutely amazing. Poison food.
Thanks for your reply, seeing that you had most of my symptoms and thinking they are all related to the same thing makes me feel better in the hope that as time goes by I'll improve.
I really want to encourage you to stay gluten free because the reactions get worse each time we cheat, the last two thyroiditis attacks I've had happened weeks after being off of it, and the adrenal "rebellion" this time was stronger and scarier, I still feel pretty awful most of the time but as long as I'm not having a "panic attack" I'm thankful for that. Since I had a bad experience at the clinic I went to and won't be taking any of the meds they prescribed, I will just try going to Mental Health to see if they give me a prescription for a sleeping pill so I can reverse my sleep hours to night time. I also just ordered several supplements which include raw thyroid and liver support and will keep hoping that in time the awful depression and fatigue will go away. I even lost my job early this month, and even though I was getting very few hours it was the only income I had, so I need to feel somewhat "human" very soon so I can go back to work ASAP.
First, for sticking with my mile-long post in which I made several mistakes... Second, for sharing about your own experience with wheat's "pull", you've no idea how much I've beaten myself down for my "selective memory", stubborness and/or weakness so I feel less bad seeing I'm not the only one behaving in a way that doesn't seem to make sense. Social situations are a trap indeed, I once was a party and got hungry after a lot of dancing and except for potato and corn chips everything else had wheat and since I needed something more filling I ate several mini-sandwiches, then ended up eating a cookie and some cake. And if wheat were the only thing to avoid I'm sure I could've made it but it gets to be too much at times having to avoid dairy (love yogurt and cheeses!) and sugar, to me it has felt as if all the enjoyment out of eaten had been taken out. But I NEVER again want to have the horrid attacks that I was having so I don't think I will be forgetting again!
So far it's been 11 days since my last attack and I got only tolerably stressed while driving when I ran some errands last Tuesday, so I feel greatly encouraged in believing I won't have another one. The swelling in my thyroid has finally gone down and for several nights I've been able to sleep on my side, also the stress-induced total nasal congestion hasn't been an issue for several days as well, and today I was able to sleep with just the help of 2 tryptophan caps, B-12 & a chewable calcium tab (250 mg.). I'm still sleeping during the day, have no energy/motivation and I'm depressed but less than yesterday (I'd taken an OTC sleeping pill and those leave me depressed) but I guess it's one step at a time for me.
Your hierarchy makes sense and it's probably the way I've done things in the past, but for a long time I haven't worked myself to low-carb, which is how I lose weight faster and feel better, in fact, I've been aware and pretty bothered mentally of how carb-dependent I'd become, but I'm sure I have lingering Candida issues. But lately I don't crave sweets or huge amounts of starches every day and have had several low-carb meals that were pretty satisfying, so I'm hoping to keep working myself there. Also, for reasons of economy I need to use the grains/legumes I already have, but I'm already thinking that without dairy it's going to be extremely difficult for me to stick with it, frankly, I'm even doubting I can do it at all because in the past I depended a lot on cheeses for variety. But maybe with the gluten gone I may be able to have some raw milk cheese on occasion, I once read that gluten is really the main culprit and once it's removed dairy is less of a problem for some, and I even noticed it myself years ago while on Atkins, not even the lactose on some fresh cheeses bothered me as they would when on a "normal" diet.
I'm glad to see someone else doing Yoga, I'm not yet doing it but I'd wondered what kind of exercise would be gentle enough on my adrenals and remembered how calming Yoga was when I was having panic attacks many years ago while having a bad reaction to Armour thyroid, so I told my daughter about because she had VHS tapes that she's probably not using anymore and I have a VCR but she said she's going to send me a DVD, in the meantime I've gone back to my old "Bodyflex", the "weird" breathing on it helps to clear my brain fast and the stretches feel good so I think it helps.
You're not alone. I had the same exact discovery a long time ago and made a few posts about it back in the day. I was chronicly fatigued since the age of 13 or 14. In addition to my adrenal fatigue symptoms, I had panic attacks at work. One day I realized that each time I had a panic attack I had a large about of wheat, like pasta, for lunch. When I went gluten-free it really changed by life.
I would say my recovery really only started after I went gluten-free. I'm still not a 100 % but getting better slowly. Going gluten-free lifted my fatigue in a course of 1-2 weeks. Getting my hormone functions to normal is taking a long time though.
Bifidus, I am very happy that you are making progress in getting to the bottom of your symptoms but I strongly suspect that you have only moved a step closer to the more important underlying factor, heavy metals, especially mercury.
I strongly suggest that you do a search on the net of the following:
DPP IV + autism + soy cassein gluten
There is a digestive enzyme, DPP IV, that is involved in the break down of soy, cassein and gluten. If this is a digestive enzyme problem, you'll likely get gains from reducing consumption of all of them. You might also find it helpful to take a digestive enzyme that includes DPP IV. I think Houston enzymes has one, as does everythingspectrum.com, a site that caters to autistic kids who often have this problem.
Mercury interferes with many enzymes. One of the mechanisms is by displacing zinc in the enzymes. Mercury and zinc are somewhat similar--notice their locations in the periodic chart--cf Andrew Cutler
Mercury (Hg) also causes us to fail to hold onto magnesium, so we need to take it several times per day--cf Andrew Cutler People with an Hg problem often have some depression, anxiety, muscle problems and constipation, all of which involve the use of Magnesium.
Mercury really fouls up the endocrine systems. Boyd Haley, former chair of the chem dept at the U of KY, explains that there is a hormone receptor related to the stress response system (ACTH, FSH, etc) that holds onto Hg about as well as anything can. Cutler indicates that Hg also fouls up the way the brain (pituitary & hypothalamus) responds to stress. Much more could be said!!!
Please don't think I am disrespecting you at this joyful time. I was sick for 15+ years with a list of symptoms somewhat like yours. My 6 doctors over that time did little for me. Some suggested that I see a psychiatrist which I did. While they helped with some of the symptoms, they did not get to the underlying problem.
Finally I broke my leg without contact while playing badminton with a few little nieces! It snapped like a piece of chalk. This led me to discovering that I had a bone density problem at age 43 that my endocrinologist had no explanation for after running a long list of tests. My bones did not improve while on his medicine and supplements for 1.5 yrs.
I came across Dr Mark Hyman on PBS who in his book writes that he went to 10 other doctors before someone finally figured out he had a mercury problem. He had CFS, lost his formerly great memory, etc.
After 1.5 yrs of chelation to remove the lead, cadmium, mercury, etc, the bone density of my lower back improved an impressive 8%. I was off one psych medicine by then and my doctor was weaning me off of my last medicine, Adderall for ADD. I also had less impressive gains in memory, mood, food sensitivities and overall sense of well-being.
I'm not saying that everyone has a heavy metal problem, but if you've been sick for a while and doctors have made little progress at getting to the root cause and the symptoms can be caused by heavy metals, doesn't it make sense to consider them?!
I've found it much more helpful to learn from the guys with PhDs in chemistry than MDs. MDs have too many pressures from insurance companies, lawyers, medical boards, financial pressures. The guys with PhDs in chemistry are usually freer to just tell you what they think. They are probably better trained to understand the underlying body chemistry as it relates to heavy metals.
You can check out this from Cutler and Haley (they are not associates in any business ventures)
Haley on effects of silver Amalgam fillings (50% mercury) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnfBhdT7uU0
Some people start with a particular type of hair test where they are looking for the *effects* of Hg on essential elements, etc. (Hg is usually low in hair of sickly people since they cannot move it very well) 600+ along with symptom lists here. http://livingnetwork.co.za/chelationnetwork/hairtest/hairtest3/
I know you're on to something because for many years I've known about the relationship between Candida & mercury, I also recently read that Candida may be responsible for gluten intolerance, at least in some cases, my father had celiac but he didn't have any symptoms of Candida, but I believe he did contract sprue which is an infectious type of celiac.
In my case, well, I had a "mouthfull" of amalgam fillings until 2003 but all I did was take selenium and later on large amounts of iodine for a short time. Chelations can be very expensive, I once contacted a doctor who did it in FL and it was way out of my league, and if anything my financial situation is now worse so, needless to say, I have not done anything about it so I could bet my ongoing problems with Candida are due to the remaining mercury in my tissues. Sometimes I feel resigned to continue to live with it as I'm not getting any younger and someday we'll die of something, I just hate the thought that my life could've been better if all that metal had NOT been put in my mouth in the first place! To think that I've gone through SO much missery like depression, anxiety, sleep and hormonal problems caused or related to hypoglycemia, hypothyroidism, adrenal fatigue, etc., not because of anything careless that I did to myself but because I trusted what was being done to me, is a bitter pill to take.
" To think that I've gone through SO much missery ...not because of anything careless that I did to myself but because I trusted what was being done to me, is a bitter pill to take."
Yes, I understand how you feel. However to the partial defense of dentists, they probably did not have a good alternative to Amalgam when you were young. How many could afford gold? Infected teeth would have killed you long before now. However, now that we have composite fillings, there is no justification for use of amalgam.
If your amalgam fillings are all gone, including under crowns, why not consider oral chelation? That is what I've used and literally thousands of others.
You take low doses of DMSA every few hours for 3 days in a row to clear some lead, mercury, etc from the blood. Then after a few weeks, you could add some alpha lipoic acid to it. ALA crosses into the brain and helps to clear inorganic mercury there.
There are some supplements that are important to take during the process such as antioxidants, a couple of minerals and support for the person's symptoms. In your case, from your description, adrenal support would probably have a really nice impact!!!
It does not have to be that expensive. You might be able to do it for $30 per month or less, especially if you are willing to go really slow with it. Some get DMSA and ALA from sites such as vrp.com. everythingspectrum.com caters to the somewhat unique needs of the autistic kids who are chelating, especially very low doses.
I suggest that you check the chelation groups here and at curezone for more information. I used the Cutler protocol which is quite conservative. I certainly encourage folks to have a doctor to monitor you during the process with followup testing, sometimes adrenal or thyroid meds, but that is not usually terribly expensive, certainly not like IV chelation which I'm not convinced is as safe and as effective as the low, frequent dose oral method.
Your symptom list sounds very, very similar to my close female friend's list. She suffered with it for decades and everyone told her she had PTSD, anxiety and hypothyroid; however it looks like mercury and maybe some cadmium were an underlying factor. She responded amazingly well to amalgam removal and a few months of chelation; however she has also had some challenges along the way. Sh probably has a long way to go to get maximum benefit. We've documented her case here. http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/frequent-dose-chelation/message/83988
I remember well that when I was 14 or 15 my best friend got composite fillings in her mouth, true they were not very good then, and even today I read they might contain other harmful or suspicious substances but my point is that they existed but I think it cost more, however, I don't ever remember a dentist giving me a choice, they just went to work and that was it. Oh, and during the early 90s I went to a dental clinic where I got my last amalgam filling, also no input whatsoever given, at that point for aestethic reasons I didn't want any more of those. Oh, and in probably '97 or '98 I went to a dentist in FL who I think replaced a filling or two with the very same thing. Fast forward just 2-3 years later when I got my own computer and then I started reading about how bad amalgams were, if anything I was the one begind in the knowledge of how bad this could be!
I appreciate your recommendations and will keep them in mind, I've been having problems with my liver so I need to be careful, with anything I do, so I would have to research this thoroughly first.
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I think I finally figured it out. 
