Gluten issues led to major discovery - can cause psychiatric issues!

[mbrinva]

We are in reintroduction and my daughters both had very emotional and volatile reactions when we reintroduced gluten.  Luckily, I found myself next to a child psychiatrist last night at a sport event and we got on the topic of the Whole30 and gluten sensitivities.  She told me it is actually well-known in the medical community that gluten can lead to a large range of psychiatric issues - including psychosis and suicidal thoughts (which she has witnessed personally with her patients)!  

She recommended I go to the Pub Med website and search on gluten psychosis.  I found this one article as an example: 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26184290

There are many more articles on this site.  I wanted to share this info since this was earth-shattering to me!  We are clearly going to avoid gluten as much as possible for our whole family, not just the girls, after this discovery.

[ArtFossil]

If you or your child feel better without gluten, that's valuable information and like others you may find it beneficial to exclude it. But it isn't necessary to demonize gluten on the basis of one article. As the abstract states:

Quote

We report a pediatric case of a psychotic disorder clearly related to NCGS and investigate the causes by a review of literature. . . . Well-designed prospective studies are needed to establish the real role of gluten as a triggering factor in neuro-psychiatric disorders.

 

[MeadowLily]

All conditions are improved by eating well. But all medical conditions are not cured by eating the right foods.

If it were so, hospitals and clinics would be shutting down right and left without any business. There are conditions that cannot be cured by taking massive quantities of B vitamins or spending hours staring into the sunlight, removing all of the electronics out of your house. Throwing your cell phone away and eating large quantities of coconut oil.

Good food helps but doesn't cure autism or down's syndrome.  There are lifelong genetic conditions that people are born with. Gluten is just one part of the puzzle and wheat in its entirety. There are many, many factors resulting in psychiatric issues.

[mbrinva]

I am not trying to demonize gluten or imply that all medical issues can be cured by not eating gluten so I am a bit confused by both of the replies above.  I am merely sharing information that was incredibly relevant to me as a mother of 2 kids who struggle with attention issues.  The MD I talked to last night has seen so many cases where eliminating gluten has led to total turnaround in very extreme behavior/psychological issues she now recommends all of her patients at least try eliminating it to see the effects.  Coming from an MD, this carried a lot of weight with me.  I am hoping other parents read this and look into it and it helps them as it has alerted me to a gluten concern I was not even aware of.  

[MeadowLily]

We error on the side of caution. Doctors orders/directives should be the rule of thumb.

May it be the answer you're looking for.

[crossiter]

On 4/6/2017 at 7:50 PM, mbrinva said:

I am not trying to demonize gluten or imply that all medical issues can be cured by not eating gluten so I am a bit confused by both of the replies above.  I am merely sharing information that was incredibly relevant to me as a mother of 2 kids who struggle with attention issues.  The MD I talked to last night has seen so many cases where eliminating gluten has led to total turnaround in very extreme behavior/psychological issues she now recommends all of her patients at least try eliminating it to see the effects.  Coming from an MD, this carried a lot of weight with me.  I am hoping other parents read this and look into it and it helps them as it has alerted me to a gluten concern I was not even aware of.  

I appreciate that you noticed something during the reintroduction phase and took the time to look into some literature on it as well! Sounds like you found some great information that has helped you make well-informed food choices moving forward for you and your family. 

[YetAnotherJennifer]

I'm so glad you posted this!  I am just finishing my reintroduction and haven't had the digestive issues I imagined, but I've been shocked at the emotional and psychological toll grains and gluten have had on me!  I've struggled with anxiety and depression for many years, but they've always been my baseline.  I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that it was just something I dealt with and, absent taking meds, there wasn't much that could be done.  I chose not to take meds because they made me feel worse in some cases then the anxiety and depression did.  I noticed in about the second week of my W30 that my anxiety was hardly noticeable - and by Day 30 I was feeling amazing, sleeping great, having very even-keeled emotions and reactions to a variety of situations.  Well, the anxiety was noticeable again with the grain reintroduction, but the gluten made me a mess!  

I thought I was going crazy, so this post has given me some peace of mind.  It's not about making gluten the villain or saying that this will cure anything - but it's reassuring to know that what I feel like I'm experiencing isn't all in my head.  I still feed my family gluten because it doesn't affect them.  But for me, cutting it out has been a life changer!