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Breathlessness & Celiac's


Guest Norah022

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Guest Norah022

I have been having breathing issues (feeling like i wasn't getting enough air, etc.) since about march and was diagnosed with celiac's in may. Have been gluten free since the first week of june and the doctor said the breathlessness was due to anxiety.

Well along with the breathlessness i have had severe vertigo and nausea all of which has been associated with stress along with the breathlessness but it isn't gettig better.

Could this be because of the Celiac's? And does anyone have suggestions how to fix it?

I am a senior in college getting ready to write a thesis and the vetrigo and breathlessness is really affecting getting my work done.


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2kids4me Contributor

When I am under stress - as happens frequently wth my chidlren and their various problems - I get premature atrial beats...managed to catch it on a strip in emerg when it kept going for 8 hours (had been up all night with sick kid, so was stressed and fatigued).

I get out of breath, I sit down on stairs cause I can't make it up and then they go away as sudden as they start...and I do feel dizzy when they happen

I become a couch potatoe if they go on for an hour or more..

and yup it is stress related, "benign" - meaning that there is no underlying physcial cause.

When it happens to you - do you feel like pounding heart beat or feel like skipped beat and then your heart pounds in your chest?

gfp Enthusiast

Breathlessness is often just caused by severe acid reflux... excuse the just... because it is extremely frightening but you can get acid inhibitors that really help this. (omneparazole etc.)

Stress makes it worse and not being able to breath is about as stressful as it gets. Hence the danger of a catch-22.

Vertigo my mum had for a while....but I don't know much more.

chewymom Rookie

The breathlessness could also be asthma. I was just diagnosed with asthma last year, although I've had some of the symptoms for a long time, and now I'm questioning whether I have gluten problems. I have read that celiac can trigger asthma.

queenofhearts Explorer

I've seen many posts here regarding breathlessness so I do think there's a connection. Check out the asthma too especially if you wheeze when trying to get your breath.

Here's one thread: Open Original Shared Link

I would highly recommend looking into yoga breath control-- if you practice when your breathing is comfortable you might be able to marshall those resources when you are gasping.

Leah

gfp Enthusiast
The breathlessness could also be asthma. I was just diagnosed with asthma last year, although I've had some of the symptoms for a long time, and now I'm questioning whether I have gluten problems. I have read that celiac can trigger asthma.

Strangely enough this is where my celiac journey began...

The first thing the Dr did on my shortness of breath was give me a tube you blow into which measures lung efficiency and capacity.

First blow it went off the end of the scale... so he asked me to repeat..which I did....

Hardly a surprise .... really

Guest Norah022

well one of the weird things is that my breathlessness happens most when I am sitting down....it rarely happens when I am active.


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queenofhearts Explorer

Did you read the other thread? I think hers was the same way. Asthma can have many triggers, as can other breathing issues. If you are under a lot of pressure from your schoolwork, it could be triggered by anxiety when you sit down to work. This is quite common, & yoga exercises are excellent for this type of breathlessness.

And by the way, anxiety is also linked to Celiac.

jennyj Collaborator

One of the first symptoms of my anemia, I found this out later, was I would get out of breath walking from one place to another that weren't to far apart.

Guest Norah022
Did you read the other thread? I think hers was the same way. Asthma can have many triggers, as can other breathing issues. If you are under a lot of pressure from your schoolwork, it could be triggered by anxiety when you sit down to work. This is quite common, & yoga exercises are excellent for this type of breathlessness.

And by the way, anxiety is also linked to Celiac.

I did read the thread and what she is describing is not what i am dealing with. My breathlessness is all the time, worse at some points, but pretty much all the time and it doesn't matter whether i have eaten or not.

I have always had anxiety problems but they never showed themselves with breathing problems. It started happening at the same time as the vertigo since i have been at school it has been worse so i know stress is related but my problem is how to get it to stop because it is affecting my work and that makes me more stressed.

gfp Enthusiast
well one of the weird things is that my breathlessness happens most when I am sitting down....it rarely happens when I am active.

How about when you bend over... under a bed or tying laces standing up etc...

Guest Norah022
How about when you bend over... under a bed or tying laces standing up etc...

well i am bending over to write this now and i feel fine but when i was sitting here writing before i was feeling it.

Kat-Kat Newbie
well i am bending over to write this now and i feel fine but when i was sitting here writing before i was feeling it.

Do you feel like air want come from your lungs, like it is getting closed off alittle and does your ears or ear hurt do you have a ringing not bad but there all the time.

gfp Enthusiast
well i am bending over to write this now and i feel fine but when i was sitting here writing before i was feeling it.

If you have a lot of stomach acid it acts on your lungs and causes breathlessness.

Most people notice it worse if lying down, especailly if the head is not propped up or when really bending over like hands and kness under a bed but any sitting type activity makes it happen....

Its really bad if you dive.... you naturally have your feet above your head and being 100m down and needing decompression to surface while sucking on a tube but not being able to breath is not nice!

You could have a haitus hernia and/or excessive acid production. The latter is very common in celiac disease if undiagnosed.

Either way its something to get checked out.... it could be asthma or acid but very effective meds are available for both. Asthma is usually associated with wheezing but ....

I know its easy to say but don't panic! .... Yeah I know.... but really .. don't panic, it will subside and the worst thing for either is stressing yourself!

Guest Norah022
Do you feel like air want come from your lungs, like it is getting closed off alittle and does your ears or ear hurt do you have a ringing not bad but there all the time.

Yeah it does feel sometimes like there is air but it isgetting stuck in my chest. I have ear problems and have been diagnosed with an inner ear infection before.

Guest Norah022

I have never been told i am anemic and i get a lot of blood tests done.

But the symptoms sound a lot like mine.

I am meeting with my dietician on campus on monday so I am going to ask her about it.

Guest Norah022

So it isn't anemia....Any other ideas :( I am desperate it is getting so much worse

Michi8 Contributor
So it isn't anemia....Any other ideas :( I am desperate it is getting so much worse

Has your doctor ruled out lupus?

Michelle

Guest Norah022

My doctor told me my breathlessness and the feeling of having a lump in my throat or something stuck in my throat (which will not go away and is driving me nuts) is because of allergies.....

anerissara Enthusiast

How long have you been gluten-free? I had breathlessness and dizziness at the peak of my sickness before going off gluten, and it eventually went away. It took a couple of months at least, though. I don't think I was anemic enough to cause those symptoms, they just seemed to be a part of the celiac package as it were. I hope you feel better soon!

Guest Norah022

i have been gluten free for 3 months but this began in march following an inner ear infection...Now the stuck in the throat aspect is the worst

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    • marion wheaton
      Thanks for responding. I researched further and Lindt Lindor chocolate balls do contain barely malt powder which contains gluten. I was surprised at all of the conflicting information I found when I checked online.
    • trents
      @BlessedinBoston, it is possible that in Canada the product in question is formulated differently than in the USA or at least processed in in a facility that precludes cross contamination. I assume from your user name that you are in the USA. And it is also possible that the product meets the FDA requirement of not more than 20ppm of gluten but you are a super sensitive celiac for whom that standard is insufficient. 
    • BlessedinBoston
      No,Lindt is not gluten free no matter what they say on their website. I found out the hard way when I was newly diagnosed in 2000. At that time the Lindt truffles were just becoming popular and were only sold in small specialty shops at the mall. You couldn't buy them in any stores like today and I was obsessed with them 😁. Took me a while to get around to checking them and was heartbroken when I saw they were absolutely not gluten free 😔. Felt the same when I realized Twizzlers weren't either. Took me a while to get my diet on order after being diagnosed. I was diagnosed with small bowel non Hodgkins lymphoma at the same time. So it was a very stressful time to say the least. Hope this helps 😁.
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      @Jmartes71, I understand your frustration and anger.  I've been in a similar situation where no doctor took me seriously, accused me of making things up, and eventually sent me home to suffer alone.   My doctors did not recognize nutritional deficiencies.  Doctors are trained in medical learning institutions that are funded by pharmaceutical companies.  They are taught which medications cover up which symptoms.  Doctors are required to take twenty  hours of nutritional education in seven years of medical training.  (They can earn nine hours in Nutrition by taking a three day weekend seminar.)  They are taught nutritional deficiencies are passe' and don't happen in our well fed Western society any more.  In Celiac Disease, the autoimmune response and inflammation affects the absorption of ALL the essential vitamins and minerals.  Correcting nutritional deficiencies caused by malabsorption is essential!  I begged my doctor to check my Vitamin D level, which he did only after making sure my insurance would cover it.  When my Vitamin D came back extremely low, my doctor was very surprised, but refused to test for further nutritional deficiencies because he "couldn't make money prescribing vitamins.". I believe it was beyond his knowledge, so he blamed me for making stuff up, and stormed out of the exam room.  I had studied Nutrition before earning a degree in Microbiology.  I switched because I was curious what vitamins from our food were doing in our bodies.  Vitamins are substances that our bodies cannot manufacture, so we must ingest them every day.  Without them, our bodies cannot manufacture life sustaining enzymes and we sicken and die.   At home alone, I could feel myself dying.  It's an unnerving feeling, to say the least, and, so, with nothing left to lose, I relied in my education in nutrition.  My symptoms of Thiamine deficiency were the worst, so I began taking high dose Thiamine.  I had health improvement within an hour.  It was magical.  I continued taking high dose thiamine with a B Complex, magnesium. and other essential nutrients.  The health improvements continued for months.  High doses of thiamine are required to correct a thiamine deficiency because thiamine affects every cell and mitochondria in our bodies.    A twenty percent increase in dietary thiamine causes an eighty percent increase in brain function.  The cerebellum of the brain is most affected.  The cerebellum controls things we don't have to consciously have to think about, like digestion, balance, breathing, blood pressure, heart rate, hormone regulation, and many more.  Thiamine is absorbed from the digestive tract and sent to the most important organs like the brain and the heart.  This leaves the digestive tract depleted of Thiamine and symptoms of Gastrointestinal Beriberi, a thiamine deficiency localized in the digestive system, begin to appear.  Symptoms of Gastrointestinal Beriberi include anxiety, depression, chronic fatigue, headaches, Gerd, acid reflux, gas, slow stomach emptying, gastroparesis, bloating, diarrhea and/or constipation, incontinence, abdominal pain, IBS,  SIBO, POTS, high blood pressure, heart rate changes like tachycardia, difficulty swallowing, Barrett's Esophagus, peripheral neuropathy, and more. Doctors are only taught about thiamine deficiency in alcoholism and look for the classic triad of symptoms (changes in gait, mental function, and nystagmus) but fail to realize that gastrointestinal symptoms can precede these symptoms by months.  All three classic triad of symptoms only appear in fifteen percent of patients, with most patients being diagnosed with thiamine deficiency post mortem.  I had all three but swore I didn't drink, so I was dismissed as "crazy" and sent home to die basically.   Yes, I understand how frustrating no answers from doctors can be.  I took OTC Thiamine Hydrochloride, and later thiamine in the forms TTFD (tetrahydrofurfuryl disulfide) and Benfotiamine to correct my thiamine deficiency.  I also took magnesium, needed by thiamine to make those life sustaining enzymes.  Thiamine interacts with each of the other B vitamins, so the other B vitamins must be supplemented as well.  Thiamine is safe and nontoxic even in high doses.   A doctor can administer high dose thiamine by IV along with the other B vitamins.  Again, Thiamine is safe and nontoxic even in high doses.  Thiamine should be given if only to rule Gastrointestinal Beriberi out as a cause of your symptoms.  If no improvement, no harm is done. Share the following link with your doctors.  Section Three is especially informative.  They need to be expand their knowledge about Thiamine and nutrition in Celiac Disease.  Ask for an Erythrocyte Transketolace Activity test for thiamine deficiency.  This test is more reliable than a blood test. Thiamine, gastrointestinal beriberi and acetylcholine signaling.  https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12014454/ Best wishes!
    • Jmartes71
      I have been diagnosed with celiac in 1994, in remission not eating wheat and other foods not to consume  my household eats wheat.I have diagnosed sibo, hernia ibs, high blood pressure, menopause, chronic fatigue just to name a few oh yes and Barrett's esophagus which i forgot, I currently have bumps in back of my throat, one Dr stated we all have bumps in the back of our throat.Im in pain.Standford specialist really dismissed me and now im really in limbo and trying to get properly cared for.I found a new gi and new pcp but its still a mess and medical is making it look like im a disability chaser when Im actively not well I look and feel horrible and its adding anxiety and depression more so.Im angery my condition is affecting me and its being down played 
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