Anyone Recover From Chronic Insomnia After Going gluten-free?

[missceliac2010]

RiceGuy~

I am finding this discussion of B-12 fascinating! I too struggle with insomnia. Nothing too terrible, I just wake a lot during the night and drive my boyfriend and myself nuts! I had gastric bypass surgery 3 years ago (well before being diagnosed with celiac disease), and one of the vitamins I MUST TAKE is sub-lingual B-12. My bypass surgeon told me that it was because the location of the intestines being removed during surgery are responsible for B-12 absorption. Now I am hearing that the colon is the important spot. I wonder if maybe bypass doctors are just overly cautious? Regardless, I am going to start taking the B-12 at night! It can't hurt, and if it helps, I'll be thrilled!

One thing I have learned through the bypass surgery and now the Celiac diagnosis...the GI tract is a mysterious and complicated place. And right now, I'm mad at my GI tract! I can't seem to stop accidentally glutening myself, despite being very careful! Today it was raisins! Raisins?! I did some research, and it seems that only Sun-Maid guarantees their product to be gluten free, and the generic store brand that I bought (I'm cheap) might have been packaged on a conveyor belt sprinkled with flour to prevent sticking?! Crazy! I'll figure this all out eventually...I'd better, because I'm tired of having to wear loose fitting clothes all the time just in case I get glutenized and my gut looks like a pregnant budda belly! LOL!

Good luck on getting better sleep everyone! It's 12:30am here on the West Coast, and I am not tired... Ugh!

The B12 we get from food is absorbed as it passes through the digestive tract. There are actually several steps which need to occur for proper absorption to take place. Eventually, the liver must convert it into a usable form. However, in the case of Celiac Disease, malabsorption apparently effects the absorption of certain nutrients more than others, B12 being one of the more typical ones.

That's when a sublingual form really helps. It gets absorbed directly into the bloodstream, and when taken in the right form (methylcobalamin being one of the best known), it doesn't require conversion by the liver either. So whether you're dealing with malabsorption, Pernicious Anemia, or liver problems, the sublingual B12 will bypass all of that.

[Grace'smom]

@Jackay, Char and Bluebonnet

[oceansparkle]

After about two years of gluten-free my insomnia is MUCH better. Great idea on the B12! I'm going to try it tonight! Thanks!

The best thing I found to cure insomnia is vitamin B12. It makes total sense too, because B12 is vital for the production of serotonin and melatonin, amongst other things. These are critical for regulation of sleep/wake cycles, mood, energy production, and lots more. Also, those with Celiac Disease are very often deficient in B12, so there again it makes sense. I find I sleep quite well now, especially if I take the B12 about 30 minutes or so before I go to bed. The one I prefer is a 5mg methylcobalamin sublingual tablet made by Source Naturals.

Other nutrients are also helpful with sleep. For instance, magnesium is known as the calming mineral. And interestingly, people with Celiac Disease often have a deficiency of magnesium too. A co-enzyme B-complex can also be very helpful, as can a multivitamin/mineral, so I'd suggest these as well.

[oceansparkle]

when I first went gluten free, I had insomnia bad for about a week...and I got the jimmy legs (RLS)....it stopped about about 2-3 nights.

Oh my gosh! RLS? Wow! I had that too, for about a month, then it went away. Talk about a freaky feeling! Kicked my sleeping cat off the bed a couple of times. Yikes! I had been gluten free (or so I thought) for about 18 months when this started happening - I have since gotten much stricter about trace gluten in items such as makeup, etc. Much better now!

[Tidings]

How much B12 is needed by people with celiac/insomnia, to get relief and sleep?

I've been taking B12 (not sublingual) for years, along with B6 and Folic Acid (and several other health supplements), for eye support to offset glaucoma. I take it in the morning, not at night, and it's 500mcg. I think I read somewhere that this form of B12, cyanocobalamin, might not be the best? Is there a better form? Maybe I should take the B12 at night instead of (or in addition to) the 500mcg in the morn?

Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

P.S. Just rescanned this thread and found RiceGuy's comment "when taken in the right form (methylcobalamin being one of the best known), it doesn't require conversion by the liver." Does anyone have a brand they can recommend and is it much more costly than the more common cyanocobalamin?

[Skylark]

I found Natural Factors sublingual 1000ug methylcobalamin tablets at my local health food store at $10 for 90 pills. The carrier is lactose so it won't work if you're lactose intolerant. After slugging it out with Riceguy over safety he convinced me at a little more wouldn't hurt and might help with this stupid brain fog and fatigue.

[elucia]

I wonder why so many people who can't have gluten have insomnia. My daughter has had severe debilitating insomnia for about 20 months. We have gone to so many specialists and no one has been able to help her. She went gluten free in October after finding out that she tested positive through Enterolab. We still haven't seen any improvement. She is on several supplements (B12, B6, zinc, b complex to name a few) and nothing is helping her.

It is so bad that I had to pull her out of school last fall and have been teaching her at home. It is even difficult for her to learn at home. She can never fall asleep before 3:00 and often not until 4 or 5. Then she wakes up pretty much every hour and can't get back to sleep. I let her stay in bed until 10:00 but she still isn't getting very much sleep. It is so difficult for her to get through the day.

Any more suggestions?

I developed insomnia a few years ago but late in life I was in my 60s. I took sleeping pills for several months but they were addicting so I don't take them any more. After going to a sleep doctor and taking all kinds of test I was told that some people change and need less sleep that before. That's me. I get usually don't go to sleep before one and often 3 or 4 in the morning. I may feel tired in the morning and sleep in but sleeping in only means that I will have more trouble getting to sleep the next night. The doctor said get up early each morning no matter how late I fell asleep. Keep busy, do not take naps and hopefully I will get to sleep an hour or more earlier that the night before. I have adjusted and do fun quiet things in the evening now and just enjoy the extra time I have. Good luck

[TKing1]

Hi, I to am new to this forum. I have had Celiac for over 12 years now and have had all kinds of problems to over come. In my journey through this life long disease I also had problems with sleep. I found that there were many reasons why I always felt bad and couldn't sleep. Stress as well as the wrong foods and also the medications I took were contributing to my never feeling well. I stayed off all gluten including, oat, soy, rye, wheat, barley. And as I went along I found that there are so many hidden things and ingredients in foods that I really had to watch for especially soy. It is in almost every thing. I have to read every thing I buy. So be very careful when you buy products that are in cans or bottles, and get familiar with the other terms and wording that are also gluten. Such as modified food starch etc. I finally went to a naturpathic doctor in Phoenix and he had found that my adrenals were completely exhausted. That is why I was unable to sleep. I woke up all hours of the night. He put me on medications that would stimulate my adrenals and it took some time but finally worked. Now I sleep all night and feel rested and not foggy headed. I hope that every one who reads this and is apart of the celiac family will find heath and happiness.

Looking forward to talking to all of you soon. If you have any Questions or problems that you cant seem to over come maybe we can work together to find some answers.

Take care all of you. I have enjoyed being able to share my journeys with you.

[jobwabe]

Char,

You didn't mention sublinqual B12 supplements but most people using this forum do. If B12 is absorbed by the colon, how does taking it sublinqually help?

I have been diagnosed for over 20 years and have started B12 sublingually about a year ago. For me, it has greatly increased the calming effect of the vitamin.

[Mirra Lune]

I've had insomnia since I was around 7 till I went gluten free 9 months ago. I never really thought much of it till I was able to fall asleep quickly after two weeks gluten-free. I always thought that going to bed around 9 not falling asleep till 12 and waking up at 3 was normal till 9 months ago.

[lovesaceliac]

Wow hpymomof3 - my heart really goes out to you. The sleep schedule you describe is almost identical to that of my husband in our last year of college (almost ten years before we found out he was gluten intolerant.) His big issue at the time was restless leg syndrom, which when we found requip was controlled and now is sleep is just bad instead of awful. His sleep was so bad he couldn't work a traditional job and our whole life plan had to change. It was incredibly difficult and frightening, but we ended up starting a small business that gave hime the flexibility to work around his health problems (which are so much better under control now that we've gotten rid of gluten.) It's hard to be the spouse of an insomniac, I can only imagine how hard to be the mother. You so despirately just want them to sleep. Your post is old - but how are things going now?

[chislev]

I am so happy to find this website. But am very saddened to hear how many people have insomnia that must be from gluten intolerance. Especially since there are young children involved. I am still in the process of being diagnosed, but I have all of the symptoms. I have had insomnia for about 3 years. And I have noticed that they best way to sleep is to eat a lot of calories with fat in the evening. This is just from experience and I am not offering advice. But I saw an old post on this website that discussed the same thing. I know this is an old post and don't know if anyone here is still reviewing it. I wonder now if the previous people who posted here found relief by going gluten free?

[love2travel]

Still no relief whatsoever from going gluten-free six months. It is so rare for me to sleep well - probably about once every ten days or so. So, I do not know for certain whether it is due to my celiac disease OR mainly due to my chronic pain. It is very difficult for me to get into any comfortable position to sleep. I wake up about 25-50 times a night easily from pain. I sooooo hope this will change!

[Kurly]

I have been so hyper at night and unable to sleep (been very productive at 2 or 3 in the morning) but on the other hand, I really should be sleeping and it has been going on for a long time. I didn't associate it with my gluten intollerance until I saw all these postings and read everybody else's expierences! I was diagnosed with Grave's disease almost 15 years ago (autoimmune hyperthyroid), then had the thyroid removed a few years later, and now on synthroid. I did check that it was gluten free when I discovered my intollerance. I already do B12 injections, I'll try to up the dose and see if that helps with the insomnia. Thanks for all the advice and knowing I'm not alone at 3am!

[lwatsonz]

I read a book entitled "Zapped, Why your cell phone shouldn't be your alarm clock" and after reading it I quit keeping my cellphone by my bed to recharge at night, it now recharges in the kitchen overnight. I replaced the compact fluorescent bulb in the lamp next to my bed with an incandescent bulb (or you could use an led bulb). I moved the power strip where I was charging all my electronic things overnight away from my bed to the far side of the bedroom. I had my husband replace the old crt tv in our bedroom with a new lcd tv. After doing all these things I have slept much much much better. Oh and I don't keep any computer in my bedroom any more either, it stays in the living room now, mostly, and I mostly use it only on battery power, not plugged in while I'm using it. For me sleep wasn't because of food so much.

[gatheringroses]

I had chronic insomnia for around two or three years before I went gluten-free... I could only sleep from around 5 am to 8 am some days. I was on a whack of sleeping pills.

Now, I get tired at normal times, I sleep at normal times, and I wake up feeling well-rested. It took about three days to work for me.

If I have even so much as a crumb of gluten (or, the other day, I had 1/6th of a table spoon of beer), I can't sleep...

I hope you feel better soon. My diagnosis was the best thing that ever happened to my health.

[gatheringroses]

Also - if you can tolerate dairy, I find eating a little bit before bed makes me really sleepy!

[BeFree]

Before going gluten-free I never knew what to expect at night. I made excuses to stay up at night because I didn't want to go to bed. I was plagued with restless sleep, nightmares, insomnia, night-time anxiety attacks, sleep walking and talking, night-time leg cramps, and I never slept through the night. I think this was all related to the gluten causing malabsorption of magnesium, which is necessary for restful sleep.

Now my nights are SO calm and peaceful, I actually look forward to going to bed at night. It's the most wonderful thing ever. I wake up in the morning feeling peaceful and rested.

[Mayflowers]

That's really interesting because gluten acted like a sleep drug on me. I was always sleeping from it. I'd fall asleep watching tv all the time. Lethargy, no energy..couldn't wake up in the morning.. Now since I'm off gluten, so much better..even in the morning I can wake up better. I can stay awake to watch a movie, and I have more energy to do things when I get home from work, and I can and more importantly feel like exercising. No depression anymore, no more irritability! The best part is that my nightmares stopped when I went gluten free! Who'd a thought that?

I know ya'all would agree with me. The hardest part is not getting contaminated..

[BeFree]

"I'd fall asleep watching tv all the time. Lethargy, no energy..couldn't wake up in the morning.. Now since I'm off gluten, so much better..even in the morning I can wake up better."

Me too...that's what used to happen to me also, falling asleep on the couch, low energy etc. I think that was because I was having such poor quality sleep at night.

[AVR1962]

Hi Carrie,

I've had trouble sleeping for years, too. I thought it was just me. I never took any medication for it, but I was tempted sometimes. It wasn't everyday, but at least three times a week. I would go to work a lot with no sleep at all & feel horrible. I also felt a lot of anxiety & brain fog. Now that I've been gluten free for four months. I think it took about a month or more for my insomnia to go away & then I started sleeping so good & I felt so calm. It was wonderful. Then I was getting glutened again two weeks ago & now , of course, along with all the other GI symptoms, I'm having trouble sleeping again. I think it is getting better, but it just takes a while for the body to recover from the gluten. Just make sure you're on a very strict gluten free diet & recheck everything you're taking -vitamins, medication, hand & face lotion. I realized I was getting glutened from my synthriod medication. It was driving me crazy. It was the last item I thought of & as soon as my doctor changed my medicine I started to feel better. But I still having some brain fog & having a hard time falling to sleep. I do listen to soft music & meditation celiac disease's (BelleRuth Naparstek) right before I go to sleep & that does help me a lot. If you think a mediation celiac disease would help you, you might want to try it. You can buy them on (Company Name Removed - They Spammed This Forum and are Banned). I have a few of her celiac disease''s & they helped it really helps me to relax.- not trying to sell you anything, just trying to help.

Hang in there. It'll get better soon.

I love your profile pic! I have 2 bassets, love the breed!!

[AVR1962]

hi, i'm new to the forum. i was recently diagnosed with gluten sensitivity and i have been gluten free for about three weeks now. i discovered i was gluten sensitive after going to my naturopath for chronic insomnia, which i've had for the past seven years. as of now, i can see no improvement in my sleep and am worried that gluten is not the cause of my insomnia...

so i'm just wondering if any of you suffered from chronic insomnia before going gluten-free, if going gluten-free cured the insomnia and if so, how long did it take after going gluten-free before you got sleep?

thanks so much! i've really enjoyed this site and look forward to hearing from other gluten intolerants.

carrie

I didn't read thru all the replies so this could be a repeat. More than likely your body is vitamin deficient. Crazy what nutrients play in our ability to sleep. I went thru a terribly long spell of insomnia until I started supplementing. Got to feeling better, backed off on my B complex, magnesium and potassium and found myself dealing with insomnia again. These are only part of what I take dialy but I think they are the key nutrients you need. I also take a Melatonex which has B3 and magnesium at night which I suggest if you are not taking anti-depressants.

[Learner01]

After health issues in the early 00's, I visited a naturopath that informed me that I was gluten-intolerant. Then, after some research, I realized that my mysterious symptoms and subsequent "thyroid issues" were likely the result of issues with gluten. I keep a watch on my gluten intake and have come to a new conclusion: perhaps my insomnia is also the by-product of gluten intolerance. I was on Levothyroxine for 2 years and had the absolute worst time sleeping. It was horrible. I sleep a lot better now, but I'm baffled by my new discovery.

What's going on with gluten?!

[JeanneA]

I was fascinated to read all the posts regarding insomnia! Here I am in Week 3 of gluten-free. The first thing that happened was a nasty worsening of my GI symptoms for 2 days, then steady improvement. Already off one of my GI meds and want to try to taper off the other. That was Week 1. Week 2 I started to realize that I hadn't had a migraine in days. (I started the gluten-free diet on advice of my gastroenterologist, never dreaming that the intolerance or allergy might be the cause of my migraines.) Because I keep a migraine diary, I can tell you that they are definitely fewer, more far apart and milder. My gosh. That was week 2. Now, in Week 3, I've had several nights of sleeping like I haven't slept in decades. I had had almost constant insomnia. Didn't really start to think more about it til this morning. This is just amazing. Now I go and see all of you talking about this, too. All of my chronic issues were caused by this intolerance or allergy? (Dr. doesn't know which it is----I hardly care, as long as I can manage it and feel better.) This is just incredible. Thanks for the help, everyone. Hope I can encourage back.

[floral]

I found out I had a sleep apnea before I was diagnosed with Celiac. Didn't sleep well for over a year. Only been on a gluten free diet for 15 days and last night was the first night that I slept well and felt rested. I also didn't throw off my mask during sleep and my daughter said it was the first night that she also slept well b/c I wasn't snoring! I also had malabsorption issues and take B12 shots. I found a vitamin geared for Celiac's on Celiac.com and have started taking them for the last 3 or 4 days. That's the only thing I've done different in addition to diet changes. Only problem that still exists is the peripheral neuropathy which drives me crazy. Neuro did put me on Lyrica which helps but I wish I could find something more natural that would be a good substitute. So nice to have found a place where I belong. I had 4 bowel obstructions before being diagnosed!