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What If Medication Helps?

desperate

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desperate Rookie
desperate
Posted

If an antidepressant med gets rid of all my neurological symptoms that I thought were being caused by gluten, could I still be gluten intolerant or have Celiac?

I don't get any GI issues except nausea but only after lunch along with my neurological symptoms: dizziness, fatigue, eye pressure, headache, dry mouth, difficulty concentrating, lack of coordination. These things only occur after lunch and last either til dinner or the rest of the day.

My doctor thinks it is my depression and anxiety caused by a brain chemical imbalance that is causing all of this. My Celiac blood tests and biopsies were normal.

So I took the antidepressant today that he prescibed and it pretty much prevented all my after lunch symptoms.

Could this mean I am not gluten intolerant/sensitive or Celiac?

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pain*in*my*gut Apprentice
pain*in*my*gut
Posted

If an antidepressant med gets rid of all my neurological symptoms that I thought were being caused by gluten, could I still be gluten intolerant or have Celiac?

I don't get any GI issues except nausea but only after lunch along with my neurological symptoms: dizziness, fatigue, eye pressure, headache, dry mouth, difficulty concentrating, lack of coordination. These things only occur after lunch and last either til dinner or the rest of the day.

My doctor thinks it is my depression and anxiety caused by a brain chemical imbalance that is causing all of this. My Celiac blood tests and biopsies were normal.

So I took the antidepressant today that he prescibed and it pretty much prevented all my after lunch symptoms.

Could this mean I am not gluten intolerant/sensitive or Celiac?

It is very unlikely that the antidepressant that you have just started had anything to do with the fact that you felt better today. It generally takes at the very least 2 weeks (usually closer to 4-6 weeks) for them to kick in.

Do you keep a food journal? It might help you pinpoint what you eat and when you have the symptoms. Try it for a few weeks and see if you notice a pattern.

lucia Enthusiast
lucia
Posted

It's scary to me that your doctor is saying that. That's what I was told for years about my fibromyalgia. (It's "psychosomatic".) Then, one day I ran into a young intern who was actually up on the latest research. He told me that I had fibromyalgia and that it was a real condition. I researched what to do about it, and got better.

Maybe you should see a different doctor. Seriously.

It's unclear to me whether or not you are eating gluten. If you are not, and are still having symptoms, it's possible that you have fibromyalgia or a host of autoimmune conditions. A good doctor could help you look into that. But first, make sure that you are off of the gluten and know how you respond.

love2travel Mentor
love2travel
Posted

It's scary to me that your doctor is saying that. That's what I was told for years about my fibromyalgia. (It's "psychosomatic".) Then, one day I ran into a young intern who was actually up on the latest research. He told me that I had fibromyalgia and that it was a real condition. I researched what to do about it, and got better.

Maybe you should see a different doctor. Seriously.

It's unclear to me whether or not you are eating gluten. If you are not, and are still having symptoms, it's possible that you have fibromyalgia or a host of autoimmune conditions. A good doctor could help you look into that. But first, make sure that you are off of the gluten and know how you respond.

Would you mind telling me what helped your FMS? My fibro is constantly severe - it even hurts to wear clothes. If I lie on a wrinkled sheet I must get up and flatten it. Ouch! I have seen chronic pain docs and so on but nothing has even remotely helped yet...

lucia Enthusiast
lucia
Posted

lovetotravel, I'm so sorry to hear you're in so much pain. I'll PM you since your question veers away from the topic. Anyone else should always feel free to PM me about this. I know how difficult fibro is.

love2travel Mentor
love2travel
Posted

lovetotravel, I'm so sorry to hear you're in so much pain. I'll PM you since your question veers away from the topic. Anyone else should always feel free to PM me about this. I know how difficult fibro is.

I just returned to post the same suggestion. Sorry to hijack the thread, everyone!

desperate Rookie
desperate
Posted
  • Author

It's scary to me that your doctor is saying that. That's what I was told for years about my fibromyalgia. (It's "psychosomatic".) Then, one day I ran into a young intern who was actually up on the latest research. He told me that I had fibromyalgia and that it was a real condition. I researched what to do about it, and got better.

Maybe you should see a different doctor. Seriously.

It's unclear to me whether or not you are eating gluten. If you are not, and are still having symptoms, it's possible that you have fibromyalgia or a host of autoimmune conditions. A good doctor could help you look into that. But first, make sure that you are off of the gluten and know how you respond.

Lucia- i am not eating gluten. I was told by several doctors after I had a very serious car accident that I had fibromyalgia. I too am interested in what helped yours. I do also have Sjogren's and Raynauds. I will try to contact you privately.

Thank you.

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Takala Enthusiast
Takala
Posted

It turns out my neurological symptoms were being caused by brain and nerve damage from being an undiagnosed gluten intolerant, plus damage to my c- spine from bone loss, and there is no anti depressant on the planet that can fix having to walk with a cane to stay upright because of malnutrition.

This was your post 8/21

I have GERD, gastritis, esophagitis, hiatal hernia all discovered during an upper endoscopy. GI doc said there was some flattening of villi but biopsies came back negative. She said it was inflammation. Blood tests for Celiac came back negative. She told me to go gluten free and see if I felt better. I did that 4 days ago but am not seeing any improvement in my symptoms which are mostly neurological and only occur every day after I eat lunch, no matter what I eat and they happen sometimes while I am eating lunch.

My symptoms are: dizzy, headache, eye pressure, brain fog, hard to concentrate, slurred speech, dry mouth, dry eyes, blurred vision, flushing, weakness, fatigue, nausea, bloating, gas.

This is not the symptom set for "anxiety."

A week is too soon to see if you will respond to a gluten free diet, especially if you haven't ironed out all the cross contamination kinks yet.

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