Celiac Disease and Depression

It may be ironic that this post is following our previous post on our first known incidence of being glutenized, but it is really, merely a coincidence.  I ran across this article and I have always wondered about this. 

One of the Gluten Free Kid's predominant celiac disease symptoms was depression.  I remember wondering how a small child could always be so unhappy.  I was actually on the verge of taking her to psychologist when all of the vomiting started (the GFK's symptom that finally lead to a diagnosis). 

The depression happily left after we started the gluten free diet.

My husband and I both remember the day the GFK actually skipped across the family room.  Now she has a wonderfully happy, funny personality!  What a joy to have a diagnosis and be healed!

The following article is from About.com; a great resource for information on celiac disease.

From Nancy Lapid

Depression (and other mood and behavioral disorders) can sometimes be related to celiac disease.. In many studies, children and adults with celiac disease had higher rates of depression than subjects without celiac disease. Sometimes these studies were done in patients with untreated celiac disease (that is, they were still eating gluten). In other cases, even when the research involved celiac patients on gluten-free diets, they still had higher rates of depression compared to non-celiacs.

Does a Gluten-Free Diet Help Relieve Depression in Celiac Patients?

If the patient's depression is related to malabsorption of nutrients, then being gluten-free can help, because the intestines heal and nutrient absorption improves.

Some researchers believe that malabsorption can interfere with the body's handling of neurotransmitters that regulate mood. In particular, malabsorption-related deficiencies of tryptophan appear to contribute to depression in celiac patients. Tryptophan is necessary for the body’s production of serotonin, which is the central neurotransmitter involved in regulation of mood and anxiety.

In untreated celiac patients - and even in some celiac patients on gluten-free diets- deficiencies of vitamin B6 can also have a role in depression. In one Scandinavian study, for example, patients with celiac disease and depression reported no improvement in their depression after a year on the gluten-free diet. After 6 months of vitamin B6 therapy, however, their depressive symptoms were dramatically improved.

Other side effects of malabsorption can cause symptoms that can be mistaken for depression. For example, a deficiency in folic acid due to malabsorption can cause fatigue, apathy and forgetfulness. Iron deficiency, with or without anemia, can produce feelings of tiredness and easy fatigue.

In one study of 12-to-16-year-olds with celiac disease in Finland, kids who were depressed before going on a gluten-free diet had certain hormonal biochemical derangements associated with depression. After 3 months on a gluten-free diet, these same adolescents had improved hormone biochemistries and a significant decrease in psychiatric symptoms.

A gluten-free diet is not always the fix for depression, however - for reasons that are sometimes understood and sometimes not. At least two Italian studies have attributed higher rates of depression in gluten-free celiac patients to difficulties in adjusting to the disease and the diet. Celiac patients in these studies were more anxious and felt their quality of life had gotten worse.

In several other large published studies, including one from Sweden involving more than 13,000 patients with celiac disease, the authors found higher rates of depression among gluten-free celiacs but were not able to identify specific reasons.

What Should You Do If You Are Depressed?

• If you have celiac disease, ask your doctor whether you need to be tested to make sure you're not accidentally ingesting gluten, which might be causing your depression. Also ask your doctor whether you should be evaluated for vitamin deficiencies.
• In the meantime, ask your doctor, or someone else you trust who has experience in mental health - for example, a nurse, social worker, or religious counselor - for advice about getting treatment. Don't try to struggle on without help.
• Visit the website of the National Institute of Mental Health for help in locating affordable mental health services in your neighborhood.
• Visit About.com's excellent website on depression.

Comments

[Sheilagh]

Hi,

Thanks for you blog site here. I have one questions and two things to share.

My questions is about sanitation/cleaning up after a gluten consumption by another family memeber who is not gluten free. What is the necessary level of cleaning? Is wiping with a sponge, soap and water enough? Do I need bleach? Should I be using paper towels? I have trained myself not to use paper towels in the name of environmental friendliness. Help, I want to make sure we are not cross contaminating my dear daughter!

Two things to share:

I wanted to share a recent learning that I am trying to spread around to any one with any sensitivity to gluten. There is gluten in tea bags that are crimped around the edges (vs. tea bags that are stapled). My daughter has been contaminated and we think this may have been the source.

Also, earlier on in your blog I saw a posting about guidelines/suggestions for GF lunches for kids. I have discovered Laptop Lunch Boxes and they are great. Everything has a container and all those are in a container which is then is a vinal cover with a strap. It all opens up like a laptop computer and keep the food from contacting the lunchroom tables! They are great and my dear CD daughter loves them. They also save on disposable wrapping, so they are environmentally benificial.

Thanks!

Sheilagh

[Jamie L Eppenauer]

Hi Sheilagh~
Thanks for your comment. The idea behind this blog (and my website) was to share ideas on living gluten free, so I really appreciate your comments.

We try really hard to live "green" (even though that word has been greatly overused) as well by not using paper towels, using washable lunch containers etc. But when it comes to cleaning up gluten, we do the double-wipe with paper towels or kitchen wipes. That is, we spray on some cleaner (not an expert here - but pretty sure any kind is fine) and wipe once with a paper towel and toss it, then I repeat with a new paper towel and toss it. The pre-treated kitchen wipes work great for this as well. After the kids have gluten, they also wash their hands and dry off with a paper towel. I am sure you could use regular towels, but you'd have to wash them each time. We also have assigned seats at the dinner table and they can only eat gluten at their spot. Last summer, my GFK started getting headaches so I banned gluten for the rest of the summer. Everyone did just fine with it.

Didn't know about the tea bags!!!!!! Thanks for the tip on that one!

Love the lunch boxes. For everyone else, here is a link to the website www.laptoplunches.com where you can buy them. Perfect for the GFK to keep the food off the table and they look easy to wash. Thanks for the great suggestion.

Jamie~aka Gluten Free Mom