After yesterday’s important post about Milk and Gluten I thought a follow up post is important, considering that there can be withdrawal when one stops eating and drinking these foods. It’s the age old, worse before you get better thing. It sucks, and it is real, therefore must be addressed by anyone attempting such a diet, or a person might stop the diet completely in order to feel better in the short run.
(Edit Side Note: We have a Dietary Group on the ADDer World ADHD Social Network. We further discuss issues with Gluten and food allergies.)
The following article is by Dr. Charles Parker, a member of the interactive ADDer World, he has given permission to repost:
Celiac Notes: Opiate Withdrawal from Gluten and Casein?
Opiate withdrawal from discontinuing gluten and casein? Cautionary note: sounds absurd until you see it.
You might want to warn gluten sensitive, celiac and casein sensitive patients about this odd and painful clinical phenomenon: Withdrawal after stopping wheat or milk products can be painful, exhausting, and depressing, with weakness, anger, and brain fog.
I have a very interesting and refractory client in Ohio who has struggled for years with a variety of severe reactions to psych meds, suicidal depression, mercury toxicity, and became completely regressed on previous withdrawal of Prozac before I saw him in DC. With autoimmune issues in abundance and at times psychotic like feelings of loosing control we tested him for gluten/casein sensitivity, hit pay dirt with positive findings, and asked him to go on a gluten free/casein free diet [GFCF is the acronym].
He felt remarkably better at first, better than he had in years, then the withdrawal set in. Having had previous experience with addictive opiates prescribed for pain, he recognized signs of withdrawal immediately. First a note on the opiate receptors from Great Plains Laboratory:
The peptides from gluten [gliadorphin] and casein [casomorphin] are important because the react with opiate receptors in the brain, thus mimicking the effects of opiate drugs like heroin and morphine. These compounds have been shown to react with areas of the brain such as the temporal lobes, which are involved in speech and auditory integration.
Children with autism frequently seem addicted to wheat and dairy products. Presumably, people with Autism and schizophrenia incompletely digest wheat and dairy products. These incompletely digested peptides are then absorbed into the body and bind to opiate receptors, altering behavior and other physiological reactions.
And one more reference here:
Below is from the book “Dangerous Grains” by Ron Hoggan
The addictive nature of gluten is often overlooked. For some, the first days and weeks of following a gluten-free diet are characterized by food cravings, disorientation, irritability, sleepiness, depression, mental fogginess, fatigue, and/or shortness of breath.
If you are a member of this group, the very fact that you are experiencing many of these symptoms should reinforce the need to exclude gluten from your diet. These are common symptoms of withdrawal of detoxification from gluten-derived opioid and brain neurochemical imbalances. The evidence suggests that about 70 percent of celiac patients will experience these symptoms when beginning a strict gluten-free diet.
The take-home appears simple: if these symptoms occur, do go more slowly on the GFCF diet, respect the withdrawal process and support other nutritional and physiologic activities.
Be sure to visit Dr. Parker’s blog for more information. Thanks again Dr. Parker!
~Bryan
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Bryan-
Many thanks for sending my missive out to your readers – the comorbid problems with ADD will be the subject of my next book.
As for now your readers may be interested in the Free Download: The 10 Biggest Problems with ADD/ADHD Medications – and Their Solutions. It’s a 1200 word review of the multiple problems we face with ADD meds everyday – and they can get some benefits for my new book on the same subject, at the main page: http://www.corepsychblog.com
Many thanks again!
Chuck
i was diagnosed with adhd last summer, and was still feeling foggy and blah a lot of the time, despite being on a good medication. i finally found a naturopath and excluded both gluten and dairy and my symptoms are scarily similar to what has been mentioned on this website…i’m psyched to not be ‘alone’ in my struggle! thanks.
jl
I stumbled across this post and I’m glad I did! I recently went on a gluten/dairy free diet (2 months now) I had no idea this was linked in some way with my ADD. It is amazing how our body tells us what it needs, we just have to learn how to listen. Since going on the diet I have experienced some of the symptoms as described, and I should also add that I have allowed myself to cheat a few times, which now I understand why I felt “better” after having bread. The diet is not easy but I am noticing some improvements. I have lost weight and can sleep better among other things. My Dr. knew I was lactose intolerant and knew of my ADD, I wonder why she couldn’t help me with this.
i was wondering if someone could tellme foods the people with add and adhd should avoid.
Jim – Don’t know if you’ve received a response to this yet – here’s a couple of links that give lists of things that contain or are gluten and contain or are milk/casien. They can be found on TACA.org – and althought it is a website about austism and helping it through diet, it is a great resource for gf and/or cf people.
Great list of what had gluten – things you didn’t realize
http://gfcf-diet.talkaboutcuringautism.org/what-is-gluten.htm
and list of stuff that had casein (milk)
http://gfcf-diet.talkaboutcuringautism.org/what-is-casein.htm
Gluten is addicting « My Journey // Sep 20, 2009 at 1:54 am
[...] to this site he peptides from gluten [gliadorphin] and casein [casomorphin] are important because the react with [...]
So, I was recently diagnosed with allergies with Gluten wheat, oats, dairy and eggs. I gave them all up cold turkey about two weeks ago and I am really feeling horrible right now. I feel totally depressed. Theses withdrawl symptoms suck. how long does it take for your body to fully get these toxins out?
It took a couple months my way, but recently I fell off of the diet, so it didn’t take me as long this time, about a week or so… hope you feel better soon
I have always craved milk and drank tons of it. I have always joked that I drink more milk than most calves, and have done this since childhood. My mom is also a big milk drinker and this is just the way I grew up. I honestly do not know of another adult besides my mom who drinks as much milk as I do. I never considered it a problem until I married my husband, who considers it a gross food and insists that adult humans are not meant to consume the milk of another species (or any species, really). He never touches the stuff. I have tried substituting soy milk several times over the years, but always fall off the wagon because I will crave an ice cold glass of milk so bad that I can’t stand it and there is no way soymilk is going to cut it. Then I am back to square one. I have heard that foods we crave are often those we are actually allergic or sensitive to, and if this is true then I am screwed because giving up milk makes me cringe. Does anyone else here have cravings for milk like I have described and drink several huge glasses of it a day?
I crave milk and drink four or more glasses a day. But since I’m lactose intolerant, I drink mine raw. At the age of nine, I did have a very slight milk allergy. For about six months I didn’t drink milk because it made me ill. Then I got goats! I’ve never had any issues.
Eventually, I would like to replace most of those glasses of milk with raw yogurt, keifer or cheese, which are far lower in sugar. It is a known ADHD trigger.
I would also like to say that anyone who is drinking soy milk or contemplating drinking soy milk should research it. It’s a shady food, and many people are VERY allergic to it.