I have had a crappy week. On sunday i started getting terrible headaches and migraines that would not go away. My migraine medicine wouldn't help. went to doctor and he prescribed compazene and tylenol with codeine and they didn't help. went to ER next day and they did a CT and a spinal tap which were both fine. Headaches are continous and terrible. Also haven't been able to sleep at all these past couple nights. Maybe 4-5 hours max. I was wondering if any of it may be connected to Celiac? The neuorologist said i just have to talk to a psychologist about my "stressors" But i already have people to talk to openly. you know? Anyway any advice is much appreciated
thanks

I am a therapist and work under an MD who is very advanced (in my opinion) in connected the types of problems you're mentioning with celiac and gluten. However, I think that EVERYONE can benefit from professionally trained help to talk about "stressors," and my experience has been that talk therapy can unlock some hidden issues that may indeed affect our physical health. Don't be afraid of the stigma of therapy. Check your insurance and find a good counselor. I could point you in a direction of how to search for one online if you wanted. At the very least, find someone who includes a holistic perspective and has a clue about gluten sensitivity.

How's your liver? In Chinese medicine, the liver being stressed can wake us up earlier than need be; and cause headaches. Just a thought. Dehydration is another. But I've never had migraines. You're not eating aspertame are you? -- that's a known trigger. Wish I could help more. Good luck. -Sherri

My 11 year old daughter has headaches and cannot fall asleep when she comes in contact with gluten. I beleive it comes from the nuro. problems Celiac people get

I have gotten pretty bad headaches being gluten free. Someone else mentioned on here it being connected to the liver. I have heard that a lot as well. There is a liver cleanse you can find directions for on the internet (it involves apple juice, epsom salts, and olive oil, its easy to goggle and you can find differen variations) that is short and not too terrible to do. It rids the body of gallstones (that sounds far fetched probably) but it really does work and has made a huge difference for me when it comes to headaches.

This sounds really awful, I am sorry to hear of this pain you are experiencing. Glad some really bad things have been ruled out via the CT though.

I am also a therapist, and while I agree with the other poster, I also am hugely respectful of how physical problems cause psychological ones. My eyes have been even more opened on this forum, with posts such as from parents with children with OCD who are fine once they go gluten-free. Also I am frustrated with how readily the medical community suggests somatic illness because they can't find the reason for the symptoms.

Just wondering how long you have been gluten-free and how strict you are. Could this be from cross contamination, a new food, or a food that you usually have found to be fine but has suddenly changed its ingredients and you didn't read the label? Any change in personal care products? Some people have become more and more sensitive to minute amounts of gluten the longer they are gluten-free.

Some people have reported more sensitivities developing after going gluten-free, so I wonder if you have tried going off milk and soy which are fairly common culprits on this forum. Beyond that, there could be other sensitivities to many different possible foods. This can be from various causes, but one result of celiac is leaky gut, where larger particles of proteins are able to get out of the intestine into the system which then forms antibodies to them--developing multiple sensitivities to foods.

Do you keep a food diary? That can help.

Another thing to consider, has the celiac led to malnourishment and do you need things like B12, minerals, etc. etc.?

Other ideas might to to check out the low oxylate thread, the threads about nightshades, the lyme disease thread, and/or post on the OMG thread. There are several threads on insomnia, and that is a problem that has been common to a number of people on the OMG thread. It's a long thread, so just jump in and post. They won't mind repeating something that might have been said before.

Please keep us updated on how you are doing.

Wow, you are sleeping more that I am!

I am getting dreadful headaches this week for some reason.
I am wondering if since I just went gluten free on Oct 1st if maybe I am
having sensitivities to corn now. It seems to come on after I eat
corn. Am doing an elimination diet this week to see.

Sorry bout your head.

lovelove
sickchick

Hello well if you are female it could be hormonal, withdrawal from caffiene? The only thing that has helped me with severe migraines is something that targets the blood vessels like Imitrex or Excedrin migraine. I have severe insomnia too and never sleep. It's not fun. I hope you are feeling better

The fist thing that comes to mind is MSG. Another poster mentioned aspartame, which does basically the same for those sensitive to Free Glutamic Acid. It is often hidden in foods, even when the food is labeled "no MSG added". Ingredients derived from yeast are the typical method being used today. This includes yeast labeled along with words such as extract, dried, hydrolyzed, nutritional, etc.

Make no mistake about it, manufacturers do attempt to hide this, and sad to say, foods which are supposed to be more healthy are even more commonly spiked with MSG. Especially low fat, low sodium, low sugar type foods. Anything that might otherwise have less flavor than the "naughty" junk food they emulate I would consider suspect.

See www.truthinlabeling.org for more than you may want to know.

Other than that, if you recently changed or dropped a supplement, that might be something to look into. I've also read about compact fluorescent lights causing migraines, along with the usual things like gas leaks, carpet/upholstery fumes, etc. Even high frequency equipment like cell phones, cordless phones, large TVs, microwave ovens... The list can go on and on, so hopefully it is something you can narrow down relatively easily.

Migraines can also often be caused my muscular tension - and that tension doesn't have to be caused by emotional stress, it can be caused by physical stress. One of my triggers is a forward head posture that creates significant strain on the SCM (sternocleoidmastoid) muscle that runs from the sternum (and clavical) to the mastoid (just behind the ear). It helps rotate the head, but also pulls it forward (and down). A lot of us who work at computers all day (or many of us in general), have a forward head posture, and this causes the muscle to shorten, and become tight. Working with my chiropractor has helped this, but I can still trigger my migraines if I'm not diligent about maintaining a good neck posture throughout the day.

You might want to consider finding a good, structurally based, chiropractor to investigate whether or not spinal and/or muscular issues are at play. Be careful about getting much in the way of high velocity adjustments done on the neck - those can be the more dangerous ones - but there is a lot that can be done to improve cervical spine and muscle issues without that type of adjustment. (Well, traction sucks, but it helps me a lot! )