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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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Posted by Jimmyboy on November 19, 2007, at 18:01:59
Can anyone explain how being allergic to a certain food actually cause depression or anxiety or both?
If you eat that food how long would the effect last?
Anyone out there have food allergies that cause depression? What does it feel like? Any different?
Thanks
JB
Posted by kaleidoscope on November 20, 2007, at 13:45:54
In reply to How can food allergies lead to depression/anxiety?, posted by Jimmyboy on November 19, 2007, at 18:01:59
There is no proven link between food allergies and depression/anxiety. Any such associations are pure speculation.
K
Posted by bleauberry on November 20, 2007, at 18:05:27
In reply to How can food allergies lead to depression/anxiety?, posted by Jimmyboy on November 19, 2007, at 18:01:59
Food allergies cause depression bigtime. Probably a common cause that treatment resistant people, and their doctors, totally ignore. The word allergy though is a bit misleading. An allergy implies a fairly rapid effect and is usually something like rash, swelling, coughing, etc. But a lesser version of an allergy, called a food intolerance, or a food sensitivity, is really bad.
What happens is your body cannot digest a particular protein or substance properly, due to a genetic defect, a deficiency, or a total absence of the specific intestinal enzyme that breaks that substance down. The undigested substance gets in your blood and is like a poison. Another cause is longterm candida overgrowth. These bad guy bacteria are in everyone's guts, but they are harmless in normal healthy people. But when there is a lot of stress, depression, heavy metal burden, illness, antibiotics, sugar, high cortisol, or low cortisol, or weak immune system, they multiply bigtime and can actually grow roots through your intestinal wall allowing undigested food directly in your blood. Your body sees the substance as a foreign invader and attacks it with the immune system.
No matter. The usual result is a creation or release of acetyldehyde. This is the same chemical that causes hangovers. It is very toxic to the brain. It acts in several ways. One, it is opiate-like, though not in a good way, and makes one feel spaced out, tired, and depressed. It also attaches to existing serotonin and dopamine and contaminates them. But, it is only one of several neurotoxic chemicals from food intolerances. This post could go on for pages and pages.
I am gluten intolerant. If I eat a little wheat, oats, or barley (have to even be careful of a seemingly safe rice cereal that has "barley malt" as an ingredient), I tell you what, in about 24 hours and lasting for about 3 days I will be severely in the dumps in terms of mood, energy, and ability to function. It is like the flu, except I eat ok, or like a hangover without the nausea. Most people gluten intolerant also have a hard time with dairy, so I have switched to soy substitutes for dairy. I've found a ton of great foods, recipes, and flours that allow me to enjoy breads, pancakes, pizzas, cookies, cakes, etc, without wheat.
If someone is intolerant of one food, chances are very good they are intolerant of others they may not be aware of. An ELISA test (expensive) or a RAST test (expensive) can identify those foods. The cheap way is to do rotation diets where you eliminate certain foods for a couple weeks, then eat them again and see what happens.
Food intolerances/allergies can be genetic. They can also be a sign of a deranged gut environment. Or a sign of a weakened or confused immune system. Heavy metal burden, such as mercury from amalgam fillings, is notorious for causing food sensitivities. I would say 99% of people detoxing mercury have marked difficulties in what they eat.
If anyone knows they have an intolerance, there are ways to minimize it. For example, I can take several caps of a gluten digesting enzyme with any meal that has gluten in it. It supplies the enzymes my gut is missing, that most people have, that specifically digest gluten. A good overall strategy is to take healthy doses of good quality broad spectrum digestive enzymes with each eating. This breaks substances down before they have a chance to become toxic to you. Adding high dose Vitamin C (but not the buffered version) is helpful as it is very acidic and will help break substances down. As will HCL supplements. And helpful as longterm gut police work, a high quality probiotic at about 2X to 10X the dose suggested on the bottle is a huge help.
Sorry to go so long here. A food intolerance or allergy equals toxins/poisons in your blood, and believe me, your brain don't like that one bit. Can it make you feel depressed? Oh yeah. To me, a gluten reaction feels exactly the same as a severe major depressive crash.
Posted by Jimmyboy on November 20, 2007, at 19:04:19
In reply to Re: How can food allergies lead to depression/anxiety?, posted by bleauberry on November 20, 2007, at 18:05:27
Thank you Blueberry,
I agree,I got back tests that said I was allergic to gluten and corn, both of which I eat all the time. My depression has been constant and no drug can touch it - for years. For several weeks , I avoided carbs ( thus wheat) , b/c I found out I was hypoglycemic. All of a sudden I started feeling much better, then I quit following the diet so close. And started feeling worse.. then last weekend ate a huge huge bowl of pasta and went from being pretty much OK, to freakin thinking about suicide for about 2 days... so something happened there. I believe it totally, it was immediate. And horrible.
Thanks for the informative post, maybe you can give me some more pointers if you have time. This meat and vegetable diet I have adopted is hard to do as well as making me shed pounds so fast I look emaciated.
Much thanks Blueberry
JB
Posted by Jimmyboy on November 20, 2007, at 19:05:57
In reply to Re: How can food allergies lead to depression/anxiety?, posted by bleauberry on November 20, 2007, at 18:05:27
Thank you Blueberry,
I agree,I got back tests that said I was allergic to gluten and corn, both of which I eat all the time. My depression has been constant and no drug can touch it - for years. For several weeks , I avoided carbs ( thus wheat) , b/c I found out I was hypoglycemic. All of a sudden I started feeling much better, then I quit following the diet so close. And started feeling worse.. then last weekend ate a huge huge bowl of pasta and went from being pretty much OK, to freakin thinking about suicide for about 2 days... so something happened there. I believe it totally, it was immediate. And horrible.
Thanks for the informative post, maybe you can give me some more pointers if you have time. This meat and vegetable diet I have adopted is hard to do as well as making me shed pounds so fast I look emaciated.
Much thanks Blueberry
JB
Posted by bleauberry on November 22, 2007, at 13:34:49
In reply to Re: How can food allergies lead to depression/anxiety? » bleauberry, posted by Jimmyboy on November 20, 2007, at 19:04:19
Question: What test did you do? Was is RAST or ELISA? Something else? I am interested in finding an affordable test. My gluten has already been documented, but I am suspect of other things, including dairy, corn, and chocolate. What test did you use?
I think it should be standard procedure for any patient not responding well to the first try of an antidepressant to run food intolerance/allergy tests on them. As you have witnessed yourself, someone can be poisoning themselves into depression on a daily basis and have no clue they are doing it. And as you said, drugs do absolutely nothing to touch it. It isn't a serotonin deficiency thing. It is a poisoned with toxins thing.
A lady discovered she was allergic to wheat. Stopped it. Improved a lot. Then with over confidence ate a whole pizza. She went into a suicidal crash. She was monitored and hand-held for a couple days as the reaction passed.
So you like a bowl of pasta? No prob. At most grocery stores and natural food stores you can get pasta made from brown rice. It tastes very similar, texture is similar but maybe a little gooier if over cooked, and you can eat all you want.
Actually being gluten/corn intolerant, or whatever intolerant, is kind of an adventure. We have to embark on studying labels before purchase, trying new foods, and such. After a few months you actually get to prefer your new foods over the old ones. It takes a little hunting to find the sources locally, or you can find them on the net easily, but all kinds of excellent gluten free foods are available...donuts, pastries, cookies, waffles, pancakes, breaks, crackers, chips, pizzas, alfredo pastas, whatever, everything. The adventure is in trying the new foods and finding which ones you like and will repurchase and which ones you didn't care for.
Study hidden gluten sources. For example, if you see barley malt as an ingredient on a label, forget it. There's gluten in anything derived from barley.
Ready bought stuff is expensive though. A dozen fronzen gluten free donuts at the grocery store are about $7. A box of ready-to-go bread mix to make your own bread is about $5. A package of oreas is about $5. Rice chips (triangular like doritos) are about $2.50 a bag. I am discovering how to make these things myself at home much cheaper. Favorite flour so far is Red Mill's All Purpose Baking Flour. I made donuts that tasted like Dunkin Donuts. I made cream puffs just like you get in Chinese restaurants. Not hard either. Just takes a little time. Not as easy as throwing it in a shopping cart. Anyway, it is a new life, but a good one.
Even people who are not gluten intolerant notice health and mood benefits when they avoid gluten.
Like you, I have lost weight. I think we should write the next blockmuster million dollar diet book...stop eating gluten and lose weight fast. :-)
With your food intolerances and hypoglycemia, that brings me back to something I mentioned before...mercury. Everything you have said so far is picture perfect for mercury toxicity. I hope you do not have amalgam fillings. If you do, your existing symptoms will become worse and you will develop a bunch of new ones too. If you do have them, you need to make it a number one top priority over everything else in your life to get them out with a sense of urgency. ASAP. Hopefully you don't have them though.
> Thank you Blueberry,
>
>
> I agree,
>
> I got back tests that said I was allergic to gluten and corn, both of which I eat all the time. My depression has been constant and no drug can touch it - for years. For several weeks , I avoided carbs ( thus wheat) , b/c I found out I was hypoglycemic. All of a sudden I started feeling much better, then I quit following the diet so close. And started feeling worse.. then last weekend ate a huge huge bowl of pasta and went from being pretty much OK, to freakin thinking about suicide for about 2 days... so something happened there. I believe it totally, it was immediate. And horrible.
>
> Thanks for the informative post, maybe you can give me some more pointers if you have time. This meat and vegetable diet I have adopted is hard to do as well as making me shed pounds so fast I look emaciated.
>
> Much thanks Blueberry
>
> JB
Posted by rvanson on November 23, 2007, at 0:54:07
In reply to How can food allergies lead to depression/anxiety?, posted by Jimmyboy on November 19, 2007, at 18:01:59
> Can anyone explain how being allergic to a certain food actually cause depression or anxiety or both?
>
> If you eat that food how long would the effect last?
>
> Anyone out there have food allergies that cause depression? What does it feel like? Any different?Dont waste your money on quacks that tell you that your Dx is all due to "food allergies."
Been, there done that what a waste of $$$ !!
Posted by kaleidoscope on November 25, 2007, at 13:19:01
In reply to Re: How can food allergies lead to depression/anxiety?, posted by bleauberry on November 20, 2007, at 18:05:27
>But a lesser version of an allergy, called a food intolerance.......
Jimmyboy asked about allergies. Food intolerance is not the same as an allergy. They are completely different processes.
This is the end of the thread.
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