4 ms·

Similar story about gut health rabbit hole and profound quality of life improvement after understanding gut serotonin... I took 23andme and found out I had HLA-

by nibs 11y ago

Similar story about gut health rabbit hole and profound quality of life improvement after understanding gut serotonin... I took 23andme and found out I had HLA-DQ2.5 (Celiac gene) making my risk of developing Celiac around 10% (as opposed to near 0% if you don't have it - everyone with the gene cannot process Gliadin, a wheat protein, Celiac is just the most severe set of symptoms). Before this point I was highly critical of people with pretend/made up food sensitivites and ate anything I wanted on the basis that if there was a problem my doctor would tell me. Recently (a few months ago) I stopped eating wheat as an experiment as I had some Celiac-like symptoms showing up more and more. It changed my life. 76% of people with this gene who are not diagnosed with Celiac yet and consume wheat have a serotonin-based psychiatric disorder because the undigested wheat starts acting negatively on the serotonin system, making you volatile and anxious. My diagnosed Generalized Anxiety Disorder took a matter of weeks to disappear. Genetic self awareness and choosing your foods carefully cannot be overstated as a means to improved quality of life.

mcjiggerlog 11y ago
To what extent did you stop eating wheat, out of interest? I seem to only be affected (digestive problems) by products that are literally made out of wheat flour (bread, pasta etc) and things that "contain gluten" have no discernible effect on me. Have you needed to go "gluten-free", or just avoid obviously wheat-based foods? Trying to avoid everything that has gluten in it does not sound like a fun way to live. I'm considering trying to cut out wheat-based foods to see how it affects my anxiety, but it'd be good to know whether just cutting out obviously wheat things is pointless.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- nibs 11y ago
  I basically got rid of all of it at my house but none of the crazy stuff (some people replace their cookware, etc. I think that is a misunderstanding of the problem). I notice when restaurants use it but it doesn't really ruin my life or make me descend back into bad health. I just notice I am more anxious/blood sugar volatile for a few days after. So I avoid obvious large sources of wheat, but I accept that restaurants regularly use it in sauce, etc. and it causes noticeable but manageable issues. I have the heterozygote version (1 variant of HLA gene) rather than the homozygote version (2 variants of HLA gene) so it is less severe and only affects some of my cells. If you have both variants, your risk of Celiac goes to about 50% and you normally find out early in life. I would also confirm it is not some other category of food sensitivity affecting you - my fiance went through a similar process and found some links to IBS which leads to a low FODMAP diet. Wheat is a FODMAP but other FODMAP foods affected her also where for me it is 100% wheat. TL/DR: obvious wheat things is a big step, I noticed difference in anxiety, skin health, brain fog, focus, migranes, sleep. 80% of those issues for me went away by getting rid of obvious sources at home.
barkingcat 11y ago
Glad that you found what worked for you, but I find it strange that people would be distrustful when people say they have food sensitivities. Even if it's made up what does it matter? Nobody really has a say over what another person puts into their body (unless infirm, under doctor's care, or young/baby). I find this "if you don't have a doctor's note you have fake food allergies, you're just picky" idea really insensitive.
- nibs 11y ago
  For me, it was a fear driven response to anti-science rhetoric. I think anti-vaccine narrative really convinced me the extent to which people act irrationally about personal health. I observed parents self-diagnosing their children with all kinds of made-up conditions solved only by avoiding certain categories of food like GMOs. As someone with immediate family members with autism, people claiming that removing wheat and dairy from their child's diet would "fix" their "autism" was offensive to me. I trust doctors for the most part to be a superior model to the mommy blogger/anti vaccine crusade. GMOs are another example of misinformation and fear mongering trumping science. I have since learned the value of genetic self awareness and how little we understand about health and diet issues, especially chronic ones, and so have reversed my position towards people with food sensitives, made up or otherwise, to empathize with the fact that we probably don't understand a given issue well enough yet to fix all of the eating problems people have and so people can do whatever they want.

by nibs 11y ago

mcjiggerlog 11y ago

To what extent did you stop eating wheat, out of interest? I seem to only be affected (digestive problems) by products that are literally made out of wheat flour (bread, pasta etc) and things that "contain gluten" have no discernible effect on me. Have you needed to go "gluten-free", or just avoid obviously wheat-based foods? Trying to avoid everything that has gluten in it does not sound like a fun way to live. I'm considering trying to cut out wheat-based foods to see how it affects my anxiety, but it'd be good to know whether just cutting out obviously wheat things is pointless.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
nibs 11y ago
I basically got rid of all of it at my house but none of the crazy stuff (some people replace their cookware, etc. I think that is a misunderstanding of the problem). I notice when restaurants use it but it doesn't really ruin my life or make me descend back into bad health. I just notice I am more anxious/blood sugar volatile for a few days after. So I avoid obvious large sources of wheat, but I accept that restaurants regularly use it in sauce, etc. and it causes noticeable but manageable issues. I have the heterozygote version (1 variant of HLA gene) rather than the homozygote version (2 variants of HLA gene) so it is less severe and only affects some of my cells. If you have both variants, your risk of Celiac goes to about 50% and you normally find out early in life. I would also confirm it is not some other category of food sensitivity affecting you - my fiance went through a similar process and found some links to IBS which leads to a low FODMAP diet. Wheat is a FODMAP but other FODMAP foods affected her also where for me it is 100% wheat. TL/DR: obvious wheat things is a big step, I noticed difference in anxiety, skin health, brain fog, focus, migranes, sleep. 80% of those issues for me went away by getting rid of obvious sources at home.

barkingcat 11y ago

Glad that you found what worked for you, but I find it strange that people would be distrustful when people say they have food sensitivities. Even if it's made up what does it matter? Nobody really has a say over what another person puts into their body (unless infirm, under doctor's care, or young/baby). I find this "if you don't have a doctor's note you have fake food allergies, you're just picky" idea really insensitive.

nibs 11y ago
For me, it was a fear driven response to anti-science rhetoric. I think anti-vaccine narrative really convinced me the extent to which people act irrationally about personal health. I observed parents self-diagnosing their children with all kinds of made-up conditions solved only by avoiding certain categories of food like GMOs. As someone with immediate family members with autism, people claiming that removing wheat and dairy from their child's diet would "fix" their "autism" was offensive to me. I trust doctors for the most part to be a superior model to the mommy blogger/anti vaccine crusade. GMOs are another example of misinformation and fear mongering trumping science. I have since learned the value of genetic self awareness and how little we understand about health and diet issues, especially chronic ones, and so have reversed my position towards people with food sensitives, made up or otherwise, to empathize with the fact that we probably don't understand a given issue well enough yet to fix all of the eating problems people have and so people can do whatever they want.