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After many decades of suffering I finally found out I have a wheat allergy. My symptoms are major bloating, feeling a little sick and extremely irritable.

I've been off wheat for a few weeks and I feel like a different person. I felt like I was possessed. This wheat really effected my mental health. It made me super irritable. I have so much more patience now than I did. It's night and day difference.

Has anyone else experienced this before? Is there any evidence that wheat can effect you mentally?

Thank you.

Yes, the word that shows up in my journal when I eat wheat is "grumpy." Also "fatigue" and "depressed" and feeling "run over by a truck". As I test for food sensitivities, am amazed at the range of symptoms foods can cause. Had always thought my sinusitis was about what I breath in. In part, it is, but foods can also play a major role (for me onions and tomatoes are the big players).

Sometimes I wonder if the food I'm testing is really the cause of symptoms, or if something else is the cause. So I retest at another time, and see if the symptoms recur. Can I replicate the symptoms?

It helps to take really good notes. I now keep a journal of everything I eat, and what symptoms I experience. This has allowed me to go back and see patterns; wish I had done this from the beginning of testing.

Good luck!

I wish I had figured out years ago that wheat was NOT my friend. I get very irritable, grumpy, and tired. Also it inflames my digestive tract and eating makesr me painfully bloated. Fortunately for me and the people I love, not eating wheat has returned me to being a reasonable a quite pleasant person to be around!!

Are there any studies or articles on why/ how wheat effects a person mentally?

It literally makes me feel as though I am mentally slipping into insanity. If you have ever felt that way, you understand what I mean. Not just mild irritation, mind you...but loss of control over myself! Scary! I frequently get this reaction with ALL grains (depends on how much of them I eat at a time), however...excepting rice, but then my reactions to that aren't particularly great, either.

I would love some info., as well. This can't just be a coincidence. Even cooked tubers give me a depressive reaction sometimes, but never psychosis...

A friend of mine was on a boat load of psychiatric meds for 15 yrs. She was able to go off all of these meds once it was determined she has Celiac disease and began a gluten free diet.

Well I read a book called Wheat Belly in which the author seems to think so, but from all the other stuff I've read, I don't think just wheat is the culprit, but certain grains (wheat, barley, spelt, bulgar and rye among others) that contain gluten. I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease last year. It is an autoimmune disease caused by the effects of gluten on the vili of the small intestine. Gluten causes the vili to become inflamed and then flatten out making it difficult to absorb certain nutrients and also causing spaces between the vili which in effect causes something similar to leaky gut. The symptoms vary from person to person depending upon how much or which part of the small intestine is affected. I experienced loose stools (had to go poo about 6 times a day), rashes on my legs and torso, bloating and extreme fatigue. Some others have experienced "brain fog." Others, especially children have experienced failure to thrive or weight loss. For me however, it didn't affect my weight at all and I was (and still am) overweight. This happens when the damage to the small intestine takes a long time. Doctors don't know why some people experience Celiac symptoms early in life, while others don't experience it until later. As with some other conditions, there is a spectrum of gluten-sensitivity and symptoms experienced by individuals. But if you have any questions about it, I would encourage you to visit a website online that describes Celiac Disease or gluten intolerance.

Here is a website about the research into Celiac Disease: http://celiaccenter.org/

And here is one about gluten-intolerance:
http://www.gluten.net/default.aspx

Oh yes ... wheat can make you crazy. Oh my, yes.

This question brings back SO many bad memories....

I spent six years living with a woman who felt that she had a "wheat allergy" although the many allergy tests she had did not convincingly support this theory. Also, she was never a good fit with the celiac symptoms, although attempts were made to shoehorn her into that diagnosis on more than one occasion.

Nonetheless, I was extremely supportive of her efforts to eat wheat-free. To this day I'm not so fond of quinoa -- her grain of choice and a frequent-if-inferior pasta substitute in her cooking -- even though we split up twelve years ago and I haven't touched it since.

The reason? Because when she ate wheat (I never noticed this outcome if she ate other glutinous grains) it was like instant PMS. Combined with roid rage. With just a little bit of Angel Dust to make things interesting.

In short, she turned into Godzilla in the throes of a failed exorcism.

Her head did not quite rotate 360 degrees on her neck. But she became quickly, insanely, irrationally angry. She'd rage, scream, throw things, take astonishing offense at mundane provocations, and generally make her son and me flee the suburbs of Tokyo. Usually she had just enough self-awareness to go "Oh, %&#@, did I get wheated?" and then go and hide for a few hours. But it was scary-bad.

A certain sort of male cynic will be thinking "She's a woman, they all do that once in a while" and if there should be such a man in this crowd, all I can say is "My brother, I have lived in the place you are coming from and I do understand your pain." But no, despite superficial similarities to moments we have all experienced, this was a temporary insanity of an intensity and volatility not generally encountered.

I don't know about a wheat allergy making a person act crazy. My brother had an allergy to wheat (confirmed by allergen tests conducted by our doctor) when he was a child. He was also allergic to milk among other things. He would get a stuffy nose and a cough and some type of weird white mold growing behind his ears. He outgrew his allergies and doesn't seem to be bothered anymore. But I have read that the Salem witch trials in which several people were accused of being witches by 2 or 3 young girls may have been caused by the girls ingesting wheat or other grains contaminated by a fungus. I have read of other such things throughout history. There definitely toxims in some foods, esp. if they are stored improperly. Here is a technical article about it:

http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/liv ... ec1880.pdf

If you don't want to read the entire article, scroll down to the part about animal and human health. It is very enlightening.

Remember too, that not all people that are "allergic to wheat" or "gluten intolerant" will have the same symptoms. I absolutely believe it can impact mood (to whatever extent) in some people.

Me too! I am more irritable on wheat. I tested negative to the antibody but I tested positive to an allergy to grass. Wheat is a grass. (so is oats, rye barley, rice etc.)
I would get bloating, weight gain, and nausea from wheat. Its a daily struggle with me to stay off it because I love the taste of wheat and oats. I also had increased anxiety on wheat. I also had skin rashes and itching from wheat..! Off it, I'm calm happy and more energetic. I try to focus on those things so I'll stay off it.

My temper is terrible when I'm on a gluten. The weird thing is....even after I figured out I was very intolerant of gluten, I felt addicted to it and couldn't stop eating it.....yikes! I'm gratefully off of it now. I won't consume even tiny particles of it. I was at a dinner party and the hostess encouraged me to scrape the breading off of something- No way!

Yes, I hate hate hate what gluten does to my brain and personality, but now even rice leaves me feeling irritable. I have to be super careful of what I put into my body for the sake of my brain. Grains are a little tricky. I like softer starches like winter squash.

Glad to hear I'm not alone. Feeling great off of it.

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