ADHD, migraines, & irritability from celiac's disease?

[cjnolet]

I've had migraines since I turned 21. They're awful. They almost always present themselves with an aura, referred to as a scintillating stacoma (there's good videos of what this looks like on youtube), and they are probably the most painful thing I've ever experienced. I get them frequently. When I was younger, it used to seem like they were seasonal- they'd come on in Spring and Fall, a few times a month.

I went through many years thinking they were the result of barometric pressure, stress, foods (I've cut out so many foods to test this theory it's not even funny).

But lately they've gotten awful I got one last Thursday. Before that I had one on Saturday. Before that, the previous Monday, the Saturday before. Now it's been raining like crazy in Maryland all summer, but a lot has changed with me as well. I decided to go more natural and stop eating processed foods- this means I have really not eaten much in the way of refined sugars or flours. I have not been eating cured meats and have been staying away from lunch meats.

My stomach definitely feels a lot better than it did when I used to binge eat, but certain foods still set it off- for instance right before Thursday's migraine, I made a pizza crust from spelt dough. Upon eating 2 slices of the resulting pizza, my stomach was killing me and I mentioned to my wife that I knew an aural migraine was about to come on. Needless to say, it did.

I've had sporadic diarrhea since the beginning of the year but, forgive my honesty, the color, and smell of today's made me google around to see if there's something else up with my body. Instantly I saw an article saying it could be celiac's disease. I looked up celiac's disease symptoms and noticed ADHD, irritability, anxiety, and migraines.

Any of you familiar with this correlation? To be honest, i've suffered from these migraines for so long, if I found out it was because of celiac's disease I think I'd burst out in tears of joy, knowing I might have finally gotten to the bottom of this once and for all.

[Gabesmom594]

I have always had Migraines. I can remember in 3rd grade having to miss 2 days of school because of one. They came more frequently in my teen years. I always had at least one a month a couple days before my menstrual cycle. I've had some that were so bad and would last 3 - 4 days. Thankfully not all were that bad and one or two was the norm. They are usually hereditary. My mom got them really bad as did her older sister. In fact, my aunt died from something having to do with an experimental treatment for migraines. It may have been a study she was in but I can't remember as I was only about 10 when she passed. This morning I woke up with one but now thanks to Imitrex, they last minutes instead hours and days. You know what I found fascinating, the whole time I was pregnant with my son, I didn't have one single migraine.

[cjnolet in reply to Gabesmom594]

Wow. 9 months without migraines. I'd do anything for that!

My mom and sister both get migraines with scintillating stacoma and Google is telling me that celiac's disease is hereditary as well!

My mom & I were both born with a congenital heart defect as well (we have misshapen aortic valves). She just got hear surgery to replace her valve. Thankfully it all went well but it didn't appear to fix her migraines! BTW- she's also the side of the family that I belive my ADHD came from.

Migraines are one thing I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

[Gabesmom594 in reply to cjnolet]

I too believe ADHD came from my mom's side. I can look back and see so many signs of inattentive ADHD in my mom. She passed years ago and when she was here, neither one of us had ever heard of ADHD. She always thought she just wasn't smart enough and I thought the same about myself.

[ButterCup_13]

I have such sympathy for you - I know what you’re going through. I have chronic migraines and ADHD, among other things. The migraines went into overdrive when I hit my mid-thirties. It’s been a long road, but I’m starting to control them a bit. It took trying a lot of different meds to find the right combo that worked for me. The key was finding a neurologist that is a migraine specialist. There are so many new treatments out there right now. I encourage you to search them out - both holistic and pharmacy - you will be amazed at how much better you feel mentally just knowing you’re tackling them with a goal towards reduction of severity. If you’re interested, PM me and I can give you more info. I won’t lie, it’s a long road, but just knowing I had a dr in my corner that was going to try everything helped tremendously. Sending lots of healing thoughts your way!

[cjnolet in reply to ButterCup_13]

Thank you! I saw a neurologist last week and he recommended a book called "Heal Your Headache". I'm going to be starting it in the next few days (as soon as I finish the one I'm currently reading). Hopefully, it provides some insight.

One thing I've been tracking down lately is the association w/ my migraines and tyramine. I've tried eliminating so many foods over the years with no success it's absolutely nuts. Last week, while eating some pumpkin seeds at work, I noticed a dizzy aura feeling developing in my head. I started cursing immediately and stopped eating the pumpkin seeds- and the aura stopped! I immediately googled "Pumpkin seeds migraine" and found out those seeds have a high concentration of tyramine, a naturally occurring amino acid that your body breaks down to help regulate blood pressure.

Apparently, when our bodies don't have enough of the catalyst substance (I think it' called Tyrosine?) in our bodies, we can't properly neutralize the tyramine before it hits the liver, at which time it is absorbed into the bloodstream, and sends both a serotonin and norepinephrine spike to the brain. I'm obviously no completely sure if this is it, but it seems like the most likely explanation that would explain the random hyperactive episodes before I get the migraines.

So the other strange part- tyramine is toxic for tyramine intolerant individuals in foods such as citrus fruits, dried fruits, nuts/seeds including peanuts and peanut butter, aged cheeses, smoked/cured/tenderized meats, fermented foods (such as alcohol), fresh yeast-based foods (such as fresh bread), leafy greens, over-ripe fruits, and others. This covers many foods (citrus, dried fruits, cheeses, alcohol) that I've been associating with migraines for a long time. However, there's a major detail in the tyramine explanation that I missed with all my attempts at dieting- tyramine grows with the age of foods, especially at room temperature! So that means a fruits/vegetables that have been sitting out in room temp too long as well as meats that aren't stored properly and leftovers that have been sitting in a fridge more than 24 hours. No freaking wonder! If this IS true, it pretty much explains all the patterns that I've noticed. It doesn't mean the pressure changes in the weather won't continue to give me a slight congestion headache, but it seems to imply that the scintillating stacoma and aura may be able to be controlled through my diet.

I'm crossing my fingers!

[ButterCup_13 in reply to cjnolet]

That sounds very interesting! I’m definitely bringing this pup with my Neuro the next time I see him.

I don’t think you should discount barometric pressures - they affect me a lot. Thank goodness I’m in California with minimal “weather”.

May years ago, when things were getting really bad and I had to go on disability for my migraines, I started logging daily the following things to try and help me get a better handle on things:

* weather conditions, incl. barometric pressure range, pollen, allergy, air quality, etc. (thanks to weather underground iPhone app)

* blood pressure & body temp 3 times per day at the same times (or as close as possible)

* food diary

* sleep diary - incl. all naps, no matter how small and the amount of times you wake up per night

* migraine log - incl. any minor headache, duration, aura type and length, pain on a scale that makes sense to YOU, not some arbitrary numbering scheme. As long as your consistent with your pain scale definition, any dr will be able to understand

* stress log

* body pain log (I have other health conditions)

I know it seems like a crazy amount to keep track of, but it really helped me identify a lot of triggers and problems, not just for the migraines but the ADHD, etc. I created an Excel chart that I borrowed from a few different sites to make one that worked for me. I used Google docs and updated the spreadsheet on my phone. Basically, any additional information you can give the doctor is in your favor. It also shows them you’re serious about getting better. The cool thing is that you can do it for a couple of weeks and you’ll start to see patterns.

[stephan_penn]

Let me get all my issues out in the open that I have, on top of my ADHD.

I have a rare brain disorder called Chiari Malformations Type II with Cervical and Lumbar Spinal stenosis. CM II causes severe headaches/migraines, Muscle Weakness, Neuropathy (causes weakness and sensations of pins and needles) and/or Paralysis in the arms and legs; extreme dizziness and nausea, facial pain; ringing in the ears; Lhermitte's sign (electrical sensations starting from the top of the spine and down to the arms and legs. Nystagmus, which is rapid uncontrollable eye movements.

I am currently having terrible migraines, really bad irritability issues and I also have Celiac’s Disease. In relation to my CM II, I have Cervical and Lumbar Spine Stenoses and I have 4 herniated discs in my cervical spine and 5 herniated discs in my Lumbar Spine; I’m starting to have uncontrollable seizures due to the blockage of Cervical Spinal Fluid putting pressure on my brain and putting excess pressure on my spinal cord.

My Gastroenterologist, Neurologist and Neurosurgeon are at Mayo Clinic Florida (I live in Jacksonville, FL, so I’m very lucky to have access to Mayo doctors).

My first appointment with my Gastroenterologist, Mayo took A LOT of blood work, and they randomly used their proprietary test to test me for Celiac’s Disease. It came back positive.

Once I have my multiple spinal Decompression surgeries and brain surgery to remove a piece of bone on the bottom of my skull to decompress the excess CSF pooling and putting pressure on the spinal cord.

At this point, all of my doctors are saying to re-evaluate my ADHD issues after the 2 Spinal Decompression and the Brain Surgery.

I’m scheduled to go for surgery next week and I’m excited to be honest. I want to have some form of a “comfortable” life, and be able to manage my ADHD properly so I can get back to my teaching. I’m an Assistant Professor of Computational & Applied Mathematics at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

[dubstepMaul]

hi CJ, this is super interesting. Did you get diagnosed with Celiac? Also has your diet changes reduced the number of migraines?

[cjnolet in reply to dubstepMaul]

I probably should have posted an update. I do not believe it is celiac. Rather, I’ve found tyramine to be a huge trigger. I have been eating really healthy for 8 months now, including mostly non-processed foods, nuts/seeds, chicken, greens like spinach. It turns out those last 3 things can be toxic in tyramine levels for some people who don’t produce enough tyrosine naturally to neutralize the tyramine (which is an amino acid that regulates blood pressure).

Apparently when people with a tyramine intolerance consume too much tyramine, it can raise blood pressure to harmful levels and case the hypothalamus to do crazy things (triggering a migraine)

I finally went to see a neurologist after years of my wife nagging me to do so. He recommended a book called “Heal your headache” and it has been extremely informative thus far. Apparently the vyvanse might be playing a role in lowering my migraine trigger threshold, which also might explain the increase in migraines as a result of taking it. I think it also explains why my psychiatrist started me out on both vyvanse and a profilactic simultaneously.

[dubstepMaul in reply to cjnolet]

thanks for the update. We are a migraine family, ugh. Particularly my 27-year-old son, he has gotten debilitating migraines all his life and has seen numerous neurologists. We will definitely be looking into the tyramine thing. Yeah vyvance does make it worse I think, he used to be on that now is on Adderall xr.

[SeedsofFocus]

I don't know about celiac, but try CBD oil for your migraines. I sell it at a grocery store (no I am not on commission), and I have had great reports of it helping with migraines. One person told me that she takes it several times a day, and if she feels a migraine coming on, she takes more. It DOES NOT HAVE THC. It won't get you high, and you can pass drug tests. It is now legal to be sold in all 50 states. You can get it online.