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Paul,
 
I read with great interest your post this morning.  My family has had a
problem with the women all having cycle related migraine headaches that
begin at age 30 and last through menopause.  After y-e-a-r-s I finally said
something that made my Ob/gyn understand why I kept complaining that it
related to hormone levels, and he said that there were some people whose
uterus became more permeable during certain times of month letting
substances (I think he said prostaglandins) leak into the blood that act
like a poison to the system.  That is exactly the feeling, as if I were
being poisoned, with a knot forming on the left side of my neck where the
neck joins the skull.  My doctor has had me taking Alleve (naproxen sodium)
to get some relief (nothing else has ever diminished the pain in the least!).
 
When I beg taking the epsom salts baths, my regular neckache disappeared
that occurs on the second day of the month.  The mid-month (ovulation, I
assume) headache is still troublesome some months, even off of wheat and
milk, although I am finding the number of Alleve needed to make the pain
bearable has diminished from 4 to 2.
 
It also might be interesting to you, Paul, and maybe to others, that in my
daughter Grace's amino acid profile (which I just got back with explanation
last week), there was a discussion, because of her profile,  of
hyperaminoaciduria, or amino acid dumping in the urine.  They said,
"Ususally the amino acid group transfer, called transamination, is to
alpha-ketoglutaric acid which adds the amino group to become glutamic acid.
Alpha-ketoglutaris acid, the primary amino group receptor in amino acid
metabolisms, is formed in the citric acid cycle.  Transamination steps
require pyridoxal phosphate (PyrPO4 from vitamin B6) as a coenzyme.....The
corresponding symptoms also can be strongly influenced by diet, and can vary
from individual to individual and may vary with the specific
hyperaminoacidurias.  Headaches and occasional nausea are most common.[sound
like PMS?]  Other symptoms observed to be coincident with
hyperaminoacidurias and limited protein tolerance include:  fatigue,
dizzyness (sometimes vertigo), unusual skin sensations (hot, cold, crawling,
tingling, burning, etc.), urticaria, and occasionally the indivdual excretes
abnormally high urine volumes...."
 
Another puzzle from my life which might relate is that when Grace was 20
months old, and was reducing her amount of breastfeeding, I suddenly had
double vision which lasted about a week.  There has been a lot of discussion
of weak eye muscles on the autism list, but I thought my double vision was
probably caused by some hormonal changes related to weaning my child.
 
Hope this is interesting, and if anyone is interested on this list in seeing
Grace's amino acid profile, I'd be glad to share. Seventeen of them were out
of normal ranges.  I will note, however, that she is not diagnosed celiac,
but probably has the gluten intolerance that Paul is researching relative to
autism.
 
Susan Owens