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Hi everybody,
Here are your response on hypersomnia.  It has been very conforting to me,
because for more than twenty years (I am forty-one)  I always had all kind
of symptoms that I could'nt understand (daily urticaria, multiple food
intolerance, pollen and other respiratory allergy, cramps in the legs,
falling asleep anywhere but sometimes insomnia, bad digestion, panic
disorder, depression, weight loss, weight gain, catching colds and viruses
all the times, sinusites, chronic vaginal yeast infection, hypoglycemia, low
blood pressure, etc... All the doctor could tell me was that I was probably
on depression or I was overstressed...

In less than a month on that list, I realised that so many of you
experimented the same things.  I will never be formally diagnosed because my
family doctor did'nt believe that I could be celiac because I was slightly
overweight and had alternance of diarrhea and constipation, instead of
constant diarrhea, and that was not what she was thaught celiac disease was

I decided to go gluten free anyway.  After three months, because I was
feeling so much better, she gave me anti-gliadin blood tests.  To make sure,
I went to two different laboratories and both tests came back positive.  I
had a biopsy a month later that turned out negative.  I guess I had been too
long gluten-free.

Because of the negative biopsy, I still wonder sometimes if it could be
something else, but I find on this list so many people with the same
symptoms that I used to have that I guess that is my answer.

That is a long introduction but that is the explanation for why I asked such
an unusual question such as:  Have you ever experienced an urge to fall
asleep, wherever you are at that moment?

Here are your answers:

*******
I could not stay awake after eating unless I stayed on my feet.........It
was explained that when the undigested wheat lies in the small intestine it
creates a "leaky gut" and opioids from the gluten seep into the blood stream
causing extreme sleepiness.

It is definitely from having celiac.
*******
Dear Johanne,
Falling asleep was the symptom which led me to find out that I am celiac.
Sitting still was dangerous, even (especially) to talk to my own young
children.
******
Check web pages on ADHD research.  There is a connection being made between
narcolepsy/brain chemistries/neurotransmitters, etc. that may be in some way
connected to the brain chemistry changes also attributed to celiac.
Interesting - new - and not out of the realm of possibility.
******
I have celiac disease and now it seems I also have hypoglycemia.
The hypoglycemia leads me to be very fatigued.  There have been
many times when I cannot stay away either even though I get at
least 8 hours of sleep every night.  Eating balanced meals and
staying away from sugary and starchy foods helps me a lot.
Blood sugar level problems do seem quite common among celiacs so
that could be what is affecting you.
******
Hi, there is a condition called Narcolepsy, whereby the suffer can (and
frequently does) fall asleep anywhere and everywhere. It might be something
worth investigating.
******
Hi Johanne, I also had the falling asleep probelm.  TV would put me right to
sleep, also going to the movies.  I am better now, I do believe it was the
gluten.  I am 58 so falling asleep early is ok now but when I was younger it
was not so cool so I know what you mean.
******
I have had the same thing for years. In my twenties, I fell asleep at
pubs and at parties. Now that I am in my 50s, I still fall asleep early but
it doesn't bother me so much any more. Also, it has been better since I
went gf. I get teased for being narcoleptic - but I'm sure it is not that. I
have never heard the term hypersomnia before. I just looked it up in the
dictionary - it says sleeping for an excessively long time. That is not
really my problem. It is falling asleep in the middle of social events. It
is nice to know that I am not alone in this - although one of my daughters -
who is now in her 20s also seems to have this.
*******
I also used to have what it sounds like you're calling hypersomnia- I
couldn't stay awake in meetings or seminars, movies, but I don't remember
ever falling asleep in a concert.  I've been gf for two years, and though
older no longer have that problem of falling asleep so readily.  My
overweight husband has just gone on a low carb diet.  He used to fall asleep
almost everytime he sat down, and used to go to bed at 8:30.  Now he's up to
10:30-11 and doesn't drop off- low carb means he's eating no starch,
including wheat.  Interesting, no?

There is also a condition called narcolepsy where people can't control when
they fall asleep.  I wonder how that would respond to a gf diet?
Intractable epilepsy has been sucessfully treated at U of Maryland with the
ketogenic diet- which is the low carb diet.  Hmmmm....
********
Just to let you know.  Since coming down with Celiac disease, I have
terrible bouts of sleepiness.  It's almost like I'm depressed, but I'm not,
I just don't want to do anything but sleep.  The ONLY way I've been able to
combat this is to take a powdered aloe vera product.  When I stop taking it,
then it starts again, so I guess I'll be on it forever.  I used to think it
was a vitamin B deficiency also, but I'm taking vitamin B complex--plenty of
it--and it hasn't helped.  Only when I take that product.  It's a product
from an MLM (multi-level marketing company), but, it's the only products
that's helped me.  When I take it, I have lots of energy.  This sleepiness
is horrible!  I find it so hard to believe that even though I've improved SO
MUCH since being GF, that I have to take this product in order to have a
life with energy, but I guess that's just the way it's going to be.
*******

Thanks again to everyone.

Johanne
Montreal (QC) Canada.