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Hello to all of my celiac friends! I have been a member of this list for 3
years now and have never posted to the list. I have corresponded directly
with some of you privately, but never felt confident enough to post until
now.  Bless you all for all of your good, solid information and insights.

I wanted to share a book I recently read called:

The Brain Chemistry Plan: The Personalized Nutritional Prescription for
Balancing Mood, Relieving Stress, and Conquering Depression
by Michael, Md. Lesser, et al


It had some amazing insights for me.  I did an archives search to see if it
had been discussed before and I couldn't see that it had. There were some
posts on agrophobia and depression, but it sounded like people were blaming
their psychological symptom
s on the celiac condition (i.e. having to find
bathrooms, being depressed because they cannot find something gf to eat,
etc.-all valid concerns). But if all of our nutrition is going out into the
toilet, think of how our brain is being deprived of vital nutrients.  And
once we switch over to gluten free, how hard is it for us to absorb
vitamins?  Do we ever get back to 100% absorption?

Basically, this doctor treats his patients' depression and most brain
imbalances with vitamins and herbals remedies. He says that the diet
of "white flour and white sugar" has peoples' brains malnourished and off
balance. He asks a list of questions and it tells you what type you are and
what types of vitamins would help that type "in trouble".  I saw
some "used" books listed on Amazon.com although I bought a new one.  A
friend of mine loaned me her book which was called "The Brain Chemistry
Diet" but it is
 the same as the Plan and I went to buy my own.

I am a biopsy diagnosed celiac and my father had celiac disease when he was
alive.  He died from complications from lymphoma at the age of 66. I
suffered for 8 years until my doctor sent me for "the" test. A bout of
breast cancer at year 2 (I was 37 years old then) delayed my diagnosis as
my doctors were concentrating on that and not my gastro symptoms.  I have a
brother and a sister BOTH on antidepressants and they won't go for the test
because they both say "But I don't have diarrhea."  I've tried repeatedly
to get them to go for the test, but they won't do it.  My brother lives a
hermit lifestyle and is on sleeping pills, antidepressants, nicotine and
alcohol.  I am giving him a copy of this book hoping it might not be too
late for him.

Through a gf diet, my mental health has improved tremendously.  The brain
fog, memory scramble, fatigue
and depression lifted soon into the diet.  I
have osteoperosis so I had been concentrating on rebuilding bone with
fosomax, calcium, exercise and increased dairy intake but truthfully
neglected vitamin supplementation. Being forced to eat gluten free was a
blessing in disguise.  We all eat so much better than the general
population in North America. But I still feel somewhat depressed at times,
irritable at times and seek solitude, although my basic personality is a
people person.  The doctor speaks about all of this in his book.  He said
that a normal human response is to be enthusiastic about being alive and
having a general feeling of well-being.

I think my grieving period is long over from not being able to eat pizza
ever again and I feel that I am handling the diet better than ever. But I
am going to try some of his suggestions and perhaps even feel better than I
do now! I have no financial interest in this book
 - I just want to pass on
a good read and some valuable information for any of you who might be
interested.

Thanks for listening and I'd be glad to hear any of your thoughts on the
topic of vitamin supplementation.

Lynn from just outside Toronto Canada

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