- Don’t make fun of people asking for gluten-free foods – they might be doing it to save someone’s life.
“Do you have any gluten-free options?” has become a bit of a charged question in the past years. Granted, there is a small subset of the people asking it who have subscribed to a fad diet and can be kind of obnoxious about it.
Despite that, there are people for whom eating gluten could cause serious issues. They might suffer from celiac disease, gluten allergy, or some other condition where gluten could harm them – or people around them.
Usually gluten consumption causes these people severe gastrointestinal discomfort, but it could lead to symptoms like rash, anemia, and headaches. In some extreme cases, though, the side effects could be much, much worse.
How much worse, you ask? How about succumbing to full-blown murderous psychosis?
That was the case with a 37-year-old woman from Massachusetts. Gluten caused her to experience severe hallucinations, paranoia, and other lovely mental conditions that eventually led to a threatening the lives of her parents and an attempted suicide.
So the next time you hear someone ask for gluten-free food, don’t smirk behind their back or roll your eyes. They might have a dang good reason for it.
The Troubles Begin
But let’s get back to the woman of our story. The 37-year-old was a successful PhD student, when all of a sudden she started experiencing bizarre delusions, according to the National Post.
The woman became convinced that everyone she knew were conspiring against her. She thought that strangers, friends, and even family members were acting out pre-scripted scenes in some kind of a “game”, where she was the central character.
Her condition worsened quickly, and eventually culminated in a death threat aimed at her parents. At this point, the woman was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, for a good reason.
At the hospital, doctors diagnosed the woman as suffering from a psychotic disorder, a condition where the mind can’t distinguish between reality and imagination. We’d imagine the diagnosis probably made some kind of a list of quickest medical diagnoses ever.
The woman received powerful antipsychotic medication in order to control her symptoms. However, the drugs had little to no effect.
During a follow-up appointment, the doctors noticed that the woman had an impressive collection of mineral and vitamin deficiencies, in addition to thyroid problems. She had also lost a significant amount of weight.
We called her first diagnosis very quick, and clearly it was too quick. The root of the woman’s problems was that she actually had untreated celiac disease.
Things Get Better…
Once they’d confirmed her condition, the doctors recommended a strictly gluten-free diet for the woman. There was just one issue there – she was still experiencing her delusions.
In the woman’s mind, the doctors were just one part of the global conspiracy that was out to get her. It’s no wonder, then, that she completely disregarded the doctor’s orders.
As a result, her condition kept getting worse and worse. She ended up losing her job and her home, and alienating both her friends and family.
Eventually, homeless and desperate, the woman resorted to attempting suicide. Luckily enough, her attempt was unsuccessful.
At this point, she was rehospitalized, and placed on a gluten-free diet. With no other option, she proceeded to eat the recommended foods.
Lo and behold, her symptoms soon started getting better. Dr. Alessio Fasano, director of the Center for Celiac Research and Treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital, said that the woman very quickly became lucid and aware that her behavior was unreasonable.
Not only that, Fasano said that once she was back in her senses, she was knew gluten was causing her mental problems. The woman wanted everyone she’d hurt to know that she wasn’t in control of her actions, due to her psychotic delusions forcing her to disregard her gluten-free diet.
…Before Getting Worse
Having regained her full mental faculties, the woman began to obediently follow her prescribed diet. But when she accidentally ate something with gluten, her symptoms popped right back up.
This story, unfortunately, doesn’t have a happy ending. The woman’s reignited psychosis led to her trying to realize the threats that landed her at a hospital for the first time.
She attempted to kill her parents. Although she ultimately failed in her attempt, she didn’t get off with a hospital stay this time. The woman was sentenced to prison.
Her sentence put a stop to studying her condition, but there was still one conclusion the doctors could reach. Celiac disease can, in extreme cases, have a profoundly disturbing effect on the
Help for the Future
Science doesn’t yet know how exactly gluten disease and mental problems are linked. Fasano believes that it may have something to do with the body’s immune system.
When a person sensitive to gluten eats something they shouldn’t, their immune systems goes nuts. This usually causes an inflammation in the stomach and intestines, which results the stomach discomfort associated with the disease.
Fasano, however, believes that in rare cases the inflammation could spread away from the gut. If it reaches the brain, you might start seeing the kind of psychotic behavior that the woman exhibited.
It is an important theory that could eventually lead to doctors being able to better help people with gluten sensitivity and mental health issues. For the woman in our story, though, that’s a cold comfort.