The Anonymous Widower

Coeliacs and Bi-Polar Disorder

I’ve been a coeliac all my life, but I was only diagnosed a few years ago.  I wish I’d been diagnosed earlier.

The more I look at my condition, the more I find surprising links to other diseases.

As we all know, bi-polar disorder is something that is difficult to live with and control.  It is not pleasant and in the worst cases it leads to all sorts of complications and trouble.  So many families I know have all but been destroyed by mental illness of this type.

But type coeliac bi-polar disorder into Google and you get lots of stories about people who believe that the two are connected. Look at the snippet below from this article.

Sharla is a friend and a fellow blogger, her blog can be found at Jones Family Blog. Like myself, she suffers from bipolar disorder. But Sharla also suffers from celiac disease, as do two of her children.

Now is there a connection between coeliac disease and bi-polar disorder? And all of the other mental
problems, slight or otherwise?

Whilst I was undiagnosed, I didn’t suffer from too many mental problems, but I did suffer migraines, without any pain luckily, and various mood swings and temper problems.  The migraines have gone and I’m a lot calmer, despite the other things that have happened to me.

But let’s look at the body and the mind from the point of view of an engineer.  I was trained to be a control engineer, which is all about why systems work, so this might, or might not, give me a greater insight.  You judge!  Not me!

For any system to work well, and the brain is just a very complicated system, it needs to be supplied with everything it needs and all of the components must be in the best condition.  Just think how poorly your car runs, when you haven’t topped it up with oil and water!

Now, coeliacs are often short on vitamin-B12 and folates, as their gut is damaged and these don’t get into the system.  I still get an injection every three months to make sure my levels are where they should be.

This is what Wikipedia says about vitamin-B12.

Vitamin B12 is a water soluble vitamin with a key role in the normal functioning of the brain and nervous system, and for the formation of blood. It is one of the eight B vitamins. It is normally involved in the metabolism of every cell of the body, especially affecting DNA synthesis and regulation, but also fatty acid synthesis and energy production.

So if your vitamin-B12 is low, does this mean you might show all sorts of brain malfunctions, such as bi-polar disorder?

Type vitamin-B12 brain into Google and you get lots of interesting articles.

Like this one, where the research was done by the University of Oxford.  And this article which says that the University of Highlands and Islands is researching the link between gluten and schizophrenia.

If there is one personal conclusion, then it is get your vitamin-B12 levels checked.

And on a general basis we need a lot more research, not just into this link, but into all the effects of gluten.

June 27, 2009 - Posted by AnonW | Health | Coeliac, Migraines