Celiac Rage Personality Issues and Nutritional Deficiencies

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This is an article written by Libonati from GlutenFreeWorks.com...

definitely worth reading again!!

Christie Bessinger

GlutenFreeWorks.com

http://bit.ly/cqZa7i

Hi there,

The " rage " we see in posts from time to time is part and parcel with celiac

disease. My business is celiac disease. I own Glutenfreeworks.com and edited the

book, Recognizing Celiac Disease.

I frequently see abnormal personalities in my travels, presentations,

discussions and on listservs. I meet people with anxiety, depression,

irritability, distrust and other unexplained " attitudes. " There is an

explanation - and no they aren't jerks, as much as people might want to call

them that. Whether they are gluten-free or not, they are sick – malnourished in

fact.

Nutrients play a huge part in our attitude.

Here is an example. While dropping off a shipment of Recognizing Celiac Disease

books at the post office on Friday, a woman in line with thinning hair and poor

skin color noticed my Gluten Free Works label. She asked what the packages were

and I told her the packages contained books I was sending to customers.

She immediately launched into a tirade about how only biopsy-proven people have

celiac disease and people are making money off celiac disease and how she should

write a book because her daughters have celiac disease and she has read all the

research and knows everything…

She didn't know me or anyone in the post office, yet she was barely able to

control herself and was rapidly becoming hysterical. (If she had slowed down for

a second I could have told her that her alopecia diffuse (balding) was probably

due to malabsorption of biotin, iron, omega-3 fatty acids and zinc* and she

should ask her famous celiac disease expert doctor who diagnosed her daughters

in 1998 to test her again. Because if she had a healthy balanced diet, then the

most logical explanation for her nutrient deficiencies was malabsorption.

(*Alopecia diffuse, Recognizing Celiac Disease, P. 170)

Anyway, this woman's actions were abnormal and although she was obviously

wealthy from her dress I saw signs of malnutrition in her thin hair and poor

pallor. So, instead of being drawn into a pointless argument (when I agreed with

almost everything she said), I walked her outside, gave her my card and

encouraged her to check out our website. I smiled, said goodbye and walked away.

Now, maybe when she sees that Recognizing Celiac Disease is recommended by

professors and physicians at Harvard, Columbia, University of Chicago,

University of Pennsylvania, Jefferson and Temple University medical

schools and national celiac disease support organizations her mind will change

about a book she never read, but that is beside the point. Understanding

nutrient deficiencies and having the ability to identify deficiencies in this

person allowed me to size up the situation, take the correct course of action

and treat her properly – as a person who needs help.

It is vitally important to understand that our attitude depends in great part on

our nutritional status. If we are low in certain B vitamins, we become paranoid.

Low in iron and we get apathetic or anxious. Hypoglycemic and we're irritable.

These are just three examples by the way – other nutrients affect attitude.

I feel very lucky, because in researching Recognizing Celiac Disease I was able

to see how the mind is affected by all these nutrient deficiencies and the

almost-miracles that happen when people correct them. I have experienced this

first-hand – my chronic anxiety, irritability and general feeling of unease

resolved when I removed gluten from my diet and supplemented missing nutrients.

Like others who have related similar stories to me, I woke up one day and

noticed that I felt good, really good – about things, myself and life in

general.

The key to becoming well and staying healthy in celiac disease (and even for

non-celiacs) is understanding and identifying our nutrient deficiencies and

correcting them. This applies to attitude, bones, digestion, skin, eyes and

every body system. Once we know, we can help ourselves and our families.