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Neurology  (Expert Forum)
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allergies and neurological symptoms
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MedHelp Member's Question

allergies and neurological symptoms

by moldywarp, Sep 02, 2001 12:00AM
Do/can food allergies/intolerances cause neurological symptoms?





Thanks

Merrythought
Doctor's Answer

by CCF-Neuro-M.D.-JT, Sep 02, 2001 12:00AM
It's quite rare. I looked in the medical literature and there's only a few severe cases of food allergy causing neuro symptoms in the setting of shock or dramatic systemic changes. Sorry, but that's all I could find on it. Best of luck.
Member Comments (6)

by From a successful poster......., Sep 02, 2001 12:00AM
To: merrythought
I have a feeling that the doctor is going to say 'no' in response to your question.  



However, I find your question interesting since I have been experiencing severe reactions to multiple foods for 3 years now.  Many of the reactions are gastroentestinal, but I also experience eye darting sensations, seizure-like incoherence, and rage episodes the day following consumption of foods that I'm sensitive to.  



I'm just now seeing a gastroenterologist and my diagnosis is leaning towards Crohn's.  But we'll see.  I had been previously diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy, but that diagnosis is now in question.  



Doctor, could it be that the inflammatory process of allergies could somehow affect the brain as well?

by From a successful poster......., Sep 04, 2001 12:00AM
To: CCF Neuro
Thank you for taking the time to research before answering this question, doctor.  Do you have any thoughts on what "dramatic systematic changes" may be?  This is an interesting topic.  I wish there was more research about it.



Also, I've been doing a little reading on the enteric nervous system (in the gut) somehow affecting the central nervous system (possibly via the vagus nerve?), thus causing neurological problems for people with gut problems.  Any thoughts on the validity of that theory?  Thank you.



by Adrienne, Sep 10, 2001 12:00AM
you all might want to look into celiac disease, its a food intolerence to gluten which is found in wheat, rye, barley, oats and a few other grains....usually celiacs also have problems with dairy (and sometimes egg and soy) and several other foods too, but what it does is cause 'leaky gut syndrome' causing all sorts of GI problems alot like crohns, colitis, ibs, also causing gerd, vomiting, etc, but it can also cause neurological problems such as migraines, seizures, concentration and memory problems has even been connected to ADD and autism, it also causes problems such as reactive arthritis, muscle pain, fatigue, asthma, weak immune system, rashes, mood and anxiety disorders, other allergies, and numerous other problems caused by malnutrtion (i.e. anemia) and malabsorbtion. The seizures have been thought to be related to calcium deposits on the brain because of malabsorbtion of calcium in the small intestines and kidneys, alot of times calcium deposits are also found in the skin with this and large deposits in the nails, also the nails become paper thin and hair loss is common. But I must say, that with this disease, you dont usually have all the symptoms, some people have no symptoms and are only carrieres (its believed to be genetic because of studies with how it travels in families), some people only have the GI problems and some people only have seizures and the skin problems, or it might come out as autism in some, it varies, but usually there are GI problems and along the way some fatigue, joint and or/muscle pain and some sort of neurological problems varying from headaches, to severe anxiety disorder to seizures. Alot of people are misdiagnosed with other things before this is found (like me, they thought i had crohns before they found out i had this) and then this also co-exists with several things (I was first diagnosed with juvinile rheumatoid arthritis 11 yrs ago, then with lupus just before this, my dr thinks they all work in together, also just before this was diagnosed with fibromylagia but i actually think this is the cause of that almost since fibromyalgia seems to have no cause yet, celiac and hypothyroidism i was just diagnosed with this yr and both seem to create the same symptoms of fibromyalgia. but the seizures seem to come from celiac disease and possibly lupus, which my dr said lupus is agrevating my GI problems too. All of these are autoimmune: celiac disease, lupus, RA, hashimoto's hypothyrodism- but im getting off topic here- to test for celiac disease there are several antibodies for it, i believe 3, maybe 4, and also a gene that is very common with it too, so you get the blood work done on that, you dont have to have the gene for it, but with that gene and the symptoms, its almost certain you have it then, then the 3 antibodies i believe there are 2 of them that rely more on quantity and one relies on sensitivity or something more, its hard to explain, but you have to make sure you have a dr that knows what they are doing, most likely a gastrologist, because if these tests show up abnormal then you have to have an endoscopy of your upper GI to get biopsies of the upper part of your small intestines to see if they are damaged at all from this, because the hairlike particles that absorb nutrients and block wastes get damaged from gluten with this and thats the last thing they need to see to diagnose, other diseases can do the same damage to, so thats why they have to do the blood tests first. If you end up having it, you go gluten free, no wheat, barley, rye, oats, etc.....then also try to go without dairy and others if they bother, but one step at a time, called the elimination diet, you dont want to do this till you get all the tests done though because it can cause false negative testings because the healing process can already begin on the intestines and the antibodies will stop reacting. but if you do end up having it and after testings are done and slowly eliminate everything that seems to be bothering you (what the dr or nutritionist- i highly recommend seeing one with this), depending on how severe a case you have, symptoms can start to improve anywhere from 1 month to 3 months and some people say that within 3 months to a year they feel most their worst symptoms are gone (except for those unfortunate few that dont respond, sometimes steroids and other meds will help but sometimes with a few people nothing helps), another thing to test for after this is other food allergies that might be hiding  because this overuled everything your body couldnt tell what other problems it had. well, i think ive told my share about this, hope this has helped, if you have any other questions, just ask! lots of drs dont even think about this disease to test or know much about it. good luck with what you find. take care.

~adrienne

by l,s mom, Nov 03, 2001 12:00AM
I agree with Adrienne. My 18 year old daughter has an undiagnosed neurological illness. Drs told me to give up.

I found an article from the Lancet on articles.com about undiagnosed ataxias. They took a group of people and a large percentage tested positive for celiac disease. Several had lesions on cerebellum, neuropathy, etc.

My daughter tested negative for celiac but I read an article by Roger McDugall, who was healed of ms by diet. So I decided to try it and my daughter improved. She passed the test with the big toe and eyes closed for the first time. She was walking unassisted. (She use to be in a wheelchair then walker.)She was still struggling mentally and was put on anti-psychotic meds and celexa that gave her grand mal seizures. Now we are starting over. We are now suspecting porphyria.

She seems to be very sensitive to chemicals also. I believe that there is a connection. She has had bad reactions to meds before.

Diet is the only thing that has made a difference and of course a lot of prayer.

by brinz, Nov 13, 2001 12:00AM
I also agree that undiagnosed food allergies/sensitivities can cause havoc with your body.  Two weeks after finding out what was affecting me adversely and avoiding those foods, a 20-year history of tachycardia (up to 130 after eating and 95 resting) settled down to 78, my blood sugars (elevated x 6 yrs) dropped 45 points (to 98), my elevated triglycerides and cholesterol dropped not to "normal" levels but to better than I had been on medication