Does Wheat Gluten Cause Dementia Episodes?

My mom has hallucinations at times and sometimes she just can't reason. If we are out when she's in a bit of a dementia haze and I say, "Let's go over there" as I point to where I want us to go, she will always move her body in the opposite direction.

Uncle Al does the same thing. If you want them to go right, they go left and vice versa. It can be annoying if you don't understand that they can't help it, the brain is not functioning properly.

My mom has been having good days and bad days. Helleborus helps to bring her mental clarity back, so I make sure to have it on hand for those times when she becomes trapped in her own mind.

Last week we went to Costco to pick up a few things like paper towels. I brought both mom's along for the ride. They love the little sample stations through out the warehouse. My mom and Rachel pushed their carts slowly against the flow of people and tried the little treats. Both have it in their minds that the samples are small so they won't give them any problems.

Oh... quite the contrary.

My mom ate a little chocolate cupcake. It seemed to effect her thinking almost immediately. She become more disagreeable as the day went on. She couldn't sleep that night and ended up waking me up at 5am the next morning wondering where everyone was. Obviously this is not normal thinking... hello, it's 5am, did you think we could be sleeping?

We had a rough Saturday last weekend, but helleborus and Arnica pulled us through and my mom's thinking become more logical and clear.

Sunday was a great day. We went shopping and had lots of laughs. I love shopping with my mom when she has her mental facilties.

On Monday I made her a sandwich from some organic bread that I bought the day before. She enjoyed the sandwich very much. However, I noticed her mental state decline after she ate. Hmmmm... could it be the bread causing her mental confussion?

My mom hasn't had bread in 2 days and her mental state has been great. She's also sleeping through the night.

I wrote to our Naturopath Doctor and asked him about carbs and dementia. He told me that there's such a thing as Gluten Associated Dementia. I looked it up on the internet and found all sorts of great articles that state my personal findings... wheat gluten and sugar cause dementia.

Here's an article that I found interesting - The Correlation of Alzheimer's and Diabetes Exposed

I really liked this woman's comment - http://ezinearticles.com/comment.php?Correlation-of-Alzheimers-Diabetes-Exposed&id=901085

Our ND suggested we try a gluten free diet for 2 weeks to see if it helps my mom's mental state. I have a feeling it will because I've noticed when she doesn't eat bread or pasta she feels good all around.

Another part of the article that I just posted here is my mom had this problem with internal bleeding a few years ago. She went through all sorts of tests, even a test where she swallowed a small camera that went through her digestive system to take pictures. It didn't find any problems.

Finally, we had a really great doctor at Mass General who figured out that my mom's intestines were springing leaks. She told us that it happens to the elderly and the leaks can heal themselves. She prescribed Nexium. My mom took it for a few years until she stopped taking it last year because she didn't want to take it anymore.

I wonder if my mom's problems are related to her diet?

I'll keep you all posted.