Page 62 - Complementary and Alternative Medicine Treatments in Psychiatry

62 | Complementary and Alternative Medicine Treatments in Psychiatry

and panic attacks. As with depression, as allergy scores increase,
so do anxiety symptoms (Postolache 2008).
Additionally, it’s been found that allergic rhinitis worsens
existing psychiatric symptoms. The behavior of somatization,
compulsion, depression and anxiety in patients with a history of
eczema or asthma is much more obvious than in patients
without such a history. Nasal obstruction has a conspicuous
impact on somatization, compulsion, interpersonal sensitivity,
depression, anxiety and psychosis, while nasal itching
contributes to somatization, depression and anxiety (Lv 2010).

Celiac Disease

Although celiac disease (CD) is not an allergy per se, it is often
considered one because it is an autoimmune disorder of the
small intestine caused by a reaction to gliadin, a protein found in
wheat and similar proteins found in other grains. An
inflammatory reaction atrophies the villi lining of the small
intestine, resulting in reduced ability to absorb nutrients,
minerals and the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. Typical
symptoms include chronic diarrhea and other GI complaints,
failure to thrive (in children), and fatigue. Standard treatment is
removal of wheat and other offending grains from the diet.
One percent of the population is estimated to have CD and six
times that many are believed to have gluten sensitivity (GS), an
illness distinct from CD that does not include villous atrophy
among its symptoms. Both CD and GS may present with a variety
of neurologic and psychiatric co-morbidities (Jackson 2011).
Ninety-seven percent of CD cases go undiagnosed and 41% of
adult cases and 60% of child cases are asymptomatic (U. Chicago
Facts).
Additionally, like asthma and autism, the percentage of CD
cases is on the rise, increasing nearly fourfold in the past four
decades from 1:501 in 1974 (Catassi 2010) to 1:133 in 2003 (Fasano
2003).