"Balance/vestibular dysfunction and opioids"! :)

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Who here has balance issues, otherwise known as "vestibular dysfunction"?

For as long as I can remember I have always had trouble with slopes, even small ones, ( but never with heights on their own, eg. tall towers etc ), and hated being upside down, disliked any activity which required me to tip myself up even to a small degree, especially if my feet have to leave the ground. Any risk to my balance tends to disturb and threaten me, make me feel panicky or at the very least insecure.

I read yesterday that apparently the part of the brain which is most responsible for controlling/regulating/processing vestibular information, ( ie. handling balance issues ), is also the same part of the brain which is mainly responsible for organising and maintaining dopamine pathways.

This interested me because not only do I have balance issues, but I also realised recently that I am probably one of the subset ( 36.7% or over a third ) of people on the autism spectrum with unusually permeable intestines ( compared to 4.8% of the general population, according to two studies, small one 1996, and a much larger one 2010 ), which allow the passage of unusually large amounts of the food opioid peptides in gluten, ( wheat ) and casein, ( dairy ).

Opioids/opiates have a devastating ( suppressant ) effect on dopamine functioning, ( dopamine is essential for long-term planning, for realistically imagining the future, for valuing delayed rewards over short-term hardship/discomfort/"work", for organising and sustaining long-term regular effort towards a goal, as well as for learning from mistakes, etc ), ... and, I found out today, they *also* seriously disturb/perturb vestibular function!

So I am wondering whether the subset of people on the autism spectrum who have unusually permeable intestines is the same subset of people on the autism spectrum who have vestibular dysfunction/balance issues.

One of the most reliable signs that food opioid peptides may be a problem, that they may be reaching the brain in unusually large quantities, is addiction to the foods that the opioids are found in, ( because opioids are addictive ), so I have set up the poll to distinguish between those with unusually permeable intestines on that basis, because I doubt that very many people have been tested for this, ( though a test is available ).

Please answer the poll and post about your experiences! Thank you very much.

NB 1. I am actually on a gfcf diet, gf since 2007, and cf again, ( for the tenth time now I think :lol ) since 6 weeks ago, but I was definitely addicted to both of them, and have vestibular dysfunction, so if you are in the same situation, please vote for the first option or whichever of the first four applied to you when you still ate gluten and casein. Thank you!

NB 2. In poll where I say "don't need to eat them for a while" I mean for at least a day or two. If you need to eat them at least once every day count yourself as eating them at every/most meal times. Thanks.
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Even if that's true, I know it would not apply to me because what addicts experience as pleasant I experience as unpleasant when on real opioids. And there's pleny of evidence against that entire theory being true. At any rate I feel no need for wheat or dairy, often go a long time without them, and do have vestibular issues. They got much worse after I was toxic for nine months on a neuroleptic.

My vestibular function has been increasingly messed up the last few years, but I've been on a wheat & dairy free diet for about 15 years. Those do mess me up (wheat -> swollen tonsils & itching, dairy -> foggy & depressed), but I'm not sure what the mechanism is. I've only had small exposure to opiates, but it was an effect I found pleasant, whereas the reaction from dairy is sedating, but in no way pleasant. I did crave them, though.

Given how I have weird reactions to a lot of different foods I do wonder what on Earth is going on with that. Maybe it's something similar, but not related to opioids.

Long ago, I tested positive on some test about gut permeability, but I think that lab has come under scrutiny/criticism for bogus testing.