Quinoa and Back Pain?

[anyana 0]

Hi everyone.  I have been gluten free since December when I was diagnosed.  I am wondering if anyone else has had this (really) weird thing happen -- I have noticed  that when I eat this recipe (http://food52.com/recipes/18012-quinoa-salad-with-hazelnuts-apple-and-dried-cranberries), very soon after eating it, I get a terrible lower backache.  I am not prone to back issues, and given that this is the second time this has happened (i.e. the second week - I make the recipe for the week and eat it every day for lunch - so it's probably happened eight times), I think I've figured out that something in this recipe is bothering me.

I never ate much quinoa before I was diagnosed, and now it's an 'easy' grain to make for lunch salads, etc. I know some people react with a glutened-like reaction to quinoa, but would that include something like a backache? It's almost like my entire lower core kind of aches, but especially my back.

I don't think it's anything else in the salad, since I can eat all of those things by themselves without issues. It's just a very weird situation, and I'm not sure what is causing it or if I'm making it up in my head!

[Pegleg84 50]

Hi Anyana,

I've had trouble with quinoa, and its not something I eat very often. It seems to be on my list of things my gut doesn't like to digest without being a pain.
It could be that you're reacting to it, or the quinoa you're using hasn't been washed enough (saponins make it harder to digest), or it's something else in the recipe. Try eating quinoa on it's own to rule out the other ingredients first. If it still makes your back hurt, then you could be on to something.

This might be a temporary intolerance, though. If you've only been gluten-free since December, your gut is likely still healing and still having trouble with some foods. Give the quinoa a break for a few months and come back to it later. Or, just go easy on it instead of eating it every day for a week.

Good luck!

[cristiana 100]

Hi - I'm just wondering if the pain you are experiencing might be in your sacroiliac joints.  Celiacs sometimes have problems with these joints.

I thought I had back trouble but my chiropractor put her finger on the pain (literally!) and it was my left sacroiliac joint.  I'm still not sure what sets it off but it can't be gluten as I don't go anywhere near it.  

[anyana 0]

Thanks for responding. I think it was the quinoa. I definitely washed/soaked it pretty well, so I don't think that was the issue. The more I looked into it, the more I saw other people having 'celiac like' reactions to quinoa.

I do hope it's temporary.  Cutting out dairy (for the most part!) was tough enough - I am a little disheartened to think I may keep finding foods that I can't eat.  Quinoa was especially tough because I have made lunch grain salads for years (bulgur, orzo, farro, etc), and I thought quinoa would be an easy, healthy replacement for the gluten products.  I guess I will move on to millet, etc, but it's just not the same!

 

[Irene Joanne 13]

1 hour ago, anyana said:

Thanks for responding. I think it was the quinoa. I definitely washed/soaked it pretty well, so I don't think that was the issue. The more I looked into it, the more I saw other people having 'celiac like' reactions to quinoa.

I do hope it's temporary.  Cutting out dairy (for the most part!) was tough enough - I am a little disheartened to think I may keep finding foods that I can't eat.  Quinoa was especially tough because I have made lunch grain salads for years (bulgur, orzo, farro, etc), and I thought quinoa would be an easy, healthy replacement for the gluten products.  I guess I will move on to millet, etc, but it's just not the same!

 

I had quinoa today and had horrible stomach pain. This is the first time since diagnosed with celiac last November that I tried it. Sadly, like gluten free oats- this is another grain I can not have? From what I've read it seems as though theres a chance I would react to millet too if I react to quinoa. I'm tempted to go completely grain free as I'm a little scared to try millet or amaranth now too.