celiac and wierd new symptoms....Arthritis? Lupus?

[artsunshine]

Hi,

i have celiac for almost one year, little bit less. I have also hashimoto, but in euthyrotic phase, so i dont need pills. For now  

But now i have wierd symptoms... Every morning i wake up with stiff fingers. I imediatelly thought i have rheumatoid arthritis, as it is very common with celiac... But stiff fingers are only on my left hand! My doctor ordered lab tests, and i have elevated  sedimentation rate (22), CRP is normal in every test. Besides stiff fingers in the morning i have terrible low back pain (they did abdominal CT, all was clear), mostly on left side, radiates to the leg. Sometimes also other bones hurts. I am also very tired all the time.  I didnt lost my weight, and other blood tests are normal, including vitamin D, b12.

Do you have any ideas what is going on? Anyone else with that symptoms?

 

Thank you so much!

[cyclinglady]

When I was diagnosed, my only symptom was unexplained anemia (iron-deficiency) .......or so I thought!  I, like many others,  blamed aches and pains on aging.  I had hip and rib pain prior to my diagnosis.   I had to buy padding to cushion my bed.   I could not sleep in my sides for long.  I would awaken from sleep because it hurt.  Turns out I fractured two vertebrae doing NOTHING two months after my celiac disease diagnosis.  Had a bone scan and was diagnosed with osteoporosis.  The bone pain went away after a year or longer).  

You are young.  You should be able to recover from bone damage compared to me (I am past menopause).  Make sure you are eating calcium rich foods and getting some sunshine.  

What are your thyroid results?  Some doctors do not like to supplement with hormone replacement until you are really hypo.   many of your symptoms can also be attributed to Hashimoto's.   You really might need a tiny dose to make you feel better.  My doctor asks me how I feel and adjusts my dosage accordingly.  She reviews the labs, but when I feel the need to nap, I know I need more thyroid replacement.  

Finally, have they checked your celiac antibodies for follow-up care?  Are the going down?  If not, your celiac disease might be the cause of your current symptoms.  (Yes, autoimmune issues are awful as symptoms often overlap).  Hard to tell if it is an existing AI issue or a new one.  But chances are, you are dealing with a celiac or Hashimoto's flare-up.  

[TexasJen]

You sound a lot like me (although my arthritis presented first).  I developed an unusually arthritis 7 years ago when I was pregnant.  Morning stiffness in both hands, but no other symptoms. It got a little better after pregnancy but never really went away. I figured eventually I'd get some other symptoms and have it checked out but nothing ever happened. I just kept having stiff fingers.  Then last year, I was anemic and had an endoscopy. Voila! Celiac...... I assumed they were related. My anemia is better, antibodies are zero and yet I still have the arthritis 1 year later.  I have no nutrient deficiencies.  Honestly, the arthritis is more of an annoyance than anything and I probably wouldn't take any medications for it even if it had a name like Rheumatoid or lupus. I still don't know if it's related to the celiac, but I keep hoping it will go away in the next year.

As for my back and leg pain, it's sciatica from carrying too many kids and boxes. Not related at all.....

[BlackShoesBlackSocks]

stiff fingers and feet have been bothering me for over 5 years. l actually have wrist pain now, being gluten free.

 

Before being gluten-free l would say l felt inflamed and puffy all over with some pain on the outside of my feet to where in the mornings l kind of had to walk  almost on the 'outside' of them. Then after a shower it was better but always painful feet at night, in the left foot the outside felt like something was detached but the foot looked normal.

 

that is gone, my feet feel fine and even smaller and less swollen, but the wrist pain is new.  Do you have Raynaud's? l have noticed this improving, typically the worse it was the more stiff my hands would be, l guess winter will be the real test.

[Pegleg84]

First things first: are you sure you aren't getting cross-contaminated somewhere? Gluten creeping into your diet could cause these problems. Another thing to investigate is whether you might be developing an intolerance to other foods? Inflammatory foods like nightshades can screw with your joints and such. Soy is another suspect. After a year gluten-free, it can be easy to think you've got it all figured out, only to find you overlooked something (for example: oh! I do feel better not using that shampoo with wheat germ oil; or, oh shite I've been eating these cross-contaminated nuts for months..!)

But, of course, not everything is food related. I was just diagnosed with fibromyalgia (ruled out arthritis, lupus, lyme, etc), which did start out with tingly achy fingers in one hand and spread from there. I started getting symptoms 3-4 years after going gluten-free, with random achy days that slowly became more regular until it was every day. Now I'm on meds that are helping, though still have days where I can barely walk and the brain fog is so thick I feel like Dougie on the new Twin Peaks.  Oh, and my vitamin levels are all a-ok and I felt great aside from the bad days, which told me that there was definitely something other than Celiac going on.

Jury's still out on whether Fibro is an auto-immune disease or not, but it's not uncommon for someone with Celiac to develop another AI disease.

Anyway, depending on how long you've been having these symptoms (did they just start? Has it been a few months) I would take a wait and see approach. If you're worried, it's worth ruling out things that can be easily tested like RA factor and elevated ANA, but probably the best place to start is a good look at your diet. It's amazing how much a little bit of sneaky gluten can do, or how many problems an intolerance can cause. If in a few months you're not feeling better or get worse, then I'd definitely look at other causes.

Good luck and feel better!

[janpell]

I have psoriatic arthritis which mimics rheumatoid arthritis. I don't have the Rh factor but am diagnosed through symptoms and of course the biggest one being that I have (haha had) psoriasis. I am gluten free but that alone did not clear my arthritic pain but it did more or less clear my psoriasis. If I have tomato I get the worst lower back pain. I can barely move. I also get a lot of cervical neck pain. A hardcore elimination diet did wonders for me. I got to a point where I could barely close my hands. I eliminate a lot of foods - it keeps all my inflammation at bay. I don't eat nightshades (except some bell peppers), avoid soy, GMO corn, dairy, I keep it as low grain as I can, avoid peanuts, cashews. Wow, I should just say what I do eat. I eat a lot of salads, meats, nuts, fruit. For me, it is worth it because I was in so much pain and it is just no longer worth it to me to continue to eat these foods. I find I am at a point where I can sneak some of these foods in here and there but after a week the pain sets in again. Plus, I am stuck dealing with eliminating them again because I really do like them and miss them (for a couple weeks after reintroducing them).