Joint disease and gluten intolerance.

[Юлия]

Hello everyone. I wonder if there are people on the site who were diagnosed with arthritis or spondyloarthropathy and these diseases were the result of gluten intolerance.

[mbrookes]

I have arthritis. In fact, I just had a shoulder replaced. Mine seems to have nothing to do with Celiac. Mine is a result of the joints just wearing out. I am 76, so that is to be expected.

[ekh]

I had joint pain from the age of 6 until I was diagnosed with probable Celiac at age 40 (1978). Interesting that the joint pain and stomach problems went away after going off Gluten.  My diagnoses prior to the "probable Celiac" was either Lupus or Rheumatoid Arthritis.   The Dr.'s did not want me to go  back on gluten so Celiac could be confirmed through biopsies, I was that sick!

I am now almost 83 and some pain has returned but more because of age than ingesting gluten.  We live in a retirement community and, fortunately, the chefs are aware of the problems for many of us if we ingest gluten!   

[Scott Adams]

Welcome to the forum @ekh, and it's great to hear that there are retirement communities that offer gluten-free meals. We ran an article back in 2016 which made the prospect of finding gluten-free food for those in full care facilities to be rather difficult:

 

[GFinDC]

Sometimes people who are intolerance to nightshades can have joint pain.  Nightshades we eat are potatoes, peppers, eggplant and tomatoes.  Cutting those out of your diet may help with pain in joints.  For me it took over a month for the joint pain to go away.  But it did, so goodbye potatoes!

[ekh]

Since my mother was  allergic to potatoes, I try not to eat anything in the nightshade family very often.  Many people with joint pain can clear that up by staying away from the nightshade family, so very happy that it worked for you!  I am quite allergic to soy and fortunately the chefs here help me avoid that, especially since I experienced a (scary for them) allergic reaction soon after we moved in!   In the past, when giving workshops on allergies/celiac and gluten problems I have asked people what is your favorite food that you will not/cannot live with out?  Remove that from your diet for a month and  then reintroduce it into your diet and ascertain what happens.  Interesting to hear people's responses!

By the way the pain I now experience is due to pinched nerves, I am avoiding surgery if at all possible!

 

   

[wellman crazy cat lady]

I had symptoms of celiac from the age of 18 months, but was never correctly diagnosed, poisoning myself with gluten for over 50 years. I figured it out at age 53, when a niece and a nephew were diagnosed. I went gluten free, and very quickly my GI symptoms cleared up completely. However, in my opinion, the damage to my joints, bone on bone arthritis at age 50, was caused by the undiagnosed/ untreated celiac. This is osteoarthritis, not rheumatoid, and there is no family history of anyone having severe arthritis at this young of an age. I have other problems, that I also suspect of being caused by the untreated celiac- a severe reflux, severe "sleep" apnea (my throat collapses when I am relaxed, not even asleep), two hernias and crappy lungs - all examples of lack of integrity of tissues in the body. There is no way to prove it, of course. But that is my suspicion. Oh, and from the age of 53 to now, 63, with my celiac treated,  I grew wisdom teeth up top. I never had more than tiny particles of calcium up top, and nothing on the bottom. Now I have full grown wisdom teeth. 

[trents]

Not sure about the apnea, lungs and hernias being linked to long term exposure to gluten but the other problems you mention are statistically linked to undiagnosed celiac disease. You and I were diagnosed at about the same age and looking back over my life there were some symptoms I experienced even as a child. But when I was about 37 yr. old there was laboratory evidence of celiac disease because of idiopathic elevation of liver enzymes. It took 13 more years to find out what caused that and the culprit was celiac disease. It is a shame that there is not more awareness in the medical community about celiac disease and it takes so long for many to get it diagnosed. It's better than it used to be but not that much.

[GodsGal]

On 5/13/2021 at 2:03 PM, Юлия said:

Hello everyone. I wonder if there are people on the site who were diagnosed with arthritis or spondyloarthropathy and these diseases were the result of gluten intolerance.

I have not been diagnosed with it myself, but I do have a friend that was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis related to gluten intolerance.