Gluten Withdrawel

[DrMom]

I have been gluten free for nearly a month now, and have had a headache for 5 days. Blood pressure is fine. Could this be a gluten withdrawal? It lasts all day and all night. Any suggestions?

BTW, have noticed that all of my fibromyalgia muscle pain is GONE. I used to blame pains on osteoarthritis, but my bones do not hurt and joints don't ache. This gluten stuff was poisoning me. Right?

DrMom

[Nantzie]

I had my pain just disappear after years too. Mind-boggling isn't it?

As far as the headaches go, have you been eating more of something in place of the gluten? It's common to have other foods that don't sit right with you. Sometimes it's just part of the healing process. Your body also becomes more sensitive to gluten after you've been off of it for a while, so you might want to check your personal care products, like haircare products, makeup, and lipsticks / lip balms. Also, are you being careful about cross contamination?

When I discovered celiac, I was having a lot of digestive symptoms. But once I went gluten-free, oddly enough, when I get glutened, I only very rarely have digestive symptoms, but end up with a constant headache, anxiety, and other more psychological symptoms. So your glutened symptoms can change.

Hope you feel better.

Nancy

[dionnek]

Yes, I've had the same thing. I've been gluten-free for a month and a half, and the headaches started right away (I've never had bad headaches before going gluten-free). They are almost gone now though, but lasted a month.

[KaitiUSA]

You know what they say...you may get worse before you get better. You will get better though and it sounds like you have already seen some improvement.

[BRUMI1968]

I wonder if it could be blood sugar issues. I say this because of the way grains are turned to sugar in our bodies. If you have replaced your gluten with other gluten-y stuff, like rice flours and soy flours and whatever, it would probably not change the way you deal with sugars/carbs/insulins. But if you've cut them out entirely, you might be adjusting that way.

Another way to think of headaches that I read once is that they are either expansive or contractive. If you take a bit of something salty, does your headache diminish? If so, it is an expansive headache and you're too expansive (veggies, fruits, etc.) and need more contractive food (meat, grain?, coffee) and the like. If it doesn't respond to salt, then there's no way to test the other one.

Lastly, aspartame causes headaches/migrains in lots of folks. If you're drinking sodas or snackies with aspartame (also called Nutrasweet), you might consider cutting that out.

[DrMom]

I do not use salt in cooking, and do not add any at the table. I will try this type of "Salt test" to see if that might be it. I don't think it is a sugar thing as I eat sweet things and that does not change anything. It is beginning to sound, from the replies, that most folks go thru this also. Oh well, somethings just happen. Am feeling much better on this gluten free diet tho. Can't believe all of the aches and pains I used to get that are now gone. (except for this head ache thing) Thanks for your reply.

DrMom

[queenofhearts]

I do not use salt in cooking, and do not add any at the table. I will try this type of "Salt test" to see if that might be it. I don't think it is a sugar thing as I eat sweet things and that does not change anything. It is beginning to sound, from the replies, that most folks go thru this also. Oh well, somethings just happen. Am feeling much better on this gluten free diet tho. Can't believe all of the aches and pains I used to get that are now gone. (except for this head ache thing) Thanks for your reply.

DrMom

I mentioned this to someone else with a headache, I think-- are you sure you are eating ENOUGH? Just being borderline hungry can give me migraines. When I'm busy & my eating habits are less regular, I'm very prone to this problem. Rather than a sweet though, I find nibbling on nuts helps me most to regulate my blood sugar.

Hope this helps.

Leah