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Back Pain Gone Since Gluten-free!

Cyathea

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Cyathea Newbie
Cyathea
Posted

I can't begin to tell you how happy I was to find some people posting here about back pain going away after going gluten-free. My doctors are happy for me, but seem to think it's a coincidence that more than 4 years of constant, debilitating back pain have, for the most part, disappeared after I went gluten-free. I still can't believe it and find myself smiling all the time.

I went through a year with an orthopaedist, 3 outpatient trips to the hospital for steroid injections in my back, x-rays, MRIs, 12 weeks of physical therapy and practically LIVED with my chiropractor. Five days after giving up gluten, most of the pain disappeared. After another 2-3 weeks, I would say it's 90 percent gone.

The best part of all is this - I had NO idea this was possible! I went gluten-free as sort of a solidarity thing with my niece and sister. My niece had done research and felt this was an issue in our family since we fit a lot of the digestive problem issues (terrible cramping, frequent diarrhea, etc.). It sounded worth a try, so I went along. My stomach felt much, much better within days and the diarrhea went away, but the disappearance of the back pain was a total shock. I didn't tell my family for almost a week because it seemed too good to be true and I was afraid it might come back. I hadn't gone more than a day without back pain in a long time.

I don't know yet if it's celiac; the doctor added it to the prescription for blood work that he had just given me. Either way, I am SO happy.

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Guest j_mommy
Guest j_mommy
Posted

That is absolutly great~~~i'm soooo happy for you!

Keep in mind though...if you've been gluten free prior to the blood work: a false positive may come back!

I thought at first this diet was going to be hard....but it has made my life better in sooo many ways!!! i'm glad it did for you too!

Cyathea Newbie
Cyathea
Posted
  • Author
That is absolutly great~~~i'm soooo happy for you!

Keep in mind though...if you've been gluten free prior to the blood work: a false positive may come back!

I thought at first this diet was going to be hard....but it has made my life better in sooo many ways!!! i'm glad it did for you too!

Oh wow, I didn't know about the false positive thing. I obviously have to read up on this more.

I also thought it would be hard to follow this diet, but the change in my life is so incredible I would eat sawdust if they told me it would keep that awful pain away. It isn't that bad at all! I do like to cook and have discovered a wonderful yellow cake recipe.

Thank you for your kind words.

Ridgewalker Contributor
Ridgewalker
Posted

Wow! I've never heard of this happening- I'm very curious-- what did your MRIs show to be the problem with your back?

-Sarah

DingoGirl Enthusiast
DingoGirl
Posted
Wow! I've never heard of this happening- I'm very curious-- what did your MRIs show to be the problem with your back?

-Sarah

Ditto - same question for me! I have never heard of back pain going away from removing gluten. In fact, my back pain worsens as I age -- has nothing to do with gluten removal - - there is misalignment of discs, spine compression, and severe sciatica.....

while nearly everything ELSE has improved in my life going gluten-free :rolleyes: , the back pain is a constant.....I had deep pain in my left flank from a kidney infection immediately before diagnosis, and for several months after, and THAT pain is gone.....but the lower back and spine.....ugh.

lob6796 Contributor
lob6796
Posted
Ditto - same question for me! I have never heard of back pain going away from removing gluten. In fact, my back pain worsens as I age -- has nothing to do with gluten removal - - there is misalignment of discs, spine compression, and severe sciatica.....

while nearly everything ELSE has improved in my life going gluten-free :rolleyes: , the back pain is a constant.....I had deep pain in my left flank from a kidney infection immediately before diagnosis, and for several months after, and THAT pain is gone.....but the lower back and spine.....ugh.

I had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia by my doctor. This includes ALOT of severe muscle pain in my back, joints, you name it. Once he figured out I had celiac disease he told me that his diagnosis of fibro was probably wrong, and that once I went gluten free, all of my muscle pain in my back, etc might go away. I've read alot of posts on here about people saying their back, joint, and muscle pain went away after going gluten free as well.

SunnyDyRain Enthusiast
SunnyDyRain
Posted

I had some back pain prior to being gluten free, I went to a chiro, turns out my neck is bending the wrong way and my lower back is turned the wrong way. I was seeing him 3 times a week for 6 mo with minor improvement (he estimated 18 mo to return the natural curve). At that time I was sore daily as he was movign stuff around all the time. Once I stopped going the orginal pain would come back when I over did things, but I'd be sore for days. Now that I've gone gluten-free, I've noticed that I am only sore for a short while, and it dosen't stay inflamed and hot for days like it used to. I used to apply ice for days to keep the swelling down, now usally just 1-2 applications of ice and it's done being mad at me.

My "OMG it's gone" Symtom of going gluten-free was my heartburn. I started to have it 3-4 times a week about 4 monthes before going gluten-free. Now I'm gluten-free I eat more spicy mexican food than before and I never get heartburn.

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ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted
That is absolutly great~~~i'm soooo happy for you!

Keep in mind though...if you've been gluten free prior to the blood work: a false positive may come back!

I thought at first this diet was going to be hard....but it has made my life better in sooo many ways!!! i'm glad it did for you too!

I believe this person meant to say a false negative. I have never heard of a false positive but false negatives abound. If you are gluten free this may very well occur but it does not mean you don't need the diet. I had my longstanding back pain go away also along with my arthritis, I still have the joint damage but I have full movement again and no pain.

I am glad you have gotten some relief, stay with the diet no matter what those blood tests say, your dietary response has proven you to need the diet.

Cyathea Newbie
Cyathea
Posted
  • Author
I believe this person meant to say a false negative. I have never heard of a false positive but false negatives abound. If you are gluten free this may very well occur but it does not mean you don't need the diet. I had my longstanding back pain go away also along with my arthritis, I still have the joint damage but I have full movement again and no pain.

I am glad you have gotten some relief, stay with the diet no matter what those blood tests say, your dietary response has proven you to need the diet.

Okay, a false negative makes sense. I'll see what happens with the results. However, no matter what the results are, I'm staying on this diet. I have inadvertently had something with gluten in it a couple of times (found out later), and my back started hurting by that night. No food is worth that kind of pain.

Guest j_mommy
Guest j_mommy
Posted

Yup meant to say "false negative" SORRY for the confusion!!!!!!!!!

Cyathea Newbie
Cyathea
Posted
  • Author
Wow! I've never heard of this happening- I'm very curious-- what did your MRIs show to be the problem with your back?

-Sarah

The MRI showed some slight degeneration, I believe it was at L1 and L2. The ortho said it wasn't at all unusual for my age and wasn't enough to account for the pain I was in. Nothing was ruptured, or anything like that.

I'm assuming my intestines were just so inflamed all the time that it hurt my back. Don't know what else to think.

Cyathea Newbie
Cyathea
Posted
  • Author
Ditto - same question for me! I have never heard of back pain going away from removing gluten. In fact, my back pain worsens as I age -- has nothing to do with gluten removal - - there is misalignment of discs, spine compression, and severe sciatica.....

while nearly everything ELSE has improved in my life going gluten-free :rolleyes: , the back pain is a constant.....I had deep pain in my left flank from a kidney infection immediately before diagnosis, and for several months after, and THAT pain is gone.....but the lower back and spine.....ugh.

I still have some sciatica, but it's not that severe. That's why I didn't say I'm 100% percent better with my back. But now I can live with it and do what I have to do to bring some relief. Before, I just didn't know where to start. The chiro would ask me what hurt and I didn't know what to say. Everything back there hurt! Now I can point right to that area and we can work on it together.

Cyathea Newbie
Cyathea
Posted
  • Author
I had some back pain prior to being gluten free, I went to a chiro, turns out my neck is bending the wrong way and my lower back is turned the wrong way. I was seeing him 3 times a week for 6 mo with minor improvement (he estimated 18 mo to return the natural curve). At that time I was sore daily as he was movign stuff around all the time. Once I stopped going the orginal pain would come back when I over did things, but I'd be sore for days. Now that I've gone gluten-free, I've noticed that I am only sore for a short while, and it dosen't stay inflamed and hot for days like it used to. I used to apply ice for days to keep the swelling down, now usally just 1-2 applications of ice and it's done being mad at me.

My "OMG it's gone" Symtom of going gluten-free was my heartburn. I started to have it 3-4 times a week about 4 monthes before going gluten-free. Now I'm gluten-free I eat more spicy mexican food than before and I never get heartburn.

I've noticed this too. Although I still have some sciatica, it seems much less painful than it was and sometimes it even goes away!

By the way, how do I reply to these posts without including a quote of your entire letter?

Guest j_mommy
Guest j_mommy
Posted

Hava you been checked for osteoprosis?????

It is one of the things that can happen with this disease(along with ageing itself). I am 24 and I had to be tested. They did bone scans and such...now I'm on meds to help "repair" some of the damage.

Guest j_mommy
Guest j_mommy
Posted

to reply with the quotes...I use the add reply on the bottom....not the one at the bottom of the last post!

SunnyDyRain Enthusiast
SunnyDyRain
Posted
I've noticed this too. Although I still have some sciatica, it seems much less painful than it was and sometimes it even goes away!

By the way, how do I reply to these posts without including a quote of your entire letter?

At the very bottom, there is just an AddReply button. That is for the whole thread. The ""Reply button is to quote something.

Cyathea Newbie
Cyathea
Posted
  • Author
Hava you been checked for osteoprosis?????

It is one of the things that can happen with this disease(along with ageing itself). I am 24 and I had to be tested. They did bone scans and such...now I'm on meds to help "repair" some of the damage.

No, I haven't, but that's very doubtful in my case. I'm a tall, large woman with no family history of osteoporosis. I had a bone scan at 45 which came out fine. I understand it's possible to be celiac and not be thin, but less likely. I'll see what the blood work says. If it comes out negative, I'll just assume that I'm intolerant to gluten. Either way, I'm staying on this diet. I feel great!

Cyathea Newbie
Cyathea
Posted
  • Author
to reply with the quotes...I use the add reply on the bottom....not the one at the bottom of the last post!

But how do I reply WITHOUT the quotes? Do I simply delete the quote that appears on the screen when I hit "add reply"? I don't see any other way to answer the posts.

Thanks for all your help.

WorkNsurf Rookie
WorkNsurf
Posted
But how do I reply WITHOUT the quotes? Do I simply delete the quote that appears on the screen when I hit "add reply"? I don't see any other way to answer the posts.

Thanks for all your help.

You may be in outline mode, try clicking options on the top right corner of the topic and go to standard. then goto add reply on the bottom of the page.

Cyathea Newbie
Cyathea
Posted
  • Author

Thank you! That did it.

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