Pregnant Celiac With Joint Pain

[carochip]

Hello!

I am so puzzled, upset and darn right mad about what I think may be the effects of Celiac. I was diagnosed in April 06. I have been gluten free since then. Last year at this time I had pain that began at night in my arms, hands and shoulder. I was tested for Lupus, all different types of Arthristis and Lyme Disease. Negative.

I was told it is probably depression so i went on Lexapro. Now, A year a later, I have stopped taking Lexapro because I am 4 months pregnant and feel emotionally fine. (Except for crazy hormones! )

The pain is back. I turn to stone once it's gets dark outiside. I can't move my arm or my fingers! IT hurts!

I went back to the doctor and he said that it is Arthritis even thought the tests were negative. My question is: Am I the only one with this? Is this a Celiac symtom? Because of my pregancy what can i take, eat or do to relieve my pain instead of popping Tylenol all the time?

Thank you for your replies!

Caroline

[alamaz]

carpal tunnel syndrome is common in pregnancy. have you started sleeping solely on your side? i'm finding that sleeping on my sides is killing me with my circulation in my arms. before i was dx'ed with celiac though i was told i had peripheral neuropathy in my arms and hands. i'm 24 weeks and even though the PN had gone away for some time it's starting to flare up. I think it's a combo of the increased weight, blood pressure and sleeping on my side. have you consutled a chiropractor? if your pain is starting in your shoulder and raidiating down your arm it could be a nerve in your neck that is bothering you.

I hope you feel better soon!

[carochip]

carpal tunnel syndrome is common in pregnancy. have you started sleeping solely on your side? i'm finding that sleeping on my sides is killing me with my circulation in my arms. before i was dx'ed with celiac though i was told i had peripheral neuropathy in my arms and hands. i'm 24 weeks and even though the PN had gone away for some time it's starting to flare up. I think it's a combo of the increased weight, blood pressure and sleeping on my side. have you consutled a chiropractor? if your pain is starting in your shoulder and raidiating down your arm it could be a nerve in your neck that is bothering you.

I hope you feel better soon!

Thank you for replying. Last year when this pain came on i was in the middle of chiropractic treatment and they said it was normal. I didn't think it was. I did get a massage the day before the PN started. I hope that it is a nerve and not arthritis!

[kbtoyssni]

If you are gluten free, I don't see why this would be celiac related.

There are two types of arthritis: Rheumatoid arthritis which is autoimmune and can be diagnosed via blood test (although I'm starting to wonder how accurate the test is) and osteo arthritis which is caused by small cracks in the cartilage as you age. I believe the latter comes on slowly so that's probably not what you have.

I agree that it sounds nerve-related. I would probably do the chiropractic thing because it's likely something is pressing against the nerve. You might want to consider a new chiro since pain is certainly not normal. If you think it's something more serious, you could ask your doc to do a nerve test (I think it's called an EMG or something like that). It tests for nerve damage and can detect it before you would start to get symptoms from it. They send small electrical signals though the arm. It's a bit uncomfortable - like 15 minutes of someone hitting your funny bone - but it might be worth getting done if you suspect nerve issues.

I would watch what you're doing with your hands when you sleep. Many people bend the wrist downwards so it's like they're curling up in a ball. This can be hard on the nerves and ligaments so sleeping with your wrists straight will help.

[tarnalberry]

some joint pain while pregnant is normal, from my understanding, particularly if you're hypermobile, as there are a number of hormones released whose role is to make tendons stretch more. that's great for giving birth and (to a small degree) for carrying the baby, but it's hard going on all your other joints, especially if they already have quite a lot of movement to them, and it can be easy (even while sleeping, or at other times without knowing it) to push them too far and find them hurting later.

(disclaimer: I don't mean to say this is your problem: I totally can't tell, and your doc already suspects arthirtis. I just wanted to throw out a piece of information that was passed to me. I haven't been pregnant, but I was warned about this by pt's for if/when I do become pregnant.)