Liver Inflammation - Detox?

[AliB]

I have been gluten-free for nearly 3 weeks.

Today I have experienced unpleasant liver inflammation. My right side is very tender and I keep feeling strange sensations/fluttering. It is uncomfortable to lay down and I keep getting a regular pain under the arch of my left foot (which corresponds with the liver on the reflexology chart) although it doesn't seem to be quite as pronounced or as often as the day has gone on.

It could well be due to detox as I stopped not only gluten but also dairy, but it is a bit worrying as I have never experienced anything like this before. I am also shivering but that could be anxiety. Obviously going gluten-free is a radical change to the body and I am bound to experience odd reactions, but I wondered whether this could be fairly common.

Has anyone else had any similar reaction?

[AliB]

I have just realised the shivering was due to my blood sugar being down to 3.6 (65). I normally get shaky if I get low but not normally cold and shivery but that may be because my liver isn't working properly. I have had a hot drink and a biscuit and the shivering has gone.

Still doesn't explain the liver problem though!

[ravenwoodglass]

It sounds like you had some gluten sneak in. The area you describe as uncomfortable is also an area where the large intestine takes a sharp turn. Excess gas would cause the type of pain and the fluttering sensations you are experiencing. It would also cause the excess anxiety that you are experiencing. Take a good look at what you have eaten in the last three days, or at what you are using as personal care items. Gluten reactions can be delayed so it won't always be what you ate that day that got you. Gluten reactions can also cause our blood sugar to do 'odd' things, unusual highs and lows.

[AliB]

Hiya, thanks for that.

I am feeling a bit better this morning. Had to eat twice in the night to bring my BS back up, but eventually settled enough by around 6am to sleep for a while.

The 'liver' pain in my foot has almost gone and is certainly a lot less regular than it was, coming about once every 5 minutes instead of every 30 seconds, and my side behind my ribs where the liver is feels a little less tender than it did yesterday.

What is weird is that when I got on the scales this morning I had lost 3lbs since yesterday, and I wondered whether it was my liver having a good clear-out and getting rid of any stones, grit, fat and toxins due to detox from stopping the gluten and dairy. That would undoubtedly make it pretty sore for a bit. I have also been taking support vitamins and minerals and liver support like Milk Thistle so that may be a possibility.

I am still sorting out what I can and can't eat, so it might have been a delayed reaction to something, but it is difficult to tell. I am not aware of being 'glutened' but it could just as well be a reaction to something else. I kind of feel though that a detox reaction is more likely as this has been such a radical change for my body which now has the opportunity to offload all the crap, and I have been getting other classic symptoms of detox like headaches which I don't normally get - just never had anything like this one before, but then I have never done this before!

I just wondered if anyone else had experienced a detox effect like this.