Pins And Needles, And Itchiness

[CGally81]

I just started going gluten-free like 2 weeks ago. The gluten intolerance symptoms disappeared right away, and after a brief fever like 2 days later, I then started getting super hungry, which I hear is a common recovery symptom and not a bad thing.

Now I'm dealing with the hunger pretty well, and it's gradually ebbing each day, but now a new problem has just popped up a few days ago.

I have the pins and needles feeling in my body, and I'm itchy. Very itchy. The itch could be anywhere. My skin also feels sensitive, as if I can feel my clothes on my skin real easily.

Thing is, I used to feel this way all the time when I was in high school, and maybe even before. I hadn't been feeling this way in college or afterward. It's only just recently that it came back.

What could be causing it? Is this a normal recovery symptom for some of you? Is it caused by some nutrient deficiency? (I always took a multivitamin every day - I think I stopped doing it at one point in my life and started doing it years later. I don't know if I had stopped taking it in high school or what) Any ideas? Could it be food I'm eating?

I started eating eggs (tried them for the first time) last Wednesday. Thursday, in the middle of the day, my skin started to feel sensitive, and only yesterday did the pins and needles start to come back, followed by the itching today.

If it means anything, I haven't been getting much sleep in the past few days. I'm also tired (and have been in the past few days - but definitely not in the "glutenized zombie" kind of way!). Could that somehow be involved?

Regarding the eggs, the days I had them were Wednesday, Thursday, Monday and yesterday. Could they be involved somehow? (I never ate them before in my life, and I used to have the pins and needles and itchiness and sensitive skin feeling in high school)

(Another possibility? I was on vacation for over a week immediately after I started going gluten-free, and forgot to bring my multivitamins with me. Is this something a multivitamin could cure? I started retaking them the day I returned, which was Sunday the 16th)

Any help?

[LDJofDenver]

It could be lots of things.

Could be something you are eating, like a food allergy or sensitivity. Prickly feeling, itchy, can also be the onset of shingles - celiacs have weakened immune systems and many of us have had shingles a few times! Also, many celiacs suffer neurological symptoms (including skin sensations) due to nerve damage from malabsorption of nutrients and B12, etc.

If you have celiac disease and have only been gluten free for a couple weeks, that would not be enough time to have healed -- so wouldn't be fully absorbing the benefits of a multivitamin or other vitamin supplements.

I'd say if you can't connect it to something new you are eating, and it persists, see a doctor to rule out any serious malady.

[babysteps]

Before going gluten-free I used to get a skin-crawling feeling. Would wake up in the middle of the night like that.

After going gluten-free, that went away but I did get a very tingly almost itchy all-over feeling frequently in my first 6 months gluten-free, hardly ever now.

Not sure if this is the same as you are feeling or not, but in my case I finally decided it was just my body getting rid of toxins. For me it didn't coincide with other glutened symptoms. Sometimes it seemed linked to having had spicy food.

Hang in there! At least for me, it did get easier.

[jerseyangel]

That happened to me shortly after going gluten-free. Could be you are sensitive to the eggs, or even something else. For this, I would suggest keeping a simple fod log for a while to see if you can identify a pattern.

This sounds obvious, but what helped me greatly with the itchies was switching to a "free and clear" type laundry detergent and fabric softner. Make sure you re-wash all of your sheets this way, too. I also changed my personal care products to unscented.

[CGally81]

That happened to me shortly after going gluten-free. Could be you are sensitive to the eggs, or even something else. For this, I would suggest keeping a simple fod log for a while to see if you can identify a pattern.

This sounds obvious, but what helped me greatly with the itchies was switching to a "free and clear" type laundry detergent and fabric softner. Make sure you re-wash all of your sheets this way, too. I also changed my personal care products to unscented.

I don't know how long I've been Celiac, though I've been having the "overt" symptoms (feeling like a zombie, hunger and headache if I don't eat something within 2 hours after being glutened, and the diarrhea and constant stomach growls/movements) for a few months. Before that, I felt otherwise normal as far as I could tell, though sometime last year I did develop fructose malabsorption (i.e. apples made me super hungry, only a few months after I'd first tried apples and made them a staple of my diet). So I may have had a largely asymptomatic gluten intolerance without realizing it.

I'm 28 years old. How long have many of you had your Celiac symptoms before discovering what it was, and then dealing with it? How long have you - those of you who've had the tingly pins/needles and sensitive skin and itchiness feeling - had that feeling after you started your gluten-free diet?

I'd like to know how long I can expect this to last. I scheduled an appointment with a blood test later in September (I want to see if I can fix myself up first before I go, so I deliberately delayed it), and intend to ask them to check my nutrient/vitamin levels (my doctor thinks I should check for diabetes instead, but I've never had diabetes symptoms).

Anyway, any more help? I appreciate the words of encouragement and replies I've gotten so far.

[CGally81]

Could it be sodium/potassium problems? I had also been eating gluten-free Chex, which is high in sodium, and I'd been eating a lot of it (it's high in many nutrients too).

I didn't have any yesterday, and the symptoms got better.

You think I might have too much sodium/not enough potassium in me?