Humming In Ears And Then Charlie Horses At Night

[daniknik]

Hi folks,

I've been trying to eat gluten free for several months now. I was only recently diagnosed with Celiac and I am also intolerant to casein, egg, soy, yeast and nightshades.

Yesterday morning I developed a humming noise in both of my ears that is still humming today and will not resolve even though I feel as if my sinuses are clear and I can "pop" my ears without any difficulty. This noise makes it harder for me to hear the world around me and is distressing since I work as a chorus director and my hearing is very important. Has anyone else experienced suddent onset ear humming without any known injury or cause? I haven't been exposed to any extremely loud noises or been sick recently so I am very confused.

Also, I was woken up with a severe Charlie Horse last night in my calf. I haven't had these for a couple of months and they're very painful, especially when they wake you up from an otherwise good night's sleep.

Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[RiceGuy]

Can't say I've heard continuous humming, but on rare occasions I'll get a trilling/rapid thumping sound. Occasional ringing if I choose my foods poorly.

Leg pains, cramping, stiffness, numbness, etc are very common, especially during the healing stages. Often it is due to nutrient deficiencies. I found magnesium to completely resolve such issues. Some other things to consider include a co-enzyme B-complex, a separate methyl-type vitamin B12 sublingual tablet, vitamin D3, potassium, folic acid, vitamin K, zinc, iron, calcium, and omega-3s. A multivitamin/mineral may supply you with many of these, though the amounts may not be sufficient, depending on your particular needs.

These deficiencies are often because the digestive system is yet still not functioning adequately, and therefor cannot absorb nutrients properly. However, a well-rounded and widely varied diet usually goes most of the way towards getting all the nutrients your body requires. But the concentrated nutrients which supplements provide are often very helpful.

[breavenewworld]

i agree with riceguy about supplementation during healing!

also here's an article about some symptoms that might be related to a yeast overgrowth, seems somewhat common with celiacs

Open Original Shared Link

[daniknik]

i agree with riceguy about supplementation during healing!

also here's an article about some symptoms that might be related to a yeast overgrowth, seems somewhat common with celiacs

Open Original Shared Link

Thank you for the link. It looks like I could potentially be suffering from Candida overgrowth in addition to Celiac. I guess the good thing is that I already love eating the great majority of the foods on the list of "okay" foods, save for the nightshades. That's pretty amazing. And I've been wondering if additional sugar was messing me up too. I suppose the only thing that will really make is sad is missing chocolate since it is one of my first loves.

My ears are still humming as I write, but I'm not experiencing as much of the dizzyness as I did this morning and I ate a banana today to try and get over the leg cramps. I do take a multi-vitamin every day, but I guess it's not enough. The other problem is that I don't know how to get off all of my daily meds and I don't want to take them anymore if I can possibly do without. I have been able to stop taking my IBS medication which is awesome.

Again, thanks for the support! I really need as much as I can get!

[Reba32]

eat dark chocolate, with the lowest sugar content possible. It's better for you anyhow, the higher the cocoa content.

Sugar is evil. Avoid it whenever possible. Like always.

Once you have tinnitus (ringing in the ears) there's not much to do about it but live with it. It can be caused by all sorts of things, not just noise trauma. My ears have been ringing since I was a kid. it got worse in November last year when I was in the middle of an 8 week gluten challenge. I hadn't noticed over the previous months how much the ringing had got quieter, then all of a sudden it was screaming. I'm hoping it will lessen again after a few months.

The leg cramps are usually electrolyte and mineral imbalance. Make sure you're getting adequate salt intake (max. 1 tsp per day), and other minerals. I usually eat half an avocado every day (more potassium than a banana!) and take a magnesium supplement as well as mulit-vitimin, plus extra D & B & C.

[scissorhappygirl]

You need iron. Lots and lots of iron. I only had Charlie horses when I was completely anemic. There wasn't enough magnesium and potassium in the world to make them stop. Get your blood checked. I get iron infusions and they are wonderful.

[ravenwoodglass]

The other problem is that I don't know how to get off all of my daily meds and I don't want to take them anymore if I can possibly do without. I have been able to stop taking my IBS medication which is awesome.

Again, thanks for the support! I really need as much as I can get!

Talk to your doctor about getting off your meds. There are some that you can just stop taking but there are others that you need to wean off of. The doc will give you the best advice on stopping them.

[jerseyangel]

I had muscle cramping in my calves and feet almost every night--being gluten-free had no effect on it whatsoever for me. I got relief by taking calcium and getting regular exercise. I do Pilates, but I think even brisk walking would help.

[daniknik]

I had muscle cramping in my calves and feet almost every night--being gluten-free had no effect on it whatsoever for me. I got relief by taking calcium and getting regular exercise. I do Pilates, but I think even brisk walking would help.

Thanks for all of the suggestions! They're super-helpful. I'm trying to figure out which supplements I should be taking and what not. I did visit the doctor this week and she told me to consider taking a Calcium Citrate supplement for the feet and leg cramps. She didn't have much to say about the humming in my ears other than to take a Benadryl because it was probably caused by pressure on my ears from liquid in my sinus passages. Luckily for me the humming has gone away! (Halleluia!)

I also talked to the doctor about getting off some of the meds. She cut my Wellbutrin dosage in half to 150mg per day and told me to start substituting Ranitidine for my Prilosec. The last time I tried to do that with the Prilosec I wasn't successful (apparently, Prilosec is VERY addicting) so I've been cutting the capsules in half and I seem to be okay. I figured I'd try this for a couple of weeks and then perhaps go to once a day instead of twice per day for a few weeks and then see if I can be off of them completely.

Despite this, I'm frustrated with my doc. Although she is non-Celiac gluten intolerant herself, she doesn't seem to have many suggestions on how to help me get to the other side of feeling crappy other than referring me to her naturopath friend and telling me that since my anti-gliadin, anti-casein, and tissuetransglutaminase levels "aren't very high" that it's not that serious. Well...those labs were done after being on the gluten free diet for three months and they're still high enough to be in the abnormal range! Then she told me that she didn't think that being on a gluten-free diet would make much of a difference in my blood and stool testing anyways. She also told me that I'll go back to eating (gluten free) bread again and that I'll have to decide how much milk and eggs I will include in that bread even though I'm casein and egg intolerant too. Boo! She did say that I will need to stay away from gluten permanently. At least we agree on that one. Finally, she admitted that I looked better than I've looked in years and told me that she learned some new things from me during my appointment and she'll have to do more research on stool testing and whatnot and to come back in six weeks to check in.

I feel like I need to find a doctor who's more up-to-date on food intolerances but I have BCBS HMO Illinois and I don't know how to find someone who's in the HMO and not PPO network. Guess I'll need to do some more searching.

Thanks again everyone!