Jump to content
  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.




  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):



    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):


  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Does Anyone Suffer From Relex Sympathetic Dystrophy Due To Celiac Disease?


renee711

Recommended Posts

renee711 Newbie

Hi! I am new to the site. I have been suffering with Celiac Disease for 7 years now. The usual story it took about 8 years of horrible symptoms and testings to finally discover that I had this disease. When I first was diagnoised I was severely ill with migraines and of course the lovely stomach issue. I went on a stict gluten free diet and was fine for the next 3 years. Then out of the blue one day my hands start shaking, my speech is slurred and I have difficutly walking. First they thought it was a stroke. Long story short it took them a year where again I heard from all the doctors "its in your head" . Finally a wonderful doctor at the Celiac Center at Columbia University...tested my vitamins. Due to the celiac diease my body was absorbing all of the vitamins that I was taking in. I had no Vitamin D No vitamin B6 or B1. After about 6 months of being on a ton of vitamins my symptoms slowly disappeared thank goodness! I am so grateful to her.

Well here I am again and I am wondering if somehow thought I don't see how..but you never know it could be celiac related. I was diagnosied with reflex sympathetic dystrophy. I was just wondering if someone out there has heard of it being related. I had a simple sprained ankle that turned into this rsd..basically it is a condition that effects the sympathetic nervous system. The system is sending pain signals to my ankle even though there is nothing wrong with it. It is horrible. If you want you can look it up. I don't want to bother you all with the details if it is not related. All I know is that I am unable to walk once again and this is a chronic lifetime condition with severe pain..so if anyone knows if it is related please let me know.

OH here is maybe a simple question that someone can help me with..I had not been able to shower for a week due to the pain from rsd anyway I normally have a horrible rash on my face that the dr. said was rocesha (spelling probably wrong sorry) my face was clear by the end of the week but then I took a shower and the rash was back burning and more red then ever. I was doing some research cause I figure it has to be the shampoo/beauty products and just learned some have gluten!! How do I find out if my oil of olay, pantene, caress and even revelon makeup are safe..is there a list out there somewhere?

I am hoping that you all are not reading this saying this woman is such a mess and just sounds like a big problem. I know I feel like that but I hope you can see past all my complaining one day. Oh, I am so sorry. I am very upset and didn't even introduce myself wait have to read the rules...lol. I am a 39 year old female. I am married with no children. I have 2 cats and 2 dogs. Also I am normally much more happier and upbeat than this. Thank you for your time reading this and I look forward to reading any responses..hopefully I will get some.lol.

Have a great week!


Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



mushroom Proficient

I don't have this problem, but my celiac sister does. Her problems have occurred following a wrist fracture and following breast cancer surgery where they used a long-lasting local anesthetic on her that she is adversely reactive to. I cannot tell you a lot about her pain and how it affects her, but I know she has it, diagnosed by her physicians.

ravenwoodglass Mentor

I had RSD set in after a knee surgery prediagnosis. Luckily for me it was in the leg that had the most celiac related nerve damage so it wasn't extremely painful. It was really scarely though because I lost all the muscle in my leg from where they put the tourniquet down. I was sent to PT for a few months and it did for the most part resolve although even now, years later that leg is a bit smaller than the other one.

I think you are wise to avoid gluten in your topicals. I use Garneir line for skin and hair care and also some of the Shikai line. I think we when we have the nervous system effected by this disease it seems we have to be super careful.

Hopefully your doctor has referred you to a good PT and do check all meds you are taking to be sure they are gluten free.

I hope this resolves for you soon.

mommida Enthusiast

My niece was diagnosed with RSD. I don't know if they even tested her for Celiac. She was in a wheelchair for a year and now she is walking and doing fine. She has an extreme reaction to heat. Perhaps the heat from the shower is causing the reaction on your face? In any case double check your cosmetics and consider changing your pet food.

I think RSD still needs to have more research done and maybe then it will show a connection to Celiac or auto-immune disorders.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):
  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      133,258
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748

    Tdodge
    Newest Member
    Tdodge
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):
  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.6k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):
  • Who's Online (See full list)

  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • suek54
      Wow KK, thank you so much for all your attached info. I had a very quick scan but will read more in depth later.  The one concerning corticosteroid use is very interesting. That would relate to secondary adrenal insufficiency I think , ie AI caused by steroids such as taken long term for eg asthma. I have primary autoimmune AI, my adrenals are atrophied, no chance if recovery there. But I am in touch with some secondaries, so something to bear in mind. .  Niacin B3 Very interesting too. Must have a good read about that.  Im sure lots of questions will arise as I progress with dermatitis herpetiformis. In the mean time, thanks for your help.
    • knitty kitty
      Welcome to the forum, @suek54, I have Dermatitis Herpetiformis, too.  I found taking Niacin B3 very helpful in clearing my skin from blisters as well as improving the itchies-without-rash (peripheral neuropathy).  Niacin has been used since the 1950's to improve dermatitis herpetiformis.   I try to balance my iodine intake (which will cause flairs) with Selenium which improves thyroid function.   Interesting Reading: Dermatitis herpetiformis effectively treated with heparin, tetracycline and nicotinamide https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10844495/   Experience with selenium used to recover adrenocortical function in patients taking glucocorticosteroids long https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24437222/   Two Cases of Dermatitis Herpetiformis Successfully Treated with Tetracycline and Niacinamide https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30390734/   Steroid-Resistant Rash With Neuropsychiatric Deterioration and Weight Loss: A Modern-Day Case of Pellagra https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12532421/#:~:text=Figure 2.,(right panel) upper limbs.&text=The distribution of the rash,patient's substantial response to treatment.   Nicotinic acid therapy of dermatitis herpetiformis (1950) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15412276/
    • suek54
      Thank you all for your advice and the dermatitis herpetiformis article. The latter made me realise I had stopped taking my antihistamine, which I will restart today. The Dapsone has cleared the rash entirely but I still get quite a bit itching, absolutely nothing to see though. I know its notoriously hard to clear and its still relatively early days for me.  The iodine issue is very interesting. I do eat quite a bit of salt because I have Addison's disease and sodium retention is an issue. I also have autoimmune hypothyroidism, not sure how a low iodine diet would play into that? Because of my Addison's I am totally steroid dependent, I take steroids 4 x daily and cannot mount any defence against inflammation. I need to increase my meds for that. Now that I know what is wrong I can do just that if Im having a bad day. Life is very sweet, just so damn complicated sometimes! Hey ho, onwards. Thank you again for your advice.  
    • trents
      So, essentially all of the nutrition in the food we eat is absorbed through the villous lining of the small bowel. This is the section of the intestinal track that is damaged by celiac disease. This villous lining is composed of billions of finger-like projections that create a huge amount of surface area for absorbing nutrients. For the celiac person, when gluten is consumed, it triggers an autoimmune reaction in this area which, of course, generates inflammation. The antibodies connected with this inflammation is what the celiac blood tests are designed to detect but this inflammation, over time, wears down the finger-like projections of the villous lining. Of course, when this proceeds for an extended period of time, greatly reduces the absorption efficiency of the villous lining and often results in many and various nutrient deficiency-related health issues. Classic examples would be osteoporosis and iron deficiency. But there are many more. Low D3 levels is a well-known celiac-caused nutritional deficiency. So is low B12. All the B vitamins in fact. Magnesium, zinc, etc.  Celiac disease can also cause liver inflammation. You mention elevated ALP levels. Elevated liver enzymes over a period of 13 years was what led to my celiac diagnosis. Within three months of going gluten free my liver enzymes normalized. I had elevated AST and ALT. The development of sensitivities to other food proteins is very common in the celiac population. Most common cross reactive foods are dairy and oats but eggs, soy and corn are also relatively common offenders. Lactose intolerance is also common in the celiac population because of damage to the SB lining.  Eggs when they are scrambled or fried give me a gut ache. But when I poach them, they do not. The steam and heat of poaching causes a hydrolysis process that alters the protein in the egg. They don't bother me in baked goods either so I assume the same process is at work. I bought a plastic poacher on Amazon to make poaching very easy. All this to say that many of the issues you describe could be caused by celiac disease. 
    • catnapt
      thank you so much for your detailed and extremely helpful reply!! I can say with absolute certainty that the less gluten containing products I've eaten over the past several years, the better I've felt.   I wasn't avoiding gluten, I was avoiding refined grains (and most processed foods) as well as anything that made me feel bad when I ate it. It's the same reason I gave up dairy and eggs- they make me feel ill.  I do have a bit of a sugar addiction lol so a lot of times I wasn't sure if it was the refined grains that I was eating - or the sugar. So from time to time I might have a cookie or something but I've learned how to make wonderful cookies and golden brownies with BEANS!! and no refined sugar - I use date paste instead. Pizza made me so ill- but I thought it was probably the cheese. I gave up pizza and haven't missed it. the one time I tried a slice I felt so bad I knew I'd never touch it again. I stopped eating wheat pasta at least 3 yrs ago- just didn't feel well after eating it. I tried chick pea pasta and a few others and discovered I like the brown rice pasta. I still don't eat a lot of pasta but it's nice for a change when I want something easy. TBH over the years I've wondered sometimes if I might be gluten intolerant but really believed it was not possible for me to have celiac disease. NOW I need to know for sure- because I'm in the middle of a long process of trying to find out why I have a high parathyroid level (NOT the thyroid- but rather the 4 glands that control the calcium balance in your body) I have had a hard time getting my vit D level up, my serum calcium has run on the low side of normal for many years... and now I am losing calcium from my bones and excreting it in my urine (some sort of renal calcium leak) Also have a high ALP since 2014. And now rapidly worsening bone density.  I still do not have a firm diagnosis. Could be secondary HPT (but secondary to what? we need to know) It could be early primary HPT. I am spilling calcium in my urine but is that caused by the high parathyroid hormone or is it the reason my PTH is high>? there are multiple feedback loops for this condition.    so I will keep eating the bread and some wheat germ that does not seem to bother me too much (it hasn't got enough gluten to use just wheat germ)    but I'm curious- if you don't have a strong reaction to a product- like me and wheat germ- does that mean it's ok to eat or is it still causing harm even if you don't have any obvious symptoms? I guess what you are saying about silent celiac makes it likely that you can have no symptoms and still have the harm... but geez! you'd think they'd come up with a way to test for this that didn't require you to consume something that makes you sick! I worry about the complications I've been reading about- different kinds of cancers etc. also wondering- are there degrees of celiac disease?  is there any correlation between symptoms and the amnt of damage to your intestines? I also need a firm diagnosis because I have an identical twin sister ... so if I have celiac, she has it too- or at least the genetic make up for having it. I did have a VERY major stress to my body in 2014-2016 time frame .. lost 50lbs in a short period of time and had severe symptoms from acute protracted withdrawal off an SSRI drug (that I'd been given an unethically high dose of, by a dr who has since lost his license)  Going off the drug was a good thing and in many ways my health improved dramatically- just losing 50lbs was helpful but I also went  off almost a dozen different medications, totally changed my diet and have been doing pretty well except for the past 3-4 yrs when the symptoms related to the parathyroid issue cropped up. It is likely that I had low vit D for some time and that caused me a lot of symptoms. The endo now tells me that low vit D can be caused by celiac disease so I need to know for sure! thank you for all that great and useful information!!! 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.