New To Board/help With Inflammation

[pitt4321]

I am new to this board and do not have celiac disease, but have had problems with neck pain, headaches and lots of inflammation in my neck area. I have been taking pain meds, going to PT, chiropractics with little results. I went to a Nutritional seminar put on by people of Weston A Price and they suggested a gluten free diet. Not sure if I am posting on the right board. Anyone have any input about this being something that would make a difference for me? I am at my witt's end and in a lot of pain. Thanks.

Carol Ann

[ravenwoodglass]

I am new to this board and do not have celiac disease, but have had problems with neck pain, headaches and lots of inflammation in my neck area. I have been taking pain meds, going to PT, chiropractics with little results. I went to a Nutritional seminar put on by people of Weston A Price and they suggested a gluten free diet. Not sure if I am posting on the right board. Anyone have any input about this being something that would make a difference for me? I am at my witt's end and in a lot of pain. Thanks.

Carol Ann

Hi Carol, welcome to the board. I had a great deal of muscle, joint and bone pain before I was diagnosed celiac and went on the diet. I just expected my gut issues to resolve and was pleasantly surprised when my arthritis and fibro went away. You may want to have a celiac panel run and then give the diet a good strict try. They can't do the blood test after you have been gluten free without a lengthy gluten challenge so if you can do the test before the diet it is a good idea. It can take a couple of months for the inflammation to resolve so be patient and be strict. Ask any questions you need to and read as much as you can so you can prepare to give the diet a good try.

[Takala]

I have bad, bad arthritis in my neck. It was my first "wow look at that" symptom that showed up early, when I was still in my twenties. My neck and shoulder / upper back muscles used to totally lock up, and that in turn would result in a headache. I was told it was either idiopathic (no known cause) or some sort of arthritis that just usually showed up in older people. Later it was said to be some sort of auto immune type thing, but still they didn't know why, even though I had all sorts of other problems, and it was looking like MS or lupus. I had every symptom of spondylitis you could have, but no gene for it. I also had lots of kidney infections. The one way I lucked out was that the initial doctor I saw actually knew what this was even though he couldn't say why, inspite of my being female. Subsequent doctors were not so clued in, and tended to look at me, tell me to bend this way and that, and then announce, without seeing a scan/xray, that You Must Have Fibro. Women Do Not Get Spinal Arthritis, especially At Your Age. I got a set of xrays and keep them with me now, I got pretty tired of this routine. Now, I seem to be officially old enough to be "allowed" to have something wrong.

I have been off gluten roughly about 8 years this year, and it has made a big difference. I still am bad compared to a normal person, but because I kept up the PT for all of this time, I can still turn my head and have pretty strong support muscles, so most of the time I'm not thinking about it. I still have to work at balance exercises.

My current PCP is amazed I can function at this level with this much of a lousy neck, but the docs 2 decades ago who told me to keep exercising and keep up the supplements and avoid the heavy duty drugs had the right idea, even if at the time it seemed I was on some sort of losing battle.

I wasn't absorbing nutrients properly, such as minerals, and this means your kidneys will try to harvest what is needed out of your existing bone, (which constantly remodels), via the blood which runs thru them to filter. That, in turn, can cause your kidneys/bladder to gets lots of little stones. Stones contribute to infections. Most of the time they tell you to avoid certain foods/calcium, I got conflicting advice and went with the older doc who told me to avoid Tums (bicarbonate makes this worse) and the younger doc who was OMG you must take calcium and vitamin D for that bone loss. Taking the calcium helped with the kidneys because then I was not so low on it. But going gluten free REALLY got rid of this, pretty dramatically. The other thing is that wherever the tendons attach to bone, you will have inflammation rotating around and nearly driving you buggy until you accept that this is another one of the symptoms. My basic body type is athletic so this has been a real trip, because it means I'm low grade injured, all of the time. Gluten free means I recover much more quickly, at least.

Do not be afraid to at least try a gluten free diet. You may want to attempt to get tested, to see if you are celiac or gluten intolerant, but let your body's reaction to what it eats, be the final guide.

Remember when going gluten free, don't forget your supplements and any medications must be gluten free, also, and if using a toaster, cutting board, or other kitchen item like a spatula, it should be clean of gluten, and permeable surfaces should be dedicated gluten free, as in don't use old tupperware or teflon for your new gluten free food, or don't cook in cast iron unless it's clean and dedicated, because of cross contamination. Clean stainless steel is fine.