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Do Endometriosis Symptoms Get Worse Eating Gluten?

carecare

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carecare Enthusiast
carecare
Posted

Meaning...if you were once eating gluten and then found out you were celiac or gluten intolerant did your endo pain get better when starting a gluten free diet? Reason I ask is I recently found out the pain I've been having is probably endometriosis. I thought it was an ovarian cyst that wasn't resolving itself for 5 months but when I got my ultrasound there was no cyst. Because of the symptoms and when the pain occurs my doctor handed me a pamphlet for endomitriosis and sent me on my way basically. After reading it I actually think I've been dealing with this for many years...I thought the pain was from ovarian cysts but now I believe it's been the endomitriosis. I had my tubes tied 10 yrs ago after my 4th child. I believe I have scar tissue and adhesions there from the endometriosis. Lately the pain the first few days of my cycle has been horrible...it's on my right side and I feel like it's my tubes being pulled and pinched...and my ovaries aching. I was gluten free since the beginning of August and went back to eating gluten with the boys since they are getting an endoscopy in December so we reintroduced gluten. I decided I might as well get tested myself come december. Well, I was on gluten for a week then started my cycle and the pain in my lower right side was worse than ever...and last much longer too. Usually it's just the first couple of days but this time it started for 2 days..had one good day and then started back up for another 2 days. It was not fun. I'm wondering if it's because I added gluten back into my diet. I know I am sensitive to gluten...if off of it for some time and I have something with gluten I get a stomach ache and sometimes D. It's been a week and a half with gluten back in and I've had a few headaches...a couple bouts of D and extremely painful cycle. Anyone have endometriosis that got better once on a gluten free diet. I don't know if I should wait to go back to the gyno dr or do it soon because I really would rather them do something about this than wait....however if going gluten free helps woman with endometriosis then I'm willing to wait until I have the testing and see how it helps it.

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bny06 Apprentice
bny06
Posted

Hello!! Actually you are probably correct!!! Years ago, (i had no idea I had any gluten/celiac issues) I was having fertility problems.. they found a huge endometrioma (endometriosis cyst) on ultrasound and then did surgery to remove it.. they said I had one of the worst cases of endometriosis they had ever seen.. however I had never had any pain or symptoms (besides an occasional cramp that once a year i'd take an advil for) anyhow in efforts to do any and everything to help out for fertility sake I did a lot of research on endometriosis etc... turns out that they think not only endometriosis pains, but also the inflammation caused by the endometriosis itself is worsened by gluten.. since endometriosis is also an autoimmune disorder (they believe) .. SO i immediately went gluten free.. this is actually when We first got pregnant! So i couldn't tell if my pains changed or not, since I never really had any.. it was either coincidence or it did decrease the inflammation and help us get pregnant... there are a few studies out there showing how it helps! :) Now fast forward 4 years.. turns out i have a gluten issue! Shoulda figured that out then I guess!!! Good luck! :)

NCM Newbie
NCM
Posted

I've been wondering this myself. I have had endometriosis for 17 years and only found out 3 months ago that I have Celiac Disease. I've only been gluten free for 3 months but so far the endometriosis has been much better but I think I need a longer time period to know for sure if it's made a difference because some months it would be worse than others.

mash Newbie
mash
Posted

There is a very definite link between Celiac and Endometriosis - see this study: Open Original Shared Link

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