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DoobieBrother

Active member
Joined
Dec 5, 2016
Messages
58
Reason
DX FIBRO
Diagnosis
10/2008
Country
CA
State
PE - Prince Edward Island
Just wanted to see if anyone else has found gluten to bea trigger for flares ? A few years ago I went through a three month food trial, where I cut out wheat, dairy, etc., then reintroduced one at a time. I was quite surprised how much better I began to feel when I dropped wheat from my diet! Now if I accidently have something that contains the cereal, the next day is hell.

So, anyone else do this ?
 
I have been strictly gluten free for 15 years, not exactly by choice !

Back then I had a wicked virus that knocked me right down - couldn't eat, couldn't keep anything in. At the end of the week I was in the hospital for dehydration and was given two bags of saline solution by IV. I also had a shot to stop my stomach from spasming. It took me a year of trying to eat again to figure out I couldn't eat gluten anymore. It took that long because I was in denial and it's hidden in so many things ! It's so much better now with the variety of products and better labelling laws. I was never tested for what was happening....Epstein Barr ? Giardia ? Life changer though.

I had always had a sorta sensitive stomach but after that I cannot tolerate gluten, it is like giving myself the flu. For the last five years I have been dealing with a lot of joint pain and fatigue. I have CVID which means my immune system can't protect me so I inject plasma. Gluten will throw my GI tract into a tailspin and literally hurt - joint/muscle pain, headache, etc. Thing is CVID can also cause autoimmune issues but one doesn't make antibodies properly so testing is not so relevant. I was diagnosed with fibro instead...time will tell I guess.

Long story short - YES, avoiding gluten helps me !! ;-)

FWIW, I also avoid dairy, works for me.
 
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I have been no-gluten for about three years now. In my life, I always had gastro-intestinal issues of various kinds, stomach pain, and nausea. For about 20 years I had low-grade constant nausea. I do mean constant, 24/7/365. You learn to live with it. No doctor ever helped me with any of that over the years. although they did on occasion prescribe medication that had terrible side effects and did no good.

Finally I went to an alternative medical practitioner, who did muscle testing and told me I am gluten-intolerant. I had eaten bread every day my whole life; it was my favorite thing. When I went gluten free it was like coming off an addiction, and it was hard, but after the first two weeks I started to feel so much better that I kept it up. Now if I get even a little gluten it makes me feel as if I have the flu for about 2 days.

going gluten free has not made the chronic pain go away but not being nauseous all the time is huge. Plus, I don't know how much worse my pain might be if I were still essentially poisoning myself daily with gluten.

I know some people give no credence to alternative medicine practitioners. But in this case, as in a few others in my life, it was an unconventional practitioner who was finally able to help me with a severe and chronic condition.

If you think there's any chance that gluten could be an issue for you, try going gluten free for a few weeks or months and see. But, you really have to be vigilant!! Just not eating bread is not enough. You have to read every single label, because lots of things have wheat, barley, rye, or triticale in them even if you don't think it would (like soy sauce, for instance). You have to basically stop eating in restaurants. Even salad dressing can have gluten in it. If you don't cut it out totally you won't know if it will help you to go gluten free. And you have to give it a good period of time, not just a couple of weeks. They usually say four to six months, although i had results sooner than that. Now I only get nausea occasionally and when I am stressed. I would never go back to eating gluten.
 
Yes--my experience is the same. I've been gluten-free for about 4 months, now, and didn't find it to be as difficult as I'd expected.
 
the only thing I notice that causes my flares are physically overexerting myself.

I have never had it related to foods.
I've always been sensitive to certain foods, so normally wouldn't eat red meat, dairy, chocolate,gravies,creaams.
I
 
I went GF years ago but it never helped me once,I do really need to sort my diet out,I'm sure a better diet helps all sorts of stuff.
But fibromyalgia no.
 
I went GF and also cut out non-gluten grains (seeds) like rice and corn as well several years ago. Gluten gives me nasty headaches, but does't trigger my fibro. Rice and corn make my gut 'gurgle'. Dairy makes me feel lousy if I overdo it. I also cut out alcohol. Last year I went to a low carb high fat diet and that has made a difference. Food isn't a trigger, but cleaning up my diet has made me feel better and that, in turn, has helped reduce pain.

Exercising is working for me so as long as I pace myself. Intermittent fasting also helps.
 
Absolutely avoiding gluten/wheat as well as excess dairy helps my pain AND gut symptoms!! I have been gluten free for about 8 years. Also, avoiding excessive caffeine helps too (I drink green tea in the morning, instead of coffee).
 
Avoiding gluten, dairy, and sugar makes me feel a lot lot lot better. I haven't been able to stick to it for more than five months at a time (I love beer). BUT it has helped me so much!
 
hey, yall say that you're avoiding gluten but my dr is suggesting going off most all carbs, she says that she wants me on a south beach diet. do you find it better with just gluten free or when you go off most carbs?
 
Yes going off gluten has always helped me. Now I notice coffee is the main culprit that causes me problems.
 
I tried eliminating gluten, but did not see an improvement. I also saw no change when I added it back in.

Eating a high fiber diet does help with my IBS symptoms, though.

I've also found that when i eat sushi I feel better for about 3 hours.

In general I think eating lots of fruits and vegetables and avoiding highly processed foods will help anyone feel better, fibro or no.
 
I have Celiac Disease (and in process of being diagnoses with FMS) so have been gluten-free for 8 years now. For me it's hard to say if gluten is the trigger because I didn't start having (or noticing) fibro symptoms until after I was gluten-free for a few years. If I get glutened though (accidental cross-contamination), then hell yes the pain is a million times worse, but I can tell the difference between glutening symptoms and not. I started wondering if I might have fibro, since I have non-GI pain when I can't think of any possibility that I was glutened (symptoms can show up days after exposure). It's definitely a separate thing.

A piece of advice: if you are thinking about going gluten-free, and have never been tested for Celiac Disease, get tested first! You never know. Celiac can cause all kinds of crazy symptoms, including widespread muscle and join pain, fatigue, etc etc. Unfortunately, it also means we're prone to other auto-immune diseases and stupid things like FMS....
 
Catamountgurl: Depends on what you mean by carbs. I avoid sugar so I avoid most fruits and starchy vegetables but don't avoid ALL carbs.

DK Engineer: Not saying it would help but if I cut out gluten, dairy, or sugar alone I see no improvement in my symptoms. I have to cut out all three. If you still have any curiosity about food and haven't done a full elimination diet it could be worth it (though very sad haha).
 
Although I have been gluten-free for about eight years, what's really helped me even more than only avoiding gluten is doing the low FODMAP diet. It goes one step further than just avoiding gluten, it also includes avoiding certain types of carbohydrates that cause abdominal symptoms as well as muscular symptoms...i.e. pain!!
 
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