Gluten free

[Zamalek]

I have just posted about autonomic dysfunction , but also want to know if many

of you follow a guten-free diet, and does it really help?

[dhm0217]

I switched to follow gluten free diet for 6 months now, it has greatly improved my pain and swelling severity. I can feel my body inflammation level has gone way down

[GinaD]

As I have posted here frequently in the past year, I have totally gone to “the dark side” of medicine as I believe that what is now called “functional” medicine is the way forward for our increasingly expensive drug/health culture. I went gluten free by accident in 2004 (did not suspect it had anything to do with celiac) and my health changed dramatically within 4 days! I went from having such great fatigue that I could hardly do a load of laundry to pedaling my bicycle up a 1200’ mountain without stopping for breath!

At various times in my past I have had all the symptoms you described in earlier post. The worst symptoms were when I was in my late teens and twenties, and diagnosed with mononucleosis around 6 times within 12 years. I was never diagnosed with lupus, though in hind sight, as doctors look back on the positive ANA tests from those days the negative mono spot tests, the consensus is that I was having a lupus flair. The last doctor to treat me for this reoccurring mono put me on a round of steroids andd that was finally! the end of those symptoms. No more mono.

My health history is complicaterd. But I strongly suspect that there is a common denomninator to my problems. And I think that common denominator is gluten and a bunch of chemicals we put in our food which are deemed “safe” because they don’t cause illness in every one and/or within a few years.

So, given my experience, I would advise everyone to try a gluten free diet. And then, consider consulting with a functional med doc or a nutritionist and trying a “detox” diet which can help ID other meds you might be allergic to. (I’m allergic to cashews. Cashews!? Who’d have thought? )

[Tofino5]

If you have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity it can help tremendously, as you see from the other answers here.

If you do not have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity it won’t help.

It is worth a try, but be sure to do it with your doctor’s knowledge and assistance.

You can be tested for celiac disease, usually if you have any of the symptoms, but as far as I know there is still no reliable test for gluten sensitivity.

GinaD has a really great point about allergies too.

Good luck!

[charlieab in reply to Tofino5]

Thats my view I think. There seems evidence that it can make a big difference for some but little or no observable difference for others (though maybe is still quietly helping).

Im not sure it has helped me and I kind of broke the diet today with scrambled eggs on toast in a cafe. Will probably swell up like a balloon tonight and will have to edit this post.

[Tofino5 in reply to charlieab]

It’s fairly easy, especially these days, to adjust to GF. There are so many GF foods available in the markets.

[MaryF Administrator]

It has made a huge difference to me cutting gluten out of my diet, it is not a quick fix it takes months to fully clear this out of the body. Would I ever eat it again, NO. MaryF