Gluten Withdrawal

[BloatusMaximus]

I am going on 3 weeks being gluten free. I just started going dairy free as well because I still have some issues that are simply not improving. I have seen a reference somewhere to going through a "withdrawal" after eliminating gluten from the diet. My question is this:

Do people really have withdrawal-type symptoms associated with this? If so, what are yours? I am hesitant to describe mine as they may be associated with something else enitely, but I doubt it. I am curious to know what others experience who are gluten sensitive (or other food sensitivity) after giving it up.

Thomas

[tmbarke]

For me (2-1/2 weeks gluten-free) I knew I would be going thru withdrawls, but wasn't exactly sure what to expect.

The first few days were rather simple aside from the 'hunt for food options'........I was feeling new again! Then it happened......I crashed mentally. I couldn't pay attention well to my job or things happeining around me - like an idiot stupor. (I mentioned reference to that before....I could pull up to a stop sign and wait for the light to change)

Nothing made sense to what I was doing - like someone else had control.

I was in the bathroom alllllll the time - urinating and 4-5 BM's a day.........till I got constipated after getting glutened by a coworker.

I felt dilerious - drunk - stoned.

I couldn't sleep well at first - but then I'll sleep for good durations - and then even longer than needed.

My gas and BM smells like something crawled up inside of me and died!

I'm thru the worst of the stupor part and feeling clearer.

So what are you experiencing?

[CGally81]

Symptoms for me are, besides the sudden constant hunger, the following:

- Muscle twitching, in any part of my body. Chest, back of my hand, eyelid twitching, etc.

- Feeling like my skin, mainly on my chest, is very sensitive. For example, I'm wearing a shirt with buttons. I can easily feel the buttons on my chest, as if the shirt were pressing against it.

- Mild feeling like I'm about to throw up, but I don't really have to.

- Chills in my legs, and sometimes in my forehead.

- Itchiness. Two days, it was so bad, I was scratching everything while lying in bed and hoping for the itching to just stop.

- Pins and needles feeling in my body.

When these symptoms first started, for only a few days, I experienced weird feelings that varied between being hungry a lot, then tired, as if my blood sugar was going nuts. These were the same feelings I experienced every day in high school, when I used to eat potatoes for breakfast. People say not to eat potatoes for breakfast, as they make your blood sugar go nuts throughout the day. I note that those symptoms had stopped when I stopped eating potatoes for breakfast. But they suddenly came back out of nowhere when my gluten withdrawal symptoms came.

These symptoms are mostly gone now, but come back to various, mostly minor, degrees. It took me a while to realize I was still consuming gluten from one source: Fudgsicles. Removing those from my diet caused an increase in withdrawal symptoms, but still not as bad (as TERRIBLE) as when they first started.

So that's my story.

[BloatusMaximus]

Well, after the first week I noticed HUGE improvements in the gas and bloating dept. But I started having this ringing in my ears. And that thing where all the sound completely goes out in one ear, then slowly comes back.

I also have waves of the exact same "stupor" you describe, tmbarke. I feel a little drunk or something....very foggy. Good. I'm glad I'm not alone.

Hey CGally81, I have the muscle twitching, too. Like, REAL bad. This has been going on for several years for me so it may be a symptom of gluten intolerance, not a withdrawal symptom (for me). Very maddening symptom. But I have a question to ask you, Cgally: are you taking any medication? Do you still experience this twitching? I have a very good reason for asking this (hope it doesn't sound nosey). I must say the weird muscle twitching is slightly better since going gluten free.

The other most bothersome thing is a sharp pins and needles feeling in my feet at night. I am chalking this up as gluten withdrawal. I am sorry we have so many similar things going on but a little relieved, too!

Thomas

[homemaker]

My withdrawal symptoms are...I am still going through them....

Jittery

Low Blood Sugar Crashes

And.....Hungry VERY Hungry...

[tmbarke]

The other most bothersome thing is a sharp pins and needles feeling in my feet at night. I am chalking this up as gluten withdrawal. I am sorry we have so many similar things going on but a little relieved, too!

Thomas

I can relate to the tingles

But I didn't really feel those until I had an accidental gluten from ham - layed in bed with flu like feelings and the legs started feeling tingly..........

I have had a numbing tingle in my face before being gluten-free and once after.

As a drug addict wants a fix and goes thru withdrawls - I take this as a sign of my body rejecting the poison that is still affecting me........although I'm feeling more normal as a person than I did before gluten-free, I still have some slolum moments too.

Happy to say that my shoulder is at 90% better! and back don't hurt when I over do it or walk any distance.

My glutened life is not the person I am now - so I'm all for feeling better knowing I'm treating my body right!

(spelling has improved since I came out of the stupor) lol

Hang in there! so how do you feel now? any positive changes?

[CGally81]

Well, after the first week I noticed HUGE improvements in the gas and bloating dept. But I started having this ringing in my ears. And that thing where all the sound completely goes out in one ear, then slowly comes back.

I also have waves of the exact same "stupor" you describe, tmbarke. I feel a little drunk or something....very foggy. Good. I'm glad I'm not alone.

Hey CGally81, I have the muscle twitching, too. Like, REAL bad. This has been going on for several years for me so it may be a symptom of gluten intolerance, not a withdrawal symptom (for me). Very maddening symptom. But I have a question to ask you, Cgally: are you taking any medication? Do you still experience this twitching? I have a very good reason for asking this (hope it doesn't sound nosey). I must say the weird muscle twitching is slightly better since going gluten free.

The other most bothersome thing is a sharp pins and needles feeling in my feet at night. I am chalking this up as gluten withdrawal. I am sorry we have so many similar things going on but a little relieved, too!

Thomas

Oh yeah, I forgot about the ringing in the ear. I've gotten some of that, but only to a slight degree, and only on occasion. I've occasionally had the hearing temporarily go soft, but not out, and again, only for short periods of time.

I'm not taking any medication. All these withdrawal symptoms, I might add, I'd experienced in my senior year of high school. I wonder if it's because of some change in diet at the time? Like removing gluten from a daily snack with lunch, but still eating gluten on weekends? I'm not sure, but these symptoms are not new to me.

My muscle twitching has gotten better, but believe me, I did have it pretty bad, and I didn't have it at all while I was eating gluten, only when I stopped. So for you it might be a gluten symptom, but for me it's withdrawal.

Anyway, my withdrawal symptoms did get better over time, though there was a resurgence when I removed Fudgsicles, since I didn't realize I was still eating gluten (watch out for malt - that's another ingredient that contains it). Even during this resurgence in symptoms, including the hunger, it's still not as bad as it was before.

So from personal experience, I can tell you to hang in there, it does get better. Also from personal experience, I can tell you that things will get better, then worse, then even better again, then worse, and sometimes it'll feel like you made progress only to lose it. Only to make even more progress again. It's an up and down thing, gradually trending toward the better. Don't always compare how you felt one day to how you felt a week ago - compare it to how you felt 2-3 weeks ago, and you'll realize that it is improving overall. It'll get worse before it gets better (then worse again, then better again, etc. until it's totally gone).

[BloatusMaximus]

So from personal experience, I can tell you to hang in there, it does get better. Also from personal experience, I can tell you that things will get better, then worse, then even better again, then worse, and sometimes it'll feel like you made progress only to lose it. Only to make even more progress again. It's an up and down thing, gradually trending toward the better. Don't always compare how you felt one day to how you felt a week ago - compare it to how you felt 2-3 weeks ago, and you'll realize that it is improving overall. It'll get worse before it gets better (then worse again, then better again, etc. until it's totally gone).

.....hmmm. So I can forget instant gratification, huh? I gues we all want to see overnight results. I have seen some posts that claim an "immediate" improvement. I will say my gut has made an immediate improvement. I am still awaiting an improvement in my joint pain and sleep issue. I would gladly live in pain for the rest of my life if I could just sleep deeply and soundly. Sad but true.

Thomas

[CGally81]

.....hmmm. So I can forget instant gratification, huh? I gues we all want to see overnight results. I have seen some posts that claim an "immediate" improvement. I will say my gut has made an immediate improvement. I am still awaiting an improvement in my joint pain and sleep issue. I would gladly live in pain for the rest of my life if I could just sleep deeply and soundly. Sad but true.

Thomas

I also used to have trouble with sleep. Getting to sleep, because I was hungry late at night, and I'd often wake up at 5am or so. That had been getting better as the hunger had, and I think the two are related in my case.

Eating late at night - a lot - before going to bed, helped with the sleep issue. Helped me get to sleep, and wake up at normal times.

[Frances03]

for me, the new symptoms that have started only after stopping gluten are constant insane all over body itching-where you want to get a fork and scratch the heck out of yourself. constant hunger, like I'm starving to death!! restless leg-which could be because of iron deficiency but it just started when I quit gluten. crazy irritability out of the blue for no reason. oh and I had 2 days of extreme hand joint pain, just for no reason!! then it went away and hasn't come back!

[CGally81]

for me, the new symptoms that have started only after stopping gluten are constant insane all over body itching-where you want to get a fork and scratch the heck out of yourself. constant hunger, like I'm starving to death!! restless leg-which could be because of iron deficiency but it just started when I quit gluten. crazy irritability out of the blue for no reason. oh and I had 2 days of extreme hand joint pain, just for no reason!! then it went away and hasn't come back!

My eyeball has been twitching a lot today and yesterday. I'd removed Fudgsicles from my diet 2 weeks ago, and caught a resurgence in withdrawal symptoms. Including, yes, the hunger, which has gotten pretty bad recently.

I had that terrible itching too, at one point, but only for a few days.

How long did your symptoms last?