Just this last week I have made a life changing discovery, and my RLS has disappeared overnight.
RLS has made my life a misery for 15 years. In desperation I have been monitoring everything I do and eat in an attempt to find a solution.
Through the years of investigations, trying and eliminating different factors, I have discovered Gluten may have been the problem all along. I never suspected that Gluten was a problem as I didn’t have what I perceived to be the symptoms. The very day I removed Gluten containing products from my diet, that evening I had a truly restful sleep (the first in many years) with no symptoms of RLS. I was able to continue this, and on testing this theory the day I reintroduced Gluten containing foods (in this case bread) the RLS symptoms occurred that evening.
Could this work for other sufferers? I would be interested to know. Good luck and don’t give up.
Nicola
New Zealand
RLS caused by Gluten containing foods
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ViewsAskew
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Nicola, my DH has celiac disease and we keep a GF house at all times. It certainly had not helped me. But I have heard other people say that it helped. In fact, many people have noted that eliminating certain foods does help. Just curious, was your RLS mild, moderate or severe? Do you know if it is primary (runs in you family maybe) or secondary to another condition (pregnancy, kidney disease, spinal surgery or injury, etc)?
Ann
Ann
Ann, In answer to your question about the severity of my RLS, I would consider that I suffered moderate to severe symptoms. Other members of my family do suffer varing degrees of RLS. Further to my original posting, on a number of occasions now I have re introduced gluten foods and found the RLS symptoms to re-occur at an intensity that relates to just how much gluten containg foods was consumed.
Nicola
Nicola
Nicola,
This is very interesting! My brother has celiac disease and my mother has wheat allergy (elevated IgE antibodies to wheat ). If I eat stone-ground wheat my face breaks out in itchy patches....
But I do not avoid gluten. It might be worth a try.
Why would gluten be a problem? It is possible that antigen-antibody complexes are being formed.... and then they are depositing somewhere. Maybe activating or exciting neural receptors somehow?
Hmmmmm.........
Athena
This is very interesting! My brother has celiac disease and my mother has wheat allergy (elevated IgE antibodies to wheat ). If I eat stone-ground wheat my face breaks out in itchy patches....
But I do not avoid gluten. It might be worth a try.
Why would gluten be a problem? It is possible that antigen-antibody complexes are being formed.... and then they are depositing somewhere. Maybe activating or exciting neural receptors somehow?
Hmmmmm.........
Athena
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Guest
Nicola,
You may be right! I have some pictures of the intestine in gluten intolerance & celiac disease. Normally the intestinal wall looks like a bunch of fingers sticking out (called villi). This is where absorption takes place.
But in the above instance, the "fingers" are completely closed off. It is as if constant inflammation has caused permanent damage (called villi atrophy).
The "fingers" are completely gone!
Athena
You may be right! I have some pictures of the intestine in gluten intolerance & celiac disease. Normally the intestinal wall looks like a bunch of fingers sticking out (called villi). This is where absorption takes place.
But in the above instance, the "fingers" are completely closed off. It is as if constant inflammation has caused permanent damage (called villi atrophy).
The "fingers" are completely gone!
Athena
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Guest
Why this line of speculation? They already do know what causes RLS. I seem to remember that they have proven through brain autopsies that primary RLS occurs in the substantia nigra and is related to iron, lack of certain cells, malformed cells, and misfunctioning cells. There is an article about the study somewhere on this site and everyone should read it.
If you had active celiac disease or gluten itolerance and are eating gluten, yes, this could contribute to the brain's problem - less iron apsorbed in the gut, less iron stores, less iron available to the brain. But RLS affects 3-15 percent of the population. Celiac disease is somewhere around 1 in 250-300 (depends on the study you look at or the country you live in). And anyone with CD or gluten intolerance that is not eating gluten should have functioning villi, so the gut would be apsorbing correctly. So gluten could not be an issue for most of the people with RLS. Either you have primary - probably hereditary but none-the-less occuring because of a malfunction in the brain- or secondary - RLS induced because of another problems such as spinal injuries or surgeries, pregnancy, kidney disease, fibro,etc.
RLS might be secondary in those cases anyway, not primary. Of course, someone could have primary RLS and then get a disease that causes secondary RLS and it would further aggravate it.
If you had active celiac disease or gluten itolerance and are eating gluten, yes, this could contribute to the brain's problem - less iron apsorbed in the gut, less iron stores, less iron available to the brain. But RLS affects 3-15 percent of the population. Celiac disease is somewhere around 1 in 250-300 (depends on the study you look at or the country you live in). And anyone with CD or gluten intolerance that is not eating gluten should have functioning villi, so the gut would be apsorbing correctly. So gluten could not be an issue for most of the people with RLS. Either you have primary - probably hereditary but none-the-less occuring because of a malfunction in the brain- or secondary - RLS induced because of another problems such as spinal injuries or surgeries, pregnancy, kidney disease, fibro,etc.
RLS might be secondary in those cases anyway, not primary. Of course, someone could have primary RLS and then get a disease that causes secondary RLS and it would further aggravate it.
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umpwidow
My neurologist thinks that we know very little about the nervous system and RLS.
If staying away from gluten helps then do it I say.
We go down these lines of questions because it may be helpful to others out there.
Doctors aren't Gods. They are given a license to "practice" medicine. Perhaps we're not all RLSers. Perhaps there are some misdiagnoses out there.
Until the pain and the sleeplessness stop, we pursue whatever comes up to control the symptoms.
It's my belief, anyway, that the Docs are so under the AMA's wing, that they won't tell you about gluten or whatever else might be helpful. Doctors don't deal with nutrition. They deal with drugs. Frankly, it's a little frightening taking the drugs because of whatever yet to be discovered side effect may happen.
Why would we keep putting stuff in our bodies that has been manufactured if there is a simple nutritional answer?
Just taking meds for RLS and ignoring any nutritional factors is like saying that a diabetic should just take insulin and forget about sugar intake.
But that's just my opinion. I have no scientific evidence to support it. Only years of experience -for whatever that's worth.
Jamie
If staying away from gluten helps then do it I say.
We go down these lines of questions because it may be helpful to others out there.
Doctors aren't Gods. They are given a license to "practice" medicine. Perhaps we're not all RLSers. Perhaps there are some misdiagnoses out there.
Until the pain and the sleeplessness stop, we pursue whatever comes up to control the symptoms.
It's my belief, anyway, that the Docs are so under the AMA's wing, that they won't tell you about gluten or whatever else might be helpful. Doctors don't deal with nutrition. They deal with drugs. Frankly, it's a little frightening taking the drugs because of whatever yet to be discovered side effect may happen.
Why would we keep putting stuff in our bodies that has been manufactured if there is a simple nutritional answer?
Just taking meds for RLS and ignoring any nutritional factors is like saying that a diabetic should just take insulin and forget about sugar intake.
But that's just my opinion. I have no scientific evidence to support it. Only years of experience -for whatever that's worth.
Jamie
I find this a very interesting observation. I have just started eliminating gluten from my diet mainly because I think I have an intolerance for it because I have all the classic symptoms and my son has suffered with it. It would be great if there was a connection to my RLS and gluten and I killed two birds with one stone!!! Time will tell. But glad I stumbled across this thread.
Trish
Trish
100 years from now it will not matter the car I drove, the house I lived in or the size of my bank account. All that will matter is that I was important in the life of a child...
Nicola, I am so glad for you and thank you for sharing.
And to the guest post, I understand where you are coming from, but do the researchers really know if that is the only cause...couldn't it be a combination of different factors? Yea, iron absorption to the brain is a common denominator, but just knowing that alone isn't much help. I come here for any and all suggestions that might help, that's the point of this board, right?
Tina
And to the guest post, I understand where you are coming from, but do the researchers really know if that is the only cause...couldn't it be a combination of different factors? Yea, iron absorption to the brain is a common denominator, but just knowing that alone isn't much help. I come here for any and all suggestions that might help, that's the point of this board, right?
Tina
RLS, SLE (Lupus) and Asthma