Hi there,
I have been diagnosed with celiac disease last month and have started a gluten free diet. I am having serious migraines throughout the day and I have numbness and tingling in my hands. My feet and hands swell by time I lie down for bed and my skins hurts so bad sometimes. I have no idea what this means or if it is just a side effect of celiac disease. Please help me with any information you may have.

Hi Stacey,

A lot of the symptoms you mention made me think first of Vitamin B6 deficiency (migraines, numbness and tingling in hands). My daughter had numbness and tingling in her hands that we dubbed "morning hands" and also facial swelling when B6 deficient (edema). I've seen edema listed as a possible symptom of deficiencies of vitamins B1, B6, B12, and E... there may be others.

If you are not taking any vitamins, you might try a good B complex... and be sure to get at least 1000mcg of B12 daily. Try to find one with methylcobalamin form of B12 and P5P type of B6. Country Life and Jarrow and NOW are among many brands you can look for online at Iherb.com or Vitamin World or any number of online vitamin stores. Be sure your vitamins and all medications are gluten free.

If none of those symptoms started until after you removed gluten... I might wonder about withdrawal symptoms in the first week or two, or EXPOSURE symptoms beyond then. Are you sure you are elimination ALL gluten. Even small amounts (cross contamination) can cause reactions in some people, and reactions to gluten exposure can absolutely worsen once gluten has been removed from your diet. I have heard of people who "swell up" as a symptom of gluten exposure.

If you are new to celiac disease... have you seen any checklists for commonly missed gluten exposure/ cross contamination sources? Do you share the house with gluten eating persons?

I have heard of skin hurting as a type of neuropathy pain, same with numbness and tingling. While gluten exposure can cause neuropathy so can vitamin deficiency... reference quoted earlier in this thread.

I'm not sure if your symptoms are all related to swelling caused by edema, or neuropathy. The swelling makes me think your symptoms of numbness, tingling and skin pain are all related to the edema.

Are you taking any medications that could cause edema as a side effect? Have you checked with your doctor about your swelling? I think you should be sure to check in with your doctor on this.

Thanks for replying. I just saw my doctor yesterday and she put me in for a bunch of blood tests. My liver numbers came back high and I was placed on synthroid to help my thyroid. Also, my labs showed that I am anemic also. I hope that they do not find anything else.

Better to find and fix than to go undiagnosed.

Yes, low thyroid can do a lot of that, too. So many things have overlapping symptoms, and often go together. Did you already know you had thyroid disease and just needed dose adjustment, or is it a new diagnosis for you? Here is one of the best places for thyroid info:
http://thyroid.about.com/

Anemia can be due to low iron or low B12 or both. Did he say?
http://www.labtestsonline.org/unders...ns/anemia.html

I hope you will have improvement once these things are treated! Let us know what more you find out and how you are doing. You will feel better!