<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

I came across a very interesting article last night about
osteoarthritis possibly being caused by a lack of selenium in the
diet: http://www.news-medical.net/?id=14569

Among my own primary symptoms associated with gluten consumption is
severe joint pain.  I'm not one who cheats on the GF diet, but (like
everyone, I'm sure) I've had my accidental exposures to gluten, and
when this happens almost inevitably some of my joints will swell, and
I feel like someone poured cement into every joint in my body.  While
I still have OA and am GF, the severity of the pain is greatly
affected by gluten.

Although it is said that there are something like over 200 symptoms
associated with CD -- I have found it odd is that I only read about
strong links of CD with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and never
osteoarthritis (OA).  Although "joint pain" certainly is key among
the symptoms of CD ... if I go searching on this subject, all I can
personally ever come up with is that there is NO known association of
CD with OA.

Yet I hear it over and over again in CD support groups on-line and
locally -- I cannot tell you how "NOT" unusual joint pain is!
Mostly, though, it is people who found out they had CD because of
some other reason, and then realize that the gluten was also causing
joint pain -- which goes away when they eat GF, and comes back if
they don't.  And, there are a few stray folks like myself, for whom
the severe joint pain was their key symptom.  (Yes, there can be
other reasons for joint pain -- not just OA -- but OA is an extremely
common reason.)

But, in summary, the article noted above shows new research
suggesting strongly that low levels of selenium may be responsible
for early-life OA.  This leaves me to wonder if selenium -- just like
calcium and other nutrients that do not get delivered  in people with
CD -- may, in fact, be a truly tangible and not uncommon outcome of
this disease for some people.

I hope someone in the medical field, reading this, will think to
consider investigating a possible link to early-onset OA -- just as
they have to osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, thyroid disease and
other diseases.  When I search for information on this subject, and
read that there are no known links of OA and CD ... I just have to
think to myself, given my own personal symptoms and history, it
should be stated as:  there are no known links ... YET.   :-)

* Visit the Celiac Web Page at www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html *